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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/29656-8.txt b/29656-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7fb1618 --- /dev/null +++ b/29656-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6764 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mountain Divide, by Frank H. Spearman + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Mountain Divide + +Author: Frank H. Spearman + +Illustrator: Armand Both + +Release Date: August 10, 2009 [EBook #29656] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MOUNTAIN DIVIDE *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +THE MOUNTAIN DIVIDE + + + + +BOOKS BY FRANK H. SPEARMAN + +PUBLISHED BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + + ROBERT KIMBERLY. Illustrated by James + Montgomery Flagg. 12mo Net $1.30 + + WHISPERING SMITH. A Story of Rocky Mountain + Life. Illustrated by N. C. Wyeth. 12mo $1.50 + + THE DAUGHTER OF A MAGNATE. Illustrated. 12mo $1.50 + + DOCTOR BRYSON. A Novel. 12mo $1.50 + + THE MOUNTAIN DIVIDE. Illustrated. 12mo Net $1.25 + + THE STRATEGY OF GREAT RAILROADS. + With Maps. 12mo Net $1.50 + + + + +[Illustration: AS BUCK'S STRAINING EYE FOLLOWED THE MOVEMENT, THE SECOND +INDIAN STRUCK THE CLUB DOWN.] + + + + +THE MOUNTAIN DIVIDE + +BY + +FRANK H. SPEARMAN + +ILLUSTRATED BY + +ARMAND BOTH + +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + +NEW YORK :: 1912 + + + + +Copyright, 1912, by + +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + +Published September, 1912 + + + + +THIS STORY WITHOUT LOVE, + +IS NONE THE LESS LOVINGLY INSCRIBED + +TO + +MY YOUNGEST SON + +ARTHUR DUNNING SPEARMAN + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + As Buck's straining eye followed the movement, the + second Indian struck the club down. _Frontispiece_ + It was only after a moment that the lineman could be + seen to gain. 92 + "Let that gate alone or I'll brain you," he cried. 250 + For Scott to draw and fire was but one movement. 300 + + + + +THE MOUNTAIN DIVIDE + + +CHAPTER I + + +Night had fallen and a warm rain drifting down from the mountains hung +in a mist over the railroad yards and obscured the lights of Medicine +Bend. Two men dismounting from their drooping horses at the foot of +Front Street threw the reins to a man in waiting and made their way on +foot across the muddy square to the building which served the new +railroad as a station and as division head-quarters. In Medicine Bend, +the town, the railroad, everything was new; and the broad, low pine +building which they entered had not yet been painted. + +The public waiting-room was large, roughly framed, and lighted with +hanging kerosene lamps. Within the room a door communicated with the +agent's office, and this was divided by a wooden railing into a +freight office and a ticket and telegraph office. + +It could be seen, as the two men paused at the door of the inner room, +that the first wore a military fatigue-cap, and his alert carriage as +he threw open his cape-coat indicated the bearing of an American army +officer. He was of medium height, and his features and eyes implied +that the storms and winds of the plains and mountains were familiar +friends. This was Park Stanley, charged at that time with the +construction of the first transcontinental railroad. + +The agent's office, which he and his companion now looked into, was +half-filled with a crowd of frontiersmen, smoking, talking, disputing, +asking questions, and crowding against the fence that railed off the +private end of the room; while at the operator's table next to the +platform window a tall, spindling boy was trying in the confusion +behind him to get a message off the wire. + +Stanley, eying the lad, noticed how thin his face was and what a bony +frame spread out under the roundabout jacket that he appeared already +to have outgrown. And he concluded this must be the new operator, +Bucks, who for some days had been expected from the East. + +The receiver clicked insistently and Bucks endeavored to follow the +message, but the babel of talking made it almost impossible. Stanley +heard the boy appeal more than once for less noise, but his appeals +were unheeded. He saw symptoms of fire in the operator's eyes as the +latter glared occasionally at the crowd behind him, but for what +followed even Stanley was unprepared. Bucks threw down his pen and +coming forward with angry impatience ordered the crowd out of the +room. + +He pushed the foremost of the intruders back from the rail and +followed up his commands by opening the wicket gate and driving those +ahead of him toward the door of the waiting-room. "Get out where you +belong," he repeated, urging the crowd on. Stanley turned to the man +at his side. "I will go upstairs to write my message. This must be the +new boy, Bob," he added; "he acts as if he might make things go." + +His companion, Bob Scott, smiled as he followed Stanley out upon the +platform and up the narrow stairway leading to the division offices. +But Bob Scott was conservative. He never spoke above an undertone and +naturally took the conservative side: "If he only doesn't make them go +too fast, Colonel," was his comment. + +A tall young man, spare but almost gigantic in stature, standing back +in one corner of the agent's office as the men about him were hustled +along, likewise regarded Bucks with surprise as he saw him start +single-handed to expel the intruders. This was the mountain telegraph +lineman, Bill Dancing, as simple as he was strong, and ready at any +time to be surprised, but not often disconcerted. In this instance, +however, he was amazed, for almost before he realized it the energetic +operator was hustling him out with the others. + +When Bucks thought the room cleared he turned to go back to his table, +but he saw that one man had been overlooked. This man was still +sitting on a stool in the farthest corner of the dimly lighted room. +The spindling operator without hesitation walked over to him and laid +his hand on the man's shoulder. Dancing, looking back through the +door, held his breath. + +"Move out of here, please," said Bucks, "into the public waiting-room." +The man rose with the utmost politeness. "Sorry to be in your way," +he returned mildly, though there was a note not quite pleasant in his +voice. + +"Your place is outside," continued the operator. "I can't do anything +with a mob in here all talking at once." + +"I haven't done my talking yet," suggested the man, with a shade of +significance. This, however, was lost on Bucks, who looked sharply at +the stool from which the man had risen. + +"I think this stool is mine," said he, picking it up and examining it. +"It is mine," he added, after a moment's inspection. "Please move +on." + +"Perhaps before I go," returned the man with the same unpleasant +irony, "you will tell me whether you have an express package here for +Harvey Levake." + +"Of course I will, Harvey," responded the operator in a matter-of-fact +way. "Just wait a minute." + +Levake's lips stretched into a ghost of a smile, and his white-lashed +gray eyes contracted with an effort at amiability. + +The operator, going inside the railing, ran over the express way-bills +which, not yet entered up, lay on the freight desk. + +"There is a package here for you," he announced a moment later, and +turning to a heap of parcels thrown under the desk he searched among +them until he found and produced the one he sought. + +"Here it is--a box of cartridges." + +"What are the charges?" asked the man. + +"Four dollars and sixty cents." + +The man laid down a twenty-dollar bank-bill. The operator hesitated: +"I haven't the change." + +Levake showed no sympathy: "That is not my fault," he returned. + +The operator looked at him: "Do you want the package to-night?" + +"If I didn't, do you suppose I would waste an hour here waiting for +it?" + +The boy considered a moment and made a decision, but it chanced to be +the wrong decision. "Take the package along. Bring me the charges in +the morning." + +Levake made no response beyond a further glance at the boy somewhat +contemptuous; but he said nothing and picking up his package walked +out. No one opposed him. Indeed, had the operator been interested he +would have noticed with what marked alacrity every man, as he passed +through the waiting-room, got out of Levake's way. Dancing, standing +at the door and with his hair on end, awaited the close of the +incident. He now re-entered the inner office and shut the waiting-room +door behind him with an audible bang. Bucks, who had returned to his +table, looked around. "Well, who are you?" he demanded as he regarded +Dancing. "And what are you doing here?" + +"Who are you?" retorted Dancing bluntly. "And what are you doing +here?" + +"My name is Bucks and I am the new night operator." + +"You look new. And you act all-fired new. My name is Bill Dancing and +I am the telegraph lineman." + +"Why, you are the man I am looking for." + +"So I thought, when you pushed me out of here with the rest of your +visitors." + +"Why didn't you speak up, Bill?" demanded Bucks calmly. + +A quizzical expression passed over Dancing's face. "I didn't want to +break the calm. When I see a man walking around a powder magazine I +hate to do anything that might set it off. + +"So your name is Bucks," continued Dancing, as he walked through the +wicket and threw his wet hat among the way-bills on the freight desk. +"Well, Mr. Bucks, do you know what was most likely to happen to you +any minute before you got through with that crowd, just now?" + +"No, I don't know. Why?" asked Bucks, busy with his messages. + +"Have you ever seen a shooting mix-up in Medicine Bend?" demanded +Dancing in a tone of calculated indifference. + +"No," answered Bucks in decided but off-hand manner, "I never saw a +shooting mix-up anywhere." + +"Never got shot up just for fun?" persisted Dancing. "Do you know," he +continued without waiting for an answer, "who that polite man was, +the last one you shouldered out of here?" Dancing pointed as he +spoke to the corner from which Levake had risen, but the operator, +straightening out the papers before him, did not look around. + +"No, Bill, I don't know anybody here. You see I am a stranger." + +"I see you are a stranger," echoed Dancing. "Let me tell you +something, then, will you?" + +"Tell it quick, Bill." + +"There is no cemetery in this town." + +"I have understood it is very healthy, Bill," returned the operator. + +"Not for everybody." Bill Dancing paused to let the words sink in, as +his big eyes fixed upon the young operator's eyes. "Not for +everybody--sometimes not for strangers. Strangers have to get used to +it. There is a river here," added the lineman sententiously. "It's +pretty swift, too." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean you have got to be careful how you do things out in this +country." + +"But, Bill," persisted the lad, "if there is going to be any business +done in this office we have got to have order, haven't we?" The +lineman snorted and the operator saw that his appeal had fallen flat. +"My batteries, Bill," he added, changing the subject, "are no good at +all. I sent for you because I want you to go over them now, to-night, +and start me right. What are you going to do?" + +Dancing had begun to poke at the ashes in the stove. "Build a fire," +he returned, looking about for material. He gathered up what waste +paper was at hand, pushed it into the stove, and catching up the +way-bills from the desk, threw them in on the paper and began to feel +in his wet pockets for matches. + +"Hold on," cried Bucks. "What do you mean? You must be crazy!" he +exclaimed, running to the stove and pulling the way-bills out. + +"Not half so crazy as you are," replied Dancing undisturbed. "I'm only +trying to show you how crazy you are. Burning up way-bills isn't a +circumstance to what you did just now. You are the looniest operator I +ever saw." As he looked at Bucks he extended his finger impressively. +"When you laid your hand on that man's shoulder to-night--the one +sitting on your stool--I wouldn't have given ten cents for your +life." + +Bucks regarded him with astonishment. "Why so?" + +"He's the meanest man between here and Fort Bridger," asserted +Dancing. "He'd think no more of shooting you than I would of +scratching a match." Bucks stared at the comparison. "He is the worst +scoundrel in this country and partners with Seagrue and John Rebstock +in everything that's going on, and even they are afraid of him." + +Dancing stopped for breath. "Talk about my making a fire out of +way-bills! When I saw you lay your hand on that man, I stopped +breathing--can't breathe just right yet," he muttered, pulling at his +shirt collar. "Do you know why you didn't get killed?" + +"Why, no, Bill, not exactly," confessed Bucks in embarrassment. + +"Because Levake was out of cartridges. I heard him tell Rebstock so +when they walked past me." + +"Thank you for posting me. How should I know he was Seagrue's partner, +or who Rebstock is? Let's make a bargain. I will be more careful in +clearing out the office, and you be more careful about building fires. +There's wood in the baggage-room. I couldn't get out to get it for +fear the crowd would steal the tickets." + +"Well, you are 'out' four dollars and sixty cents charges on the +cartridges," continued Dancing, "and you had better say nothing about +it. If you ever ask Levake for the money he will kill you." + +Bucks looked rebellious. "It's only right for him to pay the charges. +I shall ask him for them the next time I see him. And what is more he +will have to pay, I don't care whose partner he is." + +Dancing now regarded the operator with unconcealed impatience. "I +suppose there are more where you came from," he muttered. "They will +need a lot of them here, if they carry on like that. How old are you?" +he demanded of Bucks abruptly. + +"Seventeen." + +"How long have you been in this country?" + +Bucks looked at the clock. "About five hours, Bill." + +"Reckon time close, don't you?" + +"Have to, Bill, in the railroad business." + +Dancing reflected a moment. "Five hours," he repeated. "If you don't +get killed within the next five you may live to be a useful citizen of +Medicine Bend. Where are you from, and how did you happen to come away +out here on the plains?" + +"I am from Pittsburgh. I had to quit school and go to work." + +"Where did you go to school?" + +"Well, I didn't go----" + +"Quit before you went, did you?" + +"I mean, I was preparing for Van Dyne College. One of my brothers +teaches there. I couldn't start there after I lost my father--he was +killed in the Wilderness Campaign, Bill. But when I can earn money +enough, I am going back to Van Dyne and take an engineering course." + +"Got it all figured out, have you?" + +"Then I heard they were building the Union Pacific, and I knew +something about telegraphing--Jim Foster and I had a line from the +house to the barn." + +"Had a line from the house to the barn, eh?" chuckled Dancing. + +"So I bought a railroad ticket to Des Moines from Pittsburgh and +staged it to Omaha, and General Park gave me a job right away and sent +me out on the first train to take this office, nights. I didn't even +know where Medicine Bend was." + +"Don't believe you know yet. Now that's right, I don't believe you +know yet. You're a good boy, but you talk too much." + +"How old are you, Bill?" + +"I am twenty." + +"Twenty!" echoed Bucks, as if that were not very much, either. + +"Twenty!" repeated the lineman. "But," he added, drawing himself up in +his tremendous stature, with dignity, "I have been on the plains +driving wagons and building telegraph lines for seven years----" + +"Seven years!" echoed Bucks, now genuinely admiring his companion. + +"My father was a Forty-niner. I was a line foreman when I was +seventeen, for Edward Creighton, and we put the first telegraph line +through from the Missouri River to the Pacific," continued Dancing, +ready to back his words with blows if necessary. + +"You _are_ an old-timer," cried Bucks enviously. "Any good rabbit-shooting +around here, Bill?" + +"Rabbit-shooting?" echoed Dancing in scorn. "The only rabbits they +shoot around here, young fellow, are Pittsburgh rabbits, that +don't keep their ears hid proper. When we go hunting, we go +antelope-hunting, buffalo-hunting, grizzly-bear hunting, elk-hunting. +Now I don't say I don't like you and I don't say you won't do. What I +say is, you talk too much. I'll tell you what I've learned. I've +learned not to say too much at a time. And when I say it, I don't +say it very loud. And if you don't get killed, in advance, you will +learn the same thing in the same way I learned it. Where are your +blamed batteries?" + +"Bill, you are all right." + +"I am, am I?" + +"First help me enter these way-bills and check up the express packages +so I can deliver them to this mob." + +"My business isn't checking up express; but I like you, young fellow, +so, go ahead. Only you talk too much." + +"Just a moment!" + +At these words coming from the other end of the office, the lineman +and the operator looked around. The military-looking man and his +companion had entered the room unobserved and stood at the +counter listening to the colloquy between the Eastern boy and the +plainsman--for neither of the two were more than boys. Dancing +saluted the new-comers. "It's Colonel Stanley and Bob Scott," he +exclaimed. + +Bucks walked forward. Stanley handed him a message. "You are the night +operator? Here is a despatch for General Park. Get it out for me right +away, will you?" + +Dancing came forward to the railing. "How are you, Bill?" said +Stanley, greeting the lineman as Bucks read the long message. "I am +going up into the mountains next week, and I am just asking General +Park for a cavalry detail." + +"Going to need me, Colonel?" + +"Better hold yourself ready. Can you read that, young man?" he asked, +speaking to Bucks. + +"Yes, sir." + +"Lose no time in getting it off." + +With the words he turned on his heel and leaving the office went +upstairs to the despatcher's rooms. During the interval that the +message was being sent, Dancing worked at the express matter. While +the two were busy, Bob Scott, moving so quietly that he disturbed no +one, laid carefully upon the smouldering paper in the stove such chips +as he could pick from the wood-box, nursing and developing a little +blaze until, without noise or fuss, he soon had a good fire going. In +all of the mountain country there was but one kind of men who built +fires in that way and these were Indians. + +Such was Bob Scott, who, wet to the skin from his ride down the hills +with Stanley, now stood slowly drying himself and watching Dancing and +the new operator. + +Scott was a half-blood Chippewa Indian, silent as a mountain night and +as patient as time. He served Colonel Stanley as guide and scout +wherever the railroad man rode upon his surveys or reconnoissances. +Dancing, emerging presently from the batteries, greeted Scott again, +this time boisterously. The Indian only smiled, but his face reflected +the warmth of his friendship for the big lineman. And at this juncture +Dancing, slapping him on the shoulder, turned to introduce him to +Bucks. The three stood and talked a moment together, though, perhaps, +without realizing what they were almost at once to go through +together. The outgoing Eastern passenger train now pulled up to the +platform and Bucks was kept busy for some time selling tickets. + +His buyers were all sorts and conditions of men. And one forlorn-looking +woman, with a babe in her arms and a little girl clinging to her +skirt, asked the price of a ticket to Omaha. When told, she turned away +to count her money. Among the men were traders and frontiersmen +going to Missouri River markets with buffalo robes; trappers from the +Big Horn country with furs; Mormon elders on their way from Utah to +their Eastern settlements; soldiers on furlough and men from the +railroad-construction camps on the front; adventurers, disgusted with +the hardships of frontier life, and gamblers and desperadoes, +restless and always moving. + +Bucks needed his wits to watch the money that was pushed under his +little wicket and to make change without mistake. There was elbowing +and contention and bad language, but the troublesome crowd was +finally disposed of, and when the last of the line had left the ticket +window the waiting-room was pretty well cleared. There remained only a +black-bearded man half-asleep in a chair by the stove, and in one +corner on a bench the woman, who was trying to quiet the child she +held in her lap. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +As Bucks looked through his embrasure to see if all had been served, +his eye fell on the group in the corner and he heard the woman +suppressing the sobbing of her little girl. He walked out into the +waiting-room to ask what the trouble was. He learned afterward that +she was the wife of a gambler, but she told him only that she had +followed her husband to Medicine Bend and was now trying to get back +with her two children to her parents in Iowa. When she had ascertained +the price of the railroad ticket she found that she lacked five +dollars of the sum needed to make up the fare. Bucks had just a little +money of his own, but he had counted on using that for his meals. +While he was debating what to do, the elder child tugging still at the +mother's dress asked for something to eat, and while the mother tried +to quiet it Bucks felt he could manage somehow without the price of +the ticket better than this woman could. + +"Give me what money you have," he said. "I will get you a ticket." + +"But isn't the train gone?" + +"No." + +The black-bearded man dozing near the stove had his ears open although +his eyes were closed. He had heard fragments of the talk and saw the +boy dig into his own pocket, as he would have expressed it, to start +the woman home. After Bucks had given her the ticket and she was +trying to thank him and to quiet again the tired child, the drowsy man +rose, picked up the woman's hand-bag and told her gruffly he would put +her on the train. As he started with her out into the drizzling rain, +he carried her little girl, and, stopping down the platform at a +sheltered lunch-counter, he bought a bag of doughnuts big enough to +sink a ship. He offered no money to the man at the counter, but his +credit seemed unquestioned. In the train the seats appeared all to be +taken, but the drowsy man again showed his authority by rolling a +tipsy fellow out of a seat and piling him up in a corner near the +stove--which fortunately had no fire in it. + +During all this time he had not said a word. But at the last, having +placed the woman and the children in two seats and made them +comfortable, he asked the mother one question--her husband's name. She +told him, and, without any comment or good-bys, he left the car and +started through the rain uptown. + +After the train pulled out, the wind shifted and the rain changed +into a snow which, driven from the mountains, thickened on the wet +window in front of the operator's table. A message came for the +night yardmaster, and the operator, seeing the head-light of the +switch-engine which was working close by, put on his cap and stepped +out to deliver the message. As he opened the waiting-room door, a man +confronted him--the bearded man who had taken the woman and children +to the train. Bucks saw under the visor of a cloth cap, a straight +white nose, a dark eye piercingly keen, and a rather long, glossy, +black beard. It was the passenger conductor, David Hawk. Without +speaking, Hawk held out his hand with a five-dollar bank note in it. + +"What is this?" asked Bucks. + +"The money you gave the woman." + +Bucks, taking the bill, regarded his visitor with surprise. "Where did +you get this?" + +"What's that to you?" + +"But----" + +"Don't ask questions," returned Hawk brusquely. "You've got your +money, haven't you?" + +"Yes, but----" + +"That's enough." And with Bucks staring at him, Hawk, without a word +or a smile, walked out of the station. + +But Bill Dancing had seen the incident and was ready to answer Bucks's +question as he turned with the money in his hand. "That is Dave Hawk," +explained Dancing. "Dave hates a sneak. The way he got the money from +the woman's husband was probably by telling him if he didn't pay for +his wife's ticket and add enough to feed her and her babies to the +river he would blow his head off. Dave doesn't explain things +especially." + +Bucks put the money in his pocket and started on with his message. The +yards covered the wide flat along the river. Medicine Bend was then +the western operating point for the railroad and the distributing +point for all material used in the advancing construction through the +mountains. + +Not until he left the shelter of the station building did he realize +the force of the storm that was now sweeping across the flat. The wind +had swung into the northwest and blew almost a gale and the snow stung +his face as he started across the dark yard. There were practically no +lights at all beyond the platform except those in the roundhouse, too +far away to be seen, but the operator saw the moving head-light of the +switch-engine and hastened across the slippery tracks toward it. The +crew were making up a material train to send west and the engine was +snorting and puffing among long strings of flat cars loaded with +rails, ties, stringers, and bridge timbers. + +As Bucks neared the working engine it receded from him, and following +it up he soon found his feet slipping in the wet mud and the wind at +times taking his breath. Conscious of the folly of running farther, he +halted for a moment and turning his back to the storm resolved to wait +till the engine returned. He chose a spot under the lee of a box-car, +and was soon rewarded by hearing a new movement from the working +engine. By the increasing noise of the open cylinder cocks he +concluded it was backing toward him. He stepped across the nearest +track to reach a switch-stand, a car-length away, whence he thought he +could signal the engine with his lantern. He had nearly reached the +switch when his foot slipped from a rail into a frog that held him +fast. Holding his lantern down, he saw how he was caught and tried to +free his heel. It seemed as if it might easily be done, but the more +he worked the faster caught he found himself. For a moment he still +made sure he could loosen his foot. Even when he realized that this +was not easy, he felt no alarm until he heard the switch-engine +whistle. Through the driving snow he could see that it was coming +toward him, pushing ahead of it a lead of flat cars. + +Bucks was no stranger to railroad yards even then, and the realization +of his peril flashed across his mind. He renewed his efforts to loosen +his imprisoned heel. They were useless. He stood caught in the iron +vice. A sweat of fear moistened his forehead. He hoped for an instant +that the moving cars were not coming on his track; but almost at once +he saw that they were being pushed toward the very switch he was +trying to reach. Even where he stood, struggling, he was not six feet +away from the switch-stand and safety. It seemed as if he could almost +reach it, as he writhed and twisted in his agony of apprehension. + +He swung his lantern frantically, hoping to catch the eye of one of +the switching crew. But the only answer was the heavy pounding of the +loaded cars over the rail joints as they were pushed down upon the +helpless operator. Worst of all, while he was swinging his lantern +high in the air, the wind sucked the flame up into the globe and it +went out and left him helpless in the dark. Like the hare caught in +the steel teeth of a trap, the boy stood in the storm facing impending +death. + +The bitterest feelings overwhelmed him. After coming hundreds of miles +and plunging into his work with the most complacent self-confidence, +he stood before the close of the first day about to be snuffed out of +existence as if he were no more than the flame of his useless lantern. +A cruel sense of pain oppressed his thoughts. Each second of +recollection seemed to cover the ground of years. The dull, heavy +jolting of the slow-coming cars shook the ground. He twisted and +writhed this way and that and cried out, knowing there were none to +hear him: the wind swept away his appeal upon its heedless wings; the +nearest car was almost upon him. Then a strange feeling of calm came +over him. He felt that death was knocking at his heart. Hope had gone, +and his lips were only moving in prayer, when a light flashed out of +the darkness at his very side and he felt himself seized as if by a +giant and wrenched away from where he stood and through the air. + +He heard a quick exclamation, saw a lighted lantern fall to the +ground, felt a stinging pain in his right foot, and knew no more. + +When he recovered consciousness, three lanterns shone in his eyes. He +was lying in the mud near the switch with the engine crew standing +over him. One of the men knelt at his side and he saw the thin, strong +features of a face he had seen among the railroad men, but one that he +knew then he was never to forget--the face of the yardmaster, +Callahan. Callahan knelt in the storm with a good-natured expression. +The men about the yardmaster were less kindly. + +"Who are you, tar heels?" demanded the engineman angrily. + +Resentment, which would have been quick in the operator a little +earlier, had died in the few moments in which he had faced death. He +answered only in the quietest way: + +"I am the night operator." + +"The deuce you are!" exclaimed the man bending over him. + +"Who are you?" demanded the operator, in turn. + +"I am Callahan, the night yardmaster." + +"I have an order for you to send a car of spikes on No. 7, Callahan. I +was trying to find you when I got caught in the frog." The pain in his +foot overcame Bucks as he spoke. Another dread was in his mind and he +framed a question to which he dreaded to hear the answer. "Is my foot +gone?" he faltered. + +The yardmaster hesitated a moment and turned to an older man at his +side wearing a heavy cap. "How about it, doctor?" he asked. + +Doctor Arnold, the railway surgeon, a kindly but stern man, answered +briefly, "We won't take it off this time. But if he is that careless +again we will take his head off." + +"How old are you, boy?" demanded Callahan. + +"Seventeen." + +"Well, your foot isn't hurt," he continued gruffly. "But it's only +God's mercy that I got here in time to pull you out of the frog." + +The operator was already up. "I hope I shan't forget it," he said, +putting out his hand. "Will you remember the spikes?" + +"I will," responded Callahan grimly. "And I guess----" + +"Say it," said the operator gamely, as the yardmaster hesitated. + +"I guess you will." + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Bucks, after his eventful first night on duty, slept so heavily that +on the following afternoon he had only time to eat his supper, walk +haltingly up the main street of Medicine Bend and back to the square, +when it was time to relieve the day man at the station. + +But the few minutes in the narrow business street filled him with +interest and at times with astonishment. Medicine Bend, still very +young, was a mushroom railroad town of frame store buildings hastily +thrown together, and houses, shanties, and tents. It was already +the largest and most important town between the mountains and the +Missouri River. The Union Pacific Railroad, now a double-tracked, +transcontinental highway, laid with ninety and one hundred pound +steel rails, and ballasted with disintegrated granite, a model of +railroad construction, equipment, and maintenance, was, after the +close of the Civil War, being pushed with light iron rails and heavy +gradients across what was then known to geographers as the Great +American Desert, and the project of a transcontinental railroad was +meant at that time to unite the chief port of the Pacific coast, +San Francisco, with the leading cities of the Atlantic seaboard. + +A railroad in building across a country considers first the two +uttermost cities (its principal terminals), or those two portions of +the country which it seeks to connect for the interchange of traffic. + +The Union Pacific and its companion road, the Central Pacific, +afforded, too, the first and last instance of the United States +Government's becoming responsible for the building of a railroad. +Although the project of aiding a railroad to be built somewhere +between and connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean ports had been +discussed by Congress for thirty years before the fall of Fort Sumter, +the extraordinary feeling caused by the Civil War alone made possible +so unusual an undertaking. President Lincoln himself had given the +subject careful thought, and when, after much controversy and +discouraging political intrigue, the Union and Central Pacific +Railroad bills were ready to pass Congress, Abraham Lincoln was +appealed to to decide a long-standing controversy concerning the +gauge, or width of track, for the new lines. + +After painstaking consideration, he decided on a gauge of five feet, +but the promoters of the line then persuaded Congress to reduce the +figures to four feet eight and one-half inches, and that gauge is now +the standard gauge for all American railroads. It would have been +better if the railroad builders had followed Lincoln's suggestion, +since the traffic of American railroads has outgrown the possibilities +of their gauges. And within a few years one of the greatest of +present-day railroad builders has declared with emphasis that a +six-foot gauge must one day come to provide our railroads with the +necessary facilities for handling the enormous and constantly +expanding volume of American railroad traffic. + +The young operator, who, in spite of his efforts to conceal his hurt, +now limped a little as he walked up the street of the new railroad +town might well look with curiosity and amazement on what he saw. The +street he walked in was no more than a long assemblage of saloons, +restaurants, boarding-houses, gambling-houses, dance-halls and shops. +Nearer the station and fronting on the open square, there were +barber-shops and so-called hotels. Up and down the side streets he saw +livery-stables and roughly built warehouses for contractors' supplies, +army supplies, and stage-line depots. + +The main street was alive with strange-looking frontiersmen, trappers, +hunters, scouts, soldiers, settlers, railroad laborers, outlaws, +prospectors, and miners. Every face that Bucks looked into presented a +study. They were sometimes faces bronzed with the clear, dry sunshine +of the plains and mountains, rugged with adventure and keen with +dangers met and passed, but others were furrowed with dissipation and +seamed with vice, or merely vacant with the curiosity of the +wanderer. + +Nearly every man carried a fire-arm of some sort. Indians were a +continual menace upon the frontier to the north and west and on the +front where the road was being built; and in the train-service and +construction work railroad men usually went armed. Moreover, when the +frontiersmen were not arming against the Indians they were arming +against one another; it being difficult at times to tell whether the +white men or the savages were the more dangerous to the peaceful +pursuit of happiness. As Bucks, returning down Front Street, neared +the square that opened before the station a group of army officers +were walking across it. They were the first regular officers he had +ever seen and he regarded them with interest. At the station the chief +despatcher, Baxter, met him at the door. "Bucks, I've been waiting for +you. Can you ride a horse?" + +Bucks smiled. + +"Colonel Stanley," continued Baxter, "is going to the front to-night. +He wants to take an operator with him. Giddings isn't well enough to +go, but he can take your key to-night; you can go with the colonel +instead. He will take Dancing and a detail of cavalrymen with Leon +Sublette and Bob Scott for guides." + +The suddenness of the call was not unpleasant. It was such continual +excitement and new adventure that Bucks liked and he said he was +ready. The despatcher told him to hunt up Bill Dancing, who would give +him the details. + +Within an hour the cavalry horses were being loaded into a box-car up +at the stock chute, and while Bucks and big Bill Dancing watched them +an engine and the chief engineer's car were backed down the yard to +make up the special train. At the same moment, the two saw Stanley +walking across the yard with two engineers who were going to the front +with him. + +Bucks looked with admiration at the soldier-constructionist. He was +slight in figure, wore the precise-looking military cap, and was +dressed with extreme care. He stepped with a light briskness that +implied an abundance of native energy, and his manner as he greeted +the two railroad men was intimate and gracious, putting them at once +at their ease. His smooth-shaven face, bronzed with service, and his +brown eyes, were alive every moment. Whatever the enterprise, Stanley +could call forth the loyalty and the best in those under him, and in +Dancing and Scott he had two men that worked well together and had in +their chief the unquestioning faith that insures devotion. + +To these two more experienced men was now to be added a third, Bucks. +The train started almost at once, and Oliver, the colonel's cook, +prepared supper in his box-like kitchen and chopped his potatoes, for +frying, in muffled ragtime, as the puffing engine slowly drew the +train up the long gorge into the mountains. Bucks sat down at table +with the engineers and Stanley asked him many questions. He wanted to +know where Bucks had gone to school, why he had quitted at fifteen, +and what had brought him away out on the Desert to begin railroading. + +When it appeared that Stanley as well as he himself was from +Pittsburgh, and even that Bucks had been named after the distinguished +officer--John Stanley Bucks--Bucks was happier than at any time since +he had left home. + +The talk went on till very late. Stanley and General Park, who also +had been a regular-army man, told stories of the Civil War, just then +ended, and the giant lineman, Dancing, entertained the company with +stories of adventure incurred in the mountains and on the plains in +building the first transcontinental telegraph line. + +Bucks sat for hours in silence while the three men talked; but he had +good ears and was a close listener. All the adventure books of his +boyhood reading had been bound up with this very country and with +these rugged mountains through which they were riding. The tales of +the people all about him during his youth had been of the far and +mysterious West--of the overland trail and the gold seekers, of Pike's +Peak and California, of buffaloes and trappers and Indians, and of the +Mormons and the Great Salt Lake. These had been his day-dreams, and at +last he was breathing the very air of them and listening to men who +had actually lived them. + +The sleeping-bunks in the car could hardly be called berths, but they +served to lessen the fatigues of the night, and when Bucks woke in the +morning he saw from his window a vast stretch of rough, desert country +bordered by distant mountain peaks, some black, some brown, some +snow-capped in the morning sun. The train stopped in a construction +camp, near the end of the rails, and after a hasty breakfast Bucks +walked with the engineers up the track to the head-quarters of the +rail-laying gang. + +The air was frosty. During the night snow had fallen, and as Bucks +followed his party the sun burst over the plain that they had crossed +in the night and lighted the busy camp with a flood of gold. It was a +camp such as few American boys had ever seen and of a type that no boy +will ever see again. Everywhere along the cuts and hillsides and in +sheltered spots the men had made temporary quarters by burrowing into +the clay or soft rock and making dugouts and canvas-roofed huts, with +earthen sides for walls. + +But not all were so enterprising as this. Some laborers were camping +in old hogsheads. Even packing-boxes served others for shelter, but +were all so disposed within the cuts and among the ridges of the +railroad grade as to be safe from Indian forays. And along the +completed railroad, all the way from the Missouri River, material and +supply trains were moving to supply this noisy, helter-skelter camp, +which seemed to Bucks all confusion, yet was in reality all energy. + +General Jack Casement, in charge, came forward to greet Stanley. + +"And they tell me, general," said Stanley, "you are laying a mile a +day." + +"If you would give us the ties, colonel," returned Casement, +short-bearded and energetic, "we should be laying two miles a day." + +"I have turned the Missouri River country upside down for timber," +returned Stanley. "The trouble is to get the material forward over a +single track so many hundred miles. However, we shall be getting ties +down the Spider Water within two weeks. I am on my way up there now to +see what the contractors are doing." + +It was the first intimation Bucks had had as to the object of the +trip. Casement had a number of subjects to lay before his superior +while within consulting distance, and Bob Scott, an hour later, +announced that Stanley would not move on for two days. This left his +attendants free, and when Scott, low-voiced and good-natured, asked +Bucks if he wanted to go out on the Sweet Grass Plains with him after +an antelope, Bucks accepted eagerly. The two saddled horses and Bucks, +with a rifle borrowed from Sublette, followed Scott across a low-lying +range of hills broken by huge stone crags and studded with wind-blown +and stunted cedars, out upon the far-reaching expanse of an open +plain. The scene was inspiring, but impressions crowded so fast one +upon another that the boy from the Alleghanies could realize only that +he was filled with sensations of delight as his wiry buckskin +clattered furiously along the faint trail that carried him and his +guide to the north and west. The sun was high when Scott reined up +and, dismounting, tethered his horse in a glade hidden by a grove of +aspens and bade Bucks do the same. + +"Getting hungry?" asked Scott, smiling at his companion. An answer +was written pretty plainly on Bucks's face. + +"Didn't bring anything to eat, did you?" suggested Scott. + +Bucks looked blank. "I never thought of it," he exclaimed. "Did you +bring anything?" + +"Nothing but this," answered Scott, holding up a small buckskin sack +fitted with drawing strings. + +"What is that, Bob?" + +"It is what I carry wherever I ride. I carry nothing else. And it is +only a little bag of salt." + +"A bag of salt!" cried Bucks. "Do you eat salt?" + +"Wait and see," answered the scout. "Pull your belt up a notch. We've +got a little walking to do." + +Scott, though of Chippewa blood, had been captured when a boy by the +Sioux and, adopted into the tribe, had lived with them for years. He +knew the mountains better than any man that served Stanley, and the +latter trusted him implicitly--nor was the confidence ever betrayed. + +Walking rapidly over a low-lying divide beyond which lay a broad +valley marking the course of a shallow creek, Scott paused behind a +clump of cedars to scan the country. He expected to find antelope +along the creek, but could see none in any direction. Half a mile more +of scouting explained the absence of game, and Scott pointed out to +Bucks the trail of an Indian hunting party that had passed up the +valley in the morning. They were Cheyennes, Scott told his companion, +three warriors and two squaws--reading the information from signs that +were as plain to him as print--though Bucks understood nothing of it. +In the circumstances there was nothing for it but a fresh venture, +and, remounting, the Indian led the boy ten miles farther north to +where the plains stretched in a succession of magnificent plateaus, +toward the Sleepy Cat Mountains. + +"We are in real Sioux country now," observed Scott, as he again +dismounted. "And we are as likely now to uncover a war party as a herd +of antelope." + +"What should you do, Bob, if we met Sioux?" + +"Run," smiled Bob, with Indian terseness. Yet somehow the boy felt +that Bob, in spite of what he said, would not run, and he realized for +a moment the apprehension of one but newly arrived on the frontier, +and still subject to tremors for his scalp. The scout took his stand +near a thicket of quaking asp and almost at once sighted a band of +antelope. Taking Bucks, he worked around the wind toward the band, and +directed him how and when to shoot if he got a chance. Bucks, highly +wrought up after the long crawl to get within range, did get a chance, +and with his heart beating like a trip-hammer, covered a buck and +fired. The scout shot immediately afterward, and the herd broke +swiftly for the timber along the creek. But Bucks, as well as his +experienced companion, had brought down an antelope. + +Scott, as he joined his companion, looked at him with curiosity. +"Where did you learn to shoot?" + +"I couldn't do it again, Bob," exclaimed Bucks frankly. "The only +shooting I've ever done is rabbit-shooting, or squirrel-shooting. I +was lucky for once, that's all." + +"I hope your luck stays with us. If it does we may get back with all +of our hair," returned Scott. "The thing to do now is to lose no time +in leaving here. We are farther from camp than we ought to be. When I +get to running antelope I am apt to go as far as they do." + +The two hunters got the carcasses across their horses, and acting on +Scott's admonition started to cover a good bit of the distance toward +camp before stopping. + +The sun was already low in the west and Bucks realized that they had +been out all day. The hunters rode due southeast, to put every mile +possible between them and the Indian country before dark. They were +riding along in this manner at dusk, when Scott, leading, pointed to a +canyon that offered a hiding-place for the night, and directed his +horse into it. Scarcely had the two passed within the canyon walls +when Scott halted and, with a quick, low command to the boy, sprang +from his horse. Bucks lost no time in following suit: they had ridden +almost into an Indian camp, and when Bucks's feet touched the ground +Scott was covering with his rifle a Sioux brave who with two squaws +rose out of the darkness before him. Quick words passed between Scott +and the Indian in the Sioux tongue. Bucks's hair rose on end until the +confab quieted, and the scout's rifle came down. In an instant it was +all over, but in that instant the Easterner had lived years. + +"It is all right," said Bob, turning to reassure his charge. "He is a +young chief--Iron Hand. I know his father. These three are alone. +Eight of them went out after buffalo five days ago. The second day +they fell in with Turkey Leg and a Cheyenne war party. Two of Iron +Hand's warriors were killed. The rest got separated and these three +lost their horses. Iron Hand," Scott nodded toward the silent Indian, +"was hit in the arm, and with his squaw and her sister has been trying +to get north, hiding by day and travelling by night. He can't shoot +his rifle; he thinks his arm is broken; and the squaws haven't been +able to kill anything. They are hungry, I guess." + +"And did they tell you all this in those few words?" demanded Bucks +incredulously. + +"It doesn't take many words to tell stories in this country. If a man +talked much he would be dead and buried before he got through." + +"Bob, if they are hungry, give them some antelope." + +Scott, who had meant to suggest the same thing, was pleased that the +offer should come from his companion, and so told the wounded Indian. +The latter drew himself up with dignity and spoke a few rapid words. +"He says he is glad," translated Bob, "that your heart is big. And +that it will be safer to go farther into the canyon. The Cheyennes are +hunting for them all around here, and if you are not afraid to camp +with the Sioux, we will stay with them here to-night. While the +Cheyennes are hunting them, they might find us. It will be about the +safest thing we can do." + +"You know best," said his companion. "Can you trust this man?" + +"Trust him?" echoed Bob mildly. "I wish I could trust the word of a +white man half as far as I can that of a Sioux. He understands +everything you say." + +"Can he talk English?" asked Bucks in surprise. + +"Better than I can." + +It was with queer sensations that Bucks found himself in a hostile +country and with the deadliest enemies of the white man going into +camp for the night. Within a minute or two after Scott and the wounded +brave had picked a defended camp near a rivulet of water, the two +squaws had a fire going, and they set to work at once dressing an +antelope. + +Savory morsels were cut from choice spots on the carcasses and these +were broiled by impaling them on long sticks over the fire. Bucks, +learning very fast with his eyes, saw how surprisingly small an affair +an Indian camp-fire is, and how much could be done with a few buffalo +chips, if one understood how to keep them renewed. Both safety and +convenience were served by the tiny blaze, and meat never tasted as +good to Bucks as it did on that clear, frosty night, broiled by the +two women and garnished from Bob Scott's provident salt bag. + +After satisfying his ravenous hunger, which the Indians considered not +even a fair appetite, Bucks asked to look at the warrior's injured +arm, explaining that his father had been an army surgeon in the great +white man's war, as Bob Scott designated the Civil War in translating +for the Sioux. The arm, which was badly swollen, he found had indeed +been broken by a bullet near the wrist, but only one bone was +fractured, and, finding no trace of the bullet, the confident young +surgeon offered to set the fracture. + +Iron Hand, nothing loath, accepted the offer, and after cleansing the +wound as well as it could be cleansed in running water hard by, Bucks +took the rough splints handily supplied by Scott's hunting-knife, and +pulling the bone into place with the scout's aid--though the brave +winced a little at the crude surgery--he soon had the forearm set and +was rewarded with a single guttural, "Wa-sha-ta-la!" from the stalwart +warrior, which, Bob explained, meant, "Heap good." + +Sitting afterward by the camp-fire, Scott and Iron Hand, since the +young chief would not talk English, conversed in the Sioux tongue, +the scout translating freely for his younger companion, while the +squaws dressed the second antelope and cut it up for convenience in +carrying on the horses to Casement's camp. Scott reserved only the +hind-quarters of each animal for himself and Bucks, giving the rest to +their hosts. + +When it was late, Scott showed the boy how to pillow his head on his +saddle and then stretched himself out to sleep. Bucks lay a long time +looking up at the stars. When he fell asleep, he woke again very soon. +His companion was sleeping peacefully beside him, and he saw Iron Hand +sitting by the fire. Bucks easily imagined his arm would keep him +awake. The squaws were still broiling pieces of antelope over the +little blaze, which was neither bigger nor smaller than before, and +together with the chief they were still eating. Bucks slumbered and +woke again and again during the night, but always to see the same +thing--the three Indians sitting about the fire, broiling and eating +the welcome and wholly unexpected venison. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Before daybreak the scout roused his companion, and, after breakfast +with the three Sioux, who, according to Bob, were still eating supper, +the two hunters left their chance companions in the canyon, rode +rapidly south, and, with their antelope haunches as trophies, reached +Casement's camp about ten o'clock. + +Stanley, who was conferring with Casement, came out of the tent +greatly amazed at his scout's venturing so far on a hunt as to expose +himself and his companion to danger. + +"We were safe every minute, colonel," declared Scott. + +"Safe?" echoed Stanley incredulously. "No man is safe, Bob, a mile +from the track-layers. The Sioux killed and scalped one of our +engineers not ten miles from here, when we were running this very line +last winter." + +"This lad," nodded Scott, "is as good a shot as I am. He brought down +the first antelope. We get along with the Sioux all right, too, don't +we, Bucks?" he demanded, appealing to his fellow-hunter. "We ate +supper with them last night," he added to mystify his listeners, "and +camped with Iron Hand." + +Even General Casement stared at this and waited to hear Scott tell +Stanley the story of their night's adventure. "However, colonel," +concluded Scott, "there is a war party of Cheyennes near here. It is a +good time to be careful." + +"All right, Bob," retorted Stanley, looking at his scout keenly, +though no one could be angry at Scott long. "You set the example." + +The words were hardly out of his mouth when an operator came running +down the track from the telegraph tent with a message for General +Casement. It contained word from the operator at Peace River that +section men reported a war party of Indians, crossing the railroad +near Feather Creek, had attacked an emigrant party camped there. + +In an instant the whole construction camp had the news and the work +was thrown into confusion. Feather Creek was twenty miles away. Orders +flew fast. A special train was made up, and Stanley taking command, +with Casement to aid, made ready instantly to leave for the scene of +the disaster. + +The men running from the grade fell into line like veteran soldiers. +Indeed, most of them had seen service in the war just closed and the +smell of powder was no novelty. Bob Scott turned the venison over to +Oliver and loaded his horse in the car with those of the cavalrymen. +Under Stanley's orders he himself rode as pilot in the cab with the +engine crew. Bucks also reported to Stanley, and within twenty minutes +the relief train carrying two hundred men was plunging down the long +hill toward Feather Creek. Heads were craned out of the car windows, +and in rounding every curve Bucks, with the scout Leon Sublette, +sitting greatly wrought up behind Stanley and Casement, expected +momentarily to see Cheyenne war bonnets spring up out of the stunted +cedars that lined the hills along the right of way. + +But not a sign could be seen of any living thing. The train reached +Feather Creek, and slowly crossed the bridge before Scott signalled +the engineman to stop. His eye had detected the scene of the fight, +and the ground beyond--a low cut--was favorable for getting the men +safely out of the cars. + +As the engine slowed, a little scene of desolation beside the right of +way met Bucks's eye, and he caught sight of the ghastly battle-field. +A frightened section crew emerged from the wild-plum thickets along +the creek bottom, as the cavalrymen, followed by Casement's armed men, +poured out of the three cars. Stanley with his scouts led the way to +the emigrant camp, where the fight had taken place. The wagons had +been burned, the horses run off, and the three unfortunate men +butchered. + +Bucks experienced a shock when Scott came upon the three dead men +whose mutilated bodies had been dragged from the scene by the section +men and who lay with covered faces side by side under a little +plum-tree, fragrant with blossoms and alive with the hum of bees. The +sunshine and the beauty of the spot contrasted strangely with the +revolting spectacle upon the grass. + +Stanley gave the orders by which the bodies were conveyed to the train +and with the scouts and cavalrymen reconnoitering the surrounding +country, Casement's men lay on their arms in the shade of the cut. +Dancing rigged a pony instrument to the telegraph wires, which had not +been disturbed, and Bucks transmitted messages to Fort Kearney +advising the commanding officer of the murders and adding afterward +the report of Scott and Sublette as to the direction the marauders had +taken in flight. + +"Who were the beasts, Bob, that could treat men like that?" demanded +Bucks in an angry undertone, when he had clicked the messages over the +wires. + +"Bad Indians," answered Scott sententiously. "You have that kind of +white men, don't you? These fellows are probably Turkey Leg's thieving +Cheyennes. We shall hear more of them." + +In the meantime the scouts and the cavalry detail rode out again +trying to unmask the Cheyennes, but without success. It was a week +before they were even heard of, and after an all-day attempt to do +something, the train backed up to camp and work was resumed as if +nothing had happened. + +After waiting a few days, Stanley, always restive under idleness, +determined to push on across the Sweet Grass country with horses, to +learn how the timber cutters on the river were faring with their +slender military guard. The party, consisting of the detail of ten men +and the two scouts and Bucks, started one morning at sunrise and made +their way without molestation into the little-known mountain range +called then, as far south as Colorado, the Black Hills. + +Stanley explained to Bucks during the morning how the chief +engineering difficulty of the whole transcontinental line confronted +the engineers right where they were now riding. Here the mountains +were thrown abruptly above the plain to a great height and the +locating engineers were still at their wits' ends to know how to +climb the tremendous ascent with practicable grades. Stanley became +so interested in studying the country during the day, as the +difficulties of the problem presented themselves afresh to him, that +the party made slow progress. Camp was pitched early in the afternoon +under a ridge that offered some natural features for defence. Here the +cavalrymen were left, and Stanley, taking Scott, started out after +some venison for supper. Bucks stood by, looking eager as the two made +ready for the hunt. + +"Come along if you like," said Stanley at length. "You won't be happy, +Bucks, till you get lost somewhere in this country." + +Sublette lent Bucks a rifle, and the three men set out together, +riding rapidly into the rough hills to the northwest. Scott covered +the ground fast, but he searched in vain for sign of antelope. +"Indians have been all over this divide," he announced after much hard +riding and a failure to find any game. "It doesn't look like venison +for supper to-night, colonel. Stop!" he added suddenly. + +His companions, surprised by the tone of the last word, halted. +Leaning over his pony's neck the scout was reading the rocky soil. He +dismounted, and walking on, leading his horse, he inspected, very +carefully, the ground toward a dry creek bed opening to the east. + +He was gone perhaps five minutes. "Colonel," he said, smiling +reassuringly, when he returned, "this is no place for us." + +"Indians," said Stanley tersely. + +"Cheyennes. Back to camp." + +"Down the creek?" suggested Stanley. + +"The bottom is alive with Indians." + +"Up then, Bob?" + +"Their camp is just above the bend. They have spotted our trail, too, +somehow. It may be they are riding easy to close in on us," smiled +Scott, while Bucks's hair began to pull. "Our way out is over this +divide." He indicated the rough country east of the creek as he +spoke. + +"Divide!" exclaimed Stanley, looking up at the practically sheer walls +of rock that hedged the course of the creek. "We can't climb those +hills, if we never get out." + +"They're not quite so bad as they look. Anyway, colonel, we've got +to." + +"They can pick us off our horses like monkeys all the way up!" + +"It's a chance for our scalps, colonel. And it will be as hard riding +for them as it is for us." + +Stanley looked at Bucks with perplexity. "This boy!" + +"I can make it, Colonel Stanley," exclaimed Bucks, who felt he must +say something. + +Stanley still hesitated. + +"We've no time to lose," smiled Scott significantly. + +"Then go ahead, Bob." + +They had half a mile of comparatively level ground to cross before +they began their climb, and this strip they rode very hard. When they +reached the hills, Scott headed for a forbidding-looking canyon and +urged his horse without ceasing through the rocky wash that strewed +its floor. Stanley, with an excellent mount, could have kept well up, +but he had put Bucks ahead of him in the safe place of the little +procession, and the boy had difficulty in keeping within call of +their active leader. The minute they were out of sight of the creek +bottoms, Scott, choosing an apparently unscalable ascent, urged his +horse up one of the canyon walls and the three were soon climbing in +order. + +Happily, Bucks's scrub horse gave a better account of himself in +climbing than he had done in covering better ground. As their horses +stumbled hurriedly along the narrow ledges, they made noise enough to +wake the Indian dead and the loose rock tumbled with sinister echoes +down the canyon wall. But progress was made, and the white men felt +only anxious lest pursuit should catch them exposed on the uncovered +height up which they were fast clambering. + +Secure in their escape, the three were nearing the coveted top when a +yell echoed through the canyon from below. There was no mistaking such +a yell. Bucks, who had never heard anything so ferocious, had no need +to be told what it was--it, so to say, introduced itself. And it was +answered by another yell, more formidable still, and again by a +chorus of yells. Then it seemed to Bucks's unaccustomed ears as if a +thousand lusty throats were opened, and scared rigid he looked behind +him and saw the canyon below alive with warriors. + +They were riding helter-skelter to reach a range where they could pick +the fugitives off the crest of the canyon side. Within a minute, +almost, their rifles were cracking. Scott had already reached a point +of concealment, and above the heads of Bucks and Stanley fired his +rifle in answer. An Indian brave, riding furiously to a rock that +would have commanded Stanley and Bucks as they urged their horses on, +started in his saddle as Scott fired and clutched his side instantly +with his rifle hand. His pony bolted as the half-hitch of the rawhide +thong on its lower jaw was loosened and the rider, toppling, fell +heavily backward to the ground. The riderless horse dashed on. The +yelling Indians had had their blunt warning and now scurried for +cover. The interval, short as it was, gave Bucks and Stanley a +chance. + +Spurring relentlessly and crouching low on their horses' necks, they +made a dash across the exposed wall of rock near the top, that lay +between them and safety. A renewed yell echoed the rage and chagrin of +their pursuers, and a quick fire of scattering shots followed their +rapid flight, but the Indians were confused, and Bucks, followed by +his soldier champion, flung himself from his saddle in the clump of +cedars behind which Scott, safely hidden, was reloading his rifle. +Choosing his opportunity carefully, Stanley fired at once at an +exposed brave and succeeded in disabling him. Bucks was forbidden to +shoot and told to hold his rifle, if it were needed, in readiness for +his companions. With the bullets cutting the twigs above their heads, +Stanley and Scott held a council of war. Scott insisted on remaining +behind to check their pursuers where they were, while the two with him +rode on to safety. + +"I can hold this bunch, colonel," declared Scott briefly. "There may +not be a second chance as good. Get on with the boy before another +party cuts you off. They can cross below us and save two or three +miles. Get away." + +"But how will you get away?" demanded Bucks. + +Stanley laughed. "Never mind Bob. He could crawl through a Cheyenne +village with a camp-fire on his back. It's what to do with you, Bucks, +that bothers us." + +"Just you get on, colonel," urged Bob. "I'll manage all right. Leave +your horse," he added, turning to Bucks, "and you take mine." + +Bucks protested and refused to leave Scott with an inferior mount, but +his protests were of no avail. He was curtly directed by Stanley to do +as he was told, and unwillingly he turned his horse over to Scott and +took the scout's better steed. Scott added hurried and explicit +directions to Stanley as to the course to follow back to camp, and +without loss of time Stanley and Bucks crouching behind friendly rocks +led their horses up the inner canyon wall and, remounting at the top, +galloped hurriedly down a long ridge. + +At intervals, shots from the Indians reached their ears, and +long-drawn yells, followed by the sharper crack of Scott's rifle, +echoed from the west as the scout held the wall against the enemy. +Bucks did not understand the real danger that the scout feared for +his party. It was that other parties of the marauding Cheyennes might, +by following the creek, gain the divide in time to cut off the +railroad men from their line of escape. The sounds of the stubborn +contest behind them died away as their straining horses gradually put +miles between them and the enemy. The fugitives had reached the summit +of the hills and with a feeling of safety were easing their pace when +Bucks discerned, almost directly ahead of them, dark objects moving +slowly along the foot of a wooded hill. The two men halted. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +"Indians," announced Stanley after a brief moment of inspection. + +"We are cut off," he added, looking alertly over the landscape about +them. "This way, Bucks. Ride as low as you can." Without further words +he made an abrupt turn to the right, striking south to get behind a +friendly butte that rose half a mile away. + +"The question now is," said Stanley, as they held their horses up a +little after getting somewhat farther out of sight, "whether they have +likewise seen us." + +The harried pair were not long in doubt. They had hardly changed their +course when there was immediate activity on the hill-side. The +railroad men spurred on; the distant horsemen, now on their flank, +dashed out upon the broad slope that lay between the two parties and +rode straight and hard after the fleeing men. Stanley steadied his +inexperienced companion as the latter urged his horse. "Not too hard +just now. Your pony will need all his wind. It's a question of getting +away with our scalps and we must be careful. Follow me." + +Bucks's heart, as he looked back, crowded up into his throat. A long +skirmish line of warriors had spread across the unbroken plateau to +the east, and Stanley, with nothing but instinct for a guide, was +making at top speed to the south to get away from them. + +As the two dashed on, they found to their consternation that the +country was growing smoother and affording fewer hiding-places from +the sharp eyes behind them. Stanley knew they must either ride through +the hills ahead or perish. He sought vainly for some break in the +great black wall of low-lying mountains toward which they were riding, +yet from what he knew of the country he hardly dared hope for one. + +He had reconnoitred these hills time after time when running the +railroad lines and knew pretty well where he was. The pursuers, too, +apparently sure of their prey, rode hard, gradually lessening the +distance that separated them from the wary soldier and his companion. +The Indians had ceased yelling now. It was beyond that. But even in +his excitement and fear the inexperienced boy could not but admire the +composure and daring of his companion. + +As Stanley glanced now and again back at his enraged enemies he was +every inch a soldier. And he watched the distance between the +Cheyennes and himself as coolly as if calculating a mere problem in +geometry. While saving every possible breath for his horses, he yet +managed to keep the Cheyennes at a distance. The Indians, bent on +overhauling the fleeing men before they could reach even the scant +protection of the scattered timber they were now approaching, +redoubled their efforts to cut off the escape. + +Forced by the desperation of his circumstances, Stanley bent more and +more to the west of south, even though in doing so he seemed to be +getting into a more hopeless country. The veteran campaigner eyed +Bucks's horse carefully as he turned in his saddle, but Scott's wiry +beast appeared quite fresh, and Stanley, turning his eyes, again swept +the horizon for a friendly break in the black walls ahead. As he did +so he was startled to see, directly in front, Indians riding at full +speed out of the hills he was heading for. He reined his galloping +horse and turned straight into the west. + +"Bucks," he exclaimed, looking with concern at the rider now by his +side, "it's a case of obey orders now. If I stop at any time, you ride +straight on--do you understand? You've got a revolver?" Bucks tapped +the big Colt at his side. "Don't let them take you alive. And hold +your last shot till a buck rides in for your scalp." + +The straining horses seemed to understand the sharp words that passed +from saddle to saddle. The Indians were already within gunshot, but +too sure of their game to lose any time in shooting; nor was Stanley +willing to waste a shot upon them. As he dodged in between a broken +wall of granite and a scrubby clump of cedars, closely followed by +Bucks, their pursuers could have picked either man from his saddle. + +Stanley had no longer any fixed purpose of escape. He meant merely to +dismount when he could ride no farther and sell his life as best he +could, while Bucks took such further chance of escape as his +companion's last stand might afford. The hard-driven fighter was even +looking for a well-placed rock to drop behind, when the horse plunging +under him lurched to one side of the cedars and a gulf in the walls +suddenly opened before his surprised rider. + +A rotten ledge of burned granite seemed to head a mountain wash +directly in their path. There was a sheer drop of twenty feet to the +crumbling slope of disintegrated stone under the head of the draw +itself, but Stanley, without looking back, never hesitated. Urging his +panting horse, he made a flying leap down into space, and horse and +rider landed knee-deep in the soft, gravelly granite below them. + +Bucks's mustang shied on the brink. He spurred him excitedly, and the +trembling beast, nerving himself, leaped far out over the ledge, +following Stanley so closely that he almost struck him with his hoofs +as he went flying over the engineer's head. Bucks rolled headlong as +his horse plunged into the loose débris. He scrambled to his feet and, +spitting the gravel from between his bruised lips, caught the bridle +of his horse as the latter righted himself. + +No legs were broken and much was already gained. + +"Quick!" cried Stanley. "Ride for your life!" he shouted as Bucks +regained his saddle. The two spurred at the same time and dashed down +the draw at breakneck speed just as the Indians yelling on the brink +of the ledge stopped to pour a volley after the desperate men. Unable +to land an effective shot, the Cheyennes, nothing daunted, and +hesitating only a moment, plunged over the precipice after their +quarry. + +But they had lost their great advantage. The dry watercourse proved +unexpectedly good riding for the fleeing railroad men. It was a +downhill run, with their hopes rising every moment. Moreover, the draw +soon turned sharply to the south and put a big shoulder of granite +between the pursuers and the pursued. The horses of the latter were +now relieved, and the wary Stanley, riding with some reserve speed, +held his rifle ready for a stern shot should one become necessary. He +found himself riding between two almost perpendicular walls washed by +the same granite gravel into which they had plunged on the start, but +with the course again turning, to his surprise, to the east. Once, +Stanley checked the flight long enough to stop and listen, but the two +heard the active Indians clattering down the canyon after them, and +rode on and on. + +As they could see by the lengthening shadow on the mountain-sides far +above them, the sun was setting. + +"Cheer up," cried Stanley, who had put his companion ahead of him. +"We've got the best of them. All we need is open country." + +He did not mention the chances of disaster, which were that they might +encounter an obstacle that would leave them at bay before their +tireless pursuers. Mile after mile they galloped without halting again +to see whether they were being chased. Indeed, no distance seemed too +considerable to put between them and the active war-paint in the +saddles behind. + +A new turn in the canyon now revealed a wide valley opening between +the hills before them. Far below, golden in the light of the setting +sun, they saw the great eastern slope of the Black Hills spreading out +upon a beautiful plain. + +Stanley swung his hat from his head with an exulting cry, and Bucks, +without quite understanding why, but assuming it the right thing to +do, yelled his loudest. On and on they rode, down a broad, spreading +ridge that led without a break from the tortuous hills behind them +into the open country far below. Stanley put full ten miles between +himself and the canyon they had ridden out of before he checked his +speed. The Indians had completely disappeared and, disappointed in +their venture, had no doubt ridden back to their fastnesses to wait +for other unwary white men. Stanley chose a little draw with good +water and grass, and night was just falling as they picketed their +exhausted horses and stretched themselves, utterly used up, on the +grass. + +"We are safe until morning, anyway," announced Stanley as he threw +himself down. "And this Indian chase may be the luckiest thing that +has ever happened to me in the troublesome course of an unlucky life. + +"You don't understand," continued the engineer, wiping the sweat and +dust from his tired face. Bucks admitted that he did not. + +"No matter," returned his companion; "it isn't necessary now. You will +sometime. But I think I have done in the last hour something I have +been trying to do for years. Many others have likewise failed in the +same quest." + +Bucks listened with growing interest. + +"Yes, for years," Stanley went on, "incredible as it may sound, I have +been searching these mountains for just such a crevice as we have this +moment ridden down. You see how this range"--the exhausted engineer +stretched flat on his back, but, with burning eyes, pointed to the +formidable mountain wall that rose behind them in the dusk of the +western sky--"rises abruptly from the plains below. Our whole grade +climb for the continental divide is right here, packed into these few +miles. Neither I nor any one else has ever been able to find such a +pass as we need to get up into it. But if we have saved our scalps, my +boy, you will share with me the honor of finding the pass for the +Union Pacific Railroad over the Rocky Mountains." + +They were supperless, but it was very exciting, and Bucks was +extremely happy. Stanley watched that night until twelve. When he woke +Bucks the moon was rising and the ghostly peaks in the west towered +sentinel-like above the plains flooded with silver. The two were to +move at one o'clock when the moon would be high enough to make riding +safe. It was cold, but fire was forbidden. + +The horses were grazing quietly, and Bucks, examining his revolver, +which he had all the time felt he was wretchedly incompetent to shoot, +sat down beside Stanley, already fast asleep, to stand his watch. He +had lost Sublette's rifle in falling into the wash-out. At least he +had found no leisure to pick it up and save his hair in the same +instant, and he wondered now how much he should have to pay for the +rifle. + +When the sun rose next morning the two horsemen were far out of the +foot-hills and bearing northeast toward camp--so far had their ride +for life taken them from their hunting ground. They scanned the +horizon at intervals, with some anxiety, for Indians, and again with +the hope of sighting their missing guide. Once they saw a distant herd +of buffalo, and Bucks experienced a shock until assured by Stanley +that the suspicious objects were neither Cheyennes nor Sioux. + +By nine o'clock they had found the transcontinental telegraph line and +had a sure trail to follow until they discovered the grade stakes of +the railroad, and soon descried the advance-guard of the graders busy +with plough and shovel and scraper. As they rode into camp the very +first man to emerge from Casement's tent, with his habitual smile, was +Bob Scott. + +Casement himself, who had heard Scott's story when the latter had come +in at daybreak, was awaiting Stanley's return with anxiety, but this +was all forgotten in the great news Stanley brought. Sublette and +Scott now returned to the hunting camp for the cavalry detail, and, +reinforced by these, the two heroes of the long flight rode back to +reconnoitre their escape from the mountains. Bucks rode close to Bob +Scott and learned how the scout had outwitted his assailants at the +canyon, and how after they had all ridden out of it, he had ridden +into it and retraced with safety in the night the path that the +hunters had followed in riding into the hill country. + +The second ride through the long defile, which itself was now the +object of so much intense inspection, Bucks found much less exciting +than the first. The party even rode up to where the first flying leap +had been made, and to Bucks's joy found Sublette's rifle still in the +wash; it had been overlooked by the Indians. + +What surprised Bucks most was to find how many hours it took to cover +the ground that Stanley and he had negotiated in seemingly as many +minutes. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +After a week in Casement's camp, Stanley and his cavalrymen, +accompanied by Dancing, Scott, and Bucks, struck north and east toward +the Spider Water River to find out why the ties were not coming down +faster. Rails had already been laid across the permanent Spider Water +Bridge--known afterward as the first bridge, for the big river +finished more than one structure before it was completely subdued--and +the rail-laying was hampered only by the lack of ties. + +The straggling bands of Cheyennes had in the interval been driven out +of the foot-hills by troops sent against them, and Stanley and his +little escort met with no trouble on his rapid journey. + +Toward evening of the second day a broad valley opened on the plain +before them, and in the sunset Bucks saw, winding like a silver thread +far up toward the mountains, the great stream about which he had +already heard so much. Camp was pitched on a high bluff that +commanded the valley in both directions for many miles, and after +supper Scott and Bucks rode down to the river. + +In its low-water stage nothing could have looked more sluggish or more +sleepily deceptive than the mighty and treacherous stream. Scott and +his companions always gave the river the name the Sioux had long ago +given it because of its sudden, ravening floods and its deadly traps +laid for such unwary men or animals as trusted its peaceful promise +and slept within reach of its cruel power. + +Standing in the glow of the evening sky in this land where the clear, +bright light seemed to lift him high above the earth, Bucks looked at +the yellow flood long and thoughtfully--as well he might--for the best +of his life was to be spent within ken of its flow and to go in doing +battle with it himself, or in sending faithful men to its battling, +sometimes to perish within its merciless currents. + +Next morning as the party, following a trail along the bluffs, rode up +in the direction of the contractors' camps they discerned out on the +river bottom a motley cluster of tents and shanties pitched under a +hill. A number of flatboats lay in the backwater behind the bend and a +quantity of ties corded along the bank indicated a loading-place, but +no one seemed to be doing any loading. The few men that could be seen +in the distance appeared to be loafing in the sunshine along the +straggling street-way that led to the river. Stanley checked his +horse. + +"What place is that?" he demanded of Scott. + +"That," returned the guide, "is Sellersville." + +"Sellersville," echoed Stanley. "What is Sellersville?" + +"Sellersville is where they bring most of the ties for the boats." + +"Have they started a town down there on the bottoms?" + +"They have started enough saloons and gambling dens to get the money +from the men that are chopping ties." + +Stanley contemplated for a moment the ill-looking settlement. A mile +farther on they encountered a number of men following the trail up +the river. + +A small dog barked furiously at the Stanley party as they came up, and +acted as if he were ready to fight every trooper in the detail. He +dashed back and forth, barking and threatening so fiercely that every +one's attention was drawn to him. + +Stanley stopped the leader and found he was a tie-camp foreman from +up-river taking men to camp. "Is that your dog?" demanded Stanley, +indicating the belligerent animal who seemed set upon eating somebody +alive. + +"Why, yes," admitted the foreman philosophically. "He sort o' claims +me, I guess." + +"What do you keep a cur like that around for?" + +"Can't get rid of him," returned the foreman. "He is no good, but the +boys like his impudence. Down, Scuffy!" he cried, looking for a stick +to throw at his pet. + +Bucks surveyed the company of men. They were a sorry-looking lot. The +foreman explained that he had dragged them out of the dens at +Sellersville to go back to work. When remonstrated with for the poor +showing the contractors were making, the foreman pointed to the +plague-spot on the bottoms. + +"There's the reason you are not getting any ties," said he lazily. +"We've got five hundred men at work up here; that is, they are +supposed to be at work. These whiskey dives and faro joints get them +the minute they are paid, and for ten days after pay-day we can't get +a hundred men back to camp." + +The foreman as he spoke looked philosophically toward the canvas +shanties below. "I spend half my time chasing back and forth, but I +can't do much. They hold my men until they have robbed them, and then +if they show fight they chuck them into the river. It's the same with +the flatboat men." He turned, as he continued, to indicate two +particularly wretched specimens. "These fellows were drugged and +robbed of every dollar they brought here before they got to work at +all." + +Stanley likewise gazed thoughtfully upon the cluster of tents and +shacks along the river landing. He turned after a moment to Scott. +"Bob," said he, looking back again toward the river, "what gang do you +suppose this is?" + +Scott shook his head. "That I couldn't say, Colonel Stanley." + +"Suppose," continued Stanley, still regarding the offending +settlement, "you and Dancing reconnoitre them a little and tell me who +they are. We will wait for you." + +Scott and the lineman swung into their saddles and started down the +trail that led to the landing. Stanley spoke again to the foreman. +"Can those men use an axe?" he demanded, indicating the two men that +the foreman asserted had been robbed. + +"They are both old choppers--but this gang at Sellersville stole even +their axes." + +"Leave these two men here with me," directed Stanley as he watched +Scott and Dancing ride down toward Sellersville. "I may have something +for them to chop after a while." + +The foreman assented. "I don't like the bunch," he murmured; "but +nobody at our camp wants to tackle them. What can we do?" + +While the foreman continued to talk, Stanley again looked over the +human wrecks that he had rounded up and brought out of Sellersville. +"What can we do?" echoed Stanley, repeating the last question tartly. +"Well, I'll tell you one thing we can do. We can throw Sellersville +into the river." + +Dancing and Scott were gone half an hour. The report, when they +returned, was not encouraging. "It is a bunch of cutthroats from +Medicine Bend, colonel," said Bob Scott. + +"All friends of yours, I presume, Bob," returned Stanley. + +The scout only smiled. "John Rebstock is there with his following. But +the boss, I think, is big George Seagrue. He is mean, you know. George +has got two or three men to his credit." + +"Are we enough to clean them out, Bob?" inquired Stanley impatiently. + +Scott looked around and his eye rested for a moment on Dancing. He +hitched his trousers. "There's about thirty men down there. I expect," +he continued reflectively, "we can take care of them if we have to." + +Stanley turned to the sergeant of his troopers. "Pitch a permanent +camp, sergeant. There will be nothing to take us any farther up the +river." + +As Stanley gave the order Bucks noticed that Dancing winked at Scott. +And without the meaning glances exchanged by the lineman and the +scout, Bucks would have understood from Stanley's manner that he meant +strong measures. Stanley sent a further message to the contractor, and +the foreman, followed by his convoy of humanity, started on. The +soldiers, foreseeing a lively scene, stripped their pack-horses and +set at work pitching their tents. + +Leaving four men in camp, the engineer, accompanied by his escort, +rode down the bluffs and, striking a lumber road, galloped rapidly +through the poplar bottom-lands toward the gamblers' camp. It was an +early tour for human wolves to be stirring, and the invaders clattered +into Sellersville before they attracted any attention. + +A bugler, however, riding into the middle of the settlement, sounded a +trumpet call, and at the unwonted notes frowsy, ill-shaped heads +appeared at various shanty doors and tent-flaps to see what was +doing. Stanley sent one man from door to door to notify the inmates of +each shelter to pack up their effects and make ready to move without +delay. + +Five troopers were detailed to guard three gambling tents that stood +together in the middle of the camp, each of these being flanked by +smaller dens. Word was then passed to the gamblers and saloon-keepers +to line up on the river front. + +Stanley regarded the gathering crowd with a cold eye. Scott, who stood +near Bucks, pointed out a square-shouldered man with a deep scar +splitting one cheek. "Do you know that fellow, Bucks?" he asked in an +undertone. + +"No; who is he?" + +"That is a Medicine Bend confidence man, Perry. Do you remember the +woman you helped out with a ticket to Iowa? Perry is her husband--the +man that Dave Hawk made pay up." + +Perry was a type of the Sellersville crowd now being evicted. There +was much talk as the soldiers urged and drove the gang out of one +haunt after another and a good deal of threatening as the leaders +marched out in front of Stanley. + +"Who is running this camp?" demanded the officer curtly. The men +looked at one another. A fat, slow-moving man with small blue eyes and +a wheezy voice answered: "Why, no one in particular, colonel. We're +just a-camping in a bunch. What's a-matter? Seagrue here," he nodded +to a sharp-jawed companion, "and Perry," he added, jerking his thumb +toward the scarred-faced man, "and me own these two big tents in +partners." + +"What's your name?" + +"My name's Rebstock." + +"Produce the axes stolen here from these two men," said Stanley, +indicating the choppers behind him. There was a jangle of talk between +Rebstock and his associates, and Perry, much against his inclination, +was despatched to hunt up the axes. It was only a moment before he +returned with them. + +Rebstock, with a show of virtue, reprimanded Perry severely for +harboring the men that had stolen the axes. "Sorry it happened, +colonel," he grumbled, after he had abused the thieves roundly in a +general way, "and I'll see it doesn't happen again. We can't watch +everybody in a place like this. Tell your men," he continued, +expanding his chest, "to leave their axes with me when they come to +Sellersville--what?" + +The assurances were lost on Stanley. "Rebstock," said he, in a tone +that Bucks had not heard before from him, "take your personal effects, +all of you--and nothing else--and load them on a flatboat. I will give +you one hour to get-out of here." + +Rebstock almost fell over backward. He wheezed in amazement. There was +an outburst of indignant protests. A dozen men clamored at once. Perry +rushed forward to threaten Stanley; others cursed and defied him. + +"Who are you, and what do you mean giving orders like that?" demanded +Seagrue, confronting him angrily. + +"No matter who I am, you will obey the orders. And you can't take any +tents or gambling apparatus or liquors. Pack up your clothes and camp +stuff--nothing else--and get out." + +If a bombshell had dropped into Sellersville, consternation could not +have been more complete. But it became quickly apparent that not all +of the gang would surrender without a fight. The leaders retreated for +a hurried consultation. + +Rebstock walked back presently and confronted Stanley. "What's your +law for this?" he demanded, breathless with anger. + +Stanley pointed to the ground under their feet. + +"What's your title to this land, Rebstock? It belongs to the railroad +that those ties belong to. Where is your license from the United +States Government to sell whiskey here? You are trespassers and +outlaws, with no rights that any decent man ought to respect. You and +your gang are human parasites, and you are going to be stripped and +sent down the river as fast as these flatboats will carry you." + +Without waiting for any rejoinder, Stanley turned on his heel and +walked away, leaving Rebstock speechless. The threats against the +intruders continued, but Stanley paid no attention to any of them. +Scott and the five troopers faced the gamblers. Stanley called to the +two wood-choppers, who stood near with their axes, and pointed to the +gambling tents. + +"Chop up every wheel and table in there you can find," said he. + +A cry went up from Perry when he heard the order, but the axemen, +nothing loath, sprang inside to their work, and the crashing of the +gambling furniture resounded through the alarmed camp. Stanley made no +delay of his peremptory purpose. The tent attacked belonged to +Seagrue, who, common report averred, feared nothing and nobody, while +the gambling implements were Perry's. + +Seagrue rushed to his property, revolver in hand. Bill Dancing, who +stood at Stanley's side, stepped into his way. + +"Hold on, Seagrue," he said. The gambler, fully as large a man as +Dancing, faced his opponent with his features fixed in rage. "Get +away," he shouted, "or I will knock your head off." + +All eyes centred on the two men. Every one realized that open war was +on and that it needed only a spark to start the shooting. The +gamblers, rallying to Seagrue, backed him with oaths and threats. + +"Seagrue, put down that pistol or I'll wring your neck," returned the +lineman, baring his right arm as he sauntered toward the outlaw. +Bucks, beside Stanley, stood transfixed as he watched Dancing. The +lineman's revolver was slung in the holster at his side. + +Seagrue hesitated. He saw Bob Scott standing in the doorway of the +gambling tent with his rifle lying carelessly over his arm. He was +actually covering Seagrue where he stood--and Seagrue knew that Bob +Scott was deadly with a rifle. But Dancing was walking directly up to +him and Seagrue dared not be shamed before his own associates. He +jumped back to fire, but it was too late. + +Dancing caught his wrist. Both were men of great strength, and their +muscles knotted as they grappled. It was only after a moment that the +lineman could be seen to gain. Then, as he bent the gambler's arm +back, he suddenly released it and struck the revolver out of his hand. +Seagrue, with a curse, sprang back, and drawing a knife rushed for the +second time at the lineman. Dancing jumped to one side. As he did so +he seized an axe from the hand of one of the choppers and turned again +on Seagrue. The gambler made a lunge at his throat, but as he threw +himself forward, Dancing, springing away, brought the axe around like +a flash and laid it flat across his assailant's forearm. The knife +flew twenty feet, and before the gambler could recover himself the +railroad man with one hand like a vice on his throat bore him to the +ground. + +"Give me a piece of rope," muttered Dancing as Stanley ran up. + +[Illustration: IT WAS ONLY AFTER A MOMENT THAT THE LINEMAN COULD BE SEEN +TO GAIN.] + +Bob Scott slashed a tent guy and handed it to him. In another minute +Dancing, in spite of Seagrue's struggles, had lashed his prisoner hand +and foot. Picking him up bodily, he walked unopposed to the landing, +and to the astonishment of the spectators heaved Seagrue with scant +ceremony into a flatboat. There a trooper kept him quiet. Walking +back, the lineman brushed the dust of the encounter from his arms as +if to invite any further Sellersville champion to come forward. But +John Rebstock, the really responsible head of the place, showed no +desire to meet Dancing, and Perry, the sneak of the trio, only ranted +while Rebstock stood at a respectable distance wheezing his surprise +at the tremendous exhibition of strength. And the work of destruction +went forward. + +Adjoining the Seagrue tent stood a saloon in which the men were now +ordered to demolish the stock. This renewed the excitement among +Rebstock's followers. + +"Don't waste any time," was Stanley's order. "They may rush us. Knock +in the head of a keg of whiskey, pour it over the bar, and burn the +shanty." + +The gamblers were, in fact, mustering for a charge on the invaders. +Before they could act the saloon was ablaze and the flames, rising +amid the yells and execrations of its owners, leaped to the big tent +adjoining. In front of this the soldiers in a skirmish line held back +the scurrying outlaws. Within a few moments Sellersville was ablaze +from end to end and its population, including Perry and Rebstock, +driven to the flatboats, were floating with threats and curses down +the muddy current of the Spider Water. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +Stanley's next camp was pitched down the river where the overland +telegraph line crossed the Spider Water, and Bucks, installed in a +smart army tent with a cracker-box for a stool and a packing-case for +an instrument table, was, through Dancing's efforts, put in +communication by wire with Medicine Bend and the west country as far +as Sleepy Cat, where the War Department was establishing an army +post. + +Stanley, with Bob Scott, now spent a great deal of time in the saddle +between the bridge and the upper tie-camps, and his presence made +itself felt in the renewed energy everywhere apparent among the +contractors and their men. Bucks, chained to a wire, as he expressed +it, found the days dragging again and would much rather have been at +liberty to ride with Scott, who, when free, hunted in the foot-hills. + +One day Bucks was sitting alone in his tent, looking for the +hundredth time over a worn copy of _Harper's Weekly_ that he had +picked up at Casement's camp, when a dog put his nose in the tent +door. A glance revealed merely a disconsolate, unpromising cur, yet +Bucks thought he had seen the dog before and was interested. He seemed +of an all-over alkali-brown hue, scant of hair, scant of tail, and +with only melancholy dewlap ears to suggest a strain of nobler blood +in an earlier ancestry. He looked in with the furtive eye of the +tramp, and as if expecting that a boot or a club would most probably +be his welcome. + +But Bucks at the moment was lonely--as lonely as the dog himself--and +as the two fixed their eyes intently on each other, Bucks remembered +that this was the tie foreman's dog, Scuffy. + +Scuffy had appeared at the psychological moment. Bucks regarded him in +silence, and the dog perceiving no immediate danger of assault stood, +in silence, returning Bucks's stare. Then watching the boy's eye +carefully, the dog cocked his head just the least bit to one side. It +was a mute appeal, but a moving one. Bucks continued, however, his +non-committal scrutiny, recalling that the foreman had said nothing +good of Scuffy, and the homeless cur stood in doubt as to his +reception. But realizing, perhaps, that he had nothing to lose and +everything to gain, the little vagabond played his last card--he +wagged his stubby tail. + +A harder heart than Bucks's might have been touched. The operator held +out his hand. No more was needed; the melancholy tramp stepped +cautiously forward waving his alert flag of truce. He sniffed long and +carefully as he neared Bucks, looked solicitously into the boy's eyes, +and then smelt and licked the proffered hand. It was a token of +submission as plainly expressed as when Friday, kneeling, placed +Robinson Crusoe's foot on his head. Bucks reached into a paper bag +that Bill Dancing had left on the table and gave the dog a cracker. + +Scuffy snapped up the offering like one starving. A second cracker and +a third disappeared at single gulps. For the length of the dog, the +size of his mouth appeared enormous. In a moment the cracker-bag was +emptied and Scuffy again licked the friendly hand. It did not take +Bucks long to decide what to do. In another moment he had resolved to +adopt his tramp visitor. The day happened to be Friday, and Bucks at +once renamed him Friday. When Dancing, who had been with Bob Scott +hunting, came in late that night he found Bucks asleep and Scuffy +lying in Dancing's own bed, from which he was ejected only after the +most vigorous language on his own part as well as on that of the +lineman. Even then, Scuffy retreated only as far as Bucks's feet, +where he slept for the rest of the night undisturbed. + +"Where did he come from?" growled Dancing in the morning as he sat +with his pipe regarding the intruder, who acted quite at home, with a +critical eye. + +Bucks explained that this was the tie foreman's runaway dog, Scuffy, +and beyond Scuffy's first appearance at the tent door he could tell +him nothing. Scuffy simply and promptly assumed a place in camp and +Bucks became, willy-nilly, his sponsor. But his effort to rename him +came to nothing. Scuffy gave no heed when called "Friday," but for +"Scuffy" he sprang to attention instantly. + +Bill Dancing decided, off-hand, that "the pup" was worthless. Scott, +whose smile was kindly even when sceptical, only corrected Bill to the +extent of saying that Friday or Scuffy, whoever or whatever he might +be, was no pup; that he was a full-grown dog and in Bob's judgment he +would need no guardian. + +One day, shortly after Scuffy had been put upon the pay-roll, Scott +came in from a trip after venison with word that there were black +bears in the hill canyons. The thought of bear's meat aroused every +one, and Stanley suggested a bear hunt. Scott had to send down to +Stanley's ranch at Medicine Bend for his dogs and some delay followed. +But when the three hounds arrived there was excitement enough to +compensate for it. One of the dogs was a big black fellow and his +companions were brown full-bloods. The hounds, one and all, set on +Scuffy the moment they reached camp, and it was only by the most +dexterous manoeuvres that the strange dog escaped being eaten alive. +Indeed, Bob Scott remarked at once that if Scuffy should survive the +greetings of his new comrades he would prove his right to live. The +hounds always set upon him at meal-times, usually chewed him at +bed-time, and harried him at all times. + +To a less hopeful temperament than Scuffy's, life would not have +seemed worth living. It was only Bucks who insured him anything at all +to eat, and the enmity of the big, rangy hounds for the lean and +hungry tramp dog left him no peace save when they were fighting in +dreams. To accept life under such conditions indicated that Scuffy was +a philosopher, and he accepted the conditions cheerfully, filching +what he could of sustenance from the common pot and licking his +troublesome wounds at night after his truculent companions had gone to +sleep. + +As soon as the tie-supply trouble had been lessened Stanley took +things more leisurely and the interval afforded the opportunity for +the delayed bear hunt. Bob Scott and Dancing were to go with Stanley, +and Bucks being freed for one day from his key was invited to be of +the party. All hands were in the saddle by daybreak, and Scott's +hounds were baying and tearing around camp wild with excitement. + +At the last moment a complication arose. Scuffy, who until the moment +of starting had for prudential reasons--that is, to avoid being eaten +up--remained in obscurity, joined the hunters. Every one in turn tried +to drive him back, but long practice had made him expert in dodging +missiles and had rendered him insensible to reproach. The hounds were +too filled with the prospect of sport to pay any attention to Scuffy. +In vain, Bob Scott tried to set them on him and drive him back to +camp. On this occasion, when bullying would plainly have been +justified, no hound would assail Scuffy. Bucks drove him again and +again from the flank of the advance only to have the mortification of +seeing him reappear a mile or two farther along the trail, and it was +at last decided to leave him to his fate at the paw of a bear--which +no one made doubt he was certain to suffer. At that moment Bucks and +Bill Dancing, riding together, saw a deer frightened from a thicket +running toward the river. Bucks jumped from his horse and lifted his +rifle to take a shot, but by the time he was ready to fire the deer +had vanished. + +Led by Scott, the hunters rode at once into the rough country to the +west, where in the mountain fastnesses the bears loved to feed. The +hounds gave tongue vigorously, and Scuffy, who had by this time not +only established himself but had impudently taken the lead and was +heading the pack, barked loudest and longest. + +"Did anybody ever see conceit equal to that?" demanded Stanley. "Look +at that cur leading the hounds." + +Bucks was mortified and expressed his regret. + +"Don't mind him, Bucks," remarked Dancing consolingly. "That dog won't +bother long. The first time the hounds run in, the bear will finish +_him_." + +Bucks did not know precisely what Bill meant by "running in," but he +was not to be long in doubt. The pack struck a fresh trail almost at +once and the hunters had a long ride along a mountain-side covered +with fallen timber and cut by innumerable wash-outs that made the +riding hard and dangerous. Scott found intervals to encourage Bucks, +whose youth and inexperience made his task of keeping up with the +others a difficult one. "Take it easy," said Scott encouragingly as +the operator tried to urge his mount. + +"I am keeping you all back, Bob." + +"Plenty of time. You are doing wonders for mountain-riding. When we +close in on the bear don't be too keen to get near him. You wouldn't +be safe for a minute on your horse if the dogs didn't keep the bear +busy. As long as the dogs worry the bear you are safe. A bear will +never chase a man as long as a dog keeps at him. It's only when the +dogs refuse to go in any longer that the danger begins. When that +happens, look out. Keep a respectful distance all the time and a road +open behind you. That's all there is to a bear fight." + +As he spoke, the hounds yelped sharply and Scott spurred forward. The +hunters were threading a grove of quaking asp and the dogs had come +up with the bear on an opening of shale rock surrounded by down +timber. Throwing his reins and advancing cautiously on foot, Stanley, +followed by his companions, who spread themselves in a wide +semicircle, took his place, the others, as they best could, choosing +their own. + +The bear, a full-grown male, met the onset of the hounds with grim +confidence. The dogs encircled him with a ring of ferocious teeth, +running in from behind whenever they could to nip the huge beast in +the haunches or on the flank. But the surprise of the encounter was +Scuffy. + +"Look," cried Bill Dancing, under whose wing Bucks had taken his post. +"Look at him! Why, the pup is a world-beater!" + +In truth, Scuffy was the liveliest and most impudent dog in the pack, +and when the fight was fully on, managed to worry the angry bear more +than the hounds did. Within a moment the black hound, over-bold, +imprudently rushed the bear in front. A paw darting from the huge +beast caught him like a trip-hammer and stretched him helpless. In +that moment the bear exposed himself to Stanley's rifle and a shot +rang across the mountain-side. Scott watched the result anxiously. But +the slug instead of dropping the bear served only to enrage him. For +an instant the two hounds lost their heads and the infuriated bear +charged Bucks and Bill Dancing. + +The shale opening became a scene of confusion. Exposing himself +recklessly, Scott tried to urge the dogs forward, but they had lost +their nerve. It needed only this to upset everything. The hunters +closed in together, and the critical moment had come; deaf alike to +command and entreaty, the two hounds refused to go in, and Scuffy, +flying wildly about the bear, seemed unable to check him. Dancing +stopped long enough to take one shot, and ran--with Bucks, who had +found no chance to shoot, following. The bear gained fast on the +long-legged lineman and his boy companion. A wash-out, hidden by a +clump of bushes, lay directly in the path of flight. Dancing, +perceiving it, dashed to the left and escaped. He shouted a warning to +Bucks, who, not understanding, plunged straight over the declivity +and sprawled into the wash-out with the bear after him. Catching his +rifle, the boy scrambled to his feet with his pursuer less than twenty +feet away. Between the two there was only open ground, and the bear +was scrambling for Bucks when Scuffy sprang down the shale bank and +confronted the enemy. + +It looked like certain death for Scuffy, but the tramp dog did not +hesitate. He rushed at the bear with a fury of snapping, though not +without a lively respect for the sweep of the brute's fore paws. The +little dog, freeing himself forever in that moment from the stigma of +cur, put up a fight that astonished the big brute. + +Scuffy raced at him first on one side and then on the other, bounding +in and out like a rubber ball, dashing across his front and running +clear around the circling bear, nipping even an occasional mouthful of +hair from his haunches. He made noise enough for a pack of dogs and +simulated a fury that gave the bear the surprise of his life. Bucks +realized that only his four-legged friend stood between him and +destruction and that so unequal a contest could not endure long. +Skilful as the little fellow was, he was pitted against an antagonist +quite as quick and wary. The clumsiness of the bear was no more than +seeming, and any one of the terrific blows he dealt at Scuffy with his +huge paw would have stretched a man lifeless. Bucks, collecting his +disordered faculties, raised his rifle to help his champion with a +shot. His heart beat like a hammer in his throat, but he knew there +was only one thing to do, that was to get the rifle-sights carefully +lined in his eye and shoot when Scuffy gave him an opening. + +It came in a moment when the bear turned to smash Scuffy on his flank. +Bucks fired. To his amazement, no result followed. The failure of the +bear to show any sign of being hit stunned him, and he drew his +revolver, never expecting to escape alive, when two shots rang across +the wash as close together as if fired by the same hand. The bear sank +like a falling tree. Yet he rallied and again rushed for Bucks, +despite Scuffy's stout opposition and the yells from above, and +finally halted only when Bob Scott, jumping into the wash-out, +confronted him with a knife. There was an instant of apprehension, +broken by a third shot from Dancing's rifle across the gully, and the +bear crumpled lifeless almost at Scott's feet. + +The scout turned to Bucks as he stood dazed by his narrow escape. +Stanley, above, shouted. And Bill Dancing, carrying his empty rifle, +and with his face bleeding from the briers, made his way down the +opposite side of the wash. Scuffy, mounting the body of his dead foe, +barked furiously. + +The little dog was the real hero of the encounter. He had paid +his keep and earned his way as a member of the family and as a +bear-fighter. When Bucks picked up his rifle he told Scott of his +bad miss in the critical moment of the fight. Bob took the gun from +his hands and examined the sights good-naturedly. Bucks had +neglected to change the elevation after he had aimed at the deer +an hour earlier. + +"Next time you shoot at a bear twenty feet away, don't leave your +sights set for two hundred yards," was all Scott said. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +The bruises that Bucks nursed were tender for some days, and Scott +tried out some bear's grease for an ointment. + +Scuffy, who had come out of the fight without a scratch, took on new +airs in camp, and returned evil for evil by bullying the two wounded +hounds who were too surprised by his aggressiveness to make an +effective defence. + +Bucks, when he was alone with the dog and time dragged heavily, turned +for diversion to the only book in the camp, a well-thumbed copy of +"The Last of the Mohicans." He had brought it with him to read coming +out from Pittsburgh, and had thrown it into his bag when leaving +Medicine Bend. In camp it proved a treasure, even the troopers, when +they were idle, casting lots to get hold of it. + +One day, when Bucks was absorbed in the romance, Bob Scott asked him +what he was reading. Bucks tried to give him some idea of the story. +Scott showed little apparent interest in the résumé, but he listened +respectfully while cleaning his rifle. He made no comment until Bucks +had done. + +"What kind of Indians did you say those were," he asked, contracting +his brows as he did when a subject perplexed him, "Uncas and +Chingachgook?" + +"Delawares, Bob. Know anything about Delaware Indians?" + +Scott shook his head. "Never heard of Delawares in our country. I saw +a Pottawottamie Indian once, but never any Delawares. Is this story +about Uncas a true story?" + +"As true as any story. Listen here." Bucks read aloud to him for a +while, his companion at intervals asking questions and approving or +criticising the Indian classic. + +"If you could only read, Bob, you ought to read the whole book," said +Bucks regretfully, as he put the volume aside. + +"I can read a little," returned Scott, to Bucks's surprise. "All +except the long words," added the scout modestly. "A man down at +Medicine Bend tried to sell me a pair of spectacles once. They had +gold rims, and he told me that a man with those spectacles could read +any kind of a book. He thought I was a greenhorn," said the scout. + +"Where did you learn to read?" + +"A Blackrobe taught me." + +Bucks held out the book. "Then read this, Bob, sure." + +Scott looked at the worn volume, but shook his head doubtfully. "Looks +like a pretty big book for me. But if you can find out whether it's +true, I might try it sometime." + +Stanley, after a few days, started up the river with Scott and +Dancing, leaving his men in camp. Bucks, who was still too stiff to +ride, likewise remained to receive any messages that might come. + +There was an abundance of water-fowl in the sloughs and ponds up and +down the river, and Bucks, the morning after Stanley's departure, +leaving the troopers lounging in camp, started out with a shot-gun to +look for ducks. He passed the first bend up-stream, and working his +way toward a small pond thickly fringed with alders, where he had +often seen teal and mallards, attempted to crawl within gunshot of +it. + +He was working his way in this fashion toward the edge of the water +when he heard a clatter of wings and the next moment a flock of +mallards rushed in swift flight over his head. He impulsively threw up +his gun to fire but some instinct checked him. He was in a country of +dangerous enemies and the thought of bears still loomed large in his +mind. An instant's reflection convinced him that it was not his +movement that had frightened the ducks, and he was enough of a hunter +to look further than that for the cause. As caution seemed, from the +soreness of his legs and arms, plainly indicated, he lay still to +await developments. + +Soon he heard a movement of trampling feet, and, seemingly, across the +pond from him. Bucks thought of buffaloes. His heart beat fast at the +thought of getting a shot at one until he reflected that he had no +rifle. The next instant his heart stopped beating. Not ten feet from +where he lay in the thick willows, an Indian carrying a rifle, and in +war-paint, stole noiselessly along toward the camp. No sooner had he +disappeared than a second brave followed, and while Bucks was +digesting this fright a third warrior, creeping in the same stealthy +manner and almost without a sound, passed the staring boy; the +appearance of a fourth and a fifth raised the hair on Bucks's head +till he was almost stunned with fright, but he had still to count +three more in the party, one more ferocious-looking than another, +before all had passed. + +What to do was the question that forced itself on him. He feared the +Indians would attack the troopers in camp, and this he felt would be a +massacre, since the men, not suspecting danger, would be taken wholly +unawares. Should he fire his gun as a signal? It would probably bring +the Indians back upon him, but the thought of allowing the troopers to +be butchered was insupportable. His hammers were cocked and his +finger was on one trigger when he considered how useless the alarm +would be. The troopers knew that he had gone duck hunting. They would +expect to hear him shoot and would pay no attention to it. To rush out +after the Indians would only invite his instant death. + +There seemed nothing he could do and a cold sweat of apprehension +broke over him. But if he fired his gun he might, at least, surprise +the Indians. The report of a gun in their rear would alarm them--since +they knew nothing of his presence or his duck hunting and might take +fright. Without more ado he fired both barrels one after the other, +careful only to shoot low into the willows, hoping the smoke would not +rise so quickly as to betray him before he could make a dash for a new +hiding-place. + +His ruse worked and he ran at top speed for twenty yards before he +threw himself into a clump of cotton-woods close to the camp trail and +began to reload. While he was doing so a shout came from the direction +of the railroad bridge. Not until then did Bucks understand what the +Indians were after. But had he not understood, he would have known a +moment later when he heard a sharp exchange of shots toward the camp, +heard the dogs barking furiously, and saw the Indians, now on their +ponies, running the troopers' horses past him at a breakneck gallop. +The Indians yelled lustily at the success of their raid, the stampeded +horses dashed panic-stricken before them, and the braves shouted back +in derision at the vain efforts of the troopers to stop them with +useless bullets. Bucks's own impulse was to empty a charge of birdshot +into the last of the fleeing warriors, but this he knew might cost him +his life, and he resisted the temptation. When he was sure all were +past he ran toward the bluffs, and gaining a little eminence saw the +fleeing Indians, a dozen in all, making their way jubilantly up the +river. At the camp the discomfited cavalrymen were preparing for a +siege, and in their excitement almost shot Bucks as he hove in sight. + +Bucks gave a good description of the marauders, and, following him up +to the pond, six of the troopers attempted some pursuit. This, to +unmounted men, was useless, as they well knew. Indeed, they used +caution not to come unawares on any friends of the escaping braves +that might have lingered behind. + +Colonel Stanley returned in the morning to hear that his escort had +been unhorsed. Bob Scott grinned at the cavalrymen as they told the +story. He assured them that they had got off lightly, and that if +Bucks's signals had not alarmed the little war-party they might have +carried away scalps as well as horses. + +"We shall be in luck if we don't hear more of those fellows," said he +to Bucks afterward. There was now manifestly nothing to do but to go +in, and later in the day a freight train was flagged and the whole +party, with Scuffy and the hounds, returned to Casement's camp. Scott +sent his dogs thence to the ranch in Medicine Bend, and at Bucks's +urgent request Scuffy was sent with them to await his own return to +head-quarters. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +The foray of the Indians at the Spider Water Bridge proved, as Bob +Scott had feared, only a forerunner of active hostilities. Casement +had already taken all necessary measures of defence. His construction +camp was moved steadily westward, though sometimes inside the picket +lines of troops, despite the warring Indians and the difficulties of +his situation. Alarms, however, were continual and the graders, many +of whom were old soldiers, worked at all times with their muskets +stacked on the dump beside them. In the construction camp Bucks saw +also many negroes, and at night the camp-fires of their quarters were +alive with the singing and dancing of the old plantation life in the +South. + +While waiting for Stanley's inspection of the grading and track-laying, +Bucks relieved at times the camp operator, whose principal business +was the rushing of emphatic demands to Omaha for material and +supplies. + +During other intervals Bucks found a chance to study the system that +underlay the seemingly hopeless confusion of the construction work. +The engineers moving far in advance had located the line, and +following these came the graders and bridge- and culvert-builders, +cutting through the hills, levelling the fills, and spanning the +streams and water-ways with trestles and wooden bridges, miles in +advance of the main army. Behind these came Casement's own big camp +with the tiemen, the track-layers, and the ballast gangs. + +Every Eastern market was drawn upon for materials, and when these +reached Omaha, trains loaded with them were constantly pushed to the +front. The chief spiker of the rail gang, taking a fancy to Bucks, +invited him to go out with the rail-layers one day, and Bucks took a +temporary commission as spike-dropper. + +To do this, he followed Dancing up the track past a long construction +train in which the men lived. The big box-cars contained sleeping-bunks, +and those men who preferred more air and seclusion had swung +sleeping-hammocks under the cars; others had spread their beds on top +of the cars. Climbing a little embankment, Bucks watched the sturdy, +broad-shouldered pioneers. A light car drawn by a single, galloping +horse was rushed to the extreme end of the laid rails. Before it had +fairly stopped, two men waiting on either side seized the end of a rail +with their trap and started forward. Ten more men, following in twos, at +a run, lifted the two rails clear of the car and dropped them in place on +the ties. The foreman instantly gauged them, the horse moved ahead, and +thirty spikers armed with heavy mauls drove the spikes furiously and +regularly, three strokes to the spike, into the new-laid ties. The +bolters followed with the fish-plates, and while Bucks looked the +railroad was made before his eyes. + +The excitement of the scene was unforgettable. In less than sixty +seconds four rails had gone down. The moment a horse-car was emptied +it was dumped off one side of the track, and a loaded car with its +horse galloping to the front had passed it. The next instant the +"empty" was lifted back on the rails, and at the end of a sixty-foot +rope the horse, ridden by a hustling boy, was being urged back to +where the rails were transferred from the regular flat cars. The clang +of the heavy iron, the continuous ring of the spike mauls, the +shouting of the orders, the throwing of each empty horse-car from the +track to make way for a loaded one, these things were all new and +stimulating to Bucks. The chief spiker laughed when the young operator +told him how fine it was. He asked Bucks to look at his watch and time +the work. In half an hour Bucks looked at his watch again. In the +interval the gang had laid eight hundred feet of track. + +"I don't see how you can work so fast," declared Bucks. + +"Do you know how many times," demanded the spiker, "those sledges have +to swing? There are eighteen ties and thirty-six spikes to every rail, +three hundred and fifty-two rails to every mile, and eighteen hundred +miles from Omaha to San Francisco--those sledges will swing +sixty-eight million times before the rails are full-spiked--they have +to go fast." + +The words were hardly out of the chief spiker's mouth when a cry of +alarm rang from the front. Bucks, looking eagerly, saw in the west a +cloud of dust. At the same time he saw the tie gang running in dozens +for their lives from the divide where they were working toward the +camp. The men beyond them on the grade had scrambled into the wagons, +dumped any ties they might contain helter-skelter to the ground, and +were clinging to the wagon boxes. In these, the drivers standing up, +lashed their horses with whip and line for life, and death, while +everywhere beside and behind them other men on foot were racing back +to safety. + +New clouds of dust rose along the grade from the flying wagon wheels, +the horses tore madly on, and as the heavy wagons jolted over the +loose stones, the fugitives, yelling with excitement and alarm and +clinging to one another as they bounced up and down, looked anxiously +behind. + +There was no uncertainty as to the cause of the panic. "Indians!" was +the cry everywhere. Every man in camp had dropped his working +implement and was moving somewhere on the double-quick. Every one, it +seemed to Bucks, was shouting and running. But above the confusion of +the surprise and the babel of voices, Bucks heard the sharp tones of +Jack Casement giving orders. + +The old soldiers in the working gang needed no further discipline. The +timid and the skulkers scurried for the box-cars and the dugouts. On +the other hand, the soldiers ran for the dumps where the arms were +stacked, and seizing their muskets hurried back and, trained for the +emergency, fell into line under their foremen. + +Casement, musket in hand, taking the largest company of men as they +formed in fours behind him, started forward at the double-quick, +yelling now for the moral effect, to protect the retreat of the +wagons. The men, scattering as they reached the edge of the camp, +dropped into every spot of shelter, and at the same moment Stanley, +mounted and alive with the vim and fire of the soldier, led a smaller +body of men rapidly back to guard the rear of the camp, deploying his +little force about the box-cars and flat cars as they hastened on. In +an instant the construction camp had become a fortress defended by a +thousand men. + +It was none too soon. Stirring the yellow plain with the fury of a +whirlwind, a band of Sioux warriors rode the fleeing railroaders +furiously down. They appeared phantom-like out of every slip and +canyon, and rode full-panoplied from behind every hill. The horizon +that had shown five minutes before only the burning sunshine and the +dull glare of the alkali sinks, danced now with the flying ponies of +the Indians, and the hills echoed with ominous cries. + +Without a word of warning, the few fleeing men who had been working +too far from camp to reach it in safety were mercilessly cut down. +Their comrades under arms, with an answering cry of defiance poured a +volley of cartridge balls into the thin, black circle that rode ever +closer and closer to the muzzles of the muskets. Jack Casement and his +brother Dan recklessly urged their men to the most advanced posts of +defence, and from behind scrapers, wagons, flat cars, and friendly +hillocks the railroad men poured a galling fire into their active +foe. + +The Indians, seeking with unerring instinct the weakest point in the +defence, converged in hundreds upon the long string of box-cars that +made up the construction train at the rear of the camp, where Stanley, +extending his few men in a resolute skirmish line, endeavored to +prevent the savages from scalping the non-combatant cooks and burning +the sleeping-cars. Bucks saw, conspicuous in the attack, a slender +Sioux chief riding a strong-limbed, fleet pony with a coat of +burnished gold and as much filled with the fire of the fight as his +master was. Riding hither and thither and swinging a long, heavy +musket like a marshal's baton, the Sioux warrior, almost everywhere at +once, urged his men to the fighting, and the fate of the few white men +they were able to cut down or scalp before Stanley could cover the +line of box-cars seemed to add vigor to their onslaught. + +Stanley himself, attacked by ten braves for every man he could muster +at that point with a gun, dashed up and down the old wagon roads along +the right of way, a conspicuous target for the Indians. His hat, in +the mêlée, had disappeared, and, swinging a heavy Colt's revolver, +which the Indians shrank from with a healthy instinct of danger, he +pressed back the hungry red line again and again, supported only by +such musketry fire as the men crouching under, within, and between the +box-cars could offer. + +Wherever he rode his wily foes retreated, but they closed in +constantly behind him, and one brave, more daring than his fellows, +succeeded in setting fire to a box-car. A shout of triumph rose from +the circling horsemen, but it was short-lived. Stanley, wheeling like +a flash, gave chase to the incendiary. The Sioux rode for his life, +but his pony's pace was no match for the springing strides of +Stanley's American horse. + +For an instant the attention of the whole fight in the rear of the +camp was drawn upon the rash brave and his pursuer. Bucks, with +straining eyes and beating heart, awaited the result. He saw Stanley +steadily closing the gap that separated him from his fleeing enemy. +Then the revolver was thrown suddenly upward and forward, and smoke +flashed from the muzzle. The echo of the report had hardly reached +Bucks's ears when the revolver, swung high again to balance the rhythm +of the horse's flight, was fired again, and a third time, at the +doomed man. + +The Indian, bending forward on his horse, caught convulsively at his +mane, then rising high in his seat plunged head-foremost to the +ground, and his riderless horse fled on. His pursuer, wheeling, threw +himself flat in his saddle to escape the fire bent upon him from +behind as he rode back. At that moment Dan Casement and his men +hurried up on the double-quick. With him came Bucks, who had secured a +rifle and fallen in. Some men of the welcome reinforcement were set at +putting out the fire. Others strengthened Stanley's scattered skirmish +line. + +Convinced by the determined front now opposed to him of the +impossibility of rushing the camp, the Sioux chief gave the signal to +retire. + +As if the earth had opened to swallow them up, the warriors melted +away, and as suddenly as the plain had borne them into life it now +concealed their disappearance. In twenty minutes they had come and +gone as completely as if they had never been. But in that short +interval they had left death and consternation in their wake. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +Stirred by the increasing boldness of the Indians, Stanley returned +with his party to Medicine Bend to take further measures for the +defence of the railroad men. + +Bucks, when he reported to Baxter, the train despatcher, found new +orders waiting for him. He was directed to take charge of the station +at Goose Creek. The train did not leave till night, and Bucks took +advantage of the interval to go uptown to make some necessary +purchases of linen and clothing. On his way back to the station, +with his package under his arm, he saw, on the edge of the broad +sidewalk, Harvey Levake. Levake was standing near a wooden-Indian +cigar-store sign, looking directly at Bucks as the latter walked +toward him. The operator, nodding as he came up, asked Levake, +without parley, whether he would give him the money for the +express charges on the cartridges. + +If Bucks had exploded a keg of powder on the sidewalk there could not +have been a greater change in the outlaw's manner. He stared at Bucks +with contempt enough to pierce the feelings of the wooden Indian +beside which he stood. + +"What's that?" he demanded, throwing his head menacingly forward. + +Bucks repeated his request, but so mildly that Levake took additional +umbrage at his diffidence. + +"See here," he muttered in a voice beginning like a distant roll of +thunder and gathering force and volume as he continued, "don't insult +me." + +Bucks ventured to urge that he intended no insult. + +"Don't insult me!" bellowed Levake in violent tones. + +Again Bucks attempted to protest. It was useless. Levake insisted with +increasing wrath upon hugging the insult to himself, while Bucks +struggled manfully to get it away from him. And as Levake's loud words +did not attract as much attention up and down the street as he sought, +he stamped about on the sidewalk. Bucks's efforts to pacify him made +matters momentarily worse. + +Meantime a crowd such as Levake desired had gathered and Bucks found +himself a target for the outlaw's continued abuse, with nobody to take +his part. Moreover, the expressions on the faces about him now made +him realize his peril quite as much as anything in Levake's words. It +was becoming painfully evident that the onlookers were merely waiting +to see Levake shoot him down. + +"No man in Medicine Bend can insult me and live," cried Levake, +winding up a tirade of abuse. "I'm known from one end of this street +to the other. Nobody can spread lies in it about me." + +He drew and flourished a revolver as he spoke. None in the crowd +interfered with so much as a word. But even before the outlaw had +finished what he was saying, a man of medium size and easy manner +elbowed his way quietly through the circle of spectators, and, taking +Bucks by the arm, drew him back and faced Levake himself. It was Bob +Scott. + +"What's all this about, Levake?" demanded Scott gently. + +Levake had no alternative but to turn his wrath upon the Indian scout. +Yet those who knew him perceived that it was done without much stomach +for the job. Instead of growing momentarily greater the violence of +his abuse now grew steadily less, and the thunder in his tones rolled +further and further from the subject. + +Half-turning to Bucks, Scott laid his hand on his arm again. "Excuse +me," said he, deliberately and quietly, "but you are wanted quick at +the station. They are waiting for you. Go right along, will you?" + +Only too glad to get away and comprehending Scott's ruse, Bucks +exclaimed, "Why, of course, certainly," and stepping quickly into the +crowd walked away. + +Turning again to Levake, Scott made no effort to check the torrent of +his words. In consequence, the gambler found himself embarrassed by +the prospect of talking himself out. This would not have been so bad +except that his circle of admirers would, when he stopped talking, +expect him to do something and he was now at a loss to decide just +what to do. To shoot down Bucks was rather a different matter from a +pistol duel with Scott. + +None of the street loafers about the two men knew Scott, nor did any +of them know that Levake had a prudent respect for Scott's trigger. As +for Scott himself, a smile of contempt gradually covered his face as +he listened to Levake's outbreak. He only waited patiently for the +moment, which he knew must come, when Levake should cease talking. + +"Your tongue, Levake," returned Scott at last, "is longer than a +coyote's. Why do you stand here and bellow about being insulted? What +is all this noise about, anyway? These fellows," a contemptuous nod +indicated the men standing around, "all know, if you don't. You've +been talking loud so you could get a crowd together and advertise +yourself by shooting an unarmed boy, haven't you?" + +The desperado broke out in fresh denials and curses, but he feared +the ridicule of the Indian would bring the laughter of his admirers +down on him. Nor was he keen to try a pistol duel. He remembered too +well the attack he had once headed on an emigrant train that Scott was +guarding, and from which the outlaws with Levake had carried away some +unexpected and unwelcome bullets. + +Scott, now taunting Levake openly, stepped directly in front of him. +But the latter waved him away. "I'll settle my differences with you +when I'm ready," he muttered. "If that fellow," he added, indicating +Bucks, who was making record time across the square, "behaves himself, +I'll let this go. If he doesn't, I'll fill him full of lead." + +"When you do," retorted Scott, "remember just one thing--that I'm +going to fill you full, Levake. Don't forget that." + +Scott stepped backward. The crowd parted to let him through and Levake +walked sullenly toward the cigar store. + +Bucks wiped the perspiration from his forehead when he reached the +station and drew a long breath. He waited until Scott crossed the +square and joined him. The Indian only laughed when Bucks tried to +thank him. "It is nothing," he said, "you are getting experience. Only +don't tackle that man again till you give me notice beforehand." + +The next morning Bucks installed himself at Goose Creek. + +Goose Creek was a mere operating point and besides the rough wooden +station, with an attic sleeping-room for the operator, boasted only a +house for the section crew--six men taken care of by a China boy cook. +East of the station stood an old road ranch belonging to Leon +Sublette. For this, freight was at times unloaded and an Indian trail +to the south led through the sand-hills as far as the Arickaree +country. North of the river greater sand-hills stretched as far as the +eye could reach. The long, marshy stretches of the Nebraska River lost +themselves on the eastern and the western horizon and at times clouds +of wild fowl obscured the sun in their flight across the sky. + +Dancing came down to the new station to complete the instalment of the +instruments and this broke for a day or two the loneliness of the new +surroundings. Indeed, there was hardly time to be lonely. The constant +round of interest attending the arrival of trains with their long +halts, visits from trappers living at the ranch who were always ready +to talk, and occasional calls from friendly Pawnees from the south, +together with abundance of time for hunting the geese and ducks, made +the days go. + +But one early summer morning Bucks woke to an adventure not upon his +daily programme. He walked downstairs after dressing, and as he +stepped out on the platform the sand-hills touched by the rising sun +shone in the northwest like mountains of gold. Looking at them he saw +to his surprise they were covered with black objects that appeared to +be moving. + +Indians were first in his mind, and in his alarm he ran all the way to +the section-house where the foreman, after a hasty study of the hills, +explained that the suspicious-looking objects were buffaloes. + +This information only added to Bucks's excitement. The China boy cook, +Lee Ong, at the section-house appeared equally stirred at the +situation and, after running in and out of the kitchen with much +fluttering of cue and clattering of wooden shoes, promised Bucks a +buffalo steak for dinner if he would bring in a hindquarter. + +By the time Bucks had finished breakfast the whole country to the +north was black with buffaloes. For hours they poured over the divide +to the delight of the astonished boy, and after a time he wired Baxter +at Medicine Bend that a herd of at least one million buffaloes was +crossing the railroad at Goose Creek. As the grave despatcher seemed +not greatly excited by this intelligence, Bucks followed up the story +at intervals with vivid details. A wag on the wire in Medicine Bend +played upon his enthusiasm by demanding frequent bulletins, even going +so far as to ask the names of the leading buffaloes in the herd. When +he had got all the laughs possible for the office out of the youthful +operator, he wired Bucks that if the herd should linger too long on +the right-of-way he must notify them that they would be held as +trespassers. + +This message had hardly reached Goose Creek when the China boy came +running into the telegraph office. His eyes were staring, and his face +was greenish-white with fright. "Indians!" he exclaimed, running to +Bucks's side and dashing back again to the west window. + +Bucks sprang to his feet. "Where?" + +Lee Ong pointed to the northern sand-hills. Riding the broad slopes +that led toward the river, Bucks saw a long string of braves, +evidently a hunting party. The cook, beside himself with fear, ran out +of the station before Bucks could stop him. + +"Hi there, Lee," cried the operator, running after him. "Where are the +section men?" + +"Gone," cried Lee Ong, not ceasing to run, "all gone!" He pointed, +with the words, to the east. + +"Tell them to bring the hand-car down here!" + +"Too much gone," shouted Ong. "Omaha!" + +"Lee! Stop! Where are you going?" + +Lee stopped only long enough to throw his right arm and forefinger +with an excited gesture toward the west. + +"San Francisco, San Francisco!" he cried. + +"Why, Lee," exclaimed Bucks running after him, "hold on! You are +crazy! San Francisco is fifteen hundred miles from here." This +information did not visibly move Ong. "Indian no good," he cried, +pausing, but only long enough to wave both hands wildly toward the +sand-hills. "San Francisco good. No some more cook here. Indian come +too quick"--Ong with his active finger girdled the crown of his head +in a lightning-like imitation of a scalping knife--"psst! No good for +Ong!" + +It would have seemed funny to Bucks if he had not been already +frightened himself. But if the section men had fled with the hand-car +it meant he would have to face the Indians. Lee Ong, running like mad, +was already out of hearing, and in any event Bucks had no wish to +imperil the poor China boy's scalp with his own. + +He turned an anxious eye toward the sand-hills. Then realizing that on +the platform he was exposing himself needlessly, he hastened inside to +his key and called up Medicine Bend. It was only a moment, but it +seemed to the frightened operator a lifetime before the despatcher +answered. Bucks reported the Indians and asked if there were any +freight trains coming that he could make his escape on. + +The despatcher answered that No. 11, the local freight, was then due +at Goose Creek and would pick him up and carry him to Julesburg if he +felt in danger. Bucks turned with relief to the east window and saw +down the valley the smoke of the freight already in sight. Never had a +freight train looked so good to his eyes as it did at that moment. He +hailed its appearance with a shout and looked apprehensively back +toward the sand-hills. + +The activity in that direction was not reassuring. The Indians, too, +apparently had noticed the smoke of No. 11 trailing on the horizon. A +conference followed, illustrated by frequent pointing and violent +gesticulating to indicate the coming train. Then with a sudden +resolve the whole party rode rapidly out of the hills and down toward +the railroad. + +Bucks's heart misgave him as he watched. But the cotton-woods growing +along the river hid the Indians from his eyes and he could not surmise +what they were doing. The information all went to the despatcher, +however, who, more experienced, scented serious mischief when Bucks's +bulletins now came in. + +"Watch close," he wired. "It looks as if they were going to attack the +train." + +The operator's anxiety rose with the intimation. He ran out of doors +and down the track, but he could neither hear nor see a thing except +the slow-moving train with the smoke puffing from the awkward, +diamond-stack locomotive moving peacefully toward the cotton-woods +that fringed the eastern shore of Goose Creek. The very silence seemed +ominous. Bucks knew the Indians were hidden somewhere in the +cotton-woods and felt that they could mean nothing but mischief. He +ran back to his key and reported. + +"They will surely attack No. 11," he wired. "I will run across the +bridge and warn them." + +"Where are the Indians?" demanded the despatcher. + +"In the timber across the creek. I am starting." + +"Don't be an idiot," returned the despatcher, with an expression of +Western force and brevity. "They will lift your hair before you get +half-way to the train. Stick to your key as long as you can. If they +start to cross the creek, leg it for the ranch. Do you get me?" + +Bucks, considerably flurried, answered that he did, and the despatcher +with renewed emphasis reiterated his sharp inquiry. "Do you +understand, young fellow? If they start to cross the creek, leg it for +the ranch or you'll lose your hair." + +Bucks strained his eyes looking for a sign of movement across the +bridge. The cotton-woods swayed gently in the light breeze, but +revealed nothing of what they hid. + +The freight train continued to crawl lazily along, its crews quite +unconscious of any impending fate. Bucks, smothering with excitement +and apprehension, saw the engine round the curve that led to the +trestle approach of the bridge. Then the trees hid the train from his +sight. + +"What are they doing?" demanded the despatcher, growing apprehensive +himself. An appalling crash from the woods electrified Bucks, and the +key rattled fast. + +"They have wrecked the train," he wired without an instant's +hesitation. "I can hear the crash of cars falling from the trestle." + +Before he could finish his message he heard also the screech of an +engine whistle. The next instant the locomotive dashed out of the +woods upon the bridge at full speed and with cries of disappointment +and rage the savages rode out to the very bank of the creek and into +the water after it. Bucks saw the sudden engine and thought at first +that the train had escaped. The next moment he knew it had not. The +engine was light: evidently it had passed in safety the trap laid for +its destruction, but the cars following had left the rails. + +If confirmation of this conclusion had been needed, it came when he +ran out upon the platform as the engine approached. Bucks waved +vigorous signals at it, but the ponderous machine came faster instead +of slower as it neared the station, and, with Bucks vainly trying to +attract the attention of the engineman or fireman, the locomotive +thundered past at forty miles an hour. + +He caught one glimpse through the tender gangway as the engine dashed +by and saw both men in the cab crouching in front of the furnace door +to escape the fancied bullets of the savages. Bucks shouted, but knew +he had been neither seen nor heard, and, as the engine raced into the +west, his best chance of escape from an unpleasant situation had +disappeared almost before he realized it. + +Each detail was faithfully reported to the despatcher, who answered at +once. + +"Relief train," he wired, "now making up with a hundred men. Hold on +as long as you can, but take no chances. What are they doing? Can you +see or hear them?" + +"They are yelling so you could hear them a mile." + +"Scout around a little," directed the despatcher, "but don't get +caught." + +Bucks scouted around the room a little, but did not venture this time +farther than the windows. He was growing very nervous. And the +Indians, unrestrained in their triumph, displayed themselves +everywhere without concealment. Helpless to aid, Bucks was compelled +to stand and see a fleeing white man, the brakeman of the doomed +train, running for his life, cut down by the pursuers and scalped +before his eyes. + +The horror and savagery of it sank deeply into the boy's heart and +only the realization of his utter inability to help kept him quiet. +Tears of fury coursed down his cheeks as he saw in the distance the +murdered man lying motionless on the sand beside the track, and with +shaking fingers he reported the death to Medicine Bend. + +"The relief train has started," answered the despatcher, "with +Stanley, Scott, Sublette, Dancing, and a hundred men." + +As the message came, Bucks heard shooting farther up the creek and +this continued at intervals for some moments. It was sickening to +hear, for it meant, Bucks surmised, that another trainman was being +murdered. + +Meantime the Indians that he could see were smashing into the wrecked +merchandise cars and dragging the loot out upon the open prairie. +Hats, clothing, tobacco, provisions, camp supplies of every sort, and +musical instruments, millinery, boots, and blankets were among the +plunder. The wearing apparel was tumbled out of the broken cases and, +arrayed in whatever they could seize, the Indians paraded on their +horses up and down the east bank of the creek in fantastic show. + +Some wore women's hats, some crinoline hoop-skirts over their +shoulders; others brandished boots and shirts, and one glistening +brave swung a banjo at arm's-length over his flying horse's head. +Another party of the despoilers discovered a shipment of silks and +satins. These they dragged in bolts from the packing-cases and, tying +one end of a bolt of silk to their ponies' tails, they raced, +yelling, in circles around the prairie with the parti-colored silks +streaming behind, the bolts bobbing and jerking along the ground like +rioting garlands of a crazy May-pole dance. And, having exhausted +their ingenuity and robed themselves in this wise in all manner of +plunder, they set fire to the wrecked train, singing and dancing in +high glee as the flames rose crackling above the trees. + +Bucks, with clenched hands, watched and prayed for the arrival of the +speeding relief train. The moments passed with leaden feet and the +train had many miles to come. The despatcher continued his encouraging +messages, but did not cease his words of caution, and, as the wreckage +burned, Bucks perceived the Indians were riding in great numbers up +the creek. Too late he realized what it meant. They were looking for +the ford and were about to cross to his side. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +He lost no time in sending a final word to the despatcher before he +started for safety, and his call was sounding when he ran back to the +key. + +"Stanley's train has passed Chimney Butte," said the despatcher. "Soon +be with you." + +Words over the wire never sounded better to the frightened boy than +those words. + +"The Indians are crossing the creek," Bucks answered. "Am off for the +ranch." + +He closed the circuit and ran out on the platform. The warriors had +found the ford and the horses of the head braves were already leading +a file across. Bucks threw one hurried look at them; then, summoning +his strength for an endurance run, he started, with the station +building between him and the enemy, for the ranch. + +He had hardly got under way when, as he reached higher ground, he saw +to his consternation a party of Indians in the bottom land between him +and safety. + +He was cut off. Hoping that he had not been seen, he threw himself +flat on the ground and, turning about, crawled, behind a slight ridge +that afforded concealment, stealthily back toward the station. The +Indians up the creek had crossed, but were riding away from the +station and toward the ranch, evidently bent on attacking it next. The +flames from the burning train rose high above the creek. There seemed +no place to escape to and Bucks, creeping through the sedge grass, got +back to his key and called the despatcher. + +"Cut off from the ranch by a second party of Indians. Will wait here +for the train--where is it?" + +A moment passed before the answer came. "Less than ten miles from you. +Passed Driftwood Station at ten-forty." + +Bucks looked at his clock. Driftwood was ten miles west. The hands +stood at ten-forty-eight. Surely, he concluded, they will be here by +eleven o'clock. Could he hold the station for twelve minutes? Even a +show of force he knew would halt the Indians for an interval. + +He hastily pushed such packages of freight as lay in the store-room up +to the various windows, as slight barricades behind which he could +hide to shoot, and with much effort got the largest packing-case +against the platform door so they could not rush him from the creek +side. For the twentieth time he looked over his revolver, placed a +little store of cartridges behind each shelter, and peered again out +of the windows. To his horror he perceived that the two parties had +joined and were riding in a great half-circle down on the station. +Evidently the Indians were coming after him before they attacked the +ranch. He reported to the despatcher, and an answer came instantly. +"Stanley should be within five miles. How close are they?" + +"Less than half a mile." + +"Have you got a gun?" + +Bucks wired, "Yes." + +"Can you use it?" + +"Expect I'll have to." + +"Shoot the minute they get within range. Never mind whether you hit +anybody, bang away. What are they doing?" + +Bucks ran around the room to look. "Closing in," he answered briefly. + +"Can't you see the train?" + +Bucks fixed his eyes upon the western horizon. He never had tried so +hard in his life to see anything. Yet the sunshine reflected no sign +of a friendly smoke. + +"Nothing in sight," he answered; "I can't hold out much longer." + +Hastily closing his key he ran to the south window. A dozen Indians, +beating the alder bushes as they advanced, doubtless suspecting that +he lay concealed in them, were now closest. He realized that by his +very audacity in returning to the building he had gained a few +precious moments. But the nearest Indians had already reached open +ground, two hundred yards away, and through their short, yelping cries +and their halting on the edge of the brake, he understood they were +debating how he had escaped and wondering whether he had gone back +into the station. He lay behind some sacks of flour watching his foes +closely. Greatly to his surprise, his panic had passed and he felt +collected. He realized that he was fighting for his life and meant to +sell it as dearly as possible. And he had resolved to shoot the +instant they started toward him. + +From the table he heard the despatcher's call, but he no longer dared +answer it. The Indians, with a war-whoop, urged their ponies ahead and +a revolver shot rang from the station window. It was followed almost +instantly by a second and a third. The Indians ducked low on their +horses' necks and, wheeling, made for the willows. In the quick dash +for cover one horse stumbled and threw his rider. The animal bolted +and the Indian, springing to his feet, ran like a deer after his +companions, but he did not escape unscathed. Two shots followed him +from the station, and the Indian, falling with a bullet in his thigh, +dragged himself wounded into hiding. + +A chorus of cries from far and near heralded the opening of the +encounter. Enraged by the repulse, a larger number of Indians riding +in opened fire on the station and Bucks found himself target for a +fusillade of bullets. But protected by his barricades he was only +fearful of a charge, for when the Indians should start to rush the +station he felt all would be over. + +While he lay casting up his chances, and discharging his revolver at +intervals to make a showing, the fire of the Indians slackened. This, +Bucks felt, boded no good, and reckless of his store of cartridges he +continued to blaze away whenever he could see a bush moving. + +It was at this moment that he heard the despatcher calling him, and a +message followed. "If you are alive, answer me." + +Bucks ran to the key. The situation was hopeless. No train was in +sight as he pressed his fingers on the button for the last time. + +"Stopped their first advance and wounded one. They are going to +charge----" + +He heard a sharp chorus outside and, feeling what it meant, sent his +last word: "Good-by." From three sides of the open ground around the +building the Indians were riding down upon him. Firing as fast as he +could with any accuracy, he darted from window to window, reaching the +west window last. As he looked out he saw up the valley the smoke of +the approaching train and understood from the fury of his enemies that +they, too, had seen it. But the sight of the train now completely +unnerved him. To lose his life with help a few moments away was an +added bitterness, and he saw that the relief train would be too late +to save him. + +He fired the last cartridge in his hot revolver at the circling braves +and, as he reloaded, the Indians ran up on the platform and threw +themselves against the door. Fiendish faces peered through the +window-panes and one Indian smashed a sash in with a war club. + +Bucks realized that his reloading was useless. The cartridges were, in +fact, slipping through his fingers, when, dropping his revolver, he +drew Bob Scott's knife and backed up against the inner office door, +just as a warrior brandishing a hatchet sprang at him. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +Before Bucks had time to think, a second Indian had sprung through the +open window. A feeling of helpless rage swept over him at being +cornered, defenceless; and, expecting every instant to be despatched +with no more consideration than if he had been a rat, he stood at bay, +determined not to be taken alive. + +For an instant his mind worked clearly and with the rapidity of +lightning. His life swept before him as if he were a drowning man. In +that horrible moment he even heard his call clicking from the +despatcher. Of the two Indians confronting him, half-naked and shining +with war-paint, one appeared more ferocious than the other, and Bucks +only wondered which would attack first. + +He had not long to wait. The first brave raised a war club to brain +him. As Bucks's straining eye followed the movement, the second Indian +struck the club down. Bucks understood nothing from the action. The +quick, guttural words that followed, the sharp dispute, the struggle +of the first savage to evade the second and brain the white boy in +spite of his antagonist--a lithe, active Indian of great strength who +held the enraged warrior back--all of this, Bucks, bewildered, could +understand nothing of. The utmost he could surmise was that the second +warrior, from his dress and manner of authority perhaps a chief, meant +to take him alive for torture. He watched the contest between the two +Indians until with force and threats the chief had driven the warrior +outside and turned again upon him. + +It was then that Bucks, desperate, hurled himself knife in hand at the +chief to engage him in final combat. The Indian, though surprised, met +his onset skilfully and before Bucks could realize what had occurred +he had been disarmed and tossed like a child half-way across the +room. + +Before he could move, the chief was standing over him. "Stop!" he +exclaimed, catching Bucks's arm in a grip of steel as the latter tried +to drag down his antagonist. "I am Iron Hand. Does a boy fight me?" +he demanded with contempt in every word. "See your knife." He pointed +to the floor. "When I was wounded by the Cheyennes you gave me +venison. You have forgotten; but the Sioux is not like the white +man--Iron Hand does not forget." + +A fusillade of shots and a babel of yelling from outside interrupted +his words. The chief paid no attention to the uproar. "Your soldiers +are here. The building is on fire, but you are safe. I am Iron Hand." + +So saying, and before Bucks could find his tongue, the chief strode to +the rear window, with one blow of his arm smashed out the whole sash, +and springing lightly through the crashing glass, disappeared. + +Bucks, panting with confusion, sprang to his feet. Smoke already +poured in from the freight room, and the crackling of flames and the +sounds of the fighting outside reminded Bucks of Iron Hand's words. He +ran to the door. + +The train had pulled up within a hundred feet of the station and the +railroad men in the coaches were pouring a fire upon the Indians, +under the cover of which scouts were unloading, down a hastily +improvised chute, their horses, together with those of such troopers +as had been gathered hurriedly. + +Bucks ran back into the office and opening his wooden chest threw into +it what he could of his effects and tried to drag it from the burning +building out upon the platform. As he struggled with the unwieldy box, +two men ran up from the train toward him, staring at him as if he had +been a ghost. He recognized Stanley and Dancing. + +"Are you hurt?" cried Stanley hastening to his side. + +"No," exclaimed Bucks, his head still swimming, "but everything will +be burned." + +"How in the name of God, boy, have you escaped?" demanded Stanley, as +he clenched Bucks's shoulder in his hand. Dancing seized the +cumbersome chest and dragged it out of danger. The Indians, jeering, +as they retreated, at the railroad men, made no attempt to continue +the attack, but rode away content with the destruction of the train +and the station. + +Stanley, assured of Bucks's safety, though he wasted no time in +waiting for an explanation of it, directed the men to save what they +could out of the station--it was too late to save the building--and +hurried away to see to the unloading of the horses. + +Bill Dancing succeeded in rescuing the telegraph instruments and with +Bucks's help he got the wires rigged upon a cracker-box outside where +the operator could report the story to the now desperate despatcher. +The scouts and troopers were already in the saddle and, leading the +way for the men, gave chase across the bottoms to the Indians. + +Bob Scott, riding past Bucks reined up for a moment. "Got pretty warm +for you, Bucks--eh? How did you get through?" + +Bucks jumped toward him. "Bob!" he exclaimed, grasping his arm. "It +was Iron Hand." + +"Iron Hand!" echoed Bob, lifting his eyebrows. "Brulés, then. It will +be a long chase. What did he say?" + +"Why, we talked pretty fast," stammered Bucks. "He spoke about the +venison but never said a blamed word about my fixing his arm." + +Bob laughed as he struck his horse and galloped on to pass the news to +Stanley. A detail was left to clear the cotton-woods across the creek +and guard the railroad men against possible attack while clearing the +wreck. The body of the unfortunate brakeman was brought across the +bridge and laid in the baggage car and a tent was pitched to serve as +a temporary station for Bucks. + +While this was being done, Bob Scott, who had ridden farthest up the +creek, appeared leading his horse and talking to a white man who was +walking beside him. He had found the conductor of the wrecked train, +Pat Francis, who, young though he was, had escaped the Indians long +enough to reach a cave in the creek bank and whose rifle shots Bucks +had heard, while Francis was holding the Sioux at bay during the +fight. The plucky conductor, who was covered with dust, was greeted +with acclamations. + +"He claims," volunteered Scott, speaking to Stanley, "he could have +stood them off all day." + +Francis's eyes fell regretfully on the dead brakeman. "If that boy had +minded what I said and come with me he would have been alive now." + +The wrecking train, with a gang of men from Medicine Bend, arrived +late in the afternoon, and at supper-time a courier rode in from +Stanley's scouting party with despatches for General Park. Stanley +reported the chase futile. As Bob Scott had predicted, the Brulés had +burned the ranch and craftily scattered the moment they reached the +sand-hills. Instead of a single trail to follow, Stanley found fifty. +Only his determination to give the Indians a punishment that they +would remember held the pursuing party together, and three days +afterward he fought a battle with the wily raiders, surprised in a +canyon on the Frenchman River, which, though indecisive, gave Iron +Hand's band a wholesome respect for the stubborn engineer. + +The train service under the attacks of the Indians thus repeated, fell +into serious demoralization, and an armed guard of regular soldiers +rode all trains for months after the Goose Creek attack. Bucks was +given a guard for his own lonely and exposed position in the person of +Bob Scott, the man of all men the young operator would have wished +for. And at intervals he read from his favorite novel to the scout, +who still questioned whether it was a true story. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +With Bob Scott to lead an occasional hunting trip, Bucks found the +time go fast at Goose Creek and no excitement came again until later +in the summer. + +Where Goose Creek breaks through the sand-hills the country is flat, +and, when swollen with spring rains, the stream itself has the force +and fury of a mountain river. Then summer comes; the rain clouds hang +no longer over the Black Hills, continuing sunshine parches the face +of the great plains, and the rushing and turbulent Goose Creek +ignominiously evaporates--either ascending to the skies in vapor or +burrowing obscurely under the sprawling sands that lie within its +course. Only stagnant pools and feeble rivulets running in widely +separated channels--hiding under osiers or lurking within shady +stretches of a friendly bank--remain to show where in April the noisy +Goose engulfs everything within reach of its foaming wings. The creek +bed becomes in midsummer a mere sandy ford that may be crossed by a +child--a dry map that prints the running feet of snipe and plover, the +creeping tread of the mink and the muskrat, and the slouching trail of +the coyote and the wolf. + +Yet there is treachery in the Goose even in its apparent repose, and +the unwary emigrant sometimes comes to grief upon its treacherous bed. +The sands of the Goose have swallowed up more than one heedless +buffalo, and the Indian knows them too well to trust them at all. + +When the railroad bridge was put across the creek, the difficulties of +securing it were very considerable and Brodie, the chief engineer, was +in the end forced to rely upon temporary foundations. Trainmen and +engineers for months carried "slow" orders for Goose Creek bridge, and +Bucks grew weary with warnings from the despatchers to careless +enginemen about crossing it. + +Among the worst offenders in running his engine too fast over Goose +Creek bridge was Dan Baggs, who, breathing fire through his bristling +red whiskers and flashing it from his watery blue eyes, feared nobody +but Indians, and obeyed reluctantly everybody connected with the +railroad. Moreover, he never hesitated to announce that when "they +didn't like the way he ran his engine they could get somebody else to +run it." + +Baggs's great failing was that, while he often ran his train too fast, +he wasted so much time at stations that he was always late. And it was +said of him that the only instance in which he ever reached the end of +his division on time was the day he ran away from Iron Hand's band of +Sioux at Goose Creek--on that occasion he had made, without a doubt, a +record run. + +But when, one hot afternoon in August, Baggs left Medicine Bend with a +light engine for Fort Park, where he was to pick up a train-load of +ties, he had no thought of making further pioneer railroad history. +His engine had been behaving so well that his usual charges of +inefficiency against it had not for a long time been registered with +the roundhouse foreman, and Dan Baggs, dreaming in the heat and +sunshine of nothing worse than losing his scalp to the Indians or +winning a fortune at cards--gambling was another of his failings--was +pounding lightly along over the rails when he reached, without heeding +it, Goose Creek bridge. + +There were those who averred that after his experience with Iron Hand +he always ran faster across the forbidden bridge than anywhere else. +On this occasion Baggs bowled merrily along the trestle and was +getting toward the middle of the river when the pony trucks jumped the +rail and the drivers dropped on the ties. Dan Baggs yelled to his +fireman. + +It was unnecessary. Delaroo, the fireman, a quiet but prudent fellow, +was already standing in the gangway prepared for an emergency. He +sprang, not a minute too soon, from the engine and lighted in the +sand. But Dan Baggs's fixed habit of being behind time chained him to +his seat an instant too long. The bulky engine, with its tremendous +impetus, shot from the trestle and plunged like a leviathan clear of +the bridge and down into the wet sand of the creek-bed. + +The fireman scrambled to his feet and ran forward, expecting to find +his engineman hurt or killed. What was his surprise to behold Baggs, +uninjured, on his feet and releasing the safety-valve of his fallen +locomotive to prevent an explosion. The engine lay on its side. The +crash of the breaking timbers, followed by a deafening blast of +escaping steam, startled Bucks and, with Bob Scott, he ran out of the +station. As he saw the spectacle in the river, he caught his breath. +He lived to see other wrecks--some appalling ones--but this was his +first, and the shock of seeing Dan Baggs's engine lying prone in the +river, trumpeting forth a cloud of steam, instead of thundering across +the bridge as he normally saw it every day, was an extraordinary one. + +Filled with alarm, he ran toward the bridge expecting that the worst +had happened to the engineman and fireman. But his amazement grew +rather than lessened when he saw Delaroo and Baggs running for their +lives toward him. He awaited them uneasily. + +"What's the matter?" demanded Bucks, as Baggs, well in the lead, came +within hailing distance. + +"Matter!" panted Baggs, not slackening his pace. "Matter! Look at my +engine! Indians!" + +"Indians, your grandmother!" retorted Bob Scott mildly. "There's not +an Indian within forty miles--what's the matter with you?" + +"They wrecked us, Bob," declared Baggs, pointing to his roaring +engine; "see for yourself, man. Them cotton-woods are full of Indians +right now." + +"Full of rabbits!" snorted Bob Scott. "You wrecked yourself by running +too fast." + +"Delaroo," demanded Dan Baggs, pointing dramatically at his taciturn +fireman, who had now overtaken him, "how fast was I running?" + +Peter Delaroo, an Indian half-blood himself, returned a disconcerting +answer. "As fast as you could, I reckon." He understood at once that +Baggs had raised a false alarm to protect himself from blame for the +accident, and resented being called upon to support an absurd story. + +Baggs stood his ground. "If you don't find an Indian has done this," +he asserted, addressing Bob Scott with indignation, "you can have my +pay check." + +"Yes," returned Bob, meditatively. "I reckon an Indian did it, but you +are the Indian." + +"Come, stop your gabble, you boys!" blustered the doughty engineman, +speaking to everybody and with a show of authority. "Bucks, notify the +despatcher I'm in the river." + +"Get back to your engine, then," said Scott. "Don't ask Bucks to send +in a false report. And afterward," suggested Scott, "you and I, Dan, +can go over and clean the Indians out of the cotton-woods." + +Baggs took umbrage at the suggestion, and no amount of chaffing from +Scott disconcerted him, but after Bucks reported the catastrophe to +Medicine Bend the wires grew warm. Baxter was very angry. A crew was +got together at Medicine Bend, and a wrecking-train made up with a +gang of bridge and track men and despatched to the scene of the +disaster. The operating department was so ill equipped to cope with +any kind of a wreck that it was after midnight before the train got +under way. + +The sun had hardly risen next morning, when Bob Scott, without any +words of explanation, ran into Bucks's room, woke him hurriedly, and, +bidding him dress quickly, ran out. It took only a minute for Bucks to +spring from his cot and get into his clothes and he hastened out of +doors to learn what the excitement was about. Scott was walking fast +down toward the bridge. Bucks joined him. + +"What is it, Bob?" he asked hastily. "Indians?" + +"Indians?" echoed Bob scornfully. "I guess not this time. I've heard +of Indians stealing pretty nearly everything on earth--but not this. +No Indian in this country, not even Turkey Leg, ever stole a +locomotive." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean Dan Baggs's engine is gone." + +Bucks's face turned blank with amazement. "Gone?" he echoed +incredulously. He looked at Scott with reproach. "You are joking +me." + +"See if you can find it," returned Scott tersely. + +As they hastened on, Bucks looked to the spot where the engine had +lain the night before. It was no longer there. + +He was too stunned to ask further questions. The two strode along the +ties in silence. Eagerly Bucks ran to the creek bank and scanned more +closely the sandy bed. It was there that the wrecked engine and tender +had lain the night before. The sand showed no disturbance whatever. It +was as smooth as a table. But nothing was to be seen of the engine or +tender. These had disappeared as completely as if an Aladdin's slave, +at his master's bidding, had picked them from their resting place and +set them on top of some distant sand-hill. + +"Bob," demanded Bucks, breathless, "what does it mean?" + +"It means the company is out one brand-new locomotive." + +"But what has happened?" asked Bucks, rubbing his eyes to make sure he +was not dreaming. "Where is the engine?" + +Scott pointed to the spot where the engine had lain. "It is in that +quicksand," said he. + +The engine, during the night, had, in fact, sunk completely into the +sand. No trace was left of it or of its tender. Not a wheel or cab +corner remained to explain; all had mysteriously and completely +disappeared. + +"Great Heavens, Bob!" exclaimed Bucks. "How will they _ever_ get it +out?" + +"The only way they'll ever get it out, I reckon, is by keeping Dan +Baggs digging there till he digs it out." + +"Dan Baggs never could dig that out--how long would it take him?" + +"About a hundred and seventy-five years." + +As Scott spoke, the two heard footsteps behind them. Baggs and +Delaroo, who had slept at the section-house, were coming down the +track. "Baggs," said Scott ironically, as the sleepy-looking +engineman approached, "you were right about the Indians being in the +cotton-woods last night." + +"I knew I was right," exclaimed Baggs, nodding rapidly and brusquely. +"Next time you'll take a railroad man's word, I guess. Where are +they?" he added, looking apprehensively around. "What have they +done?" + +"They have stolen your engine," answered Scott calmly. He pointed to +the river bed. Baggs stared; then running along the bank he looked +up-stream and down and came back sputtering. + +"Why--what--how--what in time! Where's the engine?" + +"Indians," remarked Scott sententiously, looking wisely down upon the +sphinx-like quicksand. "Indians, Dan. They must have loaded the engine +on their ponies during the night--did you hear anything?" he demanded, +turning to Bucks. Bucks shook his head. "I thought I did," continued +Scott. "Thought I heard something--what's that?" + +Baggs jumped. All were ready to be startled at anything--for even +Scott, in spite of his irony, had been as much astounded as any one at +the first sight of the empty bed of sand. It was enough to make any +one feel queerish. The noise they heard was the distant rumble of the +wrecking-train. + +In the east the sun was bursting over the sand-hills into a clear sky. +Bucks ran to the station to report the train and the disappearance of +the engine. When he had done this he ran back to the bridge. The +wrecking-train had pulled up near at hand and the greater part of the +men, congregated in curious groups on the bridge, were talking +excitedly and watching several men down on the sand, who with spades +were digging vigorously about the spot which Baggs and Delaroo +indicated as the place where the engine had fallen. Others from time +to time joined them, as they scraped out wells and trenches in the +moist sand. These filled with water almost as rapidly as they were +opened. + +Urged by their foreman, a dozen additional men joined the toilers. +They dug in lines and in circles, singly and in squads, broadening +their field of prospecting as the laughter and jeers of their +companions watching from the bridge spurred them to further toil. But +not the most diligent of their efforts brought to light a single +trace of the missing engine. + +The wrecking crew was mystified. Many refused to believe the engine +had ever fallen off the bridge. But there was the broken track! They +could not escape the evidence of their eyes, even if they did scoff at +the united testimony of the two men that had been on the engine when +it leaped from the bridge and the two that had afterward seen it lying +in the sand. + +The track and bridge men without more ado set to work to repair the +damage done the track and bridge. A volley of messages came from +head-quarters. At noon a special car, with Colonel Stanley and the +division heads arrived to investigate. + +The digging was planned and directed on a larger scale and resumed +with renewed vigor. Sheet piling was attempted. Every expedient was +resorted to that Stanley's scientific training could suggest to bring +to light the buried treasure--for an engine in those days, and so far +from locomotive works, was very literally a treasure to the railroad +company. Stanley himself was greatly upset. He paced the ties above +where the men were digging, directing and encouraging them doggedly, +but very red in the face and contemplating the situation with +increasing vexation. He stuck persistently to the work till darkness +set in. Meantime, the track had been opened and the wrecking-train +crossed the bridge and took the passing track. The moon rose full over +the broad valley and the silent plains. Men still moved with lanterns +under the bridge. Bucks, after a hard day's work at the key, was +invited for supper to Stanley's car, where the foremen had assembled +to lay new plans for the morrow. But Bob Scott, when Bucks told him, +shook his head. + +"They are wasting their work," he murmured. "The company is 'out.' +That engine is half-way to China by this time." + +It might, at least, as well have been, as far as the railroad company +was concerned. The digging and sounding and scraping proved equally +useless. The men dug down almost as deep as the piling that supported +the bridge itself--it was in vain. In the morning the sun smiled at +their efforts and again at night the moon rose mysteriously upon them, +and in the distant sand-hills a thousand coyotes yelped a requiem for +the lost locomotive. But no human eye ever saw so much as a bolt of +the great machine again. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +The loss of the engine at Goose Creek brought an unexpected relief to +Bucks. His good work in the emergency earned for him a promotion. He +was ordered to report to Medicine Bend for assignment, and within a +week a new man appeared at Goose Creek to relieve him. + +There was little checking up to do. Less than thirty minutes gave +Bucks time to answer all of his successor's questions and pack his +trunk. He might have slept till morning and taken a passenger train to +Medicine Bend, but the prospect of getting away from Goose Creek at +once was too tempting to dismiss. A freight train of bridge timbers +pulled across the bridge just as Bucks was ready to start. Pat +Francis, the doughty conductor, who, single-handed, had held Iron +Hand's braves at bay, was in charge of the train. He offered Bucks a +bench and blanket in the caboose for the night, and promised to have +him in Medicine Bend in the morning; Bucks, nothing loath, accepted. +His trunk was slung aboard and the train pulled out for Medicine +Bend. + +The night proved unseasonably cold. Francis built a blazing fire in +the caboose stove and afterward shared his hearty supper with his +guest. As the train thundered and rumbled slowly over the rough track, +the conductor, while Bucks stretched out on the cushions, entertained +him with stories of his experiences on the railroad frontier--not +suspecting that before morning he should furnish for his listener one +of the strangest of them. + +Bucks curled up in his blanket late, but, in spite of unaccustomed +surroundings and the pitch and lurch of the caboose, which was hardly +less than the tossing of a ship in a gale, Bucks dozed while his +companion and the brakeman watched. The latter, a large, heavy fellow, +was a busy man, as the calls for brakes--and only hand-brakes were +then known--were continual. There were no other passengers, and except +for the frequent blasts of the engine whistle the night passed quietly +enough. + +Bucks dreamed of fighting bears with Scuffy, and found himself +repeatedly rolling down precipitous mountains without landing +successfully anywhere. Then he quieted into a heavy, unbroken sleep +and found himself among the hills of Alleghany, hunting rabbits that +were constantly changing into antelope and escaping him. Fatigued with +his unceasing efforts, he woke. + +A gray light, half dusk, revealed the outlines of the cab interior, as +he opened his eyes, and a thundering, rumbling sound that rang in his +ears and seemed everywhere about him cleared his mind and brought him +back to his situation. + +It was cold, and he looked at the stove. The fire was out. On the +opposite side of the cab the brakeman lay on the cushions fast asleep. +Outside, the thundering noises came continuously from everywhere at +once. It did not occur to Bucks that the caboose was standing still. +It trembled and vibrated more or less, but he noticed there was no +longer any lurching and thought they had reached remarkably smooth +track. They were certainly not standing still, he assured himself, as +he rubbed his eyes to wake up. But perhaps they might be in the yards +at Medicine Bend, with other trains rolling past them. + +Somewhat confused he raised the curtain of the window near him. The +sky was overcast and day was breaking. He rose higher on his elbow to +look more carefully. Everywhere that his eye could reach toward the +horizon the earth seemed in motion, rising and falling in great waves. +Was it an earthquake? He rubbed his eyes. It seemed as if everywhere +thousands of heads were tossing, and from this continual tossing and +trampling came the thunder and vibration. Moreover, the caboose was +not moving; of this he felt sure. Amazed, and only half-awake, he +concluded that the train must have left the track and dropped into a +river. The uncertainty of his vision was due, he now saw, to a storm +that had swept the plains. It was blowing, with a little snow, and in +the midst of the snow the mysterious waves were everywhere rising and +falling. + +Bucks put the curtain completely aside. The sound of his feet striking +the floor aroused the conductor, who rose from his cushion with a +start. "I've been asleep," he exclaimed, rubbing his eyes. "Where are +we, Bucks?" + +"That is what I am trying to figure out." + +"Where is the brakeman?" demanded Francis. As he asked the question he +saw the big fellow asleep in the corner. Francis shook him roughly. +"That comes of depending on some one else," he muttered to Bucks. "I +went to sleep on his promise to watch for an hour--he knew I had been +up all last night and told me to take a nap. You see what happened. +The moment I went to sleep, he went to sleep," exclaimed Francis in +disgust. "Wake up!" he continued brusquely to the drowsy brakeman. +"Where are we? What have we stopped for? What's all this noise?" +Though he asked the questions fast, he expected no answer to any of +them from the confused trainman and waited for none. Instead, he threw +up a curtain and looked out. "Thunder and guns! Buffaloes!" he cried, +and seizing his lantern ran out of the caboose door and climbed the +roof-ladder. Bucks was fast upon his heels. + +The freight train stood upon a wide plain and in the midst of +thousands of buffaloes travelling south. As far as their eyes could +reach in all directions, the astonished railroad men beheld a sea of +moving buffaloes. Without further delay Francis, followed by Bucks, +started along the running boards for the head end of the train. + +The conductor found his train intact; but when he reached the head end +he could find neither engine, tender, nor crew. All had disappeared. +Running down the ladder of the head box-car, the conductor examined +the draw-bar for evidence of an accident. The coupling was apparently +uninjured but the tender and engine were gone. Francis, more upset +than Bucks had ever seen him, or ever afterward saw him, walked +moodily back to the caboose. What humiliated him more than the strange +predicament in which he found himself was that he had trusted to a +subordinate and gone to sleep in his caboose while on duty. + +"Serves me right," he muttered, knitting his brows. "Brakeman," he +added sternly, "take your lantern and flags and get out behind. The +minute the buffaloes get across the track, go back two hundred yards +and protect us. I will watch the head end. While these buffaloes are +crossing they will be protection enough. Soon as it is daylight we +will find out where we are." + +The snow continued falling and the buffaloes drifted south with the +storm, which was squally. Every moment, as the sky and landscape +lightened, Francis, whom Bucks had followed forward, expected to see +the last of the moving herd. But an hour passed and a second hour +without showing any gaps in the enormous fields. And the brighter the +daylight grew, the more buffaloes they could see. + +Francis stormed at the situation, but he could do nothing. Finally, +and as hope was deserting him, he heard the distant tooting of an +engine whistle. It grew louder and louder until Bucks could hear the +ringing of a bell and the hissing of the open cylinder cocks of a +slow-moving locomotive. Gaps could now be discerned in the great herds +of buffaloes, and through the blowing snow the uncertain outlines of +the backing engine could dimly be seen. Francis angrily watched the +approaching engine, and, as soon as it had cleared the last of the +stumbling buffaloes on the track, he walked forward to meet it and +greeted the engineman roughly. + +"What do you mean by setting my train out here on the main track in +the middle of the night?" he demanded ferociously, and those that knew +Pat Francis never wanted to add to his anger when it was aroused. + +"Don't get excited," returned Dan Baggs calmly, for it was the +redoubtable Baggs who held the throttle. "I found I was getting short +of water. We are just coming to Blackwood Hill and I knew I could +never make Blackwood Siding with the train. So I uncoupled and ran to +the Blackwood tank for water. We are all right now. Couple us up. If I +hadn't got water, we should have been hung up here till we got another +engine." + +"Even so," retorted Francis, "you needn't have been all night about +it." + +"But when we started back there were about ten million buffaloes on +the track. If I had been heading into them with the cow-catcher I +shouldn't have been afraid. But I had to back into them, and if I had +crippled one it would have upset the tender." + +"Back her up," commanded Francis curtly, "and pull us out of here." + +Meantime there was much excitement at the despatchers' office in +Medicine Bend over the lost train. It had been reported out of White +Horse Station on time, and had not reported at Blackwood. For hours +the despatcher waited vainly for some word from the bridge timbers. +When the train reported at Blackwood Station, the message of Francis +explaining the cause of the tie-up seemed like a voice from the tombs. +But the strain was relieved and the train made fast time from +Blackwood in. About nine o'clock in the morning it whistled for the +Medicine Bend yards and a few moments later Bucks ran upstairs in the +station building to report for assignment. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +He found Baxter needing a man in the office, and Bucks was asked to +substitute until Collins, the despatcher who was ill, could take his +trick again. This brought Bucks where he was glad to be, directly +under Stanley's eye, but it brought also new responsibilities, and +opened his mind to the difficulties of operating a new and already +over-taxed line in the far West, where reliable men and available +equipment were constantly at a premium. + +The problem of getting and keeping good men was the hardest that +confronted the operating department, and the demoralization of the +railroad men from the life in Medicine Bend grew steadily worse as the +new town attracted additional parasites. When Bucks, after his return, +took his first walk after supper up Front Street, he was not surprised +at this. Medicine Bend was more than ten times as noisy, and if it +were possible to add any vice to its viciousness this, too, it would +seem, had been done. + +As was his custom, he walked to the extreme end of Front Street and +turning started back for the station, when he encountered Baxter, the +chief despatcher. Baxter saw Bucks first and spoke. + +"I thought you were taking your sleep at this time," returned Bucks, +greeting him. + +"So I should be," he replied, "but we are in trouble. Dan Baggs is to +take out the passenger train to-night, and no one can find him. He is +somewhere up here in one of these dives and has forgotten all about +his engine. It is enough to set a man crazy to have to run trains with +such cattle. Bucks, suppose you take one side of the street while I +take the other, and help me hunt him up." + +"What shall we do?" + +"Look in every door all the way down-street till we find him. If we +don't get the fellow on his engine, there will be no train out till +midnight. Say nothing to anybody and answer no questions; just find +him." + +Baxter started down the right-hand side of the long street and Bucks +took the left-hand side. It was queer business for Bucks, and the +sights that met him at every turn were enough to startle one stouter +than he. He controlled his disgust and ignored the questions sometimes +hurled at him by drunken men and women, intent only on getting his eye +on the irresponsible Baggs. + +Half-way down toward the square he reached a dance hall. The doors +were spread wide open and from within came a din of bad music, +singing, and noise of every kind. + +Bucks entered the place with some trepidation. In the rear of the +large room was a raised platform extending the entire width of it. At +one end of the platform stood a piano which a man pounded incessantly +and fiercely. Other performers were singing and dancing to entertain a +motley and disorderly audience seated in a still more disorderly array +before them. + +At the right of the room a long bar stretched from the street back as +far as the stage, and standing in front of this, boisterous groups of +men were smoking and drinking, or wrangling in tipsy fashion. The +opposite side of the big room was given over to gambling devices of +every sort, and this space was filled with men sitting about small +tables and others sitting and standing along one side of long tables, +at each of which one man was dealing cards, singly, out of a metal +case held in his hand. Other men clustered about revolving wheels +where, oblivious of everything going on around them, they watched with +feverish anxiety a ball thrown periodically into the disc by the man +operating the wheel. + +Bucks walked slowly down the room the full length of the bar, scanning +each group of men as he passed. He crossed the room behind the chairs +where the audience of the singers and dancers sat. He noticed, when he +reached this, the difference in the faces he was scrutinizing. At the +gambling tables the men saw and heard nothing of what went on about +them. He walked patiently on his quest from group to group, unobserved +by those about him, but without catching a sight of the elusive +engineman. As he reached the end of the gambling-room, he hesitated +for a moment and had finished his quest when, drawn by curiosity, he +stopped for an instant to watch the scene about the roulette wheels. + +Almost instantly he heard a sharp voice behind him. "What are you +doing here?" + +Bucks, surprised, turned to find himself confronted by the black-bearded +passenger conductor, David Hawk. Baxter's admonition to say nothing +of what he was doing confused Bucks for an instant, and he stammered +some evasive answer. + +Hawk, blunt and stern in word and manner, followed the evasion up +sharply: "Don't you know this is no place for you?" and before Bucks +could answer, Hawk had fixed him with his piercing eyes. + +"You want to hang around a gambling-table, do you? You want to watch +how it is done and try it yourself sometime? You want to see how much +smarter you can play the game than these sheep-heads you are +watching? + +"Don't talk to me," he exclaimed sternly as Bucks tried to explain. +"I've seen boys in these places before. I know where they end. If I +ever catch you in a gambling-den again I'll throw you neck and heels +into the river." + +The words fell upon Bucks like a cloud-burst. Before he could return a +word or catch his breath Hawk strode away. + +As Bucks stood collecting his wits, Baggs, the man for whom he was +looking, passed directly before his eyes. Bucks sprang forward, caught +Baggs by the arm, and led him toward the door, as he gave him Baxter's +message. Baggs, listening somewhat sheepishly, made no objection to +going down to take his train and walked through the front door with +Bucks out into the street. + +As they did this, a red-faced man who was standing on the doorstep +seized Bucks's sleeve and attempted to jerk him across the sidewalk. +Bucks shook himself free and turned on his assailant. He needed no +introduction to the hard cheeks, one of which was split by a deep +scar. It was Perry, Rebstock's crony, whom Stanley had driven out of +Sellersville on the Spider Water. + +"What are you doing around here interfering with my business?" he +demanded of Bucks harshly. "I've watched you spying around. The next +time I catch you trying to pull a customer out of my place, I'll knock +your head off." + +Bucks eyed the bully with gathering wrath. He was already upset +mentally, and taken so suddenly and unawares lost his temper and his +caution. "If you do, it will be the last head you knock off in +Medicine Bend," he retorted. "When I find trainmen in your joint that +are needed on their runs, I'll pull them out every time. The safest +thing you can do is to keep quiet. If the railroad men ever get +started after you, you red-faced bully, they'll run you and your whole +tribe into the river again." + +It was a foolish defiance and might have cost him his life, though +Bucks knew he was well within the truth in what he said. Among the +railroad men the feeling against the gamblers was constantly growing +in bitterness. Perry instantly attempted to draw a revolver, when a +man who had been watching the scene unobserved stepped close enough +between him and Bucks to catch Perry's eye. It was Dave Hawk again. +What he had just heard had explained things to him and he stood now +grimly laughing at the enraged gambler. + +"Good for the boy," he exclaimed. "Want to get strung up, do you, +Perry? Fire that gun just once and the vigilantes will have a rope +around your neck in five minutes." + +Perry, though furious, realized the truth of what Hawk said. He poured +a torrent of abuse upon Bucks, but made no further effort to use his +gun. The dreaded word "vigilantes" had struck terror to the heart of a +man who had once been in their hands and escaped only by an accident. + +"You know what he said is so, don't you?" laughed Hawk savagely. +"What? You don't?" he demanded, as Perry tried to face him down. +"You'll be lucky, when that time comes, if you don't get your heels +tangled up with a telegraph pole before you reach the river," +concluded Hawk tauntingly. + +"Let him keep away from me if he doesn't want trouble," snarled the +discomfited gambler, eying Bucks threateningly. But he was plainly +out-faced, and retreated, grumbling, toward the dance-hall steps. + +Dan Baggs, at the first sign of hostilities, had fled. Bucks, afraid +of losing him, now followed, leaving Hawk still abusing the gambler, +but when he overtook the engineman he found he was going, as he had +promised, straight to the roundhouse. + +It was almost time for the night trick. Bucks hastened upstairs to the +despatchers' office and reported to Baxter, who had returned ahead of +him and was elated at Bucks's success. Before the young substitute +took up his train-sheet, he told the chief despatcher of how strangely +the conductor, Dave Hawk, had talked to him. + +"He has a reason for it," responded Baxter briefly. + +"What reason?" + +"There is as good a railroad man as ever lived," said Baxter, +referring to the black-bearded conductor. "He is the master of us all +in the handling of trains. He could be anything anybody is on this +line to-day that he might want to be but for one thing. If he hadn't +ruined his own life, Dave Hawk could be superintendent here. He knows +whereof he speaks, Bucks." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean he is a gambler. Did you hear the shooting after I left +you?" + +"No, what was it?" + +"It must have been while you were in Perry's. Not five minutes after +we parted, a saloon-keeper shot a woman down right in front of me; I +was standing less than ten feet from her when she fell," said the +despatcher, recounting the incident. "But I was too late to protect +her; and I should probably have been shot myself if I had tried to." + +"Was the brute arrested?" + +"Arrested! Who arrests anybody in this town?" + +"How long is this sort of thing going on?" asked Bucks, sitting down +and signing a transfer. + +"How long!" echoed the despatcher, taking up his hat to go to his +room. "I don't know how long. But when their time comes--God help that +crowd up Front Street!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +Following Collins's return to duty, Bucks was assigned to a new +western station, Point of Rocks. It was in the mountains and where +Casement, now laying five and even six miles of track a day, had just +turned over a hundred and eighty miles to the operating department. +Bucks, the first operator ever sent to the lonely place afterward +famous in railroad story, put his trunk aboard a freight train the +next morning and started for his destination. + +The ride through the mountains was an inspiration. A party of army +officers and their wives, preferring to take the day run for the +scenery, were bound for one of the mountain posts, Fort Bridger, and +they helped to make the long day journey in the cabin car, with its +frequent stops and its laborious engine-puffing over the mountain +grades, a pleasant one. The women made coffee on a cabin stove and +Bucks, the only other passenger, was invited to lunch with them. + +When the train stopped at Point of Rocks and Bucks got off, the sun +was setting, and though the thin, clear air brought the distant +mountains very close, the prospect was not a cheerful one. In every +direction mountain ranges, some brown and others snow-capped, rose +upon the horizon. Where the railroad line made a tortuous way among +the barren buttes that dotted the uneven plain all about, there was +not a spear of grass nor a living thing except the stunted sage-brush +of the alkali plain. In the midst of this desert a great upheaval of +granite rock thrown squarely across the direct path of the railroad +opposed its straight course and made a long reverse curve necessary. +This was Point of Rocks. + +"You," said Stanley once to Bucks, "may live to see this railroad +built across these mountains as it should be built. There will be no +sharp curves then, no heavy grades such as these our little engines +have to climb now. Great compound locomotives will pull trains of a +hundred cars up grades of less than one per cent and around two and +three degree curves. These high wooden bridges will all be replaced +by big rock and earth fills. Tunnels will pierce the heights that +cannot be scaled by easy grades, and electric power supplied by these +mountain streams themselves will take the place of steam made by coal +and hauled hundreds of miles to give us costly motive power. You may +live, Bucks, to see all of this; I shall not. When it comes, think of +me." + +But there was no thought now in Bucks's mind of what the future might +bring to that forbidding desert. He saw only a rude station building, +just put up, and as the train disappeared, he dragged into this his +trunk and hand-bag, and in that act a new outpost of civilization was +established in the great West. + +He called up Medicine Bend, reported, lighted a fire in the little +stove, and the spot in the desert known now to men as Point of Rocks +for the first time in the story of the world became a part of it--was +linked to the world itself. + +But the place was lonely beyond words, and Bucks had a hard time to +keep it from being too much so for him. He walked at different times +over the country in every direction, and one night after a crudely +prepared supper he strolled out on the platform, desperate for +something to do. Desolation marked the landscape everywhere. He +wandered aimlessly across the track and seeing nothing better to +interest him began climbing Point of Rocks. + +The higher he climbed the more absorbed he became. Youth and strength +lent ardor to the ascent, and Bucks, soon forgetting everything below, +was scaling the granite pile that towered above him. For thirty +minutes, without a halt, he continued to climb, and reaching after a +while what seemed the highest ledge of the rocky spur, he walked out +upon it to the very edge and was rewarded for his labor with a +magnificent panorama of the mountain divide. + +In the west the sky was still golden and, though clouds appeared to be +banking heavily in the north, the view of the distant peaks was +unobstructed. From where he sat he could almost have thrown a stone +into one tiny mountain stream that cut a silver path toward the +setting sun, and another, a hundred yards away, that flowed gently +toward the rising sun. And he knew--for Bill Dancing had told +him--that the one rill emptied at last into the Pacific Ocean, and the +other into the Atlantic Ocean. Alongside these tiny streams he could +plainly trace the overland trail of the emigrant wagons, and, cutting +in straighter lines, but following the same general direction, lay the +right-of-way of the new transcontinental railroad. + +Beyond, in every direction, stretched great plateaus, and above these +rugged mountain chains, lying in what seemed the eternal solitude of +the vast desert. He was alone with the sunset, and stood for some +moments silenced by the scene before him. When a sound did at length +reach his ear as he sat spellbound, it brought him back to himself +with the suddenness of a shock. + +At first he heard only distant echoes of a short, muffled blow, +irregularly repeated and seeming familiar to the ear. As he speculated +upon what the sound might be, it grew gradually plainer and came +seemingly nearer. He bent his eyes down the valley to the west and +scanned the wagon-trail and the railroad track as far as he could in +the dusk, but could see nothing. Then the muffle of the sound was at +once lifted. It came from the other direction, and, turning his eyes, +he saw emerging from a small canyon that hid the trail to the east, a +covered emigrant wagon, drawn by a large team of horses and driven by +a man sitting in front of the hood, making its way slowly up the road +toward the station. + +The heavy play of the wheel-hubs on the axles echoed now very plainly +upon his ears, and he sat watching the outfit and wondering whether +the travellers would camp for the night near him and give him what he +craved most of all, a little human society. The horses passed the +station, and as they did so, the driver peered intently at the new +building, looking back around the side of the canvas cover, and +straining his neck to see all he could see, while the horses moved +along. + +This would have seemed to Bucks mere idle curiosity had he not noticed +that some one within the wagon parted the canvas flaps at the rear as +it went by and likewise inspected the building with close attention. +Even this was no especial incident for wonderment, nor was Bucks +surprised when the emigrants, after pursuing their way until they were +well out of sight of the station itself, guided their wagon from the +trail into a little depression along the creek as if to make camp for +the night. The driver, a tall, thin man, wearing a slouch hat, got +down from the front of the wagon and walked with a shambling gait to +the head of his horses and loosened their bridles. While the horses +were drinking, a second man, carrying a rifle, climbed down from the +rear of the wagon. He was of a shorter and stockier build, and on one +side the brim of his soft hat had been torn away so that it hung +loosely over one ear, the other ear being covered only by a shock of +dusty hair. + +A third man emerged from under the canvas cover, dropping down almost +behind the second--a fat man who looked about him with suspicion as he +slowly drew a rifle out of the wagon. The driver joined his companions +for a brief conference, and when it was finished the three men, +examining their rifles, walked back up the road toward the station. As +they neared it, two of them loitered back and presently took their +places behind convenient rocks where, without being seen, they could +see everything. The third man, the driver, carrying his rifle on his +arm, walked ahead, crossed the road, and, proceeding with some care, +stepped up on the platform and pushed open the door of the station +building. + +Bucks, perched high on the rocky spur above the scene, looked on, not +knowing just what to make of it all. As he saw the two men conceal +themselves, he wondered what sort of a call the third man intended +making on the new agent, and why he should leave two armed men close +at hand in ambush when calling on one lone telegraph operator. Bucks +began to feel a bit creepy and watched the scene unfolding below with +keen attention. The driver of the wagon getting no response as he +opened the door, walked inside, and for a moment was not seen. He soon +reappeared, and, stepping to the side of the building signalled his +companions to come up. Bucks saw them emerge from their hiding-places +and join the driver at the station door. + +A second conference followed. It was briefer than the first, but +there seemed some difference of opinion among the three men, and +the talk terminated abruptly by the driver's clubbing his rifle and +deliberately smashing in the sash of the window before which he +was standing. + +Whatever had held Bucks spellbound thus far released him suddenly for +action when he saw the rifle-stock raised and heard the crash of the +glass. He jumped up, and running to the edge of the ledge nearest the +station yelled at the marauder and shook his finger at him vigorously. +The attack on his habitation was too much for Bucks's composure, and, +although he knew his words could not be heard from where he stood, he +felt he could frighten the intruders. + +This was his second mistake. No sooner had his visitors sighted him +than two guns were turned on him and instantly fired. He jumped back +before the fat man, who, slower than his companions, had some +difficulty in shooting so high above his head, could get his gun up. +Afterward, Bucks learned how providential this was, inasmuch as the +big fellow was the deadliest shot of the three. + +But at the moment, danger was the last thing the operator thought of. +The unprovoked and murderous attack infuriated him, and again +forgetting his caution he drew his own revolver without hesitation, +and, running to a more protected spot, leaned over the ledge and fired +point-blank into the group, as they looked up to see what had become +of him. + +If it had been his intention to hit any one of them with his bullets, +his shooting was a failure and some experience in after years among +men practised in gunnery convinced him that to aim at three men is not +the right way to hit one. + +But if he had meant only to create a sensation his move was successful +beyond his greatest expectation. Had a bomb been exploded on the +platform the marauders could not have scattered more quickly. Bucks +never in his life had seen three men move so fast. The fat man, +indeed, had given Bucks the impression of being heavy and slow in his +movements. He now made a surprising exhibition of agility, and Bucks +to his astonishment, saw him distancing his leaner companions and +sprinting for the shelter at a pace that would have made a jack-rabbit +take notice. + +Bucks, somewhat keyed up, fired twice again at the fleeing men, but +with no more effect than to kick up the dust once behind and once +ahead of them as they ran. The instant they reached the rocks where +they found shelter Bucks drew back out of sight, and none too soon, +for as he pulled himself away from the ledge, a rifle cracked +viciously from below and the slug threw a chunk of granite almost up +into his face; the fat man was evidently having his innings. + +Bucks, out of immediate danger, lay perfectly still for a few moments +casting up the strange situation he found himself in. Why the men +should have acted as they had, was all a mystery, but thieves or +outlaws they evidently were, and outlaws in this country he already +well knew were men who would stop at nothing. + +He realized, likewise, that he was in grave danger. The night was +before him. No train would be through before morning. He could not +reach his key by which he might have summoned aid instantly. For a +moment he lay thinking. Then taking off his hat he stuck his head +carefully forward; it was greeted at once by a bullet. The lesson was +obvious and next time he wanted to reconnoitre he stuck his hat +forward first on the muzzle of his gun, as he had often read of +frontiersmen doing, and, having drawn a shot, stuck his head out +afterward for a quick look. All that remained in the open was the team +and wagon, but this left the outlaws at a disadvantage, for if they +wanted to get their outfit and go on their way they must expose +themselves to Bucks's fire. While they might feel that one operator, +armed with a revolver he hardly knew how to use, was not a dangerous +foe, a Colt's, even in the hands of a boy who had thus far fired first +and aimed afterward, was not wholly to be despised. An accident might +happen even under such conditions, and the three men, knowing that +darkness would soon leave them free, waited in absolute silence. + +Night fell very soon and the light of the stars, though leaving +objects visible upon the high ledge, left the earth in impenetrable +darkness. Strain his eyes as he would, Bucks could perceive nothing +below. He could hear, however, and one of the first sounds audible was +that of the wagon moving quietly away. It was a welcome sound, even +though he dared not hope his troublesome visitors would withdraw +without further mischief. His chief concern at this juncture was to +get safely, if he could, down the rocks and into the station to give +the alarm to the despatcher; for he made no doubt that the outlaws, on +their wagon trip west, would damage in any way they might be able +railroad supplies and property along their way. + +Before Bucks had climbed down very far and after he had made one or +two startling missteps, he began to consider that it was one thing to +get up a rough arête in daylight and quite another to get down one in +the darkness. The heavy clouds moving down from the north had massed +above Point of Rocks, and he heard once in a while an ominous roll of +thunder, as he slipped and slid along and bruised his hands and feet +upon the rocks. + +He had with great care got about half-way down, when the pitch +darkness below him was pierced by a small flame which he took at first +for the blaze of a camp fire. In another moment he was undeceived. The +station was on fire. It was evidently the last effort of the outlaws +to wreak vengeance as they left. Bucks clambered over the rocks in +great alarm. He thought he might reach the building in time to save +it, and, forgetting the danger of being shot should his enemies remain +lying in wait, he made his way rapidly down the Point. The flames now +burst from the east window of the station, and he despaired of saving +it, but he hurried on until he heard the crack of a rifle, felt his +cap snatched from his head and fell backward against the face of the +rock. As he lost consciousness he slipped and rolled headlong down the +steep ledge. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +How long Bucks lay in the darkness he did not know, but he woke to +consciousness with thunder crashing in his ears and a flood of rain +beating on his upturned face. When he opened his eyes he was blinded +by sheets of lightning trembling across the sky, and he turned his +face from the pelting rain until he could collect himself. + +While he lay insensible from the shock of the bullet, which +providentially had only grazed his scalp, the storm had burst over the +mountains drowning everything before it. Water fell in torrents, and +the desert below him was one wide river. Water danced and swam down +the rocks and ran in broad, shallow waves over the sand, and the scene +was light as day. Thunder peals crashed one upon another like salvoes +of artillery, deafening and alarming the confused boy, and the rain +poured without ceasing. Continuing waves of lightning revealed the +railroad and station building before him and he realized that he had +fallen the rest of the way down from where he had been fired at on the +face of the Point. + +He took quick stock of his condition and, rising to his feet, found +himself only sore and bruised. He pressed his way through the flood to +the track, gained the platform, and, judging rightly that his +assailants had abandoned their fight, entered the half-burned building +unafraid. Rain poured in one corner where the roof had burned away +before the storm had put out the fire. + +Stumbling through the débris that covered the floor, Bucks made his +way to the operator's table and put his hand up to cut in the +lightning arrester. He was too late. The fire had taken everything +ahead of him, and his hope of getting into communication with the +despatchers was next dashed by the discovery that his instruments were +wrecked. + +He sat down--his chair was intact--much disheartened. But without +delay he opened the drawer of the table and feeling for his box of +cartridges found that the thieves had overlooked it. This he slipped +into his pocket with a feeling of relief, and, as he sat, rain-soaked +and with the water dripping from his hair, he reloaded his revolver +and made such preparations as he could to barricade the inner door and +wait for the passing of the storm. + +From time to time, awed by the fury of the elements, he looked into +the night. It seemed as if the valley as far as he could see was a +vast lake that rippled and danced over the rocks. Bucks had never +conceived of a thunderstorm like this. Until it abated there was +nothing he could do, and he sat in wretched discomfort, hour after +hour, waiting for the night to pass and listening to the mighty roar +of the waters as they swept broadside down the divide carrying +everything ahead of them. Before daylight the violence of the storm +wore itself away, but the creek in the little canyon south of the +right-of-way, dashing its swollen bulk against the granite walls, +pounded and roared with the fury of a cataract. + +When day broke, ragged masses of gray cloud scudded low across the +sky. The rain had ceased, and in the operator's room Bucks, aided by +the first rays of daylight, was struggling to get the telegraph wires +disentangled to send a message. His hopes, as the light increased and +he saw the ruin caused by the fire, were very slender, but he kept +busily at the wreckage and getting, at length, two severed strands of +the wires to show a current, began sending his call, followed by a +message for help to Medicine Bend. He worked at this for thirty +minutes unceasingly, then, looking around on every side of the +building, he satisfied himself that he was alone and, dropping down at +his table, leaned upon it with his elbows, and, tired, wet, and +begrimed, fell fast asleep. + +He was roused by the distant whistle of a locomotive. Opening his +eyes, he saw the sun streaming through the east side of the building +where the window casement had burned away. Shaking off the heaviness +of his slumber he hastened out to see an engine and box-car coming +from the east. From the open door of the car men were waving their +hats. Bucks answered by swinging his arm. + +The engine stopped before the station and Bob Scott, followed by +Dancing, Dave Hawk, and the train crew sprang from the caboose steps +and surrounded him. They had brought two horses and Bucks saw that all +the men were armed. It took only a minute to tell the story, and the +party scattered to view the destruction and look for clues to the +perpetrators. + +Scott and Dancing were especially keen in their search, but they found +nothing to suggest who the vandals were. They listened again to Bucks, +as he repeated his story with more detail, and held a hurried +conference in which Dave Hawk took charge. Meantime the men were +tearing up planks from the platform to make a chute for unloading the +horses. + +Bucks's excitement increased as he saw the businesslike preparations +for the chase. "Have you any idea you can catch them, Bob?" he asked +feverishly. + +Bob Scott's smile was not a complete answer. "How can you catch +anybody in _this_ country?" continued Bucks, regarding the scout +sceptically. But Scott looked across the interminable waste of +sage-brush and rock as if he felt at home with it. + +"If they stick to the wagon," he explained leisurely, "we will have +them in an hour or two, Bucks. A man might as well travel around here +with a brass band as to try to get away with a wagon track behind him. +If they stick to the wagon, we are bound to have them in two or three +hours at most. You are sure they didn't have a led horse?" + +"They had nothing but the team," said Bucks. + +"In that case if they give up the wagon, three of them will have to +ride two horses. They can't go fast in that way. We will get some of +them, Bucks, sure--somehow, sometime, somewhere. We have got to get +them. How could I hold my job if I didn't get them?" + +That which had seemed impossible to Bucks looked more hopeful after +Bob had smiled again. Dancing was busy installing the new telegraph +outfit. While this was going on, Scott saddled the horses and, when he +and Dave Hawk had mounted, the two rode rapidly down the emigrant +trail toward Bitter Creek. The train was held until Dancing could get +the instruments working again; then, at Hawk's request, it was sent +down the Bitter Creek grade after himself and Scott; the trail +followed the railroad for miles. Dancing remained with Bucks to guard +against further attack. + +The two railroad men rode carefully along the heavy ruts of the +emigrant trail, from which all recent tracks had been obliterated by +the flood, knowing that they would strike no sign of the wagon until +it had been started after the storm. They had covered in this manner +less than two miles when, rounding a little bend, they saw a covered +emigrant wagon standing in the road not half a mile from the railroad +track. + +Scott led quickly toward concealment and from behind a shoulder of +rock to which the two rode they could see that the wagon had been +halted and the horses, strangely entangled in the harness, were lying +in front of it. Scott and Hawk dismounted and, crawling up the +shoulder where they could see without being seen, waited impatiently +for some sign of life from the suspicious outfit. The description +Bucks had given fitted the wagon very well, and the two lay for a +time waiting for something to happen, and exchanging speculations as +to what the situation might mean. They were hoping that the thieves +might, if they had gone away, return, and with this thought restrained +their impatience. + +"It may be a trick to get us up to shooting distance, Bob," suggested +Hawk when Scott proposed they should close in. + +"But that wouldn't explain why the horses are lying there in that way, +Dave. Something else has happened. Those horses are dead; they haven't +moved. Suppose I circle the outfit," suggested Scott benevolently. + +"Take care they don't get a shot at you." + +"If they can get a shot at me before I can at them they are welcome," +returned Scott as he picked up his bridle rein. "From what Bucks told +me I don't think a great deal of their shooting. He is a level-headed +boy, that long-legged operator." And Scott, with some quiet grimaces, +recounted Bucks's story of his descent of Point of Rocks the night +before, under the fire of the three desperadoes. + +That he himself was now taking his own life in his hands as he started +on a perilous reconnoissance, cost him no thought. Such a situation he +was quite used to. But for a green boy from the East to put up so +unequal a fight seemed to the experienced scout a most humorous +proceeding. + +He mounted his horse and directing Hawk what to do if he should be +hit, set out to ride completely around the suspected wagon. The canvas +cover was the uncertain element in the situation. It might conceal +nobody, and yet it might conceal three rifles waiting for an +indiscreet pursuer to come within range. Scott, taking advantage of +the uneven country, rode circumspectly to the south, keeping the +object of his caution well in view, and at times, under cover of +friendly rocks, getting up quite close to it. + +Before he had completed half his ride he had satisfied himself as to +the actual state of affairs. Yet his habitual caution led him to +follow out his original purpose quite as carefully as if he had +reached no conclusion. When he crossed the trail west of the wagon, he +looked closely for fresh tracks, but there were none. He then circled +to the north and was soon able, by dismounting, to crawl under cover +within a hundred yards of the heads of the horses. When he got up to +where he could see without being seen he perceived clearly that his +surmise had been correct. + +Both horses lay dead in the harness. From the front seat of the wagon +a boot protruded; nothing more could be seen. Scott now, by signals, +summoned Dave Hawk from where he lay, and when the swarthy conductor +reached the scout, Scott called out loudly at the wagon. + +There was no answer, no movement, no sound. Things began to seem +queer; in the bright blaze of sunshine, and with the parched desert +glistening after the welcome rain, there in the midst of the vast +amphitheatre of mountains lay the dead horses before the mysterious +wagon. But nowhere about was any sign of life, and the wagon might +hold within its white walls death for whoever should unwarily approach +it. + +Bob Scott had no idea, however, of sacrificing himself to any scheme +that might have occurred to the enemy to lure him within danger. He +called out again at the top of his voice and demanded a surrender. No +sound gave any response, and raising his rifle he sent a bullet +through the extreme top of the canvas cover midway back from the +driver's seat. + +The echoes of the report crashed back to the rocks, but brought +nothing from the silence of the emigrant wagon. A second shot +followed, tearing through the side board of the wagon-box itself; yet +there was no answer. Scott, taking his horse, while Hawk remained in +hiding and covered the scene with his own rifle, led the horse so that +it served as a shelter and walked directly toward the wagon itself. As +he neared it he approached from the front, pausing at times to survey +what he saw. Hawk watched him lead his unwilling horse, trembling with +fear, up to the dead team as they lay in the bright sunlight, and saw +Scott take hold of the protruding boot, peer above it into the wagon +itself and, without turning his head, beckon Hawk to come up. + +Under the canvas, the driver of the wagon lay dead with the lines +clutched in his stiffened fingers, just as he had fallen when death +struck his horses. The two frontiersmen needed no explanation of what +they saw in the scarred and blackened face of the outlaw. A bolt of +lightning had killed him and stricken both horses in the same instant. +Bob crawled into the wagon and with Hawk's help dragged the dead man +forward into the sunlight. Both recognized him. It was Bucks's +assailant and enemy, the Medicine Bend and Spider Water gambler, +Perry. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +The two men, aided by the crew of the train that now came down the +Bitter Creek grade, got the dead body of the outlaw back to Point of +Rocks just as a mixed train from the east reached there, with Stanley +and a detail of cavalry aboard. Stanley walked straight to Bucks, +caught him by the shoulders, and shook him as if to make sure he was +all right. + +"Gave you a warm reception, did they, Bucks?" + +"Moderately warm, colonel." + +Stanley shook his head. "It is all wrong. They never should have sent +you out here alone," he declared brusquely. "These superintendents +seem to think they are railroading in Ohio instead of the Rocky +Mountains. Dave," he continued, turning to Hawk as the latter came up, +"I hear you have just brought in Perry dead. What have we got here, +anyway?" + +"Some of the Medicine Bend gang," returned Hawk tersely. + +"What are they doing?" + +"Evening up old scores, I guess." + +Stanley looked at the dead man as they laid him out on the platform: +"And hastening their own day of reckoning," he said. "There shall be +no more of this if we have to drive every man of the gang out of the +country. Who do you think was with Perry, Bob?" he demanded, +questioning Scott. + +"There is nothing to show that till we get them--and we ought to be +after them now," returned the scout. "But," he added softly as he +hitched his trousers, "I think one of the two might be young John +Rebstock." + +"You need lose no time, Bob. Here are ten men with fresh horses at +your orders." Stanley pointed to the troopers who were unloading their +mounts. + +"Give Dave and me three of the best of these men," said Scott. "I will +follow the west trail. Put a sergeant with the others on the trail +east to make sure they haven't doubled back on us--but I don't think +they have." + +"Why?" + +"They must have stolen that team and wagon, that is certain. More than +likely they murdered the man they took it from. The trail is probably +alive with men looking for them. These fellows were trying to get to +Casement's camp for gambling, and probably they are heading that way +fast now. We will pick those fellows up, colonel, somewhere between +here and Bridger's Gap." + +The three troopers that Scott selected were told off and, after a few +rapid arrangements for sending back information, the five men of the +west-trail party, headed by Scott and Dave Hawk, rode down Bitter +Creek and, scattering in a wide skirmish line wherever the formation +of the country permitted, scanned the ground for signs of the +fugitives. + +"We shan't find anything till we get to where they were when the rain +stopped," Scott told the trooper near whom he was riding. It was, in +fact, nearly ten miles from Point of Rocks before they picked up the +footprints of two men travelling apart from each other, but headed +north and west. These they followed on a long détour away from the +regular wagon road until the two trails turned and entered, from the +southwest, a camp made the night before by a big trading outfit on the +regular overland trail. + +Here, of course, all trace of the men disappeared. It was now drawing +toward evening. Scott resolved to follow the trading outfit, but the +party still rode slowly to make sure the men they wanted did not sneak +away from the wagons of their new-found friends. The pursuers rode +steadily on, and as the sun went down they perceived in a small canyon +ahead of them the wagons of the outfit they were trailing, parked in a +camp for the night. + +Scott gave the troopers directions as to where to post themselves, at +some distance east and west of the canyon, to provide against a sortie +of the fugitives and, riding with Hawk directly into the camp, asked +for the boss. He appeared after some delay and proved to be a French +trader with supplies for Salt Lake. + +Hawk, whose long visage and keen eyes gave him a particularly +stern air--and David Hawk was never very communicative or very +warm-mannered--asked the questions. The Frenchman was civil, but +denied having any men with him except those he had brought from +the Missouri River. However, he offered to line up his men for the +railroad party to look over. To this Hawk agreed, and, when the +word had been passed, the entire force of the trader were assembled +in front of the head wagon. + +Scott rode slowly up the line scrutinizing each face, and, turning +again, rode down the line. Once he stopped and questioned a +suspicious-looking teamster wearing a hat that answered Bucks's +description, but the man's answers were satisfactory. + +When Scott had finished his inspection the men started to disband. +Hawk stopped them. "Stay where you are," he called out curtly. Turning +to the Frenchman, he added: "We will have to search your wagons." + +Again the trader made no objection, though some of his men did. + +The three troopers were signalled in, and posted so there could be no +dodging from one wagon to another, and Hawk gave them orders, loud +enough for all to hear, to shoot on sight any one leaving the wagons. +And while he himself kept command of the whole situation, Scott +dismounted and accompanied by the trader began the search. The hunt +was tedious and the teamsters murmured at the delay to their camp +work. But the search went forward unrelentingly. Not a corner capable +of concealing a dog was overlooked by the painstaking Indian and not +until he had reached the last wagon was his hope exhausted. + +This wagon stood at the extreme end of a wash-out in the side of the +canyon itself. It was filled with bales of coarse red blankets, but no +man was to be found among them. + +Scott did find something, however, in a sort of a nest fashioned among +the bales near the middle of the wagon. What would have escaped an eye +less trained to look for trifles attracted his at once. It was a dingy +metal tag. Scott picked it up. It bore the name of a Medicine Bend +saloon and the heads of three horses, from the design of which the +saloon itself took a widely known and ill name. He laid his hand on +the blanket from which he had picked the tag. The wool was still +warm. + +Scott only smiled to himself. Both ends of the little canyon were +guarded. From where he was searching the scout peered carefully out at +the canyon walls. There were hiding-places, but they were hardly large +enough to conceal a man. It was somewhere in the rocks close at hand +that the fugitives had found a temporary refuge; but they could not +now escape--nor could they be far from the wagon. + +Without losing sight of the surroundings, Scott, disclosing nothing of +his discovery to the trader, announced that he was satisfied and that +the men he wanted did not appear to be there. He added, however, that +if the Frenchman had no objection his party would pitch camp close by +and ride with him in the morning. The Frenchman maintained his +courtesy by inviting the party to take supper with him, and Scott, +agreeing to return, rode away with Hawk and the three troopers. + +They had not ridden far, when Bob dismounted the party and leaving +the horses with one trooper set two as pickets and posted himself in +hiding on one side the canyon, with Hawk on the other, to watch the +camp. What he saw or whether his patience was in any degree rewarded +no one could have told from his inscrutable face as he walked into the +camp at dusk and sat down with the trader to supper. The moon was just +rising and down at the creek, a little way from where Scott sat, some +belated teamsters were washing their hands and faces and preparing +their own supper. Scott ate slowly and with his back to the fire kept +his eye on the group of men down at the creek. When he had finished, +he walked down to the stream himself. A large man in the group fitted, +in his hat and dress, Bucks's exact description. Scott had already +spotted him an hour before, and stepped up to him now to arrest young +John Rebstock. + +He laid his hand on the man's shoulder and the man turned. But to +Scott's surprise he was not the man wanted at all. He wore Rebstock's +clothes and fitted Rebstock's description, but he was not Rebstock. +The scout understood instantly how he had been tricked, but gave no +sign. + +Within the preceding thirty minutes the real Rebstock, whom Scott had +already marked from his hiding-place in the canyon, had traded clothes +with this man and, no doubt, made good his escape. + +If Bob was chagrined, he made no sign. + +"You must have made a good trade," he said, smiling at the teamster. +"These clothes are a little big, but you will grow to them. How much +boot did you get?" + +Scott looked so slight and inoffensive that the teamster attempted +insolence, and not only refused to answer questions, but threatened +violence if the scout persisted in asking them. His companions +crowding up encouraged him. + +But numbers were not allowed for an instant to dominate the situation. +Scott whipped a revolver from his belt, cocked it, and pressed it +against the teamster's side. Dave Hawk loomed up in the moonlight and, +catching by the collar one after another of the men crowding around +Scott, Hawk, with his right hand or his left, whirled them spinning +out of his way. If a man resisted the rough treatment, Hawk +unceremoniously knocked him down and, drawing his own revolver, took +his stand beside his threatened companion. + +Other men came running up, the trader among them. A few words +explained everything and the recalcitrant teamster concluded to speak. +Scott, indeed, had but little to ask: he already knew the whole story. +And when the teamster, threatened with search, pulled from his pocket +a roll of bank-notes which he acknowledged had been given him for +concealing the two fugitives and providing them with clothes, Scott +released him--only notifying the trader incidentally that the man was +robbing him and had loot, taken from the ammunition wagon, concealed +under his blanket bales just searched. This information led to new +excitement in the camp, and the Frenchman danced up and down in his +wrath as he ordered the blanket wagon searched again. But his +excitement did not greatly interest Scott and his party. They went +their way and camped at some distance down the creek from their +stirred-up neighbors. + +Hawk and Bob Scott sat in the moonlight after the troopers had gone to +sleep. + +"They can't fool us very much longer," muttered Scott, satisfied with +the day's work and taking the final disappointment philosophically, +"until they can get horses they are chained to the ground in this +country. There is only one place I know of where there are any horses +hereabouts and that is Jack Casement's camp." + +Hawk stretched himself out on the ground to sleep. "I'll tell you, +Dave," continued Scott, "it is only about twenty miles from here to +Casement's, anyway. Suppose I ride over there to-night and wire +Stanley we've got track of the fellows. By the time you pick up the +trail in the morning I will be back--or I may pick it up myself +between here and the railroad. You keep on as far as Brushwood Creek +and I'll join you there to-morrow by sundown." + +It was so arranged. The night was clear and with a good moon the ride +was not difficult, though to a man less acquainted with the mountains +it would have been a hardship. Mile after mile Scott's hardy pony +covered with no apparent effort. Bob did not urge him, and before +midnight the white tents of the construction camp were visible in the +moonlight. Scott went directly to the telegraph office, and after +sending his message hunted up food and quarters for his beast and a +sleeping-bunk for himself. + +At daylight he was astir and sought breakfast before making inquiries +and riding back to his party. On the edge of the camp stood a sort of +restaurant, made up of a kitchen tent with a dismantled box-car body +as an annex. + +In this annex the food was served. It was entered from one side door, +while the food was brought from the kitchen through the other side +doorway of the car. + +Into this crowded den Bob elbowed an unobtrusive way and seated +himself in a retired corner. He faced the blind end of the car, and +before him on the wall was tacked a fragment of a mirror in which he +could see what was going on behind him. And without paying any +apparent attention to anything that went on, nothing escaped him. + +Next to where he sat, a breakfast of coffee and ham and eggs had been +already served for somebody, apparently on an order previously given. +At the opposite end of the car a small space was curtained off as a +wash-room. Scott ordered his own breakfast and was slowly eating it +when he noticed through the little mirror, and above and beyond the +heads of the busy breakfasters along the serving-counter, a large man +in the wash-room scrubbing his face vigorously with a towel. + +Each time Scott looked up from his breakfast into the mirror the man +redoubled his efforts to do a good job with the towel, hiding his face +meantime well within its folds. The scout's curiosity was mildly +enough aroused to impel him to watch the diligent rubbing with some +interest. He saw, too, presently that the man was stealing glances out +of his towel at him and yet between times intently rubbing his face. + +This seemed odd, and Scott, now eying the man more carefully, noted +his nervousness and wondered at it. However, he continued to enjoy his +own meal. The waiter who had served him, hurried and impatient, also +noticed the waiting breakfast untouched and called sharply to the man +in the wash-room that his ham was served and, with scant regard for +fine words, bade him come eat it. + +This urgent invitation only added to the ill-concealed embarrassment +of the stalling guest; but it interested the scout even more in the +developing situation. Scott finished his breakfast and gave himself +entirely over to watching in a lazy way the man who was making so +elaborate a toilet. + +There was no escape from either end of the car. That could be managed +only through the side doors, which were too close to Scott to be +available, and the scout, now fairly well enlightened and prepared, +merely awaited developments. He wanted to see the man come to his +breakfast, and the man in the wash-room, combing his hair with vigor +and peering anxiously through his own scrap of a mirror at Bob Scott, +wanted to see the scout finish his coffee and leave the car. Scott, +however, pounding ostentatiously on the table, called for a second cup +of coffee and sipped it with apparent satisfaction. It was a game of +cat and mouse--with the mouse, in this instance, bigger than the cat, +but as shy and reluctant to move as any mouse could be in a cat's +presence. Scott waited until he thought the embarrassed man would have +brushed the hair all out of his head, and at last, in spite of +himself, laughed. As he did so, he turned half-way around on his stool +and lifted his finger. + +"Come, Rebstock," he smiled, calling to the fugitive. "Your breakfast +is getting cold." + +The man, turning as red as a beet, looked over the heads of those that +sat between him and his tantalizing captor. But putting the best face +he could on the dilemma and eying Scott nervously he walked over and, +with evident reluctance, made ready to sit down beside him. + +"Take your time," suggested Scott pleasantly. Then, as Rebstock, quite +crestfallen, seated himself, he added: "Hadn't I better order a hot +cup of coffee for you?" He took hold of the cup as he spoke, and +looked hard at the gambler while making the suggestion. + +"No, no," responded Rebstock, equally polite and equally insistent, as +he held his hand over the cup and begged Scott not to mind. "This is +all right." + +"How was the walking last night?" asked Scott, passing the fugitive a +big plate of bread. Rebstock lifted his eyes from his plate for the +briefest kind of a moment. + +"The--eh--walking? I don't know what you mean, captain. I slept here +last night." + +Scott looked under the table at his victim's boots. "John," he asked +without a smile, "do you ever walk in your sleep?" + +Rebstock threw down his knife and fork. "Look here, stranger," he +demanded with indignation. "What do you want? Can't a man eat his +breakfast in this place? I ask you," he demanded, raising his right +hand with his knife in it as he appealed to the waiter, "can't a man +eat his breakfast in this place without interruption?" + +The waiter, standing with folded arms, regarded the two men without +changing his stolid expression. "A man can eat his breakfast in this +place without anything on earth except money. If you let your ham get +cold because you were going to beat me out of the price, and you try +to do it, I'll drag you out of here by the heels." + +These unsympathetic words attracted the attention of every one and the +breakfasters now looked on curiously but no one offered to interfere. +Quarrels and disputes were too frequent in that country to make it +prudent or desirable ever to intervene in one. A man considered +himself lucky not to be embroiled in unpleasantness in spite of his +best efforts to keep out. Rebstock turned again on his pursuer. "What +do you want, anyhow, stranger?" he demanded fiercely. "A fight, I +reckon." + +"Not a bit of it. I want you, Rebstock," explained Scott without in +the least raising his voice. + +Rebstock's throaty tones seemed to contract into a wheeze. "What do +you want me for?" he asked, looking nervously toward the other end of +the car. As he did so, a man wearing a shirt and new overalls rose and +started for the door. The instinct of Scott's suspicion fastened +itself on the man trying to leave the place as being Rebstock's wanted +companion. + +Rising like a flash, he covered the second man with his pistol. "Hold +on!" he exclaimed, pointing at him with his left hand. "Come over +here!" + +The man in overalls turned a calm face that showed nothing more than +conscious innocence. But Scott was looking at his feet. His worn shoes +were crusted heavily with alkali mud. "What do you want with me?" +snarled the man halted at the door. + +"I want you," said Scott, "for burning Point of Rocks station night +before last. Here, partner," he continued, speaking to the waiter. +"I'll pay for these two breakfasts; search that man for me," he +continued, pointing to the man in the overalls. + +"Search him yourself," returned the waiter stolidly. Scott turned like +a wolf. + +"What's that?" Another expression stole over his good-natured face. +Holding his revolver to cover any one that resisted, he turned his +accusing finger upon the insolent waiter. "You will talk to me, will +you?" he demanded sharply. "Do as I tell you instantly, or I'll drive +you out of camp and burn your shack to the ground. When I talk to you, +General Jack Casement talks, and this railroad company talks. Search +that man!" + +Before the last word had passed his lips the waiter jumped over the +counter and began turning the pockets of the man in the new overalls +inside out. The fellow kept a good face even after a bunch of stolen +railroad tickets were discovered in one pocket. "A man gave them to me +last night to keep for him," he answered evenly. + +"Never mind," returned Scott with indifference, "I will take care of +them for him." + +The news of the capture spread over the camp, and when Scott with his +two prisoners walked across to General Casement's tent a crowd +followed. Stanley had just arrived from Point of Rocks by train and +was conferring with Casement when Scott came to the tent door. He +greeted Bob and surveyed the captured fugitives. + +"How did you get them?" he demanded. + +Scott smiled and hung his head as he shook it, to anticipate +compliments. "They just walked into my arms. Dave Hawk and the +troopers are looking for these fellows now away down on Bitter Creek. +They wandered into camp here last night to save us the trouble of +bringing them. Isn't that it, Rebstock?" + +Rebstock disavowed, but not pleasantly. He was not in amiable mood. + +"What show has a fat man got to get away from anybody?" he growled. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +When Hawk saw Bob Scott, two hours later, riding into his camp on the +Brushwood with the two prisoners, he was taciturn but very much +surprised. + +Scott was disposed to make light of the lucky chance, as he termed it, +that had thrown the two men into his way. Hawk, on the other hand, +declared in his arbitrary manner that it was not wholly a lucky +chance. He understood the Indian's dogged tenacity too well to think +for a moment that the fugitives could have escaped him, even had he +not ridden into Casement's camp as he so fortuitously had done. + +The scout, Hawk knew, had the characteristic intuition of the +frontiersman; the mental attributes that combine with keen observation +and unusually good judgment as aids to success when circumstances are +seemingly hopeless. Such men may be at fault in details, and +frequently are, but they are not often wholly wrong in conclusions. +And in their pursuit of a criminal they are like trained hounds, which +may frequently lose their trail for a moment, but, before they have +gone very far astray, come unerringly back to it. + +"If they ever give you a chance, Bob, you will make a great +thief-catcher," exclaimed Hawk with his naturally prodigal generosity +of appreciation. + +"I certainly never expected to catch Rebstock and this fellow Seagrue +as easily as that," smiled Scott, as the troopers took charge of his +men. + +"If you hadn't caught them there you would have trailed them there. It +would only have meant a longer chase." + +"A whole lot longer." + +"When you come to think of it, Bob, the railroad was their only hope, +anyway. They did right in striking for it. Without horses, the big +camp and the trains for Medicine Bend every day were their one chance +to get away." + +Scott assented. "The trouble with us," he smiled, "was that we didn't +think until after it was all over. Sometime a man will come to these +mountains who thinks things out before they happen instead of after. +Then we will have a man fit to run the secret service on this +railroad. But we are losing time," he added, tightening up his saddle +girths. + +"What are you going to do now? And why," demanded Hawk without waiting +for an answer, "did you drag these men away down here instead of +leaving them for Casement to lock up until we were ready to take them +to Medicine Bend?" + +"I am going to drag them farther yet," announced Scott. "I am going to +ride after the French trader and fit these two fellows out in their +own clothes again to make it easier for Bucks to indentify them." + +"Don't say 'indentify,' Bob, say 'identify,'" returned Hawk testily. + +Bob Scott usually turned away a sharp word with silence, and although +he felt confident Hawk was wrong, he argued no further with him, but +stuck just the same to his own construction of the troublesome word. + +"You've got the right idea, Bob, if you have got the wrong word," +muttered Hawk. "Why didn't you think of that sooner?" + +They broke camp and started promptly. About noon they overtook the +trading outfit and after some threatening forced the tricky teamster +to rig the two gamblers out in their own apparel. Having done this, +they started on a long ride for Casement's camp, reaching it again +with their prisoners, and all very dusty and fatigued, long after +dark. + +The hard work voluntarily undertaken by the scout to aid the boy, as +he termed Bucks, in identifying his graceless assailants was +vindicated when, the next morning, the party with their prisoners +arrived on a special train at Point of Rocks, and Bucks immediately +pointed to Seagrue as the man who had first fired at him. + +There were a few pretty hot moments on the platform when Bucks, among +a group of five camp malefactors on their way to Medicine Bend, +confronted the two men who had tried to kill him, and unhesitatingly +pointed them out. Seagrue, tall and surly, denied vehemently ever +having been at Point of Rocks and ever having seen Bucks. He declared +the whole affair was "framed up" to send him to the penitentiary. He +threatened if he were "sent up" to come back and kill Bucks if it was +twenty years later--and did, in that respect, try to keep his word. + +But his threats availed him nothing, and John Rebstock who, though +still young, was a sly fox in crooked ways, contented himself with a +philosophical denial of everything alleged against him, adding only in +an injured tone that nobody would believe a fat man anyway. + +It was he, however, rather than the less clever Seagrue, who had begun +to excite sympathy for what he called his luckless plight and that of +his companion, before they had left the railroad camp. Among the five +evil-doers who had been rounded-up and deported for the jail at +Medicine Bend, and now accompanied the two gamblers, Rebstock spread +every story he could think of to arouse his friends at Medicine Bend +to a demonstration in his behalf. + +The very first efforts at putting civil law and order into effect +were just then being tried in the new and lawless frontier railroad +town and the contest between the two elements of decency and of +license had reached an acute pass when Rebstock and Seagrue were +thrown into jail at Medicine Bend. A case of sympathy for them was not +hard to work up among men of their own kind and threats were heard up +and down Front Street that if the railroading of two innocent men to +the penitentiary were attempted something would happen. + +Railroad men themselves, hearing the mutterings, brought word of them +to head-quarters, but Stanley was in no wise disturbed. He had wanted +to make an example for the benefit of the criminals who swarmed to the +town, and now welcomed the chance to put the law's rigor on the men +that had tried to assassinate his favorite operator. Bucks, lest he +might be made the victim of a more successful attack, was brought down +from Point of Rocks the first moment he could be relieved. A plot to +put him out of the way, as the sole witness against the accused +gamblers, was uncovered by Scott almost as soon as Bucks had returned +to the big town and, warned by his careful friend, he rarely went up +street except with a companion--most frequently with Scott himself. + +As the day set for Rebstock's trial drew near, rumors were heard of a +jail delivery. The jail itself was a flimsy wooden affair, and so +crude in its appointments that any civilized man would have been +justified in breaking out of it. + +Nor was Brush, the sheriff, much more formidable than the jail itself. +This official sought to curry favor with the townspeople--and that +meant, pretty nearly, with the desperadoes--as well as to stand well +with the railroad men; and in his effort to do both he succeeded in +doing neither. + +Bucks was given a night trick on his old wire in the local station, +and in spite of the round of excitement about him settled down to the +routine of regular work. The constant westbound movement of +construction material made his duties heavier than before, but he +seemed able to do whatever work he was assigned to and gained the +reputation of being dependable, wherever put. + +He had risen one night from his key, after despatching a batch of +messages, to stir the fire--the night was frosty--when he heard +an altercation outside on the platform. In another moment the +waiting-room door was thrown open and Bucks turned from the +stove, poker in hand, to see a man in the extremity of fear rush +into his lonely office. + +The man, hatless and coatless and evidently trying to escape from some +one, was so panic-stricken that his eyes bulged from their sockets, +and his beard was so awry that it was a moment before Bucks recognized +his old acquaintance Dan Baggs. + +"They are after me, Bucks," cried Baggs, closing the door in +desperation. "They will kill me--hide me or they'll kill me." + +Before the operator could ask a question in explanation, almost before +the words were out of the frightened engineman's mouth, and with Bucks +pointing with his poker to the door, trying to tell Baggs to lock it, +the door again flew open and Bucks saw the face of a Front Street +confidence man bursting through it. + +Bucks sprang forward to secure the door behind the intruder, but he +was too late even for that. Half a dozen more men crowded into the +room. To ask questions was useless; every one began talking at once. +Baggs, paralyzed with fear, cowered behind the stove and the +confidence man, catching sight of him, tried to crowd through the +wicket gate. As he sprang toward it, Bucks confronted him with his +poker. + +"Let that gate alone or I'll brain you," he cried, hardly realizing +what he was saying, but well resolved what to do. + +The gambler, infuriated, pointed to Baggs. "Throw that cur out here," +he yelled. + +Baggs, now less exposed to his enemies, summoned the small remnant of +his own courage and began to abuse his pursuer. + +[Illustration: "LET THAT GATE ALONE OR I'LL BRAIN YOU," HE CRIED.] + +Bucks, between the two men with his poker, tried to stop the din long +enough to get information. He drew the enraged gambler into a +controversy of words and used the interval to step to his key. As he +did so, Baggs, catching up a monkey-wrench that Bucks ordinarily used +on his letter-press, again defied his enemy. + +It was only a momentary burst of courage, but it saved the situation. +Taking advantage of the instant, Bucks slipped the fingers of his left +hand over the telegraph key and wired the despatchers upstairs for +help. It was none too soon. The men, leaning against the railing, +pushed it harder all along the line. It swayed with an ominous crack +and the fastening gave way. Baggs cowered. His pursuers yelled, and +with one more push the railing crashed forward and the confidence man +sprang for the engineer. Baggs ran back to where Bucks stood before +his table, and the latter, clutching his revolver, warned Baggs's +pursuers not to lay a hand on him. + +Defying the single-handed defender, the gambler whipped out his own +pistol to put an end to the fight. It was the signal for his +followers, and in another minute half a dozen guns covered Bucks and +his companion. + +Seconds meant minutes then. Bucks understood that only one shot was +needed as the signal for his own destruction. What he did not quite +realize was that the gambler confronting him and his victim read +something in Bucks's eye that caused him to hesitate. He felt that if +a shot were fired, whatever else happened, it would mean his own death +at Bucks's hand. It was this that restrained him, and the instant +saved the operator's life. + +He heard the clattering of feet down the outside stairway, and the +next moment through the open door on the run dashed Bill Dancing, +swinging a piece of iron pipe as big as a crowbar. The yardmaster, +Callahan, was at his heels, and the two, tearing their way through the +room, struck without mercy. + +The thugs crowded to the door. The narrow opening choked with men +trying to dodge the blows rained upon them by Dancing and Callahan. +Before Baggs could rub his eyes the room was cleared, and half a dozen +trainmen hastily summoned and led by a despatcher were engaged out +upon the platform in a free fight with the Front Street ruffians. + +Within the office, the despatcher found Bucks talking to Callahan, +while Baggs was trying to explain to Bill Dancing how the confidence +men had tried to inveigle him into a "shell" game and, when they found +they could not rob him of his month's pay in any other way, had +knocked him down to pick his pockets. + +Callahan, who knew the trouble-making element better than any of the +railroad men, went up town to estimate the feeling after the fight, +which was now being discussed by crowds everywhere along Front Street. +For every bruised and sore head marked by the punishment given by +Dancing in the defence of Baggs a new enemy and an active one had been +made. + +Stanley came in late from the west and heard the story of the fight. +His comment was brief but significant. "It will soon be getting so +they won't wait for the railroad men to draw their pay. They will come +down here," said he ironically, "to draw it for them." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +A second and more serious disturbance followed close on the fight at +the railroad station. A passenger alighting in the evening from a +westbound train was set upon, robbed, and beaten into insensibility +within ten feet of the train platform. A dozen other passengers +hastened to his assistance. They joined in repulsing his assailants +and were beating them off when other thugs, reinforcing their fellows, +attacked the passengers and those railroad men that had hurried up to +drive off the miscreants. + +In the mêlée, a brakeman was shot through the head and a second +passenger wounded. But the railroad men rallied and, returning the +pistol fire, drove off the outlaws. + +The train was hurried out of town and measures were taken at once to +defend the railroad property for the night. Guards were set in the +yards, and a patrol established about the roundhouse, the railroad +hotel and the eating-house and freight-houses. + +Stanley, with his car attached to the night passenger train, was on +his way to Casement's camp when the fight occurred, and had taken +Bucks with him. The despatch detailing the disturbance reached him at +a small station east of Point of Rocks, where he was awakened and the +message was read to him advising the manager of the murder of the +brakeman. + +A freight-train, eastbound, stood on the passing track. Stanley roused +Bucks and, notifying the despatchers, ordered the engine cut off from +the freight-train, swung up into the cab, and started for Medicine +Bend. As they pulled out, light, Stanley asked for every notch of +speed the lumbering engine could stand, and Oliver Sollers, the +engineman, urged the big machine to its limit. + +The new track, laid hastily and only freshly ballasted, was as rough +as corduroy, and the lurching of the big diamond stack made the cab +topple at every rail joint. But Sollers was not the runner to lose +nerve under difficulties and did not lessen the pressure on the +pistons. If Stanley, determined and silent, his lips set and hanging +on for dear life as the cab jumped and swung under him, felt any +qualms at the dangerous pace he had asked for, he betrayed none. With +Bucks, open-eyed with surprise, hanging on in front of him, Stanley +gave no heed to the bouncing, and the freight-engine pounded through +the mountains like a steam-roller with a touch of crushed-stone +delirium. Hour after hour the wild pace was kept up through the Sleepy +Cat Mountains and across the Sweet Grass Plains. There was no easing +up until the frantic machine struck the gorge of the Medicine River +and whistled for the long yards above the roundhouse. + +Things had so quieted down by the time Stanley, springing up the +stairs two steps at a time, reached the despatchers' office, that they +were sorry they had sent in such haste for him. Stanley himself had no +regrets. He knew better than those about him the temper of the crowd +he had to deal with and felt that he needed every minute to prepare +for what he had to do. Bucks was sent to bring in Dancing, Bob Scott, +and the more resolute among the railroad men. A brief consultation was +held, and the attitude of the gamblers carefully discussed. + +Scott, who had been up town since the murder, had collected sufficient +proof that the chief outlaw, Levake, had done the shooting, and +Stanley now sent Scott to Brush, the sheriff, with a verbal message +demanding Levake's arrest. + +Every man that heard the order given knew what it meant. Every one +that listened realized it was the beginning of a fight in which there +could be no retreat for Stanley; that it would be a fight to a finish, +and that no man could say where it would end. + +Bob Scott hitched his trousers at the word from his sandy-haired +chief. For Bob, orders meant orders and the terror of Levake's name in +Medicine Bend had no effect on him. + +"You might as well ask a jack-rabbit to tackle a mountain lion as to +try to get Brush to arrest Levake," declared Dave Hawk cynically. + +But Stanley's hand struck the table like a hammer: "We are going to +have a show-down here. We will go through the forms; this is the +beginning--and I am going to follow it to the end. Either Levake has +got to quit the town or I have." + +Dave Hawk looked around with a new idea. He bent his eyes on Bob: +"Better get Brush to deputize _you_ to make the arrest." + +"That is it!" exclaimed Stanley. "Get him to deputize you, Bob, and we +will clean up this town as it hasn't been cleaned since the flood." + +Scott shook his head: "I don't believe Brush has the sand for that. We +will see." + +Up Front Street, through the various groups of men still discussing +the events of the evening, Scott, followed only by Bill Dancing, made +his way, nodding and patiently or pleasantly grinning as the greetings +or ridicule of the crowd were thrown at him. He went to the rooms of +the sheriff only to find them locked, and made his way down town again +looking through the resorts in a search for Brush. + +After much trouble, he found him at a gaming-table, inclined to appear +sceptical as to the story that Levake had killed an unoffending +brakeman. When Scott repeated Stanley's demand that Levake be +arrested, the sheriff slammed down his cards and declared he would not +be made a cat's-paw for any man; that the brakeman, according to +accounts reaching him, had been killed in a fair fight and he would +hear no more of it. Then, as if his game had been unreasonably +interfered with and his peace of mind injured, he rose from the table +to relieve his annoyance. + +Meantime Bill Dancing slipped into his vacated seat, picked up the +discarded hand of cards and announced it was too good to throw away. +"Will anybody," Bill asked dryly, "play the hand with me while Brush +is arresting Levake?" The laugh of Brush's own companions at this +proposal stung him as an imputation of his cowardice, and he made an +additional display of rage to counteract the unconcealed contempt in +which his cronies held him. + +He turned on Scott angrily. "Go arrest the man yourself, if you want +him," he thundered. + +Scott snapped up the suggestion. He pointed a lean finger at the +shifty peace officer. "Deputize me to do it, if you dare, Brush!" he +softly exclaimed, fixing his brown eyes on the flushed face of the +coward. + +Not a man in the room moved or spoke. Brush saw himself trapped. +Scott's finger called for an answer and the sheriff found no escape. +"I knew you hadn't the nerve to give me a deputy's badge," laughed +Scott, to spur the man's lagging courage; "you are too afraid of +Levake." + +The taunt had its effect. Brush raved about his courage, and Bill +Dancing, slapping him ferociously on the back, convinced him that he +really was a brave man. Taken volubly in tow by the two railroad +emissaries, who were far from being as simple as they seemed, Brush +returned to his lodgings at the jail to issue the coveted paper +authorizing Scott to serve any warrants in his stead. + +Before the ink was dry on the certificate the word had gone down Front +Street, and the town knew that Levake's arrest was in prospect. As +Dancing and Scott left the jail and walked down to the station, they +were surrounded by a curious throng of men watching for further +developments in the approaching crisis of the struggle with outlawry +in the railroad town. + +The night was far advanced, but a third element was now to make itself +felt in the situation. The decent business men had already seen the +approach of the storm and resolved on protecting their own interests, +which they realized were on the side of law and order. Word had been +passed from one to another of a proposed meeting. It was held toward +daybreak in a secret place. One and all present were pledged to act +together under a leadership then and there agreed upon, and after so +organizing, with a resolute merchant named Atkinson at their head, and +with a quiet that foreboded no good to the gamblers and outlaws, the +men who had gone to the rendezvous as business men left it as +vigilantes, banded together to defend their rights and property +against the lawless element that had terrorized legitimate business. + +In the morning secret word was brought by Atkinson to Stanley of the +resolve of the new allies to stand by him in his efforts to rid +the town of its undesirables for good and all. It was welcome +intelligence, and the railroad chief assured the plucky merchant +of his hearty cooperation in the designs of the newly constituted +law-and-order committee. + +"When the machinery of the law has miserably failed to protect our +lives and property," he said concisely, "we have nothing left for it +but to protect them ourselves." Arms had been telegraphed for and +every effort made to secure troops in the emergency. But the Indian +uprising had taken every available infantryman and trooper into the +north and there was not now sufficient time to get them together for +action. The railroad men, Stanley knew, must depend on themselves and +upon such assistance as the decent element in the town could render. + +Meantime the outlaws were not idle. They spent the day whipping the +gamblers and their hangers-on into line, upon the prediction that if +they themselves were dispersed scant quarter would be shown their +disorderly associates. + +Scott spent the day leisurely. Stanley had asked him not to move +until his own arrangements for a defensive fight were completed. That +the outlaws had secret sources of information even in the railroad +circles, came out startlingly. A special train--an express car pulled +by an engine--entered the railroad yard at dusk that evening, when a +party of men running out from the cover of the freight warehouse +attempted to rush it for arms and ammunition. + +They were met at the car doors by six of the best men that could be +picked up along the line during the day run of the special across the +plains. Stanley had wired instructions to head-quarters to send him +six men that feared neither smoke nor powder, and six stalwarts taken +on at Grand Island, North Platte, and Julesburg guarded the car and +tumbled like cats out of a bag upon the surprised raiders. + +The encounter was spirited, but it took only a moment to convince the +assaulting party that they had made a mistake. Clubbing their heavy +revolvers, the guards, any one of whom in close quarters could account +for two ordinary men, threw themselves from the car step directly +into the crowd and struck right and left. There was no regard for +persons, and in the half-dark the Medicine Bend ruffians, surprised +and confused, were soon fighting one another. + +But one-sided as the contest was, it did not go fast enough to suit +the guards, who, seizing the clubs thrown away by the rabble, charged +them in a line and drove them up the street. Railroad men who came +running from the station to help were too late. The flurry was over +and they found nothing to do but to cheer their new aids. + +Nor were the gamblers asleep. Word had gone out both east and west of +the approaching crisis between the disorderly and the law-and-order +elements, and every passenger train into Medicine Bend brought +mysterious men from towns and railroad camps who were openly or +secretly allied in one or another vicious calling to the classes that +were now making a stand for the rule or ruin of the railroad town. + +A mob of sympathizers gathered in Front Street to protect from +further punishment the party that had tried to capture the express +car. But the railroad men had no idea of pursuing the raiders beyond +the yard limits, and indeed were restrained by strict orders from +doing so. Stanley sent word immediately to the sheriff, demanding the +arrest of the new peace-disturbers, but the sheriff no longer made a +pretence of arresting law-breakers. In Front Street, the mob, +emboldened by their apparent control of the situation and increasing +in clamor and numbers, were now in a humor for anything that promised +pillage or vengeance. There were still among them a few cool-headed +criminals who counselled caution, but these were hooted down by men +who had never tasted the rigor of vigilante rule. + +Out of a dozen wild schemes broached by as many wild heads of the +excited crowd, in which were now lined up for any lawlessness all the +idlers, floaters, the improvident, and the reckless elements of a +frontier gambling town, one caught the popular fancy. Some one +proposed a jail delivery to release Rebstock and Seagrue, persecuted +by the railroad company. The idea spread like wildfire, and a score of +men, reinforced by more at every door as they proceeded up Front +Street, made their way to the jail. + +Fast as they came, time was given for word to the sheriff, who +conveniently got out of the way, and, led by half a dozen men with +crowbars and spike-mauls, the outlaws surrounded and overran the jail +yard and without a show of resistance from any one began smashing in +the entrance and battering down the cell doors. + +The first suggestion included only the delivery of the two men. But +this was effected so easily that more was undertaken. The jail at +Medicine Bend, being the only one within many miles in any direction, +harbored the criminals of the whole mountain region, and these now +cried to friendly ears for their own freedom. Cell after cell was +battered open and the released criminals, snatching tools from the +mob, led in the fight to free their fellows. In less than half an hour +every cell had been emptied and a score of hardened malefactors had +been added to the mob, which now proposed to celebrate the success of +its undertaking by setting fire to the jail itself. + +The vigilantes down town, though taking the alarm, had moved too +slowly. A jail delivery meant, they knew, that their stores would be +looted, and, under the leadership of Atkinson, they attempted to avert +the mischief impending. + +Gathering twenty-five determined men, they started with a shout for +the hill, only to see the sky already lighting with the flames of the +burning building. The mob, not understanding at first, welcomed the +new-comers with a roar of approval. + +But they were soon undeceived. The vigilantes began to try to save the +jail and their efforts brought about the first clash of a night +destined long to be remembered in Medicine Bend. The brawlers in the +crowd stayed to fight the vigilantes. The thieves and night-birds fell +away in the darkness, and like black cats scurried down town to +pillage the stores and warehouses of the fire-fighters on the hill. + +The few clerks and watchmen defending the stores, these knaves made +short work of. Dancing and Scott, with Stanley, Bucks, and a party of +railroad men, uneasy at the reports from the jail and now able to see +the sky reddening with the flames, moved in and out of the gloom of +side streets to keep track of the alarming situation and were the +earliest to discover the looting movement. + +A convenient general store at Front and Hill Streets was the first to +be pillaged. Dancing wanted to lead a party against the looters, but +Stanley pointed out the folly of half a dozen men trying to police the +whole street. + +"We can do nothing here, Bill. Those vigilantes have no business on +the hill. Get word to them, if you can, that the stores are being +robbed. They can't save the jail; they ought to come back and save +their own property. I can't bring men up from the roundhouse. We've +got to protect our own property first. If we could get word to +them--but a man never could get through that mob to the jail." + +"I reckon I can, colonel," said Bill Dancing, throwing off his coat. + +"They will kill you, Bill," predicted Stanley. + +"No," growled the lineman, rolling up his shirt sleeves. "Not me. I +wouldn't stand for it." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + +Slipping away behind the long warehouses in Front Street and moving +swiftly in and out of friendly shadows on his long journey up the +hill, Dancing started for the jail. He was hardly more than well under +way when he was aware of one following him and, turning to fell him +with his fist, he started as he found it was Bucks. + +The latter confronted him coolly: "Go ahead, Bill; I am going with +you." + +"Who said you could go?" exclaimed the lineman. "You can't. Go back!" + +Bucks stood his ground. + +"Do you want to get killed?" thundered Dancing hotly. + +"Two are better than one on a job like this," returned Bucks, without +giving way. "Go on, will you?" + +With a volley of grumbling objections, Dancing at length directed +Bucks to stick close to him, whatever happened, and to fight the best +he could in case they were cornered. + +Ahead of them the glare of the conflagration lighted the sky and the +air was filled with the shouts of the mob surrounding the fighting +vigilantes. Only half a block away, men were hurrying up and down +Front Street, while the two clambered along the obscure and +half-opened street leading to the jail and parallel to the main +thoroughfare. + +Dancing, to whom every foot of the rocky way was familiar and who +could get over obstructions in the dark as well as if it were day, led +the way with a celerity that kept his companion breathing fast. Both +had long legs, but Dancing in some mysterious way planted his feet +with marvellous certainty of effect, while Bucks slipped and +floundered over rocks and brush piles and across gullies until they +took a short cut through a residence yard and found themselves on the +heels of the mob surrounding the burning jail and in the glare of the +fire in upper Front Street. + +"Stick close, sonny," muttered the lineman, "we must push through +these fellows before they reco'nize us." + +He stooped as he spoke and picked up a piece of hickory--the broken +handle of a spike-maul. "Railroad property anyway," he muttered. "It +might come handy. But gum shoes for us now till we are forced. Perhaps +we can sneak all the way through." + +Without further ado Dancing, with Bucks on his heels, elbowed his way +into the crowd. The outer fringe of this he knew was not dangerous, +being made up chiefly of onlookers. But in another minute the two were +in the midst of a yelling, swaying mix-up between the aggressive mob +and a thin fringe of vigilantes, who, hard-pressed, had abandoned the +jail to its fate and were trying to fight their way down town. + +Dancing, like a war-horse made suddenly mad by smoke of battle, +throwing caution and strategy to the winds, suddenly released a yell +and began to lay about him. His appearance in the fray was like that +of a bombshell timed to explode in its midst. The slugging gamblers +turned in astonishment on the new fighting man, but they were not +long left in doubt as to which cause he espoused. In the next instant +they were actively dodging his flashing club, and the vigilantes +encouraged as if by an angel fought with fresh vigor. + +Bucks was stunned by the suddenness of Bill's change of tactics. It +was evident that he had completely forgotten his mission and now meant +to enjoy himself in the unequal fray that he had burst in upon. The +vigilantes cried a welcome to their new ally. But one cry rose above +every other and that was from Dancing's own throat as he laid about +with his club. + +Consternation seized the rioters and they were thrown for a moment +into confusion. They then recognized Dancing and a shout went up. + +"Railroad men!" cried a dozen of the mob at once. + +And above these cries came one wheezing but stentorian voice: "You've +got 'em now; finish 'em!" + +Bucks knew that voice. It was Rebstock. + +The crowd took up the cry, but the lineman, swinging right and left +with terrific strength and swiftness, opened a way ahead of him while +Bucks kept close by till Dancing had cut through to the vigilantes. +Then, turning with them as they raised their own cry of triumph, +Dancing helped to drive the discomfited rioters back. + +It was only for a moment that the vigilantes held their advantage. +Outnumbering the little band, the rioters closed in on their flanks +and showered stones upon them. Bill Dancing was the centre of the +fight. A piece of rock laid open his scalp, but, though the mob was +sure of getting him, he fought like a whirlwind. They redoubled their +efforts to bring him down. One active rioter with the seam of some +other fight slashed across his forehead struck down a vigilante and +ran in on Dancing. It was Seagrue. The lineman, warned by Bucks, +turned too late to escape a blow on the head that would have dazed a +bullock. But Dancing realized the instant he received the blow that +Seagrue had delivered it. + +He whirled like a wounded bear and sprang at Seagrue, taking upon his +shoulder a second blow hardly less terrific than the first. Before +Seagrue could strike again, Dancing was upon him. Tearing at each +other's throats the two men struggled, each trying to free his right +arm. Seagrue was borne steadily backward. Then the lineman's big arm +shot upward and down like a trip-hammer and Seagrue sunk limp to the +ground. + +The vigilantes themselves, profiting by the momentary diversion, got +away. Bucks had seen the peril of being separated from their friends, +but he was powerless to avert it. As Dancing struck Seagrue down, his +enemies closed in behind the moving vigilantes. Bucks fought his way +to the lineman's side and in another instant the two were beset. +Dancing, hard-pressed, made a dash to break through the circle to +liberty. Half a dozen men sprang at him, and trampling Bucks +completely under foot aimed their blows at his defender. + +Dancing saw Bucks fall and, clubbing his way to his side, caught Bucks +from the ground by the coat collar, and dragging him with his left +hand, swung with his right hand his deadly club. Nothing less would +have saved them. The fight, moving every instant after Dancing, +reached the broad wooden steps leading from the jail yard to the +street. Down these the lineman, stubborn and bleeding, drove a +desperate way. And Bucks, able again to handle himself, was putting up +a good fight when, to his horror, Dancing, fighting down the flight of +steps, stumbled and fell. + +Half a dozen men, with a yell, jumped for him. Bucks thought the +finish had come. He sprang into the fight and, armed only with a wagon +spoke, cracked right and left wherever he could reach a head. Dancing +he had given over for dead, when to his astonishment the lineman rose +out of the heap about him, shaking off his enemies like rats. + +Flames shooting up from the burning jail lighted the scene. Dancing, +bare-headed, and with only a part of his shirt hanging in ribbons from +his left arm, his hair matted in blood across his forehead and his +eyes blazing, was a formidable sight. He had lost his club but he was +at no loss for a weapon. It was said of Bill Dancing in later days +that he could lift a thirty-foot steel rail. Bucks saw him now catch +up a man scrambling in front of him and swing him by the legs like a +battering ram. With this victim, he mowed down men like corks, and, +flinging the man at last bodily into the faces of his friends, he +started like a deer up Cliff Street with Bucks at his heels. + +Sure that they now had him, the rioters followed in a swarm. Cliff +Street, only a block long and only half-opened, terminated then at the +cliffs above the gorge of the Medicine River. But darkness under the +brow of the hill helped the fleeing railroad men. Dancing dodged in +and out of the undergrowth that fringed the street line and eluding +his pursuers reached the brow of the cliff unseen. The rioters, +knowing that no escape lay in that direction, beat the bushes that +fringed the half-opened street, confident that the fugitives were in +hiding among them. + +For an ordinary man, indeed, there was no escape toward the river. A +wall of rock fell a hundred feet to the water's edge. The crowd, +growing every moment as the word passed that Dancing was whipped, +left the hunted man and his companion little time for decision. +Dancing, in truth, needed but little. His purpose was fixed the +instant he saw himself cut off from every other chance. He halted only +on the brink of the precipice itself. Catching Bucks's arm, he told +him hurriedly what they must do and cautioned him. "It's the last +chance, sonny," he murmured, as his iron fingers gripped the boy's +arm. "We can make it--if you do exactly as I tell you." + +The gathering cries closed in behind them while they were taking off +their shoes. Creeping on his hands and knees along the brow of the +cliff, Dancing felt out his location with his fingers. And with that +sixth sense of instinct which rises to a faculty when dangers thicken +about a resolute man, the lineman found what he sought. + +He caught at the root of a rock-bound cedar, swung himself over the +cliff, and called to Bucks to follow. Bucks acted wholly on faith. The +blackness below was impenetrable, and perhaps better so, since he +could not see what he was undertaking. Only the roar of the river +came up from the depths. It sounded a little ominous as Bucks, +grasping the cedar root, swung over and after an agonizing instant +felt a support for his feet. He stood on a ledge of rock so narrow +that it gave only a footing even in daylight, but Bucks was called on +to descend it in the middle of the night. + +For any man to have attempted the feat seemed to him, the next +morning, sheer insanity. Dancing, however, knew the treacherous face +of the river wall. To his gigantic size and strength he united the +sureness of a cat in climbing up or down a mountain arête. Often he +had crept with a telegraph wire, unaided, where his best men hung back +even in harness. There was, in fact, no time now for halting. The +rioters, eager on the trail, were calling for torches, and, if +discovered before they reached the water, the lives of the two men +would be snuffed out by dropping rocks on their heads. + +Flattening himself as he had been bidden to do and with his cheek laid +to the face of the sheer rock, clasping from time to time with his +outstretched left hand such slight uneven surfaces as he could feel, +Bucks moved to the right after Dancing, who gripped his extended right +hand and led him foot by foot down the perilous way. Not a word was +spoken, hardly a breath drawn, as the lineman felt for his slippery +foothold with the deftness of a gorilla, and, pressing Bucks's hand as +the signal to take a follow step, he made a slow but steady descent. + +The roar of the river already sounded in Bucks's ears like a cataract, +but the shock of extreme danger had numbed his apprehension. Chips of +the sharp granite cut his feet like knives, and he knew that the +sticky feeling upon his bare soles was blood oozing through the broken +skin. He had already given up expectation of ever leaving the gorge +alive and merely responded to his companion's will. The one thought +that came to his mind was curiosity as to what Dancing ever expected +to do if they reached the bottom without accident. + +Suddenly above the roar of the river he heard the muffled crack of +fire-arms coming as if out of another world. He wondered whether they +themselves were already being fired at, but experienced nothing more +than curiosity in the thought. Only the pressure of the big hand that +gripped his own impressed itself powerfully upon his consciousness, +and at each squeeze he put his foot forward mechanically, intent on a +dull resolve to obey orders. + +He presently felt a new signal from the long fingers that wound around +his own. He tried to answer by stepping, but Dancing whose face was +turned away, restrained him. Then it flashed on Bucks that the lineman +was signalling Morse to him, and that the dot-and-dash squeezes meant: +"Half-way down. Half-way down." + +Bucks answered with one word: "Hurrah!" But he squeezed it along the +nerves and muscles like lightning. + +He could hear the labored breathing of his companion as he strained at +intervals every particle of his strength to reach a new footing of +safety. Every vine and scrubby bush down the cliff wall was tested for +its strength and root, and Dancing held Bucks's hand so that he could +instantly release it if he himself should plunge to death. + +Bucks had already been told that if this happened he must hang as long +as he could without moving and if he could hold on till daylight he +would be rescued by railroad men. All this was going through his head +when, responding to a signal to step down, and, unable to catch some +word that Dancing whispered, he stretched his leg so far that he lost +his balance. He struggled to recover. Dancing called again sharply to +him, but he was too wrought up to understand. Dizziness seized him, +and resigning himself, with an exclamation, to death, he felt himself +dropping into space. + +In the next instant he was caught in Dancing's arms: + +"Gosh darn it, why didn't you jump, as I told you?" exclaimed the +lineman, setting him up on his feet. "You pretty near clean upset us +both." + +"Where are we, Bill?" muttered Bucks, swallowing his shock. + +"Right here at the water, and them fellows up there beating the bush +for us. There's shooting down town, too. Some new deviltry. How good a +swimmer are you, Bucks? By gum, I forgot to ask you before you +started." + +"I can swim better than I can climb, Bill." + +"We've only a quarter of a mile and downstream at that. And the +current here would float a keg of nails." + +"How about rocks, Bill?" asked Bucks, peering dubiously toward the +roar of the rushing river. + +"All up-stream from here," returned Dancing, edging down the shelving +table toward the water. "Lock arms with me so I don't lose you, sonny. +What in Sam Hill is that?" + +Far down the river the two saw a tongue of flame leaping into the sky. +They watched it for a moment. Dancing was the first to locate the +conflagration, which grew now, even as they looked, by leaps and +bounds. The two stood ready to plunge into the river when a fire of +musketry echoed up the gorge. The lineman clutched Bucks's arm. + +"There's fighting going on down there now. What's that smokestack? By +Jing, the roundhouse is on fire!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + + +They plunged together into the river. The water, icy cold, was a +shock, but Dancing had made no mistake. They were below the rocks and +needed only to steady themselves as the resistless current swept them +down toward the railroad yards. + +Bucks demonstrated that he could swim and the two seemed hardly in the +water before they could fully see the burning roundhouse. A moment +later, chilled to the bone but with his mind cleared by the sharp +plunge, Bucks felt his companion's arm drawing him toward the farther +shore where, in the slack water of an elbow of the stream, Dancing led +the way across a shoal of gravel and Bucks waded after him up the +riverbank. + +They hastened together across the dark railroad yard. The sound of +firing came again from the square in front of the railroad station +and thither they directed their fleeing feet. To the right they heard +the shouts of the men who were fighting the fire at the roundhouse and +the hot crackling of the flames. They reached the station together and +entered the waiting-room by a rear door. + +Men were running everywhere in and out of the building and the +waiting-room was barricaded for war. Bill Dancing caught a passing +trainman by the arm. + +"What's going on here?" + +The man looked at the lineman and his companion in surprise: "The +gamblers are driving the vigilantes, Bill. They've got all Front +Street. What's the matter with you?" + +Dancing caught sight of Bob Scott coming down the rear stairway with +an armful of rifles, and, without answering the question, called to +him. + +"Hello!" exclaimed Scott halting. He started as he saw Bucks. "Were +_you_ with him? And I've been scouring the town for you! Stanley will +have a word to say to you, youngster. They thought the gamblers had +you, Bill," he added, turning to the lineman. + +Dancing, a sight from the pounding he had taken, his clothing in +tatters, and with the blood-stains now streaked by the water dripping +from his hair, drew himself up. "I hope you didn't think so, Bob? Did +they reckon a handful of blacklegs would get me?" + +Scott grinned inscrutably. "They've got the best part of your shirt, +Bill. How did you get off?" + +"Swam for it," muttered Dancing, shaking himself. "Where's Stanley?" + +"Out behind the flat cars. He is arming the vigilantes. We've fenced +off the yards with loaded freight-cars. They've fired the roundhouse +on us, but the rifles and ammunition that came to-night are upstairs +here. Take some of these guns, Bill, and hand them around in front. +Bucks can follow you with a box of ammunition." + +Scott spoke hurriedly and ran out of the door facing Front Street +Square. A string of flat cars had been run along the house-track in +front of the station, and behind these the hard-pressed vigilantes, +reinforced now by the railroad men, were taking up a new line of +defence. Driven through the town in a running battle, they were in +straits when they reached Stanley's barricade. + +Following a resolve already well defined, the railroad chief conferred +with the vigilante leaders for a brief moment. He called them to his +office and denounced the folly of half-way measures. + +"You see," said Stanley, pointing to two dead men whom the discomfited +business men had brought off with them, "what temporizing has done. +There is only one way to treat with these people." He was interrupted +by firing from across the square. "In an hour they will have every +store in Front Street looted." + +The deliberation for a few moments was a stormy one, but Stanley held +his ground. "Desperate diseases, gentlemen," he said, addressing +Atkinson and his companions, "require desperate remedies, and you must +sometime come to what I propose." + +"What you propose," returned Atkinson gloomily, "will ruin us." + +Stanley answered with composure: "You are ruined now. What you should +consider is whether, if you don't cut this cancer of gambling, +outlawry, and murder out while you have a chance, it won't remain to +plague you as long as you do business in Medicine Bend, and remain to +ruin you periodically. This is always going to be a town and a big +one. As long as this railroad is operated, this ground where we stand +is and must be the chief operating point for the whole mountain +division. You and I may be wiped out of existence and the railroad +will go on as before. But it is for you to accept or reject what I +propose as the riddance of this curse to your community. + +"The railroad has been drawn into this fight by assault upon its men. +It can meet violence with violence and protect itself, or it can +temporarily abandon a town where protection is not afforded its lives +and property. In an emergency, trains could be run through Medicine +Bend without stopping. The right of way could be manned with +soldiers. But the railroad can't supply men enough to preserve in your +town the law and order which you yourselves ought to preserve. And if +we were compelled to build division facilities, temporarily, +elsewhere, while they would ultimately come back here, it might be +years before they did so. What else but your ruin would this mean?" + +He had hardly ceased speaking when the conference was broken in upon. +Bob Scott ushered in two men sent under a flag of truce from the +rioters. The offer they brought was that Rebstock and Seagrue should +be surrendered, provided Stanley would give his personal pledge that +the two should not be shot but sent out of town until peace was +restored, and that they should be accorded a fair trial when brought +back. + +Stanley listened carefully to all that was said: + +"Who sent you?" he demanded. + +"The committee up street," returned the envoys evasively. + +"You mean Levake sent you," retorted Stanley. He sat at his desk and +eyed the two ruffians, as they faced him somewhat nervously. They at +length admitted that they had come from Levake, and gave Stanley his +chance for an answer. + +"Tell Levake for me there will be no peace for him or his until he +comes down here with his hands behind his back. When I want Rebstock +and Seagrue I will let him know. I want him first," said Stanley, +dismissing the messengers without more ado. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + + +He had resolved that Levake was to be punished, but it was not a +unanimous voice that backed the railroad leader in his determination. +Weak-kneed men in the conference wanted to compromise and end the +fight where it stood. Even Atkinson was disposed to make terms, as the +party returned to the barricade. + +"No," repeated Stanley. "Levake is the head and front of this whole +disorder. As long as he can shoot down unarmed men in the streets of +Medicine Bend there will be no law and order here. While men see him +walking these streets unpunished they will take their cue from him and +rob and shoot whom they please--Levake and his ilk must go. A +railroad, on the start, brings a lawless element with it--this is +true. But it also brings law and order and that element has come to +Medicine Bend to stay. If the machinery of the law is too weak to +support it, so much worse for the machinery. I don't want to see +blood shed or property destroyed, but the responsibility for this +rests with the outlaws that are terrorizing this town. And I will +spend every ounce of ammunition I have and fight them to the last man, +rather than compromise with a bunch of cutthroats. + +"If any man here feels differently about this, he may step out of the +barricade now," continued Stanley, addressing those of the townsmen +that listened. "There will be no hard feeling. But this is the time to +do it. Worse is ahead of us before we can clean the town up as it will +have to be cleaned sometime. The longer you leave the job undone, the +harder it will be when you tackle it." + +A movement across the square interrupted his words, and a messenger +waving a white handkerchief came over to the barricade to ask for a +surgeon for a wounded man. There were some who opposed sending any +relief to men that had forfeited all claim to humane consideration. +Doctor Arnold, however, was summoned, and Stanley finally determined +that the matter should be left to the surgeon himself--he could go if +he wished. Arnold did not hesitate in his decision. "It is my duty to +go," he decided briefly. + +"I don't quite see that," muttered Atkinson. + +The white-haired surgeon turned to the leader of the vigilantes. "It +is not a matter of personal inclination, Atkinson. When I took my +degree for the practice of medicine, I took an oath to respond to +every call of suffering and I have no right to refuse this one." + +Leaving his own injured with his assistant, the surgeon told the +messenger to proceed and the two walked across the square and up Front +Street to the Three Horses. Arriving there, Arnold was asked to dress +the wound of a man that had been shot through the breast in the fight +along Fort Street. While he was working over his patient, who lay on a +table surrounded by a motley crowd of onlookers, Levake walked in. He +nodded to the surgeon and drawing a pocket knife, while Arnold was +cleansing the wound, sat down beside him to whittle a stick. + +"I hear your man, Stanley, wants me," began Levake after an interval. + +"I guess you hear right," returned Arnold dryly. + +"Tell him for me to come get me, will you?" suggested Levake. + +"If he ever comes after you, Levake, he will get you," returned +Arnold, looking the outlaw straight in the eye. "There isn't any doubt +about that," he added, resuming his task. + +Levake whittled but made no reply. He watched the surgeon's work +closely, and when Arnold had finished and given directions for the +wounded man's care he walked out of the place with him. + +"Tell Stanley what I said, will you?" repeated Levake, as the railroad +surgeon left the door and started down street. + +Arnold made no answer and Levake, taunting him to send all the men the +railroad had after him, followed Arnold toward the square. + +The surgeon understood that it was Levake's purpose to engage him in a +dispute and kill him if he could. Arnold, moreover, was hot-tempered +and made no concealment of his feelings toward any man. For this +reason, despite his realization of danger, he was an easy prey. + +To the final taunt of the outlaw the surgeon made rather a sharp +answer and quickened his pace, to walk away from his unpleasant +companion. But Levake would not be shaken off, and as the two were +passing a deserted restaurant he ordered the surgeon to halt. Arnold +turned without shrinking. Levake had already drawn his pistol and his +victim concluded he was to be killed then and there, but he resolved +to tell the outlaw what he thought of him. + +"I understand your game perfectly, Levake," he said after he had raked +him terrifically. "Now, if you are going to shoot, do it. You haven't +long to live yourself--make sure of that." + +"No man can threaten me and live," retorted Levake harshly. + +"I came up here, an unarmed man, on an errand of mercy." + +"I didn't send for you." + +"You would kill me just as quick if you had, Levake. What are you +hesitating about? If you are going to shoot, shoot." + +Throwing back his right arm, and fingering the trigger of his revolver +as a panther lashes his tail before springing, Levake stepped back and +to one side. As he did so, with the fearless surgeon still facing him, +a man stepped from behind the screen door of the deserted restaurant. +It was Bob Scott. + +The old and deadly feud between the Indian and the outlaw brought them +now, for the first time in months, face to face. In spite of his iron +nerve Levake started. Scott, slightly stooped and wearing the familiar +slouch hat and shabby coat in which he was always seen, regarded his +enemy with a smile. + +So sudden was his appearance that Levake could not for an instant +control himself. If there was a man in the whole mountain country that +Levake could be said to be afraid of, it was the mild-mannered, +mild-spoken Indian scout. Where Scott had come from, how he had got +through the pickets posted by Levake himself--these questions, for +which he could find no answer, disquieted the murderer. + +Arnold, reprieved from death as by a miracle, stood like a statue. +Levake, with his hand on his pistol, had halted, petrified, at the +sight of Scott. + +The latter, eying the murderer with an expression that might have been +mistaken for friendly, had not Levake known there could be no +friendship among decent men for him, broke the silence: "Levake, I +have a warrant for you." + +The words seemed to shake the spell from the outlaw's nerves. He +answered with his usual coolness: "You've waited a good while to serve +it." + +"I've been a little busy for a few days, Levake," returned Scott, with +the same even tone. "I kind of lost track of you." But his words again +disconcerted Levake. The few men who now watched the scene and knew +what was coming stood breathless. + +Levake, moistening his dry lips, spoke carefully: "I don't want any +trouble with you here," he said. "When this town fight is over, bring +your warrant around and I'll talk to you." + +"No," returned Scott, undisturbed, "I might lose track of you again. +You can come right along with me, Levake." + +With incredible quickness the outlaw, half-turning to cover Scott, +fired. The cat-like agility of the Indian answered the move in the +instant it was made. Scott was, in fact, the first scout from whom +mountain men learned to fire a revolver without aiming it and it was +not without reason that Levake sought no encounter with him. For Scott +to draw and fire was but one movement, and hating Levake as a monster, +the Indian had long been ready to meet him as he met him now, when he +should be forced to face him fairly. + +A fusillade of shots rang down the street. The air between the two +men, feinting like boxers in their deadly duel, filled with whitish +smoke. Arnold, stunned by the suddenness of the encounter, jumped out +of range. In the next moment he saw Levake sink to the sidewalk. +Scott, springing upon him like a cat, knelt with one hand already on +his throat; with the other he wrung a second revolver from Levake's +hand. The surgeon ran to the two men. + +Levake, panting, lay desperately wounded, as Scott slowly released his +grip upon him. The Indian rose as the surgeon approached, but Levake, +his eyes wide open, lay still. + +"You are wounded, Bob," cried Arnold, tearing the stained sleeve of +Scott's coat from his shoulder. The scout shook his head. + +"We're in danger here," he replied, glancing hurriedly up the street. +"We must get this fellow away." + +The two picked the wounded man from the ground and started quickly +down street with him. The shooting, now so frequent all over the town, +had attracted little attention outside the few that had witnessed the +swift duel, and the two railroad men made good progress with their +burden before the alarm was spread. But the surgeon saw that the +strain was telling on Scott, whose shoulder was bleeding freely. He +had even ordered his companion to drop his burden and run, when he +heard a shout and saw Bill Dancing running across from the barricade +to their aid. + +[Illustration: FOR SCOTT TO DRAW AND FIRE WAS BUT ONE MOVEMENT.] + +Half a dozen of the rioters, shouting threats and imprecations, were +hastening down Front Street after Levake and his captors to rescue +their prisoner. Scott, reloading his revolver as Dancing relieved him +of his end of the burden, stood free to cover the retreat. He fired a +warning shot at the nearest of their pursuers. A scattering pistol +fire at long range followed. But the railroad men crossed the square +in safety, and the big lineman, with Levake in his arms, carried him +single-handed into the barricade. + +The surgeon and Bob Scott followed close. Bucks was first to meet the +wounded scout, and the railroad men, jubilant at Levake's capture, ran +to Scott and bore him down with rough welcome. Levake was laid upon a +bench in the station and Scott followed to his side. Arnold, joining +the scout, made ready to dress the wound in his shoulder. + +"See to Levake first, doctor," said Scott, "he needs it the most." + +As he spoke, Dancing hurried into the room. "Bob, the car shops are on +fire." + +Scott ran to the east window. It was true. The rioters, supplied with +oil and torches, had made their way in the darkness through +Callahan's picket line near the river and set fire to the shops. + +Stanley was eating a hasty supper in the despatchers' office. + +Within a few minutes the blaze could be seen from all the east windows +of the station. Almost at the same moment, through the north windows +fire was seen breaking out in one of the big stores in Front Street. +As Stanley rose from his midnight meal, Atkinson ran in with word that +a band of rioters, well armed, had attacked a train of boarding-cars +defended by the roundhouse men. + +The sky, bright again with the flame of conflagration, made a huge +dome of red, lighting the railroad yards across which men were now +hurrying to make fresh dispositions for the emergency. + +The vigilante leaders saw impending, in the Front Street fire, the +ruin of their business property. There were no longer men enough +left to fight the flames and guard the fire-fighters. A point had +been reached in which life and property were no longer taken into +account, and efforts to restore law and order were facing complete +failure. It was then that the most radical of all measures, the +last resort of organized society in its resolve to defend itself, +was discussed. The vigilantes, as well as the railroad men, now +realized that but one measure remained for saving Medicine Bend and +that was the extermination of the outlaws themselves. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + + +The men in the barricade were lined up for orders. Ammunition was +passed and volunteers were called to form a charging party. The +vigilantes formed in the glare of the burning shops. + +From the head-quarters of the rioters in Front Street came scattering +shots and cries as a huge volume of sparks shot up into the black sky. +Ten men under Hawk and ten under Dancing made the supporting party for +the vigilantes, who asked only that a line of retreat be kept +open. This Stanley had undertaken to provide. Atkinson, making a +wide détour back of the station, led his men down the railroad +tracks and, reaching a point where concealment was no longer +possible, double-quicked up Fort Street and charged with his party +across the little park. + +They had already been seen. A line of men, posted behind the places +that line Front Street at that point, opened fire. It was the worst +possible answer to make to men in the temper of the scattered line +that swept up the street in the glare of the burning buildings. +Wounded men dropped out of the charge, but those that went on carried +with them a more implacable determination. Re-forming their line under +cover of the cedars at the corner of Fort Street, they directed an +effective fire into the dance halls adjoining, and the rioters hiding +within scurried from them like rats. + +But the vigilantes were intent first of all on capturing and burning +the hall known as the Three Horses, and the rioters rallied to its +defence. As the place was assailed, the doors were barred and a sharp +fire was poured through the windows. The assailants were driven back. +Bill Dancing, heated and stubborn, refused to retreat and, picking up +a sledge dropped by a fleeing vigilante, attacked the barred doors +single-handed. + +The street, swept by the bullets of the fray, rang with the splitting +blows of the heavy hammer, as the lineman, his long hair flying from +his forehead, swung at the thick panels. Within, the gamblers tried to +shoot him from the windows, but he stood close and his friends kept +up a constant supporting fire that drove the defenders back. + +From above they hurled chairs and tables down on Dancing, but his head +seemed furniture-proof, and scorning to waste time in dodging he +hammered away, undaunted, until he splintered the panels and the stout +lock-stiles gave. The vigilantes, running up, tore through the door +chains with crowbars and rushed the building. + +The fight in the big room lasted only a moment. The rioters crowded +toward the rear and escaped as best they could. Vigilantes with +torches made short work of the rest of it. Dancing stove in a cask of +alcohol, and as the attacking party ran out of the front door a torch +was flung back into the spreading pool. + +A great burst of fire lighted the street. The next moment the long +building was in flames. + +Emboldened by this success and driving the outlaws from their further +retreats, the vigilantes fired one after another of the gaudy places +that lined the upper street. Met by close shooting at every turn, the +rioters were driven up the hill and fighting desperately were pursued +to cover by men now as savage as themselves. The scattered clashes +were brief and deadly. The whole upper town was on fire. Men fleeing +for their lives skulked in the shadows of the side streets and the +constant scattering report of fire-arms added to the terrors of the +night. + +Hour after hour the conflagration raged and day broke at last on the +smoking ruins of the town of Medicine Bend. The work of the +vigilantes had been mercilessly thorough. Along the railroad track +stiffened bodies hanging from the cross-bars of telegraph poles in +the gloom of the breaking day told a ghastly story of justice +summarily administered to the worst of the offenders. In the gloom +of the smoking streets stragglers roamed unmolested among the +ruins; for of the outlaws, killed or hunted out of the town, none +were now left to oppose the free passage of any one from end to end of +Medicine Bend. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + + +The victory was dear, but none murmured at its cost. Medicine Bend for +once had been purged of its parasites. + +At the railroad head-quarters Stanley, before daylight, was directing +the resumption of operations so interrupted by the three days of +anarchism on the mountain division. New men were added every hour to +the pay-roll, and the smaller tradesmen of the town, ruined by the +riots, were given positions to keep them until the town could be +rebuilt. + +The pressure on the operating department increased twofold with the +resumption of traffic. Winter was now upon the mountains, but +construction could not be stopped for winter. The enormous prizes for +extending the line through the Rockies to meet the rival railroad +heading east from California, spurred the builders to every effort to +lengthen their mileage, and something unheard of was attempted, +namely, mountain railroad-building in midwinter. + +Levake, the leader among the mountain outlaws, was nursed back to life +by the surgeon he had so nearly murdered. But his respite was a brief +one. When new officers of the law were elected in Medicine Bend, the +murderer was tried for one of his many crimes and paid on the scaffold +the penalty of his cold-blooded cruelty. Rebstock, the fox, and his +companion Seagrue escaped the exterminating raid of the vigilantes but +fought shy of Medicine Bend for long afterward. + +A few days after the riots Stanley sent for Bucks, who was holding a +key among the operators downstairs, to come to his office. + +"How long have you been a telegraph operator, Bucks?" he asked. + +Bucks laughed in some embarrassment. "Since I was about twelve years +old, sir." + +"Twelve years old!" echoed Stanley in amazement. "Where did you learn +to telegraph at twelve?" + +Bucks hesitated again. "I never learned, sir!" + +"What do you mean?" + +"I used to sit in the telegraph office of the road when my uncle +was superintendent, and I got used to hearing the sound of the +instruments. I just woke up one morning and found I could telegraph. +I couldn't the night before. That's the only way I ever learned, +sir." + +Stanley regarded the boy with interest. "How old are you now?" + +"Seventeen." + +"Very well. When you went to bed last night you were not a train +despatcher: this morning you are." Bucks started. "If any one ever +asks you," continued Stanley dryly, "how you learned to be a train +despatcher, tell them just that." + +"I don't want you to think you are old enough to be a despatcher," +continued Stanley, as Bucks stammered his thanks, "for you are not. +And I don't want you to think I like to make you one. I don't. Neither +for your sake nor mine. I don't like to impose the responsibilities of +a man on a boy. But I can't help it. We haven't the men, and we can't +get them--and we must all, men and boys, pull together and just do +the best we can--do you understand?" + +"I understand everything, Colonel Stanley." + +"I need not say much about what is before you. You have been sending +despatchers' orders for years yourself. You know how many lives are +held every minute in the despatchers' hand. Don't overrate your +responsibility and grow nervous over it; and don't ever underestimate +it. As long as you keep yourself fit for your work, and do the best +you can, you may sleep with a clear conscience. Report to Mr. Baxter. +Remember you are working with green trainmen and don't expect too much +of them." + +When Bucks signed a transfer and took his train-sheet that night at +twelve o'clock, his chief anxiety was to keep the material trains +going to Casement and everything eastbound was laid out in an effort +to send the ties and rails west. Bucks set himself to keep pace with +the good work done by the despatcher in the evening trick and for two +hours kept his sheet pretty clean. + +A heavy train of rails which he had been helping all the way west +after midnight was then at Castle Springs, and Bucks gave its crew an +order to meet the eastbound passenger train at Point of Rocks. It was +three o'clock when a message came from the operator at Point of Rocks, +saying the rail train had passed westbound. Bucks seized a key and +silencing the wires asked for the passenger train. Nothing had been +seen of it. He called up Bitter Creek, the first telegraph point west +of Point of Rocks with an order to hold the passenger train. But the +train had already gone. + +The new dispatcher sprang up from the table frantic. Then, racing +again to the key, he made the operator at Castle Springs repeat the +order and assure him it had been delivered. Of this there could be no +question. The freight crew had ignored or forgotten it, and were now +past Point of Rocks running head-on against the passenger train. If +the heavens had fallen the situation would have seemed better to +Bucks. A head-on collision on the first night of his promotion meant, +he felt, his ruin. As he sat overwhelmed with despair, trying to +collect his wits and to determine what to do, the door opened and Bob +Scott appeared. + +The scout, with his unfailing and kindly smile, advanced and held out +his hand. "Just dropped in to extend my congratulations." + +Bucks looked at him in horror, his face rigid and his eyes set. Scott +paused and regarded his aspect with surprise. "Something has +happened," he said, waiting for the despatcher to speak. + +"Bob!" exclaimed the boy in desperation, "No. 9 has run past her +meeting order at Point of Rocks with No. 2. They will meet head-on and +kill everybody. My God! what can I do?" + +In the dim light of the shaded oil lamp, Bucks, looking at the scout, +stood the picture of despair. Scott picked up the poker and began to +stir the fire and asked only a few questions and said little. However, +when Bucks told him he was going to wake Stanley, whose sleeping-room +adjoined his office at the end of the hall, Scott counselled no. + +"He could do nothing," said Scott reflecting. "Let us wait a while +before we do anything like that," he added, coupling himself with the +despatcher in the latter's overwhelming anxiety. "The first news of +the collision will come from Bitter Creek. It will be time enough then +to call Stanley. Give your orders for a wrecking crew, get a train +ready, and get word to Doctor Arnold to go with it." + +Bucks, steadying himself under the kindly common-sense of his older +friend, followed each suggestion promptly. Scott, who ordinarily would +himself have been running around on the job, made no move to leave the +room, thinking he could be of more service in remaining with the +unfortunate despatcher. The yard became a scene of instant activity. +And although no organization to meet emergencies of this kind had been +as yet effected on the new division, the men responded intelligently +and promptly with the necessary arrangements. + +Everyone summoned tried to get into the dispatchers' room to hear the +story repeated. Scott took it upon himself to prevent this, and +standing in the anteroom made all explanations himself. He rejoined +Bucks after getting rid of the crowd, and the moment the relief train +reported ready the despatcher sent it out, that help might reach the +scene of disaster at the earliest possible moment. Bucks, calmed +somewhat but suffering intensely, paced the floor or threw himself +into his chair, while Scott picked up the despatcher's old copy of +"The Last of the Mohicans," and smoking silently sat immovable, +waiting with his customary stoicism for the call that should announce +the dreaded wreck. + +The moments loaded with anxiety went with leaden feet while the two +men sat. It seemed as if the first hour never would pass. Then the +long silence of the little receiver was broken by a call for the +dispatcher. Bucks sprang to answer it. + +Scott watched his face as he sent his "Ay, ay." Without understanding +what the instruments clicked, he read the expressions that followed +one after the other across Bucks's countenance, as he would have read +a desert trail. He noted the perplexity on the despatcher's face when +the latter tried to get the sender of the call. + +"Some one is cutting in on the line," exclaimed Bucks, mystified, as +the sounder clicked. "Bob, it is Bill Dancing." + +A pause followed. "What can it mean, his sending a message to me? He +is between Bitter Creek and Castle Springs. Wait a moment!" + +The receiver clicked sharp and fast. Scarcely able to control his +voice in his anxiety, Bucks turned to the now excited scout: "The +trains met between Bitter Creek and Castle Springs. There was no +collision!" + +Almost collapsing with the passing of the strain, Bucks faltered in +his taking. Asking Dancing again for the story, Bucks took it more +coolly and repeated it to his eager listener, as it came. + +"Dancing was out with two men on the line to-day, repairing between +Bitter Creek and Castle Springs. He didn't get done and camped beside +the track for the night, to finish in the morning." + +"Go on," exclaimed Scott. + +"They shot a jack-rabbit----" + +"Hang the jack-rabbit," cried Scott. "What about the trains?" + +"You can't hurry Bill Dancing, Bob," pleaded Bucks. "You know that. +Faster, Bill, faster," he telegraphed urgently. + +"You will get it faster," returned the distant lineman far out in the +mountains under the stars, as he talked calmly with the despatcher, +"if you will go slower." + +Bucks strangled his impatience. Dancing resumed, and the despatcher +again translated for Scott. + +"They cooked the jack-rabbit for supper----" + +Scott flung his book violently across the room. "It tasted good," +continued Dancing exasperatingly. "But the night was awfully cold, so +they built a big camp-fire near the curve. The freight engineer saw +the fire and thought it was a locomotive head-light. Then he +remembered he had run past his meeting point. He stopped his train to +find out what the fire was. When he told Bill what had happened they +grabbed up the burning logs, carried them down the track, and built a +signal fire for No. 2. And it came along inside five minutes----" + +"And there they are!" concluded Bucks, wiping the dampness from his +forehead. + +The receiver continued to click. "Bill thought I would be worried and +he cut in on the line right away to tell me what had happened." + +"Now give your orders to No. 2 to back up to Castle Springs and let +the rail train get by. Recall your relief train," added Scott. "And +bring that freight engineer in here in the morning and let Stanley +talk to him for just about five minutes." The key rattled for a +moment. Scott, going to the farthest corner of the room, picked up +"The Last of the Mohicans." "Bucks," he murmured insinuatingly, as he +sat down to look into the book again, "I want to ask you now, once for +all, whether this is a true story?" + +"Bob, put that book where it belongs and stop talking about it." + +Scott hitched one shoulder a bit and returned to the fire, but he was +not silenced. + +"That reminds me, Bucks," he resumed after a pause, "there is another +friend of yours here at the door, waiting to congratulate you. Shall +I let him in?" + +"I don't want any congratulations, Bob." + +"I'll promise he doesn't say a single word, Bucks." As he spoke, Scott +opened the hall door and whistled into the darkness. For an instant +there was no response. Then a small and vague object outlined itself +in the gloom, but halted questioningly on the threshold. Wagging his +abbreviated tail very gently and carrying his drooping ears very low, +Scuffy at length walked slowly into the room. Bucks hailed him with +delight, and Scuffy bounding forward crouched at his feet. + +"I can't do a thing with him over at the ranch," complained Scott, +eying the dog with a secret admiration. "He is eating the hounds up; +doesn't give them a chance to pick a bone even after he's done with +it." + +"I'm afraid there is nothing to do with Scuffy, but to make a +despatcher of him," returned Bucks, picking him up by the forepaws. "I +can see very plainly it's going to be a dog's life most of the time." + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Mountain Divide, by Frank H. 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Spearman + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Mountain Divide + +Author: Frank H. Spearman + +Illustrator: Armand Both + +Release Date: August 10, 2009 [EBook #29656] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MOUNTAIN DIVIDE *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class='figtag'> +<a name='linki_1' id='linki_1'></a> +</div> +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/c0001-img.jpg' alt='' title='' width='277' height='404' /><br /> +</div> +<hr class='pb' /> +<h1>THE MOUNTAIN DIVIDE</h1> +<hr class='pb' /> +<table summary='book list' style='width:300px'> +<tr><td align='center'><span style='font-size:1.3em;'>BOOKS BY FRANK H. SPEARMAN</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'>PUBLISHED BY CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS</td></tr> + +<tr><td><hr class='x300' /></td></tr> + +<tr><td class='pad'>ROBERT KIMBERLY. Illustrated by James Montgomery Flagg. 12mo Net $1.30</td></tr> +<tr><td class='pad'>WHISPERING SMITH. A Story of Rocky Mountain Life. Illustrated by N. C. Wyeth. 12mo $1.50</td></tr> +<tr><td class='pad'>THE DAUGHTER OF A MAGNATE. Illustrated. 12mo $1.50</td></tr> +<tr><td>DOCTOR BRYSON. A Novel. 12mo $1.50</td></tr> +<tr><td><hr class='x30' /></td></tr> +<tr><td>THE MOUNTAIN DIVIDE. Illustrated. 12mo Net $1.25</td></tr> +<tr><td><hr class='x30' /></td></tr> +<tr><td>THE STRATEGY OF GREAT RAILROADS. With Maps. 12mo Net $1.50</td></tr> +</table> +<hr class='pb' /> +<div class='figtag'> +<a name='linki_2' id='linki_2'></a> +</div> +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/f0003-img.jpg' alt='' title='' width='355' height='562' /><br /> +<p class='caption'> +AS BUCK’S STRAINING EYE FOLLOWED THE MOVEMENT,<br /> +THE SECOND INDIAN STRUCK THE CLUB DOWN.<br /> +</p> +</div> +<hr class='pb' /> +<p class='tp' style='font-size:2.2em;margin-top:20px;margin-bottom:40px;'>THE<br />MOUNTAIN DIVIDE</p> +<p class='tp' style='font-size:smaller;margin-bottom:20px;'>BY</p> +<p class='tp' style='font-size:1.4em;margin-bottom:80px;'>FRANK H. SPEARMAN</p> +<p class='tp' style='font-size:smaller;margin-bottom:10px;'>ILLUSTRATED BY</p> +<p class='tp' style='font-size:1.3em;margin-bottom:60px;'>ARMAND BOTH</p> +<p class='tp' style='font-size:1.4em;'>CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS<br />NEW YORK :::::::::::::::::: 1912</p> +<hr class='pb' /> +<p class='tp' style='font-size:smaller;margin-top:20px;font-variant:small-caps;'>Copyright, 1912, by</p> +<p class='tp' style='font-size:smaller;'>CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS</p> +<hr class='p10' /> +<p class='tp' style='font-size:smaller;margin-bottom:20px;'>Published September, 1912</p> + +<div style='margin:10px auto; text-align:center;'> +<img alt='emblem' src='images/f0005-img.jpg' /> +</div> +<hr class='pb' /> +<p class='tp' style='margin-top:20px;'>THIS STORY WITHOUT LOVE,<br />IS NONE THE LESS LOVINGLY INSCRIBED</p> +<p class='tp' style='font-size:1.4em;margin-top:5px;margin-bottom:5px;'>TO</p> +<p class='tp' >MY YOUNGEST SON</p> +<p class='tp' style='margin-bottom:20px;font-size:1.4em;margin-top:5px;'>ARTHUR DUNNING SPEARMAN</p> +<hr class='pb' /> +<h3>ILLUSTRATIONS</h3> +<table border='0' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Illustrations' style='margin:1em auto;'> +<col style='width:75%;' /> +<col style='width:25%;' /> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left'>As Buck’s straining eye followed the movement, the second Indian struck the club down.</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_2'><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left'>It was only after a moment that the lineman could be seen to gain.</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_3'>92</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left'>“Let that gate alone or I’ll brain you,” he cried.</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_4'>250</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left'>For Scott to draw and fire was but one movement.</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_5'>300</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_1' name='page_1'></a>1</span></div> +<hr class='pb' /> +<h2>THE MOUNTAIN DIVIDE</h2> +<div class='chsp' style='padding-top:0'> +<a name='CHAPTER_I' id='CHAPTER_I'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2> +</div> +<p>Night had fallen and a warm rain drifting +down from the mountains hung in a mist over +the railroad yards and obscured the lights of +Medicine Bend. Two men dismounting from +their drooping horses at the foot of Front Street +threw the reins to a man in waiting and made +their way on foot across the muddy square to the +building which served the new railroad as a station +and as division head-quarters. In Medicine +Bend, the town, the railroad, everything was +new; and the broad, low pine building which +they entered had not yet been painted.</p> +<p>The public waiting-room was large, roughly +framed, and lighted with hanging kerosene lamps. +Within the room a door communicated with the +agent’s office, and this was divided by a wooden +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_2' name='page_2'></a>2</span> +railing into a freight office and a ticket and telegraph +office.</p> +<p>It could be seen, as the two men paused at the +door of the inner room, that the first wore a military +fatigue-cap, and his alert carriage as he threw +open his cape-coat indicated the bearing of an +American army officer. He was of medium height, +and his features and eyes implied that the storms +and winds of the plains and mountains were familiar +friends. This was Park Stanley, charged at +that time with the construction of the first transcontinental +railroad.</p> +<p>The agent’s office, which he and his companion +now looked into, was half-filled with a crowd of +frontiersmen, smoking, talking, disputing, asking +questions, and crowding against the fence that +railed off the private end of the room; while +at the operator’s table next to the platform window +a tall, spindling boy was trying in the confusion +behind him to get a message off the wire.</p> +<p>Stanley, eying the lad, noticed how thin his +face was and what a bony frame spread out under +the roundabout jacket that he appeared already +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_3' name='page_3'></a>3</span> +to have outgrown. And he concluded this must +be the new operator, Bucks, who for some days +had been expected from the East.</p> +<p>The receiver clicked insistently and Bucks endeavored +to follow the message, but the babel +of talking made it almost impossible. Stanley +heard the boy appeal more than once for less +noise, but his appeals were unheeded. He saw +symptoms of fire in the operator’s eyes as the +latter glared occasionally at the crowd behind +him, but for what followed even Stanley was +unprepared. Bucks threw down his pen and +coming forward with angry impatience ordered +the crowd out of the room.</p> +<p>He pushed the foremost of the intruders back +from the rail and followed up his commands +by opening the wicket gate and driving those +ahead of him toward the door of the waiting-room. +“Get out where you belong,” he repeated, +urging the crowd on. Stanley turned to the +man at his side. “I will go upstairs to write my +message. This must be the new boy, Bob,” he +added; “he acts as if he might make things go.”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_4' name='page_4'></a>4</span></div> +<p>His companion, Bob Scott, smiled as he followed +Stanley out upon the platform and up the +narrow stairway leading to the division offices. +But Bob Scott was conservative. He never +spoke above an undertone and naturally took the +conservative side: “If he only doesn’t make them +go too fast, Colonel,” was his comment.</p> +<p>A tall young man, spare but almost gigantic +in stature, standing back in one corner of the +agent’s office as the men about him were hustled +along, likewise regarded Bucks with surprise +as he saw him start single-handed to expel the +intruders. This was the mountain telegraph lineman, +Bill Dancing, as simple as he was strong, +and ready at any time to be surprised, but not +often disconcerted. In this instance, however, +he was amazed, for almost before he realized it +the energetic operator was hustling him out with +the others.</p> +<p>When Bucks thought the room cleared he turned +to go back to his table, but he saw that one +man had been overlooked. This man was still +sitting on a stool in the farthest corner of the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_5' name='page_5'></a>5</span> +dimly lighted room. The spindling operator +without hesitation walked over to him and laid +his hand on the man’s shoulder. Dancing, looking +back through the door, held his breath.</p> +<p>“Move out of here, please,” said Bucks, “into +the public waiting-room.” The man rose with the +utmost politeness. “Sorry to be in your way,” +he returned mildly, though there was a note not +quite pleasant in his voice.</p> +<p>“Your place is outside,” continued the operator. +“I can’t do anything with a mob in here all talking +at once.”</p> +<p>“I haven’t done my talking yet,” suggested the +man, with a shade of significance. This, however, +was lost on Bucks, who looked sharply at the stool +from which the man had risen.</p> +<p>“I think this stool is mine,” said he, picking it +up and examining it. “It is mine,” he added, +after a moment’s inspection. “Please move on.”</p> +<p>“Perhaps before I go,” returned the man with +the same unpleasant irony, “you will tell me +whether you have an express package here for +Harvey Levake.”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_6' name='page_6'></a>6</span></div> +<p>“Of course I will, Harvey,” responded the operator +in a matter-of-fact way. “Just wait a +minute.”</p> +<p>Levake’s lips stretched into a ghost of a smile, +and his white-lashed gray eyes contracted with +an effort at amiability.</p> +<p>The operator, going inside the railing, ran over +the express way-bills which, not yet entered up, +lay on the freight desk.</p> +<p>“There is a package here for you,” he announced +a moment later, and turning to a heap +of parcels thrown under the desk he searched +among them until he found and produced the +one he sought.</p> +<p>“Here it is––a box of cartridges.”</p> +<p>“What are the charges?” asked the man.</p> +<p>“Four dollars and sixty cents.”</p> +<p>The man laid down a twenty-dollar bank-bill. +The operator hesitated: “I haven’t the change.”</p> +<p>Levake showed no sympathy: “That is not my +fault,” he returned.</p> +<p>The operator looked at him: “Do you want the +package to-night?”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_7' name='page_7'></a>7</span></div> +<p>“If I didn’t, do you suppose I would waste an +hour here waiting for it?”</p> +<p>The boy considered a moment and made a decision, +but it chanced to be the wrong decision. +“Take the package along. Bring me the charges +in the morning.”</p> +<p>Levake made no response beyond a further +glance at the boy somewhat contemptuous; but +he said nothing and picking up his package walked +out. No one opposed him. Indeed, had the operator +been interested he would have noticed with +what marked alacrity every man, as he passed +through the waiting-room, got out of Levake’s +way. Dancing, standing at the door and with +his hair on end, awaited the close of the incident. +He now re-entered the inner office and shut the +waiting-room door behind him with an audible +bang. Bucks, who had returned to his table, +looked around. “Well, who are you?” he demanded +as he regarded Dancing. “And what +are you doing here?”</p> +<p>“Who are you?” retorted Dancing bluntly. +“And what are you doing here?”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_8' name='page_8'></a>8</span></div> +<p>“My name is Bucks and I am the new night +operator.”</p> +<p>“You look new. And you act all-fired new. +My name is Bill Dancing and I am the telegraph +lineman.”</p> +<p>“Why, you are the man I am looking for.”</p> +<p>“So I thought, when you pushed me out of +here with the rest of your visitors.”</p> +<p>“Why didn’t you speak up, Bill?” demanded +Bucks calmly.</p> +<p>A quizzical expression passed over Dancing’s +face. “I didn’t want to break the calm. When +I see a man walking around a powder magazine +I hate to do anything that might set it off.</p> +<p>“So your name is Bucks,” continued Dancing, +as he walked through the wicket and threw his +wet hat among the way-bills on the freight desk. +“Well, Mr. Bucks, do you know what was most +likely to happen to you any minute before you got +through with that crowd, just now?”</p> +<p>“No, I don’t know. Why?” asked Bucks, +busy with his messages.</p> +<p>“Have you ever seen a shooting mix-up in Medicine +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_9' name='page_9'></a>9</span> +Bend?” demanded Dancing in a tone of calculated +indifference.</p> +<p>“No,” answered Bucks in decided but off-hand +manner, “I never saw a shooting mix-up anywhere.”</p> +<p>“Never got shot up just for fun?” persisted +Dancing. “Do you know,” he continued without +waiting for an answer, “who that polite man +was, the last one you shouldered out of here?” +Dancing pointed as he spoke to the corner from +which Levake had risen, but the operator, straightening +out the papers before him, did not look +around.</p> +<p>“No, Bill, I don’t know anybody here. You +see I am a stranger.”</p> +<p>“I see you are a stranger,” echoed Dancing. +“Let me tell you something, then, will you?”</p> +<p>“Tell it quick, Bill.”</p> +<p>“There is no cemetery in this town.”</p> +<p>“I have understood it is very healthy, Bill,” +returned the operator.</p> +<p>“Not for everybody.” Bill Dancing paused to +let the words sink in, as his big eyes fixed upon +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_10' name='page_10'></a>10</span> +the young operator’s eyes. “Not for everybody––sometimes +not for strangers. Strangers have to +get used to it. There is a river here,” added the +lineman sententiously. “It’s pretty swift, too.”</p> +<p>“What do you mean?”</p> +<p>“I mean you have got to be careful how you +do things out in this country.”</p> +<p>“But, Bill,” persisted the lad, “if there is going +to be any business done in this office we have +got to have order, haven’t we?” The lineman +snorted and the operator saw that his appeal +had fallen flat. “My batteries, Bill,” he added, +changing the subject, “are no good at all. I sent +for you because I want you to go over them now, +to-night, and start me right. What are you going +to do?”</p> +<p>Dancing had begun to poke at the ashes in the +stove. “Build a fire,” he returned, looking about +for material. He gathered up what waste paper +was at hand, pushed it into the stove, and catching +up the way-bills from the desk, threw them +in on the paper and began to feel in his wet +pockets for matches.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_11' name='page_11'></a>11</span></div> +<p>“Hold on,” cried Bucks. “What do you mean? +You must be crazy!” he exclaimed, running to the +stove and pulling the way-bills out.</p> +<p>“Not half so crazy as you are,” replied Dancing +undisturbed. “I’m only trying to show you +how crazy you are. Burning up way-bills isn’t a +circumstance to what you did just now. You +are the looniest operator I ever saw.” As he +looked at Bucks he extended his finger impressively. +“When you laid your hand on that +man’s shoulder to-night––the one sitting on your +stool––I wouldn’t have given ten cents for your +life.”</p> +<p>Bucks regarded him with astonishment. “Why +so?”</p> +<p>“He’s the meanest man between here and Fort +Bridger,” asserted Dancing. “He’d think no +more of shooting you than I would of scratching +a match.” Bucks stared at the comparison. “He +is the worst scoundrel in this country and partners +with Seagrue and John Rebstock in everything +that’s going on, and even they are afraid of him.”</p> +<p>Dancing stopped for breath. “Talk about my +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_12' name='page_12'></a>12</span> +making a fire out of way-bills! When I saw you +lay your hand on that man, I stopped breathing––can’t +breathe just right yet,” he muttered, pulling +at his shirt collar. “Do you know why you +didn’t get killed?”</p> +<p>“Why, no, Bill, not exactly,” confessed Bucks +in embarrassment.</p> +<p>“Because Levake was out of cartridges. I +heard him tell Rebstock so when they walked +past me.”</p> +<p>“Thank you for posting me. How should I +know he was Seagrue’s partner, or who Rebstock +is? Let’s make a bargain. I will be more careful +in clearing out the office, and you be more +careful about building fires. There’s wood in the +baggage-room. I couldn’t get out to get it for +fear the crowd would steal the tickets.”</p> +<p>“Well, you are ‘out’ four dollars and sixty cents +charges on the cartridges,” continued Dancing, +“and you had better say nothing about it. If +you ever ask Levake for the money he will kill +you.”</p> +<p>Bucks looked rebellious. “It’s only right for +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_13' name='page_13'></a>13</span> +him to pay the charges. I shall ask him for them +the next time I see him. And what is more he +will have to pay, I don’t care whose partner he is.”</p> +<p>Dancing now regarded the operator with unconcealed +impatience. “I suppose there are more +where you came from,” he muttered. “They will +need a lot of them here, if they carry on like +that. How old are you?” he demanded of Bucks +abruptly.</p> +<p>“Seventeen.”</p> +<p>“How long have you been in this country?”</p> +<p>Bucks looked at the clock. “About five hours, +Bill.”</p> +<p>“Reckon time close, don’t you?”</p> +<p>“Have to, Bill, in the railroad business.”</p> +<p>Dancing reflected a moment. “Five hours,” he +repeated. “If you don’t get killed within the +next five you may live to be a useful citizen of +Medicine Bend. Where are you from, and how did +you happen to come away out here on the plains?”</p> +<p>“I am from Pittsburgh. I had to quit school +and go to work.”</p> +<p>“Where did you go to school?”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_14' name='page_14'></a>14</span></div> +<p>“Well, I didn’t go–––”</p> +<p>“Quit before you went, did you?”</p> +<p>“I mean, I was preparing for Van Dyne College. +One of my brothers teaches there. I couldn’t start +there after I lost my father––he was killed in the +Wilderness Campaign, Bill. But when I can +earn money enough, I am going back to Van +Dyne and take an engineering course.”</p> +<p>“Got it all figured out, have you?”</p> +<p>“Then I heard they were building the Union +Pacific, and I knew something about telegraphing––Jim +Foster and I had a line from the house to +the barn.”</p> +<p>“Had a line from the house to the barn, eh?” +chuckled Dancing.</p> +<p>“So I bought a railroad ticket to Des Moines +from Pittsburgh and staged it to Omaha, and General +Park gave me a job right away and sent me +out on the first train to take this office, nights. I +didn’t even know where Medicine Bend was.”</p> +<p>“Don’t believe you know yet. Now that’s +right, I don’t believe you know yet. You’re a +good boy, but you talk too much.”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_15' name='page_15'></a>15</span></div> +<p>“How old are you, Bill?”</p> +<p>“I am twenty.”</p> +<p>“Twenty!” echoed Bucks, as if that were not +very much, either.</p> +<p>“Twenty!” repeated the lineman. “But,” he +added, drawing himself up in his tremendous stature, +with dignity, “I have been on the plains +driving wagons and building telegraph lines for +seven years–––”</p> +<p>“Seven years!” echoed Bucks, now genuinely +admiring his companion.</p> +<p>“My father was a Forty-niner. I was a +line foreman when I was seventeen, for Edward +Creighton, and we put the first telegraph line +through from the Missouri River to the Pacific,” +continued Dancing, ready to back his words with +blows if necessary.</p> +<p>“You <i>are</i> an old-timer,” cried Bucks enviously. +“Any good rabbit-shooting around here, Bill?”</p> +<p>“Rabbit-shooting?” echoed Dancing in scorn. +“The only rabbits they shoot around here, young +fellow, are Pittsburgh rabbits, that don’t keep their +ears hid proper. When we go hunting, we go +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_16' name='page_16'></a>16</span> +antelope-hunting, buffalo-hunting, grizzly-bear +hunting, elk-hunting. Now I don’t say I don’t +like you and I don’t say you won’t do. What +I say is, you talk too much. I’ll tell you what +I’ve learned. I’ve learned not to say too much +at a time. And when I say it, I don’t say it +very loud. And if you don’t get killed, in +advance, you will learn the same thing in the +same way I learned it. Where are your blamed +batteries?”</p> +<p>“Bill, you are all right.”</p> +<p>“I am, am I?”</p> +<p>“First help me enter these way-bills and check +up the express packages so I can deliver them +to this mob.”</p> +<p>“My business isn’t checking up express; but +I like you, young fellow, so, go ahead. Only you +talk too much.”</p> +<p>“Just a moment!”</p> +<p>At these words coming from the other end of +the office, the lineman and the operator looked +around. The military-looking man and his companion +had entered the room unobserved and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_17' name='page_17'></a>17</span> +stood at the counter listening to the colloquy between +the Eastern boy and the plainsman––for +neither of the two were more than boys. Dancing +saluted the new-comers. “It’s Colonel Stanley +and Bob Scott,” he exclaimed.</p> +<p>Bucks walked forward. Stanley handed him a +message. “You are the night operator? Here is +a despatch for General Park. Get it out for me +right away, will you?”</p> +<p>Dancing came forward to the railing. “How +are you, Bill?” said Stanley, greeting the lineman +as Bucks read the long message. “I am +going up into the mountains next week, and I +am just asking General Park for a cavalry detail.”</p> +<p>“Going to need me, Colonel?”</p> +<p>“Better hold yourself ready. Can you read +that, young man?” he asked, speaking to Bucks.</p> +<p>“Yes, sir.”</p> +<p>“Lose no time in getting it off.”</p> +<p>With the words he turned on his heel and leaving +the office went upstairs to the despatcher’s +rooms. During the interval that the message was +being sent, Dancing worked at the express matter. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_18' name='page_18'></a>18</span> +While the two were busy, Bob Scott, moving +so quietly that he disturbed no one, laid carefully +upon the smouldering paper in the stove such +chips as he could pick from the wood-box, nursing +and developing a little blaze until, without +noise or fuss, he soon had a good fire going. In +all of the mountain country there was but one +kind of men who built fires in that way and these +were Indians.</p> +<p>Such was Bob Scott, who, wet to the skin from +his ride down the hills with Stanley, now stood +slowly drying himself and watching Dancing and +the new operator.</p> +<p>Scott was a half-blood Chippewa Indian, silent +as a mountain night and as patient as time. He +served Colonel Stanley as guide and scout wherever +the railroad man rode upon his surveys or +reconnoissances. Dancing, emerging presently +from the batteries, greeted Scott again, this time +boisterously. The Indian only smiled, but his +face reflected the warmth of his friendship for +the big lineman. And at this juncture Dancing, +slapping him on the shoulder, turned to introduce +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_19' name='page_19'></a>19</span> +him to Bucks. The three stood and talked +a moment together, though, perhaps, without +realizing what they were almost at once to go +through together. The outgoing Eastern passenger +train now pulled up to the platform and +Bucks was kept busy for some time selling tickets.</p> +<p>His buyers were all sorts and conditions of men. +And one forlorn-looking woman, with a babe in +her arms and a little girl clinging to her skirt, +asked the price of a ticket to Omaha. When told, +she turned away to count her money. Among +the men were traders and frontiersmen going +to Missouri River markets with buffalo robes; +trappers from the Big Horn country with furs; +Mormon elders on their way from Utah to +their Eastern settlements; soldiers on furlough +and men from the railroad-construction camps +on the front; adventurers, disgusted with the +hardships of frontier life, and gamblers and desperadoes, +restless and always moving.</p> +<p>Bucks needed his wits to watch the money that +was pushed under his little wicket and to make +change without mistake. There was elbowing and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_20' name='page_20'></a>20</span> +contention and bad language, but the troublesome +crowd was finally disposed of, and when the last +of the line had left the ticket window the waiting-room +was pretty well cleared. There remained +only a black-bearded man half-asleep in a chair +by the stove, and in one corner on a bench the +woman, who was trying to quiet the child she +held in her lap.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_21' name='page_21'></a>21</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_II' id='CHAPTER_II'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER II</h2> +</div> +<p>As Bucks looked through his embrasure to see +if all had been served, his eye fell on the group +in the corner and he heard the woman suppressing +the sobbing of her little girl. He walked out into +the waiting-room to ask what the trouble was. He +learned afterward that she was the wife of a gambler, +but she told him only that she had followed +her husband to Medicine Bend and was now trying +to get back with her two children to her parents +in Iowa. When she had ascertained the price of +the railroad ticket she found that she lacked five +dollars of the sum needed to make up the fare. +Bucks had just a little money of his own, but he +had counted on using that for his meals. While +he was debating what to do, the elder child tugging +still at the mother’s dress asked for something +to eat, and while the mother tried to quiet +it Bucks felt he could manage somehow without +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_22' name='page_22'></a>22</span> +the price of the ticket better than this woman +could.</p> +<p>“Give me what money you have,” he said. “I +will get you a ticket.”</p> +<p>“But isn’t the train gone?”</p> +<p>“No.”</p> +<p>The black-bearded man dozing near the stove +had his ears open although his eyes were closed. +He had heard fragments of the talk and saw the +boy dig into his own pocket, as he would have +expressed it, to start the woman home. After +Bucks had given her the ticket and she was trying +to thank him and to quiet again the tired +child, the drowsy man rose, picked up the woman’s +hand-bag and told her gruffly he would put +her on the train. As he started with her out +into the drizzling rain, he carried her little girl, +and, stopping down the platform at a sheltered +lunch-counter, he bought a bag of doughnuts big +enough to sink a ship. He offered no money to +the man at the counter, but his credit seemed +unquestioned. In the train the seats appeared all +to be taken, but the drowsy man again showed +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_23' name='page_23'></a>23</span> +his authority by rolling a tipsy fellow out of a +seat and piling him up in a corner near the stove––which +fortunately had no fire in it.</p> +<p>During all this time he had not said a word. +But at the last, having placed the woman and the +children in two seats and made them comfortable, +he asked the mother one question––her husband’s +name. She told him, and, without any comment +or good-bys, he left the car and started through +the rain uptown.</p> +<p>After the train pulled out, the wind shifted +and the rain changed into a snow which, driven +from the mountains, thickened on the wet window +in front of the operator’s table. A message came +for the night yardmaster, and the operator, seeing +the head-light of the switch-engine which was +working close by, put on his cap and stepped out +to deliver the message. As he opened the waiting-room +door, a man confronted him––the bearded +man who had taken the woman and children to +the train. Bucks saw under the visor of a cloth +cap, a straight white nose, a dark eye piercingly +keen, and a rather long, glossy, black beard. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_24' name='page_24'></a>24</span> +It was the passenger conductor, David Hawk. +Without speaking, Hawk held out his hand with +a five-dollar bank note in it.</p> +<p>“What is this?” asked Bucks.</p> +<p>“The money you gave the woman.”</p> +<p>Bucks, taking the bill, regarded his visitor with +surprise. “Where did you get this?”</p> +<p>“What’s that to you?”</p> +<p>“But–––”</p> +<p>“Don’t ask questions,” returned Hawk brusquely. +“You’ve got your money, haven’t you?”</p> +<p>“Yes, but–––”</p> +<p>“That’s enough.” And with Bucks staring at +him, Hawk, without a word or a smile, walked +out of the station.</p> +<p>But Bill Dancing had seen the incident and was +ready to answer Bucks’s question as he turned +with the money in his hand. “That is Dave +Hawk,” explained Dancing. “Dave hates a sneak. +The way he got the money from the woman’s +husband was probably by telling him if he didn’t +pay for his wife’s ticket and add enough to +feed her and her babies to the river he would +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_25' name='page_25'></a>25</span> +blow his head off. Dave doesn’t explain things +especially.”</p> +<p>Bucks put the money in his pocket and started +on with his message. The yards covered the +wide flat along the river. Medicine Bend was +then the western operating point for the railroad +and the distributing point for all material used +in the advancing construction through the mountains.</p> +<p>Not until he left the shelter of the station +building did he realize the force of the storm that +was now sweeping across the flat. The wind had +swung into the northwest and blew almost a gale +and the snow stung his face as he started across +the dark yard. There were practically no lights +at all beyond the platform except those in the +roundhouse, too far away to be seen, but the +operator saw the moving head-light of the switch-engine +and hastened across the slippery tracks +toward it. The crew were making up a material +train to send west and the engine was snorting +and puffing among long strings of flat cars loaded +with rails, ties, stringers, and bridge timbers.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_26' name='page_26'></a>26</span></div> +<p>As Bucks neared the working engine it receded +from him, and following it up he soon found his +feet slipping in the wet mud and the wind at +times taking his breath. Conscious of the folly +of running farther, he halted for a moment and +turning his back to the storm resolved to wait +till the engine returned. He chose a spot under +the lee of a box-car, and was soon rewarded by +hearing a new movement from the working engine. +By the increasing noise of the open cylinder +cocks he concluded it was backing toward +him. He stepped across the nearest track to +reach a switch-stand, a car-length away, whence +he thought he could signal the engine with his +lantern. He had nearly reached the switch when +his foot slipped from a rail into a frog that held +him fast. Holding his lantern down, he saw +how he was caught and tried to free his heel. +It seemed as if it might easily be done, but +the more he worked the faster caught he found +himself. For a moment he still made sure he +could loosen his foot. Even when he realized +that this was not easy, he felt no alarm until +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_27' name='page_27'></a>27</span> +he heard the switch-engine whistle. Through the +driving snow he could see that it was coming +toward him, pushing ahead of it a lead of flat +cars.</p> +<p>Bucks was no stranger to railroad yards even +then, and the realization of his peril flashed +across his mind. He renewed his efforts to loosen +his imprisoned heel. They were useless. He stood +caught in the iron vice. A sweat of fear moistened +his forehead. He hoped for an instant that +the moving cars were not coming on his track; +but almost at once he saw that they were being +pushed toward the very switch he was trying to +reach. Even where he stood, struggling, he was +not six feet away from the switch-stand and +safety. It seemed as if he could almost reach it, +as he writhed and twisted in his agony of apprehension.</p> +<p>He swung his lantern frantically, hoping to +catch the eye of one of the switching crew. But +the only answer was the heavy pounding of the +loaded cars over the rail joints as they were pushed +down upon the helpless operator. Worst of all, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_28' name='page_28'></a>28</span> +while he was swinging his lantern high in the +air, the wind sucked the flame up into the globe +and it went out and left him helpless in the dark. +Like the hare caught in the steel teeth of a trap, +the boy stood in the storm facing impending +death.</p> +<p>The bitterest feelings overwhelmed him. After +coming hundreds of miles and plunging into his +work with the most complacent self-confidence, +he stood before the close of the first day about +to be snuffed out of existence as if he were no +more than the flame of his useless lantern. A +cruel sense of pain oppressed his thoughts. Each +second of recollection seemed to cover the ground +of years. The dull, heavy jolting of the slow-coming +cars shook the ground. He twisted and +writhed this way and that and cried out, knowing +there were none to hear him: the wind swept +away his appeal upon its heedless wings; the nearest +car was almost upon him. Then a strange +feeling of calm came over him. He felt that +death was knocking at his heart. Hope had gone, +and his lips were only moving in prayer, when a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_29' name='page_29'></a>29</span> +light flashed out of the darkness at his very side +and he felt himself seized as if by a giant and +wrenched away from where he stood and through +the air.</p> +<p>He heard a quick exclamation, saw a lighted +lantern fall to the ground, felt a stinging pain in +his right foot, and knew no more.</p> +<p>When he recovered consciousness, three lanterns +shone in his eyes. He was lying in the mud near +the switch with the engine crew standing over +him. One of the men knelt at his side and he saw +the thin, strong features of a face he had seen +among the railroad men, but one that he knew +then he was never to forget––the face of the yardmaster, +Callahan. Callahan knelt in the storm +with a good-natured expression. The men about +the yardmaster were less kindly.</p> +<p>“Who are you, tar heels?” demanded the engineman +angrily.</p> +<p>Resentment, which would have been quick in +the operator a little earlier, had died in the few +moments in which he had faced death. He answered +only in the quietest way:</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_30' name='page_30'></a>30</span></div> +<p>“I am the night operator.”</p> +<p>“The deuce you are!” exclaimed the man bending +over him.</p> +<p>“Who are you?” demanded the operator, in +turn.</p> +<p>“I am Callahan, the night yardmaster.”</p> +<p>“I have an order for you to send a car of spikes +on No. 7, Callahan. I was trying to find you +when I got caught in the frog.” The pain in his +foot overcame Bucks as he spoke. Another dread +was in his mind and he framed a question to +which he dreaded to hear the answer. “Is my +foot gone?” he faltered.</p> +<p>The yardmaster hesitated a moment and turned +to an older man at his side wearing a heavy cap. +“How about it, doctor?” he asked.</p> +<p>Doctor Arnold, the railway surgeon, a kindly +but stern man, answered briefly, “We won’t take +it off this time. But if he is that careless again +we will take his head off.”</p> +<p>“How old are you, boy?” demanded Callahan.</p> +<p>“Seventeen.”</p> +<p>“Well, your foot isn’t hurt,” he continued +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_31' name='page_31'></a>31</span> +gruffly. “But it’s only God’s mercy that I +got here in time to pull you out of the frog.”</p> +<p>The operator was already up. “I hope I shan’t +forget it,” he said, putting out his hand. “Will +you remember the spikes?”</p> +<p>“I will,” responded Callahan grimly. “And I +guess–––”</p> +<p>“Say it,” said the operator gamely, as the +yardmaster hesitated.</p> +<p>“I guess you will.”</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_32' name='page_32'></a>32</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_III' id='CHAPTER_III'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> +</div> +<p>Bucks, after his eventful first night on duty, +slept so heavily that on the following afternoon he +had only time to eat his supper, walk haltingly up +the main street of Medicine Bend and back to +the square, when it was time to relieve the day +man at the station.</p> +<p>But the few minutes in the narrow business +street filled him with interest and at times with +astonishment. Medicine Bend, still very young, +was a mushroom railroad town of frame store +buildings hastily thrown together, and houses, +shanties, and tents. It was already the largest +and most important town between the mountains +and the Missouri River. The Union Pacific Railroad, +now a double-tracked, transcontinental highway, +laid with ninety and one hundred pound steel +rails, and ballasted with disintegrated granite, +a model of railroad construction, equipment, and +maintenance, was, after the close of the Civil War, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_33' name='page_33'></a>33</span> +being pushed with light iron rails and heavy +gradients across what was then known to geographers +as the Great American Desert, and the project +of a transcontinental railroad was meant at +that time to unite the chief port of the Pacific +coast, San Francisco, with the leading cities of the +Atlantic seaboard.</p> +<p>A railroad in building across a country considers +first the two uttermost cities (its principal +terminals), or those two portions of the country +which it seeks to connect for the interchange of +traffic.</p> +<p>The Union Pacific and its companion road, the +Central Pacific, afforded, too, the first and last instance +of the United States Government’s becoming +responsible for the building of a railroad. Although +the project of aiding a railroad to be built +somewhere between and connecting the Atlantic +and Pacific Ocean ports had been discussed by +Congress for thirty years before the fall of Fort +Sumter, the extraordinary feeling caused by the +Civil War alone made possible so unusual an undertaking. +President Lincoln himself had given +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_34' name='page_34'></a>34</span> +the subject careful thought, and when, after much +controversy and discouraging political intrigue, +the Union and Central Pacific Railroad bills were +ready to pass Congress, Abraham Lincoln was appealed +to to decide a long-standing controversy +concerning the gauge, or width of track, for the +new lines.</p> +<p>After painstaking consideration, he decided on +a gauge of five feet, but the promoters of the line +then persuaded Congress to reduce the figures to +four feet eight and one-half inches, and that +gauge is now the standard gauge for all American +railroads. It would have been better if the +railroad builders had followed Lincoln’s suggestion, +since the traffic of American railroads has +outgrown the possibilities of their gauges. And +within a few years one of the greatest of present-day +railroad builders has declared with emphasis +that a six-foot gauge must one day come to provide +our railroads with the necessary facilities for +handling the enormous and constantly expanding +volume of American railroad traffic.</p> +<p>The young operator, who, in spite of his efforts +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_35' name='page_35'></a>35</span> +to conceal his hurt, now limped a little as he +walked up the street of the new railroad town +might well look with curiosity and amazement on +what he saw. The street he walked in was no +more than a long assemblage of saloons, restaurants, +boarding-houses, gambling-houses, dance-halls +and shops. Nearer the station and fronting +on the open square, there were barber-shops +and so-called hotels. Up and down the side +streets he saw livery-stables and roughly built +warehouses for contractors’ supplies, army supplies, +and stage-line depots.</p> +<p>The main street was alive with strange-looking +frontiersmen, trappers, hunters, scouts, soldiers, +settlers, railroad laborers, outlaws, prospectors, +and miners. Every face that Bucks looked into +presented a study. They were sometimes faces +bronzed with the clear, dry sunshine of the plains +and mountains, rugged with adventure and keen +with dangers met and passed, but others were furrowed +with dissipation and seamed with vice, or +merely vacant with the curiosity of the wanderer.</p> +<p>Nearly every man carried a fire-arm of some +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_36' name='page_36'></a>36</span> +sort. Indians were a continual menace upon the +frontier to the north and west and on the front +where the road was being built; and in the train-service +and construction work railroad men usually +went armed. Moreover, when the frontiersmen +were not arming against the Indians they +were arming against one another; it being difficult +at times to tell whether the white men or +the savages were the more dangerous to the +peaceful pursuit of happiness. As Bucks, returning +down Front Street, neared the square that +opened before the station a group of army +officers were walking across it. They were the +first regular officers he had ever seen and he +regarded them with interest. At the station the +chief despatcher, Baxter, met him at the door. +“Bucks, I’ve been waiting for you. Can you +ride a horse?”</p> +<p>Bucks smiled.</p> +<p>“Colonel Stanley,” continued Baxter, “is going +to the front to-night. He wants to take an operator +with him. Giddings isn’t well enough to go, +but he can take your key to-night; you can go +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_37' name='page_37'></a>37</span> +with the colonel instead. He will take Dancing +and a detail of cavalrymen with Leon Sublette +and Bob Scott for guides.”</p> +<p>The suddenness of the call was not unpleasant. +It was such continual excitement and new adventure +that Bucks liked and he said he was ready. +The despatcher told him to hunt up Bill Dancing, +who would give him the details.</p> +<p>Within an hour the cavalry horses were being +loaded into a box-car up at the stock chute, and +while Bucks and big Bill Dancing watched them +an engine and the chief engineer’s car were backed +down the yard to make up the special train. At +the same moment, the two saw Stanley walking +across the yard with two engineers who were +going to the front with him.</p> +<p>Bucks looked with admiration at the soldier-constructionist. +He was slight in figure, wore the +precise-looking military cap, and was dressed with +extreme care. He stepped with a light briskness +that implied an abundance of native energy, and +his manner as he greeted the two railroad men +was intimate and gracious, putting them at once +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_38' name='page_38'></a>38</span> +at their ease. His smooth-shaven face, bronzed +with service, and his brown eyes, were alive +every moment. Whatever the enterprise, Stanley +could call forth the loyalty and the best in those +under him, and in Dancing and Scott he had two +men that worked well together and had in their +chief the unquestioning faith that insures devotion.</p> +<p>To these two more experienced men was now +to be added a third, Bucks. The train started +almost at once, and Oliver, the colonel’s cook, +prepared supper in his box-like kitchen and +chopped his potatoes, for frying, in muffled ragtime, +as the puffing engine slowly drew the train +up the long gorge into the mountains. Bucks sat +down at table with the engineers and Stanley +asked him many questions. He wanted to know +where Bucks had gone to school, why he had +quitted at fifteen, and what had brought him +away out on the Desert to begin railroading.</p> +<p>When it appeared that Stanley as well as he +himself was from Pittsburgh, and even that Bucks +had been named after the distinguished officer––John +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_39' name='page_39'></a>39</span> +Stanley Bucks––Bucks was happier than at +any time since he had left home.</p> +<p>The talk went on till very late. Stanley and +General Park, who also had been a regular-army +man, told stories of the Civil War, just then ended, +and the giant lineman, Dancing, entertained the +company with stories of adventure incurred in +the mountains and on the plains in building the +first transcontinental telegraph line.</p> +<p>Bucks sat for hours in silence while the three +men talked; but he had good ears and was a close +listener. All the adventure books of his boyhood +reading had been bound up with this very country +and with these rugged mountains through +which they were riding. The tales of the +people all about him during his youth had been +of the far and mysterious West––of the overland +trail and the gold seekers, of Pike’s Peak and +California, of buffaloes and trappers and Indians, +and of the Mormons and the Great Salt Lake. +These had been his day-dreams, and at last he +was breathing the very air of them and listening +to men who had actually lived them.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_40' name='page_40'></a>40</span></div> +<p>The sleeping-bunks in the car could hardly +be called berths, but they served to lessen the +fatigues of the night, and when Bucks woke in +the morning he saw from his window a vast +stretch of rough, desert country bordered by distant +mountain peaks, some black, some brown, +some snow-capped in the morning sun. The train +stopped in a construction camp, near the end +of the rails, and after a hasty breakfast Bucks +walked with the engineers up the track to the +head-quarters of the rail-laying gang.</p> +<p>The air was frosty. During the night snow had +fallen, and as Bucks followed his party the sun +burst over the plain that they had crossed in the +night and lighted the busy camp with a flood of +gold. It was a camp such as few American boys +had ever seen and of a type that no boy will ever +see again. Everywhere along the cuts and hillsides +and in sheltered spots the men had made +temporary quarters by burrowing into the clay or +soft rock and making dugouts and canvas-roofed +huts, with earthen sides for walls.</p> +<p>But not all were so enterprising as this. Some +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_41' name='page_41'></a>41</span> +laborers were camping in old hogsheads. Even +packing-boxes served others for shelter, but were +all so disposed within the cuts and among the +ridges of the railroad grade as to be safe from Indian +forays. And along the completed railroad, all +the way from the Missouri River, material and +supply trains were moving to supply this noisy, +helter-skelter camp, which seemed to Bucks all +confusion, yet was in reality all energy.</p> +<p>General Jack Casement, in charge, came forward +to greet Stanley.</p> +<p>“And they tell me, general,” said Stanley, “you +are laying a mile a day.”</p> +<p>“If you would give us the ties, colonel,” returned +Casement, short-bearded and energetic, +“we should be laying two miles a day.”</p> +<p>“I have turned the Missouri River country upside +down for timber,” returned Stanley. “The +trouble is to get the material forward over a +single track so many hundred miles. However, +we shall be getting ties down the Spider Water +within two weeks. I am on my way up there +now to see what the contractors are doing.”</p> +<p>It was the first intimation Bucks had had as to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_42' name='page_42'></a>42</span> +the object of the trip. Casement had a number +of subjects to lay before his superior while within +consulting distance, and Bob Scott, an hour later, +announced that Stanley would not move on for +two days. This left his attendants free, and when +Scott, low-voiced and good-natured, asked Bucks +if he wanted to go out on the Sweet Grass Plains +with him after an antelope, Bucks accepted +eagerly. The two saddled horses and Bucks, +with a rifle borrowed from Sublette, followed +Scott across a low-lying range of hills broken by +huge stone crags and studded with wind-blown +and stunted cedars, out upon the far-reaching +expanse of an open plain. The scene was inspiring, +but impressions crowded so fast one +upon another that the boy from the Alleghanies +could realize only that he was filled with sensations +of delight as his wiry buckskin clattered +furiously along the faint trail that carried him +and his guide to the north and west. The sun +was high when Scott reined up and, dismounting, +tethered his horse in a glade hidden by a grove of +aspens and bade Bucks do the same.</p> +<p>“Getting hungry?” asked Scott, smiling at his +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_43' name='page_43'></a>43</span> +companion. An answer was written pretty plainly +on Bucks’s face.</p> +<p>“Didn’t bring anything to eat, did you?” suggested +Scott.</p> +<p>Bucks looked blank. “I never thought of it,” +he exclaimed. “Did you bring anything?”</p> +<p>“Nothing but this,” answered Scott, holding up +a small buckskin sack fitted with drawing strings.</p> +<p>“What is that, Bob?”</p> +<p>“It is what I carry wherever I ride. I carry +nothing else. And it is only a little bag of salt.”</p> +<p>“A bag of salt!” cried Bucks. “Do you eat +salt?”</p> +<p>“Wait and see,” answered the scout. “Pull +your belt up a notch. We’ve got a little walking +to do.”</p> +<p>Scott, though of Chippewa blood, had been captured +when a boy by the Sioux and, adopted into +the tribe, had lived with them for years. He knew +the mountains better than any man that served +Stanley, and the latter trusted him implicitly––nor +was the confidence ever betrayed.</p> +<p>Walking rapidly over a low-lying divide beyond +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_44' name='page_44'></a>44</span> +which lay a broad valley marking the course +of a shallow creek, Scott paused behind a clump +of cedars to scan the country. He expected to +find antelope along the creek, but could see none +in any direction. Half a mile more of scouting +explained the absence of game, and Scott pointed +out to Bucks the trail of an Indian hunting party +that had passed up the valley in the morning. +They were Cheyennes, Scott told his companion, +three warriors and two squaws––reading the information +from signs that were as plain to him +as print––though Bucks understood nothing of it. +In the circumstances there was nothing for it but +a fresh venture, and, remounting, the Indian led +the boy ten miles farther north to where the +plains stretched in a succession of magnificent +plateaus, toward the Sleepy Cat Mountains.</p> +<p>“We are in real Sioux country now,” observed +Scott, as he again dismounted. “And we are as +likely now to uncover a war party as a herd of +antelope.”</p> +<p>“What should you do, Bob, if we met Sioux?”</p> +<p>“Run,” smiled Bob, with Indian terseness. Yet +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_45' name='page_45'></a>45</span> +somehow the boy felt that Bob, in spite of what he +said, would not run, and he realized for a moment +the apprehension of one but newly arrived on the +frontier, and still subject to tremors for his scalp. +The scout took his stand near a thicket of quaking +asp and almost at once sighted a band of antelope. +Taking Bucks, he worked around the wind +toward the band, and directed him how and when +to shoot if he got a chance. Bucks, highly wrought +up after the long crawl to get within range, did +get a chance, and with his heart beating like a +trip-hammer, covered a buck and fired. The scout +shot immediately afterward, and the herd broke +swiftly for the timber along the creek. But Bucks, +as well as his experienced companion, had brought +down an antelope.</p> +<p>Scott, as he joined his companion, looked at him +with curiosity. “Where did you learn to shoot?”</p> +<p>“I couldn’t do it again, Bob,” exclaimed Bucks +frankly. “The only shooting I’ve ever done is +rabbit-shooting, or squirrel-shooting. I was lucky +for once, that’s all.”</p> +<p>“I hope your luck stays with us. If it does +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_46' name='page_46'></a>46</span> +we may get back with all of our hair,” returned +Scott. “The thing to do now is to lose +no time in leaving here. We are farther from +camp than we ought to be. When I get to running +antelope I am apt to go as far as they do.”</p> +<p>The two hunters got the carcasses across their +horses, and acting on Scott’s admonition started +to cover a good bit of the distance toward camp +before stopping.</p> +<p>The sun was already low in the west and Bucks +realized that they had been out all day. The +hunters rode due southeast, to put every mile +possible between them and the Indian country +before dark. They were riding along in this manner +at dusk, when Scott, leading, pointed to a +canyon that offered a hiding-place for the night, +and directed his horse into it. Scarcely had the +two passed within the canyon walls when Scott +halted and, with a quick, low command to the +boy, sprang from his horse. Bucks lost no time +in following suit: they had ridden almost into an +Indian camp, and when Bucks’s feet touched the +ground Scott was covering with his rifle a Sioux +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_47' name='page_47'></a>47</span> +brave who with two squaws rose out of the darkness +before him. Quick words passed between +Scott and the Indian in the Sioux tongue. Bucks’s +hair rose on end until the confab quieted, and +the scout’s rifle came down. In an instant it was +all over, but in that instant the Easterner had +lived years.</p> +<p>“It is all right,” said Bob, turning to reassure +his charge. “He is a young chief––Iron Hand. +I know his father. These three are alone. Eight +of them went out after buffalo five days ago. The +second day they fell in with Turkey Leg and a +Cheyenne war party. Two of Iron Hand’s warriors +were killed. The rest got separated and +these three lost their horses. Iron Hand,” Scott +nodded toward the silent Indian, “was hit in the +arm, and with his squaw and her sister has been +trying to get north, hiding by day and travelling +by night. He can’t shoot his rifle; he thinks his +arm is broken; and the squaws haven’t been able +to kill anything. They are hungry, I guess.”</p> +<p>“And did they tell you all this in those few +words?” demanded Bucks incredulously.</p> +<p>“It doesn’t take many words to tell stories in +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_48' name='page_48'></a>48</span> +this country. If a man talked much he would +be dead and buried before he got through.”</p> +<p>“Bob, if they are hungry, give them some antelope.”</p> +<p>Scott, who had meant to suggest the same thing, +was pleased that the offer should come from his +companion, and so told the wounded Indian. The +latter drew himself up with dignity and spoke a +few rapid words. “He says he is glad,” translated +Bob, “that your heart is big. And that it will be +safer to go farther into the canyon. The Cheyennes +are hunting for them all around here, and if +you are not afraid to camp with the Sioux, we +will stay with them here to-night. While the +Cheyennes are hunting them, they might find us. +It will be about the safest thing we can do.”</p> +<p>“You know best,” said his companion. “Can +you trust this man?”</p> +<p>“Trust him?” echoed Bob mildly. “I wish I +could trust the word of a white man half as far +as I can that of a Sioux. He understands everything +you say.”</p> +<p>“Can he talk English?” asked Bucks in surprise.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_49' name='page_49'></a>49</span></div> +<p>“Better than I can.”</p> +<p>It was with queer sensations that Bucks found +himself in a hostile country and with the deadliest +enemies of the white man going into camp for +the night. Within a minute or two after Scott +and the wounded brave had picked a defended +camp near a rivulet of water, the two squaws had +a fire going, and they set to work at once dressing +an antelope.</p> +<p>Savory morsels were cut from choice spots on +the carcasses and these were broiled by impaling +them on long sticks over the fire. Bucks, learning +very fast with his eyes, saw how surprisingly +small an affair an Indian camp-fire is, and how +much could be done with a few buffalo chips, if +one understood how to keep them renewed. Both +safety and convenience were served by the tiny +blaze, and meat never tasted as good to Bucks as +it did on that clear, frosty night, broiled by the +two women and garnished from Bob Scott’s provident +salt bag.</p> +<p>After satisfying his ravenous hunger, which the +Indians considered not even a fair appetite, Bucks +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_50' name='page_50'></a>50</span> +asked to look at the warrior’s injured arm, explaining +that his father had been an army surgeon +in the great white man’s war, as Bob Scott +designated the Civil War in translating for the +Sioux. The arm, which was badly swollen, he +found had indeed been broken by a bullet near +the wrist, but only one bone was fractured, and, +finding no trace of the bullet, the confident young +surgeon offered to set the fracture.</p> +<p>Iron Hand, nothing loath, accepted the offer, +and after cleansing the wound as well as it could +be cleansed in running water hard by, Bucks took +the rough splints handily supplied by Scott’s hunting-knife, +and pulling the bone into place with +the scout’s aid––though the brave winced a little +at the crude surgery––he soon had the forearm +set and was rewarded with a single guttural, +“Wa-sha-ta-la!” from the stalwart warrior, which, +Bob explained, meant, “Heap good.”</p> +<p>Sitting afterward by the camp-fire, Scott and +Iron Hand, since the young chief would not talk +English, conversed in the Sioux tongue, the +scout translating freely for his younger companion, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_51' name='page_51'></a>51</span> +while the squaws dressed the second +antelope and cut it up for convenience in carrying +on the horses to Casement’s camp. Scott +reserved only the hind-quarters of each animal +for himself and Bucks, giving the rest to their +hosts.</p> +<p>When it was late, Scott showed the boy how to +pillow his head on his saddle and then stretched +himself out to sleep. Bucks lay a long time looking +up at the stars. When he fell asleep, he woke +again very soon. His companion was sleeping +peacefully beside him, and he saw Iron Hand +sitting by the fire. Bucks easily imagined his +arm would keep him awake. The squaws were +still broiling pieces of antelope over the little +blaze, which was neither bigger nor smaller than +before, and together with the chief they were +still eating. Bucks slumbered and woke again +and again during the night, but always to see +the same thing––the three Indians sitting about +the fire, broiling and eating the welcome and +wholly unexpected venison.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_52' name='page_52'></a>52</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_IV' id='CHAPTER_IV'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> +</div> +<p>Before daybreak the scout roused his companion, +and, after breakfast with the three Sioux, +who, according to Bob, were still eating supper, +the two hunters left their chance companions in +the canyon, rode rapidly south, and, with their +antelope haunches as trophies, reached Casement’s +camp about ten o’clock.</p> +<p>Stanley, who was conferring with Casement, +came out of the tent greatly amazed at his scout’s +venturing so far on a hunt as to expose himself +and his companion to danger.</p> +<p>“We were safe every minute, colonel,” declared +Scott.</p> +<p>“Safe?” echoed Stanley incredulously. “No +man is safe, Bob, a mile from the track-layers. +The Sioux killed and scalped one of our engineers +not ten miles from here, when we were running +this very line last winter.”</p> +<p>“This lad,” nodded Scott, “is as good a shot +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_53' name='page_53'></a>53</span> +as I am. He brought down the first antelope. +We get along with the Sioux all right, too, don’t +we, Bucks?” he demanded, appealing to his fellow-hunter. +“We ate supper with them last night,” +he added to mystify his listeners, “and camped +with Iron Hand.”</p> +<p>Even General Casement stared at this and +waited to hear Scott tell Stanley the story of +their night’s adventure. “However, colonel,” +concluded Scott, “there is a war party of Cheyennes +near here. It is a good time to be careful.”</p> +<p>“All right, Bob,” retorted Stanley, looking at +his scout keenly, though no one could be angry +at Scott long. “You set the example.”</p> +<p>The words were hardly out of his mouth +when an operator came running down the track +from the telegraph tent with a message for +General Casement. It contained word from the +operator at Peace River that section men reported +a war party of Indians, crossing the railroad near +Feather Creek, had attacked an emigrant party +camped there.</p> +<p>In an instant the whole construction camp had +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_54' name='page_54'></a>54</span> +the news and the work was thrown into confusion. +Feather Creek was twenty miles away. Orders +flew fast. A special train was made up, and +Stanley taking command, with Casement to aid, +made ready instantly to leave for the scene of +the disaster.</p> +<p>The men running from the grade fell into line +like veteran soldiers. Indeed, most of them had +seen service in the war just closed and the smell +of powder was no novelty. Bob Scott turned the +venison over to Oliver and loaded his horse in +the car with those of the cavalrymen. Under +Stanley’s orders he himself rode as pilot in the +cab with the engine crew. Bucks also reported to +Stanley, and within twenty minutes the relief train +carrying two hundred men was plunging down +the long hill toward Feather Creek. Heads were +craned out of the car windows, and in rounding +every curve Bucks, with the scout Leon Sublette, +sitting greatly wrought up behind Stanley and +Casement, expected momentarily to see Cheyenne +war bonnets spring up out of the stunted cedars +that lined the hills along the right of way.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_55' name='page_55'></a>55</span></div> +<p>But not a sign could be seen of any living +thing. The train reached Feather Creek, and +slowly crossed the bridge before Scott signalled +the engineman to stop. His eye had detected the +scene of the fight, and the ground beyond––a low +cut––was favorable for getting the men safely out +of the cars.</p> +<p>As the engine slowed, a little scene of desolation +beside the right of way met Bucks’s eye, +and he caught sight of the ghastly battle-field. +A frightened section crew emerged from the wild-plum +thickets along the creek bottom, as the +cavalrymen, followed by Casement’s armed men, +poured out of the three cars. Stanley with his +scouts led the way to the emigrant camp, where +the fight had taken place. The wagons had been +burned, the horses run off, and the three unfortunate +men butchered.</p> +<p>Bucks experienced a shock when Scott came +upon the three dead men whose mutilated bodies +had been dragged from the scene by the section +men and who lay with covered faces side by side +under a little plum-tree, fragrant with blossoms +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_56' name='page_56'></a>56</span> +and alive with the hum of bees. The sunshine +and the beauty of the spot contrasted strangely +with the revolting spectacle upon the grass.</p> +<p>Stanley gave the orders by which the bodies +were conveyed to the train and with the scouts +and cavalrymen reconnoitering the surrounding +country, Casement’s men lay on their arms in +the shade of the cut. Dancing rigged a pony instrument +to the telegraph wires, which had not +been disturbed, and Bucks transmitted messages +to Fort Kearney advising the commanding officer +of the murders and adding afterward the report +of Scott and Sublette as to the direction the +marauders had taken in flight.</p> +<p>“Who were the beasts, Bob, that could treat +men like that?” demanded Bucks in an angry +undertone, when he had clicked the messages over +the wires.</p> +<p>“Bad Indians,” answered Scott sententiously. +“You have that kind of white men, don’t you? +These fellows are probably Turkey Leg’s thieving +Cheyennes. We shall hear more of them.”</p> +<p>In the meantime the scouts and the cavalry +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_57' name='page_57'></a>57</span> +detail rode out again trying to unmask the Cheyennes, +but without success. It was a week before +they were even heard of, and after an all-day +attempt to do something, the train backed up to +camp and work was resumed as if nothing had +happened.</p> +<p>After waiting a few days, Stanley, always +restive under idleness, determined to push on +across the Sweet Grass country with horses, to +learn how the timber cutters on the river were +faring with their slender military guard. The +party, consisting of the detail of ten men and the +two scouts and Bucks, started one morning at +sunrise and made their way without molestation +into the little-known mountain range called then, +as far south as Colorado, the Black Hills.</p> +<p>Stanley explained to Bucks during the morning +how the chief engineering difficulty of the +whole transcontinental line confronted the engineers +right where they were now riding. Here +the mountains were thrown abruptly above the +plain to a great height and the locating engineers +were still at their wits’ ends to know how to climb +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_58' name='page_58'></a>58</span> +the tremendous ascent with practicable grades. +Stanley became so interested in studying the +country during the day, as the difficulties of the +problem presented themselves afresh to him, that +the party made slow progress. Camp was pitched +early in the afternoon under a ridge that offered +some natural features for defence. Here the cavalrymen +were left, and Stanley, taking Scott, started +out after some venison for supper. Bucks stood by, +looking eager as the two made ready for the hunt.</p> +<p>“Come along if you like,” said Stanley at length. +“You won’t be happy, Bucks, till you get lost +somewhere in this country.”</p> +<p>Sublette lent Bucks a rifle, and the three men +set out together, riding rapidly into the rough +hills to the northwest. Scott covered the ground +fast, but he searched in vain for sign of antelope. +“Indians have been all over this divide,” he announced +after much hard riding and a failure to +find any game. “It doesn’t look like venison for +supper to-night, colonel. Stop!” he added suddenly.</p> +<p>His companions, surprised by the tone of the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_59' name='page_59'></a>59</span> +last word, halted. Leaning over his pony’s neck +the scout was reading the rocky soil. He dismounted, +and walking on, leading his horse, he +inspected, very carefully, the ground toward a +dry creek bed opening to the east.</p> +<p>He was gone perhaps five minutes. “Colonel,” +he said, smiling reassuringly, when he returned, +“this is no place for us.”</p> +<p>“Indians,” said Stanley tersely.</p> +<p>“Cheyennes. Back to camp.”</p> +<p>“Down the creek?” suggested Stanley.</p> +<p>“The bottom is alive with Indians.”</p> +<p>“Up then, Bob?”</p> +<p>“Their camp is just above the bend. They +have spotted our trail, too, somehow. It may +be they are riding easy to close in on us,” smiled +Scott, while Bucks’s hair began to pull. “Our +way out is over this divide.” He indicated the +rough country east of the creek as he spoke.</p> +<p>“Divide!” exclaimed Stanley, looking up at the +practically sheer walls of rock that hedged the +course of the creek. “We can’t climb those hills, +if we never get out.”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_60' name='page_60'></a>60</span></div> +<p>“They’re not quite so bad as they look. Anyway, +colonel, we’ve got to.”</p> +<p>“They can pick us off our horses like monkeys +all the way up!”</p> +<p>“It’s a chance for our scalps, colonel. And it +will be as hard riding for them as it is for us.”</p> +<p>Stanley looked at Bucks with perplexity. “This +boy!”</p> +<p>“I can make it, Colonel Stanley,” exclaimed +Bucks, who felt he must say something.</p> +<p>Stanley still hesitated.</p> +<p>“We’ve no time to lose,” smiled Scott significantly.</p> +<p>“Then go ahead, Bob.”</p> +<p>They had half a mile of comparatively level +ground to cross before they began their climb, +and this strip they rode very hard. When they +reached the hills, Scott headed for a forbidding-looking +canyon and urged his horse without ceasing +through the rocky wash that strewed its floor. +Stanley, with an excellent mount, could have kept +well up, but he had put Bucks ahead of him in +the safe place of the little procession, and the boy +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_61' name='page_61'></a>61</span> +had difficulty in keeping within call of their active +leader. The minute they were out of sight +of the creek bottoms, Scott, choosing an apparently +unscalable ascent, urged his horse up one of +the canyon walls and the three were soon climbing +in order.</p> +<p>Happily, Bucks’s scrub horse gave a better account +of himself in climbing than he had done in +covering better ground. As their horses stumbled +hurriedly along the narrow ledges, they made noise +enough to wake the Indian dead and the loose +rock tumbled with sinister echoes down the canyon +wall. But progress was made, and the white +men felt only anxious lest pursuit should catch +them exposed on the uncovered height up which +they were fast clambering.</p> +<p>Secure in their escape, the three were nearing +the coveted top when a yell echoed through the +canyon from below. There was no mistaking +such a yell. Bucks, who had never heard anything +so ferocious, had no need to be told what it was––it, +so to say, introduced itself. And it was answered +by another yell, more formidable still, and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_62' name='page_62'></a>62</span> +again by a chorus of yells. Then it seemed to +Bucks’s unaccustomed ears as if a thousand +lusty throats were opened, and scared rigid he +looked behind him and saw the canyon below +alive with warriors.</p> +<p>They were riding helter-skelter to reach a range +where they could pick the fugitives off the crest +of the canyon side. Within a minute, almost, +their rifles were cracking. Scott had already +reached a point of concealment, and above the +heads of Bucks and Stanley fired his rifle in +answer. An Indian brave, riding furiously to a +rock that would have commanded Stanley and +Bucks as they urged their horses on, started in his +saddle as Scott fired and clutched his side instantly +with his rifle hand. His pony bolted as +the half-hitch of the rawhide thong on its lower +jaw was loosened and the rider, toppling, fell +heavily backward to the ground. The riderless +horse dashed on. The yelling Indians had had +their blunt warning and now scurried for cover. +The interval, short as it was, gave Bucks and +Stanley a chance.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_63' name='page_63'></a>63</span></div> +<p>Spurring relentlessly and crouching low on their +horses’ necks, they made a dash across the exposed +wall of rock near the top, that lay between them +and safety. A renewed yell echoed the rage and +chagrin of their pursuers, and a quick fire of scattering +shots followed their rapid flight, but the +Indians were confused, and Bucks, followed by his +soldier champion, flung himself from his saddle in +the clump of cedars behind which Scott, safely +hidden, was reloading his rifle. Choosing his opportunity +carefully, Stanley fired at once at an +exposed brave and succeeded in disabling him. +Bucks was forbidden to shoot and told to hold +his rifle, if it were needed, in readiness for his companions. +With the bullets cutting the twigs above +their heads, Stanley and Scott held a council of +war. Scott insisted on remaining behind to check +their pursuers where they were, while the two with +him rode on to safety.</p> +<p>“I can hold this bunch, colonel,” declared Scott +briefly. “There may not be a second chance as +good. Get on with the boy before another party +cuts you off. They can cross below us and save +two or three miles. Get away.”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_64' name='page_64'></a>64</span></div> +<p>“But how will you get away?” demanded Bucks.</p> +<p>Stanley laughed. “Never mind Bob. He +could crawl through a Cheyenne village with a +camp-fire on his back. It’s what to do with you, +Bucks, that bothers us.”</p> +<p>“Just you get on, colonel,” urged Bob. “I’ll +manage all right. Leave your horse,” he added, +turning to Bucks, “and you take mine.”</p> +<p>Bucks protested and refused to leave Scott with +an inferior mount, but his protests were of no +avail. He was curtly directed by Stanley to do as +he was told, and unwillingly he turned his horse +over to Scott and took the scout’s better steed. +Scott added hurried and explicit directions to +Stanley as to the course to follow back to camp, +and without loss of time Stanley and Bucks +crouching behind friendly rocks led their horses +up the inner canyon wall and, remounting at the +top, galloped hurriedly down a long ridge.</p> +<p>At intervals, shots from the Indians reached +their ears, and long-drawn yells, followed by the +sharper crack of Scott’s rifle, echoed from the +west as the scout held the wall against the enemy. +Bucks did not understand the real danger that +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_65' name='page_65'></a>65</span> +the scout feared for his party. It was that +other parties of the marauding Cheyennes might, +by following the creek, gain the divide in time to +cut off the railroad men from their line of escape. +The sounds of the stubborn contest behind them +died away as their straining horses gradually +put miles between them and the enemy. The +fugitives had reached the summit of the hills and +with a feeling of safety were easing their pace +when Bucks discerned, almost directly ahead of +them, dark objects moving slowly along the foot +of a wooded hill. The two men halted.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_66' name='page_66'></a>66</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_V' id='CHAPTER_V'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER V</h2> +</div> +<p>“Indians,” announced Stanley after a brief +moment of inspection.</p> +<p>“We are cut off,” he added, looking alertly over +the landscape about them. “This way, Bucks. +Ride as low as you can.” Without further +words he made an abrupt turn to the right, +striking south to get behind a friendly butte +that rose half a mile away.</p> +<p>“The question now is,” said Stanley, as they +held their horses up a little after getting somewhat +farther out of sight, “whether they have +likewise seen us.”</p> +<p>The harried pair were not long in doubt. They +had hardly changed their course when there was +immediate activity on the hill-side. The railroad +men spurred on; the distant horsemen, now on +their flank, dashed out upon the broad slope that +lay between the two parties and rode straight +and hard after the fleeing men. Stanley steadied +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_67' name='page_67'></a>67</span> +his inexperienced companion as the latter urged +his horse. “Not too hard just now. Your pony +will need all his wind. It’s a question of getting +away with our scalps and we must be careful. +Follow me.”</p> +<p>Bucks’s heart, as he looked back, crowded up into +his throat. A long skirmish line of warriors had +spread across the unbroken plateau to the east, +and Stanley, with nothing but instinct for a guide, +was making at top speed to the south to get away +from them.</p> +<p>As the two dashed on, they found to their consternation +that the country was growing smoother +and affording fewer hiding-places from the sharp +eyes behind them. Stanley knew they must either +ride through the hills ahead or perish. He sought +vainly for some break in the great black wall of +low-lying mountains toward which they were riding, +yet from what he knew of the country he +hardly dared hope for one.</p> +<p>He had reconnoitred these hills time after time +when running the railroad lines and knew pretty +well where he was. The pursuers, too, apparently +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_68' name='page_68'></a>68</span> +sure of their prey, rode hard, gradually lessening +the distance that separated them from the wary +soldier and his companion. The Indians had +ceased yelling now. It was beyond that. But +even in his excitement and fear the inexperienced +boy could not but admire the composure and +daring of his companion.</p> +<p>As Stanley glanced now and again back at his +enraged enemies he was every inch a soldier. And +he watched the distance between the Cheyennes +and himself as coolly as if calculating a mere problem +in geometry. While saving every possible +breath for his horses, he yet managed to keep the +Cheyennes at a distance. The Indians, bent on +overhauling the fleeing men before they could +reach even the scant protection of the scattered +timber they were now approaching, redoubled +their efforts to cut off the escape.</p> +<p>Forced by the desperation of his circumstances, +Stanley bent more and more to the west of south, +even though in doing so he seemed to be getting +into a more hopeless country. The veteran campaigner +eyed Bucks’s horse carefully as he turned +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_69' name='page_69'></a>69</span> +in his saddle, but Scott’s wiry beast appeared +quite fresh, and Stanley, turning his eyes, again +swept the horizon for a friendly break in the black +walls ahead. As he did so he was startled to +see, directly in front, Indians riding at full speed +out of the hills he was heading for. He reined his +galloping horse and turned straight into the west.</p> +<p>“Bucks,” he exclaimed, looking with concern +at the rider now by his side, “it’s a case of +obey orders now. If I stop at any time, you ride +straight on––do you understand? You’ve got a +revolver?” Bucks tapped the big Colt at his +side. “Don’t let them take you alive. And hold +your last shot till a buck rides in for your scalp.”</p> +<p>The straining horses seemed to understand the +sharp words that passed from saddle to saddle. +The Indians were already within gunshot, but +too sure of their game to lose any time in +shooting; nor was Stanley willing to waste a shot +upon them. As he dodged in between a broken +wall of granite and a scrubby clump of cedars, +closely followed by Bucks, their pursuers could +have picked either man from his saddle.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_70' name='page_70'></a>70</span></div> +<p>Stanley had no longer any fixed purpose of +escape. He meant merely to dismount when he +could ride no farther and sell his life as best he +could, while Bucks took such further chance of +escape as his companion’s last stand might afford. +The hard-driven fighter was even looking for a +well-placed rock to drop behind, when the horse +plunging under him lurched to one side of the +cedars and a gulf in the walls suddenly opened +before his surprised rider.</p> +<p>A rotten ledge of burned granite seemed to +head a mountain wash directly in their path. +There was a sheer drop of twenty feet to the crumbling +slope of disintegrated stone under the head of +the draw itself, but Stanley, without looking back, +never hesitated. Urging his panting horse, he +made a flying leap down into space, and horse and +rider landed knee-deep in the soft, gravelly granite +below them.</p> +<p>Bucks’s mustang shied on the brink. He spurred +him excitedly, and the trembling beast, nerving himself, +leaped far out over the ledge, following Stanley +so closely that he almost struck him with his +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_71' name='page_71'></a>71</span> +hoofs as he went flying over the engineer’s head. +Bucks rolled headlong as his horse plunged into +the loose débris. He scrambled to his feet and, +spitting the gravel from between his bruised lips, +caught the bridle of his horse as the latter righted +himself.</p> +<p>No legs were broken and much was already +gained.</p> +<p>“Quick!” cried Stanley. “Ride for your life!” +he shouted as Bucks regained his saddle. The +two spurred at the same time and dashed down +the draw at breakneck speed just as the Indians +yelling on the brink of the ledge stopped to pour +a volley after the desperate men. Unable to land +an effective shot, the Cheyennes, nothing daunted, +and hesitating only a moment, plunged over the +precipice after their quarry.</p> +<p>But they had lost their great advantage. +The dry watercourse proved unexpectedly good +riding for the fleeing railroad men. It was a +downhill run, with their hopes rising every moment. +Moreover, the draw soon turned sharply +to the south and put a big shoulder of granite +between the pursuers and the pursued. The +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_72' name='page_72'></a>72</span> +horses of the latter were now relieved, and the +wary Stanley, riding with some reserve speed, +held his rifle ready for a stern shot should one +become necessary. He found himself riding between +two almost perpendicular walls washed +by the same granite gravel into which they had +plunged on the start, but with the course again +turning, to his surprise, to the east. Once, Stanley +checked the flight long enough to stop and listen, +but the two heard the active Indians clattering +down the canyon after them, and rode on and +on.</p> +<p>As they could see by the lengthening shadow +on the mountain-sides far above them, the sun +was setting.</p> +<p>“Cheer up,” cried Stanley, who had put his +companion ahead of him. “We’ve got the best +of them. All we need is open country.”</p> +<p>He did not mention the chances of disaster, +which were that they might encounter an obstacle +that would leave them at bay before their tireless +pursuers. Mile after mile they galloped without +halting again to see whether they were being +chased. Indeed, no distance seemed too considerable +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_73' name='page_73'></a>73</span> +to put between them and the active war-paint +in the saddles behind.</p> +<p>A new turn in the canyon now revealed a wide +valley opening between the hills before them. Far +below, golden in the light of the setting sun, they +saw the great eastern slope of the Black Hills +spreading out upon a beautiful plain.</p> +<p>Stanley swung his hat from his head with an +exulting cry, and Bucks, without quite understanding +why, but assuming it the right thing to do, +yelled his loudest. On and on they rode, down +a broad, spreading ridge that led without a break +from the tortuous hills behind them into the +open country far below. Stanley put full ten +miles between himself and the canyon they had +ridden out of before he checked his speed. The +Indians had completely disappeared and, disappointed +in their venture, had no doubt ridden +back to their fastnesses to wait for other unwary +white men. Stanley chose a little draw +with good water and grass, and night was just +falling as they picketed their exhausted horses and +stretched themselves, utterly used up, on the grass.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_74' name='page_74'></a>74</span></div> +<p>“We are safe until morning, anyway,” announced +Stanley as he threw himself down. “And +this Indian chase may be the luckiest thing that +has ever happened to me in the troublesome course +of an unlucky life.</p> +<p>“You don’t understand,” continued the engineer, +wiping the sweat and dust from his tired +face. Bucks admitted that he did not.</p> +<p>“No matter,” returned his companion; “it isn’t +necessary now. You will sometime. But I think +I have done in the last hour something I have +been trying to do for years. Many others have +likewise failed in the same quest.”</p> +<p>Bucks listened with growing interest.</p> +<p>“Yes, for years,” Stanley went on, “incredible +as it may sound, I have been searching these +mountains for just such a crevice as we have +this moment ridden down. You see how this +range”––the exhausted engineer stretched flat on +his back, but, with burning eyes, pointed to the +formidable mountain wall that rose behind them +in the dusk of the western sky––“rises abruptly +from the plains below. Our whole grade climb +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_75' name='page_75'></a>75</span> +for the continental divide is right here, packed +into these few miles. Neither I nor any one else +has ever been able to find such a pass as we need +to get up into it. But if we have saved our +scalps, my boy, you will share with me the honor +of finding the pass for the Union Pacific Railroad +over the Rocky Mountains.”</p> +<p>They were supperless, but it was very exciting, +and Bucks was extremely happy. Stanley +watched that night until twelve. When he woke +Bucks the moon was rising and the ghostly peaks +in the west towered sentinel-like above the plains +flooded with silver. The two were to move at +one o’clock when the moon would be high enough +to make riding safe. It was cold, but fire was +forbidden.</p> +<p>The horses were grazing quietly, and Bucks, examining +his revolver, which he had all the time +felt he was wretchedly incompetent to shoot, sat +down beside Stanley, already fast asleep, to stand +his watch. He had lost Sublette’s rifle in falling +into the wash-out. At least he had found no leisure +to pick it up and save his hair in the same instant, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_76' name='page_76'></a>76</span> +and he wondered now how much he should +have to pay for the rifle.</p> +<p>When the sun rose next morning the two horsemen +were far out of the foot-hills and bearing +northeast toward camp––so far had their ride for +life taken them from their hunting ground. They +scanned the horizon at intervals, with some anxiety, +for Indians, and again with the hope of +sighting their missing guide. Once they saw a +distant herd of buffalo, and Bucks experienced a +shock until assured by Stanley that the suspicious +objects were neither Cheyennes nor Sioux.</p> +<p>By nine o’clock they had found the transcontinental +telegraph line and had a sure trail to +follow until they discovered the grade stakes of +the railroad, and soon descried the advance-guard +of the graders busy with plough and shovel and +scraper. As they rode into camp the very first +man to emerge from Casement’s tent, with his +habitual smile, was Bob Scott.</p> +<p>Casement himself, who had heard Scott’s story +when the latter had come in at daybreak, was +awaiting Stanley’s return with anxiety, but this +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_77' name='page_77'></a>77</span> +was all forgotten in the great news Stanley +brought. Sublette and Scott now returned to the +hunting camp for the cavalry detail, and, reinforced +by these, the two heroes of the long flight rode +back to reconnoitre their escape from the mountains. +Bucks rode close to Bob Scott and learned +how the scout had outwitted his assailants at the +canyon, and how after they had all ridden out +of it, he had ridden into it and retraced with +safety in the night the path that the hunters +had followed in riding into the hill country.</p> +<p>The second ride through the long defile, which +itself was now the object of so much intense +inspection, Bucks found much less exciting than +the first. The party even rode up to where the +first flying leap had been made, and to Bucks’s +joy found Sublette’s rifle still in the wash; it +had been overlooked by the Indians.</p> +<p>What surprised Bucks most was to find how +many hours it took to cover the ground that Stanley +and he had negotiated in seemingly as many +minutes.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_78' name='page_78'></a>78</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_VI' id='CHAPTER_VI'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> +</div> +<p>After a week in Casement’s camp, Stanley and +his cavalrymen, accompanied by Dancing, Scott, +and Bucks, struck north and east toward the +Spider Water River to find out why the ties were +not coming down faster. Rails had already been +laid across the permanent Spider Water Bridge––known +afterward as the first bridge, for the big +river finished more than one structure before it +was completely subdued––and the rail-laying was +hampered only by the lack of ties.</p> +<p>The straggling bands of Cheyennes had in the +interval been driven out of the foot-hills by troops +sent against them, and Stanley and his little escort +met with no trouble on his rapid journey.</p> +<p>Toward evening of the second day a broad +valley opened on the plain before them, and in +the sunset Bucks saw, winding like a silver thread +far up toward the mountains, the great stream +about which he had already heard so much. Camp +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_79' name='page_79'></a>79</span> +was pitched on a high bluff that commanded the +valley in both directions for many miles, and +after supper Scott and Bucks rode down to the +river.</p> +<p>In its low-water stage nothing could have looked +more sluggish or more sleepily deceptive than the +mighty and treacherous stream. Scott and his +companions always gave the river the name the +Sioux had long ago given it because of its sudden, +ravening floods and its deadly traps laid for such +unwary men or animals as trusted its peaceful +promise and slept within reach of its cruel power.</p> +<p>Standing in the glow of the evening sky in this +land where the clear, bright light seemed to lift him +high above the earth, Bucks looked at the yellow +flood long and thoughtfully––as well he might––for +the best of his life was to be spent within +ken of its flow and to go in doing battle with it +himself, or in sending faithful men to its battling, +sometimes to perish within its merciless +currents.</p> +<p>Next morning as the party, following a trail +along the bluffs, rode up in the direction of the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_80' name='page_80'></a>80</span> +contractors’ camps they discerned out on the river +bottom a motley cluster of tents and shanties +pitched under a hill. A number of flatboats +lay in the backwater behind the bend and a +quantity of ties corded along the bank indicated +a loading-place, but no one seemed to be doing +any loading. The few men that could be seen in +the distance appeared to be loafing in the sunshine +along the straggling street-way that led to +the river. Stanley checked his horse.</p> +<p>“What place is that?” he demanded of Scott.</p> +<p>“That,” returned the guide, “is Sellersville.”</p> +<p>“Sellersville,” echoed Stanley. “What is Sellersville?”</p> +<p>“Sellersville is where they bring most of the +ties for the boats.”</p> +<p>“Have they started a town down there on the +bottoms?”</p> +<p>“They have started enough saloons and gambling +dens to get the money from the men that +are chopping ties.”</p> +<p>Stanley contemplated for a moment the ill-looking +settlement. A mile farther on they encountered +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_81' name='page_81'></a>81</span> +a number of men following the trail up +the river.</p> +<p>A small dog barked furiously at the Stanley +party as they came up, and acted as if he were +ready to fight every trooper in the detail. He +dashed back and forth, barking and threatening +so fiercely that every one’s attention was drawn +to him.</p> +<p>Stanley stopped the leader and found he was a +tie-camp foreman from up-river taking men to +camp. “Is that your dog?” demanded Stanley, +indicating the belligerent animal who seemed set +upon eating somebody alive.</p> +<p>“Why, yes,” admitted the foreman philosophically. +“He sort o’ claims me, I guess.”</p> +<p>“What do you keep a cur like that around for?”</p> +<p>“Can’t get rid of him,” returned the foreman. +“He is no good, but the boys like his impudence. +Down, Scuffy!” he cried, looking for a stick to +throw at his pet.</p> +<p>Bucks surveyed the company of men. They +were a sorry-looking lot. The foreman explained +that he had dragged them out of the dens at +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_82' name='page_82'></a>82</span> +Sellersville to go back to work. When remonstrated +with for the poor showing the contractors +were making, the foreman pointed to the plague-spot +on the bottoms.</p> +<p>“There’s the reason you are not getting any +ties,” said he lazily. “We’ve got five hundred +men at work up here; that is, they are supposed +to be at work. These whiskey dives and faro +joints get them the minute they are paid, and for +ten days after pay-day we can’t get a hundred +men back to camp.”</p> +<p>The foreman as he spoke looked philosophically +toward the canvas shanties below. “I spend half +my time chasing back and forth, but I can’t do +much. They hold my men until they have robbed +them, and then if they show fight they chuck them +into the river. It’s the same with the flatboat +men.” He turned, as he continued, to indicate +two particularly wretched specimens. “These fellows +were drugged and robbed of every dollar they +brought here before they got to work at all.”</p> +<p>Stanley likewise gazed thoughtfully upon the +cluster of tents and shacks along the river landing. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_83' name='page_83'></a>83</span> +He turned after a moment to Scott. “Bob,” said +he, looking back again toward the river, “what +gang do you suppose this is?”</p> +<p>Scott shook his head. “That I couldn’t say, +Colonel Stanley.”</p> +<p>“Suppose,” continued Stanley, still regarding +the offending settlement, “you and Dancing reconnoitre +them a little and tell me who they are. +We will wait for you.”</p> +<p>Scott and the lineman swung into their saddles +and started down the trail that led to the landing. +Stanley spoke again to the foreman. “Can +those men use an axe?” he demanded, indicating +the two men that the foreman asserted had been +robbed.</p> +<p>“They are both old choppers––but this gang at +Sellersville stole even their axes.”</p> +<p>“Leave these two men here with me,” directed +Stanley as he watched Scott and Dancing ride +down toward Sellersville. “I may have something +for them to chop after a while.”</p> +<p>The foreman assented. “I don’t like the +bunch,” he murmured; “but nobody at our camp +wants to tackle them. What can we do?”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_84' name='page_84'></a>84</span></div> +<p>While the foreman continued to talk, Stanley +again looked over the human wrecks that he +had rounded up and brought out of Sellersville. +“What can we do?” echoed Stanley, repeating +the last question tartly. “Well, I’ll tell you one +thing we can do. We can throw Sellersville into +the river.”</p> +<p>Dancing and Scott were gone half an hour. The +report, when they returned, was not encouraging. +“It is a bunch of cutthroats from Medicine +Bend, colonel,” said Bob Scott.</p> +<p>“All friends of yours, I presume, Bob,” returned +Stanley.</p> +<p>The scout only smiled. “John Rebstock is +there with his following. But the boss, I think, +is big George Seagrue. He is mean, you know. +George has got two or three men to his credit.”</p> +<p>“Are we enough to clean them out, Bob?” +inquired Stanley impatiently.</p> +<p>Scott looked around and his eye rested for a +moment on Dancing. He hitched his trousers. +“There’s about thirty men down there. I expect,” +he continued reflectively, “we can take +care of them if we have to.”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_85' name='page_85'></a>85</span></div> +<p>Stanley turned to the sergeant of his troopers. +“Pitch a permanent camp, sergeant. There will +be nothing to take us any farther up the river.”</p> +<p>As Stanley gave the order Bucks noticed that +Dancing winked at Scott. And without the meaning +glances exchanged by the lineman and the +scout, Bucks would have understood from Stanley’s +manner that he meant strong measures. +Stanley sent a further message to the contractor, +and the foreman, followed by his convoy of humanity, +started on. The soldiers, foreseeing a +lively scene, stripped their pack-horses and set +at work pitching their tents.</p> +<p>Leaving four men in camp, the engineer, accompanied +by his escort, rode down the bluffs and, +striking a lumber road, galloped rapidly through +the poplar bottom-lands toward the gamblers’ +camp. It was an early tour for human wolves +to be stirring, and the invaders clattered into Sellersville +before they attracted any attention.</p> +<p>A bugler, however, riding into the middle of +the settlement, sounded a trumpet call, and at +the unwonted notes frowsy, ill-shaped heads appeared +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_86' name='page_86'></a>86</span> +at various shanty doors and tent-flaps to +see what was doing. Stanley sent one man from +door to door to notify the inmates of each shelter +to pack up their effects and make ready to move +without delay.</p> +<p>Five troopers were detailed to guard three +gambling tents that stood together in the middle +of the camp, each of these being flanked by +smaller dens. Word was then passed to the gamblers +and saloon-keepers to line up on the river +front.</p> +<p>Stanley regarded the gathering crowd with a +cold eye. Scott, who stood near Bucks, pointed +out a square-shouldered man with a deep scar +splitting one cheek. “Do you know that fellow, +Bucks?” he asked in an undertone.</p> +<p>“No; who is he?”</p> +<p>“That is a Medicine Bend confidence man, +Perry. Do you remember the woman you helped +out with a ticket to Iowa? Perry is her husband––the +man that Dave Hawk made pay up.”</p> +<p>Perry was a type of the Sellersville crowd now +being evicted. There was much talk as the soldiers +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_87' name='page_87'></a>87</span> +urged and drove the gang out of one haunt +after another and a good deal of threatening as +the leaders marched out in front of Stanley.</p> +<p>“Who is running this camp?” demanded the +officer curtly. The men looked at one another. +A fat, slow-moving man with small blue eyes and +a wheezy voice answered: “Why, no one in particular, +colonel. We’re just a-camping in a bunch. +What’s a-matter? Seagrue here,” he nodded to a +sharp-jawed companion, “and Perry,” he added, +jerking his thumb toward the scarred-faced man, +“and me own these two big tents in partners.”</p> +<p>“What’s your name?”</p> +<p>“My name’s Rebstock.”</p> +<p>“Produce the axes stolen here from these two +men,” said Stanley, indicating the choppers behind +him. There was a jangle of talk between +Rebstock and his associates, and Perry, much +against his inclination, was despatched to hunt +up the axes. It was only a moment before he +returned with them.</p> +<p>Rebstock, with a show of virtue, reprimanded +Perry severely for harboring the men that had +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_88' name='page_88'></a>88</span> +stolen the axes. “Sorry it happened, colonel,” he +grumbled, after he had abused the thieves roundly +in a general way, “and I’ll see it doesn’t happen +again. We can’t watch everybody in a place +like this. Tell your men,” he continued, expanding +his chest, “to leave their axes with me when +they come to Sellersville––what?”</p> +<p>The assurances were lost on Stanley. “Rebstock,” +said he, in a tone that Bucks had not +heard before from him, “take your personal effects, +all of you––and nothing else––and load them +on a flatboat. I will give you one hour to get-out +of here.”</p> +<p>Rebstock almost fell over backward. He +wheezed in amazement. There was an outburst +of indignant protests. A dozen men clamored at +once. Perry rushed forward to threaten Stanley; +others cursed and defied him.</p> +<p>“Who are you, and what do you mean giving +orders like that?” demanded Seagrue, confronting +him angrily.</p> +<p>“No matter who I am, you will obey the orders. +And you can’t take any tents or gambling apparatus +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_89' name='page_89'></a>89</span> +or liquors. Pack up your clothes and +camp stuff––nothing else––and get out.”</p> +<p>If a bombshell had dropped into Sellersville, +consternation could not have been more complete. +But it became quickly apparent that not all of +the gang would surrender without a fight. The +leaders retreated for a hurried consultation.</p> +<p>Rebstock walked back presently and confronted +Stanley. “What’s your law for this?” he demanded, +breathless with anger.</p> +<p>Stanley pointed to the ground under their feet.</p> +<p>“What’s your title to this land, Rebstock? It +belongs to the railroad that those ties belong to. +Where is your license from the United States Government +to sell whiskey here? You are trespassers +and outlaws, with no rights that any decent man +ought to respect. You and your gang are human +parasites, and you are going to be stripped and +sent down the river as fast as these flatboats will +carry you.”</p> +<p>Without waiting for any rejoinder, Stanley +turned on his heel and walked away, leaving Rebstock +speechless. The threats against the intruders +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_90' name='page_90'></a>90</span> +continued, but Stanley paid no attention to +any of them. Scott and the five troopers faced +the gamblers. Stanley called to the two wood-choppers, +who stood near with their axes, and +pointed to the gambling tents.</p> +<p>“Chop up every wheel and table in there you +can find,” said he.</p> +<p>A cry went up from Perry when he heard +the order, but the axemen, nothing loath, sprang +inside to their work, and the crashing of the gambling +furniture resounded through the alarmed +camp. Stanley made no delay of his peremptory +purpose. The tent attacked belonged to Seagrue, +who, common report averred, feared nothing and +nobody, while the gambling implements were +Perry’s.</p> +<p>Seagrue rushed to his property, revolver in +hand. Bill Dancing, who stood at Stanley’s side, +stepped into his way.</p> +<p>“Hold on, Seagrue,” he said. The gambler, fully +as large a man as Dancing, faced his opponent +with his features fixed in rage. “Get away,” +he shouted, “or I will knock your head off.”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_91' name='page_91'></a>91</span></div> +<p>All eyes centred on the two men. Every one +realized that open war was on and that it needed +only a spark to start the shooting. The gamblers, +rallying to Seagrue, backed him with oaths and +threats.</p> +<p>“Seagrue, put down that pistol or I’ll wring +your neck,” returned the lineman, baring his right +arm as he sauntered toward the outlaw. Bucks, +beside Stanley, stood transfixed as he watched +Dancing. The lineman’s revolver was slung in +the holster at his side.</p> +<p>Seagrue hesitated. He saw Bob Scott standing +in the doorway of the gambling tent with his rifle +lying carelessly over his arm. He was actually +covering Seagrue where he stood––and Seagrue +knew that Bob Scott was deadly with a rifle. +But Dancing was walking directly up to him and +Seagrue dared not be shamed before his own associates. +He jumped back to fire, but it was too +late.</p> +<p>Dancing caught his wrist. Both were men of +great strength, and their muscles knotted as +they grappled. It was only after a moment +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_92' name='page_92'></a>92</span> +that the lineman could be seen to gain. Then, +as he bent the gambler’s arm back, he suddenly +released it and struck the revolver out of his +hand. Seagrue, with a curse, sprang back, and +drawing a knife rushed for the second time at +the lineman. Dancing jumped to one side. As he +did so he seized an axe from the hand of one of the +choppers and turned again on Seagrue. The gambler +made a lunge at his throat, but as he threw +himself forward, Dancing, springing away, brought +the axe around like a flash and laid it flat across +his assailant’s forearm. The knife flew twenty +feet, and before the gambler could recover himself +the railroad man with one hand like a vice +on his throat bore him to the ground.</p> +<p>“Give me a piece of rope,” muttered Dancing +as Stanley ran up.</p> +<div class='figtag'> +<a name='linki_3' id='linki_3'></a> +</div> +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/p0092a-ins.jpg' alt='' title='' width='373' height='570' /><br /> +<p class='caption'> +IT WAS ONLY AFTER A MOMENT THAT<br /> +THE LINEMAN COULD BE SEEN TO GAIN.<br /> +</p> +</div> +<p>Bob Scott slashed a tent guy and handed it to +him. In another minute Dancing, in spite of +Seagrue’s struggles, had lashed his prisoner hand +and foot. Picking him up bodily, he walked +unopposed to the landing, and to the astonishment +of the spectators heaved Seagrue with scant +ceremony into a flatboat. There a trooper kept +him quiet. Walking back, the lineman brushed +the dust of the encounter from his arms as if +to invite any further Sellersville champion to +come forward. But John Rebstock, the really +responsible head of the place, showed no desire +to meet Dancing, and Perry, the sneak of the +trio, only ranted while Rebstock stood at a respectable +distance wheezing his surprise at the +tremendous exhibition of strength. And the work +of destruction went forward.</p> +<p>Adjoining the Seagrue tent stood a saloon in +which the men were now ordered to demolish the +stock. This renewed the excitement among Rebstock’s +followers.</p> +<p>“Don’t waste any time,” was Stanley’s order. +“They may rush us. Knock in the head of a +keg of whiskey, pour it over the bar, and burn +the shanty.”</p> +<p>The gamblers were, in fact, mustering for a +charge on the invaders. Before they could act the +saloon was ablaze and the flames, rising amid the +yells and execrations of its owners, leaped to the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_93' name='page_93'></a>93</span> +big tent adjoining. In front of this the soldiers in +a skirmish line held back the scurrying outlaws. +Within a few moments Sellersville was ablaze +from end to end and its population, including +Perry and Rebstock, driven to the flatboats, were +floating with threats and curses down the muddy +current of the Spider Water.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_94' name='page_94'></a>94</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_VII' id='CHAPTER_VII'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> +</div> +<p>Stanley’s next camp was pitched down the +river where the overland telegraph line crossed +the Spider Water, and Bucks, installed in a smart +army tent with a cracker-box for a stool and a +packing-case for an instrument table, was, through +Dancing’s efforts, put in communication by wire +with Medicine Bend and the west country as far +as Sleepy Cat, where the War Department was establishing +an army post.</p> +<p>Stanley, with Bob Scott, now spent a great deal +of time in the saddle between the bridge and the +upper tie-camps, and his presence made itself felt +in the renewed energy everywhere apparent among +the contractors and their men. Bucks, chained +to a wire, as he expressed it, found the days dragging +again and would much rather have been at +liberty to ride with Scott, who, when free, hunted +in the foot-hills.</p> +<p>One day Bucks was sitting alone in his tent, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_95' name='page_95'></a>95</span> +looking for the hundredth time over a worn copy +of <i>Harper’s Weekly</i> that he had picked up at Casement’s +camp, when a dog put his nose in the tent +door. A glance revealed merely a disconsolate, +unpromising cur, yet Bucks thought he had seen +the dog before and was interested. He seemed of +an all-over alkali-brown hue, scant of hair, scant +of tail, and with only melancholy dewlap ears to +suggest a strain of nobler blood in an earlier ancestry. +He looked in with the furtive eye of the +tramp, and as if expecting that a boot or a club +would most probably be his welcome.</p> +<p>But Bucks at the moment was lonely––as lonely +as the dog himself––and as the two fixed their eyes +intently on each other, Bucks remembered that +this was the tie foreman’s dog, Scuffy.</p> +<p>Scuffy had appeared at the psychological moment. +Bucks regarded him in silence, and the dog +perceiving no immediate danger of assault +stood, in silence, returning Bucks’s stare. Then +watching the boy’s eye carefully, the dog cocked +his head just the least bit to one side. It was a +mute appeal, but a moving one. Bucks continued, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_96' name='page_96'></a>96</span> +however, his non-committal scrutiny, recalling +that the foreman had said nothing good +of Scuffy, and the homeless cur stood in doubt +as to his reception. But realizing, perhaps, that +he had nothing to lose and everything to gain, +the little vagabond played his last card––he +wagged his stubby tail.</p> +<p>A harder heart than Bucks’s might have been +touched. The operator held out his hand. No +more was needed; the melancholy tramp stepped +cautiously forward waving his alert flag of truce. +He sniffed long and carefully as he neared Bucks, +looked solicitously into the boy’s eyes, and then +smelt and licked the proffered hand. It was a +token of submission as plainly expressed as when +Friday, kneeling, placed Robinson Crusoe’s foot +on his head. Bucks reached into a paper bag +that Bill Dancing had left on the table and gave +the dog a cracker.</p> +<p>Scuffy snapped up the offering like one starving. +A second cracker and a third disappeared at single +gulps. For the length of the dog, the size of +his mouth appeared enormous. In a moment the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_97' name='page_97'></a>97</span> +cracker-bag was emptied and Scuffy again licked +the friendly hand. It did not take Bucks long to +decide what to do. In another moment he had +resolved to adopt his tramp visitor. The day +happened to be Friday, and Bucks at once renamed +him Friday. When Dancing, who had +been with Bob Scott hunting, came in late that +night he found Bucks asleep and Scuffy lying in +Dancing’s own bed, from which he was ejected +only after the most vigorous language on his own +part as well as on that of the lineman. Even +then, Scuffy retreated only as far as Bucks’s feet, +where he slept for the rest of the night undisturbed.</p> +<p>“Where did he come from?” growled Dancing +in the morning as he sat with his pipe regarding +the intruder, who acted quite at home, with a +critical eye.</p> +<p>Bucks explained that this was the tie foreman’s +runaway dog, Scuffy, and beyond Scuffy’s first appearance +at the tent door he could tell him nothing. +Scuffy simply and promptly assumed a place +in camp and Bucks became, willy-nilly, his sponsor. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_98' name='page_98'></a>98</span> +But his effort to rename him came to nothing. +Scuffy gave no heed when called “Friday,” +but for “Scuffy” he sprang to attention instantly.</p> +<p>Bill Dancing decided, off-hand, that “the pup” +was worthless. Scott, whose smile was kindly +even when sceptical, only corrected Bill to the +extent of saying that Friday or Scuffy, whoever +or whatever he might be, was no pup; that he +was a full-grown dog and in Bob’s judgment he +would need no guardian.</p> +<p>One day, shortly after Scuffy had been put +upon the pay-roll, Scott came in from a trip after +venison with word that there were black bears in +the hill canyons. The thought of bear’s meat +aroused every one, and Stanley suggested a bear +hunt. Scott had to send down to Stanley’s ranch +at Medicine Bend for his dogs and some delay +followed. But when the three hounds arrived +there was excitement enough to compensate for +it. One of the dogs was a big black fellow and +his companions were brown full-bloods. The +hounds, one and all, set on Scuffy the moment +they reached camp, and it was only by the most +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_99' name='page_99'></a>99</span> +dexterous manœuvres that the strange dog escaped +being eaten alive. Indeed, Bob Scott remarked +at once that if Scuffy should survive the +greetings of his new comrades he would prove his +right to live. The hounds always set upon him +at meal-times, usually chewed him at bed-time, +and harried him at all times.</p> +<p>To a less hopeful temperament than Scuffy’s, +life would not have seemed worth living. It was +only Bucks who insured him anything at all to +eat, and the enmity of the big, rangy hounds for +the lean and hungry tramp dog left him no peace +save when they were fighting in dreams. To +accept life under such conditions indicated that +Scuffy was a philosopher, and he accepted the +conditions cheerfully, filching what he could of +sustenance from the common pot and licking his +troublesome wounds at night after his truculent +companions had gone to sleep.</p> +<p>As soon as the tie-supply trouble had been lessened +Stanley took things more leisurely and the +interval afforded the opportunity for the delayed +bear hunt. Bob Scott and Dancing were to go +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_100' name='page_100'></a>100</span> +with Stanley, and Bucks being freed for one day +from his key was invited to be of the party. All +hands were in the saddle by daybreak, and Scott’s +hounds were baying and tearing around camp +wild with excitement.</p> +<p>At the last moment a complication arose. +Scuffy, who until the moment of starting had for +prudential reasons––that is, to avoid being eaten +up––remained in obscurity, joined the hunters. +Every one in turn tried to drive him back, but +long practice had made him expert in dodging +missiles and had rendered him insensible to reproach. +The hounds were too filled with the +prospect of sport to pay any attention to Scuffy. +In vain, Bob Scott tried to set them on him and +drive him back to camp. On this occasion, when +bullying would plainly have been justified, no +hound would assail Scuffy. Bucks drove him +again and again from the flank of the advance +only to have the mortification of seeing him reappear +a mile or two farther along the trail, and +it was at last decided to leave him to his fate at +the paw of a bear––which no one made doubt he +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_101' name='page_101'></a>101</span> +was certain to suffer. At that moment Bucks +and Bill Dancing, riding together, saw a deer +frightened from a thicket running toward the +river. Bucks jumped from his horse and lifted +his rifle to take a shot, but by the time he was +ready to fire the deer had vanished.</p> +<p>Led by Scott, the hunters rode at once into the +rough country to the west, where in the mountain +fastnesses the bears loved to feed. The hounds +gave tongue vigorously, and Scuffy, who had by +this time not only established himself but had +impudently taken the lead and was heading the +pack, barked loudest and longest.</p> +<p>“Did anybody ever see conceit equal to that?” +demanded Stanley. “Look at that cur leading +the hounds.”</p> +<p>Bucks was mortified and expressed his regret.</p> +<p>“Don’t mind him, Bucks,” remarked Dancing +consolingly. “That dog won’t bother long. The first +time the hounds run in, the bear will finish <i>him</i>.”</p> +<p>Bucks did not know precisely what Bill meant +by “running in,” but he was not to be long in +doubt. The pack struck a fresh trail almost at +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_102' name='page_102'></a>102</span> +once and the hunters had a long ride along a +mountain-side covered with fallen timber and cut +by innumerable wash-outs that made the riding +hard and dangerous. Scott found intervals to +encourage Bucks, whose youth and inexperience +made his task of keeping up with the others a +difficult one. “Take it easy,” said Scott encouragingly +as the operator tried to urge his mount.</p> +<p>“I am keeping you all back, Bob.”</p> +<p>“Plenty of time. You are doing wonders for +mountain-riding. When we close in on the bear +don’t be too keen to get near him. You wouldn’t +be safe for a minute on your horse if the dogs +didn’t keep the bear busy. As long as the dogs +worry the bear you are safe. A bear will never +chase a man as long as a dog keeps at him. It’s +only when the dogs refuse to go in any longer +that the danger begins. When that happens, look +out. Keep a respectful distance all the time and +a road open behind you. That’s all there is to a +bear fight.”</p> +<p>As he spoke, the hounds yelped sharply and +Scott spurred forward. The hunters were threading +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_103' name='page_103'></a>103</span> +a grove of quaking asp and the dogs had come +up with the bear on an opening of shale rock surrounded +by down timber. Throwing his reins and +advancing cautiously on foot, Stanley, followed by +his companions, who spread themselves in a wide +semicircle, took his place, the others, as they best +could, choosing their own.</p> +<p>The bear, a full-grown male, met the onset of +the hounds with grim confidence. The dogs encircled +him with a ring of ferocious teeth, running +in from behind whenever they could to nip the +huge beast in the haunches or on the flank. But +the surprise of the encounter was Scuffy.</p> +<p>“Look,” cried Bill Dancing, under whose wing +Bucks had taken his post. “Look at him! Why, +the pup is a world-beater!”</p> +<p>In truth, Scuffy was the liveliest and most impudent +dog in the pack, and when the fight was +fully on, managed to worry the angry bear more +than the hounds did. Within a moment the black +hound, over-bold, imprudently rushed the bear in +front. A paw darting from the huge beast caught +him like a trip-hammer and stretched him helpless. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_104' name='page_104'></a>104</span> +In that moment the bear exposed himself +to Stanley’s rifle and a shot rang across the +mountain-side. Scott watched the result anxiously. +But the slug instead of dropping the bear served +only to enrage him. For an instant the two hounds +lost their heads and the infuriated bear charged +Bucks and Bill Dancing.</p> +<p>The shale opening became a scene of confusion. +Exposing himself recklessly, Scott tried to urge +the dogs forward, but they had lost their nerve. +It needed only this to upset everything. The +hunters closed in together, and the critical moment +had come; deaf alike to command and entreaty, +the two hounds refused to go in, and +Scuffy, flying wildly about the bear, seemed unable +to check him. Dancing stopped long enough to +take one shot, and ran––with Bucks, who had +found no chance to shoot, following. The bear +gained fast on the long-legged lineman and his +boy companion. A wash-out, hidden by a clump +of bushes, lay directly in the path of flight. Dancing, +perceiving it, dashed to the left and escaped. +He shouted a warning to Bucks, who, not understanding, +plunged straight over the declivity and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_105' name='page_105'></a>105</span> +sprawled into the wash-out with the bear after +him. Catching his rifle, the boy scrambled to +his feet with his pursuer less than twenty feet +away. Between the two there was only open +ground, and the bear was scrambling for Bucks +when Scuffy sprang down the shale bank and +confronted the enemy.</p> +<p>It looked like certain death for Scuffy, but the +tramp dog did not hesitate. He rushed at the +bear with a fury of snapping, though not without +a lively respect for the sweep of the brute’s fore +paws. The little dog, freeing himself forever in +that moment from the stigma of cur, put up a +fight that astonished the big brute.</p> +<p>Scuffy raced at him first on one side and then +on the other, bounding in and out like a rubber +ball, dashing across his front and running clear +around the circling bear, nipping even an occasional +mouthful of hair from his haunches. He +made noise enough for a pack of dogs and simulated +a fury that gave the bear the surprise of his +life. Bucks realized that only his four-legged friend +stood between him and destruction and that so +unequal a contest could not endure long. Skilful as +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_106' name='page_106'></a>106</span> +the little fellow was, he was pitted against an antagonist +quite as quick and wary. The clumsiness +of the bear was no more than seeming, and +any one of the terrific blows he dealt at Scuffy +with his huge paw would have stretched a man +lifeless. Bucks, collecting his disordered faculties, +raised his rifle to help his champion with a shot. +His heart beat like a hammer in his throat, but +he knew there was only one thing to do, that was +to get the rifle-sights carefully lined in his eye and +shoot when Scuffy gave him an opening.</p> +<p>It came in a moment when the bear turned to +smash Scuffy on his flank. Bucks fired. To his +amazement, no result followed. The failure of +the bear to show any sign of being hit stunned +him, and he drew his revolver, never expecting to +escape alive, when two shots rang across the wash +as close together as if fired by the same hand. +The bear sank like a falling tree. Yet he rallied +and again rushed for Bucks, despite Scuffy’s stout +opposition and the yells from above, and finally +halted only when Bob Scott, jumping into the +wash-out, confronted him with a knife. There was +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_107' name='page_107'></a>107</span> +an instant of apprehension, broken by a third +shot from Dancing’s rifle across the gully, and the +bear crumpled lifeless almost at Scott’s feet.</p> +<p>The scout turned to Bucks as he stood dazed +by his narrow escape. Stanley, above, shouted. +And Bill Dancing, carrying his empty rifle, and +with his face bleeding from the briers, made +his way down the opposite side of the wash. +Scuffy, mounting the body of his dead foe, barked +furiously.</p> +<p>The little dog was the real hero of the encounter. +He had paid his keep and earned his way as +a member of the family and as a bear-fighter. +When Bucks picked up his rifle he told Scott of +his bad miss in the critical moment of the fight. +Bob took the gun from his hands and examined +the sights good-naturedly. Bucks had neglected +to change the elevation after he had aimed at the +deer an hour earlier.</p> +<p>“Next time you shoot at a bear twenty feet +away, don’t leave your sights set for two hundred +yards,” was all Scott said.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_108' name='page_108'></a>108</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_VIII' id='CHAPTER_VIII'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> +</div> +<p>The bruises that Bucks nursed were tender +for some days, and Scott tried out some bear’s +grease for an ointment.</p> +<p>Scuffy, who had come out of the fight without +a scratch, took on new airs in camp, and returned +evil for evil by bullying the two wounded hounds +who were too surprised by his aggressiveness to +make an effective defence.</p> +<p>Bucks, when he was alone with the dog and +time dragged heavily, turned for diversion to the +only book in the camp, a well-thumbed copy of +“The Last of the Mohicans.” He had brought +it with him to read coming out from Pittsburgh, +and had thrown it into his bag when leaving Medicine +Bend. In camp it proved a treasure, even +the troopers, when they were idle, casting lots to +get hold of it.</p> +<p>One day, when Bucks was absorbed in the romance, +Bob Scott asked him what he was reading. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_109' name='page_109'></a>109</span> +Bucks tried to give him some idea of the story. +Scott showed little apparent interest in the résumé, +but he listened respectfully while cleaning +his rifle. He made no comment until Bucks had +done.</p> +<p>“What kind of Indians did you say those were,” +he asked, contracting his brows as he did when +a subject perplexed him, “Uncas and Chingachgook?”</p> +<p>“Delawares, Bob. Know anything about Delaware +Indians?”</p> +<p>Scott shook his head. “Never heard of Delawares +in our country. I saw a Pottawottamie +Indian once, but never any Delawares. Is this +story about Uncas a true story?”</p> +<p>“As true as any story. Listen here.” Bucks +read aloud to him for a while, his companion at +intervals asking questions and approving or criticising +the Indian classic.</p> +<p>“If you could only read, Bob, you ought to +read the whole book,” said Bucks regretfully, as +he put the volume aside.</p> +<p>“I can read a little,” returned Scott, to Bucks’s +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_110' name='page_110'></a>110</span> +surprise. “All except the long words,” added the +scout modestly. “A man down at Medicine Bend +tried to sell me a pair of spectacles once. They +had gold rims, and he told me that a man with +those spectacles could read any kind of a book. +He thought I was a greenhorn,” said the scout.</p> +<p>“Where did you learn to read?”</p> +<p>“A Blackrobe taught me.”</p> +<p>Bucks held out the book. “Then read this, +Bob, sure.”</p> +<p>Scott looked at the worn volume, but shook +his head doubtfully. “Looks like a pretty big +book for me. But if you can find out whether it’s +true, I might try it sometime.”</p> +<p>Stanley, after a few days, started up the river +with Scott and Dancing, leaving his men in +camp. Bucks, who was still too stiff to ride, +likewise remained to receive any messages that +might come.</p> +<p>There was an abundance of water-fowl in the +sloughs and ponds up and down the river, and +Bucks, the morning after Stanley’s departure, +leaving the troopers lounging in camp, started out +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_111' name='page_111'></a>111</span> +with a shot-gun to look for ducks. He passed the +first bend up-stream, and working his way toward +a small pond thickly fringed with alders, where +he had often seen teal and mallards, attempted +to crawl within gunshot of it.</p> +<p>He was working his way in this fashion toward +the edge of the water when he heard a clatter of +wings and the next moment a flock of mallards +rushed in swift flight over his head. He impulsively +threw up his gun to fire but some instinct +checked him. He was in a country of dangerous +enemies and the thought of bears still loomed +large in his mind. An instant’s reflection convinced +him that it was not his movement that +had frightened the ducks, and he was enough of a +hunter to look further than that for the cause. +As caution seemed, from the soreness of his legs +and arms, plainly indicated, he lay still to await +developments.</p> +<p>Soon he heard a movement of trampling feet, +and, seemingly, across the pond from him. Bucks +thought of buffaloes. His heart beat fast at the +thought of getting a shot at one until he reflected +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_112' name='page_112'></a>112</span> +that he had no rifle. The next instant his heart +stopped beating. Not ten feet from where he lay +in the thick willows, an Indian carrying a rifle, and +in war-paint, stole noiselessly along toward the +camp. No sooner had he disappeared than a +second brave followed, and while Bucks was +digesting this fright a third warrior, creeping +in the same stealthy manner and almost without +a sound, passed the staring boy; the appearance +of a fourth and a fifth raised the hair on Bucks’s +head till he was almost stunned with fright, but +he had still to count three more in the party, +one more ferocious-looking than another, before +all had passed.</p> +<p>What to do was the question that forced itself +on him. He feared the Indians would attack the +troopers in camp, and this he felt would be a massacre, +since the men, not suspecting danger, would +be taken wholly unawares. Should he fire his +gun as a signal? It would probably bring the +Indians back upon him, but the thought of allowing +the troopers to be butchered was insupportable. +His hammers were cocked and his finger +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_113' name='page_113'></a>113</span> +was on one trigger when he considered how useless +the alarm would be. The troopers knew that he +had gone duck hunting. They would expect to +hear him shoot and would pay no attention to it. +To rush out after the Indians would only invite +his instant death.</p> +<p>There seemed nothing he could do and a cold +sweat of apprehension broke over him. But if he +fired his gun he might, at least, surprise the Indians. +The report of a gun in their rear would +alarm them––since they knew nothing of his presence +or his duck hunting and might take fright. +Without more ado he fired both barrels one after +the other, careful only to shoot low into the willows, +hoping the smoke would not rise so quickly +as to betray him before he could make a dash for +a new hiding-place.</p> +<p>His ruse worked and he ran at top speed for +twenty yards before he threw himself into a clump +of cotton-woods close to the camp trail and began +to reload. While he was doing so a shout came +from the direction of the railroad bridge. Not +until then did Bucks understand what the Indians +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_114' name='page_114'></a>114</span> +were after. But had he not understood, he +would have known a moment later when he heard +a sharp exchange of shots toward the camp, heard +the dogs barking furiously, and saw the Indians, +now on their ponies, running the troopers’ horses +past him at a breakneck gallop. The Indians +yelled lustily at the success of their raid, the stampeded +horses dashed panic-stricken before them, +and the braves shouted back in derision at the +vain efforts of the troopers to stop them with useless +bullets. Bucks’s own impulse was to empty +a charge of birdshot into the last of the fleeing +warriors, but this he knew might cost him his life, +and he resisted the temptation. When he was +sure all were past he ran toward the bluffs, and +gaining a little eminence saw the fleeing Indians, +a dozen in all, making their way jubilantly up +the river. At the camp the discomfited cavalrymen +were preparing for a siege, and in their +excitement almost shot Bucks as he hove in sight.</p> +<p>Bucks gave a good description of the marauders, +and, following him up to the pond, six of the +troopers attempted some pursuit. This, to unmounted +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_115' name='page_115'></a>115</span> +men, was useless, as they well knew. +Indeed, they used caution not to come unawares +on any friends of the escaping braves that might +have lingered behind.</p> +<p>Colonel Stanley returned in the morning to hear +that his escort had been unhorsed. Bob Scott +grinned at the cavalrymen as they told the story. +He assured them that they had got off lightly, and +that if Bucks’s signals had not alarmed the little +war-party they might have carried away scalps +as well as horses.</p> +<p>“We shall be in luck if we don’t hear more of +those fellows,” said he to Bucks afterward. There +was now manifestly nothing to do but to go in, +and later in the day a freight train was flagged +and the whole party, with Scuffy and the hounds, +returned to Casement’s camp. Scott sent his dogs +thence to the ranch in Medicine Bend, and at +Bucks’s urgent request Scuffy was sent with +them to await his own return to head-quarters.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_116' name='page_116'></a>116</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_IX' id='CHAPTER_IX'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2> +</div> +<p>The foray of the Indians at the Spider Water +Bridge proved, as Bob Scott had feared, only +a forerunner of active hostilities. Casement had +already taken all necessary measures of defence. +His construction camp was moved steadily westward, +though sometimes inside the picket lines +of troops, despite the warring Indians and the difficulties +of his situation. Alarms, however, were +continual and the graders, many of whom were +old soldiers, worked at all times with their muskets +stacked on the dump beside them. In the +construction camp Bucks saw also many negroes, +and at night the camp-fires of their quarters were +alive with the singing and dancing of the old +plantation life in the South.</p> +<p>While waiting for Stanley’s inspection of the +grading and track-laying, Bucks relieved at times +the camp operator, whose principal business was +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_117' name='page_117'></a>117</span> +the rushing of emphatic demands to Omaha for +material and supplies.</p> +<p>During other intervals Bucks found a chance +to study the system that underlay the seemingly +hopeless confusion of the construction work. The +engineers moving far in advance had located the +line, and following these came the graders and +bridge- and culvert-builders, cutting through the +hills, levelling the fills, and spanning the streams +and water-ways with trestles and wooden bridges, +miles in advance of the main army. Behind these +came Casement’s own big camp with the tiemen, +the track-layers, and the ballast gangs.</p> +<p>Every Eastern market was drawn upon for materials, +and when these reached Omaha, trains +loaded with them were constantly pushed to the +front. The chief spiker of the rail gang, taking a +fancy to Bucks, invited him to go out with the +rail-layers one day, and Bucks took a temporary +commission as spike-dropper.</p> +<p>To do this, he followed Dancing up the track +past a long construction train in which the men +lived. The big box-cars contained sleeping-bunks, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_118' name='page_118'></a>118</span> +and those men who preferred more air and seclusion +had swung sleeping-hammocks under the cars; +others had spread their beds on top of the cars. +Climbing a little embankment, Bucks watched the +sturdy, broad-shouldered pioneers. A light car +drawn by a single, galloping horse was rushed to +the extreme end of the laid rails. Before it had +fairly stopped, two men waiting on either side +seized the end of a rail with their trap and started +forward. Ten more men, following in twos, at a +run, lifted the two rails clear of the car and dropped +them in place on the ties. The foreman instantly +gauged them, the horse moved ahead, and thirty +spikers armed with heavy mauls drove the spikes +furiously and regularly, three strokes to the spike, +into the new-laid ties. The bolters followed with +the fish-plates, and while Bucks looked the railroad +was made before his eyes.</p> +<p>The excitement of the scene was unforgettable. +In less than sixty seconds four rails had gone +down. The moment a horse-car was emptied +it was dumped off one side of the track, and a +loaded car with its horse galloping to the front +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_119' name='page_119'></a>119</span> +had passed it. The next instant the “empty” +was lifted back on the rails, and at the end of +a sixty-foot rope the horse, ridden by a hustling +boy, was being urged back to where the +rails were transferred from the regular flat cars. +The clang of the heavy iron, the continuous ring +of the spike mauls, the shouting of the orders, +the throwing of each empty horse-car from the +track to make way for a loaded one, these things +were all new and stimulating to Bucks. The +chief spiker laughed when the young operator +told him how fine it was. He asked Bucks to +look at his watch and time the work. In half +an hour Bucks looked at his watch again. In +the interval the gang had laid eight hundred feet +of track.</p> +<p>“I don’t see how you can work so fast,” declared +Bucks.</p> +<p>“Do you know how many times,” demanded +the spiker, “those sledges have to swing? There +are eighteen ties and thirty-six spikes to every +rail, three hundred and fifty-two rails to every +mile, and eighteen hundred miles from Omaha +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_120' name='page_120'></a>120</span> +to San Francisco––those sledges will swing sixty-eight +million times before the rails are full-spiked––they +have to go fast.”</p> +<p>The words were hardly out of the chief spiker’s +mouth when a cry of alarm rang from the front. +Bucks, looking eagerly, saw in the west a cloud +of dust. At the same time he saw the tie gang +running in dozens for their lives from the divide +where they were working toward the camp. The +men beyond them on the grade had scrambled +into the wagons, dumped any ties they might +contain helter-skelter to the ground, and were +clinging to the wagon boxes. In these, the drivers +standing up, lashed their horses with whip and +line for life, and death, while everywhere beside +and behind them other men on foot were racing +back to safety.</p> +<p>New clouds of dust rose along the grade from +the flying wagon wheels, the horses tore madly +on, and as the heavy wagons jolted over the loose +stones, the fugitives, yelling with excitement and +alarm and clinging to one another as they +bounced up and down, looked anxiously behind.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_121' name='page_121'></a>121</span></div> +<p>There was no uncertainty as to the cause of +the panic. “Indians!” was the cry everywhere. +Every man in camp had dropped his working +implement and was moving somewhere on the +double-quick. Every one, it seemed to Bucks, +was shouting and running. But above the confusion +of the surprise and the babel of voices, +Bucks heard the sharp tones of Jack Casement +giving orders.</p> +<p>The old soldiers in the working gang needed +no further discipline. The timid and the skulkers +scurried for the box-cars and the dugouts. On +the other hand, the soldiers ran for the dumps +where the arms were stacked, and seizing their +muskets hurried back and, trained for the emergency, +fell into line under their foremen.</p> +<p>Casement, musket in hand, taking the largest +company of men as they formed in fours behind +him, started forward at the double-quick, yelling +now for the moral effect, to protect the retreat of +the wagons. The men, scattering as they reached +the edge of the camp, dropped into every spot of +shelter, and at the same moment Stanley, mounted +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_122' name='page_122'></a>122</span> +and alive with the vim and fire of the soldier, led +a smaller body of men rapidly back to guard the +rear of the camp, deploying his little force about +the box-cars and flat cars as they hastened on. +In an instant the construction camp had become +a fortress defended by a thousand men.</p> +<p>It was none too soon. Stirring the yellow plain +with the fury of a whirlwind, a band of Sioux +warriors rode the fleeing railroaders furiously +down. They appeared phantom-like out of every +slip and canyon, and rode full-panoplied from +behind every hill. The horizon that had shown +five minutes before only the burning sunshine +and the dull glare of the alkali sinks, danced now +with the flying ponies of the Indians, and the hills +echoed with ominous cries.</p> +<p>Without a word of warning, the few fleeing men +who had been working too far from camp to reach +it in safety were mercilessly cut down. Their +comrades under arms, with an answering cry of +defiance poured a volley of cartridge balls into the +thin, black circle that rode ever closer and closer +to the muzzles of the muskets. Jack Casement +and his brother Dan recklessly urged their men +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_123' name='page_123'></a>123</span> +to the most advanced posts of defence, and from +behind scrapers, wagons, flat cars, and friendly +hillocks the railroad men poured a galling fire into +their active foe.</p> +<p>The Indians, seeking with unerring instinct the +weakest point in the defence, converged in hundreds +upon the long string of box-cars that made +up the construction train at the rear of the camp, +where Stanley, extending his few men in a resolute +skirmish line, endeavored to prevent the savages +from scalping the non-combatant cooks and +burning the sleeping-cars. Bucks saw, conspicuous +in the attack, a slender Sioux chief riding +a strong-limbed, fleet pony with a coat of burnished +gold and as much filled with the fire of +the fight as his master was. Riding hither and +thither and swinging a long, heavy musket like +a marshal’s baton, the Sioux warrior, almost +everywhere at once, urged his men to the fighting, +and the fate of the few white men they were +able to cut down or scalp before Stanley could +cover the line of box-cars seemed to add vigor +to their onslaught.</p> +<p>Stanley himself, attacked by ten braves for +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_124' name='page_124'></a>124</span> +every man he could muster at that point with a +gun, dashed up and down the old wagon roads +along the right of way, a conspicuous target for +the Indians. His hat, in the mêlée, had disappeared, +and, swinging a heavy Colt’s revolver, +which the Indians shrank from with a healthy instinct +of danger, he pressed back the hungry red +line again and again, supported only by such +musketry fire as the men crouching under, within, +and between the box-cars could offer.</p> +<p>Wherever he rode his wily foes retreated, but +they closed in constantly behind him, and one +brave, more daring than his fellows, succeeded in +setting fire to a box-car. A shout of triumph rose +from the circling horsemen, but it was short-lived. +Stanley, wheeling like a flash, gave chase to the +incendiary. The Sioux rode for his life, but his +pony’s pace was no match for the springing strides +of Stanley’s American horse.</p> +<p>For an instant the attention of the whole fight +in the rear of the camp was drawn upon the rash +brave and his pursuer. Bucks, with straining eyes +and beating heart, awaited the result. He saw +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_125' name='page_125'></a>125</span> +Stanley steadily closing the gap that separated +him from his fleeing enemy. Then the revolver +was thrown suddenly upward and forward, and +smoke flashed from the muzzle. The echo of the +report had hardly reached Bucks’s ears when the +revolver, swung high again to balance the rhythm +of the horse’s flight, was fired again, and a third +time, at the doomed man.</p> +<p>The Indian, bending forward on his horse, caught +convulsively at his mane, then rising high in his +seat plunged head-foremost to the ground, and +his riderless horse fled on. His pursuer, wheeling, +threw himself flat in his saddle to escape the fire +bent upon him from behind as he rode back. At +that moment Dan Casement and his men hurried +up on the double-quick. With him came Bucks, +who had secured a rifle and fallen in. Some +men of the welcome reinforcement were set at putting +out the fire. Others strengthened Stanley’s +scattered skirmish line.</p> +<p>Convinced by the determined front now opposed +to him of the impossibility of rushing the camp, the +Sioux chief gave the signal to retire.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_126' name='page_126'></a>126</span></div> +<p>As if the earth had opened to swallow them up, +the warriors melted away, and as suddenly as the +plain had borne them into life it now concealed +their disappearance. In twenty minutes they had +come and gone as completely as if they had never +been. But in that short interval they had left +death and consternation in their wake.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_127' name='page_127'></a>127</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_X' id='CHAPTER_X'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER X</h2> +</div> +<p>Stirred by the increasing boldness of the +Indians, Stanley returned with his party to Medicine +Bend to take further measures for the defence +of the railroad men.</p> +<p>Bucks, when he reported to Baxter, the train +despatcher, found new orders waiting for him. +He was directed to take charge of the station at +Goose Creek. The train did not leave till night, +and Bucks took advantage of the interval to go +uptown to make some necessary purchases of linen +and clothing. On his way back to the station, +with his package under his arm, he saw, on the +edge of the broad sidewalk, Harvey Levake. Levake +was standing near a wooden-Indian cigar-store +sign, looking directly at Bucks as the latter +walked toward him. The operator, nodding as +he came up, asked Levake, without parley, whether +he would give him the money for the express +charges on the cartridges.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_128' name='page_128'></a>128</span></div> +<p>If Bucks had exploded a keg of powder on the +sidewalk there could not have been a greater +change in the outlaw’s manner. He stared at +Bucks with contempt enough to pierce the feelings +of the wooden Indian beside which he stood.</p> +<p>“What’s that?” he demanded, throwing his +head menacingly forward.</p> +<p>Bucks repeated his request, but so mildly that +Levake took additional umbrage at his diffidence.</p> +<p>“See here,” he muttered in a voice beginning +like a distant roll of thunder and gathering +force and volume as he continued, “don’t insult +me.”</p> +<p>Bucks ventured to urge that he intended no +insult.</p> +<p>“Don’t insult me!” bellowed Levake in violent +tones.</p> +<p>Again Bucks attempted to protest. It was useless. +Levake insisted with increasing wrath upon +hugging the insult to himself, while Bucks struggled +manfully to get it away from him. And as +Levake’s loud words did not attract as much attention +up and down the street as he sought, he +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_129' name='page_129'></a>129</span> +stamped about on the sidewalk. Bucks’s efforts +to pacify him made matters momentarily worse.</p> +<p>Meantime a crowd such as Levake desired had +gathered and Bucks found himself a target for +the outlaw’s continued abuse, with nobody to take +his part. Moreover, the expressions on the faces +about him now made him realize his peril quite +as much as anything in Levake’s words. It was +becoming painfully evident that the onlookers +were merely waiting to see Levake shoot him +down.</p> +<p>“No man in Medicine Bend can insult me and +live,” cried Levake, winding up a tirade of abuse. +“I’m known from one end of this street to the +other. Nobody can spread lies in it about me.”</p> +<p>He drew and flourished a revolver as he spoke. +None in the crowd interfered with so much as a +word. But even before the outlaw had finished +what he was saying, a man of medium size and +easy manner elbowed his way quietly through the +circle of spectators, and, taking Bucks by the arm, +drew him back and faced Levake himself. It was +Bob Scott.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_130' name='page_130'></a>130</span></div> +<p>“What’s all this about, Levake?” demanded +Scott gently.</p> +<p>Levake had no alternative but to turn his wrath +upon the Indian scout. Yet those who knew him +perceived that it was done without much stomach +for the job. Instead of growing momentarily +greater the violence of his abuse now grew +steadily less, and the thunder in his tones rolled +further and further from the subject.</p> +<p>Half-turning to Bucks, Scott laid his hand on +his arm again. “Excuse me,” said he, deliberately +and quietly, “but you are wanted quick at the +station. They are waiting for you. Go right +along, will you?”</p> +<p>Only too glad to get away and comprehending +Scott’s ruse, Bucks exclaimed, “Why, of course, +certainly,” and stepping quickly into the crowd +walked away.</p> +<p>Turning again to Levake, Scott made no effort +to check the torrent of his words. In consequence, +the gambler found himself embarrassed +by the prospect of talking himself out. This +would not have been so bad except that his circle +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_131' name='page_131'></a>131</span> +of admirers would, when he stopped talking, expect +him to do something and he was now at a +loss to decide just what to do. To shoot down +Bucks was rather a different matter from a pistol +duel with Scott.</p> +<p>None of the street loafers about the two men +knew Scott, nor did any of them know that Levake +had a prudent respect for Scott’s trigger. +As for Scott himself, a smile of contempt gradually +covered his face as he listened to Levake’s +outbreak. He only waited patiently for the moment, +which he knew must come, when Levake +should cease talking.</p> +<p>“Your tongue, Levake,” returned Scott at last, +“is longer than a coyote’s. Why do you stand +here and bellow about being insulted? What is +all this noise about, anyway? These fellows,” a +contemptuous nod indicated the men standing +around, “all know, if you don’t. You’ve been +talking loud so you could get a crowd together +and advertise yourself by shooting an unarmed +boy, haven’t you?”</p> +<p>The desperado broke out in fresh denials and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_132' name='page_132'></a>132</span> +curses, but he feared the ridicule of the Indian +would bring the laughter of his admirers down +on him. Nor was he keen to try a pistol duel. +He remembered too well the attack he had once +headed on an emigrant train that Scott was guarding, +and from which the outlaws with Levake had +carried away some unexpected and unwelcome +bullets.</p> +<p>Scott, now taunting Levake openly, stepped +directly in front of him. But the latter waved +him away. “I’ll settle my differences with you +when I’m ready,” he muttered. “If that fellow,” +he added, indicating Bucks, who was making +record time across the square, “behaves himself, +I’ll let this go. If he doesn’t, I’ll fill him full of +lead.”</p> +<p>“When you do,” retorted Scott, “remember +just one thing––that I’m going to fill you full, +Levake. Don’t forget that.”</p> +<p>Scott stepped backward. The crowd parted to +let him through and Levake walked sullenly toward +the cigar store.</p> +<p>Bucks wiped the perspiration from his forehead +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_133' name='page_133'></a>133</span> +when he reached the station and drew a long +breath. He waited until Scott crossed the square +and joined him. The Indian only laughed when +Bucks tried to thank him. “It is nothing,” he +said, “you are getting experience. Only don’t +tackle that man again till you give me notice +beforehand.”</p> +<p>The next morning Bucks installed himself at +Goose Creek.</p> +<p>Goose Creek was a mere operating point and +besides the rough wooden station, with an attic +sleeping-room for the operator, boasted only a +house for the section crew––six men taken care of +by a China boy cook. East of the station stood +an old road ranch belonging to Leon Sublette. +For this, freight was at times unloaded and an Indian +trail to the south led through the sand-hills as +far as the Arickaree country. North of the river +greater sand-hills stretched as far as the eye could +reach. The long, marshy stretches of the Nebraska +River lost themselves on the eastern and +the western horizon and at times clouds of wild +fowl obscured the sun in their flight across the sky.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_134' name='page_134'></a>134</span></div> +<p>Dancing came down to the new station to complete +the instalment of the instruments and this +broke for a day or two the loneliness of the new +surroundings. Indeed, there was hardly time to +be lonely. The constant round of interest attending +the arrival of trains with their long halts, +visits from trappers living at the ranch who were +always ready to talk, and occasional calls from +friendly Pawnees from the south, together with +abundance of time for hunting the geese and ducks, +made the days go.</p> +<p>But one early summer morning Bucks woke +to an adventure not upon his daily programme. +He walked downstairs after dressing, and as +he stepped out on the platform the sand-hills +touched by the rising sun shone in the northwest +like mountains of gold. Looking at them he saw +to his surprise they were covered with black +objects that appeared to be moving.</p> +<p>Indians were first in his mind, and in his alarm +he ran all the way to the section-house where the +foreman, after a hasty study of the hills, explained +that the suspicious-looking objects were buffaloes.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_135' name='page_135'></a>135</span></div> +<p>This information only added to Bucks’s excitement. +The China boy cook, Lee Ong, at the +section-house appeared equally stirred at the +situation and, after running in and out of the +kitchen with much fluttering of cue and clattering +of wooden shoes, promised Bucks a buffalo +steak for dinner if he would bring in a hindquarter.</p> +<p>By the time Bucks had finished breakfast the +whole country to the north was black with buffaloes. +For hours they poured over the divide to +the delight of the astonished boy, and after a time +he wired Baxter at Medicine Bend that a herd of +at least one million buffaloes was crossing the railroad +at Goose Creek. As the grave despatcher +seemed not greatly excited by this intelligence, +Bucks followed up the story at intervals with +vivid details. A wag on the wire in Medicine +Bend played upon his enthusiasm by demanding +frequent bulletins, even going so far as to ask the +names of the leading buffaloes in the herd. When +he had got all the laughs possible for the office out +of the youthful operator, he wired Bucks that if +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_136' name='page_136'></a>136</span> +the herd should linger too long on the right-of-way +he must notify them that they would be +held as trespassers.</p> +<p>This message had hardly reached Goose Creek +when the China boy came running into the telegraph +office. His eyes were staring, and his face +was greenish-white with fright. “Indians!” he +exclaimed, running to Bucks’s side and dashing +back again to the west window.</p> +<p>Bucks sprang to his feet. “Where?”</p> +<p>Lee Ong pointed to the northern sand-hills. +Riding the broad slopes that led toward the river, +Bucks saw a long string of braves, evidently a +hunting party. The cook, beside himself with +fear, ran out of the station before Bucks could +stop him.</p> +<p>“Hi there, Lee,” cried the operator, running +after him. “Where are the section men?”</p> +<p>“Gone,” cried Lee Ong, not ceasing to run, +“all gone!” He pointed, with the words, to the +east.</p> +<p>“Tell them to bring the hand-car down here!”</p> +<p>“Too much gone,” shouted Ong. “Omaha!”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_137' name='page_137'></a>137</span></div> +<p>“Lee! Stop! Where are you going?”</p> +<p>Lee stopped only long enough to throw his right +arm and forefinger with an excited gesture toward +the west.</p> +<p>“San Francisco, San Francisco!” he cried.</p> +<p>“Why, Lee,” exclaimed Bucks running after him, +“hold on! You are crazy! San Francisco is fifteen +hundred miles from here.” This information did +not visibly move Ong. “Indian no good,” he +cried, pausing, but only long enough to wave both +hands wildly toward the sand-hills. “San Francisco +good. No some more cook here. Indian +come too quick”––Ong with his active finger girdled +the crown of his head in a lightning-like imitation +of a scalping knife––“psst! No good for +Ong!”</p> +<p>It would have seemed funny to Bucks if he had +not been already frightened himself. But if the +section men had fled with the hand-car it meant +he would have to face the Indians. Lee Ong, +running like mad, was already out of hearing, +and in any event Bucks had no wish to imperil +the poor China boy’s scalp with his own.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_138' name='page_138'></a>138</span></div> +<p>He turned an anxious eye toward the sand-hills. +Then realizing that on the platform he was exposing +himself needlessly, he hastened inside to his +key and called up Medicine Bend. It was only +a moment, but it seemed to the frightened operator +a lifetime before the despatcher answered. +Bucks reported the Indians and asked if there +were any freight trains coming that he could make +his escape on.</p> +<p>The despatcher answered that No. 11, the local +freight, was then due at Goose Creek and would +pick him up and carry him to Julesburg if he felt +in danger. Bucks turned with relief to the east +window and saw down the valley the smoke of the +freight already in sight. Never had a freight train +looked so good to his eyes as it did at that moment. +He hailed its appearance with a shout and +looked apprehensively back toward the sand-hills.</p> +<p>The activity in that direction was not reassuring. +The Indians, too, apparently had noticed +the smoke of No. 11 trailing on the horizon. A +conference followed, illustrated by frequent pointing +and violent gesticulating to indicate the coming +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_139' name='page_139'></a>139</span> +train. Then with a sudden resolve the whole +party rode rapidly out of the hills and down toward +the railroad.</p> +<p>Bucks’s heart misgave him as he watched. But +the cotton-woods growing along the river hid the +Indians from his eyes and he could not surmise +what they were doing. The information all went +to the despatcher, however, who, more experienced, +scented serious mischief when Bucks’s bulletins +now came in.</p> +<p>“Watch close,” he wired. “It looks as if they +were going to attack the train.”</p> +<p>The operator’s anxiety rose with the intimation. +He ran out of doors and down the track, +but he could neither hear nor see a thing except +the slow-moving train with the smoke puffing from +the awkward, diamond-stack locomotive moving +peacefully toward the cotton-woods that fringed +the eastern shore of Goose Creek. The very silence +seemed ominous. Bucks knew the Indians +were hidden somewhere in the cotton-woods and +felt that they could mean nothing but mischief. +He ran back to his key and reported.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_140' name='page_140'></a>140</span></div> +<p>“They will surely attack No. 11,” he wired. +“I will run across the bridge and warn them.”</p> +<p>“Where are the Indians?” demanded the despatcher.</p> +<p>“In the timber across the creek. I am starting.”</p> +<p>“Don’t be an idiot,” returned the despatcher, +with an expression of Western force and brevity. +“They will lift your hair before you get half-way +to the train. Stick to your key as long as you +can. If they start to cross the creek, leg it for +the ranch. Do you get me?”</p> +<p>Bucks, considerably flurried, answered that he +did, and the despatcher with renewed emphasis +reiterated his sharp inquiry. “Do you understand, +young fellow? If they start to cross the +creek, leg it for the ranch or you’ll lose your hair.”</p> +<p>Bucks strained his eyes looking for a sign of +movement across the bridge. The cotton-woods +swayed gently in the light breeze, but revealed +nothing of what they hid.</p> +<p>The freight train continued to crawl lazily along, +its crews quite unconscious of any impending fate. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_141' name='page_141'></a>141</span> +Bucks, smothering with excitement and apprehension, +saw the engine round the curve that led to +the trestle approach of the bridge. Then the trees +hid the train from his sight.</p> +<p>“What are they doing?” demanded the despatcher, +growing apprehensive himself. An appalling +crash from the woods electrified Bucks, +and the key rattled fast.</p> +<p>“They have wrecked the train,” he wired without +an instant’s hesitation. “I can hear the crash +of cars falling from the trestle.”</p> +<p>Before he could finish his message he heard also +the screech of an engine whistle. The next instant +the locomotive dashed out of the woods upon the +bridge at full speed and with cries of disappointment +and rage the savages rode out to the very +bank of the creek and into the water after it. +Bucks saw the sudden engine and thought at first +that the train had escaped. The next moment +he knew it had not. The engine was light: evidently +it had passed in safety the trap laid for +its destruction, but the cars following had left +the rails.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_142' name='page_142'></a>142</span></div> +<p>If confirmation of this conclusion had been +needed, it came when he ran out upon the platform +as the engine approached. Bucks waved +vigorous signals at it, but the ponderous machine +came faster instead of slower as it neared the +station, and, with Bucks vainly trying to attract +the attention of the engineman or fireman, the +locomotive thundered past at forty miles an +hour.</p> +<p>He caught one glimpse through the tender gangway +as the engine dashed by and saw both men in +the cab crouching in front of the furnace door to +escape the fancied bullets of the savages. Bucks +shouted, but knew he had been neither seen nor +heard, and, as the engine raced into the west, his +best chance of escape from an unpleasant situation +had disappeared almost before he realized it.</p> +<p>Each detail was faithfully reported to the despatcher, +who answered at once.</p> +<p>“Relief train,” he wired, “now making up with +a hundred men. Hold on as long as you can, but +take no chances. What are they doing? Can +you see or hear them?”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_143' name='page_143'></a>143</span></div> +<p>“They are yelling so you could hear them a +mile.”</p> +<p>“Scout around a little,” directed the despatcher, +“but don’t get caught.”</p> +<p>Bucks scouted around the room a little, but did +not venture this time farther than the windows. +He was growing very nervous. And the Indians, +unrestrained in their triumph, displayed themselves +everywhere without concealment. Helpless +to aid, Bucks was compelled to stand and see a +fleeing white man, the brakeman of the doomed +train, running for his life, cut down by the pursuers +and scalped before his eyes.</p> +<p>The horror and savagery of it sank deeply into +the boy’s heart and only the realization of his +utter inability to help kept him quiet. Tears of +fury coursed down his cheeks as he saw in the +distance the murdered man lying motionless on the +sand beside the track, and with shaking fingers he +reported the death to Medicine Bend.</p> +<p>“The relief train has started,” answered the +despatcher, “with Stanley, Scott, Sublette, Dancing, +and a hundred men.”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_144' name='page_144'></a>144</span></div> +<p>As the message came, Bucks heard shooting farther +up the creek and this continued at intervals +for some moments. It was sickening to hear, for +it meant, Bucks surmised, that another trainman +was being murdered.</p> +<p>Meantime the Indians that he could see were +smashing into the wrecked merchandise cars and +dragging the loot out upon the open prairie. Hats, +clothing, tobacco, provisions, camp supplies of +every sort, and musical instruments, millinery, +boots, and blankets were among the plunder. The +wearing apparel was tumbled out of the broken +cases and, arrayed in whatever they could seize, +the Indians paraded on their horses up and down +the east bank of the creek in fantastic show.</p> +<p>Some wore women’s hats, some crinoline hoop-skirts +over their shoulders; others brandished +boots and shirts, and one glistening brave swung +a banjo at arm’s-length over his flying horse’s +head. Another party of the despoilers discovered +a shipment of silks and satins. These they +dragged in bolts from the packing-cases and, tying +one end of a bolt of silk to their ponies’ tails, they +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_145' name='page_145'></a>145</span> +raced, yelling, in circles around the prairie with +the parti-colored silks streaming behind, the bolts +bobbing and jerking along the ground like rioting +garlands of a crazy May-pole dance. And, having +exhausted their ingenuity and robed themselves +in this wise in all manner of plunder, they set +fire to the wrecked train, singing and dancing in +high glee as the flames rose crackling above the +trees.</p> +<p>Bucks, with clenched hands, watched and prayed +for the arrival of the speeding relief train. The +moments passed with leaden feet and the train +had many miles to come. The despatcher continued +his encouraging messages, but did not cease +his words of caution, and, as the wreckage burned, +Bucks perceived the Indians were riding in great +numbers up the creek. Too late he realized what +it meant. They were looking for the ford and +were about to cross to his side.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_146' name='page_146'></a>146</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_XI' id='CHAPTER_XI'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2> +</div> +<p>He lost no time in sending a final word to the +despatcher before he started for safety, and his +call was sounding when he ran back to the key.</p> +<p>“Stanley’s train has passed Chimney Butte,” +said the despatcher. “Soon be with you.”</p> +<p>Words over the wire never sounded better to the +frightened boy than those words.</p> +<p>“The Indians are crossing the creek,” Bucks +answered. “Am off for the ranch.”</p> +<p>He closed the circuit and ran out on the platform. +The warriors had found the ford and the +horses of the head braves were already leading a +file across. Bucks threw one hurried look at them; +then, summoning his strength for an endurance +run, he started, with the station building between +him and the enemy, for the ranch.</p> +<p>He had hardly got under way when, as he +reached higher ground, he saw to his consternation +a party of Indians in the bottom land between +him and safety.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_147' name='page_147'></a>147</span></div> +<p>He was cut off. Hoping that he had not been +seen, he threw himself flat on the ground and, +turning about, crawled, behind a slight ridge that +afforded concealment, stealthily back toward +the station. The Indians up the creek had +crossed, but were riding away from the station +and toward the ranch, evidently bent on attacking +it next. The flames from the burning train +rose high above the creek. There seemed no +place to escape to and Bucks, creeping through +the sedge grass, got back to his key and called +the despatcher.</p> +<p>“Cut off from the ranch by a second party of +Indians. Will wait here for the train––where is it?”</p> +<p>A moment passed before the answer came. +“Less than ten miles from you. Passed Driftwood +Station at ten-forty.”</p> +<p>Bucks looked at his clock. Driftwood was ten +miles west. The hands stood at ten-forty-eight. +Surely, he concluded, they will be here by eleven +o’clock. Could he hold the station for twelve +minutes? Even a show of force he knew would +halt the Indians for an interval.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_148' name='page_148'></a>148</span></div> +<p>He hastily pushed such packages of freight as +lay in the store-room up to the various windows, +as slight barricades behind which he could hide +to shoot, and with much effort got the largest +packing-case against the platform door so they +could not rush him from the creek side. For the +twentieth time he looked over his revolver, placed +a little store of cartridges behind each shelter, and +peered again out of the windows. To his horror +he perceived that the two parties had joined and +were riding in a great half-circle down on the +station. Evidently the Indians were coming after +him before they attacked the ranch. He reported +to the despatcher, and an answer came instantly. +“Stanley should be within five miles. How close +are they?”</p> +<p>“Less than half a mile.”</p> +<p>“Have you got a gun?”</p> +<p>Bucks wired, “Yes.”</p> +<p>“Can you use it?”</p> +<p>“Expect I’ll have to.”</p> +<p>“Shoot the minute they get within range. +Never mind whether you hit anybody, bang away. +What are they doing?”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_149' name='page_149'></a>149</span></div> +<p>Bucks ran around the room to look. “Closing +in,” he answered briefly.</p> +<p>“Can’t you see the train?”</p> +<p>Bucks fixed his eyes upon the western horizon. +He never had tried so hard in his life to see anything. +Yet the sunshine reflected no sign of a +friendly smoke.</p> +<p>“Nothing in sight,” he answered; “I can’t hold +out much longer.”</p> +<p>Hastily closing his key he ran to the south window. +A dozen Indians, beating the alder bushes as +they advanced, doubtless suspecting that he lay +concealed in them, were now closest. He realized +that by his very audacity in returning to the +building he had gained a few precious moments. +But the nearest Indians had already reached open +ground, two hundred yards away, and through +their short, yelping cries and their halting on the +edge of the brake, he understood they were debating +how he had escaped and wondering whether +he had gone back into the station. He lay behind +some sacks of flour watching his foes closely. +Greatly to his surprise, his panic had passed and +he felt collected. He realized that he was fighting +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_150' name='page_150'></a>150</span> +for his life and meant to sell it as dearly as +possible. And he had resolved to shoot the instant +they started toward him.</p> +<p>From the table he heard the despatcher’s call, +but he no longer dared answer it. The Indians, +with a war-whoop, urged their ponies ahead and +a revolver shot rang from the station window. +It was followed almost instantly by a second and +a third. The Indians ducked low on their horses’ +necks and, wheeling, made for the willows. In +the quick dash for cover one horse stumbled and +threw his rider. The animal bolted and the Indian, +springing to his feet, ran like a deer after his +companions, but he did not escape unscathed. +Two shots followed him from the station, and the +Indian, falling with a bullet in his thigh, dragged +himself wounded into hiding.</p> +<p>A chorus of cries from far and near heralded the +opening of the encounter. Enraged by the repulse, +a larger number of Indians riding in opened +fire on the station and Bucks found himself target +for a fusillade of bullets. But protected by his +barricades he was only fearful of a charge, for +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_151' name='page_151'></a>151</span> +when the Indians should start to rush the station +he felt all would be over.</p> +<p>While he lay casting up his chances, and discharging +his revolver at intervals to make a showing, +the fire of the Indians slackened. This, Bucks +felt, boded no good, and reckless of his store of +cartridges he continued to blaze away whenever +he could see a bush moving.</p> +<p>It was at this moment that he heard the despatcher +calling him, and a message followed. “If +you are alive, answer me.”</p> +<p>Bucks ran to the key. The situation was hopeless. +No train was in sight as he pressed his fingers +on the button for the last time.</p> +<p>“Stopped their first advance and wounded one. +They are going to charge–––”</p> +<p>He heard a sharp chorus outside and, feeling +what it meant, sent his last word: “Good-by.” +From three sides of the open ground around the +building the Indians were riding down upon him. +Firing as fast as he could with any accuracy, he +darted from window to window, reaching the west +window last. As he looked out he saw up the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_152' name='page_152'></a>152</span> +valley the smoke of the approaching train and +understood from the fury of his enemies that they, +too, had seen it. But the sight of the train now +completely unnerved him. To lose his life with +help a few moments away was an added bitterness, +and he saw that the relief train would be too +late to save him.</p> +<p>He fired the last cartridge in his hot revolver +at the circling braves and, as he reloaded, the Indians +ran up on the platform and threw themselves +against the door. Fiendish faces peered through +the window-panes and one Indian smashed a sash +in with a war club.</p> +<p>Bucks realized that his reloading was useless. +The cartridges were, in fact, slipping through his +fingers, when, dropping his revolver, he drew Bob +Scott’s knife and backed up against the inner +office door, just as a warrior brandishing a hatchet +sprang at him.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_153' name='page_153'></a>153</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_XII' id='CHAPTER_XII'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2> +</div> +<p>Before Bucks had time to think, a second Indian +had sprung through the open window. A feeling +of helpless rage swept over him at being cornered, +defenceless; and, expecting every instant to +be despatched with no more consideration than if +he had been a rat, he stood at bay, determined not +to be taken alive.</p> +<p>For an instant his mind worked clearly and with +the rapidity of lightning. His life swept before +him as if he were a drowning man. In that horrible +moment he even heard his call clicking from +the despatcher. Of the two Indians confronting +him, half-naked and shining with war-paint, one +appeared more ferocious than the other, and +Bucks only wondered which would attack first.</p> +<p>He had not long to wait. The first brave raised +a war club to brain him. As Bucks’s straining eye +followed the movement, the second Indian struck +the club down. Bucks understood nothing from +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_154' name='page_154'></a>154</span> +the action. The quick, guttural words that followed, +the sharp dispute, the struggle of the first +savage to evade the second and brain the white +boy in spite of his antagonist––a lithe, active Indian +of great strength who held the enraged warrior +back––all of this, Bucks, bewildered, could +understand nothing of. The utmost he could surmise +was that the second warrior, from his dress +and manner of authority perhaps a chief, meant +to take him alive for torture. He watched the +contest between the two Indians until with force +and threats the chief had driven the warrior outside +and turned again upon him.</p> +<p>It was then that Bucks, desperate, hurled himself +knife in hand at the chief to engage him in +final combat. The Indian, though surprised, met +his onset skilfully and before Bucks could realize +what had occurred he had been disarmed and +tossed like a child half-way across the room.</p> +<p>Before he could move, the chief was standing +over him. “Stop!” he exclaimed, catching Bucks’s +arm in a grip of steel as the latter tried to drag +down his antagonist. “I am Iron Hand. Does a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_155' name='page_155'></a>155</span> +boy fight me?” he demanded with contempt in +every word. “See your knife.” He pointed to +the floor. “When I was wounded by the +Cheyennes you gave me venison. You have forgotten; +but the Sioux is not like the white man––Iron +Hand does not forget.”</p> +<p>A fusillade of shots and a babel of yelling from +outside interrupted his words. The chief paid no +attention to the uproar. “Your soldiers are here. +The building is on fire, but you are safe. I am +Iron Hand.”</p> +<p>So saying, and before Bucks could find his +tongue, the chief strode to the rear window, with +one blow of his arm smashed out the whole sash, +and springing lightly through the crashing glass, +disappeared.</p> +<p>Bucks, panting with confusion, sprang to his +feet. Smoke already poured in from the freight +room, and the crackling of flames and the sounds +of the fighting outside reminded Bucks of Iron +Hand’s words. He ran to the door.</p> +<p>The train had pulled up within a hundred feet +of the station and the railroad men in the coaches +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_156' name='page_156'></a>156</span> +were pouring a fire upon the Indians, under the +cover of which scouts were unloading, down a hastily +improvised chute, their horses, together with +those of such troopers as had been gathered hurriedly.</p> +<p>Bucks ran back into the office and opening his +wooden chest threw into it what he could of his +effects and tried to drag it from the burning +building out upon the platform. As he struggled +with the unwieldy box, two men ran up from +the train toward him, staring at him as if he +had been a ghost. He recognized Stanley and +Dancing.</p> +<p>“Are you hurt?” cried Stanley hastening to his +side.</p> +<p>“No,” exclaimed Bucks, his head still swimming, +“but everything will be burned.”</p> +<p>“How in the name of God, boy, have you +escaped?” demanded Stanley, as he clenched +Bucks’s shoulder in his hand. Dancing seized +the cumbersome chest and dragged it out of +danger. The Indians, jeering, as they retreated, +at the railroad men, made no attempt to continue +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_157' name='page_157'></a>157</span> +the attack, but rode away content with the destruction +of the train and the station.</p> +<p>Stanley, assured of Bucks’s safety, though he +wasted no time in waiting for an explanation of +it, directed the men to save what they could out +of the station––it was too late to save the building––and +hurried away to see to the unloading of +the horses.</p> +<p>Bill Dancing succeeded in rescuing the telegraph +instruments and with Bucks’s help he got the +wires rigged upon a cracker-box outside where the +operator could report the story to the now desperate +despatcher. The scouts and troopers were +already in the saddle and, leading the way for the +men, gave chase across the bottoms to the Indians.</p> +<p>Bob Scott, riding past Bucks reined up for a +moment. “Got pretty warm for you, Bucks––eh? +How did you get through?”</p> +<p>Bucks jumped toward him. “Bob!” he exclaimed, +grasping his arm. “It was Iron Hand.”</p> +<p>“Iron Hand!” echoed Bob, lifting his eyebrows. +“Brulés, then. It will be a long chase. What did +he say?”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_158' name='page_158'></a>158</span></div> +<p>“Why, we talked pretty fast,” stammered +Bucks. “He spoke about the venison but never +said a blamed word about my fixing his arm.”</p> +<p>Bob laughed as he struck his horse and galloped +on to pass the news to Stanley. A detail was +left to clear the cotton-woods across the creek +and guard the railroad men against possible attack +while clearing the wreck. The body of the unfortunate +brakeman was brought across the bridge +and laid in the baggage car and a tent was pitched +to serve as a temporary station for Bucks.</p> +<p>While this was being done, Bob Scott, who had +ridden farthest up the creek, appeared leading his +horse and talking to a white man who was walking +beside him. He had found the conductor of the +wrecked train, Pat Francis, who, young though +he was, had escaped the Indians long enough to +reach a cave in the creek bank and whose rifle +shots Bucks had heard, while Francis was holding +the Sioux at bay during the fight. The plucky +conductor, who was covered with dust, was +greeted with acclamations.</p> +<p>“He claims,” volunteered Scott, speaking to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_159' name='page_159'></a>159</span> +Stanley, “he could have stood them off all +day.”</p> +<p>Francis’s eyes fell regretfully on the dead brakeman. +“If that boy had minded what I said and +come with me he would have been alive now.”</p> +<p>The wrecking train, with a gang of men from +Medicine Bend, arrived late in the afternoon, and +at supper-time a courier rode in from Stanley’s +scouting party with despatches for General Park. +Stanley reported the chase futile. As Bob Scott +had predicted, the Brulés had burned the ranch +and craftily scattered the moment they reached +the sand-hills. Instead of a single trail to follow, +Stanley found fifty. Only his determination to give +the Indians a punishment that they would remember +held the pursuing party together, and three days +afterward he fought a battle with the wily raiders, +surprised in a canyon on the Frenchman River, +which, though indecisive, gave Iron Hand’s band +a wholesome respect for the stubborn engineer.</p> +<p>The train service under the attacks of the Indians +thus repeated, fell into serious demoralization, +and an armed guard of regular soldiers rode all +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_160' name='page_160'></a>160</span> +trains for months after the Goose Creek attack. +Bucks was given a guard for his own lonely and +exposed position in the person of Bob Scott, the +man of all men the young operator would have +wished for. And at intervals he read from his +favorite novel to the scout, who still questioned +whether it was a true story.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_161' name='page_161'></a>161</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_XIII' id='CHAPTER_XIII'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2> +</div> +<p>With Bob Scott to lead an occasional hunting +trip, Bucks found the time go fast at Goose Creek +and no excitement came again until later in the +summer.</p> +<p>Where Goose Creek breaks through the sand-hills +the country is flat, and, when swollen with +spring rains, the stream itself has the force and +fury of a mountain river. Then summer comes; +the rain clouds hang no longer over the Black +Hills, continuing sunshine parches the face of the +great plains, and the rushing and turbulent Goose +Creek ignominiously evaporates––either ascending +to the skies in vapor or burrowing obscurely under +the sprawling sands that lie within its course. +Only stagnant pools and feeble rivulets running +in widely separated channels––hiding under osiers +or lurking within shady stretches of a friendly +bank––remain to show where in April the noisy +Goose engulfs everything within reach of its foaming +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_162' name='page_162'></a>162</span> +wings. The creek bed becomes in midsummer +a mere sandy ford that may be crossed by a +child––a dry map that prints the running feet of +snipe and plover, the creeping tread of the mink +and the muskrat, and the slouching trail of the +coyote and the wolf.</p> +<p>Yet there is treachery in the Goose even in its +apparent repose, and the unwary emigrant sometimes +comes to grief upon its treacherous bed. +The sands of the Goose have swallowed up more +than one heedless buffalo, and the Indian knows +them too well to trust them at all.</p> +<p>When the railroad bridge was put across the +creek, the difficulties of securing it were very considerable +and Brodie, the chief engineer, was in +the end forced to rely upon temporary foundations. +Trainmen and engineers for months carried +“slow” orders for Goose Creek bridge, and +Bucks grew weary with warnings from the despatchers +to careless enginemen about crossing it.</p> +<p>Among the worst offenders in running his engine +too fast over Goose Creek bridge was Dan +Baggs, who, breathing fire through his bristling +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_163' name='page_163'></a>163</span> +red whiskers and flashing it from his watery blue +eyes, feared nobody but Indians, and obeyed reluctantly +everybody connected with the railroad. +Moreover, he never hesitated to announce that +when “they didn’t like the way he ran his engine +they could get somebody else to run it.”</p> +<p>Baggs’s great failing was that, while he often ran +his train too fast, he wasted so much time at stations +that he was always late. And it was said of +him that the only instance in which he ever reached +the end of his division on time was the day he ran +away from Iron Hand’s band of Sioux at Goose +Creek––on that occasion he had made, without a +doubt, a record run.</p> +<p>But when, one hot afternoon in August, Baggs +left Medicine Bend with a light engine for Fort +Park, where he was to pick up a train-load of ties, +he had no thought of making further pioneer railroad +history. His engine had been behaving so +well that his usual charges of inefficiency against +it had not for a long time been registered with the +roundhouse foreman, and Dan Baggs, dreaming in +the heat and sunshine of nothing worse than losing +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_164' name='page_164'></a>164</span> +his scalp to the Indians or winning a fortune +at cards––gambling was another of his failings––was +pounding lightly along over the rails when +he reached, without heeding it, Goose Creek +bridge.</p> +<p>There were those who averred that after his +experience with Iron Hand he always ran faster +across the forbidden bridge than anywhere else. +On this occasion Baggs bowled merrily along the +trestle and was getting toward the middle of the +river when the pony trucks jumped the rail and +the drivers dropped on the ties. Dan Baggs yelled +to his fireman.</p> +<p>It was unnecessary. Delaroo, the fireman, a +quiet but prudent fellow, was already standing in +the gangway prepared for an emergency. He +sprang, not a minute too soon, from the engine +and lighted in the sand. But Dan Baggs’s fixed +habit of being behind time chained him to his +seat an instant too long. The bulky engine, with +its tremendous impetus, shot from the trestle and +plunged like a leviathan clear of the bridge and +down into the wet sand of the creek-bed.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_165' name='page_165'></a>165</span></div> +<p>The fireman scrambled to his feet and ran forward, +expecting to find his engineman hurt or +killed. What was his surprise to behold Baggs, +uninjured, on his feet and releasing the safety-valve +of his fallen locomotive to prevent an explosion. +The engine lay on its side. The crash +of the breaking timbers, followed by a deafening +blast of escaping steam, startled Bucks and, with +Bob Scott, he ran out of the station. As he saw +the spectacle in the river, he caught his breath. +He lived to see other wrecks––some appalling +ones––but this was his first, and the shock of seeing +Dan Baggs’s engine lying prone in the river, +trumpeting forth a cloud of steam, instead of +thundering across the bridge as he normally saw +it every day, was an extraordinary one.</p> +<p>Filled with alarm, he ran toward the bridge +expecting that the worst had happened to the +engineman and fireman. But his amazement +grew rather than lessened when he saw Delaroo +and Baggs running for their lives toward him. +He awaited them uneasily.</p> +<p>“What’s the matter?” demanded Bucks, as +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_166' name='page_166'></a>166</span> +Baggs, well in the lead, came within hailing distance.</p> +<p>“Matter!” panted Baggs, not slackening his +pace. “Matter! Look at my engine! Indians!”</p> +<p>“Indians, your grandmother!” retorted Bob +Scott mildly. “There’s not an Indian within +forty miles––what’s the matter with you?”</p> +<p>“They wrecked us, Bob,” declared Baggs, +pointing to his roaring engine; “see for yourself, +man. Them cotton-woods are full of Indians +right now.”</p> +<p>“Full of rabbits!” snorted Bob Scott. “You +wrecked yourself by running too fast.”</p> +<p>“Delaroo,” demanded Dan Baggs, pointing +dramatically at his taciturn fireman, who had +now overtaken him, “how fast was I running?”</p> +<p>Peter Delaroo, an Indian half-blood himself, returned +a disconcerting answer. “As fast as you +could, I reckon.” He understood at once that +Baggs had raised a false alarm to protect himself +from blame for the accident, and resented being +called upon to support an absurd story.</p> +<p>Baggs stood his ground. “If you don’t find an +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_167' name='page_167'></a>167</span> +Indian has done this,” he asserted, addressing +Bob Scott with indignation, “you can have my +pay check.”</p> +<p>“Yes,” returned Bob, meditatively. “I reckon +an Indian did it, but you are the Indian.”</p> +<p>“Come, stop your gabble, you boys!” blustered +the doughty engineman, speaking to everybody +and with a show of authority. “Bucks, notify +the despatcher I’m in the river.”</p> +<p>“Get back to your engine, then,” said Scott. +“Don’t ask Bucks to send in a false report. And +afterward,” suggested Scott, “you and I, Dan, +can go over and clean the Indians out of the +cotton-woods.”</p> +<p>Baggs took umbrage at the suggestion, and no +amount of chaffing from Scott disconcerted him, +but after Bucks reported the catastrophe to Medicine +Bend the wires grew warm. Baxter was very +angry. A crew was got together at Medicine +Bend, and a wrecking-train made up with a +gang of bridge and track men and despatched to +the scene of the disaster. The operating department +was so ill equipped to cope with any kind +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_168' name='page_168'></a>168</span> +of a wreck that it was after midnight before +the train got under way.</p> +<p>The sun had hardly risen next morning, when +Bob Scott, without any words of explanation, ran +into Bucks’s room, woke him hurriedly, and, bidding +him dress quickly, ran out. It took only a +minute for Bucks to spring from his cot and get +into his clothes and he hastened out of doors to +learn what the excitement was about. Scott was +walking fast down toward the bridge. Bucks +joined him.</p> +<p>“What is it, Bob?” he asked hastily. “Indians?”</p> +<p>“Indians?” echoed Bob scornfully. “I guess +not this time. I’ve heard of Indians stealing +pretty nearly everything on earth––but not this. +No Indian in this country, not even Turkey Leg, +ever stole a locomotive.”</p> +<p>“What do you mean?”</p> +<p>“I mean Dan Baggs’s engine is gone.”</p> +<p>Bucks’s face turned blank with amazement. +“Gone?” he echoed incredulously. He looked at +Scott with reproach. “You are joking me.”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_169' name='page_169'></a>169</span></div> +<p>“See if you can find it,” returned Scott tersely.</p> +<p>As they hastened on, Bucks looked to the spot +where the engine had lain the night before. It +was no longer there.</p> +<p>He was too stunned to ask further questions. +The two strode along the ties in silence. Eagerly +Bucks ran to the creek bank and scanned more +closely the sandy bed. It was there that the +wrecked engine and tender had lain the night before. +The sand showed no disturbance whatever. +It was as smooth as a table. But nothing was to +be seen of the engine or tender. These had disappeared +as completely as if an Aladdin’s slave, at +his master’s bidding, had picked them from their +resting place and set them on top of some distant +sand-hill.</p> +<p>“Bob,” demanded Bucks, breathless, “what +does it mean?”</p> +<p>“It means the company is out one brand-new +locomotive.”</p> +<p>“But what has happened?” asked Bucks, rubbing +his eyes to make sure he was not dreaming. +“Where is the engine?”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_170' name='page_170'></a>170</span></div> +<p>Scott pointed to the spot where the engine had +lain. “It is in that quicksand,” said he.</p> +<p>The engine, during the night, had, in fact, sunk +completely into the sand. No trace was left of +it or of its tender. Not a wheel or cab corner +remained to explain; all had mysteriously and +completely disappeared.</p> +<p>“Great Heavens, Bob!” exclaimed Bucks. +“How will they <i>ever</i> get it out?”</p> +<p>“The only way they’ll ever get it out, I reckon, +is by keeping Dan Baggs digging there till he digs +it out.”</p> +<p>“Dan Baggs never could dig that out––how +long would it take him?”</p> +<p>“About a hundred and seventy-five years.”</p> +<p>As Scott spoke, the two heard footsteps behind +them. Baggs and Delaroo, who had slept +at the section-house, were coming down the track. +“Baggs,” said Scott ironically, as the sleepy-looking +engineman approached, “you were right +about the Indians being in the cotton-woods last +night.”</p> +<p>“I knew I was right,” exclaimed Baggs, nodding +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_171' name='page_171'></a>171</span> +rapidly and brusquely. “Next time you’ll +take a railroad man’s word, I guess. Where are +they?” he added, looking apprehensively around. +“What have they done?”</p> +<p>“They have stolen your engine,” answered Scott +calmly. He pointed to the river bed. Baggs +stared; then running along the bank he looked +up-stream and down and came back sputtering.</p> +<p>“Why––what––how––what in time! Where’s +the engine?”</p> +<p>“Indians,” remarked Scott sententiously, looking +wisely down upon the sphinx-like quicksand. +“Indians, Dan. They must have loaded the engine +on their ponies during the night––did you +hear anything?” he demanded, turning to Bucks. +Bucks shook his head. “I thought I did,” continued +Scott. “Thought I heard something––what’s +that?”</p> +<p>Baggs jumped. All were ready to be startled +at anything––for even Scott, in spite of his irony, +had been as much astounded as any one at the +first sight of the empty bed of sand. It was +enough to make any one feel queerish. The noise +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_172' name='page_172'></a>172</span> +they heard was the distant rumble of the wrecking-train.</p> +<p>In the east the sun was bursting over the sand-hills +into a clear sky. Bucks ran to the station to +report the train and the disappearance of the engine. +When he had done this he ran back to the +bridge. The wrecking-train had pulled up near +at hand and the greater part of the men, congregated +in curious groups on the bridge, were +talking excitedly and watching several men down +on the sand, who with spades were digging vigorously +about the spot which Baggs and Delaroo +indicated as the place where the engine had fallen. +Others from time to time joined them, as they +scraped out wells and trenches in the moist sand. +These filled with water almost as rapidly as they +were opened.</p> +<p>Urged by their foreman, a dozen additional men +joined the toilers. They dug in lines and in circles, +singly and in squads, broadening their field of +prospecting as the laughter and jeers of their companions +watching from the bridge spurred them to +further toil. But not the most diligent of their +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_173' name='page_173'></a>173</span> +efforts brought to light a single trace of the missing +engine.</p> +<p>The wrecking crew was mystified. Many refused +to believe the engine had ever fallen off the +bridge. But there was the broken track! They +could not escape the evidence of their eyes, even +if they did scoff at the united testimony of the +two men that had been on the engine when it +leaped from the bridge and the two that had afterward +seen it lying in the sand.</p> +<p>The track and bridge men without more ado +set to work to repair the damage done the track +and bridge. A volley of messages came from +head-quarters. At noon a special car, with Colonel +Stanley and the division heads arrived to +investigate.</p> +<p>The digging was planned and directed on a +larger scale and resumed with renewed vigor. +Sheet piling was attempted. Every expedient was +resorted to that Stanley’s scientific training could +suggest to bring to light the buried treasure––for +an engine in those days, and so far from locomotive +works, was very literally a treasure to the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_174' name='page_174'></a>174</span> +railroad company. Stanley himself was greatly +upset. He paced the ties above where the men +were digging, directing and encouraging them doggedly, +but very red in the face and contemplating +the situation with increasing vexation. He stuck +persistently to the work till darkness set in. Meantime, +the track had been opened and the wrecking-train +crossed the bridge and took the passing track. +The moon rose full over the broad valley and the +silent plains. Men still moved with lanterns under +the bridge. Bucks, after a hard day’s work +at the key, was invited for supper to Stanley’s +car, where the foremen had assembled to lay new +plans for the morrow. But Bob Scott, when Bucks +told him, shook his head.</p> +<p>“They are wasting their work,” he murmured. +“The company is ‘out.’ That engine is half-way +to China by this time.”</p> +<p>It might, at least, as well have been, as far as +the railroad company was concerned. The digging +and sounding and scraping proved equally useless. +The men dug down almost as deep as the piling +that supported the bridge itself––it was in vain. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_175' name='page_175'></a>175</span> +In the morning the sun smiled at their efforts and +again at night the moon rose mysteriously upon +them, and in the distant sand-hills a thousand coyotes +yelped a requiem for the lost locomotive. +But no human eye ever saw so much as a bolt of +the great machine again.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_176' name='page_176'></a>176</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_XIV' id='CHAPTER_XIV'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2> +</div> +<p>The loss of the engine at Goose Creek brought +an unexpected relief to Bucks. His good work in +the emergency earned for him a promotion. He +was ordered to report to Medicine Bend for assignment, +and within a week a new man appeared +at Goose Creek to relieve him.</p> +<p>There was little checking up to do. Less than +thirty minutes gave Bucks time to answer all of +his successor’s questions and pack his trunk. He +might have slept till morning and taken a passenger +train to Medicine Bend, but the prospect of +getting away from Goose Creek at once was too +tempting to dismiss. A freight train of bridge +timbers pulled across the bridge just as Bucks was +ready to start. Pat Francis, the doughty conductor, +who, single-handed, had held Iron Hand’s +braves at bay, was in charge of the train. He offered +Bucks a bench and blanket in the caboose +for the night, and promised to have him in Medicine +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_177' name='page_177'></a>177</span> +Bend in the morning; Bucks, nothing loath, +accepted. His trunk was slung aboard and the +train pulled out for Medicine Bend.</p> +<p>The night proved unseasonably cold. Francis +built a blazing fire in the caboose stove and afterward +shared his hearty supper with his guest. +As the train thundered and rumbled slowly over +the rough track, the conductor, while Bucks +stretched out on the cushions, entertained him +with stories of his experiences on the railroad +frontier––not suspecting that before morning he +should furnish for his listener one of the strangest +of them.</p> +<p>Bucks curled up in his blanket late, but, in spite +of unaccustomed surroundings and the pitch and +lurch of the caboose, which was hardly less than +the tossing of a ship in a gale, Bucks dozed while +his companion and the brakeman watched. The +latter, a large, heavy fellow, was a busy man, as +the calls for brakes––and only hand-brakes were +then known––were continual. There were no other +passengers, and except for the frequent blasts of +the engine whistle the night passed quietly enough.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_178' name='page_178'></a>178</span></div> +<p>Bucks dreamed of fighting bears with Scuffy, +and found himself repeatedly rolling down precipitous +mountains without landing successfully +anywhere. Then he quieted into a heavy, unbroken +sleep and found himself among the hills +of Alleghany, hunting rabbits that were constantly +changing into antelope and escaping him. Fatigued +with his unceasing efforts, he woke.</p> +<p>A gray light, half dusk, revealed the outlines of +the cab interior, as he opened his eyes, and a thundering, +rumbling sound that rang in his ears and +seemed everywhere about him cleared his mind +and brought him back to his situation.</p> +<p>It was cold, and he looked at the stove. The +fire was out. On the opposite side of the cab the +brakeman lay on the cushions fast asleep. Outside, +the thundering noises came continuously from +everywhere at once. It did not occur to Bucks +that the caboose was standing still. It trembled +and vibrated more or less, but he noticed there +was no longer any lurching and thought they had +reached remarkably smooth track. They were +certainly not standing still, he assured himself, as +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_179' name='page_179'></a>179</span> +he rubbed his eyes to wake up. But perhaps they +might be in the yards at Medicine Bend, with +other trains rolling past them.</p> +<p>Somewhat confused he raised the curtain of the +window near him. The sky was overcast and day +was breaking. He rose higher on his elbow to +look more carefully. Everywhere that his eye +could reach toward the horizon the earth seemed +in motion, rising and falling in great waves. Was +it an earthquake? He rubbed his eyes. It seemed +as if everywhere thousands of heads were tossing, +and from this continual tossing and trampling +came the thunder and vibration. Moreover, the +caboose was not moving; of this he felt sure. +Amazed, and only half-awake, he concluded that +the train must have left the track and dropped +into a river. The uncertainty of his vision was +due, he now saw, to a storm that had swept the +plains. It was blowing, with a little snow, and in +the midst of the snow the mysterious waves were +everywhere rising and falling.</p> +<p>Bucks put the curtain completely aside. The +sound of his feet striking the floor aroused the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_180' name='page_180'></a>180</span> +conductor, who rose from his cushion with a +start. “I’ve been asleep,” he exclaimed, rubbing +his eyes. “Where are we, Bucks?”</p> +<p>“That is what I am trying to figure out.”</p> +<p>“Where is the brakeman?” demanded Francis. +As he asked the question he saw the big fellow +asleep in the corner. Francis shook him roughly. +“That comes of depending on some one else,” he +muttered to Bucks. “I went to sleep on his promise +to watch for an hour––he knew I had been up +all last night and told me to take a nap. You +see what happened. The moment I went to +sleep, he went to sleep,” exclaimed Francis in disgust. +“Wake up!” he continued brusquely to +the drowsy brakeman. “Where are we? What +have we stopped for? What’s all this noise?” +Though he asked the questions fast, he expected +no answer to any of them from the confused trainman +and waited for none. Instead, he threw up +a curtain and looked out. “Thunder and guns! +Buffaloes!” he cried, and seizing his lantern ran +out of the caboose door and climbed the roof-ladder. +Bucks was fast upon his heels.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_181' name='page_181'></a>181</span></div> +<p>The freight train stood upon a wide plain and +in the midst of thousands of buffaloes travelling +south. As far as their eyes could reach in all +directions, the astonished railroad men beheld a +sea of moving buffaloes. Without further delay +Francis, followed by Bucks, started along the running +boards for the head end of the train.</p> +<p>The conductor found his train intact; but when +he reached the head end he could find neither +engine, tender, nor crew. All had disappeared. +Running down the ladder of the head box-car, the +conductor examined the draw-bar for evidence of +an accident. The coupling was apparently uninjured +but the tender and engine were gone. +Francis, more upset than Bucks had ever seen +him, or ever afterward saw him, walked moodily +back to the caboose. What humiliated him more +than the strange predicament in which he found +himself was that he had trusted to a subordinate +and gone to sleep in his caboose while on duty.</p> +<p>“Serves me right,” he muttered, knitting his +brows. “Brakeman,” he added sternly, “take +your lantern and flags and get out behind. The +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_182' name='page_182'></a>182</span> +minute the buffaloes get across the track, go back +two hundred yards and protect us. I will watch +the head end. While these buffaloes are crossing +they will be protection enough. Soon as it is +daylight we will find out where we are.”</p> +<p>The snow continued falling and the buffaloes +drifted south with the storm, which was squally. +Every moment, as the sky and landscape lightened, +Francis, whom Bucks had followed forward, expected +to see the last of the moving herd. But an +hour passed and a second hour without showing +any gaps in the enormous fields. And the brighter +the daylight grew, the more buffaloes they could +see.</p> +<p>Francis stormed at the situation, but he could +do nothing. Finally, and as hope was deserting +him, he heard the distant tooting of an engine +whistle. It grew louder and louder until Bucks +could hear the ringing of a bell and the hissing +of the open cylinder cocks of a slow-moving +locomotive. Gaps could now be discerned in the +great herds of buffaloes, and through the blowing +snow the uncertain outlines of the backing +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_183' name='page_183'></a>183</span> +engine could dimly be seen. Francis angrily +watched the approaching engine, and, as soon as +it had cleared the last of the stumbling buffaloes +on the track, he walked forward to meet it and +greeted the engineman roughly.</p> +<p>“What do you mean by setting my train out +here on the main track in the middle of the night?” +he demanded ferociously, and those that knew Pat +Francis never wanted to add to his anger when +it was aroused.</p> +<p>“Don’t get excited,” returned Dan Baggs calmly, +for it was the redoubtable Baggs who held the +throttle. “I found I was getting short of water. +We are just coming to Blackwood Hill and I knew +I could never make Blackwood Siding with the +train. So I uncoupled and ran to the Blackwood +tank for water. We are all right now. Couple us +up. If I hadn’t got water, we should have been +hung up here till we got another engine.”</p> +<p>“Even so,” retorted Francis, “you needn’t have +been all night about it.”</p> +<p>“But when we started back there were about +ten million buffaloes on the track. If I had been +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_184' name='page_184'></a>184</span> +heading into them with the cow-catcher I shouldn’t +have been afraid. But I had to back into them, +and if I had crippled one it would have upset the +tender.”</p> +<p>“Back her up,” commanded Francis curtly, +“and pull us out of here.”</p> +<p>Meantime there was much excitement at the +despatchers’ office in Medicine Bend over the lost +train. It had been reported out of White Horse +Station on time, and had not reported at Blackwood. +For hours the despatcher waited vainly +for some word from the bridge timbers. When +the train reported at Blackwood Station, the +message of Francis explaining the cause of the +tie-up seemed like a voice from the tombs. But +the strain was relieved and the train made fast +time from Blackwood in. About nine o’clock in +the morning it whistled for the Medicine Bend +yards and a few moments later Bucks ran upstairs +in the station building to report for assignment.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_185' name='page_185'></a>185</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_XV' id='CHAPTER_XV'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XV</h2> +</div> +<p>He found Baxter needing a man in the office, and +Bucks was asked to substitute until Collins, the +despatcher who was ill, could take his trick again. +This brought Bucks where he was glad to be, directly +under Stanley’s eye, but it brought also +new responsibilities, and opened his mind to the +difficulties of operating a new and already over-taxed +line in the far West, where reliable men and +available equipment were constantly at a premium.</p> +<p>The problem of getting and keeping good men +was the hardest that confronted the operating +department, and the demoralization of the railroad +men from the life in Medicine Bend grew +steadily worse as the new town attracted additional +parasites. When Bucks, after his return, +took his first walk after supper up Front Street, +he was not surprised at this. Medicine Bend was +more than ten times as noisy, and if it were possible +to add any vice to its viciousness this, too, it +would seem, had been done.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_186' name='page_186'></a>186</span></div> +<p>As was his custom, he walked to the extreme +end of Front Street and turning started back for +the station, when he encountered Baxter, the chief +despatcher. Baxter saw Bucks first and spoke.</p> +<p>“I thought you were taking your sleep at this +time,” returned Bucks, greeting him.</p> +<p>“So I should be,” he replied, “but we are in +trouble. Dan Baggs is to take out the passenger +train to-night, and no one can find him. He is +somewhere up here in one of these dives and has +forgotten all about his engine. It is enough to +set a man crazy to have to run trains with such +cattle. Bucks, suppose you take one side of the +street while I take the other, and help me hunt +him up.”</p> +<p>“What shall we do?”</p> +<p>“Look in every door all the way down-street +till we find him. If we don’t get the fellow on his +engine, there will be no train out till midnight. +Say nothing to anybody and answer no questions; +just find him.”</p> +<p>Baxter started down the right-hand side of the +long street and Bucks took the left-hand side. It +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_187' name='page_187'></a>187</span> +was queer business for Bucks, and the sights that +met him at every turn were enough to startle one +stouter than he. He controlled his disgust and +ignored the questions sometimes hurled at him by +drunken men and women, intent only on getting +his eye on the irresponsible Baggs.</p> +<p>Half-way down toward the square he reached a +dance hall. The doors were spread wide open and +from within came a din of bad music, singing, and +noise of every kind.</p> +<p>Bucks entered the place with some trepidation. +In the rear of the large room was a raised platform +extending the entire width of it. At one end +of the platform stood a piano which a man pounded +incessantly and fiercely. Other performers were +singing and dancing to entertain a motley and disorderly +audience seated in a still more disorderly +array before them.</p> +<p>At the right of the room a long bar stretched +from the street back as far as the stage, and standing +in front of this, boisterous groups of men were +smoking and drinking, or wrangling in tipsy fashion. +The opposite side of the big room was given +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_188' name='page_188'></a>188</span> +over to gambling devices of every sort, and this +space was filled with men sitting about small +tables and others sitting and standing along one +side of long tables, at each of which one man was +dealing cards, singly, out of a metal case held in +his hand. Other men clustered about revolving +wheels where, oblivious of everything going on +around them, they watched with feverish anxiety +a ball thrown periodically into the disc by the +man operating the wheel.</p> +<p>Bucks walked slowly down the room the full +length of the bar, scanning each group of men +as he passed. He crossed the room behind the +chairs where the audience of the singers and dancers +sat. He noticed, when he reached this, the +difference in the faces he was scrutinizing. At the +gambling tables the men saw and heard nothing of +what went on about them. He walked patiently +on his quest from group to group, unobserved by +those about him, but without catching a sight of +the elusive engineman. As he reached the end +of the gambling-room, he hesitated for a moment +and had finished his quest when, drawn by curiosity, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_189' name='page_189'></a>189</span> +he stopped for an instant to watch the scene +about the roulette wheels.</p> +<p>Almost instantly he heard a sharp voice behind +him. “What are you doing here?”</p> +<p>Bucks, surprised, turned to find himself confronted +by the black-bearded passenger conductor, +David Hawk. Baxter’s admonition to say nothing +of what he was doing confused Bucks for an instant, +and he stammered some evasive answer.</p> +<p>Hawk, blunt and stern in word and manner, +followed the evasion up sharply: “Don’t you know +this is no place for you?” and before Bucks could +answer, Hawk had fixed him with his piercing eyes.</p> +<p>“You want to hang around a gambling-table, do +you? You want to watch how it is done and try +it yourself sometime? You want to see how much +smarter you can play the game than these sheep-heads +you are watching?</p> +<p>“Don’t talk to me,” he exclaimed sternly as +Bucks tried to explain. “I’ve seen boys in these +places before. I know where they end. If I +ever catch you in a gambling-den again I’ll throw +you neck and heels into the river.”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_190' name='page_190'></a>190</span></div> +<p>The words fell upon Bucks like a cloud-burst. +Before he could return a word or catch his breath +Hawk strode away.</p> +<p>As Bucks stood collecting his wits, Baggs, the +man for whom he was looking, passed directly +before his eyes. Bucks sprang forward, caught +Baggs by the arm, and led him toward the door, +as he gave him Baxter’s message. Baggs, listening +somewhat sheepishly, made no objection to +going down to take his train and walked through +the front door with Bucks out into the street.</p> +<p>As they did this, a red-faced man who was +standing on the doorstep seized Bucks’s sleeve +and attempted to jerk him across the sidewalk. +Bucks shook himself free and turned on his assailant. +He needed no introduction to the hard +cheeks, one of which was split by a deep scar. +It was Perry, Rebstock’s crony, whom Stanley had +driven out of Sellersville on the Spider Water.</p> +<p>“What are you doing around here interfering +with my business?” he demanded of Bucks +harshly. “I’ve watched you spying around. The +next time I catch you trying to pull a customer +out of my place, I’ll knock your head off.”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_191' name='page_191'></a>191</span></div> +<p>Bucks eyed the bully with gathering wrath. +He was already upset mentally, and taken so +suddenly and unawares lost his temper and his +caution. “If you do, it will be the last head +you knock off in Medicine Bend,” he retorted. +“When I find trainmen in your joint that are +needed on their runs, I’ll pull them out every +time. The safest thing you can do is to keep +quiet. If the railroad men ever get started after +you, you red-faced bully, they’ll run you and your +whole tribe into the river again.”</p> +<p>It was a foolish defiance and might have cost +him his life, though Bucks knew he was well within +the truth in what he said. Among the railroad +men the feeling against the gamblers was constantly +growing in bitterness. Perry instantly attempted +to draw a revolver, when a man who had +been watching the scene unobserved stepped close +enough between him and Bucks to catch Perry’s +eye. It was Dave Hawk again. What he had just +heard had explained things to him and he stood +now grimly laughing at the enraged gambler.</p> +<p>“Good for the boy,” he exclaimed. “Want to +get strung up, do you, Perry? Fire that gun just +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_192' name='page_192'></a>192</span> +once and the vigilantes will have a rope around +your neck in five minutes.”</p> +<p>Perry, though furious, realized the truth of +what Hawk said. He poured a torrent of abuse +upon Bucks, but made no further effort to use his +gun. The dreaded word “vigilantes” had struck +terror to the heart of a man who had once been +in their hands and escaped only by an accident.</p> +<p>“You know what he said is so, don’t you?” +laughed Hawk savagely. “What? You don’t?” +he demanded, as Perry tried to face him down. +“You’ll be lucky, when that time comes, if you +don’t get your heels tangled up with a telegraph +pole before you reach the river,” concluded Hawk +tauntingly.</p> +<p>“Let him keep away from me if he doesn’t want +trouble,” snarled the discomfited gambler, eying +Bucks threateningly. But he was plainly out-faced, +and retreated, grumbling, toward the dance-hall +steps.</p> +<p>Dan Baggs, at the first sign of hostilities, had +fled. Bucks, afraid of losing him, now followed, +leaving Hawk still abusing the gambler, but when +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_193' name='page_193'></a>193</span> +he overtook the engineman he found he was going, +as he had promised, straight to the roundhouse.</p> +<p>It was almost time for the night trick. Bucks +hastened upstairs to the despatchers’ office and reported +to Baxter, who had returned ahead of him +and was elated at Bucks’s success. Before the +young substitute took up his train-sheet, he told +the chief despatcher of how strangely the conductor, +Dave Hawk, had talked to him.</p> +<p>“He has a reason for it,” responded Baxter +briefly.</p> +<p>“What reason?”</p> +<p>“There is as good a railroad man as ever lived,” +said Baxter, referring to the black-bearded conductor. +“He is the master of us all in the handling +of trains. He could be anything anybody is +on this line to-day that he might want to be but +for one thing. If he hadn’t ruined his own life, +Dave Hawk could be superintendent here. He +knows whereof he speaks, Bucks.”</p> +<p>“What do you mean?”</p> +<p>“I mean he is a gambler. Did you hear the +shooting after I left you?”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_194' name='page_194'></a>194</span></div> +<p>“No, what was it?”</p> +<p>“It must have been while you were in Perry’s. +Not five minutes after we parted, a saloon-keeper +shot a woman down right in front of me; I was +standing less than ten feet from her when she fell,” +said the despatcher, recounting the incident. “But +I was too late to protect her; and I should probably +have been shot myself if I had tried to.”</p> +<p>“Was the brute arrested?”</p> +<p>“Arrested! Who arrests anybody in this town?”</p> +<p>“How long is this sort of thing going on?” asked +Bucks, sitting down and signing a transfer.</p> +<p>“How long!” echoed the despatcher, taking up +his hat to go to his room. “I don’t know how +long. But when their time comes––God help that +crowd up Front Street!”</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_195' name='page_195'></a>195</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_XVI' id='CHAPTER_XVI'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI</h2> +</div> +<p>Following Collins’s return to duty, Bucks was +assigned to a new western station, Point of Rocks. +It was in the mountains and where Casement, now +laying five and even six miles of track a day, had +just turned over a hundred and eighty miles to +the operating department. Bucks, the first operator +ever sent to the lonely place afterward famous +in railroad story, put his trunk aboard a +freight train the next morning and started for his +destination.</p> +<p>The ride through the mountains was an inspiration. +A party of army officers and their wives, +preferring to take the day run for the scenery, +were bound for one of the mountain posts, Fort +Bridger, and they helped to make the long day +journey in the cabin car, with its frequent stops +and its laborious engine-puffing over the mountain +grades, a pleasant one. The women made +coffee on a cabin stove and Bucks, the only other +passenger, was invited to lunch with them.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_196' name='page_196'></a>196</span></div> +<p>When the train stopped at Point of Rocks and +Bucks got off, the sun was setting, and though the +thin, clear air brought the distant mountains very +close, the prospect was not a cheerful one. In +every direction mountain ranges, some brown and +others snow-capped, rose upon the horizon. Where +the railroad line made a tortuous way among the +barren buttes that dotted the uneven plain all +about, there was not a spear of grass nor a living +thing except the stunted sage-brush of the alkali +plain. In the midst of this desert a great upheaval +of granite rock thrown squarely across the direct +path of the railroad opposed its straight course +and made a long reverse curve necessary. This +was Point of Rocks.</p> +<p>“You,” said Stanley once to Bucks, “may +live to see this railroad built across these mountains +as it should be built. There will be no +sharp curves then, no heavy grades such as +these our little engines have to climb now. Great +compound locomotives will pull trains of a hundred +cars up grades of less than one per cent and +around two and three degree curves. These high +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_197' name='page_197'></a>197</span> +wooden bridges will all be replaced by big rock +and earth fills. Tunnels will pierce the heights +that cannot be scaled by easy grades, and electric +power supplied by these mountain streams themselves +will take the place of steam made by coal +and hauled hundreds of miles to give us costly +motive power. You may live, Bucks, to see all of +this; I shall not. When it comes, think of me.”</p> +<p>But there was no thought now in Bucks’s mind +of what the future might bring to that forbidding +desert. He saw only a rude station building, just +put up, and as the train disappeared, he dragged +into this his trunk and hand-bag, and in that act +a new outpost of civilization was established in the +great West.</p> +<p>He called up Medicine Bend, reported, lighted +a fire in the little stove, and the spot in the desert +known now to men as Point of Rocks for the first +time in the story of the world became a part of +it––was linked to the world itself.</p> +<p>But the place was lonely beyond words, and +Bucks had a hard time to keep it from being too +much so for him. He walked at different times over +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_198' name='page_198'></a>198</span> +the country in every direction, and one night after +a crudely prepared supper he strolled out on the +platform, desperate for something to do. Desolation +marked the landscape everywhere. He +wandered aimlessly across the track and seeing +nothing better to interest him began climbing +Point of Rocks.</p> +<p>The higher he climbed the more absorbed he +became. Youth and strength lent ardor to the +ascent, and Bucks, soon forgetting everything +below, was scaling the granite pile that towered +above him. For thirty minutes, without a halt, he +continued to climb, and reaching after a while +what seemed the highest ledge of the rocky spur, +he walked out upon it to the very edge and was +rewarded for his labor with a magnificent panorama +of the mountain divide.</p> +<p>In the west the sky was still golden and, though +clouds appeared to be banking heavily in the +north, the view of the distant peaks was unobstructed. +From where he sat he could almost +have thrown a stone into one tiny mountain +stream that cut a silver path toward the setting +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_199' name='page_199'></a>199</span> +sun, and another, a hundred yards away, that +flowed gently toward the rising sun. And he +knew––for Bill Dancing had told him––that the +one rill emptied at last into the Pacific Ocean, +and the other into the Atlantic Ocean. Alongside +these tiny streams he could plainly trace the overland +trail of the emigrant wagons, and, cutting in +straighter lines, but following the same general direction, +lay the right-of-way of the new transcontinental +railroad.</p> +<p>Beyond, in every direction, stretched great plateaus, +and above these rugged mountain chains, +lying in what seemed the eternal solitude of the +vast desert. He was alone with the sunset, and +stood for some moments silenced by the scene +before him. When a sound did at length reach +his ear as he sat spellbound, it brought him back +to himself with the suddenness of a shock.</p> +<p>At first he heard only distant echoes of a short, +muffled blow, irregularly repeated and seeming +familiar to the ear. As he speculated upon what +the sound might be, it grew gradually plainer and +came seemingly nearer. He bent his eyes down +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_200' name='page_200'></a>200</span> +the valley to the west and scanned the wagon-trail +and the railroad track as far as he could in +the dusk, but could see nothing. Then the muffle +of the sound was at once lifted. It came from +the other direction, and, turning his eyes, he saw +emerging from a small canyon that hid the trail +to the east, a covered emigrant wagon, drawn by +a large team of horses and driven by a man sitting +in front of the hood, making its way slowly +up the road toward the station.</p> +<p>The heavy play of the wheel-hubs on the axles +echoed now very plainly upon his ears, and he sat +watching the outfit and wondering whether the +travellers would camp for the night near him and +give him what he craved most of all, a little human +society. The horses passed the station, and as +they did so, the driver peered intently at the new +building, looking back around the side of the +canvas cover, and straining his neck to see all he +could see, while the horses moved along.</p> +<p>This would have seemed to Bucks mere idle +curiosity had he not noticed that some one within +the wagon parted the canvas flaps at the rear as +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_201' name='page_201'></a>201</span> +it went by and likewise inspected the building +with close attention. Even this was no especial +incident for wonderment, nor was Bucks surprised +when the emigrants, after pursuing their way until +they were well out of sight of the station itself, +guided their wagon from the trail into a little depression +along the creek as if to make camp for +the night. The driver, a tall, thin man, wearing +a slouch hat, got down from the front of the +wagon and walked with a shambling gait to the +head of his horses and loosened their bridles. +While the horses were drinking, a second man, +carrying a rifle, climbed down from the rear of +the wagon. He was of a shorter and stockier +build, and on one side the brim of his soft hat +had been torn away so that it hung loosely over +one ear, the other ear being covered only by a +shock of dusty hair.</p> +<p>A third man emerged from under the canvas +cover, dropping down almost behind the second––a +fat man who looked about him with suspicion +as he slowly drew a rifle out of the wagon. The +driver joined his companions for a brief conference, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_202' name='page_202'></a>202</span> +and when it was finished the three men, examining +their rifles, walked back up the road toward the +station. As they neared it, two of them loitered +back and presently took their places behind convenient +rocks where, without being seen, they +could see everything. The third man, the driver, +carrying his rifle on his arm, walked ahead, crossed +the road, and, proceeding with some care, stepped +up on the platform and pushed open the door of +the station building.</p> +<p>Bucks, perched high on the rocky spur above +the scene, looked on, not knowing just what to +make of it all. As he saw the two men conceal +themselves, he wondered what sort of a call the +third man intended making on the new agent, and +why he should leave two armed men close at hand +in ambush when calling on one lone telegraph +operator. Bucks began to feel a bit creepy and +watched the scene unfolding below with keen attention. +The driver of the wagon getting no response +as he opened the door, walked inside, and +for a moment was not seen. He soon reappeared, +and, stepping to the side of the building signalled +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_203' name='page_203'></a>203</span> +his companions to come up. Bucks saw them +emerge from their hiding-places and join the driver +at the station door.</p> +<p>A second conference followed. It was briefer +than the first, but there seemed some difference +of opinion among the three men, and the talk +terminated abruptly by the driver’s clubbing his +rifle and deliberately smashing in the sash of the +window before which he was standing.</p> +<p>Whatever had held Bucks spellbound thus far +released him suddenly for action when he saw the +rifle-stock raised and heard the crash of the glass. +He jumped up, and running to the edge of the +ledge nearest the station yelled at the marauder +and shook his finger at him vigorously. The attack +on his habitation was too much for Bucks’s +composure, and, although he knew his words could +not be heard from where he stood, he felt he +could frighten the intruders.</p> +<p>This was his second mistake. No sooner had +his visitors sighted him than two guns were turned +on him and instantly fired. He jumped back before +the fat man, who, slower than his companions, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_204' name='page_204'></a>204</span> +had some difficulty in shooting so high above +his head, could get his gun up. Afterward, +Bucks learned how providential this was, inasmuch +as the big fellow was the deadliest shot of +the three.</p> +<p>But at the moment, danger was the last thing +the operator thought of. The unprovoked and +murderous attack infuriated him, and again forgetting +his caution he drew his own revolver without +hesitation, and, running to a more protected +spot, leaned over the ledge and fired point-blank +into the group, as they looked up to see what had +become of him.</p> +<p>If it had been his intention to hit any one of them +with his bullets, his shooting was a failure and +some experience in after years among men practised +in gunnery convinced him that to aim at +three men is not the right way to hit one.</p> +<p>But if he had meant only to create a sensation +his move was successful beyond his greatest expectation. +Had a bomb been exploded on the +platform the marauders could not have scattered +more quickly. Bucks never in his life had seen +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_205' name='page_205'></a>205</span> +three men move so fast. The fat man, indeed, +had given Bucks the impression of being heavy +and slow in his movements. He now made a +surprising exhibition of agility, and Bucks to +his astonishment, saw him distancing his leaner +companions and sprinting for the shelter at a +pace that would have made a jack-rabbit take +notice.</p> +<p>Bucks, somewhat keyed up, fired twice again +at the fleeing men, but with no more effect than +to kick up the dust once behind and once ahead +of them as they ran. The instant they reached +the rocks where they found shelter Bucks drew +back out of sight, and none too soon, for as he +pulled himself away from the ledge, a rifle cracked +viciously from below and the slug threw a chunk +of granite almost up into his face; the fat man +was evidently having his innings.</p> +<p>Bucks, out of immediate danger, lay perfectly +still for a few moments casting up the strange +situation he found himself in. Why the men +should have acted as they had, was all a mystery, +but thieves or outlaws they evidently were, and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_206' name='page_206'></a>206</span> +outlaws in this country he already well knew were +men who would stop at nothing.</p> +<p>He realized, likewise, that he was in grave danger. +The night was before him. No train would +be through before morning. He could not reach +his key by which he might have summoned aid +instantly. For a moment he lay thinking. Then +taking off his hat he stuck his head carefully forward; +it was greeted at once by a bullet. The +lesson was obvious and next time he wanted to +reconnoitre he stuck his hat forward first on the +muzzle of his gun, as he had often read of frontiersmen +doing, and, having drawn a shot, stuck +his head out afterward for a quick look. All that +remained in the open was the team and wagon, +but this left the outlaws at a disadvantage, for +if they wanted to get their outfit and go on their +way they must expose themselves to Bucks’s fire. +While they might feel that one operator, armed +with a revolver he hardly knew how to use, was +not a dangerous foe, a Colt’s, even in the hands of +a boy who had thus far fired first and aimed afterward, +was not wholly to be despised. An accident +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_207' name='page_207'></a>207</span> +might happen even under such conditions, +and the three men, knowing that darkness would +soon leave them free, waited in absolute silence.</p> +<p>Night fell very soon and the light of the stars, +though leaving objects visible upon the high ledge, +left the earth in impenetrable darkness. Strain +his eyes as he would, Bucks could perceive nothing +below. He could hear, however, and one of +the first sounds audible was that of the wagon +moving quietly away. It was a welcome sound, +even though he dared not hope his troublesome +visitors would withdraw without further mischief. +His chief concern at this juncture was to get safely, +if he could, down the rocks and into the station +to give the alarm to the despatcher; for he made +no doubt that the outlaws, on their wagon trip +west, would damage in any way they might be able +railroad supplies and property along their way.</p> +<p>Before Bucks had climbed down very far and +after he had made one or two startling missteps, +he began to consider that it was one thing to get +up a rough arête in daylight and quite another +to get down one in the darkness. The heavy +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_208' name='page_208'></a>208</span> +clouds moving down from the north had massed +above Point of Rocks, and he heard once in a +while an ominous roll of thunder, as he slipped +and slid along and bruised his hands and feet +upon the rocks.</p> +<p>He had with great care got about half-way +down, when the pitch darkness below him was +pierced by a small flame which he took at first +for the blaze of a camp fire. In another moment +he was undeceived. The station was on fire. It +was evidently the last effort of the outlaws to +wreak vengeance as they left. Bucks clambered +over the rocks in great alarm. He thought he +might reach the building in time to save it, and, +forgetting the danger of being shot should his +enemies remain lying in wait, he made his way +rapidly down the Point. The flames now burst +from the east window of the station, and he despaired +of saving it, but he hurried on until he +heard the crack of a rifle, felt his cap snatched +from his head and fell backward against the face +of the rock. As he lost consciousness he slipped +and rolled headlong down the steep ledge.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_209' name='page_209'></a>209</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_XVII' id='CHAPTER_XVII'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2> +</div> +<p>How long Bucks lay in the darkness he did not +know, but he woke to consciousness with thunder +crashing in his ears and a flood of rain beating +on his upturned face. When he opened his eyes +he was blinded by sheets of lightning trembling +across the sky, and he turned his face from the +pelting rain until he could collect himself.</p> +<p>While he lay insensible from the shock of the +bullet, which providentially had only grazed his +scalp, the storm had burst over the mountains +drowning everything before it. Water fell in torrents, +and the desert below him was one wide +river. Water danced and swam down the rocks +and ran in broad, shallow waves over the sand, +and the scene was light as day. Thunder peals +crashed one upon another like salvoes of artillery, +deafening and alarming the confused boy, and the +rain poured without ceasing. Continuing waves +of lightning revealed the railroad and station +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_210' name='page_210'></a>210</span> +building before him and he realized that he had +fallen the rest of the way down from where he +had been fired at on the face of the Point.</p> +<p>He took quick stock of his condition and, rising +to his feet, found himself only sore and bruised. +He pressed his way through the flood to the track, +gained the platform, and, judging rightly that his +assailants had abandoned their fight, entered the +half-burned building unafraid. Rain poured in +one corner where the roof had burned away before +the storm had put out the fire.</p> +<p>Stumbling through the débris that covered the +floor, Bucks made his way to the operator’s table +and put his hand up to cut in the lightning arrester. +He was too late. The fire had taken +everything ahead of him, and his hope of getting +into communication with the despatchers was next +dashed by the discovery that his instruments +were wrecked.</p> +<p>He sat down––his chair was intact––much disheartened. +But without delay he opened the +drawer of the table and feeling for his box of +cartridges found that the thieves had overlooked +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_211' name='page_211'></a>211</span> +it. This he slipped into his pocket with a feeling +of relief, and, as he sat, rain-soaked and with the +water dripping from his hair, he reloaded his revolver +and made such preparations as he could to +barricade the inner door and wait for the passing +of the storm.</p> +<p>From time to time, awed by the fury of the +elements, he looked into the night. It seemed as +if the valley as far as he could see was a vast +lake that rippled and danced over the rocks. +Bucks had never conceived of a thunderstorm like +this. Until it abated there was nothing he could +do, and he sat in wretched discomfort, hour after +hour, waiting for the night to pass and listening +to the mighty roar of the waters as they swept +broadside down the divide carrying everything +ahead of them. Before daylight the violence of +the storm wore itself away, but the creek in the +little canyon south of the right-of-way, dashing its +swollen bulk against the granite walls, pounded and +roared with the fury of a cataract.</p> +<p>When day broke, ragged masses of gray cloud +scudded low across the sky. The rain had ceased, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_212' name='page_212'></a>212</span> +and in the operator’s room Bucks, aided by the +first rays of daylight, was struggling to get the +telegraph wires disentangled to send a message. +His hopes, as the light increased and he saw the +ruin caused by the fire, were very slender, but he +kept busily at the wreckage and getting, at +length, two severed strands of the wires to show +a current, began sending his call, followed by a +message for help to Medicine Bend. He worked +at this for thirty minutes unceasingly, then, looking +around on every side of the building, he satisfied +himself that he was alone and, dropping +down at his table, leaned upon it with his elbows, +and, tired, wet, and begrimed, fell fast asleep.</p> +<p>He was roused by the distant whistle of a locomotive. +Opening his eyes, he saw the sun +streaming through the east side of the building +where the window casement had burned away. +Shaking off the heaviness of his slumber he hastened +out to see an engine and box-car coming +from the east. From the open door of the car +men were waving their hats. Bucks answered by +swinging his arm.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_213' name='page_213'></a>213</span></div> +<p>The engine stopped before the station and Bob +Scott, followed by Dancing, Dave Hawk, and the +train crew sprang from the caboose steps and surrounded +him. They had brought two horses and +Bucks saw that all the men were armed. It took +only a minute to tell the story, and the party +scattered to view the destruction and look for +clues to the perpetrators.</p> +<p>Scott and Dancing were especially keen in their +search, but they found nothing to suggest who +the vandals were. They listened again to Bucks, +as he repeated his story with more detail, and held +a hurried conference in which Dave Hawk took +charge. Meantime the men were tearing up planks +from the platform to make a chute for unloading +the horses.</p> +<p>Bucks’s excitement increased as he saw the businesslike +preparations for the chase. “Have you +any idea you can catch them, Bob?” he asked +feverishly.</p> +<p>Bob Scott’s smile was not a complete answer. +“How can you catch anybody in <i>this</i> country?” +continued Bucks, regarding the scout sceptically. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_214' name='page_214'></a>214</span> +But Scott looked across the interminable waste of +sage-brush and rock as if he felt at home with it.</p> +<p>“If they stick to the wagon,” he explained +leisurely, “we will have them in an hour or two, +Bucks. A man might as well travel around here +with a brass band as to try to get away with a +wagon track behind him. If they stick to the +wagon, we are bound to have them in two or three +hours at most. You are sure they didn’t have a +led horse?”</p> +<p>“They had nothing but the team,” said Bucks.</p> +<p>“In that case if they give up the wagon, three +of them will have to ride two horses. They can’t +go fast in that way. We will get some of them, +Bucks, sure––somehow, sometime, somewhere. +We have got to get them. How could I hold my +job if I didn’t get them?”</p> +<p>That which had seemed impossible to Bucks +looked more hopeful after Bob had smiled again. +Dancing was busy installing the new telegraph +outfit. While this was going on, Scott saddled the +horses and, when he and Dave Hawk had mounted, +the two rode rapidly down the emigrant trail +toward Bitter Creek. The train was held until +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_215' name='page_215'></a>215</span> +Dancing could get the instruments working again; +then, at Hawk’s request, it was sent down the +Bitter Creek grade after himself and Scott; the +trail followed the railroad for miles. Dancing remained +with Bucks to guard against further attack.</p> +<p>The two railroad men rode carefully along the +heavy ruts of the emigrant trail, from which all +recent tracks had been obliterated by the flood, +knowing that they would strike no sign of the +wagon until it had been started after the storm. +They had covered in this manner less than two +miles when, rounding a little bend, they saw a +covered emigrant wagon standing in the road not +half a mile from the railroad track.</p> +<p>Scott led quickly toward concealment and from +behind a shoulder of rock to which the two rode +they could see that the wagon had been halted +and the horses, strangely entangled in the harness, +were lying in front of it. Scott and Hawk +dismounted and, crawling up the shoulder where +they could see without being seen, waited impatiently +for some sign of life from the suspicious +outfit. The description Bucks had given fitted +the wagon very well, and the two lay for a time +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_216' name='page_216'></a>216</span> +waiting for something to happen, and exchanging +speculations as to what the situation might +mean. They were hoping that the thieves might, +if they had gone away, return, and with this +thought restrained their impatience.</p> +<p>“It may be a trick to get us up to shooting +distance, Bob,” suggested Hawk when Scott proposed +they should close in.</p> +<p>“But that wouldn’t explain why the horses are +lying there in that way, Dave. Something else has +happened. Those horses are dead; they haven’t +moved. Suppose I circle the outfit,” suggested +Scott benevolently.</p> +<p>“Take care they don’t get a shot at you.”</p> +<p>“If they can get a shot at me before I can at +them they are welcome,” returned Scott as he +picked up his bridle rein. “From what Bucks +told me I don’t think a great deal of their shooting. +He is a level-headed boy, that long-legged +operator.” And Scott, with some quiet grimaces, +recounted Bucks’s story of his descent of Point of +Rocks the night before, under the fire of the three +desperadoes.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_217' name='page_217'></a>217</span></div> +<p>That he himself was now taking his own life +in his hands as he started on a perilous reconnoissance, +cost him no thought. Such a situation he +was quite used to. But for a green boy from the +East to put up so unequal a fight seemed to the +experienced scout a most humorous proceeding.</p> +<p>He mounted his horse and directing Hawk what +to do if he should be hit, set out to ride completely +around the suspected wagon. The canvas cover +was the uncertain element in the situation. It +might conceal nobody, and yet it might conceal +three rifles waiting for an indiscreet pursuer to +come within range. Scott, taking advantage of +the uneven country, rode circumspectly to the +south, keeping the object of his caution well in +view, and at times, under cover of friendly rocks, +getting up quite close to it.</p> +<p>Before he had completed half his ride he had +satisfied himself as to the actual state of affairs. +Yet his habitual caution led him to follow out his +original purpose quite as carefully as if he had +reached no conclusion. When he crossed the trail +west of the wagon, he looked closely for fresh +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_218' name='page_218'></a>218</span> +tracks, but there were none. He then circled to +the north and was soon able, by dismounting, to +crawl under cover within a hundred yards of the +heads of the horses. When he got up to where +he could see without being seen he perceived +clearly that his surmise had been correct.</p> +<p>Both horses lay dead in the harness. From the +front seat of the wagon a boot protruded; nothing +more could be seen. Scott now, by signals, +summoned Dave Hawk from where he lay, and +when the swarthy conductor reached the scout, +Scott called out loudly at the wagon.</p> +<p>There was no answer, no movement, no sound. +Things began to seem queer; in the bright blaze +of sunshine, and with the parched desert glistening +after the welcome rain, there in the midst of +the vast amphitheatre of mountains lay the dead +horses before the mysterious wagon. But nowhere +about was any sign of life, and the wagon +might hold within its white walls death for whoever +should unwarily approach it.</p> +<p>Bob Scott had no idea, however, of sacrificing +himself to any scheme that might have occurred +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_219' name='page_219'></a>219</span> +to the enemy to lure him within danger. He +called out again at the top of his voice and demanded +a surrender. No sound gave any response, +and raising his rifle he sent a bullet through the +extreme top of the canvas cover midway back +from the driver’s seat.</p> +<p>The echoes of the report crashed back to the +rocks, but brought nothing from the silence of the +emigrant wagon. A second shot followed, tearing +through the side board of the wagon-box itself; +yet there was no answer. Scott, taking his horse, +while Hawk remained in hiding and covered the +scene with his own rifle, led the horse so that it +served as a shelter and walked directly toward the +wagon itself. As he neared it he approached from +the front, pausing at times to survey what he saw. +Hawk watched him lead his unwilling horse, +trembling with fear, up to the dead team as they +lay in the bright sunlight, and saw Scott take +hold of the protruding boot, peer above it into +the wagon itself and, without turning his head, +beckon Hawk to come up.</p> +<p>Under the canvas, the driver of the wagon lay +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_220' name='page_220'></a>220</span> +dead with the lines clutched in his stiffened fingers, +just as he had fallen when death struck his horses. +The two frontiersmen needed no explanation of +what they saw in the scarred and blackened face +of the outlaw. A bolt of lightning had killed him +and stricken both horses in the same instant. +Bob crawled into the wagon and with Hawk’s +help dragged the dead man forward into the sunlight. +Both recognized him. It was Bucks’s assailant +and enemy, the Medicine Bend and Spider +Water gambler, Perry.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_221' name='page_221'></a>221</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_XVIII' id='CHAPTER_XVIII'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> +</div> +<p>The two men, aided by the crew of the train +that now came down the Bitter Creek grade, got +the dead body of the outlaw back to Point of +Rocks just as a mixed train from the east reached +there, with Stanley and a detail of cavalry aboard. +Stanley walked straight to Bucks, caught him by +the shoulders, and shook him as if to make sure +he was all right.</p> +<p>“Gave you a warm reception, did they, Bucks?”</p> +<p>“Moderately warm, colonel.”</p> +<p>Stanley shook his head. “It is all wrong. +They never should have sent you out here alone,” +he declared brusquely. “These superintendents +seem to think they are railroading in Ohio instead +of the Rocky Mountains. Dave,” he continued, +turning to Hawk as the latter came up, “I hear +you have just brought in Perry dead. What have +we got here, anyway?”</p> +<p>“Some of the Medicine Bend gang,” returned +Hawk tersely.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_222' name='page_222'></a>222</span></div> +<p>“What are they doing?”</p> +<p>“Evening up old scores, I guess.”</p> +<p>Stanley looked at the dead man as they laid +him out on the platform: “And hastening their +own day of reckoning,” he said. “There shall +be no more of this if we have to drive every man +of the gang out of the country. Who do you +think was with Perry, Bob?” he demanded, questioning +Scott.</p> +<p>“There is nothing to show that till we get +them––and we ought to be after them now,” returned +the scout. “But,” he added softly as he +hitched his trousers, “I think one of the two +might be young John Rebstock.”</p> +<p>“You need lose no time, Bob. Here are ten +men with fresh horses at your orders.” Stanley +pointed to the troopers who were unloading their +mounts.</p> +<p>“Give Dave and me three of the best of these +men,” said Scott. “I will follow the west trail. +Put a sergeant with the others on the trail east +to make sure they haven’t doubled back on us––but +I don’t think they have.”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_223' name='page_223'></a>223</span></div> +<p>“Why?”</p> +<p>“They must have stolen that team and wagon, +that is certain. More than likely they murdered +the man they took it from. The trail is probably +alive with men looking for them. These fellows +were trying to get to Casement’s camp for gambling, +and probably they are heading that way +fast now. We will pick those fellows up, colonel, +somewhere between here and Bridger’s Gap.”</p> +<p>The three troopers that Scott selected were +told off and, after a few rapid arrangements for +sending back information, the five men of the +west-trail party, headed by Scott and Dave Hawk, +rode down Bitter Creek and, scattering in a wide +skirmish line wherever the formation of the country +permitted, scanned the ground for signs of +the fugitives.</p> +<p>“We shan’t find anything till we get to where +they were when the rain stopped,” Scott told the +trooper near whom he was riding. It was, in fact, +nearly ten miles from Point of Rocks before they +picked up the footprints of two men travelling +apart from each other, but headed north and west. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_224' name='page_224'></a>224</span> +These they followed on a long détour away from +the regular wagon road until the two trails turned +and entered, from the southwest, a camp made the +night before by a big trading outfit on the regular +overland trail.</p> +<p>Here, of course, all trace of the men disappeared. +It was now drawing toward evening. +Scott resolved to follow the trading outfit, but +the party still rode slowly to make sure the men +they wanted did not sneak away from the wagons +of their new-found friends. The pursuers rode +steadily on, and as the sun went down they perceived +in a small canyon ahead of them the +wagons of the outfit they were trailing, parked in +a camp for the night.</p> +<p>Scott gave the troopers directions as to where +to post themselves, at some distance east and west +of the canyon, to provide against a sortie of the +fugitives and, riding with Hawk directly into the +camp, asked for the boss. He appeared after +some delay and proved to be a French trader with +supplies for Salt Lake.</p> +<p>Hawk, whose long visage and keen eyes gave +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_225' name='page_225'></a>225</span> +him a particularly stern air––and David Hawk +was never very communicative or very warm-mannered––asked +the questions. The Frenchman +was civil, but denied having any men with him +except those he had brought from the Missouri +River. However, he offered to line up his men +for the railroad party to look over. To this Hawk +agreed, and, when the word had been passed, the +entire force of the trader were assembled in front +of the head wagon.</p> +<p>Scott rode slowly up the line scrutinizing each +face, and, turning again, rode down the line. Once +he stopped and questioned a suspicious-looking +teamster wearing a hat that answered Bucks’s +description, but the man’s answers were satisfactory.</p> +<p>When Scott had finished his inspection the +men started to disband. Hawk stopped them. +“Stay where you are,” he called out curtly. +Turning to the Frenchman, he added: “We will +have to search your wagons.”</p> +<p>Again the trader made no objection, though +some of his men did.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_226' name='page_226'></a>226</span></div> +<p>The three troopers were signalled in, and posted +so there could be no dodging from one wagon to +another, and Hawk gave them orders, loud enough +for all to hear, to shoot on sight any one leaving +the wagons. And while he himself kept command +of the whole situation, Scott dismounted and accompanied +by the trader began the search. The +hunt was tedious and the teamsters murmured +at the delay to their camp work. But the search +went forward unrelentingly. Not a corner capable +of concealing a dog was overlooked by the painstaking +Indian and not until he had reached the +last wagon was his hope exhausted.</p> +<p>This wagon stood at the extreme end of a wash-out +in the side of the canyon itself. It was filled +with bales of coarse red blankets, but no man was +to be found among them.</p> +<p>Scott did find something, however, in a sort of +a nest fashioned among the bales near the middle +of the wagon. What would have escaped an eye +less trained to look for trifles attracted his at +once. It was a dingy metal tag. Scott picked +it up. It bore the name of a Medicine Bend +saloon and the heads of three horses, from the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_227' name='page_227'></a>227</span> +design of which the saloon itself took a widely +known and ill name. He laid his hand on the +blanket from which he had picked the tag. The +wool was still warm.</p> +<p>Scott only smiled to himself. Both ends of the +little canyon were guarded. From where he was +searching the scout peered carefully out at the +canyon walls. There were hiding-places, but they +were hardly large enough to conceal a man. It +was somewhere in the rocks close at hand that +the fugitives had found a temporary refuge; but +they could not now escape––nor could they be +far from the wagon.</p> +<p>Without losing sight of the surroundings, Scott, +disclosing nothing of his discovery to the trader, +announced that he was satisfied and that the men +he wanted did not appear to be there. He added, +however, that if the Frenchman had no objection +his party would pitch camp close by and ride with +him in the morning. The Frenchman maintained +his courtesy by inviting the party to take supper +with him, and Scott, agreeing to return, rode away +with Hawk and the three troopers.</p> +<p>They had not ridden far, when Bob dismounted +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_228' name='page_228'></a>228</span> +the party and leaving the horses with one trooper +set two as pickets and posted himself in hiding +on one side the canyon, with Hawk on the other, to +watch the camp. What he saw or whether his +patience was in any degree rewarded no one could +have told from his inscrutable face as he walked +into the camp at dusk and sat down with the +trader to supper. The moon was just rising and +down at the creek, a little way from where Scott +sat, some belated teamsters were washing their +hands and faces and preparing their own supper. +Scott ate slowly and with his back to the fire +kept his eye on the group of men down at the +creek. When he had finished, he walked down +to the stream himself. A large man in the group +fitted, in his hat and dress, Bucks’s exact description. +Scott had already spotted him an hour +before, and stepped up to him now to arrest young +John Rebstock.</p> +<p>He laid his hand on the man’s shoulder and +the man turned. But to Scott’s surprise he was +not the man wanted at all. He wore Rebstock’s +clothes and fitted Rebstock’s description, but he +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_229' name='page_229'></a>229</span> +was not Rebstock. The scout understood instantly +how he had been tricked, but gave no +sign.</p> +<p>Within the preceding thirty minutes the real +Rebstock, whom Scott had already marked from +his hiding-place in the canyon, had traded clothes +with this man and, no doubt, made good his +escape.</p> +<p>If Bob was chagrined, he made no sign.</p> +<p>“You must have made a good trade,” he said, +smiling at the teamster. “These clothes are a +little big, but you will grow to them. How much +boot did you get?”</p> +<p>Scott looked so slight and inoffensive that the +teamster attempted insolence, and not only refused +to answer questions, but threatened violence +if the scout persisted in asking them. His companions +crowding up encouraged him.</p> +<p>But numbers were not allowed for an instant +to dominate the situation. Scott whipped a revolver +from his belt, cocked it, and pressed it against +the teamster’s side. Dave Hawk loomed up in +the moonlight and, catching by the collar one +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_230' name='page_230'></a>230</span> +after another of the men crowding around Scott, +Hawk, with his right hand or his left, whirled +them spinning out of his way. If a man resisted +the rough treatment, Hawk unceremoniously +knocked him down and, drawing his own revolver, +took his stand beside his threatened companion.</p> +<p>Other men came running up, the trader among +them. A few words explained everything and +the recalcitrant teamster concluded to speak. +Scott, indeed, had but little to ask: he already +knew the whole story. And when the teamster, +threatened with search, pulled from his pocket +a roll of bank-notes which he acknowledged had +been given him for concealing the two fugitives +and providing them with clothes, Scott released +him––only notifying the trader incidentally that +the man was robbing him and had loot, taken +from the ammunition wagon, concealed under his +blanket bales just searched. This information led +to new excitement in the camp, and the Frenchman +danced up and down in his wrath as he ordered +the blanket wagon searched again. But his excitement +did not greatly interest Scott and his +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_231' name='page_231'></a>231</span> +party. They went their way and camped at some +distance down the creek from their stirred-up +neighbors.</p> +<p>Hawk and Bob Scott sat in the moonlight after +the troopers had gone to sleep.</p> +<p>“They can’t fool us very much longer,” muttered +Scott, satisfied with the day’s work and +taking the final disappointment philosophically, +“until they can get horses they are chained to +the ground in this country. There is only one +place I know of where there are any horses hereabouts +and that is Jack Casement’s camp.”</p> +<p>Hawk stretched himself out on the ground to +sleep. “I’ll tell you, Dave,” continued Scott, +“it is only about twenty miles from here to Casement’s, +anyway. Suppose I ride over there to-night +and wire Stanley we’ve got track of the +fellows. By the time you pick up the trail in +the morning I will be back––or I may pick it up +myself between here and the railroad. You keep +on as far as Brushwood Creek and I’ll join you +there to-morrow by sundown.”</p> +<p>It was so arranged. The night was clear and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_232' name='page_232'></a>232</span> +with a good moon the ride was not difficult, though +to a man less acquainted with the mountains it +would have been a hardship. Mile after mile +Scott’s hardy pony covered with no apparent effort. +Bob did not urge him, and before midnight +the white tents of the construction camp were +visible in the moonlight. Scott went directly to +the telegraph office, and after sending his message +hunted up food and quarters for his beast and a +sleeping-bunk for himself.</p> +<p>At daylight he was astir and sought breakfast +before making inquiries and riding back to his +party. On the edge of the camp stood a sort of +restaurant, made up of a kitchen tent with a dismantled +box-car body as an annex.</p> +<p>In this annex the food was served. It was entered +from one side door, while the food was +brought from the kitchen through the other side +doorway of the car.</p> +<p>Into this crowded den Bob elbowed an unobtrusive +way and seated himself in a retired corner. +He faced the blind end of the car, and before him +on the wall was tacked a fragment of a mirror in +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_233' name='page_233'></a>233</span> +which he could see what was going on behind +him. And without paying any apparent attention +to anything that went on, nothing escaped +him.</p> +<p>Next to where he sat, a breakfast of coffee and +ham and eggs had been already served for somebody, +apparently on an order previously given. +At the opposite end of the car a small space was +curtained off as a wash-room. Scott ordered his +own breakfast and was slowly eating it when he +noticed through the little mirror, and above and +beyond the heads of the busy breakfasters along +the serving-counter, a large man in the wash-room +scrubbing his face vigorously with a towel.</p> +<p>Each time Scott looked up from his breakfast +into the mirror the man redoubled his efforts to +do a good job with the towel, hiding his face +meantime well within its folds. The scout’s curiosity +was mildly enough aroused to impel him to +watch the diligent rubbing with some interest. +He saw, too, presently that the man was stealing +glances out of his towel at him and yet between +times intently rubbing his face.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_234' name='page_234'></a>234</span></div> +<p>This seemed odd, and Scott, now eying the man +more carefully, noted his nervousness and wondered +at it. However, he continued to enjoy his +own meal. The waiter who had served him, hurried +and impatient, also noticed the waiting breakfast +untouched and called sharply to the man in +the wash-room that his ham was served and, with +scant regard for fine words, bade him come eat it.</p> +<p>This urgent invitation only added to the ill-concealed +embarrassment of the stalling guest; +but it interested the scout even more in the developing +situation. Scott finished his breakfast +and gave himself entirely over to watching in a +lazy way the man who was making so elaborate +a toilet.</p> +<p>There was no escape from either end of the +car. That could be managed only through the +side doors, which were too close to Scott to be +available, and the scout, now fairly well enlightened +and prepared, merely awaited developments. +He wanted to see the man come to his breakfast, +and the man in the wash-room, combing his hair +with vigor and peering anxiously through his own +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_235' name='page_235'></a>235</span> +scrap of a mirror at Bob Scott, wanted to see the +scout finish his coffee and leave the car. Scott, +however, pounding ostentatiously on the table, +called for a second cup of coffee and sipped it +with apparent satisfaction. It was a game of cat +and mouse––with the mouse, in this instance, +bigger than the cat, but as shy and reluctant to +move as any mouse could be in a cat’s presence. +Scott waited until he thought the embarrassed +man would have brushed the hair all out of his +head, and at last, in spite of himself, laughed. +As he did so, he turned half-way around on his +stool and lifted his finger.</p> +<p>“Come, Rebstock,” he smiled, calling to the +fugitive. “Your breakfast is getting cold.”</p> +<p>The man, turning as red as a beet, looked over +the heads of those that sat between him and his +tantalizing captor. But putting the best face +he could on the dilemma and eying Scott nervously +he walked over and, with evident reluctance, +made ready to sit down beside him.</p> +<p>“Take your time,” suggested Scott pleasantly. +Then, as Rebstock, quite crestfallen, seated himself, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_236' name='page_236'></a>236</span> +he added: “Hadn’t I better order a hot cup +of coffee for you?” He took hold of the cup as +he spoke, and looked hard at the gambler while +making the suggestion.</p> +<p>“No, no,” responded Rebstock, equally polite +and equally insistent, as he held his hand over +the cup and begged Scott not to mind. “This +is all right.”</p> +<p>“How was the walking last night?” asked Scott, +passing the fugitive a big plate of bread. Rebstock +lifted his eyes from his plate for the briefest +kind of a moment.</p> +<p>“The––eh––walking? I don’t know what you +mean, captain. I slept here last night.”</p> +<p>Scott looked under the table at his victim’s +boots. “John,” he asked without a smile, “do +you ever walk in your sleep?”</p> +<p>Rebstock threw down his knife and fork. +“Look here, stranger,” he demanded with indignation. +“What do you want? Can’t a man eat +his breakfast in this place? I ask you,” he demanded, +raising his right hand with his knife in +it as he appealed to the waiter, “can’t a man +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_237' name='page_237'></a>237</span> +eat his breakfast in this place without interruption?”</p> +<p>The waiter, standing with folded arms, regarded +the two men without changing his stolid expression. +“A man can eat his breakfast in this place +without anything on earth except money. If you +let your ham get cold because you were going to +beat me out of the price, and you try to do it, +I’ll drag you out of here by the heels.”</p> +<p>These unsympathetic words attracted the attention +of every one and the breakfasters now +looked on curiously but no one offered to interfere. +Quarrels and disputes were too frequent in +that country to make it prudent or desirable ever +to intervene in one. A man considered himself +lucky not to be embroiled in unpleasantness in +spite of his best efforts to keep out. Rebstock +turned again on his pursuer. “What do you want, +anyhow, stranger?” he demanded fiercely. “A +fight, I reckon.”</p> +<p>“Not a bit of it. I want you, Rebstock,” explained +Scott without in the least raising his +voice.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_238' name='page_238'></a>238</span></div> +<p>Rebstock’s throaty tones seemed to contract +into a wheeze. “What do you want me for?” +he asked, looking nervously toward the other end +of the car. As he did so, a man wearing a shirt +and new overalls rose and started for the door. +The instinct of Scott’s suspicion fastened itself +on the man trying to leave the place as being Rebstock’s +wanted companion.</p> +<p>Rising like a flash, he covered the second man +with his pistol. “Hold on!” he exclaimed, pointing +at him with his left hand. “Come over here!”</p> +<p>The man in overalls turned a calm face that +showed nothing more than conscious innocence. +But Scott was looking at his feet. His worn shoes +were crusted heavily with alkali mud. “What do +you want with me?” snarled the man halted at +the door.</p> +<p>“I want you,” said Scott, “for burning Point +of Rocks station night before last. Here, partner,” +he continued, speaking to the waiter. “I’ll +pay for these two breakfasts; search that man +for me,” he continued, pointing to the man in +the overalls.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_239' name='page_239'></a>239</span></div> +<p>“Search him yourself,” returned the waiter stolidly. +Scott turned like a wolf.</p> +<p>“What’s that?” Another expression stole over +his good-natured face. Holding his revolver to +cover any one that resisted, he turned his accusing +finger upon the insolent waiter. “You will +talk to me, will you?” he demanded sharply. +“Do as I tell you instantly, or I’ll drive you out +of camp and burn your shack to the ground. +When I talk to you, General Jack Casement talks, +and this railroad company talks. Search that +man!”</p> +<p>Before the last word had passed his lips the +waiter jumped over the counter and began turning +the pockets of the man in the new overalls +inside out. The fellow kept a good face even +after a bunch of stolen railroad tickets were discovered +in one pocket. “A man gave them to +me last night to keep for him,” he answered +evenly.</p> +<p>“Never mind,” returned Scott with indifference, +“I will take care of them for him.”</p> +<p>The news of the capture spread over the camp, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_240' name='page_240'></a>240</span> +and when Scott with his two prisoners walked +across to General Casement’s tent a crowd followed. +Stanley had just arrived from Point of +Rocks by train and was conferring with Casement +when Scott came to the tent door. He greeted +Bob and surveyed the captured fugitives.</p> +<p>“How did you get them?” he demanded.</p> +<p>Scott smiled and hung his head as he shook +it, to anticipate compliments. “They just walked +into my arms. Dave Hawk and the troopers are +looking for these fellows now away down on +Bitter Creek. They wandered into camp here last +night to save us the trouble of bringing them. +Isn’t that it, Rebstock?”</p> +<p>Rebstock disavowed, but not pleasantly. He +was not in amiable mood.</p> +<p>“What show has a fat man got to get away +from anybody?” he growled.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_241' name='page_241'></a>241</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_XIX' id='CHAPTER_XIX'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XIX</h2> +</div> +<p>When Hawk saw Bob Scott, two hours later, +riding into his camp on the Brushwood with the +two prisoners, he was taciturn but very much +surprised.</p> +<p>Scott was disposed to make light of the lucky +chance, as he termed it, that had thrown the two +men into his way. Hawk, on the other hand, +declared in his arbitrary manner that it was not +wholly a lucky chance. He understood the Indian’s +dogged tenacity too well to think for a moment +that the fugitives could have escaped him, +even had he not ridden into Casement’s camp +as he so fortuitously had done.</p> +<p>The scout, Hawk knew, had the characteristic +intuition of the frontiersman; the mental attributes +that combine with keen observation and +unusually good judgment as aids to success when +circumstances are seemingly hopeless. Such men +may be at fault in details, and frequently are, but +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_242' name='page_242'></a>242</span> +they are not often wholly wrong in conclusions. +And in their pursuit of a criminal they are like +trained hounds, which may frequently lose their +trail for a moment, but, before they have gone +very far astray, come unerringly back to it.</p> +<p>“If they ever give you a chance, Bob, you will +make a great thief-catcher,” exclaimed Hawk with +his naturally prodigal generosity of appreciation.</p> +<p>“I certainly never expected to catch Rebstock +and this fellow Seagrue as easily as that,” smiled +Scott, as the troopers took charge of his men.</p> +<p>“If you hadn’t caught them there you would +have trailed them there. It would only have +meant a longer chase.”</p> +<p>“A whole lot longer.”</p> +<p>“When you come to think of it, Bob, the railroad +was their only hope, anyway. They did +right in striking for it. Without horses, the big +camp and the trains for Medicine Bend every day +were their one chance to get away.”</p> +<p>Scott assented. “The trouble with us,” he +smiled, “was that we didn’t think until after it +was all over. Sometime a man will come to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_243' name='page_243'></a>243</span> +these mountains who thinks things out before +they happen instead of after. Then we will have +a man fit to run the secret service on this railroad. +But we are losing time,” he added, tightening +up his saddle girths.</p> +<p>“What are you going to do now? And why,” +demanded Hawk without waiting for an answer, +“did you drag these men away down here instead +of leaving them for Casement to lock up until we +were ready to take them to Medicine Bend?”</p> +<p>“I am going to drag them farther yet,” announced +Scott. “I am going to ride after the +French trader and fit these two fellows out in +their own clothes again to make it easier for +Bucks to indentify them.”</p> +<p>“Don’t say ‘indentify,’ Bob, say ‘identify,’” +returned Hawk testily.</p> +<p>Bob Scott usually turned away a sharp word +with silence, and although he felt confident Hawk +was wrong, he argued no further with him, but +stuck just the same to his own construction of +the troublesome word.</p> +<p>“You’ve got the right idea, Bob, if you have +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_244' name='page_244'></a>244</span> +got the wrong word,” muttered Hawk. “Why +didn’t you think of that sooner?”</p> +<p>They broke camp and started promptly. About +noon they overtook the trading outfit and after +some threatening forced the tricky teamster to +rig the two gamblers out in their own apparel. +Having done this, they started on a long ride for +Casement’s camp, reaching it again with their +prisoners, and all very dusty and fatigued, long +after dark.</p> +<p>The hard work voluntarily undertaken by the +scout to aid the boy, as he termed Bucks, in identifying +his graceless assailants was vindicated when, +the next morning, the party with their prisoners +arrived on a special train at Point of Rocks, and +Bucks immediately pointed to Seagrue as the man +who had first fired at him.</p> +<p>There were a few pretty hot moments on the +platform when Bucks, among a group of five camp +malefactors on their way to Medicine Bend, confronted +the two men who had tried to kill him, +and unhesitatingly pointed them out. Seagrue, +tall and surly, denied vehemently ever having been +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_245' name='page_245'></a>245</span> +at Point of Rocks and ever having seen Bucks. +He declared the whole affair was “framed up” to +send him to the penitentiary. He threatened if he +were “sent up” to come back and kill Bucks if +it was twenty years later––and did, in that respect, +try to keep his word.</p> +<p>But his threats availed him nothing, and John +Rebstock who, though still young, was a sly fox +in crooked ways, contented himself with a philosophical +denial of everything alleged against him, +adding only in an injured tone that nobody would +believe a fat man anyway.</p> +<p>It was he, however, rather than the less clever +Seagrue, who had begun to excite sympathy for +what he called his luckless plight and that of his +companion, before they had left the railroad camp. +Among the five evil-doers who had been rounded-up +and deported for the jail at Medicine Bend, +and now accompanied the two gamblers, Rebstock +spread every story he could think of to +arouse his friends at Medicine Bend to a demonstration +in his behalf.</p> +<p>The very first efforts at putting civil law and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_246' name='page_246'></a>246</span> +order into effect were just then being tried in +the new and lawless frontier railroad town and +the contest between the two elements of decency +and of license had reached an acute pass when +Rebstock and Seagrue were thrown into jail at +Medicine Bend. A case of sympathy for them +was not hard to work up among men of their +own kind and threats were heard up and +down Front Street that if the railroading of +two innocent men to the penitentiary were +attempted something would happen.</p> +<p>Railroad men themselves, hearing the mutterings, +brought word of them to head-quarters, +but Stanley was in no wise disturbed. He had +wanted to make an example for the benefit of the +criminals who swarmed to the town, and now +welcomed the chance to put the law’s rigor on +the men that had tried to assassinate his favorite +operator. Bucks, lest he might be made the victim +of a more successful attack, was brought +down from Point of Rocks the first moment he +could be relieved. A plot to put him out of the +way, as the sole witness against the accused gamblers, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_247' name='page_247'></a>247</span> +was uncovered by Scott almost as soon as +Bucks had returned to the big town and, warned +by his careful friend, he rarely went up street +except with a companion––most frequently with +Scott himself.</p> +<p>As the day set for Rebstock’s trial drew near, +rumors were heard of a jail delivery. The jail +itself was a flimsy wooden affair, and so crude in +its appointments that any civilized man would +have been justified in breaking out of it.</p> +<p>Nor was Brush, the sheriff, much more formidable +than the jail itself. This official sought to +curry favor with the townspeople––and that meant, +pretty nearly, with the desperadoes––as well as to +stand well with the railroad men; and in his effort +to do both he succeeded in doing neither.</p> +<p>Bucks was given a night trick on his old wire +in the local station, and in spite of the round of +excitement about him settled down to the routine +of regular work. The constant westbound movement +of construction material made his duties +heavier than before, but he seemed able to do +whatever work he was assigned to and gained +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_248' name='page_248'></a>248</span> +the reputation of being dependable, wherever +put.</p> +<p>He had risen one night from his key, after despatching +a batch of messages, to stir the fire––the +night was frosty––when he heard an altercation +outside on the platform. In another moment +the waiting-room door was thrown open +and Bucks turned from the stove, poker in hand, +to see a man in the extremity of fear rush into his +lonely office.</p> +<p>The man, hatless and coatless and evidently +trying to escape from some one, was so panic-stricken +that his eyes bulged from their sockets, +and his beard was so awry that it was a moment +before Bucks recognized his old acquaintance +Dan Baggs.</p> +<p>“They are after me, Bucks,” cried Baggs, closing +the door in desperation. “They will kill me––hide +me or they’ll kill me.”</p> +<p>Before the operator could ask a question in +explanation, almost before the words were out of +the frightened engineman’s mouth, and with Bucks +pointing with his poker to the door, trying to tell +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_249' name='page_249'></a>249</span> +Baggs to lock it, the door again flew open and +Bucks saw the face of a Front Street confidence +man bursting through it.</p> +<p>Bucks sprang forward to secure the door behind +the intruder, but he was too late even for +that. Half a dozen more men crowded into the +room. To ask questions was useless; every one +began talking at once. Baggs, paralyzed with +fear, cowered behind the stove and the confidence +man, catching sight of him, tried to crowd through +the wicket gate. As he sprang toward it, Bucks +confronted him with his poker.</p> +<p>“Let that gate alone or I’ll brain you,” he cried, +hardly realizing what he was saying, but well resolved +what to do.</p> +<p>The gambler, infuriated, pointed to Baggs. +“Throw that cur out here,” he yelled.</p> +<p>Baggs, now less exposed to his enemies, summoned +the small remnant of his own courage and +began to abuse his pursuer.</p> +<div class='figtag'> +<a name='linki_4' id='linki_4'></a> +</div> +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/p0250a-ins.jpg' alt='' title='' width='360' height='570' /><br /> +<p class='caption'> +“LET THAT GATE ALONE OR I’LL BRAIN YOU,” HE CRIED.<br /> +</p> +</div> +<p>Bucks, between the two men with his poker, +tried to stop the din long enough to get information. +He drew the enraged gambler into a +controversy of words and used the interval to step +to his key. As he did so, Baggs, catching up a +monkey-wrench that Bucks ordinarily used on his +letter-press, again defied his enemy.</p> +<p>It was only a momentary burst of courage, but +it saved the situation. Taking advantage of the +instant, Bucks slipped the fingers of his left hand +over the telegraph key and wired the despatchers +upstairs for help. It was none too soon. The men, +leaning against the railing, pushed it harder all +along the line. It swayed with an ominous crack +and the fastening gave way. Baggs cowered. His +pursuers yelled, and with one more push the +railing crashed forward and the confidence man +sprang for the engineer. Baggs ran back to where +Bucks stood before his table, and the latter, +clutching his revolver, warned Baggs’s pursuers +not to lay a hand on him.</p> +<p>Defying the single-handed defender, the gambler +whipped out his own pistol to put an end to +the fight. It was the signal for his followers, and +in another minute half a dozen guns covered +Bucks and his companion.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_250' name='page_250'></a>250</span></div> +<p>Seconds meant minutes then. Bucks understood +that only one shot was needed as the signal +for his own destruction. What he did not quite +realize was that the gambler confronting him and +his victim read something in Bucks’s eye that +caused him to hesitate. He felt that if a shot +were fired, whatever else happened, it would mean +his own death at Bucks’s hand. It was this that +restrained him, and the instant saved the operator’s +life.</p> +<p>He heard the clattering of feet down the outside +stairway, and the next moment through the +open door on the run dashed Bill Dancing, swinging +a piece of iron pipe as big as a crowbar. The +yardmaster, Callahan, was at his heels, and the +two, tearing their way through the room, struck +without mercy.</p> +<p>The thugs crowded to the door. The narrow +opening choked with men trying to dodge the +blows rained upon them by Dancing and Callahan. +Before Baggs could rub his eyes the room +was cleared, and half a dozen trainmen hastily +summoned and led by a despatcher were engaged +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_251' name='page_251'></a>251</span> +out upon the platform in a free fight with the +Front Street ruffians.</p> +<p>Within the office, the despatcher found Bucks +talking to Callahan, while Baggs was trying to +explain to Bill Dancing how the confidence men +had tried to inveigle him into a “shell” game and, +when they found they could not rob him of his +month’s pay in any other way, had knocked him +down to pick his pockets.</p> +<p>Callahan, who knew the trouble-making element +better than any of the railroad men, went +up town to estimate the feeling after the fight, +which was now being discussed by crowds everywhere +along Front Street. For every bruised and +sore head marked by the punishment given by +Dancing in the defence of Baggs a new enemy +and an active one had been made.</p> +<p>Stanley came in late from the west and heard +the story of the fight. His comment was brief +but significant. “It will soon be getting so they +won’t wait for the railroad men to draw their +pay. They will come down here,” said he ironically, +“to draw it for them.”</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_252' name='page_252'></a>252</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_XX' id='CHAPTER_XX'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XX</h2> +</div> +<p>A second and more serious disturbance followed +close on the fight at the railroad station. +A passenger alighting in the evening from a westbound +train was set upon, robbed, and beaten into +insensibility within ten feet of the train platform. +A dozen other passengers hastened to his assistance. +They joined in repulsing his assailants and +were beating them off when other thugs, reinforcing +their fellows, attacked the passengers and +those railroad men that had hurried up to drive +off the miscreants.</p> +<p>In the mêlée, a brakeman was shot through the +head and a second passenger wounded. But the +railroad men rallied and, returning the pistol fire, +drove off the outlaws.</p> +<p>The train was hurried out of town and measures +were taken at once to defend the railroad property +for the night. Guards were set in the yards, +and a patrol established about the roundhouse, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_253' name='page_253'></a>253</span> +the railroad hotel and the eating-house and +freight-houses.</p> +<p>Stanley, with his car attached to the night passenger +train, was on his way to Casement’s camp +when the fight occurred, and had taken Bucks +with him. The despatch detailing the disturbance +reached him at a small station east of +Point of Rocks, where he was awakened and the +message was read to him advising the manager +of the murder of the brakeman.</p> +<p>A freight-train, eastbound, stood on the passing +track. Stanley roused Bucks and, notifying the +despatchers, ordered the engine cut off from the +freight-train, swung up into the cab, and started +for Medicine Bend. As they pulled out, light, +Stanley asked for every notch of speed the lumbering +engine could stand, and Oliver Sollers, the +engineman, urged the big machine to its limit.</p> +<p>The new track, laid hastily and only freshly ballasted, +was as rough as corduroy, and the lurching +of the big diamond stack made the cab topple at +every rail joint. But Sollers was not the runner +to lose nerve under difficulties and did not lessen +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_254' name='page_254'></a>254</span> +the pressure on the pistons. If Stanley, determined +and silent, his lips set and hanging on for +dear life as the cab jumped and swung under him, +felt any qualms at the dangerous pace he had +asked for, he betrayed none. With Bucks, open-eyed +with surprise, hanging on in front of him, +Stanley gave no heed to the bouncing, and the +freight-engine pounded through the mountains +like a steam-roller with a touch of crushed-stone +delirium. Hour after hour the wild pace was +kept up through the Sleepy Cat Mountains and +across the Sweet Grass Plains. There was no easing +up until the frantic machine struck the gorge +of the Medicine River and whistled for the long +yards above the roundhouse.</p> +<p>Things had so quieted down by the time Stanley, +springing up the stairs two steps at a time, +reached the despatchers’ office, that they were +sorry they had sent in such haste for him. Stanley +himself had no regrets. He knew better than +those about him the temper of the crowd he had +to deal with and felt that he needed every minute +to prepare for what he had to do. Bucks was +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_255' name='page_255'></a>255</span> +sent to bring in Dancing, Bob Scott, and the more +resolute among the railroad men. A brief consultation +was held, and the attitude of the gamblers +carefully discussed.</p> +<p>Scott, who had been up town since the murder, +had collected sufficient proof that the chief outlaw, +Levake, had done the shooting, and Stanley +now sent Scott to Brush, the sheriff, with a verbal +message demanding Levake’s arrest.</p> +<p>Every man that heard the order given knew +what it meant. Every one that listened realized +it was the beginning of a fight in which there +could be no retreat for Stanley; that it would be +a fight to a finish, and that no man could say +where it would end.</p> +<p>Bob Scott hitched his trousers at the word from +his sandy-haired chief. For Bob, orders meant +orders and the terror of Levake’s name in Medicine +Bend had no effect on him.</p> +<p>“You might as well ask a jack-rabbit to tackle +a mountain lion as to try to get Brush to arrest +Levake,” declared Dave Hawk cynically.</p> +<p>But Stanley’s hand struck the table like a hammer: +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_256' name='page_256'></a>256</span> +“We are going to have a show-down here. +We will go through the forms; this is the beginning––and +I am going to follow it to the end. Either +Levake has got to quit the town or I have.”</p> +<p>Dave Hawk looked around with a new idea. +He bent his eyes on Bob: “Better get Brush to +deputize <i>you</i> to make the arrest.”</p> +<p>“That is it!” exclaimed Stanley. “Get him +to deputize you, Bob, and we will clean up this +town as it hasn’t been cleaned since the flood.”</p> +<p>Scott shook his head: “I don’t believe Brush +has the sand for that. We will see.”</p> +<p>Up Front Street, through the various groups of +men still discussing the events of the evening, +Scott, followed only by Bill Dancing, made his +way, nodding and patiently or pleasantly grinning +as the greetings or ridicule of the crowd +were thrown at him. He went to the rooms of +the sheriff only to find them locked, and made his +way down town again looking through the resorts +in a search for Brush.</p> +<p>After much trouble, he found him at a gaming-table, +inclined to appear sceptical as to the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_257' name='page_257'></a>257</span> +story that Levake had killed an unoffending +brakeman. When Scott repeated Stanley’s demand +that Levake be arrested, the sheriff slammed +down his cards and declared he would not be +made a cat’s-paw for any man; that the brakeman, +according to accounts reaching him, had +been killed in a fair fight and he would hear no +more of it. Then, as if his game had been unreasonably +interfered with and his peace of mind +injured, he rose from the table to relieve his annoyance.</p> +<p>Meantime Bill Dancing slipped into his vacated +seat, picked up the discarded hand of cards +and announced it was too good to throw away. +“Will anybody,” Bill asked dryly, “play the +hand with me while Brush is arresting Levake?” +The laugh of Brush’s own companions at this proposal +stung him as an imputation of his cowardice, +and he made an additional display of rage +to counteract the unconcealed contempt in which +his cronies held him.</p> +<p>He turned on Scott angrily. “Go arrest the +man yourself, if you want him,” he thundered.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_258' name='page_258'></a>258</span></div> +<p>Scott snapped up the suggestion. He pointed +a lean finger at the shifty peace officer. “Deputize +me to do it, if you dare, Brush!” he softly +exclaimed, fixing his brown eyes on the flushed +face of the coward.</p> +<p>Not a man in the room moved or spoke. Brush +saw himself trapped. Scott’s finger called for +an answer and the sheriff found no escape. “I +knew you hadn’t the nerve to give me a deputy’s +badge,” laughed Scott, to spur the man’s lagging +courage; “you are too afraid of Levake.”</p> +<p>The taunt had its effect. Brush raved about +his courage, and Bill Dancing, slapping him ferociously +on the back, convinced him that he really +was a brave man. Taken volubly in tow by +the two railroad emissaries, who were far from +being as simple as they seemed, Brush returned +to his lodgings at the jail to issue the coveted +paper authorizing Scott to serve any warrants in +his stead.</p> +<p>Before the ink was dry on the certificate the +word had gone down Front Street, and the town +knew that Levake’s arrest was in prospect. As +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_259' name='page_259'></a>259</span> +Dancing and Scott left the jail and walked down +to the station, they were surrounded by a curious +throng of men watching for further developments +in the approaching crisis of the struggle with outlawry +in the railroad town.</p> +<p>The night was far advanced, but a third element +was now to make itself felt in the situation. +The decent business men had already seen the +approach of the storm and resolved on protecting +their own interests, which they realized were on +the side of law and order. Word had been passed +from one to another of a proposed meeting. It +was held toward daybreak in a secret place. One +and all present were pledged to act together under +a leadership then and there agreed upon, and after +so organizing, with a resolute merchant named Atkinson +at their head, and with a quiet that foreboded +no good to the gamblers and outlaws, the +men who had gone to the rendezvous as business +men left it as vigilantes, banded together to defend +their rights and property against the lawless element +that had terrorized legitimate business.</p> +<p>In the morning secret word was brought by +Atkinson to Stanley of the resolve of the new +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_260' name='page_260'></a>260</span> +allies to stand by him in his efforts to rid the +town of its undesirables for good and all. It was +welcome intelligence, and the railroad chief +assured the plucky merchant of his hearty cooperation +in the designs of the newly constituted +law-and-order committee.</p> +<p>“When the machinery of the law has miserably +failed to protect our lives and property,” he said +concisely, “we have nothing left for it but to protect +them ourselves.” Arms had been telegraphed +for and every effort made to secure troops in the +emergency. But the Indian uprising had taken +every available infantryman and trooper into the +north and there was not now sufficient time to +get them together for action. The railroad men, +Stanley knew, must depend on themselves and +upon such assistance as the decent element in the +town could render.</p> +<p>Meantime the outlaws were not idle. They +spent the day whipping the gamblers and their +hangers-on into line, upon the prediction that +if they themselves were dispersed scant quarter +would be shown their disorderly associates.</p> +<p>Scott spent the day leisurely. Stanley had +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_261' name='page_261'></a>261</span> +asked him not to move until his own arrangements +for a defensive fight were completed. That +the outlaws had secret sources of information even +in the railroad circles, came out startlingly. A +special train––an express car pulled by an engine––entered +the railroad yard at dusk that evening, +when a party of men running out from the cover +of the freight warehouse attempted to rush it for +arms and ammunition.</p> +<p>They were met at the car doors by six of the +best men that could be picked up along the line +during the day run of the special across the plains. +Stanley had wired instructions to head-quarters to +send him six men that feared neither smoke nor +powder, and six stalwarts taken on at Grand Island, +North Platte, and Julesburg guarded the +car and tumbled like cats out of a bag upon the +surprised raiders.</p> +<p>The encounter was spirited, but it took only a +moment to convince the assaulting party that +they had made a mistake. Clubbing their heavy +revolvers, the guards, any one of whom in close +quarters could account for two ordinary men, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_262' name='page_262'></a>262</span> +threw themselves from the car step directly into +the crowd and struck right and left. There was +no regard for persons, and in the half-dark the +Medicine Bend ruffians, surprised and confused, +were soon fighting one another.</p> +<p>But one-sided as the contest was, it did not go +fast enough to suit the guards, who, seizing the +clubs thrown away by the rabble, charged them +in a line and drove them up the street. Railroad +men who came running from the station to help +were too late. The flurry was over and they +found nothing to do but to cheer their new +aids.</p> +<p>Nor were the gamblers asleep. Word had gone +out both east and west of the approaching crisis +between the disorderly and the law-and-order +elements, and every passenger train into Medicine +Bend brought mysterious men from towns and +railroad camps who were openly or secretly allied +in one or another vicious calling to the classes +that were now making a stand for the rule or +ruin of the railroad town.</p> +<p>A mob of sympathizers gathered in Front Street +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_263' name='page_263'></a>263</span> +to protect from further punishment the party that +had tried to capture the express car. But the +railroad men had no idea of pursuing the raiders +beyond the yard limits, and indeed were restrained +by strict orders from doing so. Stanley sent word +immediately to the sheriff, demanding the arrest +of the new peace-disturbers, but the sheriff no +longer made a pretence of arresting law-breakers. +In Front Street, the mob, emboldened by their +apparent control of the situation and increasing +in clamor and numbers, were now in a humor +for anything that promised pillage or vengeance. +There were still among them a few cool-headed +criminals who counselled caution, but these were +hooted down by men who had never tasted the +rigor of vigilante rule.</p> +<p>Out of a dozen wild schemes broached by as +many wild heads of the excited crowd, in which +were now lined up for any lawlessness all the +idlers, floaters, the improvident, and the reckless +elements of a frontier gambling town, one caught +the popular fancy. Some one proposed a jail +delivery to release Rebstock and Seagrue, persecuted +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_264' name='page_264'></a>264</span> +by the railroad company. The idea spread +like wildfire, and a score of men, reinforced by +more at every door as they proceeded up Front +Street, made their way to the jail.</p> +<p>Fast as they came, time was given for word to +the sheriff, who conveniently got out of the way, +and, led by half a dozen men with crowbars and +spike-mauls, the outlaws surrounded and overran +the jail yard and without a show of resistance +from any one began smashing in the entrance and +battering down the cell doors.</p> +<p>The first suggestion included only the delivery +of the two men. But this was effected so easily +that more was undertaken. The jail at Medicine +Bend, being the only one within many miles in +any direction, harbored the criminals of the whole +mountain region, and these now cried to friendly +ears for their own freedom. Cell after cell was +battered open and the released criminals, snatching +tools from the mob, led in the fight to free +their fellows. In less than half an hour every +cell had been emptied and a score of hardened +malefactors had been added to the mob, which +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_265' name='page_265'></a>265</span> +now proposed to celebrate the success of its undertaking +by setting fire to the jail itself.</p> +<p>The vigilantes down town, though taking the +alarm, had moved too slowly. A jail delivery +meant, they knew, that their stores would be +looted, and, under the leadership of Atkinson, +they attempted to avert the mischief impending.</p> +<p>Gathering twenty-five determined men, they +started with a shout for the hill, only to see the +sky already lighting with the flames of the burning +building. The mob, not understanding at +first, welcomed the new-comers with a roar of +approval.</p> +<p>But they were soon undeceived. The vigilantes +began to try to save the jail and their efforts +brought about the first clash of a night destined +long to be remembered in Medicine Bend. The +brawlers in the crowd stayed to fight the vigilantes. +The thieves and night-birds fell away in +the darkness, and like black cats scurried down +town to pillage the stores and warehouses of the +fire-fighters on the hill.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_266' name='page_266'></a>266</span></div> +<p>The few clerks and watchmen defending the +stores, these knaves made short work of. Dancing +and Scott, with Stanley, Bucks, and a party +of railroad men, uneasy at the reports from the +jail and now able to see the sky reddening with +the flames, moved in and out of the gloom of side +streets to keep track of the alarming situation +and were the earliest to discover the looting movement.</p> +<p>A convenient general store at Front and Hill +Streets was the first to be pillaged. Dancing +wanted to lead a party against the looters, but +Stanley pointed out the folly of half a dozen men +trying to police the whole street.</p> +<p>“We can do nothing here, Bill. Those vigilantes +have no business on the hill. Get word to +them, if you can, that the stores are being robbed. +They can’t save the jail; they ought to come +back and save their own property. I can’t bring +men up from the roundhouse. We’ve got to +protect our own property first. If we could get +word to them––but a man never could get through +that mob to the jail.”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_267' name='page_267'></a>267</span></div> +<p>“I reckon I can, colonel,” said Bill Dancing, +throwing off his coat.</p> +<p>“They will kill you, Bill,” predicted Stanley.</p> +<p>“No,” growled the lineman, rolling up his shirt +sleeves. “Not me. I wouldn’t stand for it.”</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_268' name='page_268'></a>268</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_XXI' id='CHAPTER_XXI'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XXI</h2> +</div> +<p>Slipping away behind the long warehouses in +Front Street and moving swiftly in and out of +friendly shadows on his long journey up the hill, +Dancing started for the jail. He was hardly more +than well under way when he was aware of one +following him and, turning to fell him with his +fist, he started as he found it was Bucks.</p> +<p>The latter confronted him coolly: “Go ahead, +Bill; I am going with you.”</p> +<p>“Who said you could go?” exclaimed the lineman. +“You can’t. Go back!”</p> +<p>Bucks stood his ground.</p> +<p>“Do you want to get killed?” thundered Dancing +hotly.</p> +<p>“Two are better than one on a job like this,” +returned Bucks, without giving way. “Go on, +will you?”</p> +<p>With a volley of grumbling objections, Dancing +at length directed Bucks to stick close to him, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_269' name='page_269'></a>269</span> +whatever happened, and to fight the best he could +in case they were cornered.</p> +<p>Ahead of them the glare of the conflagration +lighted the sky and the air was filled with the +shouts of the mob surrounding the fighting vigilantes. +Only half a block away, men were hurrying +up and down Front Street, while the two clambered +along the obscure and half-opened street +leading to the jail and parallel to the main thoroughfare.</p> +<p>Dancing, to whom every foot of the rocky way +was familiar and who could get over obstructions +in the dark as well as if it were day, led the way +with a celerity that kept his companion breathing +fast. Both had long legs, but Dancing in some +mysterious way planted his feet with marvellous +certainty of effect, while Bucks slipped and floundered +over rocks and brush piles and across gullies +until they took a short cut through a residence +yard and found themselves on the heels of +the mob surrounding the burning jail and in the +glare of the fire in upper Front Street.</p> +<p>“Stick close, sonny,” muttered the lineman, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_270' name='page_270'></a>270</span> +“we must push through these fellows before they +reco’nize us.”</p> +<p>He stooped as he spoke and picked up a piece +of hickory––the broken handle of a spike-maul. +“Railroad property anyway,” he muttered. “It +might come handy. But gum shoes for us now +till we are forced. Perhaps we can sneak all the +way through.”</p> +<p>Without further ado Dancing, with Bucks on +his heels, elbowed his way into the crowd. The +outer fringe of this he knew was not dangerous, +being made up chiefly of onlookers. But in another +minute the two were in the midst of a +yelling, swaying mix-up between the aggressive +mob and a thin fringe of vigilantes, who, hard-pressed, +had abandoned the jail to its fate and +were trying to fight their way down town.</p> +<p>Dancing, like a war-horse made suddenly mad +by smoke of battle, throwing caution and strategy +to the winds, suddenly released a yell and began +to lay about him. His appearance in the fray +was like that of a bombshell timed to explode +in its midst. The slugging gamblers turned in +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_271' name='page_271'></a>271</span> +astonishment on the new fighting man, but they +were not long left in doubt as to which cause +he espoused. In the next instant they were actively +dodging his flashing club, and the vigilantes +encouraged as if by an angel fought with fresh +vigor.</p> +<p>Bucks was stunned by the suddenness of Bill’s +change of tactics. It was evident that he had +completely forgotten his mission and now meant +to enjoy himself in the unequal fray that he had +burst in upon. The vigilantes cried a welcome +to their new ally. But one cry rose above every +other and that was from Dancing’s own throat as +he laid about with his club.</p> +<p>Consternation seized the rioters and they were +thrown for a moment into confusion. They then +recognized Dancing and a shout went up.</p> +<p>“Railroad men!” cried a dozen of the mob at +once.</p> +<p>And above these cries came one wheezing but +stentorian voice: “You’ve got ’em now; finish ’em!”</p> +<p>Bucks knew that voice. It was Rebstock.</p> +<p>The crowd took up the cry, but the lineman, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_272' name='page_272'></a>272</span> +swinging right and left with terrific strength and +swiftness, opened a way ahead of him while Bucks +kept close by till Dancing had cut through to +the vigilantes. Then, turning with them as they +raised their own cry of triumph, Dancing helped +to drive the discomfited rioters back.</p> +<p>It was only for a moment that the vigilantes +held their advantage. Outnumbering the little +band, the rioters closed in on their flanks and +showered stones upon them. Bill Dancing was +the centre of the fight. A piece of rock laid open +his scalp, but, though the mob was sure of getting +him, he fought like a whirlwind. They redoubled +their efforts to bring him down. One active rioter +with the seam of some other fight slashed across +his forehead struck down a vigilante and ran +in on Dancing. It was Seagrue. The lineman, +warned by Bucks, turned too late to escape a +blow on the head that would have dazed a bullock. +But Dancing realized the instant he received +the blow that Seagrue had delivered it.</p> +<p>He whirled like a wounded bear and sprang +at Seagrue, taking upon his shoulder a second +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_273' name='page_273'></a>273</span> +blow hardly less terrific than the first. Before +Seagrue could strike again, Dancing was upon +him. Tearing at each other’s throats the two +men struggled, each trying to free his right arm. +Seagrue was borne steadily backward. Then the +lineman’s big arm shot upward and down like +a trip-hammer and Seagrue sunk limp to the +ground.</p> +<p>The vigilantes themselves, profiting by the momentary +diversion, got away. Bucks had seen the +peril of being separated from their friends, but he +was powerless to avert it. As Dancing struck +Seagrue down, his enemies closed in behind the +moving vigilantes. Bucks fought his way to the +lineman’s side and in another instant the two +were beset. Dancing, hard-pressed, made a dash +to break through the circle to liberty. Half a +dozen men sprang at him, and trampling Bucks +completely under foot aimed their blows at his +defender.</p> +<p>Dancing saw Bucks fall and, clubbing his way +to his side, caught Bucks from the ground by +the coat collar, and dragging him with his left +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_274' name='page_274'></a>274</span> +hand, swung with his right hand his deadly club. +Nothing less would have saved them. The fight, +moving every instant after Dancing, reached the +broad wooden steps leading from the jail yard to +the street. Down these the lineman, stubborn +and bleeding, drove a desperate way. And Bucks, +able again to handle himself, was putting up a +good fight when, to his horror, Dancing, fighting +down the flight of steps, stumbled and fell.</p> +<p>Half a dozen men, with a yell, jumped for him. +Bucks thought the finish had come. He sprang +into the fight and, armed only with a wagon spoke, +cracked right and left wherever he could reach a +head. Dancing he had given over for dead, when +to his astonishment the lineman rose out of the +heap about him, shaking off his enemies like rats.</p> +<p>Flames shooting up from the burning jail lighted +the scene. Dancing, bare-headed, and with only +a part of his shirt hanging in ribbons from his +left arm, his hair matted in blood across his forehead +and his eyes blazing, was a formidable sight. +He had lost his club but he was at no loss for a +weapon. It was said of Bill Dancing in later +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_275' name='page_275'></a>275</span> +days that he could lift a thirty-foot steel rail. +Bucks saw him now catch up a man scrambling +in front of him and swing him by the legs like a +battering ram. With this victim, he mowed down +men like corks, and, flinging the man at last bodily +into the faces of his friends, he started like a deer +up Cliff Street with Bucks at his heels.</p> +<p>Sure that they now had him, the rioters followed +in a swarm. Cliff Street, only a block +long and only half-opened, terminated then at +the cliffs above the gorge of the Medicine River. +But darkness under the brow of the hill helped +the fleeing railroad men. Dancing dodged in and +out of the undergrowth that fringed the street +line and eluding his pursuers reached the brow +of the cliff unseen. The rioters, knowing that no +escape lay in that direction, beat the bushes that +fringed the half-opened street, confident that the +fugitives were in hiding among them.</p> +<p>For an ordinary man, indeed, there was no +escape toward the river. A wall of rock fell a +hundred feet to the water’s edge. The crowd, +growing every moment as the word passed that +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_276' name='page_276'></a>276</span> +Dancing was whipped, left the hunted man and +his companion little time for decision. Dancing, +in truth, needed but little. His purpose was fixed +the instant he saw himself cut off from every +other chance. He halted only on the brink of +the precipice itself. Catching Bucks’s arm, he +told him hurriedly what they must do and cautioned +him. “It’s the last chance, sonny,” he +murmured, as his iron fingers gripped the boy’s +arm. “We can make it––if you do exactly as I +tell you.”</p> +<p>The gathering cries closed in behind them while +they were taking off their shoes. Creeping on his +hands and knees along the brow of the cliff, Dancing +felt out his location with his fingers. And +with that sixth sense of instinct which rises to +a faculty when dangers thicken about a resolute +man, the lineman found what he sought.</p> +<p>He caught at the root of a rock-bound cedar, +swung himself over the cliff, and called to Bucks +to follow. Bucks acted wholly on faith. The +blackness below was impenetrable, and perhaps +better so, since he could not see what he was +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_277' name='page_277'></a>277</span> +undertaking. Only the roar of the river came up +from the depths. It sounded a little ominous as +Bucks, grasping the cedar root, swung over and +after an agonizing instant felt a support for his +feet. He stood on a ledge of rock so narrow that +it gave only a footing even in daylight, but Bucks +was called on to descend it in the middle of the +night.</p> +<p>For any man to have attempted the feat seemed +to him, the next morning, sheer insanity. Dancing, +however, knew the treacherous face of the +river wall. To his gigantic size and strength he +united the sureness of a cat in climbing up or down +a mountain arête. Often he had crept with a +telegraph wire, unaided, where his best men hung +back even in harness. There was, in fact, no +time now for halting. The rioters, eager on the +trail, were calling for torches, and, if discovered +before they reached the water, the lives of the +two men would be snuffed out by dropping rocks +on their heads.</p> +<p>Flattening himself as he had been bidden to +do and with his cheek laid to the face of the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_278' name='page_278'></a>278</span> +sheer rock, clasping from time to time with his +outstretched left hand such slight uneven surfaces +as he could feel, Bucks moved to the right +after Dancing, who gripped his extended right +hand and led him foot by foot down the perilous +way. Not a word was spoken, hardly a breath +drawn, as the lineman felt for his slippery foothold +with the deftness of a gorilla, and, pressing Bucks’s +hand as the signal to take a follow step, he made +a slow but steady descent.</p> +<p>The roar of the river already sounded in Bucks’s +ears like a cataract, but the shock of extreme danger +had numbed his apprehension. Chips of the +sharp granite cut his feet like knives, and he knew +that the sticky feeling upon his bare soles was blood +oozing through the broken skin. He had already +given up expectation of ever leaving the gorge +alive and merely responded to his companion’s +will. The one thought that came to his mind +was curiosity as to what Dancing ever expected +to do if they reached the bottom without accident.</p> +<p>Suddenly above the roar of the river he heard +the muffled crack of fire-arms coming as if out of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_279' name='page_279'></a>279</span> +another world. He wondered whether they themselves +were already being fired at, but experienced +nothing more than curiosity in the thought. Only +the pressure of the big hand that gripped his own +impressed itself powerfully upon his consciousness, +and at each squeeze he put his foot forward +mechanically, intent on a dull resolve to obey +orders.</p> +<p>He presently felt a new signal from the long +fingers that wound around his own. He tried to +answer by stepping, but Dancing whose face was +turned away, restrained him. Then it flashed on +Bucks that the lineman was signalling Morse to +him, and that the dot-and-dash squeezes meant: +“Half-way down. Half-way down.”</p> +<p>Bucks answered with one word: “Hurrah!” +But he squeezed it along the nerves and muscles +like lightning.</p> +<p>He could hear the labored breathing of his +companion as he strained at intervals every particle +of his strength to reach a new footing of +safety. Every vine and scrubby bush down the +cliff wall was tested for its strength and root, and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_280' name='page_280'></a>280</span> +Dancing held Bucks’s hand so that he could instantly +release it if he himself should plunge to +death.</p> +<p>Bucks had already been told that if this happened +he must hang as long as he could without +moving and if he could hold on till daylight he +would be rescued by railroad men. All this was +going through his head when, responding to a +signal to step down, and, unable to catch some +word that Dancing whispered, he stretched his +leg so far that he lost his balance. He struggled +to recover. Dancing called again sharply to him, +but he was too wrought up to understand. Dizziness +seized him, and resigning himself, with an +exclamation, to death, he felt himself dropping +into space.</p> +<p>In the next instant he was caught in Dancing’s +arms:</p> +<p>“Gosh darn it, why didn’t you jump, as I told +you?” exclaimed the lineman, setting him up on +his feet. “You pretty near clean upset us both.”</p> +<p>“Where are we, Bill?” muttered Bucks, swallowing +his shock.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_281' name='page_281'></a>281</span></div> +<p>“Right here at the water, and them fellows +up there beating the bush for us. There’s shooting +down town, too. Some new deviltry. How +good a swimmer are you, Bucks? By gum, I +forgot to ask you before you started.”</p> +<p>“I can swim better than I can climb, Bill.”</p> +<p>“We’ve only a quarter of a mile and downstream +at that. And the current here would float +a keg of nails.”</p> +<p>“How about rocks, Bill?” asked Bucks, peering +dubiously toward the roar of the rushing river.</p> +<p>“All up-stream from here,” returned Dancing, +edging down the shelving table toward the water. +“Lock arms with me so I don’t lose you, sonny. +What in Sam Hill is that?”</p> +<p>Far down the river the two saw a tongue of +flame leaping into the sky. They watched it for a +moment. Dancing was the first to locate the conflagration, +which grew now, even as they looked, +by leaps and bounds. The two stood ready to +plunge into the river when a fire of musketry +echoed up the gorge. The lineman clutched +Bucks’s arm.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_282' name='page_282'></a>282</span></div> +<p>“There’s fighting going on down there now. +What’s that smokestack? By Jing, the roundhouse +is on fire!”</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_283' name='page_283'></a>283</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_XXII' id='CHAPTER_XXII'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XXII</h2> +</div> +<p>They plunged together into the river. The +water, icy cold, was a shock, but Dancing had +made no mistake. They were below the rocks and +needed only to steady themselves as the resistless +current swept them down toward the railroad +yards.</p> +<p>Bucks demonstrated that he could swim and +the two seemed hardly in the water before they +could fully see the burning roundhouse. A moment +later, chilled to the bone but with his mind +cleared by the sharp plunge, Bucks felt his companion’s +arm drawing him toward the farther +shore where, in the slack water of an elbow of the +stream, Dancing led the way across a shoal of +gravel and Bucks waded after him up the riverbank.</p> +<p>They hastened together across the dark railroad +yard. The sound of firing came again from +the square in front of the railroad station and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_284' name='page_284'></a>284</span> +thither they directed their fleeing feet. To the +right they heard the shouts of the men who were +fighting the fire at the roundhouse and the hot +crackling of the flames. They reached the station +together and entered the waiting-room by +a rear door.</p> +<p>Men were running everywhere in and out of +the building and the waiting-room was barricaded +for war. Bill Dancing caught a passing trainman +by the arm.</p> +<p>“What’s going on here?”</p> +<p>The man looked at the lineman and his companion +in surprise: “The gamblers are driving +the vigilantes, Bill. They’ve got all Front Street. +What’s the matter with you?”</p> +<p>Dancing caught sight of Bob Scott coming +down the rear stairway with an armful of rifles, +and, without answering the question, called to +him.</p> +<p>“Hello!” exclaimed Scott halting. He started +as he saw Bucks. “Were <i>you</i> with him? And +I’ve been scouring the town for you! Stanley +will have a word to say to you, youngster. They +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_285' name='page_285'></a>285</span> +thought the gamblers had you, Bill,” he added, +turning to the lineman.</p> +<p>Dancing, a sight from the pounding he had +taken, his clothing in tatters, and with the blood-stains +now streaked by the water dripping from +his hair, drew himself up. “I hope you didn’t +think so, Bob? Did they reckon a handful of +blacklegs would get me?”</p> +<p>Scott grinned inscrutably. “They’ve got the +best part of your shirt, Bill. How did you get +off?”</p> +<p>“Swam for it,” muttered Dancing, shaking +himself. “Where’s Stanley?”</p> +<p>“Out behind the flat cars. He is arming +the vigilantes. We’ve fenced off the yards with +loaded freight-cars. They’ve fired the roundhouse +on us, but the rifles and ammunition that +came to-night are upstairs here. Take some of +these guns, Bill, and hand them around in front. +Bucks can follow you with a box of ammunition.”</p> +<p>Scott spoke hurriedly and ran out of the door +facing Front Street Square. A string of flat cars +had been run along the house-track in front of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_286' name='page_286'></a>286</span> +the station, and behind these the hard-pressed +vigilantes, reinforced now by the railroad men, +were taking up a new line of defence. Driven +through the town in a running battle, they were +in straits when they reached Stanley’s barricade.</p> +<p>Following a resolve already well defined, the +railroad chief conferred with the vigilante leaders +for a brief moment. He called them to his office +and denounced the folly of half-way measures.</p> +<p>“You see,” said Stanley, pointing to two dead +men whom the discomfited business men had +brought off with them, “what temporizing has done. +There is only one way to treat with these people.” +He was interrupted by firing from across +the square. “In an hour they will have every +store in Front Street looted.”</p> +<p>The deliberation for a few moments was a +stormy one, but Stanley held his ground. “Desperate +diseases, gentlemen,” he said, addressing +Atkinson and his companions, “require desperate +remedies, and you must sometime come to what +I propose.”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_287' name='page_287'></a>287</span></div> +<p>“What you propose,” returned Atkinson gloomily, +“will ruin us.”</p> +<p>Stanley answered with composure: “You are +ruined now. What you should consider is +whether, if you don’t cut this cancer of gambling, +outlawry, and murder out while you have a +chance, it won’t remain to plague you as long +as you do business in Medicine Bend, and remain +to ruin you periodically. This is always going to +be a town and a big one. As long as this railroad +is operated, this ground where we stand is and +must be the chief operating point for the whole +mountain division. You and I may be wiped out +of existence and the railroad will go on as before. +But it is for you to accept or reject what I propose +as the riddance of this curse to your community.</p> +<p>“The railroad has been drawn into this fight +by assault upon its men. It can meet violence +with violence and protect itself, or it can temporarily +abandon a town where protection is not +afforded its lives and property. In an emergency, +trains could be run through Medicine Bend +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_288' name='page_288'></a>288</span> +without stopping. The right of way could be +manned with soldiers. But the railroad can’t +supply men enough to preserve in your town the +law and order which you yourselves ought to +preserve. And if we were compelled to build +division facilities, temporarily, elsewhere, while +they would ultimately come back here, it might +be years before they did so. What else but your +ruin would this mean?”</p> +<p>He had hardly ceased speaking when the conference +was broken in upon. Bob Scott ushered +in two men sent under a flag of truce from the +rioters. The offer they brought was that Rebstock +and Seagrue should be surrendered, provided +Stanley would give his personal pledge that +the two should not be shot but sent out of town +until peace was restored, and that they should be +accorded a fair trial when brought back.</p> +<p>Stanley listened carefully to all that was said:</p> +<p>“Who sent you?” he demanded.</p> +<p>“The committee up street,” returned the envoys +evasively.</p> +<p>“You mean Levake sent you,” retorted Stanley. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_289' name='page_289'></a>289</span> +He sat at his desk and eyed the two ruffians, +as they faced him somewhat nervously. They at +length admitted that they had come from Levake, +and gave Stanley his chance for an answer.</p> +<p>“Tell Levake for me there will be no peace for +him or his until he comes down here with his +hands behind his back. When I want Rebstock +and Seagrue I will let him know. I want him +first,” said Stanley, dismissing the messengers +without more ado.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_290' name='page_290'></a>290</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_XXIII' id='CHAPTER_XXIII'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> +</div> +<p>He had resolved that Levake was to be punished, +but it was not a unanimous voice that +backed the railroad leader in his determination. +Weak-kneed men in the conference wanted to +compromise and end the fight where it stood. +Even Atkinson was disposed to make terms, as +the party returned to the barricade.</p> +<p>“No,” repeated Stanley. “Levake is the head +and front of this whole disorder. As long as he +can shoot down unarmed men in the streets of +Medicine Bend there will be no law and order +here. While men see him walking these streets +unpunished they will take their cue from him and +rob and shoot whom they please––Levake and his +ilk must go. A railroad, on the start, brings a +lawless element with it––this is true. But it also +brings law and order and that element has come +to Medicine Bend to stay. If the machinery of +the law is too weak to support it, so much worse +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_291' name='page_291'></a>291</span> +for the machinery. I don’t want to see blood +shed or property destroyed, but the responsibility +for this rests with the outlaws that are terrorizing +this town. And I will spend every ounce of +ammunition I have and fight them to the last +man, rather than compromise with a bunch of +cutthroats.</p> +<p>“If any man here feels differently about this, +he may step out of the barricade now,” continued +Stanley, addressing those of the townsmen that +listened. “There will be no hard feeling. But +this is the time to do it. Worse is ahead of us +before we can clean the town up as it will have +to be cleaned sometime. The longer you leave +the job undone, the harder it will be when you +tackle it.”</p> +<p>A movement across the square interrupted his +words, and a messenger waving a white handkerchief +came over to the barricade to ask for a surgeon +for a wounded man. There were some who +opposed sending any relief to men that had forfeited +all claim to humane consideration. Doctor +Arnold, however, was summoned, and Stanley +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_292' name='page_292'></a>292</span> +finally determined that the matter should be left +to the surgeon himself––he could go if he wished. +Arnold did not hesitate in his decision. “It is +my duty to go,” he decided briefly.</p> +<p>“I don’t quite see that,” muttered Atkinson.</p> +<p>The white-haired surgeon turned to the leader +of the vigilantes. “It is not a matter of personal +inclination, Atkinson. When I took my +degree for the practice of medicine, I took an +oath to respond to every call of suffering and I +have no right to refuse this one.”</p> +<p>Leaving his own injured with his assistant, the +surgeon told the messenger to proceed and the +two walked across the square and up Front Street +to the Three Horses. Arriving there, Arnold was +asked to dress the wound of a man that had been +shot through the breast in the fight along Fort +Street. While he was working over his patient, +who lay on a table surrounded by a motley +crowd of onlookers, Levake walked in. He nodded +to the surgeon and drawing a pocket knife, +while Arnold was cleansing the wound, sat down +beside him to whittle a stick.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_293' name='page_293'></a>293</span></div> +<p>“I hear your man, Stanley, wants me,” began +Levake after an interval.</p> +<p>“I guess you hear right,” returned Arnold dryly.</p> +<p>“Tell him for me to come get me, will you?” +suggested Levake.</p> +<p>“If he ever comes after you, Levake, he will +get you,” returned Arnold, looking the outlaw +straight in the eye. “There isn’t any doubt +about that,” he added, resuming his task.</p> +<p>Levake whittled but made no reply. He +watched the surgeon’s work closely, and when +Arnold had finished and given directions for the +wounded man’s care he walked out of the place +with him.</p> +<p>“Tell Stanley what I said, will you?” repeated +Levake, as the railroad surgeon left the door and +started down street.</p> +<p>Arnold made no answer and Levake, taunting +him to send all the men the railroad had after +him, followed Arnold toward the square.</p> +<p>The surgeon understood that it was Levake’s +purpose to engage him in a dispute and kill him +if he could. Arnold, moreover, was hot-tempered +and made no concealment of his feelings toward +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_294' name='page_294'></a>294</span> +any man. For this reason, despite his realization +of danger, he was an easy prey.</p> +<p>To the final taunt of the outlaw the surgeon +made rather a sharp answer and quickened his +pace, to walk away from his unpleasant companion. +But Levake would not be shaken off, +and as the two were passing a deserted restaurant +he ordered the surgeon to halt. Arnold +turned without shrinking. Levake had already +drawn his pistol and his victim concluded he was +to be killed then and there, but he resolved to +tell the outlaw what he thought of him.</p> +<p>“I understand your game perfectly, Levake,” +he said after he had raked him terrifically. “Now, +if you are going to shoot, do it. You haven’t +long to live yourself––make sure of that.”</p> +<p>“No man can threaten me and live,” retorted +Levake harshly.</p> +<p>“I came up here, an unarmed man, on an errand +of mercy.”</p> +<p>“I didn’t send for you.”</p> +<p>“You would kill me just as quick if you had, +Levake. What are you hesitating about? If you +are going to shoot, shoot.”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_295' name='page_295'></a>295</span></div> +<p>Throwing back his right arm, and fingering the +trigger of his revolver as a panther lashes his tail +before springing, Levake stepped back and to one +side. As he did so, with the fearless surgeon still +facing him, a man stepped from behind the screen +door of the deserted restaurant. It was Bob +Scott.</p> +<p>The old and deadly feud between the Indian +and the outlaw brought them now, for the first +time in months, face to face. In spite of his iron +nerve Levake started. Scott, slightly stooped and +wearing the familiar slouch hat and shabby coat in +which he was always seen, regarded his enemy with +a smile.</p> +<p>So sudden was his appearance that Levake +could not for an instant control himself. If there +was a man in the whole mountain country that +Levake could be said to be afraid of, it was the +mild-mannered, mild-spoken Indian scout. Where +Scott had come from, how he had got through +the pickets posted by Levake himself––these questions, +for which he could find no answer, disquieted +the murderer.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_296' name='page_296'></a>296</span></div> +<p>Arnold, reprieved from death as by a miracle, +stood like a statue. Levake, with his hand on +his pistol, had halted, petrified, at the sight of +Scott.</p> +<p>The latter, eying the murderer with an expression +that might have been mistaken for friendly, +had not Levake known there could be no friendship +among decent men for him, broke the silence: +“Levake, I have a warrant for you.”</p> +<p>The words seemed to shake the spell from the +outlaw’s nerves. He answered with his usual coolness: +“You’ve waited a good while to serve it.”</p> +<p>“I’ve been a little busy for a few days, Levake,” +returned Scott, with the same even tone. +“I kind of lost track of you.” But his words +again disconcerted Levake. The few men who +now watched the scene and knew what was coming +stood breathless.</p> +<p>Levake, moistening his dry lips, spoke carefully: +“I don’t want any trouble with you here,” +he said. “When this town fight is over, bring +your warrant around and I’ll talk to you.”</p> +<p>“No,” returned Scott, undisturbed, “I might +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_297' name='page_297'></a>297</span> +lose track of you again. You can come right +along with me, Levake.”</p> +<p>With incredible quickness the outlaw, half-turning +to cover Scott, fired. The cat-like agility +of the Indian answered the move in the instant +it was made. Scott was, in fact, the first scout +from whom mountain men learned to fire a revolver +without aiming it and it was not without +reason that Levake sought no encounter with +him. For Scott to draw and fire was but one +movement, and hating Levake as a monster, the +Indian had long been ready to meet him as he +met him now, when he should be forced to face +him fairly.</p> +<p>A fusillade of shots rang down the street. The +air between the two men, feinting like boxers in +their deadly duel, filled with whitish smoke. Arnold, +stunned by the suddenness of the encounter, +jumped out of range. In the next moment he +saw Levake sink to the sidewalk. Scott, springing +upon him like a cat, knelt with one hand already +on his throat; with the other he wrung a second +revolver from Levake’s hand. The surgeon ran +to the two men.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_298' name='page_298'></a>298</span></div> +<p>Levake, panting, lay desperately wounded, as +Scott slowly released his grip upon him. The +Indian rose as the surgeon approached, but Levake, +his eyes wide open, lay still.</p> +<p>“You are wounded, Bob,” cried Arnold, tearing +the stained sleeve of Scott’s coat from his +shoulder. The scout shook his head.</p> +<p>“We’re in danger here,” he replied, glancing +hurriedly up the street. “We must get this fellow +away.”</p> +<p>The two picked the wounded man from the +ground and started quickly down street with him. +The shooting, now so frequent all over the town, +had attracted little attention outside the few that +had witnessed the swift duel, and the two railroad +men made good progress with their burden before +the alarm was spread. But the surgeon saw that +the strain was telling on Scott, whose shoulder was +bleeding freely. He had even ordered his companion +to drop his burden and run, when he heard +a shout and saw Bill Dancing running across from +the barricade to their aid.</p> +<div class='figtag'> +<a name='linki_5' id='linki_5'></a> +</div> +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/p0300a-ins.jpg' alt='' title='' width='369' height='568' /><br /> +<p class='caption'> +FOR SCOTT TO DRAW AND FIRE WAS BUT ONE MOVEMENT.<br /> +</p> +</div> +<p>Half a dozen of the rioters, shouting threats and +imprecations, were hastening down Front Street +after Levake and his captors to rescue their prisoner. +Scott, reloading his revolver as Dancing +relieved him of his end of the burden, stood free +to cover the retreat. He fired a warning shot at +the nearest of their pursuers. A scattering pistol +fire at long range followed. But the railroad men +crossed the square in safety, and the big lineman, +with Levake in his arms, carried him single-handed +into the barricade.</p> +<p>The surgeon and Bob Scott followed close. +Bucks was first to meet the wounded scout, and +the railroad men, jubilant at Levake’s capture, +ran to Scott and bore him down with rough welcome. +Levake was laid upon a bench in the station +and Scott followed to his side. Arnold, joining +the scout, made ready to dress the wound in +his shoulder.</p> +<p>“See to Levake first, doctor,” said Scott, “he +needs it the most.”</p> +<p>As he spoke, Dancing hurried into the room. +“Bob, the car shops are on fire.”</p> +<p>Scott ran to the east window. It was true. +The rioters, supplied with oil and torches, had +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_299' name='page_299'></a>299</span> +made their way in the darkness through Callahan’s +picket line near the river and set fire to +the shops.</p> +<p>Stanley was eating a hasty supper in the despatchers’ +office.</p> +<p>Within a few minutes the blaze could be seen +from all the east windows of the station. Almost +at the same moment, through the north windows +fire was seen breaking out in one of the big stores +in Front Street. As Stanley rose from his midnight +meal, Atkinson ran in with word that a +band of rioters, well armed, had attacked a train +of boarding-cars defended by the roundhouse men.</p> +<p>The sky, bright again with the flame of conflagration, +made a huge dome of red, lighting the +railroad yards across which men were now hurrying +to make fresh dispositions for the emergency.</p> +<p>The vigilante leaders saw impending, in the +Front Street fire, the ruin of their business property. +There were no longer men enough left to +fight the flames and guard the fire-fighters. A +point had been reached in which life and property +were no longer taken into account, and efforts to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_300' name='page_300'></a>300</span> +restore law and order were facing complete failure. +It was then that the most radical of all +measures, the last resort of organized society in +its resolve to defend itself, was discussed. The +vigilantes, as well as the railroad men, now realized +that but one measure remained for saving +Medicine Bend and that was the extermination +of the outlaws themselves.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_301' name='page_301'></a>301</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_XXIV' id='CHAPTER_XXIV'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> +</div> +<p>The men in the barricade were lined up for +orders. Ammunition was passed and volunteers +were called to form a charging party. The vigilantes +formed in the glare of the burning shops.</p> +<p>From the head-quarters of the rioters in Front +Street came scattering shots and cries as a huge +volume of sparks shot up into the black sky. Ten +men under Hawk and ten under Dancing made the +supporting party for the vigilantes, who asked only +that a line of retreat be kept open. This Stanley +had undertaken to provide. Atkinson, making +a wide détour back of the station, led his men +down the railroad tracks and, reaching a point +where concealment was no longer possible, double-quicked +up Fort Street and charged with his party +across the little park.</p> +<p>They had already been seen. A line of men, +posted behind the places that line Front Street +at that point, opened fire. It was the worst possible +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_302' name='page_302'></a>302</span> +answer to make to men in the temper of the +scattered line that swept up the street in the +glare of the burning buildings. Wounded men +dropped out of the charge, but those that went +on carried with them a more implacable determination. +Re-forming their line under cover of the +cedars at the corner of Fort Street, they directed an +effective fire into the dance halls adjoining, and the +rioters hiding within scurried from them like rats.</p> +<p>But the vigilantes were intent first of all on +capturing and burning the hall known as the +Three Horses, and the rioters rallied to its defence. +As the place was assailed, the doors were +barred and a sharp fire was poured through the +windows. The assailants were driven back. Bill +Dancing, heated and stubborn, refused to retreat +and, picking up a sledge dropped by a fleeing +vigilante, attacked the barred doors single-handed.</p> +<p>The street, swept by the bullets of the fray, rang +with the splitting blows of the heavy hammer, as +the lineman, his long hair flying from his forehead, +swung at the thick panels. Within, the +gamblers tried to shoot him from the windows, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_303' name='page_303'></a>303</span> +but he stood close and his friends kept up a constant +supporting fire that drove the defenders back.</p> +<p>From above they hurled chairs and tables +down on Dancing, but his head seemed furniture-proof, +and scorning to waste time in dodging he +hammered away, undaunted, until he splintered +the panels and the stout lock-stiles gave. The +vigilantes, running up, tore through the door +chains with crowbars and rushed the building.</p> +<p>The fight in the big room lasted only a moment. +The rioters crowded toward the rear and escaped +as best they could. Vigilantes with torches made +short work of the rest of it. Dancing stove in a +cask of alcohol, and as the attacking party ran +out of the front door a torch was flung back into +the spreading pool.</p> +<p>A great burst of fire lighted the street. The +next moment the long building was in flames.</p> +<p>Emboldened by this success and driving the +outlaws from their further retreats, the vigilantes +fired one after another of the gaudy places that +lined the upper street. Met by close shooting at +every turn, the rioters were driven up the hill +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_304' name='page_304'></a>304</span> +and fighting desperately were pursued to cover by +men now as savage as themselves. The scattered +clashes were brief and deadly. The whole upper +town was on fire. Men fleeing for their lives +skulked in the shadows of the side streets and the +constant scattering report of fire-arms added to +the terrors of the night.</p> +<p>Hour after hour the conflagration raged and +day broke at last on the smoking ruins of the +town of Medicine Bend. The work of the vigilantes +had been mercilessly thorough. Along the +railroad track stiffened bodies hanging from the +cross-bars of telegraph poles in the gloom of the +breaking day told a ghastly story of justice summarily +administered to the worst of the offenders. +In the gloom of the smoking streets stragglers +roamed unmolested among the ruins; for of the +outlaws, killed or hunted out of the town, none +were now left to oppose the free passage of any +one from end to end of Medicine Bend.</p> +<hr class='toprule' /> +<div class='chsp'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_305' name='page_305'></a>305</span> +<a name='CHAPTER_XXV' id='CHAPTER_XXV'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER XXV</h2> +</div> +<p>The victory was dear, but none murmured at +its cost. Medicine Bend for once had been purged +of its parasites.</p> +<p>At the railroad head-quarters Stanley, before +daylight, was directing the resumption of operations +so interrupted by the three days of anarchism +on the mountain division. New men were added +every hour to the pay-roll, and the smaller tradesmen +of the town, ruined by the riots, were given +positions to keep them until the town could be +rebuilt.</p> +<p>The pressure on the operating department increased +twofold with the resumption of traffic. +Winter was now upon the mountains, but construction +could not be stopped for winter. The +enormous prizes for extending the line through +the Rockies to meet the rival railroad heading +east from California, spurred the builders to every +effort to lengthen their mileage, and something +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_306' name='page_306'></a>306</span> +unheard of was attempted, namely, mountain +railroad-building in midwinter.</p> +<p>Levake, the leader among the mountain outlaws, +was nursed back to life by the surgeon he +had so nearly murdered. But his respite was a +brief one. When new officers of the law were +elected in Medicine Bend, the murderer was tried +for one of his many crimes and paid on the scaffold +the penalty of his cold-blooded cruelty. Rebstock, +the fox, and his companion Seagrue escaped +the exterminating raid of the vigilantes but +fought shy of Medicine Bend for long afterward.</p> +<p>A few days after the riots Stanley sent for +Bucks, who was holding a key among the operators +downstairs, to come to his office.</p> +<p>“How long have you been a telegraph operator, +Bucks?” he asked.</p> +<p>Bucks laughed in some embarrassment. “Since +I was about twelve years old, sir.”</p> +<p>“Twelve years old!” echoed Stanley in amazement. +“Where did you learn to telegraph at +twelve?”</p> +<p>Bucks hesitated again. “I never learned, sir!”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_307' name='page_307'></a>307</span></div> +<p>“What do you mean?”</p> +<p>“I used to sit in the telegraph office of the +road when my uncle was superintendent, and I +got used to hearing the sound of the instruments. +I just woke up one morning and found I could +telegraph. I couldn’t the night before. That’s +the only way I ever learned, sir.”</p> +<p>Stanley regarded the boy with interest. “How +old are you now?”</p> +<p>“Seventeen.”</p> +<p>“Very well. When you went to bed last night +you were not a train despatcher: this morning +you are.” Bucks started. “If any one ever asks +you,” continued Stanley dryly, “how you learned +to be a train despatcher, tell them just that.”</p> +<p>“I don’t want you to think you are old enough +to be a despatcher,” continued Stanley, as Bucks +stammered his thanks, “for you are not. And I +don’t want you to think I like to make you one. +I don’t. Neither for your sake nor mine. I don’t +like to impose the responsibilities of a man on a +boy. But I can’t help it. We haven’t the men, +and we can’t get them––and we must all, men +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_308' name='page_308'></a>308</span> +and boys, pull together and just do the best we +can––do you understand?”</p> +<p>“I understand everything, Colonel Stanley.”</p> +<p>“I need not say much about what is before +you. You have been sending despatchers’ orders +for years yourself. You know how many lives +are held every minute in the despatchers’ hand. +Don’t overrate your responsibility and grow nervous +over it; and don’t ever underestimate it. +As long as you keep yourself fit for your work, +and do the best you can, you may sleep with a +clear conscience. Report to Mr. Baxter. Remember +you are working with green trainmen +and don’t expect too much of them.”</p> +<p>When Bucks signed a transfer and took his +train-sheet that night at twelve o’clock, his chief +anxiety was to keep the material trains going to +Casement and everything eastbound was laid out +in an effort to send the ties and rails west. Bucks +set himself to keep pace with the good work done +by the despatcher in the evening trick and for +two hours kept his sheet pretty clean.</p> +<p>A heavy train of rails which he had been helping +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_309' name='page_309'></a>309</span> +all the way west after midnight was then at +Castle Springs, and Bucks gave its crew an order +to meet the eastbound passenger train at Point +of Rocks. It was three o’clock when a message +came from the operator at Point of Rocks, saying +the rail train had passed westbound. Bucks +seized a key and silencing the wires asked for +the passenger train. Nothing had been seen of it. +He called up Bitter Creek, the first telegraph point +west of Point of Rocks with an order to hold the +passenger train. But the train had already gone.</p> +<p>The new dispatcher sprang up from the table frantic. +Then, racing again to the key, he made +the operator at Castle Springs repeat the order +and assure him it had been delivered. Of this +there could be no question. The freight crew had +ignored or forgotten it, and were now past Point +of Rocks running head-on against the passenger +train. If the heavens had fallen the situation +would have seemed better to Bucks. A head-on +collision on the first night of his promotion meant, +he felt, his ruin. As he sat overwhelmed with despair, +trying to collect his wits and to determine +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_310' name='page_310'></a>310</span> +what to do, the door opened and Bob Scott appeared.</p> +<p>The scout, with his unfailing and kindly smile, +advanced and held out his hand. “Just dropped +in to extend my congratulations.”</p> +<p>Bucks looked at him in horror, his face rigid +and his eyes set. Scott paused and regarded his +aspect with surprise. “Something has happened,” +he said, waiting for the despatcher to speak.</p> +<p>“Bob!” exclaimed the boy in desperation, “No. +9 has run past her meeting order at Point of Rocks +with No. 2. They will meet head-on and kill +everybody. My God! what can I do?”</p> +<p>In the dim light of the shaded oil lamp, Bucks, +looking at the scout, stood the picture of despair. +Scott picked up the poker and began to stir the +fire and asked only a few questions and said +little. However, when Bucks told him he was +going to wake Stanley, whose sleeping-room adjoined +his office at the end of the hall, Scott counselled +no.</p> +<p>“He could do nothing,” said Scott reflecting. +“Let us wait a while before we do anything like +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_311' name='page_311'></a>311</span> +that,” he added, coupling himself with the despatcher +in the latter’s overwhelming anxiety. +“The first news of the collision will come from +Bitter Creek. It will be time enough then to +call Stanley. Give your orders for a wrecking +crew, get a train ready, and get word to Doctor +Arnold to go with it.”</p> +<p>Bucks, steadying himself under the kindly +common-sense of his older friend, followed each +suggestion promptly. Scott, who ordinarily would +himself have been running around on the job, +made no move to leave the room, thinking he +could be of more service in remaining with the +unfortunate despatcher. The yard became a scene +of instant activity. And although no organization +to meet emergencies of this kind had been +as yet effected on the new division, the men responded +intelligently and promptly with the necessary +arrangements.</p> +<p>Everyone summoned tried to get into the dispatchers’ +room to hear the story repeated. Scott +took it upon himself to prevent this, and standing +in the anteroom made all explanations himself. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_312' name='page_312'></a>312</span> +He rejoined Bucks after getting rid of the +crowd, and the moment the relief train reported +ready the despatcher sent it out, that help might +reach the scene of disaster at the earliest possible +moment. Bucks, calmed somewhat but suffering +intensely, paced the floor or threw himself into +his chair, while Scott picked up the despatcher’s +old copy of “The Last of the Mohicans,” and +smoking silently sat immovable, waiting with his +customary stoicism for the call that should announce +the dreaded wreck.</p> +<p>The moments loaded with anxiety went with +leaden feet while the two men sat. It seemed as +if the first hour never would pass. Then the long +silence of the little receiver was broken by a call +for the dispatcher. Bucks sprang to answer it.</p> +<p>Scott watched his face as he sent his “Ay, +ay.” Without understanding what the instruments +clicked, he read the expressions that +followed one after the other across Bucks’s countenance, +as he would have read a desert trail. He +noted the perplexity on the despatcher’s face when +the latter tried to get the sender of the call.</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_313' name='page_313'></a>313</span></div> +<p>“Some one is cutting in on the line,” exclaimed +Bucks, mystified, as the sounder clicked. “Bob, +it is Bill Dancing.”</p> +<p>A pause followed. “What can it mean, his +sending a message to me? He is between Bitter +Creek and Castle Springs. Wait a moment!”</p> +<p>The receiver clicked sharp and fast. Scarcely +able to control his voice in his anxiety, Bucks +turned to the now excited scout: “The trains +met between Bitter Creek and Castle Springs. +There was no collision!”</p> +<p>Almost collapsing with the passing of the strain, +Bucks faltered in his taking. Asking Dancing +again for the story, Bucks took it more coolly and +repeated it to his eager listener, as it came.</p> +<p>“Dancing was out with two men on the line +to-day, repairing between Bitter Creek and Castle +Springs. He didn’t get done and camped beside +the track for the night, to finish in the morning.”</p> +<p>“Go on,” exclaimed Scott.</p> +<p>“They shot a jack-rabbit–––”</p> +<p>“Hang the jack-rabbit,” cried Scott. “What +about the trains?”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_314' name='page_314'></a>314</span></div> +<p>“You can’t hurry Bill Dancing, Bob,” pleaded +Bucks. “You know that. Faster, Bill, faster,” +he telegraphed urgently.</p> +<p>“You will get it faster,” returned the distant +lineman far out in the mountains under the stars, +as he talked calmly with the despatcher, “if you +will go slower.”</p> +<p>Bucks strangled his impatience. Dancing resumed, +and the despatcher again translated for +Scott.</p> +<p>“They cooked the jack-rabbit for supper–––”</p> +<p>Scott flung his book violently across the room. +“It tasted good,” continued Dancing exasperatingly. +“But the night was awfully cold, so they +built a big camp-fire near the curve. The freight +engineer saw the fire and thought it was a locomotive +head-light. Then he remembered he had +run past his meeting point. He stopped his train +to find out what the fire was. When he told Bill +what had happened they grabbed up the burning +logs, carried them down the track, and built a +signal fire for No. 2. And it came along inside +five minutes–––”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_315' name='page_315'></a>315</span></div> +<p>“And there they are!” concluded Bucks, wiping +the dampness from his forehead.</p> +<p>The receiver continued to click. “Bill thought +I would be worried and he cut in on the line right +away to tell me what had happened.”</p> +<p>“Now give your orders to No. 2 to back up +to Castle Springs and let the rail train get by. +Recall your relief train,” added Scott. “And +bring that freight engineer in here in the morning +and let Stanley talk to him for just about +five minutes.” The key rattled for a moment. +Scott, going to the farthest corner of the room, +picked up “The Last of the Mohicans.” “Bucks,” +he murmured insinuatingly, as he sat down +to look into the book again, “I want to ask +you now, once for all, whether this is a true +story?”</p> +<p>“Bob, put that book where it belongs and stop +talking about it.”</p> +<p>Scott hitched one shoulder a bit and returned +to the fire, but he was not silenced.</p> +<p>“That reminds me, Bucks,” he resumed after a +pause, “there is another friend of yours here at +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_316' name='page_316'></a>316</span> +the door, waiting to congratulate you. Shall I let +him in?”</p> +<p>“I don’t want any congratulations, Bob.”</p> +<p>“I’ll promise he doesn’t say a single word, +Bucks.” As he spoke, Scott opened the hall door +and whistled into the darkness. For an instant +there was no response. Then a small and vague +object outlined itself in the gloom, but halted questioningly +on the threshold. Wagging his abbreviated +tail very gently and carrying his drooping +ears very low, Scuffy at length walked slowly into +the room. Bucks hailed him with delight, and +Scuffy bounding forward crouched at his feet.</p> +<p>“I can’t do a thing with him over at the ranch,” +complained Scott, eying the dog with a secret admiration. +“He is eating the hounds up; doesn’t +give them a chance to pick a bone even after he’s +done with it.”</p> +<p>“I’m afraid there is nothing to do with Scuffy, +but to make a despatcher of him,” returned +Bucks, picking him up by the forepaws. “I can +see very plainly it’s going to be a dog’s life most +of the time.”</p> + +<!-- generated by ppg.rb version: ppg0809 --> +<!-- timestamp: Mon Aug 10 03:58:03 -0600 2009 --> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Mountain Divide, by Frank H. 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Spearman + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Mountain Divide + +Author: Frank H. Spearman + +Illustrator: Armand Both + +Release Date: August 10, 2009 [EBook #29656] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MOUNTAIN DIVIDE *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +THE MOUNTAIN DIVIDE + + + + +BOOKS BY FRANK H. SPEARMAN + +PUBLISHED BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + + ROBERT KIMBERLY. Illustrated by James + Montgomery Flagg. 12mo Net $1.30 + + WHISPERING SMITH. A Story of Rocky Mountain + Life. Illustrated by N. C. Wyeth. 12mo $1.50 + + THE DAUGHTER OF A MAGNATE. Illustrated. 12mo $1.50 + + DOCTOR BRYSON. A Novel. 12mo $1.50 + + THE MOUNTAIN DIVIDE. Illustrated. 12mo Net $1.25 + + THE STRATEGY OF GREAT RAILROADS. + With Maps. 12mo Net $1.50 + + + + +[Illustration: AS BUCK'S STRAINING EYE FOLLOWED THE MOVEMENT, THE SECOND +INDIAN STRUCK THE CLUB DOWN.] + + + + +THE MOUNTAIN DIVIDE + +BY + +FRANK H. SPEARMAN + +ILLUSTRATED BY + +ARMAND BOTH + +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + +NEW YORK :: 1912 + + + + +Copyright, 1912, by + +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + +Published September, 1912 + + + + +THIS STORY WITHOUT LOVE, + +IS NONE THE LESS LOVINGLY INSCRIBED + +TO + +MY YOUNGEST SON + +ARTHUR DUNNING SPEARMAN + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + As Buck's straining eye followed the movement, the + second Indian struck the club down. _Frontispiece_ + It was only after a moment that the lineman could be + seen to gain. 92 + "Let that gate alone or I'll brain you," he cried. 250 + For Scott to draw and fire was but one movement. 300 + + + + +THE MOUNTAIN DIVIDE + + +CHAPTER I + + +Night had fallen and a warm rain drifting down from the mountains hung +in a mist over the railroad yards and obscured the lights of Medicine +Bend. Two men dismounting from their drooping horses at the foot of +Front Street threw the reins to a man in waiting and made their way on +foot across the muddy square to the building which served the new +railroad as a station and as division head-quarters. In Medicine Bend, +the town, the railroad, everything was new; and the broad, low pine +building which they entered had not yet been painted. + +The public waiting-room was large, roughly framed, and lighted with +hanging kerosene lamps. Within the room a door communicated with the +agent's office, and this was divided by a wooden railing into a +freight office and a ticket and telegraph office. + +It could be seen, as the two men paused at the door of the inner room, +that the first wore a military fatigue-cap, and his alert carriage as +he threw open his cape-coat indicated the bearing of an American army +officer. He was of medium height, and his features and eyes implied +that the storms and winds of the plains and mountains were familiar +friends. This was Park Stanley, charged at that time with the +construction of the first transcontinental railroad. + +The agent's office, which he and his companion now looked into, was +half-filled with a crowd of frontiersmen, smoking, talking, disputing, +asking questions, and crowding against the fence that railed off the +private end of the room; while at the operator's table next to the +platform window a tall, spindling boy was trying in the confusion +behind him to get a message off the wire. + +Stanley, eying the lad, noticed how thin his face was and what a bony +frame spread out under the roundabout jacket that he appeared already +to have outgrown. And he concluded this must be the new operator, +Bucks, who for some days had been expected from the East. + +The receiver clicked insistently and Bucks endeavored to follow the +message, but the babel of talking made it almost impossible. Stanley +heard the boy appeal more than once for less noise, but his appeals +were unheeded. He saw symptoms of fire in the operator's eyes as the +latter glared occasionally at the crowd behind him, but for what +followed even Stanley was unprepared. Bucks threw down his pen and +coming forward with angry impatience ordered the crowd out of the +room. + +He pushed the foremost of the intruders back from the rail and +followed up his commands by opening the wicket gate and driving those +ahead of him toward the door of the waiting-room. "Get out where you +belong," he repeated, urging the crowd on. Stanley turned to the man +at his side. "I will go upstairs to write my message. This must be the +new boy, Bob," he added; "he acts as if he might make things go." + +His companion, Bob Scott, smiled as he followed Stanley out upon the +platform and up the narrow stairway leading to the division offices. +But Bob Scott was conservative. He never spoke above an undertone and +naturally took the conservative side: "If he only doesn't make them go +too fast, Colonel," was his comment. + +A tall young man, spare but almost gigantic in stature, standing back +in one corner of the agent's office as the men about him were hustled +along, likewise regarded Bucks with surprise as he saw him start +single-handed to expel the intruders. This was the mountain telegraph +lineman, Bill Dancing, as simple as he was strong, and ready at any +time to be surprised, but not often disconcerted. In this instance, +however, he was amazed, for almost before he realized it the energetic +operator was hustling him out with the others. + +When Bucks thought the room cleared he turned to go back to his table, +but he saw that one man had been overlooked. This man was still +sitting on a stool in the farthest corner of the dimly lighted room. +The spindling operator without hesitation walked over to him and laid +his hand on the man's shoulder. Dancing, looking back through the +door, held his breath. + +"Move out of here, please," said Bucks, "into the public waiting-room." +The man rose with the utmost politeness. "Sorry to be in your way," +he returned mildly, though there was a note not quite pleasant in his +voice. + +"Your place is outside," continued the operator. "I can't do anything +with a mob in here all talking at once." + +"I haven't done my talking yet," suggested the man, with a shade of +significance. This, however, was lost on Bucks, who looked sharply at +the stool from which the man had risen. + +"I think this stool is mine," said he, picking it up and examining it. +"It is mine," he added, after a moment's inspection. "Please move +on." + +"Perhaps before I go," returned the man with the same unpleasant +irony, "you will tell me whether you have an express package here for +Harvey Levake." + +"Of course I will, Harvey," responded the operator in a matter-of-fact +way. "Just wait a minute." + +Levake's lips stretched into a ghost of a smile, and his white-lashed +gray eyes contracted with an effort at amiability. + +The operator, going inside the railing, ran over the express way-bills +which, not yet entered up, lay on the freight desk. + +"There is a package here for you," he announced a moment later, and +turning to a heap of parcels thrown under the desk he searched among +them until he found and produced the one he sought. + +"Here it is--a box of cartridges." + +"What are the charges?" asked the man. + +"Four dollars and sixty cents." + +The man laid down a twenty-dollar bank-bill. The operator hesitated: +"I haven't the change." + +Levake showed no sympathy: "That is not my fault," he returned. + +The operator looked at him: "Do you want the package to-night?" + +"If I didn't, do you suppose I would waste an hour here waiting for +it?" + +The boy considered a moment and made a decision, but it chanced to be +the wrong decision. "Take the package along. Bring me the charges in +the morning." + +Levake made no response beyond a further glance at the boy somewhat +contemptuous; but he said nothing and picking up his package walked +out. No one opposed him. Indeed, had the operator been interested he +would have noticed with what marked alacrity every man, as he passed +through the waiting-room, got out of Levake's way. Dancing, standing +at the door and with his hair on end, awaited the close of the +incident. He now re-entered the inner office and shut the waiting-room +door behind him with an audible bang. Bucks, who had returned to his +table, looked around. "Well, who are you?" he demanded as he regarded +Dancing. "And what are you doing here?" + +"Who are you?" retorted Dancing bluntly. "And what are you doing +here?" + +"My name is Bucks and I am the new night operator." + +"You look new. And you act all-fired new. My name is Bill Dancing and +I am the telegraph lineman." + +"Why, you are the man I am looking for." + +"So I thought, when you pushed me out of here with the rest of your +visitors." + +"Why didn't you speak up, Bill?" demanded Bucks calmly. + +A quizzical expression passed over Dancing's face. "I didn't want to +break the calm. When I see a man walking around a powder magazine I +hate to do anything that might set it off. + +"So your name is Bucks," continued Dancing, as he walked through the +wicket and threw his wet hat among the way-bills on the freight desk. +"Well, Mr. Bucks, do you know what was most likely to happen to you +any minute before you got through with that crowd, just now?" + +"No, I don't know. Why?" asked Bucks, busy with his messages. + +"Have you ever seen a shooting mix-up in Medicine Bend?" demanded +Dancing in a tone of calculated indifference. + +"No," answered Bucks in decided but off-hand manner, "I never saw a +shooting mix-up anywhere." + +"Never got shot up just for fun?" persisted Dancing. "Do you know," he +continued without waiting for an answer, "who that polite man was, +the last one you shouldered out of here?" Dancing pointed as he +spoke to the corner from which Levake had risen, but the operator, +straightening out the papers before him, did not look around. + +"No, Bill, I don't know anybody here. You see I am a stranger." + +"I see you are a stranger," echoed Dancing. "Let me tell you +something, then, will you?" + +"Tell it quick, Bill." + +"There is no cemetery in this town." + +"I have understood it is very healthy, Bill," returned the operator. + +"Not for everybody." Bill Dancing paused to let the words sink in, as +his big eyes fixed upon the young operator's eyes. "Not for +everybody--sometimes not for strangers. Strangers have to get used to +it. There is a river here," added the lineman sententiously. "It's +pretty swift, too." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean you have got to be careful how you do things out in this +country." + +"But, Bill," persisted the lad, "if there is going to be any business +done in this office we have got to have order, haven't we?" The +lineman snorted and the operator saw that his appeal had fallen flat. +"My batteries, Bill," he added, changing the subject, "are no good at +all. I sent for you because I want you to go over them now, to-night, +and start me right. What are you going to do?" + +Dancing had begun to poke at the ashes in the stove. "Build a fire," +he returned, looking about for material. He gathered up what waste +paper was at hand, pushed it into the stove, and catching up the +way-bills from the desk, threw them in on the paper and began to feel +in his wet pockets for matches. + +"Hold on," cried Bucks. "What do you mean? You must be crazy!" he +exclaimed, running to the stove and pulling the way-bills out. + +"Not half so crazy as you are," replied Dancing undisturbed. "I'm only +trying to show you how crazy you are. Burning up way-bills isn't a +circumstance to what you did just now. You are the looniest operator I +ever saw." As he looked at Bucks he extended his finger impressively. +"When you laid your hand on that man's shoulder to-night--the one +sitting on your stool--I wouldn't have given ten cents for your +life." + +Bucks regarded him with astonishment. "Why so?" + +"He's the meanest man between here and Fort Bridger," asserted +Dancing. "He'd think no more of shooting you than I would of +scratching a match." Bucks stared at the comparison. "He is the worst +scoundrel in this country and partners with Seagrue and John Rebstock +in everything that's going on, and even they are afraid of him." + +Dancing stopped for breath. "Talk about my making a fire out of +way-bills! When I saw you lay your hand on that man, I stopped +breathing--can't breathe just right yet," he muttered, pulling at his +shirt collar. "Do you know why you didn't get killed?" + +"Why, no, Bill, not exactly," confessed Bucks in embarrassment. + +"Because Levake was out of cartridges. I heard him tell Rebstock so +when they walked past me." + +"Thank you for posting me. How should I know he was Seagrue's partner, +or who Rebstock is? Let's make a bargain. I will be more careful in +clearing out the office, and you be more careful about building fires. +There's wood in the baggage-room. I couldn't get out to get it for +fear the crowd would steal the tickets." + +"Well, you are 'out' four dollars and sixty cents charges on the +cartridges," continued Dancing, "and you had better say nothing about +it. If you ever ask Levake for the money he will kill you." + +Bucks looked rebellious. "It's only right for him to pay the charges. +I shall ask him for them the next time I see him. And what is more he +will have to pay, I don't care whose partner he is." + +Dancing now regarded the operator with unconcealed impatience. "I +suppose there are more where you came from," he muttered. "They will +need a lot of them here, if they carry on like that. How old are you?" +he demanded of Bucks abruptly. + +"Seventeen." + +"How long have you been in this country?" + +Bucks looked at the clock. "About five hours, Bill." + +"Reckon time close, don't you?" + +"Have to, Bill, in the railroad business." + +Dancing reflected a moment. "Five hours," he repeated. "If you don't +get killed within the next five you may live to be a useful citizen of +Medicine Bend. Where are you from, and how did you happen to come away +out here on the plains?" + +"I am from Pittsburgh. I had to quit school and go to work." + +"Where did you go to school?" + +"Well, I didn't go----" + +"Quit before you went, did you?" + +"I mean, I was preparing for Van Dyne College. One of my brothers +teaches there. I couldn't start there after I lost my father--he was +killed in the Wilderness Campaign, Bill. But when I can earn money +enough, I am going back to Van Dyne and take an engineering course." + +"Got it all figured out, have you?" + +"Then I heard they were building the Union Pacific, and I knew +something about telegraphing--Jim Foster and I had a line from the +house to the barn." + +"Had a line from the house to the barn, eh?" chuckled Dancing. + +"So I bought a railroad ticket to Des Moines from Pittsburgh and +staged it to Omaha, and General Park gave me a job right away and sent +me out on the first train to take this office, nights. I didn't even +know where Medicine Bend was." + +"Don't believe you know yet. Now that's right, I don't believe you +know yet. You're a good boy, but you talk too much." + +"How old are you, Bill?" + +"I am twenty." + +"Twenty!" echoed Bucks, as if that were not very much, either. + +"Twenty!" repeated the lineman. "But," he added, drawing himself up in +his tremendous stature, with dignity, "I have been on the plains +driving wagons and building telegraph lines for seven years----" + +"Seven years!" echoed Bucks, now genuinely admiring his companion. + +"My father was a Forty-niner. I was a line foreman when I was +seventeen, for Edward Creighton, and we put the first telegraph line +through from the Missouri River to the Pacific," continued Dancing, +ready to back his words with blows if necessary. + +"You _are_ an old-timer," cried Bucks enviously. "Any good rabbit-shooting +around here, Bill?" + +"Rabbit-shooting?" echoed Dancing in scorn. "The only rabbits they +shoot around here, young fellow, are Pittsburgh rabbits, that +don't keep their ears hid proper. When we go hunting, we go +antelope-hunting, buffalo-hunting, grizzly-bear hunting, elk-hunting. +Now I don't say I don't like you and I don't say you won't do. What I +say is, you talk too much. I'll tell you what I've learned. I've +learned not to say too much at a time. And when I say it, I don't +say it very loud. And if you don't get killed, in advance, you will +learn the same thing in the same way I learned it. Where are your +blamed batteries?" + +"Bill, you are all right." + +"I am, am I?" + +"First help me enter these way-bills and check up the express packages +so I can deliver them to this mob." + +"My business isn't checking up express; but I like you, young fellow, +so, go ahead. Only you talk too much." + +"Just a moment!" + +At these words coming from the other end of the office, the lineman +and the operator looked around. The military-looking man and his +companion had entered the room unobserved and stood at the +counter listening to the colloquy between the Eastern boy and the +plainsman--for neither of the two were more than boys. Dancing +saluted the new-comers. "It's Colonel Stanley and Bob Scott," he +exclaimed. + +Bucks walked forward. Stanley handed him a message. "You are the night +operator? Here is a despatch for General Park. Get it out for me right +away, will you?" + +Dancing came forward to the railing. "How are you, Bill?" said +Stanley, greeting the lineman as Bucks read the long message. "I am +going up into the mountains next week, and I am just asking General +Park for a cavalry detail." + +"Going to need me, Colonel?" + +"Better hold yourself ready. Can you read that, young man?" he asked, +speaking to Bucks. + +"Yes, sir." + +"Lose no time in getting it off." + +With the words he turned on his heel and leaving the office went +upstairs to the despatcher's rooms. During the interval that the +message was being sent, Dancing worked at the express matter. While +the two were busy, Bob Scott, moving so quietly that he disturbed no +one, laid carefully upon the smouldering paper in the stove such chips +as he could pick from the wood-box, nursing and developing a little +blaze until, without noise or fuss, he soon had a good fire going. In +all of the mountain country there was but one kind of men who built +fires in that way and these were Indians. + +Such was Bob Scott, who, wet to the skin from his ride down the hills +with Stanley, now stood slowly drying himself and watching Dancing and +the new operator. + +Scott was a half-blood Chippewa Indian, silent as a mountain night and +as patient as time. He served Colonel Stanley as guide and scout +wherever the railroad man rode upon his surveys or reconnoissances. +Dancing, emerging presently from the batteries, greeted Scott again, +this time boisterously. The Indian only smiled, but his face reflected +the warmth of his friendship for the big lineman. And at this juncture +Dancing, slapping him on the shoulder, turned to introduce him to +Bucks. The three stood and talked a moment together, though, perhaps, +without realizing what they were almost at once to go through +together. The outgoing Eastern passenger train now pulled up to the +platform and Bucks was kept busy for some time selling tickets. + +His buyers were all sorts and conditions of men. And one forlorn-looking +woman, with a babe in her arms and a little girl clinging to her +skirt, asked the price of a ticket to Omaha. When told, she turned away +to count her money. Among the men were traders and frontiersmen +going to Missouri River markets with buffalo robes; trappers from the +Big Horn country with furs; Mormon elders on their way from Utah to +their Eastern settlements; soldiers on furlough and men from the +railroad-construction camps on the front; adventurers, disgusted with +the hardships of frontier life, and gamblers and desperadoes, +restless and always moving. + +Bucks needed his wits to watch the money that was pushed under his +little wicket and to make change without mistake. There was elbowing +and contention and bad language, but the troublesome crowd was +finally disposed of, and when the last of the line had left the ticket +window the waiting-room was pretty well cleared. There remained only a +black-bearded man half-asleep in a chair by the stove, and in one +corner on a bench the woman, who was trying to quiet the child she +held in her lap. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +As Bucks looked through his embrasure to see if all had been served, +his eye fell on the group in the corner and he heard the woman +suppressing the sobbing of her little girl. He walked out into the +waiting-room to ask what the trouble was. He learned afterward that +she was the wife of a gambler, but she told him only that she had +followed her husband to Medicine Bend and was now trying to get back +with her two children to her parents in Iowa. When she had ascertained +the price of the railroad ticket she found that she lacked five +dollars of the sum needed to make up the fare. Bucks had just a little +money of his own, but he had counted on using that for his meals. +While he was debating what to do, the elder child tugging still at the +mother's dress asked for something to eat, and while the mother tried +to quiet it Bucks felt he could manage somehow without the price of +the ticket better than this woman could. + +"Give me what money you have," he said. "I will get you a ticket." + +"But isn't the train gone?" + +"No." + +The black-bearded man dozing near the stove had his ears open although +his eyes were closed. He had heard fragments of the talk and saw the +boy dig into his own pocket, as he would have expressed it, to start +the woman home. After Bucks had given her the ticket and she was +trying to thank him and to quiet again the tired child, the drowsy man +rose, picked up the woman's hand-bag and told her gruffly he would put +her on the train. As he started with her out into the drizzling rain, +he carried her little girl, and, stopping down the platform at a +sheltered lunch-counter, he bought a bag of doughnuts big enough to +sink a ship. He offered no money to the man at the counter, but his +credit seemed unquestioned. In the train the seats appeared all to be +taken, but the drowsy man again showed his authority by rolling a +tipsy fellow out of a seat and piling him up in a corner near the +stove--which fortunately had no fire in it. + +During all this time he had not said a word. But at the last, having +placed the woman and the children in two seats and made them +comfortable, he asked the mother one question--her husband's name. She +told him, and, without any comment or good-bys, he left the car and +started through the rain uptown. + +After the train pulled out, the wind shifted and the rain changed +into a snow which, driven from the mountains, thickened on the wet +window in front of the operator's table. A message came for the +night yardmaster, and the operator, seeing the head-light of the +switch-engine which was working close by, put on his cap and stepped +out to deliver the message. As he opened the waiting-room door, a man +confronted him--the bearded man who had taken the woman and children +to the train. Bucks saw under the visor of a cloth cap, a straight +white nose, a dark eye piercingly keen, and a rather long, glossy, +black beard. It was the passenger conductor, David Hawk. Without +speaking, Hawk held out his hand with a five-dollar bank note in it. + +"What is this?" asked Bucks. + +"The money you gave the woman." + +Bucks, taking the bill, regarded his visitor with surprise. "Where did +you get this?" + +"What's that to you?" + +"But----" + +"Don't ask questions," returned Hawk brusquely. "You've got your +money, haven't you?" + +"Yes, but----" + +"That's enough." And with Bucks staring at him, Hawk, without a word +or a smile, walked out of the station. + +But Bill Dancing had seen the incident and was ready to answer Bucks's +question as he turned with the money in his hand. "That is Dave Hawk," +explained Dancing. "Dave hates a sneak. The way he got the money from +the woman's husband was probably by telling him if he didn't pay for +his wife's ticket and add enough to feed her and her babies to the +river he would blow his head off. Dave doesn't explain things +especially." + +Bucks put the money in his pocket and started on with his message. The +yards covered the wide flat along the river. Medicine Bend was then +the western operating point for the railroad and the distributing +point for all material used in the advancing construction through the +mountains. + +Not until he left the shelter of the station building did he realize +the force of the storm that was now sweeping across the flat. The wind +had swung into the northwest and blew almost a gale and the snow stung +his face as he started across the dark yard. There were practically no +lights at all beyond the platform except those in the roundhouse, too +far away to be seen, but the operator saw the moving head-light of the +switch-engine and hastened across the slippery tracks toward it. The +crew were making up a material train to send west and the engine was +snorting and puffing among long strings of flat cars loaded with +rails, ties, stringers, and bridge timbers. + +As Bucks neared the working engine it receded from him, and following +it up he soon found his feet slipping in the wet mud and the wind at +times taking his breath. Conscious of the folly of running farther, he +halted for a moment and turning his back to the storm resolved to wait +till the engine returned. He chose a spot under the lee of a box-car, +and was soon rewarded by hearing a new movement from the working +engine. By the increasing noise of the open cylinder cocks he +concluded it was backing toward him. He stepped across the nearest +track to reach a switch-stand, a car-length away, whence he thought he +could signal the engine with his lantern. He had nearly reached the +switch when his foot slipped from a rail into a frog that held him +fast. Holding his lantern down, he saw how he was caught and tried to +free his heel. It seemed as if it might easily be done, but the more +he worked the faster caught he found himself. For a moment he still +made sure he could loosen his foot. Even when he realized that this +was not easy, he felt no alarm until he heard the switch-engine +whistle. Through the driving snow he could see that it was coming +toward him, pushing ahead of it a lead of flat cars. + +Bucks was no stranger to railroad yards even then, and the realization +of his peril flashed across his mind. He renewed his efforts to loosen +his imprisoned heel. They were useless. He stood caught in the iron +vice. A sweat of fear moistened his forehead. He hoped for an instant +that the moving cars were not coming on his track; but almost at once +he saw that they were being pushed toward the very switch he was +trying to reach. Even where he stood, struggling, he was not six feet +away from the switch-stand and safety. It seemed as if he could almost +reach it, as he writhed and twisted in his agony of apprehension. + +He swung his lantern frantically, hoping to catch the eye of one of +the switching crew. But the only answer was the heavy pounding of the +loaded cars over the rail joints as they were pushed down upon the +helpless operator. Worst of all, while he was swinging his lantern +high in the air, the wind sucked the flame up into the globe and it +went out and left him helpless in the dark. Like the hare caught in +the steel teeth of a trap, the boy stood in the storm facing impending +death. + +The bitterest feelings overwhelmed him. After coming hundreds of miles +and plunging into his work with the most complacent self-confidence, +he stood before the close of the first day about to be snuffed out of +existence as if he were no more than the flame of his useless lantern. +A cruel sense of pain oppressed his thoughts. Each second of +recollection seemed to cover the ground of years. The dull, heavy +jolting of the slow-coming cars shook the ground. He twisted and +writhed this way and that and cried out, knowing there were none to +hear him: the wind swept away his appeal upon its heedless wings; the +nearest car was almost upon him. Then a strange feeling of calm came +over him. He felt that death was knocking at his heart. Hope had gone, +and his lips were only moving in prayer, when a light flashed out of +the darkness at his very side and he felt himself seized as if by a +giant and wrenched away from where he stood and through the air. + +He heard a quick exclamation, saw a lighted lantern fall to the +ground, felt a stinging pain in his right foot, and knew no more. + +When he recovered consciousness, three lanterns shone in his eyes. He +was lying in the mud near the switch with the engine crew standing +over him. One of the men knelt at his side and he saw the thin, strong +features of a face he had seen among the railroad men, but one that he +knew then he was never to forget--the face of the yardmaster, +Callahan. Callahan knelt in the storm with a good-natured expression. +The men about the yardmaster were less kindly. + +"Who are you, tar heels?" demanded the engineman angrily. + +Resentment, which would have been quick in the operator a little +earlier, had died in the few moments in which he had faced death. He +answered only in the quietest way: + +"I am the night operator." + +"The deuce you are!" exclaimed the man bending over him. + +"Who are you?" demanded the operator, in turn. + +"I am Callahan, the night yardmaster." + +"I have an order for you to send a car of spikes on No. 7, Callahan. I +was trying to find you when I got caught in the frog." The pain in his +foot overcame Bucks as he spoke. Another dread was in his mind and he +framed a question to which he dreaded to hear the answer. "Is my foot +gone?" he faltered. + +The yardmaster hesitated a moment and turned to an older man at his +side wearing a heavy cap. "How about it, doctor?" he asked. + +Doctor Arnold, the railway surgeon, a kindly but stern man, answered +briefly, "We won't take it off this time. But if he is that careless +again we will take his head off." + +"How old are you, boy?" demanded Callahan. + +"Seventeen." + +"Well, your foot isn't hurt," he continued gruffly. "But it's only +God's mercy that I got here in time to pull you out of the frog." + +The operator was already up. "I hope I shan't forget it," he said, +putting out his hand. "Will you remember the spikes?" + +"I will," responded Callahan grimly. "And I guess----" + +"Say it," said the operator gamely, as the yardmaster hesitated. + +"I guess you will." + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Bucks, after his eventful first night on duty, slept so heavily that +on the following afternoon he had only time to eat his supper, walk +haltingly up the main street of Medicine Bend and back to the square, +when it was time to relieve the day man at the station. + +But the few minutes in the narrow business street filled him with +interest and at times with astonishment. Medicine Bend, still very +young, was a mushroom railroad town of frame store buildings hastily +thrown together, and houses, shanties, and tents. It was already +the largest and most important town between the mountains and the +Missouri River. The Union Pacific Railroad, now a double-tracked, +transcontinental highway, laid with ninety and one hundred pound +steel rails, and ballasted with disintegrated granite, a model of +railroad construction, equipment, and maintenance, was, after the +close of the Civil War, being pushed with light iron rails and heavy +gradients across what was then known to geographers as the Great +American Desert, and the project of a transcontinental railroad was +meant at that time to unite the chief port of the Pacific coast, +San Francisco, with the leading cities of the Atlantic seaboard. + +A railroad in building across a country considers first the two +uttermost cities (its principal terminals), or those two portions of +the country which it seeks to connect for the interchange of traffic. + +The Union Pacific and its companion road, the Central Pacific, +afforded, too, the first and last instance of the United States +Government's becoming responsible for the building of a railroad. +Although the project of aiding a railroad to be built somewhere +between and connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean ports had been +discussed by Congress for thirty years before the fall of Fort Sumter, +the extraordinary feeling caused by the Civil War alone made possible +so unusual an undertaking. President Lincoln himself had given the +subject careful thought, and when, after much controversy and +discouraging political intrigue, the Union and Central Pacific +Railroad bills were ready to pass Congress, Abraham Lincoln was +appealed to to decide a long-standing controversy concerning the +gauge, or width of track, for the new lines. + +After painstaking consideration, he decided on a gauge of five feet, +but the promoters of the line then persuaded Congress to reduce the +figures to four feet eight and one-half inches, and that gauge is now +the standard gauge for all American railroads. It would have been +better if the railroad builders had followed Lincoln's suggestion, +since the traffic of American railroads has outgrown the possibilities +of their gauges. And within a few years one of the greatest of +present-day railroad builders has declared with emphasis that a +six-foot gauge must one day come to provide our railroads with the +necessary facilities for handling the enormous and constantly +expanding volume of American railroad traffic. + +The young operator, who, in spite of his efforts to conceal his hurt, +now limped a little as he walked up the street of the new railroad +town might well look with curiosity and amazement on what he saw. The +street he walked in was no more than a long assemblage of saloons, +restaurants, boarding-houses, gambling-houses, dance-halls and shops. +Nearer the station and fronting on the open square, there were +barber-shops and so-called hotels. Up and down the side streets he saw +livery-stables and roughly built warehouses for contractors' supplies, +army supplies, and stage-line depots. + +The main street was alive with strange-looking frontiersmen, trappers, +hunters, scouts, soldiers, settlers, railroad laborers, outlaws, +prospectors, and miners. Every face that Bucks looked into presented a +study. They were sometimes faces bronzed with the clear, dry sunshine +of the plains and mountains, rugged with adventure and keen with +dangers met and passed, but others were furrowed with dissipation and +seamed with vice, or merely vacant with the curiosity of the +wanderer. + +Nearly every man carried a fire-arm of some sort. Indians were a +continual menace upon the frontier to the north and west and on the +front where the road was being built; and in the train-service and +construction work railroad men usually went armed. Moreover, when the +frontiersmen were not arming against the Indians they were arming +against one another; it being difficult at times to tell whether the +white men or the savages were the more dangerous to the peaceful +pursuit of happiness. As Bucks, returning down Front Street, neared +the square that opened before the station a group of army officers +were walking across it. They were the first regular officers he had +ever seen and he regarded them with interest. At the station the chief +despatcher, Baxter, met him at the door. "Bucks, I've been waiting for +you. Can you ride a horse?" + +Bucks smiled. + +"Colonel Stanley," continued Baxter, "is going to the front to-night. +He wants to take an operator with him. Giddings isn't well enough to +go, but he can take your key to-night; you can go with the colonel +instead. He will take Dancing and a detail of cavalrymen with Leon +Sublette and Bob Scott for guides." + +The suddenness of the call was not unpleasant. It was such continual +excitement and new adventure that Bucks liked and he said he was +ready. The despatcher told him to hunt up Bill Dancing, who would give +him the details. + +Within an hour the cavalry horses were being loaded into a box-car up +at the stock chute, and while Bucks and big Bill Dancing watched them +an engine and the chief engineer's car were backed down the yard to +make up the special train. At the same moment, the two saw Stanley +walking across the yard with two engineers who were going to the front +with him. + +Bucks looked with admiration at the soldier-constructionist. He was +slight in figure, wore the precise-looking military cap, and was +dressed with extreme care. He stepped with a light briskness that +implied an abundance of native energy, and his manner as he greeted +the two railroad men was intimate and gracious, putting them at once +at their ease. His smooth-shaven face, bronzed with service, and his +brown eyes, were alive every moment. Whatever the enterprise, Stanley +could call forth the loyalty and the best in those under him, and in +Dancing and Scott he had two men that worked well together and had in +their chief the unquestioning faith that insures devotion. + +To these two more experienced men was now to be added a third, Bucks. +The train started almost at once, and Oliver, the colonel's cook, +prepared supper in his box-like kitchen and chopped his potatoes, for +frying, in muffled ragtime, as the puffing engine slowly drew the +train up the long gorge into the mountains. Bucks sat down at table +with the engineers and Stanley asked him many questions. He wanted to +know where Bucks had gone to school, why he had quitted at fifteen, +and what had brought him away out on the Desert to begin railroading. + +When it appeared that Stanley as well as he himself was from +Pittsburgh, and even that Bucks had been named after the distinguished +officer--John Stanley Bucks--Bucks was happier than at any time since +he had left home. + +The talk went on till very late. Stanley and General Park, who also +had been a regular-army man, told stories of the Civil War, just then +ended, and the giant lineman, Dancing, entertained the company with +stories of adventure incurred in the mountains and on the plains in +building the first transcontinental telegraph line. + +Bucks sat for hours in silence while the three men talked; but he had +good ears and was a close listener. All the adventure books of his +boyhood reading had been bound up with this very country and with +these rugged mountains through which they were riding. The tales of +the people all about him during his youth had been of the far and +mysterious West--of the overland trail and the gold seekers, of Pike's +Peak and California, of buffaloes and trappers and Indians, and of the +Mormons and the Great Salt Lake. These had been his day-dreams, and at +last he was breathing the very air of them and listening to men who +had actually lived them. + +The sleeping-bunks in the car could hardly be called berths, but they +served to lessen the fatigues of the night, and when Bucks woke in the +morning he saw from his window a vast stretch of rough, desert country +bordered by distant mountain peaks, some black, some brown, some +snow-capped in the morning sun. The train stopped in a construction +camp, near the end of the rails, and after a hasty breakfast Bucks +walked with the engineers up the track to the head-quarters of the +rail-laying gang. + +The air was frosty. During the night snow had fallen, and as Bucks +followed his party the sun burst over the plain that they had crossed +in the night and lighted the busy camp with a flood of gold. It was a +camp such as few American boys had ever seen and of a type that no boy +will ever see again. Everywhere along the cuts and hillsides and in +sheltered spots the men had made temporary quarters by burrowing into +the clay or soft rock and making dugouts and canvas-roofed huts, with +earthen sides for walls. + +But not all were so enterprising as this. Some laborers were camping +in old hogsheads. Even packing-boxes served others for shelter, but +were all so disposed within the cuts and among the ridges of the +railroad grade as to be safe from Indian forays. And along the +completed railroad, all the way from the Missouri River, material and +supply trains were moving to supply this noisy, helter-skelter camp, +which seemed to Bucks all confusion, yet was in reality all energy. + +General Jack Casement, in charge, came forward to greet Stanley. + +"And they tell me, general," said Stanley, "you are laying a mile a +day." + +"If you would give us the ties, colonel," returned Casement, +short-bearded and energetic, "we should be laying two miles a day." + +"I have turned the Missouri River country upside down for timber," +returned Stanley. "The trouble is to get the material forward over a +single track so many hundred miles. However, we shall be getting ties +down the Spider Water within two weeks. I am on my way up there now to +see what the contractors are doing." + +It was the first intimation Bucks had had as to the object of the +trip. Casement had a number of subjects to lay before his superior +while within consulting distance, and Bob Scott, an hour later, +announced that Stanley would not move on for two days. This left his +attendants free, and when Scott, low-voiced and good-natured, asked +Bucks if he wanted to go out on the Sweet Grass Plains with him after +an antelope, Bucks accepted eagerly. The two saddled horses and Bucks, +with a rifle borrowed from Sublette, followed Scott across a low-lying +range of hills broken by huge stone crags and studded with wind-blown +and stunted cedars, out upon the far-reaching expanse of an open +plain. The scene was inspiring, but impressions crowded so fast one +upon another that the boy from the Alleghanies could realize only that +he was filled with sensations of delight as his wiry buckskin +clattered furiously along the faint trail that carried him and his +guide to the north and west. The sun was high when Scott reined up +and, dismounting, tethered his horse in a glade hidden by a grove of +aspens and bade Bucks do the same. + +"Getting hungry?" asked Scott, smiling at his companion. An answer +was written pretty plainly on Bucks's face. + +"Didn't bring anything to eat, did you?" suggested Scott. + +Bucks looked blank. "I never thought of it," he exclaimed. "Did you +bring anything?" + +"Nothing but this," answered Scott, holding up a small buckskin sack +fitted with drawing strings. + +"What is that, Bob?" + +"It is what I carry wherever I ride. I carry nothing else. And it is +only a little bag of salt." + +"A bag of salt!" cried Bucks. "Do you eat salt?" + +"Wait and see," answered the scout. "Pull your belt up a notch. We've +got a little walking to do." + +Scott, though of Chippewa blood, had been captured when a boy by the +Sioux and, adopted into the tribe, had lived with them for years. He +knew the mountains better than any man that served Stanley, and the +latter trusted him implicitly--nor was the confidence ever betrayed. + +Walking rapidly over a low-lying divide beyond which lay a broad +valley marking the course of a shallow creek, Scott paused behind a +clump of cedars to scan the country. He expected to find antelope +along the creek, but could see none in any direction. Half a mile more +of scouting explained the absence of game, and Scott pointed out to +Bucks the trail of an Indian hunting party that had passed up the +valley in the morning. They were Cheyennes, Scott told his companion, +three warriors and two squaws--reading the information from signs that +were as plain to him as print--though Bucks understood nothing of it. +In the circumstances there was nothing for it but a fresh venture, +and, remounting, the Indian led the boy ten miles farther north to +where the plains stretched in a succession of magnificent plateaus, +toward the Sleepy Cat Mountains. + +"We are in real Sioux country now," observed Scott, as he again +dismounted. "And we are as likely now to uncover a war party as a herd +of antelope." + +"What should you do, Bob, if we met Sioux?" + +"Run," smiled Bob, with Indian terseness. Yet somehow the boy felt +that Bob, in spite of what he said, would not run, and he realized for +a moment the apprehension of one but newly arrived on the frontier, +and still subject to tremors for his scalp. The scout took his stand +near a thicket of quaking asp and almost at once sighted a band of +antelope. Taking Bucks, he worked around the wind toward the band, and +directed him how and when to shoot if he got a chance. Bucks, highly +wrought up after the long crawl to get within range, did get a chance, +and with his heart beating like a trip-hammer, covered a buck and +fired. The scout shot immediately afterward, and the herd broke +swiftly for the timber along the creek. But Bucks, as well as his +experienced companion, had brought down an antelope. + +Scott, as he joined his companion, looked at him with curiosity. +"Where did you learn to shoot?" + +"I couldn't do it again, Bob," exclaimed Bucks frankly. "The only +shooting I've ever done is rabbit-shooting, or squirrel-shooting. I +was lucky for once, that's all." + +"I hope your luck stays with us. If it does we may get back with all +of our hair," returned Scott. "The thing to do now is to lose no time +in leaving here. We are farther from camp than we ought to be. When I +get to running antelope I am apt to go as far as they do." + +The two hunters got the carcasses across their horses, and acting on +Scott's admonition started to cover a good bit of the distance toward +camp before stopping. + +The sun was already low in the west and Bucks realized that they had +been out all day. The hunters rode due southeast, to put every mile +possible between them and the Indian country before dark. They were +riding along in this manner at dusk, when Scott, leading, pointed to a +canyon that offered a hiding-place for the night, and directed his +horse into it. Scarcely had the two passed within the canyon walls +when Scott halted and, with a quick, low command to the boy, sprang +from his horse. Bucks lost no time in following suit: they had ridden +almost into an Indian camp, and when Bucks's feet touched the ground +Scott was covering with his rifle a Sioux brave who with two squaws +rose out of the darkness before him. Quick words passed between Scott +and the Indian in the Sioux tongue. Bucks's hair rose on end until the +confab quieted, and the scout's rifle came down. In an instant it was +all over, but in that instant the Easterner had lived years. + +"It is all right," said Bob, turning to reassure his charge. "He is a +young chief--Iron Hand. I know his father. These three are alone. +Eight of them went out after buffalo five days ago. The second day +they fell in with Turkey Leg and a Cheyenne war party. Two of Iron +Hand's warriors were killed. The rest got separated and these three +lost their horses. Iron Hand," Scott nodded toward the silent Indian, +"was hit in the arm, and with his squaw and her sister has been trying +to get north, hiding by day and travelling by night. He can't shoot +his rifle; he thinks his arm is broken; and the squaws haven't been +able to kill anything. They are hungry, I guess." + +"And did they tell you all this in those few words?" demanded Bucks +incredulously. + +"It doesn't take many words to tell stories in this country. If a man +talked much he would be dead and buried before he got through." + +"Bob, if they are hungry, give them some antelope." + +Scott, who had meant to suggest the same thing, was pleased that the +offer should come from his companion, and so told the wounded Indian. +The latter drew himself up with dignity and spoke a few rapid words. +"He says he is glad," translated Bob, "that your heart is big. And +that it will be safer to go farther into the canyon. The Cheyennes are +hunting for them all around here, and if you are not afraid to camp +with the Sioux, we will stay with them here to-night. While the +Cheyennes are hunting them, they might find us. It will be about the +safest thing we can do." + +"You know best," said his companion. "Can you trust this man?" + +"Trust him?" echoed Bob mildly. "I wish I could trust the word of a +white man half as far as I can that of a Sioux. He understands +everything you say." + +"Can he talk English?" asked Bucks in surprise. + +"Better than I can." + +It was with queer sensations that Bucks found himself in a hostile +country and with the deadliest enemies of the white man going into +camp for the night. Within a minute or two after Scott and the wounded +brave had picked a defended camp near a rivulet of water, the two +squaws had a fire going, and they set to work at once dressing an +antelope. + +Savory morsels were cut from choice spots on the carcasses and these +were broiled by impaling them on long sticks over the fire. Bucks, +learning very fast with his eyes, saw how surprisingly small an affair +an Indian camp-fire is, and how much could be done with a few buffalo +chips, if one understood how to keep them renewed. Both safety and +convenience were served by the tiny blaze, and meat never tasted as +good to Bucks as it did on that clear, frosty night, broiled by the +two women and garnished from Bob Scott's provident salt bag. + +After satisfying his ravenous hunger, which the Indians considered not +even a fair appetite, Bucks asked to look at the warrior's injured +arm, explaining that his father had been an army surgeon in the great +white man's war, as Bob Scott designated the Civil War in translating +for the Sioux. The arm, which was badly swollen, he found had indeed +been broken by a bullet near the wrist, but only one bone was +fractured, and, finding no trace of the bullet, the confident young +surgeon offered to set the fracture. + +Iron Hand, nothing loath, accepted the offer, and after cleansing the +wound as well as it could be cleansed in running water hard by, Bucks +took the rough splints handily supplied by Scott's hunting-knife, and +pulling the bone into place with the scout's aid--though the brave +winced a little at the crude surgery--he soon had the forearm set and +was rewarded with a single guttural, "Wa-sha-ta-la!" from the stalwart +warrior, which, Bob explained, meant, "Heap good." + +Sitting afterward by the camp-fire, Scott and Iron Hand, since the +young chief would not talk English, conversed in the Sioux tongue, +the scout translating freely for his younger companion, while the +squaws dressed the second antelope and cut it up for convenience in +carrying on the horses to Casement's camp. Scott reserved only the +hind-quarters of each animal for himself and Bucks, giving the rest to +their hosts. + +When it was late, Scott showed the boy how to pillow his head on his +saddle and then stretched himself out to sleep. Bucks lay a long time +looking up at the stars. When he fell asleep, he woke again very soon. +His companion was sleeping peacefully beside him, and he saw Iron Hand +sitting by the fire. Bucks easily imagined his arm would keep him +awake. The squaws were still broiling pieces of antelope over the +little blaze, which was neither bigger nor smaller than before, and +together with the chief they were still eating. Bucks slumbered and +woke again and again during the night, but always to see the same +thing--the three Indians sitting about the fire, broiling and eating +the welcome and wholly unexpected venison. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Before daybreak the scout roused his companion, and, after breakfast +with the three Sioux, who, according to Bob, were still eating supper, +the two hunters left their chance companions in the canyon, rode +rapidly south, and, with their antelope haunches as trophies, reached +Casement's camp about ten o'clock. + +Stanley, who was conferring with Casement, came out of the tent +greatly amazed at his scout's venturing so far on a hunt as to expose +himself and his companion to danger. + +"We were safe every minute, colonel," declared Scott. + +"Safe?" echoed Stanley incredulously. "No man is safe, Bob, a mile +from the track-layers. The Sioux killed and scalped one of our +engineers not ten miles from here, when we were running this very line +last winter." + +"This lad," nodded Scott, "is as good a shot as I am. He brought down +the first antelope. We get along with the Sioux all right, too, don't +we, Bucks?" he demanded, appealing to his fellow-hunter. "We ate +supper with them last night," he added to mystify his listeners, "and +camped with Iron Hand." + +Even General Casement stared at this and waited to hear Scott tell +Stanley the story of their night's adventure. "However, colonel," +concluded Scott, "there is a war party of Cheyennes near here. It is a +good time to be careful." + +"All right, Bob," retorted Stanley, looking at his scout keenly, +though no one could be angry at Scott long. "You set the example." + +The words were hardly out of his mouth when an operator came running +down the track from the telegraph tent with a message for General +Casement. It contained word from the operator at Peace River that +section men reported a war party of Indians, crossing the railroad +near Feather Creek, had attacked an emigrant party camped there. + +In an instant the whole construction camp had the news and the work +was thrown into confusion. Feather Creek was twenty miles away. Orders +flew fast. A special train was made up, and Stanley taking command, +with Casement to aid, made ready instantly to leave for the scene of +the disaster. + +The men running from the grade fell into line like veteran soldiers. +Indeed, most of them had seen service in the war just closed and the +smell of powder was no novelty. Bob Scott turned the venison over to +Oliver and loaded his horse in the car with those of the cavalrymen. +Under Stanley's orders he himself rode as pilot in the cab with the +engine crew. Bucks also reported to Stanley, and within twenty minutes +the relief train carrying two hundred men was plunging down the long +hill toward Feather Creek. Heads were craned out of the car windows, +and in rounding every curve Bucks, with the scout Leon Sublette, +sitting greatly wrought up behind Stanley and Casement, expected +momentarily to see Cheyenne war bonnets spring up out of the stunted +cedars that lined the hills along the right of way. + +But not a sign could be seen of any living thing. The train reached +Feather Creek, and slowly crossed the bridge before Scott signalled +the engineman to stop. His eye had detected the scene of the fight, +and the ground beyond--a low cut--was favorable for getting the men +safely out of the cars. + +As the engine slowed, a little scene of desolation beside the right of +way met Bucks's eye, and he caught sight of the ghastly battle-field. +A frightened section crew emerged from the wild-plum thickets along +the creek bottom, as the cavalrymen, followed by Casement's armed men, +poured out of the three cars. Stanley with his scouts led the way to +the emigrant camp, where the fight had taken place. The wagons had +been burned, the horses run off, and the three unfortunate men +butchered. + +Bucks experienced a shock when Scott came upon the three dead men +whose mutilated bodies had been dragged from the scene by the section +men and who lay with covered faces side by side under a little +plum-tree, fragrant with blossoms and alive with the hum of bees. The +sunshine and the beauty of the spot contrasted strangely with the +revolting spectacle upon the grass. + +Stanley gave the orders by which the bodies were conveyed to the train +and with the scouts and cavalrymen reconnoitering the surrounding +country, Casement's men lay on their arms in the shade of the cut. +Dancing rigged a pony instrument to the telegraph wires, which had not +been disturbed, and Bucks transmitted messages to Fort Kearney +advising the commanding officer of the murders and adding afterward +the report of Scott and Sublette as to the direction the marauders had +taken in flight. + +"Who were the beasts, Bob, that could treat men like that?" demanded +Bucks in an angry undertone, when he had clicked the messages over the +wires. + +"Bad Indians," answered Scott sententiously. "You have that kind of +white men, don't you? These fellows are probably Turkey Leg's thieving +Cheyennes. We shall hear more of them." + +In the meantime the scouts and the cavalry detail rode out again +trying to unmask the Cheyennes, but without success. It was a week +before they were even heard of, and after an all-day attempt to do +something, the train backed up to camp and work was resumed as if +nothing had happened. + +After waiting a few days, Stanley, always restive under idleness, +determined to push on across the Sweet Grass country with horses, to +learn how the timber cutters on the river were faring with their +slender military guard. The party, consisting of the detail of ten men +and the two scouts and Bucks, started one morning at sunrise and made +their way without molestation into the little-known mountain range +called then, as far south as Colorado, the Black Hills. + +Stanley explained to Bucks during the morning how the chief +engineering difficulty of the whole transcontinental line confronted +the engineers right where they were now riding. Here the mountains +were thrown abruptly above the plain to a great height and the +locating engineers were still at their wits' ends to know how to +climb the tremendous ascent with practicable grades. Stanley became +so interested in studying the country during the day, as the +difficulties of the problem presented themselves afresh to him, that +the party made slow progress. Camp was pitched early in the afternoon +under a ridge that offered some natural features for defence. Here the +cavalrymen were left, and Stanley, taking Scott, started out after +some venison for supper. Bucks stood by, looking eager as the two made +ready for the hunt. + +"Come along if you like," said Stanley at length. "You won't be happy, +Bucks, till you get lost somewhere in this country." + +Sublette lent Bucks a rifle, and the three men set out together, +riding rapidly into the rough hills to the northwest. Scott covered +the ground fast, but he searched in vain for sign of antelope. +"Indians have been all over this divide," he announced after much hard +riding and a failure to find any game. "It doesn't look like venison +for supper to-night, colonel. Stop!" he added suddenly. + +His companions, surprised by the tone of the last word, halted. +Leaning over his pony's neck the scout was reading the rocky soil. He +dismounted, and walking on, leading his horse, he inspected, very +carefully, the ground toward a dry creek bed opening to the east. + +He was gone perhaps five minutes. "Colonel," he said, smiling +reassuringly, when he returned, "this is no place for us." + +"Indians," said Stanley tersely. + +"Cheyennes. Back to camp." + +"Down the creek?" suggested Stanley. + +"The bottom is alive with Indians." + +"Up then, Bob?" + +"Their camp is just above the bend. They have spotted our trail, too, +somehow. It may be they are riding easy to close in on us," smiled +Scott, while Bucks's hair began to pull. "Our way out is over this +divide." He indicated the rough country east of the creek as he +spoke. + +"Divide!" exclaimed Stanley, looking up at the practically sheer walls +of rock that hedged the course of the creek. "We can't climb those +hills, if we never get out." + +"They're not quite so bad as they look. Anyway, colonel, we've got +to." + +"They can pick us off our horses like monkeys all the way up!" + +"It's a chance for our scalps, colonel. And it will be as hard riding +for them as it is for us." + +Stanley looked at Bucks with perplexity. "This boy!" + +"I can make it, Colonel Stanley," exclaimed Bucks, who felt he must +say something. + +Stanley still hesitated. + +"We've no time to lose," smiled Scott significantly. + +"Then go ahead, Bob." + +They had half a mile of comparatively level ground to cross before +they began their climb, and this strip they rode very hard. When they +reached the hills, Scott headed for a forbidding-looking canyon and +urged his horse without ceasing through the rocky wash that strewed +its floor. Stanley, with an excellent mount, could have kept well up, +but he had put Bucks ahead of him in the safe place of the little +procession, and the boy had difficulty in keeping within call of +their active leader. The minute they were out of sight of the creek +bottoms, Scott, choosing an apparently unscalable ascent, urged his +horse up one of the canyon walls and the three were soon climbing in +order. + +Happily, Bucks's scrub horse gave a better account of himself in +climbing than he had done in covering better ground. As their horses +stumbled hurriedly along the narrow ledges, they made noise enough to +wake the Indian dead and the loose rock tumbled with sinister echoes +down the canyon wall. But progress was made, and the white men felt +only anxious lest pursuit should catch them exposed on the uncovered +height up which they were fast clambering. + +Secure in their escape, the three were nearing the coveted top when a +yell echoed through the canyon from below. There was no mistaking such +a yell. Bucks, who had never heard anything so ferocious, had no need +to be told what it was--it, so to say, introduced itself. And it was +answered by another yell, more formidable still, and again by a +chorus of yells. Then it seemed to Bucks's unaccustomed ears as if a +thousand lusty throats were opened, and scared rigid he looked behind +him and saw the canyon below alive with warriors. + +They were riding helter-skelter to reach a range where they could pick +the fugitives off the crest of the canyon side. Within a minute, +almost, their rifles were cracking. Scott had already reached a point +of concealment, and above the heads of Bucks and Stanley fired his +rifle in answer. An Indian brave, riding furiously to a rock that +would have commanded Stanley and Bucks as they urged their horses on, +started in his saddle as Scott fired and clutched his side instantly +with his rifle hand. His pony bolted as the half-hitch of the rawhide +thong on its lower jaw was loosened and the rider, toppling, fell +heavily backward to the ground. The riderless horse dashed on. The +yelling Indians had had their blunt warning and now scurried for +cover. The interval, short as it was, gave Bucks and Stanley a +chance. + +Spurring relentlessly and crouching low on their horses' necks, they +made a dash across the exposed wall of rock near the top, that lay +between them and safety. A renewed yell echoed the rage and chagrin of +their pursuers, and a quick fire of scattering shots followed their +rapid flight, but the Indians were confused, and Bucks, followed by +his soldier champion, flung himself from his saddle in the clump of +cedars behind which Scott, safely hidden, was reloading his rifle. +Choosing his opportunity carefully, Stanley fired at once at an +exposed brave and succeeded in disabling him. Bucks was forbidden to +shoot and told to hold his rifle, if it were needed, in readiness for +his companions. With the bullets cutting the twigs above their heads, +Stanley and Scott held a council of war. Scott insisted on remaining +behind to check their pursuers where they were, while the two with him +rode on to safety. + +"I can hold this bunch, colonel," declared Scott briefly. "There may +not be a second chance as good. Get on with the boy before another +party cuts you off. They can cross below us and save two or three +miles. Get away." + +"But how will you get away?" demanded Bucks. + +Stanley laughed. "Never mind Bob. He could crawl through a Cheyenne +village with a camp-fire on his back. It's what to do with you, Bucks, +that bothers us." + +"Just you get on, colonel," urged Bob. "I'll manage all right. Leave +your horse," he added, turning to Bucks, "and you take mine." + +Bucks protested and refused to leave Scott with an inferior mount, but +his protests were of no avail. He was curtly directed by Stanley to do +as he was told, and unwillingly he turned his horse over to Scott and +took the scout's better steed. Scott added hurried and explicit +directions to Stanley as to the course to follow back to camp, and +without loss of time Stanley and Bucks crouching behind friendly rocks +led their horses up the inner canyon wall and, remounting at the top, +galloped hurriedly down a long ridge. + +At intervals, shots from the Indians reached their ears, and +long-drawn yells, followed by the sharper crack of Scott's rifle, +echoed from the west as the scout held the wall against the enemy. +Bucks did not understand the real danger that the scout feared for +his party. It was that other parties of the marauding Cheyennes might, +by following the creek, gain the divide in time to cut off the +railroad men from their line of escape. The sounds of the stubborn +contest behind them died away as their straining horses gradually put +miles between them and the enemy. The fugitives had reached the summit +of the hills and with a feeling of safety were easing their pace when +Bucks discerned, almost directly ahead of them, dark objects moving +slowly along the foot of a wooded hill. The two men halted. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +"Indians," announced Stanley after a brief moment of inspection. + +"We are cut off," he added, looking alertly over the landscape about +them. "This way, Bucks. Ride as low as you can." Without further words +he made an abrupt turn to the right, striking south to get behind a +friendly butte that rose half a mile away. + +"The question now is," said Stanley, as they held their horses up a +little after getting somewhat farther out of sight, "whether they have +likewise seen us." + +The harried pair were not long in doubt. They had hardly changed their +course when there was immediate activity on the hill-side. The +railroad men spurred on; the distant horsemen, now on their flank, +dashed out upon the broad slope that lay between the two parties and +rode straight and hard after the fleeing men. Stanley steadied his +inexperienced companion as the latter urged his horse. "Not too hard +just now. Your pony will need all his wind. It's a question of getting +away with our scalps and we must be careful. Follow me." + +Bucks's heart, as he looked back, crowded up into his throat. A long +skirmish line of warriors had spread across the unbroken plateau to +the east, and Stanley, with nothing but instinct for a guide, was +making at top speed to the south to get away from them. + +As the two dashed on, they found to their consternation that the +country was growing smoother and affording fewer hiding-places from +the sharp eyes behind them. Stanley knew they must either ride through +the hills ahead or perish. He sought vainly for some break in the +great black wall of low-lying mountains toward which they were riding, +yet from what he knew of the country he hardly dared hope for one. + +He had reconnoitred these hills time after time when running the +railroad lines and knew pretty well where he was. The pursuers, too, +apparently sure of their prey, rode hard, gradually lessening the +distance that separated them from the wary soldier and his companion. +The Indians had ceased yelling now. It was beyond that. But even in +his excitement and fear the inexperienced boy could not but admire the +composure and daring of his companion. + +As Stanley glanced now and again back at his enraged enemies he was +every inch a soldier. And he watched the distance between the +Cheyennes and himself as coolly as if calculating a mere problem in +geometry. While saving every possible breath for his horses, he yet +managed to keep the Cheyennes at a distance. The Indians, bent on +overhauling the fleeing men before they could reach even the scant +protection of the scattered timber they were now approaching, +redoubled their efforts to cut off the escape. + +Forced by the desperation of his circumstances, Stanley bent more and +more to the west of south, even though in doing so he seemed to be +getting into a more hopeless country. The veteran campaigner eyed +Bucks's horse carefully as he turned in his saddle, but Scott's wiry +beast appeared quite fresh, and Stanley, turning his eyes, again swept +the horizon for a friendly break in the black walls ahead. As he did +so he was startled to see, directly in front, Indians riding at full +speed out of the hills he was heading for. He reined his galloping +horse and turned straight into the west. + +"Bucks," he exclaimed, looking with concern at the rider now by his +side, "it's a case of obey orders now. If I stop at any time, you ride +straight on--do you understand? You've got a revolver?" Bucks tapped +the big Colt at his side. "Don't let them take you alive. And hold +your last shot till a buck rides in for your scalp." + +The straining horses seemed to understand the sharp words that passed +from saddle to saddle. The Indians were already within gunshot, but +too sure of their game to lose any time in shooting; nor was Stanley +willing to waste a shot upon them. As he dodged in between a broken +wall of granite and a scrubby clump of cedars, closely followed by +Bucks, their pursuers could have picked either man from his saddle. + +Stanley had no longer any fixed purpose of escape. He meant merely to +dismount when he could ride no farther and sell his life as best he +could, while Bucks took such further chance of escape as his +companion's last stand might afford. The hard-driven fighter was even +looking for a well-placed rock to drop behind, when the horse plunging +under him lurched to one side of the cedars and a gulf in the walls +suddenly opened before his surprised rider. + +A rotten ledge of burned granite seemed to head a mountain wash +directly in their path. There was a sheer drop of twenty feet to the +crumbling slope of disintegrated stone under the head of the draw +itself, but Stanley, without looking back, never hesitated. Urging his +panting horse, he made a flying leap down into space, and horse and +rider landed knee-deep in the soft, gravelly granite below them. + +Bucks's mustang shied on the brink. He spurred him excitedly, and the +trembling beast, nerving himself, leaped far out over the ledge, +following Stanley so closely that he almost struck him with his hoofs +as he went flying over the engineer's head. Bucks rolled headlong as +his horse plunged into the loose debris. He scrambled to his feet and, +spitting the gravel from between his bruised lips, caught the bridle +of his horse as the latter righted himself. + +No legs were broken and much was already gained. + +"Quick!" cried Stanley. "Ride for your life!" he shouted as Bucks +regained his saddle. The two spurred at the same time and dashed down +the draw at breakneck speed just as the Indians yelling on the brink +of the ledge stopped to pour a volley after the desperate men. Unable +to land an effective shot, the Cheyennes, nothing daunted, and +hesitating only a moment, plunged over the precipice after their +quarry. + +But they had lost their great advantage. The dry watercourse proved +unexpectedly good riding for the fleeing railroad men. It was a +downhill run, with their hopes rising every moment. Moreover, the draw +soon turned sharply to the south and put a big shoulder of granite +between the pursuers and the pursued. The horses of the latter were +now relieved, and the wary Stanley, riding with some reserve speed, +held his rifle ready for a stern shot should one become necessary. He +found himself riding between two almost perpendicular walls washed by +the same granite gravel into which they had plunged on the start, but +with the course again turning, to his surprise, to the east. Once, +Stanley checked the flight long enough to stop and listen, but the two +heard the active Indians clattering down the canyon after them, and +rode on and on. + +As they could see by the lengthening shadow on the mountain-sides far +above them, the sun was setting. + +"Cheer up," cried Stanley, who had put his companion ahead of him. +"We've got the best of them. All we need is open country." + +He did not mention the chances of disaster, which were that they might +encounter an obstacle that would leave them at bay before their +tireless pursuers. Mile after mile they galloped without halting again +to see whether they were being chased. Indeed, no distance seemed too +considerable to put between them and the active war-paint in the +saddles behind. + +A new turn in the canyon now revealed a wide valley opening between +the hills before them. Far below, golden in the light of the setting +sun, they saw the great eastern slope of the Black Hills spreading out +upon a beautiful plain. + +Stanley swung his hat from his head with an exulting cry, and Bucks, +without quite understanding why, but assuming it the right thing to +do, yelled his loudest. On and on they rode, down a broad, spreading +ridge that led without a break from the tortuous hills behind them +into the open country far below. Stanley put full ten miles between +himself and the canyon they had ridden out of before he checked his +speed. The Indians had completely disappeared and, disappointed in +their venture, had no doubt ridden back to their fastnesses to wait +for other unwary white men. Stanley chose a little draw with good +water and grass, and night was just falling as they picketed their +exhausted horses and stretched themselves, utterly used up, on the +grass. + +"We are safe until morning, anyway," announced Stanley as he threw +himself down. "And this Indian chase may be the luckiest thing that +has ever happened to me in the troublesome course of an unlucky life. + +"You don't understand," continued the engineer, wiping the sweat and +dust from his tired face. Bucks admitted that he did not. + +"No matter," returned his companion; "it isn't necessary now. You will +sometime. But I think I have done in the last hour something I have +been trying to do for years. Many others have likewise failed in the +same quest." + +Bucks listened with growing interest. + +"Yes, for years," Stanley went on, "incredible as it may sound, I have +been searching these mountains for just such a crevice as we have this +moment ridden down. You see how this range"--the exhausted engineer +stretched flat on his back, but, with burning eyes, pointed to the +formidable mountain wall that rose behind them in the dusk of the +western sky--"rises abruptly from the plains below. Our whole grade +climb for the continental divide is right here, packed into these few +miles. Neither I nor any one else has ever been able to find such a +pass as we need to get up into it. But if we have saved our scalps, my +boy, you will share with me the honor of finding the pass for the +Union Pacific Railroad over the Rocky Mountains." + +They were supperless, but it was very exciting, and Bucks was +extremely happy. Stanley watched that night until twelve. When he woke +Bucks the moon was rising and the ghostly peaks in the west towered +sentinel-like above the plains flooded with silver. The two were to +move at one o'clock when the moon would be high enough to make riding +safe. It was cold, but fire was forbidden. + +The horses were grazing quietly, and Bucks, examining his revolver, +which he had all the time felt he was wretchedly incompetent to shoot, +sat down beside Stanley, already fast asleep, to stand his watch. He +had lost Sublette's rifle in falling into the wash-out. At least he +had found no leisure to pick it up and save his hair in the same +instant, and he wondered now how much he should have to pay for the +rifle. + +When the sun rose next morning the two horsemen were far out of the +foot-hills and bearing northeast toward camp--so far had their ride +for life taken them from their hunting ground. They scanned the +horizon at intervals, with some anxiety, for Indians, and again with +the hope of sighting their missing guide. Once they saw a distant herd +of buffalo, and Bucks experienced a shock until assured by Stanley +that the suspicious objects were neither Cheyennes nor Sioux. + +By nine o'clock they had found the transcontinental telegraph line and +had a sure trail to follow until they discovered the grade stakes of +the railroad, and soon descried the advance-guard of the graders busy +with plough and shovel and scraper. As they rode into camp the very +first man to emerge from Casement's tent, with his habitual smile, was +Bob Scott. + +Casement himself, who had heard Scott's story when the latter had come +in at daybreak, was awaiting Stanley's return with anxiety, but this +was all forgotten in the great news Stanley brought. Sublette and +Scott now returned to the hunting camp for the cavalry detail, and, +reinforced by these, the two heroes of the long flight rode back to +reconnoitre their escape from the mountains. Bucks rode close to Bob +Scott and learned how the scout had outwitted his assailants at the +canyon, and how after they had all ridden out of it, he had ridden +into it and retraced with safety in the night the path that the +hunters had followed in riding into the hill country. + +The second ride through the long defile, which itself was now the +object of so much intense inspection, Bucks found much less exciting +than the first. The party even rode up to where the first flying leap +had been made, and to Bucks's joy found Sublette's rifle still in the +wash; it had been overlooked by the Indians. + +What surprised Bucks most was to find how many hours it took to cover +the ground that Stanley and he had negotiated in seemingly as many +minutes. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +After a week in Casement's camp, Stanley and his cavalrymen, +accompanied by Dancing, Scott, and Bucks, struck north and east toward +the Spider Water River to find out why the ties were not coming down +faster. Rails had already been laid across the permanent Spider Water +Bridge--known afterward as the first bridge, for the big river +finished more than one structure before it was completely subdued--and +the rail-laying was hampered only by the lack of ties. + +The straggling bands of Cheyennes had in the interval been driven out +of the foot-hills by troops sent against them, and Stanley and his +little escort met with no trouble on his rapid journey. + +Toward evening of the second day a broad valley opened on the plain +before them, and in the sunset Bucks saw, winding like a silver thread +far up toward the mountains, the great stream about which he had +already heard so much. Camp was pitched on a high bluff that +commanded the valley in both directions for many miles, and after +supper Scott and Bucks rode down to the river. + +In its low-water stage nothing could have looked more sluggish or more +sleepily deceptive than the mighty and treacherous stream. Scott and +his companions always gave the river the name the Sioux had long ago +given it because of its sudden, ravening floods and its deadly traps +laid for such unwary men or animals as trusted its peaceful promise +and slept within reach of its cruel power. + +Standing in the glow of the evening sky in this land where the clear, +bright light seemed to lift him high above the earth, Bucks looked at +the yellow flood long and thoughtfully--as well he might--for the best +of his life was to be spent within ken of its flow and to go in doing +battle with it himself, or in sending faithful men to its battling, +sometimes to perish within its merciless currents. + +Next morning as the party, following a trail along the bluffs, rode up +in the direction of the contractors' camps they discerned out on the +river bottom a motley cluster of tents and shanties pitched under a +hill. A number of flatboats lay in the backwater behind the bend and a +quantity of ties corded along the bank indicated a loading-place, but +no one seemed to be doing any loading. The few men that could be seen +in the distance appeared to be loafing in the sunshine along the +straggling street-way that led to the river. Stanley checked his +horse. + +"What place is that?" he demanded of Scott. + +"That," returned the guide, "is Sellersville." + +"Sellersville," echoed Stanley. "What is Sellersville?" + +"Sellersville is where they bring most of the ties for the boats." + +"Have they started a town down there on the bottoms?" + +"They have started enough saloons and gambling dens to get the money +from the men that are chopping ties." + +Stanley contemplated for a moment the ill-looking settlement. A mile +farther on they encountered a number of men following the trail up +the river. + +A small dog barked furiously at the Stanley party as they came up, and +acted as if he were ready to fight every trooper in the detail. He +dashed back and forth, barking and threatening so fiercely that every +one's attention was drawn to him. + +Stanley stopped the leader and found he was a tie-camp foreman from +up-river taking men to camp. "Is that your dog?" demanded Stanley, +indicating the belligerent animal who seemed set upon eating somebody +alive. + +"Why, yes," admitted the foreman philosophically. "He sort o' claims +me, I guess." + +"What do you keep a cur like that around for?" + +"Can't get rid of him," returned the foreman. "He is no good, but the +boys like his impudence. Down, Scuffy!" he cried, looking for a stick +to throw at his pet. + +Bucks surveyed the company of men. They were a sorry-looking lot. The +foreman explained that he had dragged them out of the dens at +Sellersville to go back to work. When remonstrated with for the poor +showing the contractors were making, the foreman pointed to the +plague-spot on the bottoms. + +"There's the reason you are not getting any ties," said he lazily. +"We've got five hundred men at work up here; that is, they are +supposed to be at work. These whiskey dives and faro joints get them +the minute they are paid, and for ten days after pay-day we can't get +a hundred men back to camp." + +The foreman as he spoke looked philosophically toward the canvas +shanties below. "I spend half my time chasing back and forth, but I +can't do much. They hold my men until they have robbed them, and then +if they show fight they chuck them into the river. It's the same with +the flatboat men." He turned, as he continued, to indicate two +particularly wretched specimens. "These fellows were drugged and +robbed of every dollar they brought here before they got to work at +all." + +Stanley likewise gazed thoughtfully upon the cluster of tents and +shacks along the river landing. He turned after a moment to Scott. +"Bob," said he, looking back again toward the river, "what gang do you +suppose this is?" + +Scott shook his head. "That I couldn't say, Colonel Stanley." + +"Suppose," continued Stanley, still regarding the offending +settlement, "you and Dancing reconnoitre them a little and tell me who +they are. We will wait for you." + +Scott and the lineman swung into their saddles and started down the +trail that led to the landing. Stanley spoke again to the foreman. +"Can those men use an axe?" he demanded, indicating the two men that +the foreman asserted had been robbed. + +"They are both old choppers--but this gang at Sellersville stole even +their axes." + +"Leave these two men here with me," directed Stanley as he watched +Scott and Dancing ride down toward Sellersville. "I may have something +for them to chop after a while." + +The foreman assented. "I don't like the bunch," he murmured; "but +nobody at our camp wants to tackle them. What can we do?" + +While the foreman continued to talk, Stanley again looked over the +human wrecks that he had rounded up and brought out of Sellersville. +"What can we do?" echoed Stanley, repeating the last question tartly. +"Well, I'll tell you one thing we can do. We can throw Sellersville +into the river." + +Dancing and Scott were gone half an hour. The report, when they +returned, was not encouraging. "It is a bunch of cutthroats from +Medicine Bend, colonel," said Bob Scott. + +"All friends of yours, I presume, Bob," returned Stanley. + +The scout only smiled. "John Rebstock is there with his following. But +the boss, I think, is big George Seagrue. He is mean, you know. George +has got two or three men to his credit." + +"Are we enough to clean them out, Bob?" inquired Stanley impatiently. + +Scott looked around and his eye rested for a moment on Dancing. He +hitched his trousers. "There's about thirty men down there. I expect," +he continued reflectively, "we can take care of them if we have to." + +Stanley turned to the sergeant of his troopers. "Pitch a permanent +camp, sergeant. There will be nothing to take us any farther up the +river." + +As Stanley gave the order Bucks noticed that Dancing winked at Scott. +And without the meaning glances exchanged by the lineman and the +scout, Bucks would have understood from Stanley's manner that he meant +strong measures. Stanley sent a further message to the contractor, and +the foreman, followed by his convoy of humanity, started on. The +soldiers, foreseeing a lively scene, stripped their pack-horses and +set at work pitching their tents. + +Leaving four men in camp, the engineer, accompanied by his escort, +rode down the bluffs and, striking a lumber road, galloped rapidly +through the poplar bottom-lands toward the gamblers' camp. It was an +early tour for human wolves to be stirring, and the invaders clattered +into Sellersville before they attracted any attention. + +A bugler, however, riding into the middle of the settlement, sounded a +trumpet call, and at the unwonted notes frowsy, ill-shaped heads +appeared at various shanty doors and tent-flaps to see what was +doing. Stanley sent one man from door to door to notify the inmates of +each shelter to pack up their effects and make ready to move without +delay. + +Five troopers were detailed to guard three gambling tents that stood +together in the middle of the camp, each of these being flanked by +smaller dens. Word was then passed to the gamblers and saloon-keepers +to line up on the river front. + +Stanley regarded the gathering crowd with a cold eye. Scott, who stood +near Bucks, pointed out a square-shouldered man with a deep scar +splitting one cheek. "Do you know that fellow, Bucks?" he asked in an +undertone. + +"No; who is he?" + +"That is a Medicine Bend confidence man, Perry. Do you remember the +woman you helped out with a ticket to Iowa? Perry is her husband--the +man that Dave Hawk made pay up." + +Perry was a type of the Sellersville crowd now being evicted. There +was much talk as the soldiers urged and drove the gang out of one +haunt after another and a good deal of threatening as the leaders +marched out in front of Stanley. + +"Who is running this camp?" demanded the officer curtly. The men +looked at one another. A fat, slow-moving man with small blue eyes and +a wheezy voice answered: "Why, no one in particular, colonel. We're +just a-camping in a bunch. What's a-matter? Seagrue here," he nodded +to a sharp-jawed companion, "and Perry," he added, jerking his thumb +toward the scarred-faced man, "and me own these two big tents in +partners." + +"What's your name?" + +"My name's Rebstock." + +"Produce the axes stolen here from these two men," said Stanley, +indicating the choppers behind him. There was a jangle of talk between +Rebstock and his associates, and Perry, much against his inclination, +was despatched to hunt up the axes. It was only a moment before he +returned with them. + +Rebstock, with a show of virtue, reprimanded Perry severely for +harboring the men that had stolen the axes. "Sorry it happened, +colonel," he grumbled, after he had abused the thieves roundly in a +general way, "and I'll see it doesn't happen again. We can't watch +everybody in a place like this. Tell your men," he continued, +expanding his chest, "to leave their axes with me when they come to +Sellersville--what?" + +The assurances were lost on Stanley. "Rebstock," said he, in a tone +that Bucks had not heard before from him, "take your personal effects, +all of you--and nothing else--and load them on a flatboat. I will give +you one hour to get-out of here." + +Rebstock almost fell over backward. He wheezed in amazement. There was +an outburst of indignant protests. A dozen men clamored at once. Perry +rushed forward to threaten Stanley; others cursed and defied him. + +"Who are you, and what do you mean giving orders like that?" demanded +Seagrue, confronting him angrily. + +"No matter who I am, you will obey the orders. And you can't take any +tents or gambling apparatus or liquors. Pack up your clothes and camp +stuff--nothing else--and get out." + +If a bombshell had dropped into Sellersville, consternation could not +have been more complete. But it became quickly apparent that not all +of the gang would surrender without a fight. The leaders retreated for +a hurried consultation. + +Rebstock walked back presently and confronted Stanley. "What's your +law for this?" he demanded, breathless with anger. + +Stanley pointed to the ground under their feet. + +"What's your title to this land, Rebstock? It belongs to the railroad +that those ties belong to. Where is your license from the United +States Government to sell whiskey here? You are trespassers and +outlaws, with no rights that any decent man ought to respect. You and +your gang are human parasites, and you are going to be stripped and +sent down the river as fast as these flatboats will carry you." + +Without waiting for any rejoinder, Stanley turned on his heel and +walked away, leaving Rebstock speechless. The threats against the +intruders continued, but Stanley paid no attention to any of them. +Scott and the five troopers faced the gamblers. Stanley called to the +two wood-choppers, who stood near with their axes, and pointed to the +gambling tents. + +"Chop up every wheel and table in there you can find," said he. + +A cry went up from Perry when he heard the order, but the axemen, +nothing loath, sprang inside to their work, and the crashing of the +gambling furniture resounded through the alarmed camp. Stanley made no +delay of his peremptory purpose. The tent attacked belonged to +Seagrue, who, common report averred, feared nothing and nobody, while +the gambling implements were Perry's. + +Seagrue rushed to his property, revolver in hand. Bill Dancing, who +stood at Stanley's side, stepped into his way. + +"Hold on, Seagrue," he said. The gambler, fully as large a man as +Dancing, faced his opponent with his features fixed in rage. "Get +away," he shouted, "or I will knock your head off." + +All eyes centred on the two men. Every one realized that open war was +on and that it needed only a spark to start the shooting. The +gamblers, rallying to Seagrue, backed him with oaths and threats. + +"Seagrue, put down that pistol or I'll wring your neck," returned the +lineman, baring his right arm as he sauntered toward the outlaw. +Bucks, beside Stanley, stood transfixed as he watched Dancing. The +lineman's revolver was slung in the holster at his side. + +Seagrue hesitated. He saw Bob Scott standing in the doorway of the +gambling tent with his rifle lying carelessly over his arm. He was +actually covering Seagrue where he stood--and Seagrue knew that Bob +Scott was deadly with a rifle. But Dancing was walking directly up to +him and Seagrue dared not be shamed before his own associates. He +jumped back to fire, but it was too late. + +Dancing caught his wrist. Both were men of great strength, and their +muscles knotted as they grappled. It was only after a moment that the +lineman could be seen to gain. Then, as he bent the gambler's arm +back, he suddenly released it and struck the revolver out of his hand. +Seagrue, with a curse, sprang back, and drawing a knife rushed for the +second time at the lineman. Dancing jumped to one side. As he did so +he seized an axe from the hand of one of the choppers and turned again +on Seagrue. The gambler made a lunge at his throat, but as he threw +himself forward, Dancing, springing away, brought the axe around like +a flash and laid it flat across his assailant's forearm. The knife +flew twenty feet, and before the gambler could recover himself the +railroad man with one hand like a vice on his throat bore him to the +ground. + +"Give me a piece of rope," muttered Dancing as Stanley ran up. + +[Illustration: IT WAS ONLY AFTER A MOMENT THAT THE LINEMAN COULD BE SEEN +TO GAIN.] + +Bob Scott slashed a tent guy and handed it to him. In another minute +Dancing, in spite of Seagrue's struggles, had lashed his prisoner hand +and foot. Picking him up bodily, he walked unopposed to the landing, +and to the astonishment of the spectators heaved Seagrue with scant +ceremony into a flatboat. There a trooper kept him quiet. Walking +back, the lineman brushed the dust of the encounter from his arms as +if to invite any further Sellersville champion to come forward. But +John Rebstock, the really responsible head of the place, showed no +desire to meet Dancing, and Perry, the sneak of the trio, only ranted +while Rebstock stood at a respectable distance wheezing his surprise +at the tremendous exhibition of strength. And the work of destruction +went forward. + +Adjoining the Seagrue tent stood a saloon in which the men were now +ordered to demolish the stock. This renewed the excitement among +Rebstock's followers. + +"Don't waste any time," was Stanley's order. "They may rush us. Knock +in the head of a keg of whiskey, pour it over the bar, and burn the +shanty." + +The gamblers were, in fact, mustering for a charge on the invaders. +Before they could act the saloon was ablaze and the flames, rising +amid the yells and execrations of its owners, leaped to the big tent +adjoining. In front of this the soldiers in a skirmish line held back +the scurrying outlaws. Within a few moments Sellersville was ablaze +from end to end and its population, including Perry and Rebstock, +driven to the flatboats, were floating with threats and curses down +the muddy current of the Spider Water. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +Stanley's next camp was pitched down the river where the overland +telegraph line crossed the Spider Water, and Bucks, installed in a +smart army tent with a cracker-box for a stool and a packing-case for +an instrument table, was, through Dancing's efforts, put in +communication by wire with Medicine Bend and the west country as far +as Sleepy Cat, where the War Department was establishing an army +post. + +Stanley, with Bob Scott, now spent a great deal of time in the saddle +between the bridge and the upper tie-camps, and his presence made +itself felt in the renewed energy everywhere apparent among the +contractors and their men. Bucks, chained to a wire, as he expressed +it, found the days dragging again and would much rather have been at +liberty to ride with Scott, who, when free, hunted in the foot-hills. + +One day Bucks was sitting alone in his tent, looking for the +hundredth time over a worn copy of _Harper's Weekly_ that he had +picked up at Casement's camp, when a dog put his nose in the tent +door. A glance revealed merely a disconsolate, unpromising cur, yet +Bucks thought he had seen the dog before and was interested. He seemed +of an all-over alkali-brown hue, scant of hair, scant of tail, and +with only melancholy dewlap ears to suggest a strain of nobler blood +in an earlier ancestry. He looked in with the furtive eye of the +tramp, and as if expecting that a boot or a club would most probably +be his welcome. + +But Bucks at the moment was lonely--as lonely as the dog himself--and +as the two fixed their eyes intently on each other, Bucks remembered +that this was the tie foreman's dog, Scuffy. + +Scuffy had appeared at the psychological moment. Bucks regarded him in +silence, and the dog perceiving no immediate danger of assault stood, +in silence, returning Bucks's stare. Then watching the boy's eye +carefully, the dog cocked his head just the least bit to one side. It +was a mute appeal, but a moving one. Bucks continued, however, his +non-committal scrutiny, recalling that the foreman had said nothing +good of Scuffy, and the homeless cur stood in doubt as to his +reception. But realizing, perhaps, that he had nothing to lose and +everything to gain, the little vagabond played his last card--he +wagged his stubby tail. + +A harder heart than Bucks's might have been touched. The operator held +out his hand. No more was needed; the melancholy tramp stepped +cautiously forward waving his alert flag of truce. He sniffed long and +carefully as he neared Bucks, looked solicitously into the boy's eyes, +and then smelt and licked the proffered hand. It was a token of +submission as plainly expressed as when Friday, kneeling, placed +Robinson Crusoe's foot on his head. Bucks reached into a paper bag +that Bill Dancing had left on the table and gave the dog a cracker. + +Scuffy snapped up the offering like one starving. A second cracker and +a third disappeared at single gulps. For the length of the dog, the +size of his mouth appeared enormous. In a moment the cracker-bag was +emptied and Scuffy again licked the friendly hand. It did not take +Bucks long to decide what to do. In another moment he had resolved to +adopt his tramp visitor. The day happened to be Friday, and Bucks at +once renamed him Friday. When Dancing, who had been with Bob Scott +hunting, came in late that night he found Bucks asleep and Scuffy +lying in Dancing's own bed, from which he was ejected only after the +most vigorous language on his own part as well as on that of the +lineman. Even then, Scuffy retreated only as far as Bucks's feet, +where he slept for the rest of the night undisturbed. + +"Where did he come from?" growled Dancing in the morning as he sat +with his pipe regarding the intruder, who acted quite at home, with a +critical eye. + +Bucks explained that this was the tie foreman's runaway dog, Scuffy, +and beyond Scuffy's first appearance at the tent door he could tell +him nothing. Scuffy simply and promptly assumed a place in camp and +Bucks became, willy-nilly, his sponsor. But his effort to rename him +came to nothing. Scuffy gave no heed when called "Friday," but for +"Scuffy" he sprang to attention instantly. + +Bill Dancing decided, off-hand, that "the pup" was worthless. Scott, +whose smile was kindly even when sceptical, only corrected Bill to the +extent of saying that Friday or Scuffy, whoever or whatever he might +be, was no pup; that he was a full-grown dog and in Bob's judgment he +would need no guardian. + +One day, shortly after Scuffy had been put upon the pay-roll, Scott +came in from a trip after venison with word that there were black +bears in the hill canyons. The thought of bear's meat aroused every +one, and Stanley suggested a bear hunt. Scott had to send down to +Stanley's ranch at Medicine Bend for his dogs and some delay followed. +But when the three hounds arrived there was excitement enough to +compensate for it. One of the dogs was a big black fellow and his +companions were brown full-bloods. The hounds, one and all, set on +Scuffy the moment they reached camp, and it was only by the most +dexterous manoeuvres that the strange dog escaped being eaten alive. +Indeed, Bob Scott remarked at once that if Scuffy should survive the +greetings of his new comrades he would prove his right to live. The +hounds always set upon him at meal-times, usually chewed him at +bed-time, and harried him at all times. + +To a less hopeful temperament than Scuffy's, life would not have +seemed worth living. It was only Bucks who insured him anything at all +to eat, and the enmity of the big, rangy hounds for the lean and +hungry tramp dog left him no peace save when they were fighting in +dreams. To accept life under such conditions indicated that Scuffy was +a philosopher, and he accepted the conditions cheerfully, filching +what he could of sustenance from the common pot and licking his +troublesome wounds at night after his truculent companions had gone to +sleep. + +As soon as the tie-supply trouble had been lessened Stanley took +things more leisurely and the interval afforded the opportunity for +the delayed bear hunt. Bob Scott and Dancing were to go with Stanley, +and Bucks being freed for one day from his key was invited to be of +the party. All hands were in the saddle by daybreak, and Scott's +hounds were baying and tearing around camp wild with excitement. + +At the last moment a complication arose. Scuffy, who until the moment +of starting had for prudential reasons--that is, to avoid being eaten +up--remained in obscurity, joined the hunters. Every one in turn tried +to drive him back, but long practice had made him expert in dodging +missiles and had rendered him insensible to reproach. The hounds were +too filled with the prospect of sport to pay any attention to Scuffy. +In vain, Bob Scott tried to set them on him and drive him back to +camp. On this occasion, when bullying would plainly have been +justified, no hound would assail Scuffy. Bucks drove him again and +again from the flank of the advance only to have the mortification of +seeing him reappear a mile or two farther along the trail, and it was +at last decided to leave him to his fate at the paw of a bear--which +no one made doubt he was certain to suffer. At that moment Bucks and +Bill Dancing, riding together, saw a deer frightened from a thicket +running toward the river. Bucks jumped from his horse and lifted his +rifle to take a shot, but by the time he was ready to fire the deer +had vanished. + +Led by Scott, the hunters rode at once into the rough country to the +west, where in the mountain fastnesses the bears loved to feed. The +hounds gave tongue vigorously, and Scuffy, who had by this time not +only established himself but had impudently taken the lead and was +heading the pack, barked loudest and longest. + +"Did anybody ever see conceit equal to that?" demanded Stanley. "Look +at that cur leading the hounds." + +Bucks was mortified and expressed his regret. + +"Don't mind him, Bucks," remarked Dancing consolingly. "That dog won't +bother long. The first time the hounds run in, the bear will finish +_him_." + +Bucks did not know precisely what Bill meant by "running in," but he +was not to be long in doubt. The pack struck a fresh trail almost at +once and the hunters had a long ride along a mountain-side covered +with fallen timber and cut by innumerable wash-outs that made the +riding hard and dangerous. Scott found intervals to encourage Bucks, +whose youth and inexperience made his task of keeping up with the +others a difficult one. "Take it easy," said Scott encouragingly as +the operator tried to urge his mount. + +"I am keeping you all back, Bob." + +"Plenty of time. You are doing wonders for mountain-riding. When we +close in on the bear don't be too keen to get near him. You wouldn't +be safe for a minute on your horse if the dogs didn't keep the bear +busy. As long as the dogs worry the bear you are safe. A bear will +never chase a man as long as a dog keeps at him. It's only when the +dogs refuse to go in any longer that the danger begins. When that +happens, look out. Keep a respectful distance all the time and a road +open behind you. That's all there is to a bear fight." + +As he spoke, the hounds yelped sharply and Scott spurred forward. The +hunters were threading a grove of quaking asp and the dogs had come +up with the bear on an opening of shale rock surrounded by down +timber. Throwing his reins and advancing cautiously on foot, Stanley, +followed by his companions, who spread themselves in a wide +semicircle, took his place, the others, as they best could, choosing +their own. + +The bear, a full-grown male, met the onset of the hounds with grim +confidence. The dogs encircled him with a ring of ferocious teeth, +running in from behind whenever they could to nip the huge beast in +the haunches or on the flank. But the surprise of the encounter was +Scuffy. + +"Look," cried Bill Dancing, under whose wing Bucks had taken his post. +"Look at him! Why, the pup is a world-beater!" + +In truth, Scuffy was the liveliest and most impudent dog in the pack, +and when the fight was fully on, managed to worry the angry bear more +than the hounds did. Within a moment the black hound, over-bold, +imprudently rushed the bear in front. A paw darting from the huge +beast caught him like a trip-hammer and stretched him helpless. In +that moment the bear exposed himself to Stanley's rifle and a shot +rang across the mountain-side. Scott watched the result anxiously. But +the slug instead of dropping the bear served only to enrage him. For +an instant the two hounds lost their heads and the infuriated bear +charged Bucks and Bill Dancing. + +The shale opening became a scene of confusion. Exposing himself +recklessly, Scott tried to urge the dogs forward, but they had lost +their nerve. It needed only this to upset everything. The hunters +closed in together, and the critical moment had come; deaf alike to +command and entreaty, the two hounds refused to go in, and Scuffy, +flying wildly about the bear, seemed unable to check him. Dancing +stopped long enough to take one shot, and ran--with Bucks, who had +found no chance to shoot, following. The bear gained fast on the +long-legged lineman and his boy companion. A wash-out, hidden by a +clump of bushes, lay directly in the path of flight. Dancing, +perceiving it, dashed to the left and escaped. He shouted a warning to +Bucks, who, not understanding, plunged straight over the declivity +and sprawled into the wash-out with the bear after him. Catching his +rifle, the boy scrambled to his feet with his pursuer less than twenty +feet away. Between the two there was only open ground, and the bear +was scrambling for Bucks when Scuffy sprang down the shale bank and +confronted the enemy. + +It looked like certain death for Scuffy, but the tramp dog did not +hesitate. He rushed at the bear with a fury of snapping, though not +without a lively respect for the sweep of the brute's fore paws. The +little dog, freeing himself forever in that moment from the stigma of +cur, put up a fight that astonished the big brute. + +Scuffy raced at him first on one side and then on the other, bounding +in and out like a rubber ball, dashing across his front and running +clear around the circling bear, nipping even an occasional mouthful of +hair from his haunches. He made noise enough for a pack of dogs and +simulated a fury that gave the bear the surprise of his life. Bucks +realized that only his four-legged friend stood between him and +destruction and that so unequal a contest could not endure long. +Skilful as the little fellow was, he was pitted against an antagonist +quite as quick and wary. The clumsiness of the bear was no more than +seeming, and any one of the terrific blows he dealt at Scuffy with his +huge paw would have stretched a man lifeless. Bucks, collecting his +disordered faculties, raised his rifle to help his champion with a +shot. His heart beat like a hammer in his throat, but he knew there +was only one thing to do, that was to get the rifle-sights carefully +lined in his eye and shoot when Scuffy gave him an opening. + +It came in a moment when the bear turned to smash Scuffy on his flank. +Bucks fired. To his amazement, no result followed. The failure of the +bear to show any sign of being hit stunned him, and he drew his +revolver, never expecting to escape alive, when two shots rang across +the wash as close together as if fired by the same hand. The bear sank +like a falling tree. Yet he rallied and again rushed for Bucks, +despite Scuffy's stout opposition and the yells from above, and +finally halted only when Bob Scott, jumping into the wash-out, +confronted him with a knife. There was an instant of apprehension, +broken by a third shot from Dancing's rifle across the gully, and the +bear crumpled lifeless almost at Scott's feet. + +The scout turned to Bucks as he stood dazed by his narrow escape. +Stanley, above, shouted. And Bill Dancing, carrying his empty rifle, +and with his face bleeding from the briers, made his way down the +opposite side of the wash. Scuffy, mounting the body of his dead foe, +barked furiously. + +The little dog was the real hero of the encounter. He had paid +his keep and earned his way as a member of the family and as a +bear-fighter. When Bucks picked up his rifle he told Scott of his +bad miss in the critical moment of the fight. Bob took the gun from +his hands and examined the sights good-naturedly. Bucks had +neglected to change the elevation after he had aimed at the deer +an hour earlier. + +"Next time you shoot at a bear twenty feet away, don't leave your +sights set for two hundred yards," was all Scott said. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +The bruises that Bucks nursed were tender for some days, and Scott +tried out some bear's grease for an ointment. + +Scuffy, who had come out of the fight without a scratch, took on new +airs in camp, and returned evil for evil by bullying the two wounded +hounds who were too surprised by his aggressiveness to make an +effective defence. + +Bucks, when he was alone with the dog and time dragged heavily, turned +for diversion to the only book in the camp, a well-thumbed copy of +"The Last of the Mohicans." He had brought it with him to read coming +out from Pittsburgh, and had thrown it into his bag when leaving +Medicine Bend. In camp it proved a treasure, even the troopers, when +they were idle, casting lots to get hold of it. + +One day, when Bucks was absorbed in the romance, Bob Scott asked him +what he was reading. Bucks tried to give him some idea of the story. +Scott showed little apparent interest in the resume, but he listened +respectfully while cleaning his rifle. He made no comment until Bucks +had done. + +"What kind of Indians did you say those were," he asked, contracting +his brows as he did when a subject perplexed him, "Uncas and +Chingachgook?" + +"Delawares, Bob. Know anything about Delaware Indians?" + +Scott shook his head. "Never heard of Delawares in our country. I saw +a Pottawottamie Indian once, but never any Delawares. Is this story +about Uncas a true story?" + +"As true as any story. Listen here." Bucks read aloud to him for a +while, his companion at intervals asking questions and approving or +criticising the Indian classic. + +"If you could only read, Bob, you ought to read the whole book," said +Bucks regretfully, as he put the volume aside. + +"I can read a little," returned Scott, to Bucks's surprise. "All +except the long words," added the scout modestly. "A man down at +Medicine Bend tried to sell me a pair of spectacles once. They had +gold rims, and he told me that a man with those spectacles could read +any kind of a book. He thought I was a greenhorn," said the scout. + +"Where did you learn to read?" + +"A Blackrobe taught me." + +Bucks held out the book. "Then read this, Bob, sure." + +Scott looked at the worn volume, but shook his head doubtfully. "Looks +like a pretty big book for me. But if you can find out whether it's +true, I might try it sometime." + +Stanley, after a few days, started up the river with Scott and +Dancing, leaving his men in camp. Bucks, who was still too stiff to +ride, likewise remained to receive any messages that might come. + +There was an abundance of water-fowl in the sloughs and ponds up and +down the river, and Bucks, the morning after Stanley's departure, +leaving the troopers lounging in camp, started out with a shot-gun to +look for ducks. He passed the first bend up-stream, and working his +way toward a small pond thickly fringed with alders, where he had +often seen teal and mallards, attempted to crawl within gunshot of +it. + +He was working his way in this fashion toward the edge of the water +when he heard a clatter of wings and the next moment a flock of +mallards rushed in swift flight over his head. He impulsively threw up +his gun to fire but some instinct checked him. He was in a country of +dangerous enemies and the thought of bears still loomed large in his +mind. An instant's reflection convinced him that it was not his +movement that had frightened the ducks, and he was enough of a hunter +to look further than that for the cause. As caution seemed, from the +soreness of his legs and arms, plainly indicated, he lay still to +await developments. + +Soon he heard a movement of trampling feet, and, seemingly, across the +pond from him. Bucks thought of buffaloes. His heart beat fast at the +thought of getting a shot at one until he reflected that he had no +rifle. The next instant his heart stopped beating. Not ten feet from +where he lay in the thick willows, an Indian carrying a rifle, and in +war-paint, stole noiselessly along toward the camp. No sooner had he +disappeared than a second brave followed, and while Bucks was +digesting this fright a third warrior, creeping in the same stealthy +manner and almost without a sound, passed the staring boy; the +appearance of a fourth and a fifth raised the hair on Bucks's head +till he was almost stunned with fright, but he had still to count +three more in the party, one more ferocious-looking than another, +before all had passed. + +What to do was the question that forced itself on him. He feared the +Indians would attack the troopers in camp, and this he felt would be a +massacre, since the men, not suspecting danger, would be taken wholly +unawares. Should he fire his gun as a signal? It would probably bring +the Indians back upon him, but the thought of allowing the troopers to +be butchered was insupportable. His hammers were cocked and his +finger was on one trigger when he considered how useless the alarm +would be. The troopers knew that he had gone duck hunting. They would +expect to hear him shoot and would pay no attention to it. To rush out +after the Indians would only invite his instant death. + +There seemed nothing he could do and a cold sweat of apprehension +broke over him. But if he fired his gun he might, at least, surprise +the Indians. The report of a gun in their rear would alarm them--since +they knew nothing of his presence or his duck hunting and might take +fright. Without more ado he fired both barrels one after the other, +careful only to shoot low into the willows, hoping the smoke would not +rise so quickly as to betray him before he could make a dash for a new +hiding-place. + +His ruse worked and he ran at top speed for twenty yards before he +threw himself into a clump of cotton-woods close to the camp trail and +began to reload. While he was doing so a shout came from the direction +of the railroad bridge. Not until then did Bucks understand what the +Indians were after. But had he not understood, he would have known a +moment later when he heard a sharp exchange of shots toward the camp, +heard the dogs barking furiously, and saw the Indians, now on their +ponies, running the troopers' horses past him at a breakneck gallop. +The Indians yelled lustily at the success of their raid, the stampeded +horses dashed panic-stricken before them, and the braves shouted back +in derision at the vain efforts of the troopers to stop them with +useless bullets. Bucks's own impulse was to empty a charge of birdshot +into the last of the fleeing warriors, but this he knew might cost him +his life, and he resisted the temptation. When he was sure all were +past he ran toward the bluffs, and gaining a little eminence saw the +fleeing Indians, a dozen in all, making their way jubilantly up the +river. At the camp the discomfited cavalrymen were preparing for a +siege, and in their excitement almost shot Bucks as he hove in sight. + +Bucks gave a good description of the marauders, and, following him up +to the pond, six of the troopers attempted some pursuit. This, to +unmounted men, was useless, as they well knew. Indeed, they used +caution not to come unawares on any friends of the escaping braves +that might have lingered behind. + +Colonel Stanley returned in the morning to hear that his escort had +been unhorsed. Bob Scott grinned at the cavalrymen as they told the +story. He assured them that they had got off lightly, and that if +Bucks's signals had not alarmed the little war-party they might have +carried away scalps as well as horses. + +"We shall be in luck if we don't hear more of those fellows," said he +to Bucks afterward. There was now manifestly nothing to do but to go +in, and later in the day a freight train was flagged and the whole +party, with Scuffy and the hounds, returned to Casement's camp. Scott +sent his dogs thence to the ranch in Medicine Bend, and at Bucks's +urgent request Scuffy was sent with them to await his own return to +head-quarters. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +The foray of the Indians at the Spider Water Bridge proved, as Bob +Scott had feared, only a forerunner of active hostilities. Casement +had already taken all necessary measures of defence. His construction +camp was moved steadily westward, though sometimes inside the picket +lines of troops, despite the warring Indians and the difficulties of +his situation. Alarms, however, were continual and the graders, many +of whom were old soldiers, worked at all times with their muskets +stacked on the dump beside them. In the construction camp Bucks saw +also many negroes, and at night the camp-fires of their quarters were +alive with the singing and dancing of the old plantation life in the +South. + +While waiting for Stanley's inspection of the grading and track-laying, +Bucks relieved at times the camp operator, whose principal business +was the rushing of emphatic demands to Omaha for material and +supplies. + +During other intervals Bucks found a chance to study the system that +underlay the seemingly hopeless confusion of the construction work. +The engineers moving far in advance had located the line, and +following these came the graders and bridge- and culvert-builders, +cutting through the hills, levelling the fills, and spanning the +streams and water-ways with trestles and wooden bridges, miles in +advance of the main army. Behind these came Casement's own big camp +with the tiemen, the track-layers, and the ballast gangs. + +Every Eastern market was drawn upon for materials, and when these +reached Omaha, trains loaded with them were constantly pushed to the +front. The chief spiker of the rail gang, taking a fancy to Bucks, +invited him to go out with the rail-layers one day, and Bucks took a +temporary commission as spike-dropper. + +To do this, he followed Dancing up the track past a long construction +train in which the men lived. The big box-cars contained sleeping-bunks, +and those men who preferred more air and seclusion had swung +sleeping-hammocks under the cars; others had spread their beds on top +of the cars. Climbing a little embankment, Bucks watched the sturdy, +broad-shouldered pioneers. A light car drawn by a single, galloping +horse was rushed to the extreme end of the laid rails. Before it had +fairly stopped, two men waiting on either side seized the end of a rail +with their trap and started forward. Ten more men, following in twos, at +a run, lifted the two rails clear of the car and dropped them in place on +the ties. The foreman instantly gauged them, the horse moved ahead, and +thirty spikers armed with heavy mauls drove the spikes furiously and +regularly, three strokes to the spike, into the new-laid ties. The +bolters followed with the fish-plates, and while Bucks looked the +railroad was made before his eyes. + +The excitement of the scene was unforgettable. In less than sixty +seconds four rails had gone down. The moment a horse-car was emptied +it was dumped off one side of the track, and a loaded car with its +horse galloping to the front had passed it. The next instant the +"empty" was lifted back on the rails, and at the end of a sixty-foot +rope the horse, ridden by a hustling boy, was being urged back to +where the rails were transferred from the regular flat cars. The clang +of the heavy iron, the continuous ring of the spike mauls, the +shouting of the orders, the throwing of each empty horse-car from the +track to make way for a loaded one, these things were all new and +stimulating to Bucks. The chief spiker laughed when the young operator +told him how fine it was. He asked Bucks to look at his watch and time +the work. In half an hour Bucks looked at his watch again. In the +interval the gang had laid eight hundred feet of track. + +"I don't see how you can work so fast," declared Bucks. + +"Do you know how many times," demanded the spiker, "those sledges have +to swing? There are eighteen ties and thirty-six spikes to every rail, +three hundred and fifty-two rails to every mile, and eighteen hundred +miles from Omaha to San Francisco--those sledges will swing +sixty-eight million times before the rails are full-spiked--they have +to go fast." + +The words were hardly out of the chief spiker's mouth when a cry of +alarm rang from the front. Bucks, looking eagerly, saw in the west a +cloud of dust. At the same time he saw the tie gang running in dozens +for their lives from the divide where they were working toward the +camp. The men beyond them on the grade had scrambled into the wagons, +dumped any ties they might contain helter-skelter to the ground, and +were clinging to the wagon boxes. In these, the drivers standing up, +lashed their horses with whip and line for life, and death, while +everywhere beside and behind them other men on foot were racing back +to safety. + +New clouds of dust rose along the grade from the flying wagon wheels, +the horses tore madly on, and as the heavy wagons jolted over the +loose stones, the fugitives, yelling with excitement and alarm and +clinging to one another as they bounced up and down, looked anxiously +behind. + +There was no uncertainty as to the cause of the panic. "Indians!" was +the cry everywhere. Every man in camp had dropped his working +implement and was moving somewhere on the double-quick. Every one, it +seemed to Bucks, was shouting and running. But above the confusion of +the surprise and the babel of voices, Bucks heard the sharp tones of +Jack Casement giving orders. + +The old soldiers in the working gang needed no further discipline. The +timid and the skulkers scurried for the box-cars and the dugouts. On +the other hand, the soldiers ran for the dumps where the arms were +stacked, and seizing their muskets hurried back and, trained for the +emergency, fell into line under their foremen. + +Casement, musket in hand, taking the largest company of men as they +formed in fours behind him, started forward at the double-quick, +yelling now for the moral effect, to protect the retreat of the +wagons. The men, scattering as they reached the edge of the camp, +dropped into every spot of shelter, and at the same moment Stanley, +mounted and alive with the vim and fire of the soldier, led a smaller +body of men rapidly back to guard the rear of the camp, deploying his +little force about the box-cars and flat cars as they hastened on. In +an instant the construction camp had become a fortress defended by a +thousand men. + +It was none too soon. Stirring the yellow plain with the fury of a +whirlwind, a band of Sioux warriors rode the fleeing railroaders +furiously down. They appeared phantom-like out of every slip and +canyon, and rode full-panoplied from behind every hill. The horizon +that had shown five minutes before only the burning sunshine and the +dull glare of the alkali sinks, danced now with the flying ponies of +the Indians, and the hills echoed with ominous cries. + +Without a word of warning, the few fleeing men who had been working +too far from camp to reach it in safety were mercilessly cut down. +Their comrades under arms, with an answering cry of defiance poured a +volley of cartridge balls into the thin, black circle that rode ever +closer and closer to the muzzles of the muskets. Jack Casement and his +brother Dan recklessly urged their men to the most advanced posts of +defence, and from behind scrapers, wagons, flat cars, and friendly +hillocks the railroad men poured a galling fire into their active +foe. + +The Indians, seeking with unerring instinct the weakest point in the +defence, converged in hundreds upon the long string of box-cars that +made up the construction train at the rear of the camp, where Stanley, +extending his few men in a resolute skirmish line, endeavored to +prevent the savages from scalping the non-combatant cooks and burning +the sleeping-cars. Bucks saw, conspicuous in the attack, a slender +Sioux chief riding a strong-limbed, fleet pony with a coat of +burnished gold and as much filled with the fire of the fight as his +master was. Riding hither and thither and swinging a long, heavy +musket like a marshal's baton, the Sioux warrior, almost everywhere at +once, urged his men to the fighting, and the fate of the few white men +they were able to cut down or scalp before Stanley could cover the +line of box-cars seemed to add vigor to their onslaught. + +Stanley himself, attacked by ten braves for every man he could muster +at that point with a gun, dashed up and down the old wagon roads along +the right of way, a conspicuous target for the Indians. His hat, in +the melee, had disappeared, and, swinging a heavy Colt's revolver, +which the Indians shrank from with a healthy instinct of danger, he +pressed back the hungry red line again and again, supported only by +such musketry fire as the men crouching under, within, and between the +box-cars could offer. + +Wherever he rode his wily foes retreated, but they closed in +constantly behind him, and one brave, more daring than his fellows, +succeeded in setting fire to a box-car. A shout of triumph rose from +the circling horsemen, but it was short-lived. Stanley, wheeling like +a flash, gave chase to the incendiary. The Sioux rode for his life, +but his pony's pace was no match for the springing strides of +Stanley's American horse. + +For an instant the attention of the whole fight in the rear of the +camp was drawn upon the rash brave and his pursuer. Bucks, with +straining eyes and beating heart, awaited the result. He saw Stanley +steadily closing the gap that separated him from his fleeing enemy. +Then the revolver was thrown suddenly upward and forward, and smoke +flashed from the muzzle. The echo of the report had hardly reached +Bucks's ears when the revolver, swung high again to balance the rhythm +of the horse's flight, was fired again, and a third time, at the +doomed man. + +The Indian, bending forward on his horse, caught convulsively at his +mane, then rising high in his seat plunged head-foremost to the +ground, and his riderless horse fled on. His pursuer, wheeling, threw +himself flat in his saddle to escape the fire bent upon him from +behind as he rode back. At that moment Dan Casement and his men +hurried up on the double-quick. With him came Bucks, who had secured a +rifle and fallen in. Some men of the welcome reinforcement were set at +putting out the fire. Others strengthened Stanley's scattered skirmish +line. + +Convinced by the determined front now opposed to him of the +impossibility of rushing the camp, the Sioux chief gave the signal to +retire. + +As if the earth had opened to swallow them up, the warriors melted +away, and as suddenly as the plain had borne them into life it now +concealed their disappearance. In twenty minutes they had come and +gone as completely as if they had never been. But in that short +interval they had left death and consternation in their wake. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +Stirred by the increasing boldness of the Indians, Stanley returned +with his party to Medicine Bend to take further measures for the +defence of the railroad men. + +Bucks, when he reported to Baxter, the train despatcher, found new +orders waiting for him. He was directed to take charge of the station +at Goose Creek. The train did not leave till night, and Bucks took +advantage of the interval to go uptown to make some necessary +purchases of linen and clothing. On his way back to the station, +with his package under his arm, he saw, on the edge of the broad +sidewalk, Harvey Levake. Levake was standing near a wooden-Indian +cigar-store sign, looking directly at Bucks as the latter walked +toward him. The operator, nodding as he came up, asked Levake, +without parley, whether he would give him the money for the +express charges on the cartridges. + +If Bucks had exploded a keg of powder on the sidewalk there could not +have been a greater change in the outlaw's manner. He stared at Bucks +with contempt enough to pierce the feelings of the wooden Indian +beside which he stood. + +"What's that?" he demanded, throwing his head menacingly forward. + +Bucks repeated his request, but so mildly that Levake took additional +umbrage at his diffidence. + +"See here," he muttered in a voice beginning like a distant roll of +thunder and gathering force and volume as he continued, "don't insult +me." + +Bucks ventured to urge that he intended no insult. + +"Don't insult me!" bellowed Levake in violent tones. + +Again Bucks attempted to protest. It was useless. Levake insisted with +increasing wrath upon hugging the insult to himself, while Bucks +struggled manfully to get it away from him. And as Levake's loud words +did not attract as much attention up and down the street as he sought, +he stamped about on the sidewalk. Bucks's efforts to pacify him made +matters momentarily worse. + +Meantime a crowd such as Levake desired had gathered and Bucks found +himself a target for the outlaw's continued abuse, with nobody to take +his part. Moreover, the expressions on the faces about him now made +him realize his peril quite as much as anything in Levake's words. It +was becoming painfully evident that the onlookers were merely waiting +to see Levake shoot him down. + +"No man in Medicine Bend can insult me and live," cried Levake, +winding up a tirade of abuse. "I'm known from one end of this street +to the other. Nobody can spread lies in it about me." + +He drew and flourished a revolver as he spoke. None in the crowd +interfered with so much as a word. But even before the outlaw had +finished what he was saying, a man of medium size and easy manner +elbowed his way quietly through the circle of spectators, and, taking +Bucks by the arm, drew him back and faced Levake himself. It was Bob +Scott. + +"What's all this about, Levake?" demanded Scott gently. + +Levake had no alternative but to turn his wrath upon the Indian scout. +Yet those who knew him perceived that it was done without much stomach +for the job. Instead of growing momentarily greater the violence of +his abuse now grew steadily less, and the thunder in his tones rolled +further and further from the subject. + +Half-turning to Bucks, Scott laid his hand on his arm again. "Excuse +me," said he, deliberately and quietly, "but you are wanted quick at +the station. They are waiting for you. Go right along, will you?" + +Only too glad to get away and comprehending Scott's ruse, Bucks +exclaimed, "Why, of course, certainly," and stepping quickly into the +crowd walked away. + +Turning again to Levake, Scott made no effort to check the torrent of +his words. In consequence, the gambler found himself embarrassed by +the prospect of talking himself out. This would not have been so bad +except that his circle of admirers would, when he stopped talking, +expect him to do something and he was now at a loss to decide just +what to do. To shoot down Bucks was rather a different matter from a +pistol duel with Scott. + +None of the street loafers about the two men knew Scott, nor did any +of them know that Levake had a prudent respect for Scott's trigger. As +for Scott himself, a smile of contempt gradually covered his face as +he listened to Levake's outbreak. He only waited patiently for the +moment, which he knew must come, when Levake should cease talking. + +"Your tongue, Levake," returned Scott at last, "is longer than a +coyote's. Why do you stand here and bellow about being insulted? What +is all this noise about, anyway? These fellows," a contemptuous nod +indicated the men standing around, "all know, if you don't. You've +been talking loud so you could get a crowd together and advertise +yourself by shooting an unarmed boy, haven't you?" + +The desperado broke out in fresh denials and curses, but he feared +the ridicule of the Indian would bring the laughter of his admirers +down on him. Nor was he keen to try a pistol duel. He remembered too +well the attack he had once headed on an emigrant train that Scott was +guarding, and from which the outlaws with Levake had carried away some +unexpected and unwelcome bullets. + +Scott, now taunting Levake openly, stepped directly in front of him. +But the latter waved him away. "I'll settle my differences with you +when I'm ready," he muttered. "If that fellow," he added, indicating +Bucks, who was making record time across the square, "behaves himself, +I'll let this go. If he doesn't, I'll fill him full of lead." + +"When you do," retorted Scott, "remember just one thing--that I'm +going to fill you full, Levake. Don't forget that." + +Scott stepped backward. The crowd parted to let him through and Levake +walked sullenly toward the cigar store. + +Bucks wiped the perspiration from his forehead when he reached the +station and drew a long breath. He waited until Scott crossed the +square and joined him. The Indian only laughed when Bucks tried to +thank him. "It is nothing," he said, "you are getting experience. Only +don't tackle that man again till you give me notice beforehand." + +The next morning Bucks installed himself at Goose Creek. + +Goose Creek was a mere operating point and besides the rough wooden +station, with an attic sleeping-room for the operator, boasted only a +house for the section crew--six men taken care of by a China boy cook. +East of the station stood an old road ranch belonging to Leon +Sublette. For this, freight was at times unloaded and an Indian trail +to the south led through the sand-hills as far as the Arickaree +country. North of the river greater sand-hills stretched as far as the +eye could reach. The long, marshy stretches of the Nebraska River lost +themselves on the eastern and the western horizon and at times clouds +of wild fowl obscured the sun in their flight across the sky. + +Dancing came down to the new station to complete the instalment of the +instruments and this broke for a day or two the loneliness of the new +surroundings. Indeed, there was hardly time to be lonely. The constant +round of interest attending the arrival of trains with their long +halts, visits from trappers living at the ranch who were always ready +to talk, and occasional calls from friendly Pawnees from the south, +together with abundance of time for hunting the geese and ducks, made +the days go. + +But one early summer morning Bucks woke to an adventure not upon his +daily programme. He walked downstairs after dressing, and as he +stepped out on the platform the sand-hills touched by the rising sun +shone in the northwest like mountains of gold. Looking at them he saw +to his surprise they were covered with black objects that appeared to +be moving. + +Indians were first in his mind, and in his alarm he ran all the way to +the section-house where the foreman, after a hasty study of the hills, +explained that the suspicious-looking objects were buffaloes. + +This information only added to Bucks's excitement. The China boy cook, +Lee Ong, at the section-house appeared equally stirred at the +situation and, after running in and out of the kitchen with much +fluttering of cue and clattering of wooden shoes, promised Bucks a +buffalo steak for dinner if he would bring in a hindquarter. + +By the time Bucks had finished breakfast the whole country to the +north was black with buffaloes. For hours they poured over the divide +to the delight of the astonished boy, and after a time he wired Baxter +at Medicine Bend that a herd of at least one million buffaloes was +crossing the railroad at Goose Creek. As the grave despatcher seemed +not greatly excited by this intelligence, Bucks followed up the story +at intervals with vivid details. A wag on the wire in Medicine Bend +played upon his enthusiasm by demanding frequent bulletins, even going +so far as to ask the names of the leading buffaloes in the herd. When +he had got all the laughs possible for the office out of the youthful +operator, he wired Bucks that if the herd should linger too long on +the right-of-way he must notify them that they would be held as +trespassers. + +This message had hardly reached Goose Creek when the China boy came +running into the telegraph office. His eyes were staring, and his face +was greenish-white with fright. "Indians!" he exclaimed, running to +Bucks's side and dashing back again to the west window. + +Bucks sprang to his feet. "Where?" + +Lee Ong pointed to the northern sand-hills. Riding the broad slopes +that led toward the river, Bucks saw a long string of braves, +evidently a hunting party. The cook, beside himself with fear, ran out +of the station before Bucks could stop him. + +"Hi there, Lee," cried the operator, running after him. "Where are the +section men?" + +"Gone," cried Lee Ong, not ceasing to run, "all gone!" He pointed, +with the words, to the east. + +"Tell them to bring the hand-car down here!" + +"Too much gone," shouted Ong. "Omaha!" + +"Lee! Stop! Where are you going?" + +Lee stopped only long enough to throw his right arm and forefinger +with an excited gesture toward the west. + +"San Francisco, San Francisco!" he cried. + +"Why, Lee," exclaimed Bucks running after him, "hold on! You are +crazy! San Francisco is fifteen hundred miles from here." This +information did not visibly move Ong. "Indian no good," he cried, +pausing, but only long enough to wave both hands wildly toward the +sand-hills. "San Francisco good. No some more cook here. Indian come +too quick"--Ong with his active finger girdled the crown of his head +in a lightning-like imitation of a scalping knife--"psst! No good for +Ong!" + +It would have seemed funny to Bucks if he had not been already +frightened himself. But if the section men had fled with the hand-car +it meant he would have to face the Indians. Lee Ong, running like mad, +was already out of hearing, and in any event Bucks had no wish to +imperil the poor China boy's scalp with his own. + +He turned an anxious eye toward the sand-hills. Then realizing that on +the platform he was exposing himself needlessly, he hastened inside to +his key and called up Medicine Bend. It was only a moment, but it +seemed to the frightened operator a lifetime before the despatcher +answered. Bucks reported the Indians and asked if there were any +freight trains coming that he could make his escape on. + +The despatcher answered that No. 11, the local freight, was then due +at Goose Creek and would pick him up and carry him to Julesburg if he +felt in danger. Bucks turned with relief to the east window and saw +down the valley the smoke of the freight already in sight. Never had a +freight train looked so good to his eyes as it did at that moment. He +hailed its appearance with a shout and looked apprehensively back +toward the sand-hills. + +The activity in that direction was not reassuring. The Indians, too, +apparently had noticed the smoke of No. 11 trailing on the horizon. A +conference followed, illustrated by frequent pointing and violent +gesticulating to indicate the coming train. Then with a sudden +resolve the whole party rode rapidly out of the hills and down toward +the railroad. + +Bucks's heart misgave him as he watched. But the cotton-woods growing +along the river hid the Indians from his eyes and he could not surmise +what they were doing. The information all went to the despatcher, +however, who, more experienced, scented serious mischief when Bucks's +bulletins now came in. + +"Watch close," he wired. "It looks as if they were going to attack the +train." + +The operator's anxiety rose with the intimation. He ran out of doors +and down the track, but he could neither hear nor see a thing except +the slow-moving train with the smoke puffing from the awkward, +diamond-stack locomotive moving peacefully toward the cotton-woods +that fringed the eastern shore of Goose Creek. The very silence seemed +ominous. Bucks knew the Indians were hidden somewhere in the +cotton-woods and felt that they could mean nothing but mischief. He +ran back to his key and reported. + +"They will surely attack No. 11," he wired. "I will run across the +bridge and warn them." + +"Where are the Indians?" demanded the despatcher. + +"In the timber across the creek. I am starting." + +"Don't be an idiot," returned the despatcher, with an expression of +Western force and brevity. "They will lift your hair before you get +half-way to the train. Stick to your key as long as you can. If they +start to cross the creek, leg it for the ranch. Do you get me?" + +Bucks, considerably flurried, answered that he did, and the despatcher +with renewed emphasis reiterated his sharp inquiry. "Do you +understand, young fellow? If they start to cross the creek, leg it for +the ranch or you'll lose your hair." + +Bucks strained his eyes looking for a sign of movement across the +bridge. The cotton-woods swayed gently in the light breeze, but +revealed nothing of what they hid. + +The freight train continued to crawl lazily along, its crews quite +unconscious of any impending fate. Bucks, smothering with excitement +and apprehension, saw the engine round the curve that led to the +trestle approach of the bridge. Then the trees hid the train from his +sight. + +"What are they doing?" demanded the despatcher, growing apprehensive +himself. An appalling crash from the woods electrified Bucks, and the +key rattled fast. + +"They have wrecked the train," he wired without an instant's +hesitation. "I can hear the crash of cars falling from the trestle." + +Before he could finish his message he heard also the screech of an +engine whistle. The next instant the locomotive dashed out of the +woods upon the bridge at full speed and with cries of disappointment +and rage the savages rode out to the very bank of the creek and into +the water after it. Bucks saw the sudden engine and thought at first +that the train had escaped. The next moment he knew it had not. The +engine was light: evidently it had passed in safety the trap laid for +its destruction, but the cars following had left the rails. + +If confirmation of this conclusion had been needed, it came when he +ran out upon the platform as the engine approached. Bucks waved +vigorous signals at it, but the ponderous machine came faster instead +of slower as it neared the station, and, with Bucks vainly trying to +attract the attention of the engineman or fireman, the locomotive +thundered past at forty miles an hour. + +He caught one glimpse through the tender gangway as the engine dashed +by and saw both men in the cab crouching in front of the furnace door +to escape the fancied bullets of the savages. Bucks shouted, but knew +he had been neither seen nor heard, and, as the engine raced into the +west, his best chance of escape from an unpleasant situation had +disappeared almost before he realized it. + +Each detail was faithfully reported to the despatcher, who answered at +once. + +"Relief train," he wired, "now making up with a hundred men. Hold on +as long as you can, but take no chances. What are they doing? Can you +see or hear them?" + +"They are yelling so you could hear them a mile." + +"Scout around a little," directed the despatcher, "but don't get +caught." + +Bucks scouted around the room a little, but did not venture this time +farther than the windows. He was growing very nervous. And the +Indians, unrestrained in their triumph, displayed themselves +everywhere without concealment. Helpless to aid, Bucks was compelled +to stand and see a fleeing white man, the brakeman of the doomed +train, running for his life, cut down by the pursuers and scalped +before his eyes. + +The horror and savagery of it sank deeply into the boy's heart and +only the realization of his utter inability to help kept him quiet. +Tears of fury coursed down his cheeks as he saw in the distance the +murdered man lying motionless on the sand beside the track, and with +shaking fingers he reported the death to Medicine Bend. + +"The relief train has started," answered the despatcher, "with +Stanley, Scott, Sublette, Dancing, and a hundred men." + +As the message came, Bucks heard shooting farther up the creek and +this continued at intervals for some moments. It was sickening to +hear, for it meant, Bucks surmised, that another trainman was being +murdered. + +Meantime the Indians that he could see were smashing into the wrecked +merchandise cars and dragging the loot out upon the open prairie. +Hats, clothing, tobacco, provisions, camp supplies of every sort, and +musical instruments, millinery, boots, and blankets were among the +plunder. The wearing apparel was tumbled out of the broken cases and, +arrayed in whatever they could seize, the Indians paraded on their +horses up and down the east bank of the creek in fantastic show. + +Some wore women's hats, some crinoline hoop-skirts over their +shoulders; others brandished boots and shirts, and one glistening +brave swung a banjo at arm's-length over his flying horse's head. +Another party of the despoilers discovered a shipment of silks and +satins. These they dragged in bolts from the packing-cases and, tying +one end of a bolt of silk to their ponies' tails, they raced, +yelling, in circles around the prairie with the parti-colored silks +streaming behind, the bolts bobbing and jerking along the ground like +rioting garlands of a crazy May-pole dance. And, having exhausted +their ingenuity and robed themselves in this wise in all manner of +plunder, they set fire to the wrecked train, singing and dancing in +high glee as the flames rose crackling above the trees. + +Bucks, with clenched hands, watched and prayed for the arrival of the +speeding relief train. The moments passed with leaden feet and the +train had many miles to come. The despatcher continued his encouraging +messages, but did not cease his words of caution, and, as the wreckage +burned, Bucks perceived the Indians were riding in great numbers up +the creek. Too late he realized what it meant. They were looking for +the ford and were about to cross to his side. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +He lost no time in sending a final word to the despatcher before he +started for safety, and his call was sounding when he ran back to the +key. + +"Stanley's train has passed Chimney Butte," said the despatcher. "Soon +be with you." + +Words over the wire never sounded better to the frightened boy than +those words. + +"The Indians are crossing the creek," Bucks answered. "Am off for the +ranch." + +He closed the circuit and ran out on the platform. The warriors had +found the ford and the horses of the head braves were already leading +a file across. Bucks threw one hurried look at them; then, summoning +his strength for an endurance run, he started, with the station +building between him and the enemy, for the ranch. + +He had hardly got under way when, as he reached higher ground, he saw +to his consternation a party of Indians in the bottom land between him +and safety. + +He was cut off. Hoping that he had not been seen, he threw himself +flat on the ground and, turning about, crawled, behind a slight ridge +that afforded concealment, stealthily back toward the station. The +Indians up the creek had crossed, but were riding away from the +station and toward the ranch, evidently bent on attacking it next. The +flames from the burning train rose high above the creek. There seemed +no place to escape to and Bucks, creeping through the sedge grass, got +back to his key and called the despatcher. + +"Cut off from the ranch by a second party of Indians. Will wait here +for the train--where is it?" + +A moment passed before the answer came. "Less than ten miles from you. +Passed Driftwood Station at ten-forty." + +Bucks looked at his clock. Driftwood was ten miles west. The hands +stood at ten-forty-eight. Surely, he concluded, they will be here by +eleven o'clock. Could he hold the station for twelve minutes? Even a +show of force he knew would halt the Indians for an interval. + +He hastily pushed such packages of freight as lay in the store-room up +to the various windows, as slight barricades behind which he could +hide to shoot, and with much effort got the largest packing-case +against the platform door so they could not rush him from the creek +side. For the twentieth time he looked over his revolver, placed a +little store of cartridges behind each shelter, and peered again out +of the windows. To his horror he perceived that the two parties had +joined and were riding in a great half-circle down on the station. +Evidently the Indians were coming after him before they attacked the +ranch. He reported to the despatcher, and an answer came instantly. +"Stanley should be within five miles. How close are they?" + +"Less than half a mile." + +"Have you got a gun?" + +Bucks wired, "Yes." + +"Can you use it?" + +"Expect I'll have to." + +"Shoot the minute they get within range. Never mind whether you hit +anybody, bang away. What are they doing?" + +Bucks ran around the room to look. "Closing in," he answered briefly. + +"Can't you see the train?" + +Bucks fixed his eyes upon the western horizon. He never had tried so +hard in his life to see anything. Yet the sunshine reflected no sign +of a friendly smoke. + +"Nothing in sight," he answered; "I can't hold out much longer." + +Hastily closing his key he ran to the south window. A dozen Indians, +beating the alder bushes as they advanced, doubtless suspecting that +he lay concealed in them, were now closest. He realized that by his +very audacity in returning to the building he had gained a few +precious moments. But the nearest Indians had already reached open +ground, two hundred yards away, and through their short, yelping cries +and their halting on the edge of the brake, he understood they were +debating how he had escaped and wondering whether he had gone back +into the station. He lay behind some sacks of flour watching his foes +closely. Greatly to his surprise, his panic had passed and he felt +collected. He realized that he was fighting for his life and meant to +sell it as dearly as possible. And he had resolved to shoot the +instant they started toward him. + +From the table he heard the despatcher's call, but he no longer dared +answer it. The Indians, with a war-whoop, urged their ponies ahead and +a revolver shot rang from the station window. It was followed almost +instantly by a second and a third. The Indians ducked low on their +horses' necks and, wheeling, made for the willows. In the quick dash +for cover one horse stumbled and threw his rider. The animal bolted +and the Indian, springing to his feet, ran like a deer after his +companions, but he did not escape unscathed. Two shots followed him +from the station, and the Indian, falling with a bullet in his thigh, +dragged himself wounded into hiding. + +A chorus of cries from far and near heralded the opening of the +encounter. Enraged by the repulse, a larger number of Indians riding +in opened fire on the station and Bucks found himself target for a +fusillade of bullets. But protected by his barricades he was only +fearful of a charge, for when the Indians should start to rush the +station he felt all would be over. + +While he lay casting up his chances, and discharging his revolver at +intervals to make a showing, the fire of the Indians slackened. This, +Bucks felt, boded no good, and reckless of his store of cartridges he +continued to blaze away whenever he could see a bush moving. + +It was at this moment that he heard the despatcher calling him, and a +message followed. "If you are alive, answer me." + +Bucks ran to the key. The situation was hopeless. No train was in +sight as he pressed his fingers on the button for the last time. + +"Stopped their first advance and wounded one. They are going to +charge----" + +He heard a sharp chorus outside and, feeling what it meant, sent his +last word: "Good-by." From three sides of the open ground around the +building the Indians were riding down upon him. Firing as fast as he +could with any accuracy, he darted from window to window, reaching the +west window last. As he looked out he saw up the valley the smoke of +the approaching train and understood from the fury of his enemies that +they, too, had seen it. But the sight of the train now completely +unnerved him. To lose his life with help a few moments away was an +added bitterness, and he saw that the relief train would be too late +to save him. + +He fired the last cartridge in his hot revolver at the circling braves +and, as he reloaded, the Indians ran up on the platform and threw +themselves against the door. Fiendish faces peered through the +window-panes and one Indian smashed a sash in with a war club. + +Bucks realized that his reloading was useless. The cartridges were, in +fact, slipping through his fingers, when, dropping his revolver, he +drew Bob Scott's knife and backed up against the inner office door, +just as a warrior brandishing a hatchet sprang at him. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +Before Bucks had time to think, a second Indian had sprung through the +open window. A feeling of helpless rage swept over him at being +cornered, defenceless; and, expecting every instant to be despatched +with no more consideration than if he had been a rat, he stood at bay, +determined not to be taken alive. + +For an instant his mind worked clearly and with the rapidity of +lightning. His life swept before him as if he were a drowning man. In +that horrible moment he even heard his call clicking from the +despatcher. Of the two Indians confronting him, half-naked and shining +with war-paint, one appeared more ferocious than the other, and Bucks +only wondered which would attack first. + +He had not long to wait. The first brave raised a war club to brain +him. As Bucks's straining eye followed the movement, the second Indian +struck the club down. Bucks understood nothing from the action. The +quick, guttural words that followed, the sharp dispute, the struggle +of the first savage to evade the second and brain the white boy in +spite of his antagonist--a lithe, active Indian of great strength who +held the enraged warrior back--all of this, Bucks, bewildered, could +understand nothing of. The utmost he could surmise was that the second +warrior, from his dress and manner of authority perhaps a chief, meant +to take him alive for torture. He watched the contest between the two +Indians until with force and threats the chief had driven the warrior +outside and turned again upon him. + +It was then that Bucks, desperate, hurled himself knife in hand at the +chief to engage him in final combat. The Indian, though surprised, met +his onset skilfully and before Bucks could realize what had occurred +he had been disarmed and tossed like a child half-way across the +room. + +Before he could move, the chief was standing over him. "Stop!" he +exclaimed, catching Bucks's arm in a grip of steel as the latter tried +to drag down his antagonist. "I am Iron Hand. Does a boy fight me?" +he demanded with contempt in every word. "See your knife." He pointed +to the floor. "When I was wounded by the Cheyennes you gave me +venison. You have forgotten; but the Sioux is not like the white +man--Iron Hand does not forget." + +A fusillade of shots and a babel of yelling from outside interrupted +his words. The chief paid no attention to the uproar. "Your soldiers +are here. The building is on fire, but you are safe. I am Iron Hand." + +So saying, and before Bucks could find his tongue, the chief strode to +the rear window, with one blow of his arm smashed out the whole sash, +and springing lightly through the crashing glass, disappeared. + +Bucks, panting with confusion, sprang to his feet. Smoke already +poured in from the freight room, and the crackling of flames and the +sounds of the fighting outside reminded Bucks of Iron Hand's words. He +ran to the door. + +The train had pulled up within a hundred feet of the station and the +railroad men in the coaches were pouring a fire upon the Indians, +under the cover of which scouts were unloading, down a hastily +improvised chute, their horses, together with those of such troopers +as had been gathered hurriedly. + +Bucks ran back into the office and opening his wooden chest threw into +it what he could of his effects and tried to drag it from the burning +building out upon the platform. As he struggled with the unwieldy box, +two men ran up from the train toward him, staring at him as if he had +been a ghost. He recognized Stanley and Dancing. + +"Are you hurt?" cried Stanley hastening to his side. + +"No," exclaimed Bucks, his head still swimming, "but everything will +be burned." + +"How in the name of God, boy, have you escaped?" demanded Stanley, as +he clenched Bucks's shoulder in his hand. Dancing seized the +cumbersome chest and dragged it out of danger. The Indians, jeering, +as they retreated, at the railroad men, made no attempt to continue +the attack, but rode away content with the destruction of the train +and the station. + +Stanley, assured of Bucks's safety, though he wasted no time in +waiting for an explanation of it, directed the men to save what they +could out of the station--it was too late to save the building--and +hurried away to see to the unloading of the horses. + +Bill Dancing succeeded in rescuing the telegraph instruments and with +Bucks's help he got the wires rigged upon a cracker-box outside where +the operator could report the story to the now desperate despatcher. +The scouts and troopers were already in the saddle and, leading the +way for the men, gave chase across the bottoms to the Indians. + +Bob Scott, riding past Bucks reined up for a moment. "Got pretty warm +for you, Bucks--eh? How did you get through?" + +Bucks jumped toward him. "Bob!" he exclaimed, grasping his arm. "It +was Iron Hand." + +"Iron Hand!" echoed Bob, lifting his eyebrows. "Brules, then. It will +be a long chase. What did he say?" + +"Why, we talked pretty fast," stammered Bucks. "He spoke about the +venison but never said a blamed word about my fixing his arm." + +Bob laughed as he struck his horse and galloped on to pass the news to +Stanley. A detail was left to clear the cotton-woods across the creek +and guard the railroad men against possible attack while clearing the +wreck. The body of the unfortunate brakeman was brought across the +bridge and laid in the baggage car and a tent was pitched to serve as +a temporary station for Bucks. + +While this was being done, Bob Scott, who had ridden farthest up the +creek, appeared leading his horse and talking to a white man who was +walking beside him. He had found the conductor of the wrecked train, +Pat Francis, who, young though he was, had escaped the Indians long +enough to reach a cave in the creek bank and whose rifle shots Bucks +had heard, while Francis was holding the Sioux at bay during the +fight. The plucky conductor, who was covered with dust, was greeted +with acclamations. + +"He claims," volunteered Scott, speaking to Stanley, "he could have +stood them off all day." + +Francis's eyes fell regretfully on the dead brakeman. "If that boy had +minded what I said and come with me he would have been alive now." + +The wrecking train, with a gang of men from Medicine Bend, arrived +late in the afternoon, and at supper-time a courier rode in from +Stanley's scouting party with despatches for General Park. Stanley +reported the chase futile. As Bob Scott had predicted, the Brules had +burned the ranch and craftily scattered the moment they reached the +sand-hills. Instead of a single trail to follow, Stanley found fifty. +Only his determination to give the Indians a punishment that they +would remember held the pursuing party together, and three days +afterward he fought a battle with the wily raiders, surprised in a +canyon on the Frenchman River, which, though indecisive, gave Iron +Hand's band a wholesome respect for the stubborn engineer. + +The train service under the attacks of the Indians thus repeated, fell +into serious demoralization, and an armed guard of regular soldiers +rode all trains for months after the Goose Creek attack. Bucks was +given a guard for his own lonely and exposed position in the person of +Bob Scott, the man of all men the young operator would have wished +for. And at intervals he read from his favorite novel to the scout, +who still questioned whether it was a true story. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +With Bob Scott to lead an occasional hunting trip, Bucks found the +time go fast at Goose Creek and no excitement came again until later +in the summer. + +Where Goose Creek breaks through the sand-hills the country is flat, +and, when swollen with spring rains, the stream itself has the force +and fury of a mountain river. Then summer comes; the rain clouds hang +no longer over the Black Hills, continuing sunshine parches the face +of the great plains, and the rushing and turbulent Goose Creek +ignominiously evaporates--either ascending to the skies in vapor or +burrowing obscurely under the sprawling sands that lie within its +course. Only stagnant pools and feeble rivulets running in widely +separated channels--hiding under osiers or lurking within shady +stretches of a friendly bank--remain to show where in April the noisy +Goose engulfs everything within reach of its foaming wings. The creek +bed becomes in midsummer a mere sandy ford that may be crossed by a +child--a dry map that prints the running feet of snipe and plover, the +creeping tread of the mink and the muskrat, and the slouching trail of +the coyote and the wolf. + +Yet there is treachery in the Goose even in its apparent repose, and +the unwary emigrant sometimes comes to grief upon its treacherous bed. +The sands of the Goose have swallowed up more than one heedless +buffalo, and the Indian knows them too well to trust them at all. + +When the railroad bridge was put across the creek, the difficulties of +securing it were very considerable and Brodie, the chief engineer, was +in the end forced to rely upon temporary foundations. Trainmen and +engineers for months carried "slow" orders for Goose Creek bridge, and +Bucks grew weary with warnings from the despatchers to careless +enginemen about crossing it. + +Among the worst offenders in running his engine too fast over Goose +Creek bridge was Dan Baggs, who, breathing fire through his bristling +red whiskers and flashing it from his watery blue eyes, feared nobody +but Indians, and obeyed reluctantly everybody connected with the +railroad. Moreover, he never hesitated to announce that when "they +didn't like the way he ran his engine they could get somebody else to +run it." + +Baggs's great failing was that, while he often ran his train too fast, +he wasted so much time at stations that he was always late. And it was +said of him that the only instance in which he ever reached the end of +his division on time was the day he ran away from Iron Hand's band of +Sioux at Goose Creek--on that occasion he had made, without a doubt, a +record run. + +But when, one hot afternoon in August, Baggs left Medicine Bend with a +light engine for Fort Park, where he was to pick up a train-load of +ties, he had no thought of making further pioneer railroad history. +His engine had been behaving so well that his usual charges of +inefficiency against it had not for a long time been registered with +the roundhouse foreman, and Dan Baggs, dreaming in the heat and +sunshine of nothing worse than losing his scalp to the Indians or +winning a fortune at cards--gambling was another of his failings--was +pounding lightly along over the rails when he reached, without heeding +it, Goose Creek bridge. + +There were those who averred that after his experience with Iron Hand +he always ran faster across the forbidden bridge than anywhere else. +On this occasion Baggs bowled merrily along the trestle and was +getting toward the middle of the river when the pony trucks jumped the +rail and the drivers dropped on the ties. Dan Baggs yelled to his +fireman. + +It was unnecessary. Delaroo, the fireman, a quiet but prudent fellow, +was already standing in the gangway prepared for an emergency. He +sprang, not a minute too soon, from the engine and lighted in the +sand. But Dan Baggs's fixed habit of being behind time chained him to +his seat an instant too long. The bulky engine, with its tremendous +impetus, shot from the trestle and plunged like a leviathan clear of +the bridge and down into the wet sand of the creek-bed. + +The fireman scrambled to his feet and ran forward, expecting to find +his engineman hurt or killed. What was his surprise to behold Baggs, +uninjured, on his feet and releasing the safety-valve of his fallen +locomotive to prevent an explosion. The engine lay on its side. The +crash of the breaking timbers, followed by a deafening blast of +escaping steam, startled Bucks and, with Bob Scott, he ran out of the +station. As he saw the spectacle in the river, he caught his breath. +He lived to see other wrecks--some appalling ones--but this was his +first, and the shock of seeing Dan Baggs's engine lying prone in the +river, trumpeting forth a cloud of steam, instead of thundering across +the bridge as he normally saw it every day, was an extraordinary one. + +Filled with alarm, he ran toward the bridge expecting that the worst +had happened to the engineman and fireman. But his amazement grew +rather than lessened when he saw Delaroo and Baggs running for their +lives toward him. He awaited them uneasily. + +"What's the matter?" demanded Bucks, as Baggs, well in the lead, came +within hailing distance. + +"Matter!" panted Baggs, not slackening his pace. "Matter! Look at my +engine! Indians!" + +"Indians, your grandmother!" retorted Bob Scott mildly. "There's not +an Indian within forty miles--what's the matter with you?" + +"They wrecked us, Bob," declared Baggs, pointing to his roaring +engine; "see for yourself, man. Them cotton-woods are full of Indians +right now." + +"Full of rabbits!" snorted Bob Scott. "You wrecked yourself by running +too fast." + +"Delaroo," demanded Dan Baggs, pointing dramatically at his taciturn +fireman, who had now overtaken him, "how fast was I running?" + +Peter Delaroo, an Indian half-blood himself, returned a disconcerting +answer. "As fast as you could, I reckon." He understood at once that +Baggs had raised a false alarm to protect himself from blame for the +accident, and resented being called upon to support an absurd story. + +Baggs stood his ground. "If you don't find an Indian has done this," +he asserted, addressing Bob Scott with indignation, "you can have my +pay check." + +"Yes," returned Bob, meditatively. "I reckon an Indian did it, but you +are the Indian." + +"Come, stop your gabble, you boys!" blustered the doughty engineman, +speaking to everybody and with a show of authority. "Bucks, notify the +despatcher I'm in the river." + +"Get back to your engine, then," said Scott. "Don't ask Bucks to send +in a false report. And afterward," suggested Scott, "you and I, Dan, +can go over and clean the Indians out of the cotton-woods." + +Baggs took umbrage at the suggestion, and no amount of chaffing from +Scott disconcerted him, but after Bucks reported the catastrophe to +Medicine Bend the wires grew warm. Baxter was very angry. A crew was +got together at Medicine Bend, and a wrecking-train made up with a +gang of bridge and track men and despatched to the scene of the +disaster. The operating department was so ill equipped to cope with +any kind of a wreck that it was after midnight before the train got +under way. + +The sun had hardly risen next morning, when Bob Scott, without any +words of explanation, ran into Bucks's room, woke him hurriedly, and, +bidding him dress quickly, ran out. It took only a minute for Bucks to +spring from his cot and get into his clothes and he hastened out of +doors to learn what the excitement was about. Scott was walking fast +down toward the bridge. Bucks joined him. + +"What is it, Bob?" he asked hastily. "Indians?" + +"Indians?" echoed Bob scornfully. "I guess not this time. I've heard +of Indians stealing pretty nearly everything on earth--but not this. +No Indian in this country, not even Turkey Leg, ever stole a +locomotive." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean Dan Baggs's engine is gone." + +Bucks's face turned blank with amazement. "Gone?" he echoed +incredulously. He looked at Scott with reproach. "You are joking +me." + +"See if you can find it," returned Scott tersely. + +As they hastened on, Bucks looked to the spot where the engine had +lain the night before. It was no longer there. + +He was too stunned to ask further questions. The two strode along the +ties in silence. Eagerly Bucks ran to the creek bank and scanned more +closely the sandy bed. It was there that the wrecked engine and tender +had lain the night before. The sand showed no disturbance whatever. It +was as smooth as a table. But nothing was to be seen of the engine or +tender. These had disappeared as completely as if an Aladdin's slave, +at his master's bidding, had picked them from their resting place and +set them on top of some distant sand-hill. + +"Bob," demanded Bucks, breathless, "what does it mean?" + +"It means the company is out one brand-new locomotive." + +"But what has happened?" asked Bucks, rubbing his eyes to make sure he +was not dreaming. "Where is the engine?" + +Scott pointed to the spot where the engine had lain. "It is in that +quicksand," said he. + +The engine, during the night, had, in fact, sunk completely into the +sand. No trace was left of it or of its tender. Not a wheel or cab +corner remained to explain; all had mysteriously and completely +disappeared. + +"Great Heavens, Bob!" exclaimed Bucks. "How will they _ever_ get it +out?" + +"The only way they'll ever get it out, I reckon, is by keeping Dan +Baggs digging there till he digs it out." + +"Dan Baggs never could dig that out--how long would it take him?" + +"About a hundred and seventy-five years." + +As Scott spoke, the two heard footsteps behind them. Baggs and +Delaroo, who had slept at the section-house, were coming down the +track. "Baggs," said Scott ironically, as the sleepy-looking +engineman approached, "you were right about the Indians being in the +cotton-woods last night." + +"I knew I was right," exclaimed Baggs, nodding rapidly and brusquely. +"Next time you'll take a railroad man's word, I guess. Where are +they?" he added, looking apprehensively around. "What have they +done?" + +"They have stolen your engine," answered Scott calmly. He pointed to +the river bed. Baggs stared; then running along the bank he looked +up-stream and down and came back sputtering. + +"Why--what--how--what in time! Where's the engine?" + +"Indians," remarked Scott sententiously, looking wisely down upon the +sphinx-like quicksand. "Indians, Dan. They must have loaded the engine +on their ponies during the night--did you hear anything?" he demanded, +turning to Bucks. Bucks shook his head. "I thought I did," continued +Scott. "Thought I heard something--what's that?" + +Baggs jumped. All were ready to be startled at anything--for even +Scott, in spite of his irony, had been as much astounded as any one at +the first sight of the empty bed of sand. It was enough to make any +one feel queerish. The noise they heard was the distant rumble of the +wrecking-train. + +In the east the sun was bursting over the sand-hills into a clear sky. +Bucks ran to the station to report the train and the disappearance of +the engine. When he had done this he ran back to the bridge. The +wrecking-train had pulled up near at hand and the greater part of the +men, congregated in curious groups on the bridge, were talking +excitedly and watching several men down on the sand, who with spades +were digging vigorously about the spot which Baggs and Delaroo +indicated as the place where the engine had fallen. Others from time +to time joined them, as they scraped out wells and trenches in the +moist sand. These filled with water almost as rapidly as they were +opened. + +Urged by their foreman, a dozen additional men joined the toilers. +They dug in lines and in circles, singly and in squads, broadening +their field of prospecting as the laughter and jeers of their +companions watching from the bridge spurred them to further toil. But +not the most diligent of their efforts brought to light a single +trace of the missing engine. + +The wrecking crew was mystified. Many refused to believe the engine +had ever fallen off the bridge. But there was the broken track! They +could not escape the evidence of their eyes, even if they did scoff at +the united testimony of the two men that had been on the engine when +it leaped from the bridge and the two that had afterward seen it lying +in the sand. + +The track and bridge men without more ado set to work to repair the +damage done the track and bridge. A volley of messages came from +head-quarters. At noon a special car, with Colonel Stanley and the +division heads arrived to investigate. + +The digging was planned and directed on a larger scale and resumed +with renewed vigor. Sheet piling was attempted. Every expedient was +resorted to that Stanley's scientific training could suggest to bring +to light the buried treasure--for an engine in those days, and so far +from locomotive works, was very literally a treasure to the railroad +company. Stanley himself was greatly upset. He paced the ties above +where the men were digging, directing and encouraging them doggedly, +but very red in the face and contemplating the situation with +increasing vexation. He stuck persistently to the work till darkness +set in. Meantime, the track had been opened and the wrecking-train +crossed the bridge and took the passing track. The moon rose full over +the broad valley and the silent plains. Men still moved with lanterns +under the bridge. Bucks, after a hard day's work at the key, was +invited for supper to Stanley's car, where the foremen had assembled +to lay new plans for the morrow. But Bob Scott, when Bucks told him, +shook his head. + +"They are wasting their work," he murmured. "The company is 'out.' +That engine is half-way to China by this time." + +It might, at least, as well have been, as far as the railroad company +was concerned. The digging and sounding and scraping proved equally +useless. The men dug down almost as deep as the piling that supported +the bridge itself--it was in vain. In the morning the sun smiled at +their efforts and again at night the moon rose mysteriously upon them, +and in the distant sand-hills a thousand coyotes yelped a requiem for +the lost locomotive. But no human eye ever saw so much as a bolt of +the great machine again. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +The loss of the engine at Goose Creek brought an unexpected relief to +Bucks. His good work in the emergency earned for him a promotion. He +was ordered to report to Medicine Bend for assignment, and within a +week a new man appeared at Goose Creek to relieve him. + +There was little checking up to do. Less than thirty minutes gave +Bucks time to answer all of his successor's questions and pack his +trunk. He might have slept till morning and taken a passenger train to +Medicine Bend, but the prospect of getting away from Goose Creek at +once was too tempting to dismiss. A freight train of bridge timbers +pulled across the bridge just as Bucks was ready to start. Pat +Francis, the doughty conductor, who, single-handed, had held Iron +Hand's braves at bay, was in charge of the train. He offered Bucks a +bench and blanket in the caboose for the night, and promised to have +him in Medicine Bend in the morning; Bucks, nothing loath, accepted. +His trunk was slung aboard and the train pulled out for Medicine +Bend. + +The night proved unseasonably cold. Francis built a blazing fire in +the caboose stove and afterward shared his hearty supper with his +guest. As the train thundered and rumbled slowly over the rough track, +the conductor, while Bucks stretched out on the cushions, entertained +him with stories of his experiences on the railroad frontier--not +suspecting that before morning he should furnish for his listener one +of the strangest of them. + +Bucks curled up in his blanket late, but, in spite of unaccustomed +surroundings and the pitch and lurch of the caboose, which was hardly +less than the tossing of a ship in a gale, Bucks dozed while his +companion and the brakeman watched. The latter, a large, heavy fellow, +was a busy man, as the calls for brakes--and only hand-brakes were +then known--were continual. There were no other passengers, and except +for the frequent blasts of the engine whistle the night passed quietly +enough. + +Bucks dreamed of fighting bears with Scuffy, and found himself +repeatedly rolling down precipitous mountains without landing +successfully anywhere. Then he quieted into a heavy, unbroken sleep +and found himself among the hills of Alleghany, hunting rabbits that +were constantly changing into antelope and escaping him. Fatigued with +his unceasing efforts, he woke. + +A gray light, half dusk, revealed the outlines of the cab interior, as +he opened his eyes, and a thundering, rumbling sound that rang in his +ears and seemed everywhere about him cleared his mind and brought him +back to his situation. + +It was cold, and he looked at the stove. The fire was out. On the +opposite side of the cab the brakeman lay on the cushions fast asleep. +Outside, the thundering noises came continuously from everywhere at +once. It did not occur to Bucks that the caboose was standing still. +It trembled and vibrated more or less, but he noticed there was no +longer any lurching and thought they had reached remarkably smooth +track. They were certainly not standing still, he assured himself, as +he rubbed his eyes to wake up. But perhaps they might be in the yards +at Medicine Bend, with other trains rolling past them. + +Somewhat confused he raised the curtain of the window near him. The +sky was overcast and day was breaking. He rose higher on his elbow to +look more carefully. Everywhere that his eye could reach toward the +horizon the earth seemed in motion, rising and falling in great waves. +Was it an earthquake? He rubbed his eyes. It seemed as if everywhere +thousands of heads were tossing, and from this continual tossing and +trampling came the thunder and vibration. Moreover, the caboose was +not moving; of this he felt sure. Amazed, and only half-awake, he +concluded that the train must have left the track and dropped into a +river. The uncertainty of his vision was due, he now saw, to a storm +that had swept the plains. It was blowing, with a little snow, and in +the midst of the snow the mysterious waves were everywhere rising and +falling. + +Bucks put the curtain completely aside. The sound of his feet striking +the floor aroused the conductor, who rose from his cushion with a +start. "I've been asleep," he exclaimed, rubbing his eyes. "Where are +we, Bucks?" + +"That is what I am trying to figure out." + +"Where is the brakeman?" demanded Francis. As he asked the question he +saw the big fellow asleep in the corner. Francis shook him roughly. +"That comes of depending on some one else," he muttered to Bucks. "I +went to sleep on his promise to watch for an hour--he knew I had been +up all last night and told me to take a nap. You see what happened. +The moment I went to sleep, he went to sleep," exclaimed Francis in +disgust. "Wake up!" he continued brusquely to the drowsy brakeman. +"Where are we? What have we stopped for? What's all this noise?" +Though he asked the questions fast, he expected no answer to any of +them from the confused trainman and waited for none. Instead, he threw +up a curtain and looked out. "Thunder and guns! Buffaloes!" he cried, +and seizing his lantern ran out of the caboose door and climbed the +roof-ladder. Bucks was fast upon his heels. + +The freight train stood upon a wide plain and in the midst of +thousands of buffaloes travelling south. As far as their eyes could +reach in all directions, the astonished railroad men beheld a sea of +moving buffaloes. Without further delay Francis, followed by Bucks, +started along the running boards for the head end of the train. + +The conductor found his train intact; but when he reached the head end +he could find neither engine, tender, nor crew. All had disappeared. +Running down the ladder of the head box-car, the conductor examined +the draw-bar for evidence of an accident. The coupling was apparently +uninjured but the tender and engine were gone. Francis, more upset +than Bucks had ever seen him, or ever afterward saw him, walked +moodily back to the caboose. What humiliated him more than the strange +predicament in which he found himself was that he had trusted to a +subordinate and gone to sleep in his caboose while on duty. + +"Serves me right," he muttered, knitting his brows. "Brakeman," he +added sternly, "take your lantern and flags and get out behind. The +minute the buffaloes get across the track, go back two hundred yards +and protect us. I will watch the head end. While these buffaloes are +crossing they will be protection enough. Soon as it is daylight we +will find out where we are." + +The snow continued falling and the buffaloes drifted south with the +storm, which was squally. Every moment, as the sky and landscape +lightened, Francis, whom Bucks had followed forward, expected to see +the last of the moving herd. But an hour passed and a second hour +without showing any gaps in the enormous fields. And the brighter the +daylight grew, the more buffaloes they could see. + +Francis stormed at the situation, but he could do nothing. Finally, +and as hope was deserting him, he heard the distant tooting of an +engine whistle. It grew louder and louder until Bucks could hear the +ringing of a bell and the hissing of the open cylinder cocks of a +slow-moving locomotive. Gaps could now be discerned in the great herds +of buffaloes, and through the blowing snow the uncertain outlines of +the backing engine could dimly be seen. Francis angrily watched the +approaching engine, and, as soon as it had cleared the last of the +stumbling buffaloes on the track, he walked forward to meet it and +greeted the engineman roughly. + +"What do you mean by setting my train out here on the main track in +the middle of the night?" he demanded ferociously, and those that knew +Pat Francis never wanted to add to his anger when it was aroused. + +"Don't get excited," returned Dan Baggs calmly, for it was the +redoubtable Baggs who held the throttle. "I found I was getting short +of water. We are just coming to Blackwood Hill and I knew I could +never make Blackwood Siding with the train. So I uncoupled and ran to +the Blackwood tank for water. We are all right now. Couple us up. If I +hadn't got water, we should have been hung up here till we got another +engine." + +"Even so," retorted Francis, "you needn't have been all night about +it." + +"But when we started back there were about ten million buffaloes on +the track. If I had been heading into them with the cow-catcher I +shouldn't have been afraid. But I had to back into them, and if I had +crippled one it would have upset the tender." + +"Back her up," commanded Francis curtly, "and pull us out of here." + +Meantime there was much excitement at the despatchers' office in +Medicine Bend over the lost train. It had been reported out of White +Horse Station on time, and had not reported at Blackwood. For hours +the despatcher waited vainly for some word from the bridge timbers. +When the train reported at Blackwood Station, the message of Francis +explaining the cause of the tie-up seemed like a voice from the tombs. +But the strain was relieved and the train made fast time from +Blackwood in. About nine o'clock in the morning it whistled for the +Medicine Bend yards and a few moments later Bucks ran upstairs in the +station building to report for assignment. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +He found Baxter needing a man in the office, and Bucks was asked to +substitute until Collins, the despatcher who was ill, could take his +trick again. This brought Bucks where he was glad to be, directly +under Stanley's eye, but it brought also new responsibilities, and +opened his mind to the difficulties of operating a new and already +over-taxed line in the far West, where reliable men and available +equipment were constantly at a premium. + +The problem of getting and keeping good men was the hardest that +confronted the operating department, and the demoralization of the +railroad men from the life in Medicine Bend grew steadily worse as the +new town attracted additional parasites. When Bucks, after his return, +took his first walk after supper up Front Street, he was not surprised +at this. Medicine Bend was more than ten times as noisy, and if it +were possible to add any vice to its viciousness this, too, it would +seem, had been done. + +As was his custom, he walked to the extreme end of Front Street and +turning started back for the station, when he encountered Baxter, the +chief despatcher. Baxter saw Bucks first and spoke. + +"I thought you were taking your sleep at this time," returned Bucks, +greeting him. + +"So I should be," he replied, "but we are in trouble. Dan Baggs is to +take out the passenger train to-night, and no one can find him. He is +somewhere up here in one of these dives and has forgotten all about +his engine. It is enough to set a man crazy to have to run trains with +such cattle. Bucks, suppose you take one side of the street while I +take the other, and help me hunt him up." + +"What shall we do?" + +"Look in every door all the way down-street till we find him. If we +don't get the fellow on his engine, there will be no train out till +midnight. Say nothing to anybody and answer no questions; just find +him." + +Baxter started down the right-hand side of the long street and Bucks +took the left-hand side. It was queer business for Bucks, and the +sights that met him at every turn were enough to startle one stouter +than he. He controlled his disgust and ignored the questions sometimes +hurled at him by drunken men and women, intent only on getting his eye +on the irresponsible Baggs. + +Half-way down toward the square he reached a dance hall. The doors +were spread wide open and from within came a din of bad music, +singing, and noise of every kind. + +Bucks entered the place with some trepidation. In the rear of the +large room was a raised platform extending the entire width of it. At +one end of the platform stood a piano which a man pounded incessantly +and fiercely. Other performers were singing and dancing to entertain a +motley and disorderly audience seated in a still more disorderly array +before them. + +At the right of the room a long bar stretched from the street back as +far as the stage, and standing in front of this, boisterous groups of +men were smoking and drinking, or wrangling in tipsy fashion. The +opposite side of the big room was given over to gambling devices of +every sort, and this space was filled with men sitting about small +tables and others sitting and standing along one side of long tables, +at each of which one man was dealing cards, singly, out of a metal +case held in his hand. Other men clustered about revolving wheels +where, oblivious of everything going on around them, they watched with +feverish anxiety a ball thrown periodically into the disc by the man +operating the wheel. + +Bucks walked slowly down the room the full length of the bar, scanning +each group of men as he passed. He crossed the room behind the chairs +where the audience of the singers and dancers sat. He noticed, when he +reached this, the difference in the faces he was scrutinizing. At the +gambling tables the men saw and heard nothing of what went on about +them. He walked patiently on his quest from group to group, unobserved +by those about him, but without catching a sight of the elusive +engineman. As he reached the end of the gambling-room, he hesitated +for a moment and had finished his quest when, drawn by curiosity, he +stopped for an instant to watch the scene about the roulette wheels. + +Almost instantly he heard a sharp voice behind him. "What are you +doing here?" + +Bucks, surprised, turned to find himself confronted by the black-bearded +passenger conductor, David Hawk. Baxter's admonition to say nothing +of what he was doing confused Bucks for an instant, and he stammered +some evasive answer. + +Hawk, blunt and stern in word and manner, followed the evasion up +sharply: "Don't you know this is no place for you?" and before Bucks +could answer, Hawk had fixed him with his piercing eyes. + +"You want to hang around a gambling-table, do you? You want to watch +how it is done and try it yourself sometime? You want to see how much +smarter you can play the game than these sheep-heads you are +watching? + +"Don't talk to me," he exclaimed sternly as Bucks tried to explain. +"I've seen boys in these places before. I know where they end. If I +ever catch you in a gambling-den again I'll throw you neck and heels +into the river." + +The words fell upon Bucks like a cloud-burst. Before he could return a +word or catch his breath Hawk strode away. + +As Bucks stood collecting his wits, Baggs, the man for whom he was +looking, passed directly before his eyes. Bucks sprang forward, caught +Baggs by the arm, and led him toward the door, as he gave him Baxter's +message. Baggs, listening somewhat sheepishly, made no objection to +going down to take his train and walked through the front door with +Bucks out into the street. + +As they did this, a red-faced man who was standing on the doorstep +seized Bucks's sleeve and attempted to jerk him across the sidewalk. +Bucks shook himself free and turned on his assailant. He needed no +introduction to the hard cheeks, one of which was split by a deep +scar. It was Perry, Rebstock's crony, whom Stanley had driven out of +Sellersville on the Spider Water. + +"What are you doing around here interfering with my business?" he +demanded of Bucks harshly. "I've watched you spying around. The next +time I catch you trying to pull a customer out of my place, I'll knock +your head off." + +Bucks eyed the bully with gathering wrath. He was already upset +mentally, and taken so suddenly and unawares lost his temper and his +caution. "If you do, it will be the last head you knock off in +Medicine Bend," he retorted. "When I find trainmen in your joint that +are needed on their runs, I'll pull them out every time. The safest +thing you can do is to keep quiet. If the railroad men ever get +started after you, you red-faced bully, they'll run you and your whole +tribe into the river again." + +It was a foolish defiance and might have cost him his life, though +Bucks knew he was well within the truth in what he said. Among the +railroad men the feeling against the gamblers was constantly growing +in bitterness. Perry instantly attempted to draw a revolver, when a +man who had been watching the scene unobserved stepped close enough +between him and Bucks to catch Perry's eye. It was Dave Hawk again. +What he had just heard had explained things to him and he stood now +grimly laughing at the enraged gambler. + +"Good for the boy," he exclaimed. "Want to get strung up, do you, +Perry? Fire that gun just once and the vigilantes will have a rope +around your neck in five minutes." + +Perry, though furious, realized the truth of what Hawk said. He poured +a torrent of abuse upon Bucks, but made no further effort to use his +gun. The dreaded word "vigilantes" had struck terror to the heart of a +man who had once been in their hands and escaped only by an accident. + +"You know what he said is so, don't you?" laughed Hawk savagely. +"What? You don't?" he demanded, as Perry tried to face him down. +"You'll be lucky, when that time comes, if you don't get your heels +tangled up with a telegraph pole before you reach the river," +concluded Hawk tauntingly. + +"Let him keep away from me if he doesn't want trouble," snarled the +discomfited gambler, eying Bucks threateningly. But he was plainly +out-faced, and retreated, grumbling, toward the dance-hall steps. + +Dan Baggs, at the first sign of hostilities, had fled. Bucks, afraid +of losing him, now followed, leaving Hawk still abusing the gambler, +but when he overtook the engineman he found he was going, as he had +promised, straight to the roundhouse. + +It was almost time for the night trick. Bucks hastened upstairs to the +despatchers' office and reported to Baxter, who had returned ahead of +him and was elated at Bucks's success. Before the young substitute +took up his train-sheet, he told the chief despatcher of how strangely +the conductor, Dave Hawk, had talked to him. + +"He has a reason for it," responded Baxter briefly. + +"What reason?" + +"There is as good a railroad man as ever lived," said Baxter, +referring to the black-bearded conductor. "He is the master of us all +in the handling of trains. He could be anything anybody is on this +line to-day that he might want to be but for one thing. If he hadn't +ruined his own life, Dave Hawk could be superintendent here. He knows +whereof he speaks, Bucks." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean he is a gambler. Did you hear the shooting after I left +you?" + +"No, what was it?" + +"It must have been while you were in Perry's. Not five minutes after +we parted, a saloon-keeper shot a woman down right in front of me; I +was standing less than ten feet from her when she fell," said the +despatcher, recounting the incident. "But I was too late to protect +her; and I should probably have been shot myself if I had tried to." + +"Was the brute arrested?" + +"Arrested! Who arrests anybody in this town?" + +"How long is this sort of thing going on?" asked Bucks, sitting down +and signing a transfer. + +"How long!" echoed the despatcher, taking up his hat to go to his +room. "I don't know how long. But when their time comes--God help that +crowd up Front Street!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +Following Collins's return to duty, Bucks was assigned to a new +western station, Point of Rocks. It was in the mountains and where +Casement, now laying five and even six miles of track a day, had just +turned over a hundred and eighty miles to the operating department. +Bucks, the first operator ever sent to the lonely place afterward +famous in railroad story, put his trunk aboard a freight train the +next morning and started for his destination. + +The ride through the mountains was an inspiration. A party of army +officers and their wives, preferring to take the day run for the +scenery, were bound for one of the mountain posts, Fort Bridger, and +they helped to make the long day journey in the cabin car, with its +frequent stops and its laborious engine-puffing over the mountain +grades, a pleasant one. The women made coffee on a cabin stove and +Bucks, the only other passenger, was invited to lunch with them. + +When the train stopped at Point of Rocks and Bucks got off, the sun +was setting, and though the thin, clear air brought the distant +mountains very close, the prospect was not a cheerful one. In every +direction mountain ranges, some brown and others snow-capped, rose +upon the horizon. Where the railroad line made a tortuous way among +the barren buttes that dotted the uneven plain all about, there was +not a spear of grass nor a living thing except the stunted sage-brush +of the alkali plain. In the midst of this desert a great upheaval of +granite rock thrown squarely across the direct path of the railroad +opposed its straight course and made a long reverse curve necessary. +This was Point of Rocks. + +"You," said Stanley once to Bucks, "may live to see this railroad +built across these mountains as it should be built. There will be no +sharp curves then, no heavy grades such as these our little engines +have to climb now. Great compound locomotives will pull trains of a +hundred cars up grades of less than one per cent and around two and +three degree curves. These high wooden bridges will all be replaced +by big rock and earth fills. Tunnels will pierce the heights that +cannot be scaled by easy grades, and electric power supplied by these +mountain streams themselves will take the place of steam made by coal +and hauled hundreds of miles to give us costly motive power. You may +live, Bucks, to see all of this; I shall not. When it comes, think of +me." + +But there was no thought now in Bucks's mind of what the future might +bring to that forbidding desert. He saw only a rude station building, +just put up, and as the train disappeared, he dragged into this his +trunk and hand-bag, and in that act a new outpost of civilization was +established in the great West. + +He called up Medicine Bend, reported, lighted a fire in the little +stove, and the spot in the desert known now to men as Point of Rocks +for the first time in the story of the world became a part of it--was +linked to the world itself. + +But the place was lonely beyond words, and Bucks had a hard time to +keep it from being too much so for him. He walked at different times +over the country in every direction, and one night after a crudely +prepared supper he strolled out on the platform, desperate for +something to do. Desolation marked the landscape everywhere. He +wandered aimlessly across the track and seeing nothing better to +interest him began climbing Point of Rocks. + +The higher he climbed the more absorbed he became. Youth and strength +lent ardor to the ascent, and Bucks, soon forgetting everything below, +was scaling the granite pile that towered above him. For thirty +minutes, without a halt, he continued to climb, and reaching after a +while what seemed the highest ledge of the rocky spur, he walked out +upon it to the very edge and was rewarded for his labor with a +magnificent panorama of the mountain divide. + +In the west the sky was still golden and, though clouds appeared to be +banking heavily in the north, the view of the distant peaks was +unobstructed. From where he sat he could almost have thrown a stone +into one tiny mountain stream that cut a silver path toward the +setting sun, and another, a hundred yards away, that flowed gently +toward the rising sun. And he knew--for Bill Dancing had told +him--that the one rill emptied at last into the Pacific Ocean, and the +other into the Atlantic Ocean. Alongside these tiny streams he could +plainly trace the overland trail of the emigrant wagons, and, cutting +in straighter lines, but following the same general direction, lay the +right-of-way of the new transcontinental railroad. + +Beyond, in every direction, stretched great plateaus, and above these +rugged mountain chains, lying in what seemed the eternal solitude of +the vast desert. He was alone with the sunset, and stood for some +moments silenced by the scene before him. When a sound did at length +reach his ear as he sat spellbound, it brought him back to himself +with the suddenness of a shock. + +At first he heard only distant echoes of a short, muffled blow, +irregularly repeated and seeming familiar to the ear. As he speculated +upon what the sound might be, it grew gradually plainer and came +seemingly nearer. He bent his eyes down the valley to the west and +scanned the wagon-trail and the railroad track as far as he could in +the dusk, but could see nothing. Then the muffle of the sound was at +once lifted. It came from the other direction, and, turning his eyes, +he saw emerging from a small canyon that hid the trail to the east, a +covered emigrant wagon, drawn by a large team of horses and driven by +a man sitting in front of the hood, making its way slowly up the road +toward the station. + +The heavy play of the wheel-hubs on the axles echoed now very plainly +upon his ears, and he sat watching the outfit and wondering whether +the travellers would camp for the night near him and give him what he +craved most of all, a little human society. The horses passed the +station, and as they did so, the driver peered intently at the new +building, looking back around the side of the canvas cover, and +straining his neck to see all he could see, while the horses moved +along. + +This would have seemed to Bucks mere idle curiosity had he not noticed +that some one within the wagon parted the canvas flaps at the rear as +it went by and likewise inspected the building with close attention. +Even this was no especial incident for wonderment, nor was Bucks +surprised when the emigrants, after pursuing their way until they were +well out of sight of the station itself, guided their wagon from the +trail into a little depression along the creek as if to make camp for +the night. The driver, a tall, thin man, wearing a slouch hat, got +down from the front of the wagon and walked with a shambling gait to +the head of his horses and loosened their bridles. While the horses +were drinking, a second man, carrying a rifle, climbed down from the +rear of the wagon. He was of a shorter and stockier build, and on one +side the brim of his soft hat had been torn away so that it hung +loosely over one ear, the other ear being covered only by a shock of +dusty hair. + +A third man emerged from under the canvas cover, dropping down almost +behind the second--a fat man who looked about him with suspicion as he +slowly drew a rifle out of the wagon. The driver joined his companions +for a brief conference, and when it was finished the three men, +examining their rifles, walked back up the road toward the station. As +they neared it, two of them loitered back and presently took their +places behind convenient rocks where, without being seen, they could +see everything. The third man, the driver, carrying his rifle on his +arm, walked ahead, crossed the road, and, proceeding with some care, +stepped up on the platform and pushed open the door of the station +building. + +Bucks, perched high on the rocky spur above the scene, looked on, not +knowing just what to make of it all. As he saw the two men conceal +themselves, he wondered what sort of a call the third man intended +making on the new agent, and why he should leave two armed men close +at hand in ambush when calling on one lone telegraph operator. Bucks +began to feel a bit creepy and watched the scene unfolding below with +keen attention. The driver of the wagon getting no response as he +opened the door, walked inside, and for a moment was not seen. He soon +reappeared, and, stepping to the side of the building signalled his +companions to come up. Bucks saw them emerge from their hiding-places +and join the driver at the station door. + +A second conference followed. It was briefer than the first, but +there seemed some difference of opinion among the three men, and +the talk terminated abruptly by the driver's clubbing his rifle and +deliberately smashing in the sash of the window before which he +was standing. + +Whatever had held Bucks spellbound thus far released him suddenly for +action when he saw the rifle-stock raised and heard the crash of the +glass. He jumped up, and running to the edge of the ledge nearest the +station yelled at the marauder and shook his finger at him vigorously. +The attack on his habitation was too much for Bucks's composure, and, +although he knew his words could not be heard from where he stood, he +felt he could frighten the intruders. + +This was his second mistake. No sooner had his visitors sighted him +than two guns were turned on him and instantly fired. He jumped back +before the fat man, who, slower than his companions, had some +difficulty in shooting so high above his head, could get his gun up. +Afterward, Bucks learned how providential this was, inasmuch as the +big fellow was the deadliest shot of the three. + +But at the moment, danger was the last thing the operator thought of. +The unprovoked and murderous attack infuriated him, and again +forgetting his caution he drew his own revolver without hesitation, +and, running to a more protected spot, leaned over the ledge and fired +point-blank into the group, as they looked up to see what had become +of him. + +If it had been his intention to hit any one of them with his bullets, +his shooting was a failure and some experience in after years among +men practised in gunnery convinced him that to aim at three men is not +the right way to hit one. + +But if he had meant only to create a sensation his move was successful +beyond his greatest expectation. Had a bomb been exploded on the +platform the marauders could not have scattered more quickly. Bucks +never in his life had seen three men move so fast. The fat man, +indeed, had given Bucks the impression of being heavy and slow in his +movements. He now made a surprising exhibition of agility, and Bucks +to his astonishment, saw him distancing his leaner companions and +sprinting for the shelter at a pace that would have made a jack-rabbit +take notice. + +Bucks, somewhat keyed up, fired twice again at the fleeing men, but +with no more effect than to kick up the dust once behind and once +ahead of them as they ran. The instant they reached the rocks where +they found shelter Bucks drew back out of sight, and none too soon, +for as he pulled himself away from the ledge, a rifle cracked +viciously from below and the slug threw a chunk of granite almost up +into his face; the fat man was evidently having his innings. + +Bucks, out of immediate danger, lay perfectly still for a few moments +casting up the strange situation he found himself in. Why the men +should have acted as they had, was all a mystery, but thieves or +outlaws they evidently were, and outlaws in this country he already +well knew were men who would stop at nothing. + +He realized, likewise, that he was in grave danger. The night was +before him. No train would be through before morning. He could not +reach his key by which he might have summoned aid instantly. For a +moment he lay thinking. Then taking off his hat he stuck his head +carefully forward; it was greeted at once by a bullet. The lesson was +obvious and next time he wanted to reconnoitre he stuck his hat +forward first on the muzzle of his gun, as he had often read of +frontiersmen doing, and, having drawn a shot, stuck his head out +afterward for a quick look. All that remained in the open was the team +and wagon, but this left the outlaws at a disadvantage, for if they +wanted to get their outfit and go on their way they must expose +themselves to Bucks's fire. While they might feel that one operator, +armed with a revolver he hardly knew how to use, was not a dangerous +foe, a Colt's, even in the hands of a boy who had thus far fired first +and aimed afterward, was not wholly to be despised. An accident might +happen even under such conditions, and the three men, knowing that +darkness would soon leave them free, waited in absolute silence. + +Night fell very soon and the light of the stars, though leaving +objects visible upon the high ledge, left the earth in impenetrable +darkness. Strain his eyes as he would, Bucks could perceive nothing +below. He could hear, however, and one of the first sounds audible was +that of the wagon moving quietly away. It was a welcome sound, even +though he dared not hope his troublesome visitors would withdraw +without further mischief. His chief concern at this juncture was to +get safely, if he could, down the rocks and into the station to give +the alarm to the despatcher; for he made no doubt that the outlaws, on +their wagon trip west, would damage in any way they might be able +railroad supplies and property along their way. + +Before Bucks had climbed down very far and after he had made one or +two startling missteps, he began to consider that it was one thing to +get up a rough arete in daylight and quite another to get down one in +the darkness. The heavy clouds moving down from the north had massed +above Point of Rocks, and he heard once in a while an ominous roll of +thunder, as he slipped and slid along and bruised his hands and feet +upon the rocks. + +He had with great care got about half-way down, when the pitch +darkness below him was pierced by a small flame which he took at first +for the blaze of a camp fire. In another moment he was undeceived. The +station was on fire. It was evidently the last effort of the outlaws +to wreak vengeance as they left. Bucks clambered over the rocks in +great alarm. He thought he might reach the building in time to save +it, and, forgetting the danger of being shot should his enemies remain +lying in wait, he made his way rapidly down the Point. The flames now +burst from the east window of the station, and he despaired of saving +it, but he hurried on until he heard the crack of a rifle, felt his +cap snatched from his head and fell backward against the face of the +rock. As he lost consciousness he slipped and rolled headlong down the +steep ledge. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +How long Bucks lay in the darkness he did not know, but he woke to +consciousness with thunder crashing in his ears and a flood of rain +beating on his upturned face. When he opened his eyes he was blinded +by sheets of lightning trembling across the sky, and he turned his +face from the pelting rain until he could collect himself. + +While he lay insensible from the shock of the bullet, which +providentially had only grazed his scalp, the storm had burst over the +mountains drowning everything before it. Water fell in torrents, and +the desert below him was one wide river. Water danced and swam down +the rocks and ran in broad, shallow waves over the sand, and the scene +was light as day. Thunder peals crashed one upon another like salvoes +of artillery, deafening and alarming the confused boy, and the rain +poured without ceasing. Continuing waves of lightning revealed the +railroad and station building before him and he realized that he had +fallen the rest of the way down from where he had been fired at on the +face of the Point. + +He took quick stock of his condition and, rising to his feet, found +himself only sore and bruised. He pressed his way through the flood to +the track, gained the platform, and, judging rightly that his +assailants had abandoned their fight, entered the half-burned building +unafraid. Rain poured in one corner where the roof had burned away +before the storm had put out the fire. + +Stumbling through the debris that covered the floor, Bucks made his +way to the operator's table and put his hand up to cut in the +lightning arrester. He was too late. The fire had taken everything +ahead of him, and his hope of getting into communication with the +despatchers was next dashed by the discovery that his instruments were +wrecked. + +He sat down--his chair was intact--much disheartened. But without +delay he opened the drawer of the table and feeling for his box of +cartridges found that the thieves had overlooked it. This he slipped +into his pocket with a feeling of relief, and, as he sat, rain-soaked +and with the water dripping from his hair, he reloaded his revolver +and made such preparations as he could to barricade the inner door and +wait for the passing of the storm. + +From time to time, awed by the fury of the elements, he looked into +the night. It seemed as if the valley as far as he could see was a +vast lake that rippled and danced over the rocks. Bucks had never +conceived of a thunderstorm like this. Until it abated there was +nothing he could do, and he sat in wretched discomfort, hour after +hour, waiting for the night to pass and listening to the mighty roar +of the waters as they swept broadside down the divide carrying +everything ahead of them. Before daylight the violence of the storm +wore itself away, but the creek in the little canyon south of the +right-of-way, dashing its swollen bulk against the granite walls, +pounded and roared with the fury of a cataract. + +When day broke, ragged masses of gray cloud scudded low across the +sky. The rain had ceased, and in the operator's room Bucks, aided by +the first rays of daylight, was struggling to get the telegraph wires +disentangled to send a message. His hopes, as the light increased and +he saw the ruin caused by the fire, were very slender, but he kept +busily at the wreckage and getting, at length, two severed strands of +the wires to show a current, began sending his call, followed by a +message for help to Medicine Bend. He worked at this for thirty +minutes unceasingly, then, looking around on every side of the +building, he satisfied himself that he was alone and, dropping down at +his table, leaned upon it with his elbows, and, tired, wet, and +begrimed, fell fast asleep. + +He was roused by the distant whistle of a locomotive. Opening his +eyes, he saw the sun streaming through the east side of the building +where the window casement had burned away. Shaking off the heaviness +of his slumber he hastened out to see an engine and box-car coming +from the east. From the open door of the car men were waving their +hats. Bucks answered by swinging his arm. + +The engine stopped before the station and Bob Scott, followed by +Dancing, Dave Hawk, and the train crew sprang from the caboose steps +and surrounded him. They had brought two horses and Bucks saw that all +the men were armed. It took only a minute to tell the story, and the +party scattered to view the destruction and look for clues to the +perpetrators. + +Scott and Dancing were especially keen in their search, but they found +nothing to suggest who the vandals were. They listened again to Bucks, +as he repeated his story with more detail, and held a hurried +conference in which Dave Hawk took charge. Meantime the men were +tearing up planks from the platform to make a chute for unloading the +horses. + +Bucks's excitement increased as he saw the businesslike preparations +for the chase. "Have you any idea you can catch them, Bob?" he asked +feverishly. + +Bob Scott's smile was not a complete answer. "How can you catch +anybody in _this_ country?" continued Bucks, regarding the scout +sceptically. But Scott looked across the interminable waste of +sage-brush and rock as if he felt at home with it. + +"If they stick to the wagon," he explained leisurely, "we will have +them in an hour or two, Bucks. A man might as well travel around here +with a brass band as to try to get away with a wagon track behind him. +If they stick to the wagon, we are bound to have them in two or three +hours at most. You are sure they didn't have a led horse?" + +"They had nothing but the team," said Bucks. + +"In that case if they give up the wagon, three of them will have to +ride two horses. They can't go fast in that way. We will get some of +them, Bucks, sure--somehow, sometime, somewhere. We have got to get +them. How could I hold my job if I didn't get them?" + +That which had seemed impossible to Bucks looked more hopeful after +Bob had smiled again. Dancing was busy installing the new telegraph +outfit. While this was going on, Scott saddled the horses and, when he +and Dave Hawk had mounted, the two rode rapidly down the emigrant +trail toward Bitter Creek. The train was held until Dancing could get +the instruments working again; then, at Hawk's request, it was sent +down the Bitter Creek grade after himself and Scott; the trail +followed the railroad for miles. Dancing remained with Bucks to guard +against further attack. + +The two railroad men rode carefully along the heavy ruts of the +emigrant trail, from which all recent tracks had been obliterated by +the flood, knowing that they would strike no sign of the wagon until +it had been started after the storm. They had covered in this manner +less than two miles when, rounding a little bend, they saw a covered +emigrant wagon standing in the road not half a mile from the railroad +track. + +Scott led quickly toward concealment and from behind a shoulder of +rock to which the two rode they could see that the wagon had been +halted and the horses, strangely entangled in the harness, were lying +in front of it. Scott and Hawk dismounted and, crawling up the +shoulder where they could see without being seen, waited impatiently +for some sign of life from the suspicious outfit. The description +Bucks had given fitted the wagon very well, and the two lay for a +time waiting for something to happen, and exchanging speculations as +to what the situation might mean. They were hoping that the thieves +might, if they had gone away, return, and with this thought restrained +their impatience. + +"It may be a trick to get us up to shooting distance, Bob," suggested +Hawk when Scott proposed they should close in. + +"But that wouldn't explain why the horses are lying there in that way, +Dave. Something else has happened. Those horses are dead; they haven't +moved. Suppose I circle the outfit," suggested Scott benevolently. + +"Take care they don't get a shot at you." + +"If they can get a shot at me before I can at them they are welcome," +returned Scott as he picked up his bridle rein. "From what Bucks told +me I don't think a great deal of their shooting. He is a level-headed +boy, that long-legged operator." And Scott, with some quiet grimaces, +recounted Bucks's story of his descent of Point of Rocks the night +before, under the fire of the three desperadoes. + +That he himself was now taking his own life in his hands as he started +on a perilous reconnoissance, cost him no thought. Such a situation he +was quite used to. But for a green boy from the East to put up so +unequal a fight seemed to the experienced scout a most humorous +proceeding. + +He mounted his horse and directing Hawk what to do if he should be +hit, set out to ride completely around the suspected wagon. The canvas +cover was the uncertain element in the situation. It might conceal +nobody, and yet it might conceal three rifles waiting for an +indiscreet pursuer to come within range. Scott, taking advantage of +the uneven country, rode circumspectly to the south, keeping the +object of his caution well in view, and at times, under cover of +friendly rocks, getting up quite close to it. + +Before he had completed half his ride he had satisfied himself as to +the actual state of affairs. Yet his habitual caution led him to +follow out his original purpose quite as carefully as if he had +reached no conclusion. When he crossed the trail west of the wagon, he +looked closely for fresh tracks, but there were none. He then circled +to the north and was soon able, by dismounting, to crawl under cover +within a hundred yards of the heads of the horses. When he got up to +where he could see without being seen he perceived clearly that his +surmise had been correct. + +Both horses lay dead in the harness. From the front seat of the wagon +a boot protruded; nothing more could be seen. Scott now, by signals, +summoned Dave Hawk from where he lay, and when the swarthy conductor +reached the scout, Scott called out loudly at the wagon. + +There was no answer, no movement, no sound. Things began to seem +queer; in the bright blaze of sunshine, and with the parched desert +glistening after the welcome rain, there in the midst of the vast +amphitheatre of mountains lay the dead horses before the mysterious +wagon. But nowhere about was any sign of life, and the wagon might +hold within its white walls death for whoever should unwarily approach +it. + +Bob Scott had no idea, however, of sacrificing himself to any scheme +that might have occurred to the enemy to lure him within danger. He +called out again at the top of his voice and demanded a surrender. No +sound gave any response, and raising his rifle he sent a bullet +through the extreme top of the canvas cover midway back from the +driver's seat. + +The echoes of the report crashed back to the rocks, but brought +nothing from the silence of the emigrant wagon. A second shot +followed, tearing through the side board of the wagon-box itself; yet +there was no answer. Scott, taking his horse, while Hawk remained in +hiding and covered the scene with his own rifle, led the horse so that +it served as a shelter and walked directly toward the wagon itself. As +he neared it he approached from the front, pausing at times to survey +what he saw. Hawk watched him lead his unwilling horse, trembling with +fear, up to the dead team as they lay in the bright sunlight, and saw +Scott take hold of the protruding boot, peer above it into the wagon +itself and, without turning his head, beckon Hawk to come up. + +Under the canvas, the driver of the wagon lay dead with the lines +clutched in his stiffened fingers, just as he had fallen when death +struck his horses. The two frontiersmen needed no explanation of what +they saw in the scarred and blackened face of the outlaw. A bolt of +lightning had killed him and stricken both horses in the same instant. +Bob crawled into the wagon and with Hawk's help dragged the dead man +forward into the sunlight. Both recognized him. It was Bucks's +assailant and enemy, the Medicine Bend and Spider Water gambler, +Perry. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +The two men, aided by the crew of the train that now came down the +Bitter Creek grade, got the dead body of the outlaw back to Point of +Rocks just as a mixed train from the east reached there, with Stanley +and a detail of cavalry aboard. Stanley walked straight to Bucks, +caught him by the shoulders, and shook him as if to make sure he was +all right. + +"Gave you a warm reception, did they, Bucks?" + +"Moderately warm, colonel." + +Stanley shook his head. "It is all wrong. They never should have sent +you out here alone," he declared brusquely. "These superintendents +seem to think they are railroading in Ohio instead of the Rocky +Mountains. Dave," he continued, turning to Hawk as the latter came up, +"I hear you have just brought in Perry dead. What have we got here, +anyway?" + +"Some of the Medicine Bend gang," returned Hawk tersely. + +"What are they doing?" + +"Evening up old scores, I guess." + +Stanley looked at the dead man as they laid him out on the platform: +"And hastening their own day of reckoning," he said. "There shall be +no more of this if we have to drive every man of the gang out of the +country. Who do you think was with Perry, Bob?" he demanded, +questioning Scott. + +"There is nothing to show that till we get them--and we ought to be +after them now," returned the scout. "But," he added softly as he +hitched his trousers, "I think one of the two might be young John +Rebstock." + +"You need lose no time, Bob. Here are ten men with fresh horses at +your orders." Stanley pointed to the troopers who were unloading their +mounts. + +"Give Dave and me three of the best of these men," said Scott. "I will +follow the west trail. Put a sergeant with the others on the trail +east to make sure they haven't doubled back on us--but I don't think +they have." + +"Why?" + +"They must have stolen that team and wagon, that is certain. More than +likely they murdered the man they took it from. The trail is probably +alive with men looking for them. These fellows were trying to get to +Casement's camp for gambling, and probably they are heading that way +fast now. We will pick those fellows up, colonel, somewhere between +here and Bridger's Gap." + +The three troopers that Scott selected were told off and, after a few +rapid arrangements for sending back information, the five men of the +west-trail party, headed by Scott and Dave Hawk, rode down Bitter +Creek and, scattering in a wide skirmish line wherever the formation +of the country permitted, scanned the ground for signs of the +fugitives. + +"We shan't find anything till we get to where they were when the rain +stopped," Scott told the trooper near whom he was riding. It was, in +fact, nearly ten miles from Point of Rocks before they picked up the +footprints of two men travelling apart from each other, but headed +north and west. These they followed on a long detour away from the +regular wagon road until the two trails turned and entered, from the +southwest, a camp made the night before by a big trading outfit on the +regular overland trail. + +Here, of course, all trace of the men disappeared. It was now drawing +toward evening. Scott resolved to follow the trading outfit, but the +party still rode slowly to make sure the men they wanted did not sneak +away from the wagons of their new-found friends. The pursuers rode +steadily on, and as the sun went down they perceived in a small canyon +ahead of them the wagons of the outfit they were trailing, parked in a +camp for the night. + +Scott gave the troopers directions as to where to post themselves, at +some distance east and west of the canyon, to provide against a sortie +of the fugitives and, riding with Hawk directly into the camp, asked +for the boss. He appeared after some delay and proved to be a French +trader with supplies for Salt Lake. + +Hawk, whose long visage and keen eyes gave him a particularly +stern air--and David Hawk was never very communicative or very +warm-mannered--asked the questions. The Frenchman was civil, but +denied having any men with him except those he had brought from +the Missouri River. However, he offered to line up his men for the +railroad party to look over. To this Hawk agreed, and, when the +word had been passed, the entire force of the trader were assembled +in front of the head wagon. + +Scott rode slowly up the line scrutinizing each face, and, turning +again, rode down the line. Once he stopped and questioned a +suspicious-looking teamster wearing a hat that answered Bucks's +description, but the man's answers were satisfactory. + +When Scott had finished his inspection the men started to disband. +Hawk stopped them. "Stay where you are," he called out curtly. Turning +to the Frenchman, he added: "We will have to search your wagons." + +Again the trader made no objection, though some of his men did. + +The three troopers were signalled in, and posted so there could be no +dodging from one wagon to another, and Hawk gave them orders, loud +enough for all to hear, to shoot on sight any one leaving the wagons. +And while he himself kept command of the whole situation, Scott +dismounted and accompanied by the trader began the search. The hunt +was tedious and the teamsters murmured at the delay to their camp +work. But the search went forward unrelentingly. Not a corner capable +of concealing a dog was overlooked by the painstaking Indian and not +until he had reached the last wagon was his hope exhausted. + +This wagon stood at the extreme end of a wash-out in the side of the +canyon itself. It was filled with bales of coarse red blankets, but no +man was to be found among them. + +Scott did find something, however, in a sort of a nest fashioned among +the bales near the middle of the wagon. What would have escaped an eye +less trained to look for trifles attracted his at once. It was a dingy +metal tag. Scott picked it up. It bore the name of a Medicine Bend +saloon and the heads of three horses, from the design of which the +saloon itself took a widely known and ill name. He laid his hand on +the blanket from which he had picked the tag. The wool was still +warm. + +Scott only smiled to himself. Both ends of the little canyon were +guarded. From where he was searching the scout peered carefully out at +the canyon walls. There were hiding-places, but they were hardly large +enough to conceal a man. It was somewhere in the rocks close at hand +that the fugitives had found a temporary refuge; but they could not +now escape--nor could they be far from the wagon. + +Without losing sight of the surroundings, Scott, disclosing nothing of +his discovery to the trader, announced that he was satisfied and that +the men he wanted did not appear to be there. He added, however, that +if the Frenchman had no objection his party would pitch camp close by +and ride with him in the morning. The Frenchman maintained his +courtesy by inviting the party to take supper with him, and Scott, +agreeing to return, rode away with Hawk and the three troopers. + +They had not ridden far, when Bob dismounted the party and leaving +the horses with one trooper set two as pickets and posted himself in +hiding on one side the canyon, with Hawk on the other, to watch the +camp. What he saw or whether his patience was in any degree rewarded +no one could have told from his inscrutable face as he walked into the +camp at dusk and sat down with the trader to supper. The moon was just +rising and down at the creek, a little way from where Scott sat, some +belated teamsters were washing their hands and faces and preparing +their own supper. Scott ate slowly and with his back to the fire kept +his eye on the group of men down at the creek. When he had finished, +he walked down to the stream himself. A large man in the group fitted, +in his hat and dress, Bucks's exact description. Scott had already +spotted him an hour before, and stepped up to him now to arrest young +John Rebstock. + +He laid his hand on the man's shoulder and the man turned. But to +Scott's surprise he was not the man wanted at all. He wore Rebstock's +clothes and fitted Rebstock's description, but he was not Rebstock. +The scout understood instantly how he had been tricked, but gave no +sign. + +Within the preceding thirty minutes the real Rebstock, whom Scott had +already marked from his hiding-place in the canyon, had traded clothes +with this man and, no doubt, made good his escape. + +If Bob was chagrined, he made no sign. + +"You must have made a good trade," he said, smiling at the teamster. +"These clothes are a little big, but you will grow to them. How much +boot did you get?" + +Scott looked so slight and inoffensive that the teamster attempted +insolence, and not only refused to answer questions, but threatened +violence if the scout persisted in asking them. His companions +crowding up encouraged him. + +But numbers were not allowed for an instant to dominate the situation. +Scott whipped a revolver from his belt, cocked it, and pressed it +against the teamster's side. Dave Hawk loomed up in the moonlight and, +catching by the collar one after another of the men crowding around +Scott, Hawk, with his right hand or his left, whirled them spinning +out of his way. If a man resisted the rough treatment, Hawk +unceremoniously knocked him down and, drawing his own revolver, took +his stand beside his threatened companion. + +Other men came running up, the trader among them. A few words +explained everything and the recalcitrant teamster concluded to speak. +Scott, indeed, had but little to ask: he already knew the whole story. +And when the teamster, threatened with search, pulled from his pocket +a roll of bank-notes which he acknowledged had been given him for +concealing the two fugitives and providing them with clothes, Scott +released him--only notifying the trader incidentally that the man was +robbing him and had loot, taken from the ammunition wagon, concealed +under his blanket bales just searched. This information led to new +excitement in the camp, and the Frenchman danced up and down in his +wrath as he ordered the blanket wagon searched again. But his +excitement did not greatly interest Scott and his party. They went +their way and camped at some distance down the creek from their +stirred-up neighbors. + +Hawk and Bob Scott sat in the moonlight after the troopers had gone to +sleep. + +"They can't fool us very much longer," muttered Scott, satisfied with +the day's work and taking the final disappointment philosophically, +"until they can get horses they are chained to the ground in this +country. There is only one place I know of where there are any horses +hereabouts and that is Jack Casement's camp." + +Hawk stretched himself out on the ground to sleep. "I'll tell you, +Dave," continued Scott, "it is only about twenty miles from here to +Casement's, anyway. Suppose I ride over there to-night and wire +Stanley we've got track of the fellows. By the time you pick up the +trail in the morning I will be back--or I may pick it up myself +between here and the railroad. You keep on as far as Brushwood Creek +and I'll join you there to-morrow by sundown." + +It was so arranged. The night was clear and with a good moon the ride +was not difficult, though to a man less acquainted with the mountains +it would have been a hardship. Mile after mile Scott's hardy pony +covered with no apparent effort. Bob did not urge him, and before +midnight the white tents of the construction camp were visible in the +moonlight. Scott went directly to the telegraph office, and after +sending his message hunted up food and quarters for his beast and a +sleeping-bunk for himself. + +At daylight he was astir and sought breakfast before making inquiries +and riding back to his party. On the edge of the camp stood a sort of +restaurant, made up of a kitchen tent with a dismantled box-car body +as an annex. + +In this annex the food was served. It was entered from one side door, +while the food was brought from the kitchen through the other side +doorway of the car. + +Into this crowded den Bob elbowed an unobtrusive way and seated +himself in a retired corner. He faced the blind end of the car, and +before him on the wall was tacked a fragment of a mirror in which he +could see what was going on behind him. And without paying any +apparent attention to anything that went on, nothing escaped him. + +Next to where he sat, a breakfast of coffee and ham and eggs had been +already served for somebody, apparently on an order previously given. +At the opposite end of the car a small space was curtained off as a +wash-room. Scott ordered his own breakfast and was slowly eating it +when he noticed through the little mirror, and above and beyond the +heads of the busy breakfasters along the serving-counter, a large man +in the wash-room scrubbing his face vigorously with a towel. + +Each time Scott looked up from his breakfast into the mirror the man +redoubled his efforts to do a good job with the towel, hiding his face +meantime well within its folds. The scout's curiosity was mildly +enough aroused to impel him to watch the diligent rubbing with some +interest. He saw, too, presently that the man was stealing glances out +of his towel at him and yet between times intently rubbing his face. + +This seemed odd, and Scott, now eying the man more carefully, noted +his nervousness and wondered at it. However, he continued to enjoy his +own meal. The waiter who had served him, hurried and impatient, also +noticed the waiting breakfast untouched and called sharply to the man +in the wash-room that his ham was served and, with scant regard for +fine words, bade him come eat it. + +This urgent invitation only added to the ill-concealed embarrassment +of the stalling guest; but it interested the scout even more in the +developing situation. Scott finished his breakfast and gave himself +entirely over to watching in a lazy way the man who was making so +elaborate a toilet. + +There was no escape from either end of the car. That could be managed +only through the side doors, which were too close to Scott to be +available, and the scout, now fairly well enlightened and prepared, +merely awaited developments. He wanted to see the man come to his +breakfast, and the man in the wash-room, combing his hair with vigor +and peering anxiously through his own scrap of a mirror at Bob Scott, +wanted to see the scout finish his coffee and leave the car. Scott, +however, pounding ostentatiously on the table, called for a second cup +of coffee and sipped it with apparent satisfaction. It was a game of +cat and mouse--with the mouse, in this instance, bigger than the cat, +but as shy and reluctant to move as any mouse could be in a cat's +presence. Scott waited until he thought the embarrassed man would have +brushed the hair all out of his head, and at last, in spite of +himself, laughed. As he did so, he turned half-way around on his stool +and lifted his finger. + +"Come, Rebstock," he smiled, calling to the fugitive. "Your breakfast +is getting cold." + +The man, turning as red as a beet, looked over the heads of those that +sat between him and his tantalizing captor. But putting the best face +he could on the dilemma and eying Scott nervously he walked over and, +with evident reluctance, made ready to sit down beside him. + +"Take your time," suggested Scott pleasantly. Then, as Rebstock, quite +crestfallen, seated himself, he added: "Hadn't I better order a hot +cup of coffee for you?" He took hold of the cup as he spoke, and +looked hard at the gambler while making the suggestion. + +"No, no," responded Rebstock, equally polite and equally insistent, as +he held his hand over the cup and begged Scott not to mind. "This is +all right." + +"How was the walking last night?" asked Scott, passing the fugitive a +big plate of bread. Rebstock lifted his eyes from his plate for the +briefest kind of a moment. + +"The--eh--walking? I don't know what you mean, captain. I slept here +last night." + +Scott looked under the table at his victim's boots. "John," he asked +without a smile, "do you ever walk in your sleep?" + +Rebstock threw down his knife and fork. "Look here, stranger," he +demanded with indignation. "What do you want? Can't a man eat his +breakfast in this place? I ask you," he demanded, raising his right +hand with his knife in it as he appealed to the waiter, "can't a man +eat his breakfast in this place without interruption?" + +The waiter, standing with folded arms, regarded the two men without +changing his stolid expression. "A man can eat his breakfast in this +place without anything on earth except money. If you let your ham get +cold because you were going to beat me out of the price, and you try +to do it, I'll drag you out of here by the heels." + +These unsympathetic words attracted the attention of every one and the +breakfasters now looked on curiously but no one offered to interfere. +Quarrels and disputes were too frequent in that country to make it +prudent or desirable ever to intervene in one. A man considered +himself lucky not to be embroiled in unpleasantness in spite of his +best efforts to keep out. Rebstock turned again on his pursuer. "What +do you want, anyhow, stranger?" he demanded fiercely. "A fight, I +reckon." + +"Not a bit of it. I want you, Rebstock," explained Scott without in +the least raising his voice. + +Rebstock's throaty tones seemed to contract into a wheeze. "What do +you want me for?" he asked, looking nervously toward the other end of +the car. As he did so, a man wearing a shirt and new overalls rose and +started for the door. The instinct of Scott's suspicion fastened +itself on the man trying to leave the place as being Rebstock's wanted +companion. + +Rising like a flash, he covered the second man with his pistol. "Hold +on!" he exclaimed, pointing at him with his left hand. "Come over +here!" + +The man in overalls turned a calm face that showed nothing more than +conscious innocence. But Scott was looking at his feet. His worn shoes +were crusted heavily with alkali mud. "What do you want with me?" +snarled the man halted at the door. + +"I want you," said Scott, "for burning Point of Rocks station night +before last. Here, partner," he continued, speaking to the waiter. +"I'll pay for these two breakfasts; search that man for me," he +continued, pointing to the man in the overalls. + +"Search him yourself," returned the waiter stolidly. Scott turned like +a wolf. + +"What's that?" Another expression stole over his good-natured face. +Holding his revolver to cover any one that resisted, he turned his +accusing finger upon the insolent waiter. "You will talk to me, will +you?" he demanded sharply. "Do as I tell you instantly, or I'll drive +you out of camp and burn your shack to the ground. When I talk to you, +General Jack Casement talks, and this railroad company talks. Search +that man!" + +Before the last word had passed his lips the waiter jumped over the +counter and began turning the pockets of the man in the new overalls +inside out. The fellow kept a good face even after a bunch of stolen +railroad tickets were discovered in one pocket. "A man gave them to me +last night to keep for him," he answered evenly. + +"Never mind," returned Scott with indifference, "I will take care of +them for him." + +The news of the capture spread over the camp, and when Scott with his +two prisoners walked across to General Casement's tent a crowd +followed. Stanley had just arrived from Point of Rocks by train and +was conferring with Casement when Scott came to the tent door. He +greeted Bob and surveyed the captured fugitives. + +"How did you get them?" he demanded. + +Scott smiled and hung his head as he shook it, to anticipate +compliments. "They just walked into my arms. Dave Hawk and the +troopers are looking for these fellows now away down on Bitter Creek. +They wandered into camp here last night to save us the trouble of +bringing them. Isn't that it, Rebstock?" + +Rebstock disavowed, but not pleasantly. He was not in amiable mood. + +"What show has a fat man got to get away from anybody?" he growled. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +When Hawk saw Bob Scott, two hours later, riding into his camp on the +Brushwood with the two prisoners, he was taciturn but very much +surprised. + +Scott was disposed to make light of the lucky chance, as he termed it, +that had thrown the two men into his way. Hawk, on the other hand, +declared in his arbitrary manner that it was not wholly a lucky +chance. He understood the Indian's dogged tenacity too well to think +for a moment that the fugitives could have escaped him, even had he +not ridden into Casement's camp as he so fortuitously had done. + +The scout, Hawk knew, had the characteristic intuition of the +frontiersman; the mental attributes that combine with keen observation +and unusually good judgment as aids to success when circumstances are +seemingly hopeless. Such men may be at fault in details, and +frequently are, but they are not often wholly wrong in conclusions. +And in their pursuit of a criminal they are like trained hounds, which +may frequently lose their trail for a moment, but, before they have +gone very far astray, come unerringly back to it. + +"If they ever give you a chance, Bob, you will make a great +thief-catcher," exclaimed Hawk with his naturally prodigal generosity +of appreciation. + +"I certainly never expected to catch Rebstock and this fellow Seagrue +as easily as that," smiled Scott, as the troopers took charge of his +men. + +"If you hadn't caught them there you would have trailed them there. It +would only have meant a longer chase." + +"A whole lot longer." + +"When you come to think of it, Bob, the railroad was their only hope, +anyway. They did right in striking for it. Without horses, the big +camp and the trains for Medicine Bend every day were their one chance +to get away." + +Scott assented. "The trouble with us," he smiled, "was that we didn't +think until after it was all over. Sometime a man will come to these +mountains who thinks things out before they happen instead of after. +Then we will have a man fit to run the secret service on this +railroad. But we are losing time," he added, tightening up his saddle +girths. + +"What are you going to do now? And why," demanded Hawk without waiting +for an answer, "did you drag these men away down here instead of +leaving them for Casement to lock up until we were ready to take them +to Medicine Bend?" + +"I am going to drag them farther yet," announced Scott. "I am going to +ride after the French trader and fit these two fellows out in their +own clothes again to make it easier for Bucks to indentify them." + +"Don't say 'indentify,' Bob, say 'identify,'" returned Hawk testily. + +Bob Scott usually turned away a sharp word with silence, and although +he felt confident Hawk was wrong, he argued no further with him, but +stuck just the same to his own construction of the troublesome word. + +"You've got the right idea, Bob, if you have got the wrong word," +muttered Hawk. "Why didn't you think of that sooner?" + +They broke camp and started promptly. About noon they overtook the +trading outfit and after some threatening forced the tricky teamster +to rig the two gamblers out in their own apparel. Having done this, +they started on a long ride for Casement's camp, reaching it again +with their prisoners, and all very dusty and fatigued, long after +dark. + +The hard work voluntarily undertaken by the scout to aid the boy, as +he termed Bucks, in identifying his graceless assailants was +vindicated when, the next morning, the party with their prisoners +arrived on a special train at Point of Rocks, and Bucks immediately +pointed to Seagrue as the man who had first fired at him. + +There were a few pretty hot moments on the platform when Bucks, among +a group of five camp malefactors on their way to Medicine Bend, +confronted the two men who had tried to kill him, and unhesitatingly +pointed them out. Seagrue, tall and surly, denied vehemently ever +having been at Point of Rocks and ever having seen Bucks. He declared +the whole affair was "framed up" to send him to the penitentiary. He +threatened if he were "sent up" to come back and kill Bucks if it was +twenty years later--and did, in that respect, try to keep his word. + +But his threats availed him nothing, and John Rebstock who, though +still young, was a sly fox in crooked ways, contented himself with a +philosophical denial of everything alleged against him, adding only in +an injured tone that nobody would believe a fat man anyway. + +It was he, however, rather than the less clever Seagrue, who had begun +to excite sympathy for what he called his luckless plight and that of +his companion, before they had left the railroad camp. Among the five +evil-doers who had been rounded-up and deported for the jail at +Medicine Bend, and now accompanied the two gamblers, Rebstock spread +every story he could think of to arouse his friends at Medicine Bend +to a demonstration in his behalf. + +The very first efforts at putting civil law and order into effect +were just then being tried in the new and lawless frontier railroad +town and the contest between the two elements of decency and of +license had reached an acute pass when Rebstock and Seagrue were +thrown into jail at Medicine Bend. A case of sympathy for them was not +hard to work up among men of their own kind and threats were heard up +and down Front Street that if the railroading of two innocent men to +the penitentiary were attempted something would happen. + +Railroad men themselves, hearing the mutterings, brought word of them +to head-quarters, but Stanley was in no wise disturbed. He had wanted +to make an example for the benefit of the criminals who swarmed to the +town, and now welcomed the chance to put the law's rigor on the men +that had tried to assassinate his favorite operator. Bucks, lest he +might be made the victim of a more successful attack, was brought down +from Point of Rocks the first moment he could be relieved. A plot to +put him out of the way, as the sole witness against the accused +gamblers, was uncovered by Scott almost as soon as Bucks had returned +to the big town and, warned by his careful friend, he rarely went up +street except with a companion--most frequently with Scott himself. + +As the day set for Rebstock's trial drew near, rumors were heard of a +jail delivery. The jail itself was a flimsy wooden affair, and so +crude in its appointments that any civilized man would have been +justified in breaking out of it. + +Nor was Brush, the sheriff, much more formidable than the jail itself. +This official sought to curry favor with the townspeople--and that +meant, pretty nearly, with the desperadoes--as well as to stand well +with the railroad men; and in his effort to do both he succeeded in +doing neither. + +Bucks was given a night trick on his old wire in the local station, +and in spite of the round of excitement about him settled down to the +routine of regular work. The constant westbound movement of +construction material made his duties heavier than before, but he +seemed able to do whatever work he was assigned to and gained the +reputation of being dependable, wherever put. + +He had risen one night from his key, after despatching a batch of +messages, to stir the fire--the night was frosty--when he heard +an altercation outside on the platform. In another moment the +waiting-room door was thrown open and Bucks turned from the +stove, poker in hand, to see a man in the extremity of fear rush +into his lonely office. + +The man, hatless and coatless and evidently trying to escape from some +one, was so panic-stricken that his eyes bulged from their sockets, +and his beard was so awry that it was a moment before Bucks recognized +his old acquaintance Dan Baggs. + +"They are after me, Bucks," cried Baggs, closing the door in +desperation. "They will kill me--hide me or they'll kill me." + +Before the operator could ask a question in explanation, almost before +the words were out of the frightened engineman's mouth, and with Bucks +pointing with his poker to the door, trying to tell Baggs to lock it, +the door again flew open and Bucks saw the face of a Front Street +confidence man bursting through it. + +Bucks sprang forward to secure the door behind the intruder, but he +was too late even for that. Half a dozen more men crowded into the +room. To ask questions was useless; every one began talking at once. +Baggs, paralyzed with fear, cowered behind the stove and the +confidence man, catching sight of him, tried to crowd through the +wicket gate. As he sprang toward it, Bucks confronted him with his +poker. + +"Let that gate alone or I'll brain you," he cried, hardly realizing +what he was saying, but well resolved what to do. + +The gambler, infuriated, pointed to Baggs. "Throw that cur out here," +he yelled. + +Baggs, now less exposed to his enemies, summoned the small remnant of +his own courage and began to abuse his pursuer. + +[Illustration: "LET THAT GATE ALONE OR I'LL BRAIN YOU," HE CRIED.] + +Bucks, between the two men with his poker, tried to stop the din long +enough to get information. He drew the enraged gambler into a +controversy of words and used the interval to step to his key. As he +did so, Baggs, catching up a monkey-wrench that Bucks ordinarily used +on his letter-press, again defied his enemy. + +It was only a momentary burst of courage, but it saved the situation. +Taking advantage of the instant, Bucks slipped the fingers of his left +hand over the telegraph key and wired the despatchers upstairs for +help. It was none too soon. The men, leaning against the railing, +pushed it harder all along the line. It swayed with an ominous crack +and the fastening gave way. Baggs cowered. His pursuers yelled, and +with one more push the railing crashed forward and the confidence man +sprang for the engineer. Baggs ran back to where Bucks stood before +his table, and the latter, clutching his revolver, warned Baggs's +pursuers not to lay a hand on him. + +Defying the single-handed defender, the gambler whipped out his own +pistol to put an end to the fight. It was the signal for his +followers, and in another minute half a dozen guns covered Bucks and +his companion. + +Seconds meant minutes then. Bucks understood that only one shot was +needed as the signal for his own destruction. What he did not quite +realize was that the gambler confronting him and his victim read +something in Bucks's eye that caused him to hesitate. He felt that if +a shot were fired, whatever else happened, it would mean his own death +at Bucks's hand. It was this that restrained him, and the instant +saved the operator's life. + +He heard the clattering of feet down the outside stairway, and the +next moment through the open door on the run dashed Bill Dancing, +swinging a piece of iron pipe as big as a crowbar. The yardmaster, +Callahan, was at his heels, and the two, tearing their way through the +room, struck without mercy. + +The thugs crowded to the door. The narrow opening choked with men +trying to dodge the blows rained upon them by Dancing and Callahan. +Before Baggs could rub his eyes the room was cleared, and half a dozen +trainmen hastily summoned and led by a despatcher were engaged out +upon the platform in a free fight with the Front Street ruffians. + +Within the office, the despatcher found Bucks talking to Callahan, +while Baggs was trying to explain to Bill Dancing how the confidence +men had tried to inveigle him into a "shell" game and, when they found +they could not rob him of his month's pay in any other way, had +knocked him down to pick his pockets. + +Callahan, who knew the trouble-making element better than any of the +railroad men, went up town to estimate the feeling after the fight, +which was now being discussed by crowds everywhere along Front Street. +For every bruised and sore head marked by the punishment given by +Dancing in the defence of Baggs a new enemy and an active one had been +made. + +Stanley came in late from the west and heard the story of the fight. +His comment was brief but significant. "It will soon be getting so +they won't wait for the railroad men to draw their pay. They will come +down here," said he ironically, "to draw it for them." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +A second and more serious disturbance followed close on the fight at +the railroad station. A passenger alighting in the evening from a +westbound train was set upon, robbed, and beaten into insensibility +within ten feet of the train platform. A dozen other passengers +hastened to his assistance. They joined in repulsing his assailants +and were beating them off when other thugs, reinforcing their fellows, +attacked the passengers and those railroad men that had hurried up to +drive off the miscreants. + +In the melee, a brakeman was shot through the head and a second +passenger wounded. But the railroad men rallied and, returning the +pistol fire, drove off the outlaws. + +The train was hurried out of town and measures were taken at once to +defend the railroad property for the night. Guards were set in the +yards, and a patrol established about the roundhouse, the railroad +hotel and the eating-house and freight-houses. + +Stanley, with his car attached to the night passenger train, was on +his way to Casement's camp when the fight occurred, and had taken +Bucks with him. The despatch detailing the disturbance reached him at +a small station east of Point of Rocks, where he was awakened and the +message was read to him advising the manager of the murder of the +brakeman. + +A freight-train, eastbound, stood on the passing track. Stanley roused +Bucks and, notifying the despatchers, ordered the engine cut off from +the freight-train, swung up into the cab, and started for Medicine +Bend. As they pulled out, light, Stanley asked for every notch of +speed the lumbering engine could stand, and Oliver Sollers, the +engineman, urged the big machine to its limit. + +The new track, laid hastily and only freshly ballasted, was as rough +as corduroy, and the lurching of the big diamond stack made the cab +topple at every rail joint. But Sollers was not the runner to lose +nerve under difficulties and did not lessen the pressure on the +pistons. If Stanley, determined and silent, his lips set and hanging +on for dear life as the cab jumped and swung under him, felt any +qualms at the dangerous pace he had asked for, he betrayed none. With +Bucks, open-eyed with surprise, hanging on in front of him, Stanley +gave no heed to the bouncing, and the freight-engine pounded through +the mountains like a steam-roller with a touch of crushed-stone +delirium. Hour after hour the wild pace was kept up through the Sleepy +Cat Mountains and across the Sweet Grass Plains. There was no easing +up until the frantic machine struck the gorge of the Medicine River +and whistled for the long yards above the roundhouse. + +Things had so quieted down by the time Stanley, springing up the +stairs two steps at a time, reached the despatchers' office, that they +were sorry they had sent in such haste for him. Stanley himself had no +regrets. He knew better than those about him the temper of the crowd +he had to deal with and felt that he needed every minute to prepare +for what he had to do. Bucks was sent to bring in Dancing, Bob Scott, +and the more resolute among the railroad men. A brief consultation was +held, and the attitude of the gamblers carefully discussed. + +Scott, who had been up town since the murder, had collected sufficient +proof that the chief outlaw, Levake, had done the shooting, and +Stanley now sent Scott to Brush, the sheriff, with a verbal message +demanding Levake's arrest. + +Every man that heard the order given knew what it meant. Every one +that listened realized it was the beginning of a fight in which there +could be no retreat for Stanley; that it would be a fight to a finish, +and that no man could say where it would end. + +Bob Scott hitched his trousers at the word from his sandy-haired +chief. For Bob, orders meant orders and the terror of Levake's name in +Medicine Bend had no effect on him. + +"You might as well ask a jack-rabbit to tackle a mountain lion as to +try to get Brush to arrest Levake," declared Dave Hawk cynically. + +But Stanley's hand struck the table like a hammer: "We are going to +have a show-down here. We will go through the forms; this is the +beginning--and I am going to follow it to the end. Either Levake has +got to quit the town or I have." + +Dave Hawk looked around with a new idea. He bent his eyes on Bob: +"Better get Brush to deputize _you_ to make the arrest." + +"That is it!" exclaimed Stanley. "Get him to deputize you, Bob, and we +will clean up this town as it hasn't been cleaned since the flood." + +Scott shook his head: "I don't believe Brush has the sand for that. We +will see." + +Up Front Street, through the various groups of men still discussing +the events of the evening, Scott, followed only by Bill Dancing, made +his way, nodding and patiently or pleasantly grinning as the greetings +or ridicule of the crowd were thrown at him. He went to the rooms of +the sheriff only to find them locked, and made his way down town again +looking through the resorts in a search for Brush. + +After much trouble, he found him at a gaming-table, inclined to appear +sceptical as to the story that Levake had killed an unoffending +brakeman. When Scott repeated Stanley's demand that Levake be +arrested, the sheriff slammed down his cards and declared he would not +be made a cat's-paw for any man; that the brakeman, according to +accounts reaching him, had been killed in a fair fight and he would +hear no more of it. Then, as if his game had been unreasonably +interfered with and his peace of mind injured, he rose from the table +to relieve his annoyance. + +Meantime Bill Dancing slipped into his vacated seat, picked up the +discarded hand of cards and announced it was too good to throw away. +"Will anybody," Bill asked dryly, "play the hand with me while Brush +is arresting Levake?" The laugh of Brush's own companions at this +proposal stung him as an imputation of his cowardice, and he made an +additional display of rage to counteract the unconcealed contempt in +which his cronies held him. + +He turned on Scott angrily. "Go arrest the man yourself, if you want +him," he thundered. + +Scott snapped up the suggestion. He pointed a lean finger at the +shifty peace officer. "Deputize me to do it, if you dare, Brush!" he +softly exclaimed, fixing his brown eyes on the flushed face of the +coward. + +Not a man in the room moved or spoke. Brush saw himself trapped. +Scott's finger called for an answer and the sheriff found no escape. +"I knew you hadn't the nerve to give me a deputy's badge," laughed +Scott, to spur the man's lagging courage; "you are too afraid of +Levake." + +The taunt had its effect. Brush raved about his courage, and Bill +Dancing, slapping him ferociously on the back, convinced him that he +really was a brave man. Taken volubly in tow by the two railroad +emissaries, who were far from being as simple as they seemed, Brush +returned to his lodgings at the jail to issue the coveted paper +authorizing Scott to serve any warrants in his stead. + +Before the ink was dry on the certificate the word had gone down Front +Street, and the town knew that Levake's arrest was in prospect. As +Dancing and Scott left the jail and walked down to the station, they +were surrounded by a curious throng of men watching for further +developments in the approaching crisis of the struggle with outlawry +in the railroad town. + +The night was far advanced, but a third element was now to make itself +felt in the situation. The decent business men had already seen the +approach of the storm and resolved on protecting their own interests, +which they realized were on the side of law and order. Word had been +passed from one to another of a proposed meeting. It was held toward +daybreak in a secret place. One and all present were pledged to act +together under a leadership then and there agreed upon, and after so +organizing, with a resolute merchant named Atkinson at their head, and +with a quiet that foreboded no good to the gamblers and outlaws, the +men who had gone to the rendezvous as business men left it as +vigilantes, banded together to defend their rights and property +against the lawless element that had terrorized legitimate business. + +In the morning secret word was brought by Atkinson to Stanley of the +resolve of the new allies to stand by him in his efforts to rid +the town of its undesirables for good and all. It was welcome +intelligence, and the railroad chief assured the plucky merchant +of his hearty cooperation in the designs of the newly constituted +law-and-order committee. + +"When the machinery of the law has miserably failed to protect our +lives and property," he said concisely, "we have nothing left for it +but to protect them ourselves." Arms had been telegraphed for and +every effort made to secure troops in the emergency. But the Indian +uprising had taken every available infantryman and trooper into the +north and there was not now sufficient time to get them together for +action. The railroad men, Stanley knew, must depend on themselves and +upon such assistance as the decent element in the town could render. + +Meantime the outlaws were not idle. They spent the day whipping the +gamblers and their hangers-on into line, upon the prediction that if +they themselves were dispersed scant quarter would be shown their +disorderly associates. + +Scott spent the day leisurely. Stanley had asked him not to move +until his own arrangements for a defensive fight were completed. That +the outlaws had secret sources of information even in the railroad +circles, came out startlingly. A special train--an express car pulled +by an engine--entered the railroad yard at dusk that evening, when a +party of men running out from the cover of the freight warehouse +attempted to rush it for arms and ammunition. + +They were met at the car doors by six of the best men that could be +picked up along the line during the day run of the special across the +plains. Stanley had wired instructions to head-quarters to send him +six men that feared neither smoke nor powder, and six stalwarts taken +on at Grand Island, North Platte, and Julesburg guarded the car and +tumbled like cats out of a bag upon the surprised raiders. + +The encounter was spirited, but it took only a moment to convince the +assaulting party that they had made a mistake. Clubbing their heavy +revolvers, the guards, any one of whom in close quarters could account +for two ordinary men, threw themselves from the car step directly +into the crowd and struck right and left. There was no regard for +persons, and in the half-dark the Medicine Bend ruffians, surprised +and confused, were soon fighting one another. + +But one-sided as the contest was, it did not go fast enough to suit +the guards, who, seizing the clubs thrown away by the rabble, charged +them in a line and drove them up the street. Railroad men who came +running from the station to help were too late. The flurry was over +and they found nothing to do but to cheer their new aids. + +Nor were the gamblers asleep. Word had gone out both east and west of +the approaching crisis between the disorderly and the law-and-order +elements, and every passenger train into Medicine Bend brought +mysterious men from towns and railroad camps who were openly or +secretly allied in one or another vicious calling to the classes that +were now making a stand for the rule or ruin of the railroad town. + +A mob of sympathizers gathered in Front Street to protect from +further punishment the party that had tried to capture the express +car. But the railroad men had no idea of pursuing the raiders beyond +the yard limits, and indeed were restrained by strict orders from +doing so. Stanley sent word immediately to the sheriff, demanding the +arrest of the new peace-disturbers, but the sheriff no longer made a +pretence of arresting law-breakers. In Front Street, the mob, +emboldened by their apparent control of the situation and increasing +in clamor and numbers, were now in a humor for anything that promised +pillage or vengeance. There were still among them a few cool-headed +criminals who counselled caution, but these were hooted down by men +who had never tasted the rigor of vigilante rule. + +Out of a dozen wild schemes broached by as many wild heads of the +excited crowd, in which were now lined up for any lawlessness all the +idlers, floaters, the improvident, and the reckless elements of a +frontier gambling town, one caught the popular fancy. Some one +proposed a jail delivery to release Rebstock and Seagrue, persecuted +by the railroad company. The idea spread like wildfire, and a score of +men, reinforced by more at every door as they proceeded up Front +Street, made their way to the jail. + +Fast as they came, time was given for word to the sheriff, who +conveniently got out of the way, and, led by half a dozen men with +crowbars and spike-mauls, the outlaws surrounded and overran the jail +yard and without a show of resistance from any one began smashing in +the entrance and battering down the cell doors. + +The first suggestion included only the delivery of the two men. But +this was effected so easily that more was undertaken. The jail at +Medicine Bend, being the only one within many miles in any direction, +harbored the criminals of the whole mountain region, and these now +cried to friendly ears for their own freedom. Cell after cell was +battered open and the released criminals, snatching tools from the +mob, led in the fight to free their fellows. In less than half an hour +every cell had been emptied and a score of hardened malefactors had +been added to the mob, which now proposed to celebrate the success of +its undertaking by setting fire to the jail itself. + +The vigilantes down town, though taking the alarm, had moved too +slowly. A jail delivery meant, they knew, that their stores would be +looted, and, under the leadership of Atkinson, they attempted to avert +the mischief impending. + +Gathering twenty-five determined men, they started with a shout for +the hill, only to see the sky already lighting with the flames of the +burning building. The mob, not understanding at first, welcomed the +new-comers with a roar of approval. + +But they were soon undeceived. The vigilantes began to try to save the +jail and their efforts brought about the first clash of a night +destined long to be remembered in Medicine Bend. The brawlers in the +crowd stayed to fight the vigilantes. The thieves and night-birds fell +away in the darkness, and like black cats scurried down town to +pillage the stores and warehouses of the fire-fighters on the hill. + +The few clerks and watchmen defending the stores, these knaves made +short work of. Dancing and Scott, with Stanley, Bucks, and a party of +railroad men, uneasy at the reports from the jail and now able to see +the sky reddening with the flames, moved in and out of the gloom of +side streets to keep track of the alarming situation and were the +earliest to discover the looting movement. + +A convenient general store at Front and Hill Streets was the first to +be pillaged. Dancing wanted to lead a party against the looters, but +Stanley pointed out the folly of half a dozen men trying to police the +whole street. + +"We can do nothing here, Bill. Those vigilantes have no business on +the hill. Get word to them, if you can, that the stores are being +robbed. They can't save the jail; they ought to come back and save +their own property. I can't bring men up from the roundhouse. We've +got to protect our own property first. If we could get word to +them--but a man never could get through that mob to the jail." + +"I reckon I can, colonel," said Bill Dancing, throwing off his coat. + +"They will kill you, Bill," predicted Stanley. + +"No," growled the lineman, rolling up his shirt sleeves. "Not me. I +wouldn't stand for it." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + +Slipping away behind the long warehouses in Front Street and moving +swiftly in and out of friendly shadows on his long journey up the +hill, Dancing started for the jail. He was hardly more than well under +way when he was aware of one following him and, turning to fell him +with his fist, he started as he found it was Bucks. + +The latter confronted him coolly: "Go ahead, Bill; I am going with +you." + +"Who said you could go?" exclaimed the lineman. "You can't. Go back!" + +Bucks stood his ground. + +"Do you want to get killed?" thundered Dancing hotly. + +"Two are better than one on a job like this," returned Bucks, without +giving way. "Go on, will you?" + +With a volley of grumbling objections, Dancing at length directed +Bucks to stick close to him, whatever happened, and to fight the best +he could in case they were cornered. + +Ahead of them the glare of the conflagration lighted the sky and the +air was filled with the shouts of the mob surrounding the fighting +vigilantes. Only half a block away, men were hurrying up and down +Front Street, while the two clambered along the obscure and +half-opened street leading to the jail and parallel to the main +thoroughfare. + +Dancing, to whom every foot of the rocky way was familiar and who +could get over obstructions in the dark as well as if it were day, led +the way with a celerity that kept his companion breathing fast. Both +had long legs, but Dancing in some mysterious way planted his feet +with marvellous certainty of effect, while Bucks slipped and +floundered over rocks and brush piles and across gullies until they +took a short cut through a residence yard and found themselves on the +heels of the mob surrounding the burning jail and in the glare of the +fire in upper Front Street. + +"Stick close, sonny," muttered the lineman, "we must push through +these fellows before they reco'nize us." + +He stooped as he spoke and picked up a piece of hickory--the broken +handle of a spike-maul. "Railroad property anyway," he muttered. "It +might come handy. But gum shoes for us now till we are forced. Perhaps +we can sneak all the way through." + +Without further ado Dancing, with Bucks on his heels, elbowed his way +into the crowd. The outer fringe of this he knew was not dangerous, +being made up chiefly of onlookers. But in another minute the two were +in the midst of a yelling, swaying mix-up between the aggressive mob +and a thin fringe of vigilantes, who, hard-pressed, had abandoned the +jail to its fate and were trying to fight their way down town. + +Dancing, like a war-horse made suddenly mad by smoke of battle, +throwing caution and strategy to the winds, suddenly released a yell +and began to lay about him. His appearance in the fray was like that +of a bombshell timed to explode in its midst. The slugging gamblers +turned in astonishment on the new fighting man, but they were not +long left in doubt as to which cause he espoused. In the next instant +they were actively dodging his flashing club, and the vigilantes +encouraged as if by an angel fought with fresh vigor. + +Bucks was stunned by the suddenness of Bill's change of tactics. It +was evident that he had completely forgotten his mission and now meant +to enjoy himself in the unequal fray that he had burst in upon. The +vigilantes cried a welcome to their new ally. But one cry rose above +every other and that was from Dancing's own throat as he laid about +with his club. + +Consternation seized the rioters and they were thrown for a moment +into confusion. They then recognized Dancing and a shout went up. + +"Railroad men!" cried a dozen of the mob at once. + +And above these cries came one wheezing but stentorian voice: "You've +got 'em now; finish 'em!" + +Bucks knew that voice. It was Rebstock. + +The crowd took up the cry, but the lineman, swinging right and left +with terrific strength and swiftness, opened a way ahead of him while +Bucks kept close by till Dancing had cut through to the vigilantes. +Then, turning with them as they raised their own cry of triumph, +Dancing helped to drive the discomfited rioters back. + +It was only for a moment that the vigilantes held their advantage. +Outnumbering the little band, the rioters closed in on their flanks +and showered stones upon them. Bill Dancing was the centre of the +fight. A piece of rock laid open his scalp, but, though the mob was +sure of getting him, he fought like a whirlwind. They redoubled their +efforts to bring him down. One active rioter with the seam of some +other fight slashed across his forehead struck down a vigilante and +ran in on Dancing. It was Seagrue. The lineman, warned by Bucks, +turned too late to escape a blow on the head that would have dazed a +bullock. But Dancing realized the instant he received the blow that +Seagrue had delivered it. + +He whirled like a wounded bear and sprang at Seagrue, taking upon his +shoulder a second blow hardly less terrific than the first. Before +Seagrue could strike again, Dancing was upon him. Tearing at each +other's throats the two men struggled, each trying to free his right +arm. Seagrue was borne steadily backward. Then the lineman's big arm +shot upward and down like a trip-hammer and Seagrue sunk limp to the +ground. + +The vigilantes themselves, profiting by the momentary diversion, got +away. Bucks had seen the peril of being separated from their friends, +but he was powerless to avert it. As Dancing struck Seagrue down, his +enemies closed in behind the moving vigilantes. Bucks fought his way +to the lineman's side and in another instant the two were beset. +Dancing, hard-pressed, made a dash to break through the circle to +liberty. Half a dozen men sprang at him, and trampling Bucks +completely under foot aimed their blows at his defender. + +Dancing saw Bucks fall and, clubbing his way to his side, caught Bucks +from the ground by the coat collar, and dragging him with his left +hand, swung with his right hand his deadly club. Nothing less would +have saved them. The fight, moving every instant after Dancing, +reached the broad wooden steps leading from the jail yard to the +street. Down these the lineman, stubborn and bleeding, drove a +desperate way. And Bucks, able again to handle himself, was putting up +a good fight when, to his horror, Dancing, fighting down the flight of +steps, stumbled and fell. + +Half a dozen men, with a yell, jumped for him. Bucks thought the +finish had come. He sprang into the fight and, armed only with a wagon +spoke, cracked right and left wherever he could reach a head. Dancing +he had given over for dead, when to his astonishment the lineman rose +out of the heap about him, shaking off his enemies like rats. + +Flames shooting up from the burning jail lighted the scene. Dancing, +bare-headed, and with only a part of his shirt hanging in ribbons from +his left arm, his hair matted in blood across his forehead and his +eyes blazing, was a formidable sight. He had lost his club but he was +at no loss for a weapon. It was said of Bill Dancing in later days +that he could lift a thirty-foot steel rail. Bucks saw him now catch +up a man scrambling in front of him and swing him by the legs like a +battering ram. With this victim, he mowed down men like corks, and, +flinging the man at last bodily into the faces of his friends, he +started like a deer up Cliff Street with Bucks at his heels. + +Sure that they now had him, the rioters followed in a swarm. Cliff +Street, only a block long and only half-opened, terminated then at the +cliffs above the gorge of the Medicine River. But darkness under the +brow of the hill helped the fleeing railroad men. Dancing dodged in +and out of the undergrowth that fringed the street line and eluding +his pursuers reached the brow of the cliff unseen. The rioters, +knowing that no escape lay in that direction, beat the bushes that +fringed the half-opened street, confident that the fugitives were in +hiding among them. + +For an ordinary man, indeed, there was no escape toward the river. A +wall of rock fell a hundred feet to the water's edge. The crowd, +growing every moment as the word passed that Dancing was whipped, +left the hunted man and his companion little time for decision. +Dancing, in truth, needed but little. His purpose was fixed the +instant he saw himself cut off from every other chance. He halted only +on the brink of the precipice itself. Catching Bucks's arm, he told +him hurriedly what they must do and cautioned him. "It's the last +chance, sonny," he murmured, as his iron fingers gripped the boy's +arm. "We can make it--if you do exactly as I tell you." + +The gathering cries closed in behind them while they were taking off +their shoes. Creeping on his hands and knees along the brow of the +cliff, Dancing felt out his location with his fingers. And with that +sixth sense of instinct which rises to a faculty when dangers thicken +about a resolute man, the lineman found what he sought. + +He caught at the root of a rock-bound cedar, swung himself over the +cliff, and called to Bucks to follow. Bucks acted wholly on faith. The +blackness below was impenetrable, and perhaps better so, since he +could not see what he was undertaking. Only the roar of the river +came up from the depths. It sounded a little ominous as Bucks, +grasping the cedar root, swung over and after an agonizing instant +felt a support for his feet. He stood on a ledge of rock so narrow +that it gave only a footing even in daylight, but Bucks was called on +to descend it in the middle of the night. + +For any man to have attempted the feat seemed to him, the next +morning, sheer insanity. Dancing, however, knew the treacherous face +of the river wall. To his gigantic size and strength he united the +sureness of a cat in climbing up or down a mountain arete. Often he +had crept with a telegraph wire, unaided, where his best men hung back +even in harness. There was, in fact, no time now for halting. The +rioters, eager on the trail, were calling for torches, and, if +discovered before they reached the water, the lives of the two men +would be snuffed out by dropping rocks on their heads. + +Flattening himself as he had been bidden to do and with his cheek laid +to the face of the sheer rock, clasping from time to time with his +outstretched left hand such slight uneven surfaces as he could feel, +Bucks moved to the right after Dancing, who gripped his extended right +hand and led him foot by foot down the perilous way. Not a word was +spoken, hardly a breath drawn, as the lineman felt for his slippery +foothold with the deftness of a gorilla, and, pressing Bucks's hand as +the signal to take a follow step, he made a slow but steady descent. + +The roar of the river already sounded in Bucks's ears like a cataract, +but the shock of extreme danger had numbed his apprehension. Chips of +the sharp granite cut his feet like knives, and he knew that the +sticky feeling upon his bare soles was blood oozing through the broken +skin. He had already given up expectation of ever leaving the gorge +alive and merely responded to his companion's will. The one thought +that came to his mind was curiosity as to what Dancing ever expected +to do if they reached the bottom without accident. + +Suddenly above the roar of the river he heard the muffled crack of +fire-arms coming as if out of another world. He wondered whether they +themselves were already being fired at, but experienced nothing more +than curiosity in the thought. Only the pressure of the big hand that +gripped his own impressed itself powerfully upon his consciousness, +and at each squeeze he put his foot forward mechanically, intent on a +dull resolve to obey orders. + +He presently felt a new signal from the long fingers that wound around +his own. He tried to answer by stepping, but Dancing whose face was +turned away, restrained him. Then it flashed on Bucks that the lineman +was signalling Morse to him, and that the dot-and-dash squeezes meant: +"Half-way down. Half-way down." + +Bucks answered with one word: "Hurrah!" But he squeezed it along the +nerves and muscles like lightning. + +He could hear the labored breathing of his companion as he strained at +intervals every particle of his strength to reach a new footing of +safety. Every vine and scrubby bush down the cliff wall was tested for +its strength and root, and Dancing held Bucks's hand so that he could +instantly release it if he himself should plunge to death. + +Bucks had already been told that if this happened he must hang as long +as he could without moving and if he could hold on till daylight he +would be rescued by railroad men. All this was going through his head +when, responding to a signal to step down, and, unable to catch some +word that Dancing whispered, he stretched his leg so far that he lost +his balance. He struggled to recover. Dancing called again sharply to +him, but he was too wrought up to understand. Dizziness seized him, +and resigning himself, with an exclamation, to death, he felt himself +dropping into space. + +In the next instant he was caught in Dancing's arms: + +"Gosh darn it, why didn't you jump, as I told you?" exclaimed the +lineman, setting him up on his feet. "You pretty near clean upset us +both." + +"Where are we, Bill?" muttered Bucks, swallowing his shock. + +"Right here at the water, and them fellows up there beating the bush +for us. There's shooting down town, too. Some new deviltry. How good a +swimmer are you, Bucks? By gum, I forgot to ask you before you +started." + +"I can swim better than I can climb, Bill." + +"We've only a quarter of a mile and downstream at that. And the +current here would float a keg of nails." + +"How about rocks, Bill?" asked Bucks, peering dubiously toward the +roar of the rushing river. + +"All up-stream from here," returned Dancing, edging down the shelving +table toward the water. "Lock arms with me so I don't lose you, sonny. +What in Sam Hill is that?" + +Far down the river the two saw a tongue of flame leaping into the sky. +They watched it for a moment. Dancing was the first to locate the +conflagration, which grew now, even as they looked, by leaps and +bounds. The two stood ready to plunge into the river when a fire of +musketry echoed up the gorge. The lineman clutched Bucks's arm. + +"There's fighting going on down there now. What's that smokestack? By +Jing, the roundhouse is on fire!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + + +They plunged together into the river. The water, icy cold, was a +shock, but Dancing had made no mistake. They were below the rocks and +needed only to steady themselves as the resistless current swept them +down toward the railroad yards. + +Bucks demonstrated that he could swim and the two seemed hardly in the +water before they could fully see the burning roundhouse. A moment +later, chilled to the bone but with his mind cleared by the sharp +plunge, Bucks felt his companion's arm drawing him toward the farther +shore where, in the slack water of an elbow of the stream, Dancing led +the way across a shoal of gravel and Bucks waded after him up the +riverbank. + +They hastened together across the dark railroad yard. The sound of +firing came again from the square in front of the railroad station +and thither they directed their fleeing feet. To the right they heard +the shouts of the men who were fighting the fire at the roundhouse and +the hot crackling of the flames. They reached the station together and +entered the waiting-room by a rear door. + +Men were running everywhere in and out of the building and the +waiting-room was barricaded for war. Bill Dancing caught a passing +trainman by the arm. + +"What's going on here?" + +The man looked at the lineman and his companion in surprise: "The +gamblers are driving the vigilantes, Bill. They've got all Front +Street. What's the matter with you?" + +Dancing caught sight of Bob Scott coming down the rear stairway with +an armful of rifles, and, without answering the question, called to +him. + +"Hello!" exclaimed Scott halting. He started as he saw Bucks. "Were +_you_ with him? And I've been scouring the town for you! Stanley will +have a word to say to you, youngster. They thought the gamblers had +you, Bill," he added, turning to the lineman. + +Dancing, a sight from the pounding he had taken, his clothing in +tatters, and with the blood-stains now streaked by the water dripping +from his hair, drew himself up. "I hope you didn't think so, Bob? Did +they reckon a handful of blacklegs would get me?" + +Scott grinned inscrutably. "They've got the best part of your shirt, +Bill. How did you get off?" + +"Swam for it," muttered Dancing, shaking himself. "Where's Stanley?" + +"Out behind the flat cars. He is arming the vigilantes. We've fenced +off the yards with loaded freight-cars. They've fired the roundhouse +on us, but the rifles and ammunition that came to-night are upstairs +here. Take some of these guns, Bill, and hand them around in front. +Bucks can follow you with a box of ammunition." + +Scott spoke hurriedly and ran out of the door facing Front Street +Square. A string of flat cars had been run along the house-track in +front of the station, and behind these the hard-pressed vigilantes, +reinforced now by the railroad men, were taking up a new line of +defence. Driven through the town in a running battle, they were in +straits when they reached Stanley's barricade. + +Following a resolve already well defined, the railroad chief conferred +with the vigilante leaders for a brief moment. He called them to his +office and denounced the folly of half-way measures. + +"You see," said Stanley, pointing to two dead men whom the discomfited +business men had brought off with them, "what temporizing has done. +There is only one way to treat with these people." He was interrupted +by firing from across the square. "In an hour they will have every +store in Front Street looted." + +The deliberation for a few moments was a stormy one, but Stanley held +his ground. "Desperate diseases, gentlemen," he said, addressing +Atkinson and his companions, "require desperate remedies, and you must +sometime come to what I propose." + +"What you propose," returned Atkinson gloomily, "will ruin us." + +Stanley answered with composure: "You are ruined now. What you should +consider is whether, if you don't cut this cancer of gambling, +outlawry, and murder out while you have a chance, it won't remain to +plague you as long as you do business in Medicine Bend, and remain to +ruin you periodically. This is always going to be a town and a big +one. As long as this railroad is operated, this ground where we stand +is and must be the chief operating point for the whole mountain +division. You and I may be wiped out of existence and the railroad +will go on as before. But it is for you to accept or reject what I +propose as the riddance of this curse to your community. + +"The railroad has been drawn into this fight by assault upon its men. +It can meet violence with violence and protect itself, or it can +temporarily abandon a town where protection is not afforded its lives +and property. In an emergency, trains could be run through Medicine +Bend without stopping. The right of way could be manned with +soldiers. But the railroad can't supply men enough to preserve in your +town the law and order which you yourselves ought to preserve. And if +we were compelled to build division facilities, temporarily, +elsewhere, while they would ultimately come back here, it might be +years before they did so. What else but your ruin would this mean?" + +He had hardly ceased speaking when the conference was broken in upon. +Bob Scott ushered in two men sent under a flag of truce from the +rioters. The offer they brought was that Rebstock and Seagrue should +be surrendered, provided Stanley would give his personal pledge that +the two should not be shot but sent out of town until peace was +restored, and that they should be accorded a fair trial when brought +back. + +Stanley listened carefully to all that was said: + +"Who sent you?" he demanded. + +"The committee up street," returned the envoys evasively. + +"You mean Levake sent you," retorted Stanley. He sat at his desk and +eyed the two ruffians, as they faced him somewhat nervously. They at +length admitted that they had come from Levake, and gave Stanley his +chance for an answer. + +"Tell Levake for me there will be no peace for him or his until he +comes down here with his hands behind his back. When I want Rebstock +and Seagrue I will let him know. I want him first," said Stanley, +dismissing the messengers without more ado. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + + +He had resolved that Levake was to be punished, but it was not a +unanimous voice that backed the railroad leader in his determination. +Weak-kneed men in the conference wanted to compromise and end the +fight where it stood. Even Atkinson was disposed to make terms, as the +party returned to the barricade. + +"No," repeated Stanley. "Levake is the head and front of this whole +disorder. As long as he can shoot down unarmed men in the streets of +Medicine Bend there will be no law and order here. While men see him +walking these streets unpunished they will take their cue from him and +rob and shoot whom they please--Levake and his ilk must go. A +railroad, on the start, brings a lawless element with it--this is +true. But it also brings law and order and that element has come to +Medicine Bend to stay. If the machinery of the law is too weak to +support it, so much worse for the machinery. I don't want to see +blood shed or property destroyed, but the responsibility for this +rests with the outlaws that are terrorizing this town. And I will +spend every ounce of ammunition I have and fight them to the last man, +rather than compromise with a bunch of cutthroats. + +"If any man here feels differently about this, he may step out of the +barricade now," continued Stanley, addressing those of the townsmen +that listened. "There will be no hard feeling. But this is the time to +do it. Worse is ahead of us before we can clean the town up as it will +have to be cleaned sometime. The longer you leave the job undone, the +harder it will be when you tackle it." + +A movement across the square interrupted his words, and a messenger +waving a white handkerchief came over to the barricade to ask for a +surgeon for a wounded man. There were some who opposed sending any +relief to men that had forfeited all claim to humane consideration. +Doctor Arnold, however, was summoned, and Stanley finally determined +that the matter should be left to the surgeon himself--he could go if +he wished. Arnold did not hesitate in his decision. "It is my duty to +go," he decided briefly. + +"I don't quite see that," muttered Atkinson. + +The white-haired surgeon turned to the leader of the vigilantes. "It +is not a matter of personal inclination, Atkinson. When I took my +degree for the practice of medicine, I took an oath to respond to +every call of suffering and I have no right to refuse this one." + +Leaving his own injured with his assistant, the surgeon told the +messenger to proceed and the two walked across the square and up Front +Street to the Three Horses. Arriving there, Arnold was asked to dress +the wound of a man that had been shot through the breast in the fight +along Fort Street. While he was working over his patient, who lay on a +table surrounded by a motley crowd of onlookers, Levake walked in. He +nodded to the surgeon and drawing a pocket knife, while Arnold was +cleansing the wound, sat down beside him to whittle a stick. + +"I hear your man, Stanley, wants me," began Levake after an interval. + +"I guess you hear right," returned Arnold dryly. + +"Tell him for me to come get me, will you?" suggested Levake. + +"If he ever comes after you, Levake, he will get you," returned +Arnold, looking the outlaw straight in the eye. "There isn't any doubt +about that," he added, resuming his task. + +Levake whittled but made no reply. He watched the surgeon's work +closely, and when Arnold had finished and given directions for the +wounded man's care he walked out of the place with him. + +"Tell Stanley what I said, will you?" repeated Levake, as the railroad +surgeon left the door and started down street. + +Arnold made no answer and Levake, taunting him to send all the men the +railroad had after him, followed Arnold toward the square. + +The surgeon understood that it was Levake's purpose to engage him in a +dispute and kill him if he could. Arnold, moreover, was hot-tempered +and made no concealment of his feelings toward any man. For this +reason, despite his realization of danger, he was an easy prey. + +To the final taunt of the outlaw the surgeon made rather a sharp +answer and quickened his pace, to walk away from his unpleasant +companion. But Levake would not be shaken off, and as the two were +passing a deserted restaurant he ordered the surgeon to halt. Arnold +turned without shrinking. Levake had already drawn his pistol and his +victim concluded he was to be killed then and there, but he resolved +to tell the outlaw what he thought of him. + +"I understand your game perfectly, Levake," he said after he had raked +him terrifically. "Now, if you are going to shoot, do it. You haven't +long to live yourself--make sure of that." + +"No man can threaten me and live," retorted Levake harshly. + +"I came up here, an unarmed man, on an errand of mercy." + +"I didn't send for you." + +"You would kill me just as quick if you had, Levake. What are you +hesitating about? If you are going to shoot, shoot." + +Throwing back his right arm, and fingering the trigger of his revolver +as a panther lashes his tail before springing, Levake stepped back and +to one side. As he did so, with the fearless surgeon still facing him, +a man stepped from behind the screen door of the deserted restaurant. +It was Bob Scott. + +The old and deadly feud between the Indian and the outlaw brought them +now, for the first time in months, face to face. In spite of his iron +nerve Levake started. Scott, slightly stooped and wearing the familiar +slouch hat and shabby coat in which he was always seen, regarded his +enemy with a smile. + +So sudden was his appearance that Levake could not for an instant +control himself. If there was a man in the whole mountain country that +Levake could be said to be afraid of, it was the mild-mannered, +mild-spoken Indian scout. Where Scott had come from, how he had got +through the pickets posted by Levake himself--these questions, for +which he could find no answer, disquieted the murderer. + +Arnold, reprieved from death as by a miracle, stood like a statue. +Levake, with his hand on his pistol, had halted, petrified, at the +sight of Scott. + +The latter, eying the murderer with an expression that might have been +mistaken for friendly, had not Levake known there could be no +friendship among decent men for him, broke the silence: "Levake, I +have a warrant for you." + +The words seemed to shake the spell from the outlaw's nerves. He +answered with his usual coolness: "You've waited a good while to serve +it." + +"I've been a little busy for a few days, Levake," returned Scott, with +the same even tone. "I kind of lost track of you." But his words again +disconcerted Levake. The few men who now watched the scene and knew +what was coming stood breathless. + +Levake, moistening his dry lips, spoke carefully: "I don't want any +trouble with you here," he said. "When this town fight is over, bring +your warrant around and I'll talk to you." + +"No," returned Scott, undisturbed, "I might lose track of you again. +You can come right along with me, Levake." + +With incredible quickness the outlaw, half-turning to cover Scott, +fired. The cat-like agility of the Indian answered the move in the +instant it was made. Scott was, in fact, the first scout from whom +mountain men learned to fire a revolver without aiming it and it was +not without reason that Levake sought no encounter with him. For Scott +to draw and fire was but one movement, and hating Levake as a monster, +the Indian had long been ready to meet him as he met him now, when he +should be forced to face him fairly. + +A fusillade of shots rang down the street. The air between the two +men, feinting like boxers in their deadly duel, filled with whitish +smoke. Arnold, stunned by the suddenness of the encounter, jumped out +of range. In the next moment he saw Levake sink to the sidewalk. +Scott, springing upon him like a cat, knelt with one hand already on +his throat; with the other he wrung a second revolver from Levake's +hand. The surgeon ran to the two men. + +Levake, panting, lay desperately wounded, as Scott slowly released his +grip upon him. The Indian rose as the surgeon approached, but Levake, +his eyes wide open, lay still. + +"You are wounded, Bob," cried Arnold, tearing the stained sleeve of +Scott's coat from his shoulder. The scout shook his head. + +"We're in danger here," he replied, glancing hurriedly up the street. +"We must get this fellow away." + +The two picked the wounded man from the ground and started quickly +down street with him. The shooting, now so frequent all over the town, +had attracted little attention outside the few that had witnessed the +swift duel, and the two railroad men made good progress with their +burden before the alarm was spread. But the surgeon saw that the +strain was telling on Scott, whose shoulder was bleeding freely. He +had even ordered his companion to drop his burden and run, when he +heard a shout and saw Bill Dancing running across from the barricade +to their aid. + +[Illustration: FOR SCOTT TO DRAW AND FIRE WAS BUT ONE MOVEMENT.] + +Half a dozen of the rioters, shouting threats and imprecations, were +hastening down Front Street after Levake and his captors to rescue +their prisoner. Scott, reloading his revolver as Dancing relieved him +of his end of the burden, stood free to cover the retreat. He fired a +warning shot at the nearest of their pursuers. A scattering pistol +fire at long range followed. But the railroad men crossed the square +in safety, and the big lineman, with Levake in his arms, carried him +single-handed into the barricade. + +The surgeon and Bob Scott followed close. Bucks was first to meet the +wounded scout, and the railroad men, jubilant at Levake's capture, ran +to Scott and bore him down with rough welcome. Levake was laid upon a +bench in the station and Scott followed to his side. Arnold, joining +the scout, made ready to dress the wound in his shoulder. + +"See to Levake first, doctor," said Scott, "he needs it the most." + +As he spoke, Dancing hurried into the room. "Bob, the car shops are on +fire." + +Scott ran to the east window. It was true. The rioters, supplied with +oil and torches, had made their way in the darkness through +Callahan's picket line near the river and set fire to the shops. + +Stanley was eating a hasty supper in the despatchers' office. + +Within a few minutes the blaze could be seen from all the east windows +of the station. Almost at the same moment, through the north windows +fire was seen breaking out in one of the big stores in Front Street. +As Stanley rose from his midnight meal, Atkinson ran in with word that +a band of rioters, well armed, had attacked a train of boarding-cars +defended by the roundhouse men. + +The sky, bright again with the flame of conflagration, made a huge +dome of red, lighting the railroad yards across which men were now +hurrying to make fresh dispositions for the emergency. + +The vigilante leaders saw impending, in the Front Street fire, the +ruin of their business property. There were no longer men enough +left to fight the flames and guard the fire-fighters. A point had +been reached in which life and property were no longer taken into +account, and efforts to restore law and order were facing complete +failure. It was then that the most radical of all measures, the +last resort of organized society in its resolve to defend itself, +was discussed. The vigilantes, as well as the railroad men, now +realized that but one measure remained for saving Medicine Bend and +that was the extermination of the outlaws themselves. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + + +The men in the barricade were lined up for orders. Ammunition was +passed and volunteers were called to form a charging party. The +vigilantes formed in the glare of the burning shops. + +From the head-quarters of the rioters in Front Street came scattering +shots and cries as a huge volume of sparks shot up into the black sky. +Ten men under Hawk and ten under Dancing made the supporting party for +the vigilantes, who asked only that a line of retreat be kept +open. This Stanley had undertaken to provide. Atkinson, making a +wide detour back of the station, led his men down the railroad +tracks and, reaching a point where concealment was no longer +possible, double-quicked up Fort Street and charged with his party +across the little park. + +They had already been seen. A line of men, posted behind the places +that line Front Street at that point, opened fire. It was the worst +possible answer to make to men in the temper of the scattered line +that swept up the street in the glare of the burning buildings. +Wounded men dropped out of the charge, but those that went on carried +with them a more implacable determination. Re-forming their line under +cover of the cedars at the corner of Fort Street, they directed an +effective fire into the dance halls adjoining, and the rioters hiding +within scurried from them like rats. + +But the vigilantes were intent first of all on capturing and burning +the hall known as the Three Horses, and the rioters rallied to its +defence. As the place was assailed, the doors were barred and a sharp +fire was poured through the windows. The assailants were driven back. +Bill Dancing, heated and stubborn, refused to retreat and, picking up +a sledge dropped by a fleeing vigilante, attacked the barred doors +single-handed. + +The street, swept by the bullets of the fray, rang with the splitting +blows of the heavy hammer, as the lineman, his long hair flying from +his forehead, swung at the thick panels. Within, the gamblers tried to +shoot him from the windows, but he stood close and his friends kept +up a constant supporting fire that drove the defenders back. + +From above they hurled chairs and tables down on Dancing, but his head +seemed furniture-proof, and scorning to waste time in dodging he +hammered away, undaunted, until he splintered the panels and the stout +lock-stiles gave. The vigilantes, running up, tore through the door +chains with crowbars and rushed the building. + +The fight in the big room lasted only a moment. The rioters crowded +toward the rear and escaped as best they could. Vigilantes with +torches made short work of the rest of it. Dancing stove in a cask of +alcohol, and as the attacking party ran out of the front door a torch +was flung back into the spreading pool. + +A great burst of fire lighted the street. The next moment the long +building was in flames. + +Emboldened by this success and driving the outlaws from their further +retreats, the vigilantes fired one after another of the gaudy places +that lined the upper street. Met by close shooting at every turn, the +rioters were driven up the hill and fighting desperately were pursued +to cover by men now as savage as themselves. The scattered clashes +were brief and deadly. The whole upper town was on fire. Men fleeing +for their lives skulked in the shadows of the side streets and the +constant scattering report of fire-arms added to the terrors of the +night. + +Hour after hour the conflagration raged and day broke at last on the +smoking ruins of the town of Medicine Bend. The work of the +vigilantes had been mercilessly thorough. Along the railroad track +stiffened bodies hanging from the cross-bars of telegraph poles in +the gloom of the breaking day told a ghastly story of justice +summarily administered to the worst of the offenders. In the gloom +of the smoking streets stragglers roamed unmolested among the +ruins; for of the outlaws, killed or hunted out of the town, none +were now left to oppose the free passage of any one from end to end of +Medicine Bend. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + + +The victory was dear, but none murmured at its cost. Medicine Bend for +once had been purged of its parasites. + +At the railroad head-quarters Stanley, before daylight, was directing +the resumption of operations so interrupted by the three days of +anarchism on the mountain division. New men were added every hour to +the pay-roll, and the smaller tradesmen of the town, ruined by the +riots, were given positions to keep them until the town could be +rebuilt. + +The pressure on the operating department increased twofold with the +resumption of traffic. Winter was now upon the mountains, but +construction could not be stopped for winter. The enormous prizes for +extending the line through the Rockies to meet the rival railroad +heading east from California, spurred the builders to every effort to +lengthen their mileage, and something unheard of was attempted, +namely, mountain railroad-building in midwinter. + +Levake, the leader among the mountain outlaws, was nursed back to life +by the surgeon he had so nearly murdered. But his respite was a brief +one. When new officers of the law were elected in Medicine Bend, the +murderer was tried for one of his many crimes and paid on the scaffold +the penalty of his cold-blooded cruelty. Rebstock, the fox, and his +companion Seagrue escaped the exterminating raid of the vigilantes but +fought shy of Medicine Bend for long afterward. + +A few days after the riots Stanley sent for Bucks, who was holding a +key among the operators downstairs, to come to his office. + +"How long have you been a telegraph operator, Bucks?" he asked. + +Bucks laughed in some embarrassment. "Since I was about twelve years +old, sir." + +"Twelve years old!" echoed Stanley in amazement. "Where did you learn +to telegraph at twelve?" + +Bucks hesitated again. "I never learned, sir!" + +"What do you mean?" + +"I used to sit in the telegraph office of the road when my uncle +was superintendent, and I got used to hearing the sound of the +instruments. I just woke up one morning and found I could telegraph. +I couldn't the night before. That's the only way I ever learned, +sir." + +Stanley regarded the boy with interest. "How old are you now?" + +"Seventeen." + +"Very well. When you went to bed last night you were not a train +despatcher: this morning you are." Bucks started. "If any one ever +asks you," continued Stanley dryly, "how you learned to be a train +despatcher, tell them just that." + +"I don't want you to think you are old enough to be a despatcher," +continued Stanley, as Bucks stammered his thanks, "for you are not. +And I don't want you to think I like to make you one. I don't. Neither +for your sake nor mine. I don't like to impose the responsibilities of +a man on a boy. But I can't help it. We haven't the men, and we can't +get them--and we must all, men and boys, pull together and just do +the best we can--do you understand?" + +"I understand everything, Colonel Stanley." + +"I need not say much about what is before you. You have been sending +despatchers' orders for years yourself. You know how many lives are +held every minute in the despatchers' hand. Don't overrate your +responsibility and grow nervous over it; and don't ever underestimate +it. As long as you keep yourself fit for your work, and do the best +you can, you may sleep with a clear conscience. Report to Mr. Baxter. +Remember you are working with green trainmen and don't expect too much +of them." + +When Bucks signed a transfer and took his train-sheet that night at +twelve o'clock, his chief anxiety was to keep the material trains +going to Casement and everything eastbound was laid out in an effort +to send the ties and rails west. Bucks set himself to keep pace with +the good work done by the despatcher in the evening trick and for two +hours kept his sheet pretty clean. + +A heavy train of rails which he had been helping all the way west +after midnight was then at Castle Springs, and Bucks gave its crew an +order to meet the eastbound passenger train at Point of Rocks. It was +three o'clock when a message came from the operator at Point of Rocks, +saying the rail train had passed westbound. Bucks seized a key and +silencing the wires asked for the passenger train. Nothing had been +seen of it. He called up Bitter Creek, the first telegraph point west +of Point of Rocks with an order to hold the passenger train. But the +train had already gone. + +The new dispatcher sprang up from the table frantic. Then, racing +again to the key, he made the operator at Castle Springs repeat the +order and assure him it had been delivered. Of this there could be no +question. The freight crew had ignored or forgotten it, and were now +past Point of Rocks running head-on against the passenger train. If +the heavens had fallen the situation would have seemed better to +Bucks. A head-on collision on the first night of his promotion meant, +he felt, his ruin. As he sat overwhelmed with despair, trying to +collect his wits and to determine what to do, the door opened and Bob +Scott appeared. + +The scout, with his unfailing and kindly smile, advanced and held out +his hand. "Just dropped in to extend my congratulations." + +Bucks looked at him in horror, his face rigid and his eyes set. Scott +paused and regarded his aspect with surprise. "Something has +happened," he said, waiting for the despatcher to speak. + +"Bob!" exclaimed the boy in desperation, "No. 9 has run past her +meeting order at Point of Rocks with No. 2. They will meet head-on and +kill everybody. My God! what can I do?" + +In the dim light of the shaded oil lamp, Bucks, looking at the scout, +stood the picture of despair. Scott picked up the poker and began to +stir the fire and asked only a few questions and said little. However, +when Bucks told him he was going to wake Stanley, whose sleeping-room +adjoined his office at the end of the hall, Scott counselled no. + +"He could do nothing," said Scott reflecting. "Let us wait a while +before we do anything like that," he added, coupling himself with the +despatcher in the latter's overwhelming anxiety. "The first news of +the collision will come from Bitter Creek. It will be time enough then +to call Stanley. Give your orders for a wrecking crew, get a train +ready, and get word to Doctor Arnold to go with it." + +Bucks, steadying himself under the kindly common-sense of his older +friend, followed each suggestion promptly. Scott, who ordinarily would +himself have been running around on the job, made no move to leave the +room, thinking he could be of more service in remaining with the +unfortunate despatcher. The yard became a scene of instant activity. +And although no organization to meet emergencies of this kind had been +as yet effected on the new division, the men responded intelligently +and promptly with the necessary arrangements. + +Everyone summoned tried to get into the dispatchers' room to hear the +story repeated. Scott took it upon himself to prevent this, and +standing in the anteroom made all explanations himself. He rejoined +Bucks after getting rid of the crowd, and the moment the relief train +reported ready the despatcher sent it out, that help might reach the +scene of disaster at the earliest possible moment. Bucks, calmed +somewhat but suffering intensely, paced the floor or threw himself +into his chair, while Scott picked up the despatcher's old copy of +"The Last of the Mohicans," and smoking silently sat immovable, +waiting with his customary stoicism for the call that should announce +the dreaded wreck. + +The moments loaded with anxiety went with leaden feet while the two +men sat. It seemed as if the first hour never would pass. Then the +long silence of the little receiver was broken by a call for the +dispatcher. Bucks sprang to answer it. + +Scott watched his face as he sent his "Ay, ay." Without understanding +what the instruments clicked, he read the expressions that followed +one after the other across Bucks's countenance, as he would have read +a desert trail. He noted the perplexity on the despatcher's face when +the latter tried to get the sender of the call. + +"Some one is cutting in on the line," exclaimed Bucks, mystified, as +the sounder clicked. "Bob, it is Bill Dancing." + +A pause followed. "What can it mean, his sending a message to me? He +is between Bitter Creek and Castle Springs. Wait a moment!" + +The receiver clicked sharp and fast. Scarcely able to control his +voice in his anxiety, Bucks turned to the now excited scout: "The +trains met between Bitter Creek and Castle Springs. There was no +collision!" + +Almost collapsing with the passing of the strain, Bucks faltered in +his taking. Asking Dancing again for the story, Bucks took it more +coolly and repeated it to his eager listener, as it came. + +"Dancing was out with two men on the line to-day, repairing between +Bitter Creek and Castle Springs. He didn't get done and camped beside +the track for the night, to finish in the morning." + +"Go on," exclaimed Scott. + +"They shot a jack-rabbit----" + +"Hang the jack-rabbit," cried Scott. "What about the trains?" + +"You can't hurry Bill Dancing, Bob," pleaded Bucks. "You know that. +Faster, Bill, faster," he telegraphed urgently. + +"You will get it faster," returned the distant lineman far out in the +mountains under the stars, as he talked calmly with the despatcher, +"if you will go slower." + +Bucks strangled his impatience. Dancing resumed, and the despatcher +again translated for Scott. + +"They cooked the jack-rabbit for supper----" + +Scott flung his book violently across the room. "It tasted good," +continued Dancing exasperatingly. "But the night was awfully cold, so +they built a big camp-fire near the curve. The freight engineer saw +the fire and thought it was a locomotive head-light. Then he +remembered he had run past his meeting point. He stopped his train to +find out what the fire was. When he told Bill what had happened they +grabbed up the burning logs, carried them down the track, and built a +signal fire for No. 2. And it came along inside five minutes----" + +"And there they are!" concluded Bucks, wiping the dampness from his +forehead. + +The receiver continued to click. "Bill thought I would be worried and +he cut in on the line right away to tell me what had happened." + +"Now give your orders to No. 2 to back up to Castle Springs and let +the rail train get by. Recall your relief train," added Scott. "And +bring that freight engineer in here in the morning and let Stanley +talk to him for just about five minutes." The key rattled for a +moment. Scott, going to the farthest corner of the room, picked up +"The Last of the Mohicans." "Bucks," he murmured insinuatingly, as he +sat down to look into the book again, "I want to ask you now, once for +all, whether this is a true story?" + +"Bob, put that book where it belongs and stop talking about it." + +Scott hitched one shoulder a bit and returned to the fire, but he was +not silenced. + +"That reminds me, Bucks," he resumed after a pause, "there is another +friend of yours here at the door, waiting to congratulate you. Shall +I let him in?" + +"I don't want any congratulations, Bob." + +"I'll promise he doesn't say a single word, Bucks." As he spoke, Scott +opened the hall door and whistled into the darkness. For an instant +there was no response. Then a small and vague object outlined itself +in the gloom, but halted questioningly on the threshold. Wagging his +abbreviated tail very gently and carrying his drooping ears very low, +Scuffy at length walked slowly into the room. Bucks hailed him with +delight, and Scuffy bounding forward crouched at his feet. + +"I can't do a thing with him over at the ranch," complained Scott, +eying the dog with a secret admiration. "He is eating the hounds up; +doesn't give them a chance to pick a bone even after he's done with +it." + +"I'm afraid there is nothing to do with Scuffy, but to make a +despatcher of him," returned Bucks, picking him up by the forepaws. "I +can see very plainly it's going to be a dog's life most of the time." + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Mountain Divide, by Frank H. 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