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diff --git a/30037-0.txt b/30037-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b469efc --- /dev/null +++ b/30037-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10543 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30037 *** + +IN THE SHADOW OF THE HILLS + + + + +BY THE SAME AUTHOR + +THE PRINCESS OF FORGE + +THE ISLE OF STRIFE + +THE INCORRIGIBLE DUKANE + +THE LADY OF MYSTERY HOUSE + +THE INVISIBLE ENEMY + +IN THE SHADOW OF THE HILLS + + + + +IN THE SHADOW OF THE HILLS + +BY + +GEORGE C. SHEDD + +AUTHOR OF + +"THE LADY OF MYSTERY HOUSE," ETC. + +NEW YORK + +THE MACAULAY COMPANY + + + + +Copyright, 1919, By THE MACAULAY COMPANY + +COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY THE FRANK A. MUNSEY CO. + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER PAGE + I IN A HOSTILE COUNTRY 11 + II A COMEDY--AND SOMETHING ELSE 23 + III THE ENEMY'S SPAWN 34 + IV A SECRET CONFERENCE 42 + V A SHOT IN THE DARK 53 + VI JANET HOSMER 64 + VII IN THE COIL 75 + VIII THE GATHERING STORM 83 + IX AN UNEXPECTED ALLY 91 + X BY RIGHT OF POSSESSION 99 + XI JANET AND MARY 107 + XII THE PLOT 116 + XIII THE CURRENT OF EVENTS 121 + XIV OLD SAUREZ' DEPOSITION 135 + XV THE MASK DROPPED 145 + XVI WEIR TAKES UP THE HUNT 158 + XVII EARTH'S RETRIBUTION 167 + XVIII IN THE NIGHT WATCHES 177 + XIX A QUEER PAPER 189 + XX ANXIETIES 197 + XXI THE WEAK LINK 209 + XXII AN OLD ADOBE HOUSE 219 + XXIII WITH FANGS BARED 226 + XXIV THE ALARM 238 + XXV NO QUARTER 248 + XXVI THE THUNDERBOLT 256 + XXVII WEIR STRIKES WHILE THE IRON IS HOT 261 + XXVIII VORSE 270 + XXIX THE FOURTH MAN 279 + XXX THE VICTOR 286 + XXXI A FINAL CHALLENGE 294 + XXXII THE RECLUSE 304 + XXXIII UNDER THE MOON 314 + + + + +IN THE SHADOW OF THE HILLS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +IN A HOSTILE COUNTRY + + +Eastward out of the Torquilla Range the Burntwood River emerged from a +gorge, flowing swift and turbulent during the spring months, shallow +and murmurous the rest of the year, to pass through a basin formed by +low mountains and break forth at last from a canyon and wind away over +the mesa. In the canyon was being erected the huge reservoir dam which +was in the future to store water for irrigating the broad acres +spreading from its base. + +The construction camp rested on one of the hillsides above the dam. +And here one summer afternoon a man stepped forth from the long low +tar-papered shack that served as headquarters, directing his gaze down +the road across the mesa at a departing automobile. He was Steele +Weir, the new chief, a tall, strong, tanned man of thirty-five, with +lean smooth-shaven face, a straight heavy nose, mouth that by habit +was set in grim lines, and heavy brows under which ruled cold, level, +insistent, gray eyes. He had come suddenly, unexpectedly, returning +with Magney, the engineer in charge, when the latter had been summoned +east for a conference with the company's directors. He had replaced +Magney, who was now whirling away to the nearest railway point, +Bowenville, thirty-five miles distant. + +He thoughtfully watched the car, a black spot in a haze of dust, +speeding towards the New Mexican town of San Mateo, on the Burntwood +River two miles below camp, its cluster of brown adobe houses showing +indistinctly through the cottonwoods that embowered the place. For +Magney he felt a certain amount of sympathy, for the engineer was +leaving with a recognition of defeat; he was a likeable man, as Steele +Weir had discovered during their brief acquaintance, a good +theoretical engineer, but lacking in the prime quality of a successful +chief--fighting spirit and an indomitable will. + +Under Magney the work of construction had been inaugurated the +previous summer, but progress had not been as rapid as desired; there +had been delays, labor difficulties, local opposition during the +months since; and Weir had been chosen to succeed Magney. In his +profession Weir had a reputation, built on relentless toil and sound +ideas and daring achievements--a reputation enhanced by a character of +mystery, for the man was unmarried, reserved, without intimates or +even friends, locking his lips about his life, and welcoming and +executing with grim indifference to risk engineering commissions of +extreme hazard, on which account he had acquired the soubriquet of +"Cold Steel" Weir. + +Who first bestowed upon Weir that name is not known. But it was not +misapplied. Cold steel he had proved himself to be a score of times in +critical moments when other men would have broken: in pushing bridges +over mountain chasms, in mine disasters, in strikes, in almost +hopeless fights against bandits in Mexico. And it was this ability to +handle difficulties that had brought about the decision of the +directors of the company to put him in charge, as the man best +qualified, at San Mateo, where the situation was unsatisfactory, +costly, baffling. + +Since his arrival a week before he had been consulting with Magney, +studying maps and blue-prints, examining the work and analyzing +general conditions. What had been accomplished had been well done; he +had no criticism to offer on that score. It was the delay; the work +was considerably behind schedule, which of course meant excessive +cost; and this had undermined the spirit of the enterprise. In a dozen +places, in a dozen ways, Magney, his predecessor, had been hampered, +checked, defeated--and the main contributing cause was poor workmen, +inefficient work. On that sore Weir's skillful finger fell at once. + +Standing there before the low office building he watched Magney +depart. He, Steele Weir, had now taken over full charge of the camp +and assumed full responsibility for the project's failure or success. +His eye passed beyond the distant automobile to the town of San +Mateo--a new town for him, but a town like many he had seen in the +southwest and in Mexico. And aside from its connection with the +construction work, it held a fascinating interest, a profound interest +for the man, the interest that any spot would which has at a distance +cast a black and sinister shadow over one's life. San Mateo--the name +lay like a smoldering coal in his breast! + +At length he turned and strode down the hillside to the dam site in +the canyon. The time had come to shut his hand about the work and let +his hold be felt. He located the superintendent directing the pouring +of concrete in the frames of the dam core, Atkinson, a man of fifty +with a stubby gray mustache, a wind-bitten face and a tall angular +frame. When Weir joined him he was observing with speculative eyes the +indolent movements of a group of Mexican laborers. + +"Those _hombres_ don't appear to be breaking any speed records, I +see," Weir remarked, quietly. + +"Humph," Atkinson grunted. + +"What do they think this is? A rest cure?" + +The superintendent's silence suddenly gave way. + +"I ought to land on 'em with an ax-handle and put the fear of God in +their lazy souls," he exclaimed, bitterly. + +"Well, do it." + +"What!" + +"Do it." + +"Say, am I hearing right?" Atkinson swung fully about to stare at the +new chief. Then he went on, "They'd quit to a man if made to do a +man's work; I supposed that Magney had told you that. A dozen times +I've been ready to throw up my job from self-respect; I'm ashamed to +boss work where men can loaf and I must keep my tongue between my +teeth. I was considering just now the matter of leaving." + +"No need, Atkinson. From this time these men will work or get their +dismissal." + +The other pushed his hat atilt and rubbed his head in surprise. + +"What about that 'company policy' of hiring nothing but local labor to +keep the community friendly which Magney was always kicking about?" he +asked. "That was what made him sorer than anything else, and beat him. +He said the directors had tied his hands by promising that no workmen +should be imported. If they promised that, they sure bunkoed +themselves. Friendly, huh." + +"The people haven't been friendly, eh?" Weir said. + +"Does it look like it when these Mexicans won't work enough to earn +their salt? They openly boast that we dare neither make them work +nor fire them. They say Sorenson and his bunch will pull every man off +the works if we lift a finger; and they all know about that fool +promise of the directors. Friendly? Just about as friendly as a +bunch of wildcats. This whole section, white men and Mexicans, are +putting a knife into this project whenever they can. Do you think they +want all that mesa fenced up and farmed? This is a range country; +they propose to keep it range; they don't want any more people +coming here--farmers, store-keepers, and white people generally." + +"That's always the case in a range country before it's opened up," +Weir said. "But they have to swallow the pill." + +"Let me tell you something; they don't intend to swallow it here. They +figure on keeping this county just as it is, for only themselves and +their cattle and woolies, and everybody else keep out. The few big +sheep and cattle men, white and Mex, have their minds made up to that, +and they're the only ones who count; all the rest are poor Mexicans +with nothing but fleas, children, goats and votes to keep Sorenson and +his gang in control. They've set out to bust this company, or tire it +out till it throws up the sponge. They've spiked Magney, and they'll +try to spike you next, and every manager who comes. That's plain talk +I'm giving you, Mr. Weir, but it's fact; and if it doesn't sound nice +to your ears, you can have my resignation any minute." + +"I've been hoping to hear it. From now on drive this crowd of +coffee-colored loafers. Put the lash on their backs." + +A gleam of unholy joy shone in Atkinson's eyes as he heard Weir's +words. + +"All right; that goes," he said. "But I'm warning you that they'll +quit. You'll see 'em stringing out of camp for home to-night, and +those who hang out till to-morrow will leave then for sure. By +to-morrow night the dam will be as quiet as a church week-days. +They'll not show up again, either, until you send word for them to +come back--and then they'll know you've surrendered. Magney tried it +once, just once. And that's why you found me chewing tobacco so +lamb-like and saying nothing." + +"Turn your gat loose," Weir said. And turning on his heel, he went +back to headquarters. + +Before Atkinson fired a volley at the unsuspecting workmen he crossed +the canyon to where a cub engineer was peering through a transit. The +superintendent had overheard a scrap of gossip among the staff one +evening before Weir's arrival when they were discussing the advent of +the new chief. + +"What was that name you fellows were saying Weir was called by?" he +asked. + +The boy straightened up. + +"'Cold Steel'--'Cold Steel' Weir. Anyway that's what Fergueson says," +was the answer. "I never heard it before myself. His first name's +Steele, you know, and he looks cold enough to be ice when he's asking +questions about things, boring into a fellow with his eyes. But he's +up against a hard game here." + +"Maybe. But a man doesn't get a name like that for just parting his +hair nice," Atkinson remarked. "He told me to stretch 'em"--a horny +thumb jerked towards the workmen--"and you'll see some real work +hereabouts for the rest of the afternoon." + +"And to-morrow will be Sunday three days ahead of time." + +"Sure." + +"What then?" + +"You know as much about that as I do. Make your own guess." With which +the speaker started off. + +The morrow was "Sunday" with a vengeance. The majority of the laborers +demanded their pay checks the minute work ceased at the end of the +afternoon; Atkinson tightened orders, and by noon next day the last of +the Mexicans had quit. The fires in the stationary engines were +banked; the concrete mixers did not revolve; the conveyers were still; +the dam site wore an air of abandonment. In headquarters the engineers +worked over tracings or notes; and in the commissary store the +half-dozen white foremen gathered to smoke and yarn. That was the +extent of the activity. + +Two days passed. After dinner Weir held a terse long-distance +telephone conversation, the only incident of the second day; and it +was overheard by no one. On the fourth day this was repeated. At dawn +of the fifth he despatched all of the foremen, enginemen and engineers +with wagons to Bowenville; and about the middle of the afternoon, +accompanied by his assistant, Meyers, and Atkinson, he sped in the +manager's car down the river for San Mateo, two miles below the camp. + +Of the town Steele Weir had had but a glimpse as he flashed through on +his way to the dam the morning of his arrival twelve days earlier. It +had but a single main street, from which littered side streets and +alleys ran off between mud walls of houses. The county court house sat +among cottonwood trees in an open space. A few pretentious dwellings, +homes of white men and the well-to-do Mexicans, arose among long low +adobe structures that were as brown and characterless as the sun-dried +bricks of which they were built. That was San Mateo. + +Before doors and everywhere along the street workmen from the dam were +idling. As Meyers brought the automobile to a stop before the court +house, news of Weir's visit spread miraculously and Mexicans began to +saunter forward to hear the engineer's words of surrender, couched in +the form of a suave invitation to return to work. While the crowd +gathered the three Americans sat quietly in the car. Then Steele Weir +stood up. + +"Who can speak for these men?" he demanded. + +A lean Mexican with a long shiny black mustache and a thin neck +protruding from a soiled linen collar elbowed a way to the front. + +"I'm authorized to speak for them," he announced, disclosing his white +teeth in an engaging smile. + +"Are you one of the workmen?" + +"No. I'm a lawyer and represent them in this controversy. By your +favor therefore let us proceed. You've come to persuade them to resume +work, and that is well. But there are conditions to be agreed upon +before they return, which with your permission I shall state--first, +no harsh driving of the workmen by foremen; second, full wages for the +days they have been idle; third, no Sunday work." + +The engineer regarded the speaker without change of countenance. + +"Have you finished?" he asked. + +"Yes. There are minor matters, but they can be adjusted later. These +are the important points." + +"Very well, this is my reply: I, not the workmen, make the terms for +work on this job--I, not these men, name the conditions on which they +may return. And they are as follows: no pay for the idle days; if the +workmen return they agree to work as ordered by superintendent and +foremen; and last, they must start for the dam within an hour or not +at all." + +Incredulity, amazement rested on the Mexican spokesman's face as he +listened to this curt rejoinder. + +"Preposterous, impossible, absurd!" he exclaimed. Then revolving on +his heels so as to face the crowd he swiftly repeated in Spanish what +Weir had said. + +An angry stir followed, murmurs, sullen looks, a number of oaths and +jeers. The lawyer turned again to the engineer, spreading his hands in +a wide gesture and lifting his brows with exaggerated significance. + +"You see, Mr. Weir, your position is hopeless," he remarked. + +"Ask them if they definitely refuse." + +The lawyer put the question to the crowd. A chorus of shouts +vehemently gave affirmation--a refusal immediate, disdainful, +unanimous. + +"We'll now discuss the men's terms," the lawyer remarked politely and +with an air of satisfaction. + +"There's nothing more to discuss. The matter is settled. They have +refused; they need not seek work at the dam again. Start the car, +Meyers." + +The roar of the machine drowned the indignant lawyer's protest, the +crowd hastened to give an opening and the conference was at an end. + +"Drive to Vorse's saloon; I want a look at Vorse," said Weir. "I see +the place a short way ahead." + +When they entered the long low adobe building an anemic-appearing +Mexican standing at the far end of the bar languidly started forward +to serve them, but a bald-headed, hawk-nosed man seated at a desk +behind the cigar-case laid aside his newspaper, arose and checked the +other by a sidewise jerk of his head. + +He received their orders for beer and lifted three dripping bottles +from a tub of water at his feet. His eyes passed casually over Steele +Weir's face, glanced away, then came back for a swift unblinking +scrutiny. The eyes his own met were as hard, stony and inscrutable as +his own. Finally Vorse, the saloon-keeper, turned his gaze towards the +window and extracting a quill tooth-pick from a vest pocket began +thoughtfully to pick his teeth. + +"You're the new manager at the dam?" he asked presently, still +considering the street through the window. + +"I am." + +"And your name is Weir?" + +"You've got it right." + +The questions ended there. The three men from camp slowly consumed +their beer and exchanged indifferent remarks. At the end of five +minutes the Mexican lawyer, clutching the arm of an elderly, +gray-mustached man, entered the saloon. + +They lined up at the bar nearby the others. The older of the pair +regarded the trio shrewdly, laid a calf-bound book that he carried +under his arm upon the counter and ordered "a little bourbon." When he +had swallowed this, he addressed the men from the engineering camp. + +"Which of you is Mr. Weir?" + +"I am he," Steele replied. + +"Mr. Martinez here has solicited me, Mr. Weir, to use my offices in +explaining to you the workmen's point of view in the controversy that +exists relative to the work. I'm Senator Gordon, a member of the state +legislature, and I have no interest in the matter beyond seeing an +amicable and just arrangement effected." + +Steele Weir fixed his eyes on the speaker with an intentness, a cold +penetration, that seemed to bore to the very recesses of his mind. In +that look there was something questioning and something menacing. + +"There's no controversy and hence no need of your services. The men +stopped work, refused to return, and now the case is closed." + +"My dear sir, let us talk it over," said the Senator, bringing forth a +pair of spectacles and setting the bow upon his nose. + +The engineer's visage failed to relax at this pacific proposal. + +"I gave them their chance and they declined; they'll have no other," +he stated. "Those men have browbeaten the company long enough. They +refused, and as I anticipated that refusal I made preparations +accordingly; a hundred and fifty white workmen arrived at Bowenville +from Denver this morning and a hundred and fifty more will come +to-morrow. They will do the work." + +The Senator's lips quivered and the upper one lifted in a movement +like a snarl, showing tobacco-stained teeth. + +"The matter isn't closed, understand that," he snapped out. "We have +the directors' promise no outside labor shall be brought in here for +this job, and the promise shall be kept." + +"The new men go to work in the morning," Weir said. + +"You'll repent of this action, young man, you'll repent of it." The +Senator seized the whisky bottle and angrily poured himself a second +drink. "You'll repent of it as sure as your name is--is--whatever it +is." + +The engineer took a step nearer the older man. His face now was as +hard as granite. + +"Weir is my name," he said. "Did you ever hear it before?" + +"Weir--Weir?" came in a questioning mutter. + +"Yes, Weir." + +The speaker's eyes held the Senator's in savage leash, and a slight +tremble presently began to shake the old man. Atkinson and Meyers and +even the volatile Mexican lawyer, Martinez, remained unstirring, for +in the situation they suddenly sensed something beyond their ken, some +current of deep unknown forces, some play of fierce, obscure and +fateful passion. + +A shadow of gray stole over Gordon's lineaments. + +"You are--are the son of----" came gasping forth. + +"I am. His son." + +"And--and----" + +"And I know what happened thirty years ago in this selfsame room!" + +The whisky that the Senator had poured into his glass suddenly slopped +over his fingers; his figure all at once appeared more aged, hollow, +bent. Without further word, with his hand still shaking, he set the +glass on the bar, mechanically picked up the law book and walked +feebly towards the door. + +Steele Weir turned his gaze on the saloon-keeper, Vorse. The man's +right hand was under the bar and he seemed to be awaiting the +engineer's next move, taut, tight-lipped, malignant. + +"That was for you too, Vorse," was flung at him. "One Weir went out of +here, but another has returned." + +And he led his companions away. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A COMEDY--AND SOMETHING ELSE + + +Towards noon one day a week later Steele Weir, headed for Bowenville +in his car, had gained Chico Creek, half way between camp and San +Mateo, when he perceived that another machine blocked the ford. About +the wheels of the stalled car the shallow water rippled briskly, four +or five inches deep; entirely deep enough, by all appearances, to keep +marooned in the runabout the girl sitting disconsolately at the +wheel. + +She was a very attractive-looking girl, Steele noted casually as he +brought his own car to a halt and sprang out to join her, wading the +water with his laced boots. As he approached he perceived that she had +a slender well-rounded figure, fine-spun brown hair under her hat +brim, clear brown eyes and the pink of peach blossoms in her soft +smooth cheeks. + +But her look of relief vanished when she distinguished his face and +her shoulders squared themselves. + +"Has your engine stopped?" he inquired. + +"Yes." + +"I'll look into the hood." + +"I prefer that you would not." + +For an instant surprise marked his countenance. + +"You mean that you desire to remain here?" he asked. + +"I don't wish to remain here, but I choose that in preference to your +aid." + +The man, who had bent forward to lift one cover of the engine, +straightened up at that. He considered her intently and in silence +for a time, marking her heightened color, the haughty poise of her +head, the firm set of her lips. + +"To my knowledge, I never saw you before in my life," he remarked at +last. "What, may I ask, is your particular reason for declining my +services?" + +She was dumb for a little, while she tucked back a stray tendril of +hair. The act was performed with the left hand; and Weir's eyes, which +seldom missed anything, observed a diamond flash on the third finger. + +"Well, I'd choose not to explain," said she, afterwards, "but if you +insist----" + +"I don't insist, I merely request ... your highness." + +A flash of anger shot from her eyes at this irony. + +"Don't think I'm afraid to tell you!" she cried. "It's because you're +the manager of the construction camp; and if you've never seen me +before, I've at least had you pointed out to me. I wish no assistance +from the man who turns off his poor workmen without excuse or warning, +and brings want and trouble upon the community. It was like striking +them in the face. And then you break your promise not to bring in +other workmen!" + +As she had said, she did not lack courage. Her words gushed forth in a +torrent, as if an expression of pent up and outraged justice, +disclosing a fervent sympathy and a fine zeal--and, likewise, a fine +ignorance of the facts. + +"Well, why don't you say something?" she added, when he gave no +indication of replying. + +Steele could have smiled at this feminine view of the matter that +violent assertions required affirmations or denials. + +"What am I supposed to say?" he asked. + +Apparently that exhausted her patience. + +"You'll please molest me no longer," she stated, icily. + +"Very well." + +He raised the hood and inspected the engine. During his attempts to +start it, she sat nonchalantly humming an air and gazing at the +mountains as if her mind were a thousand miles away--which it was +not. + +"Something wrong; it will have to be hauled in," said he finally. + +No reply. Steele returned to his own car and descending into the creek +bed worked his way around her. When he was on the far bank, he +rejoined her again, carrying a coil of rope. One end of this he +fastened securely to the rear axle of her runabout. + +"What are you going to do, sir?" she demanded, whirling about on her +seat and glaring angrily. + +"Drag you out." + +"You'll do nothing of the kind!" + +"Oh, yes," was his calm response. + +"Against my wishes, sir?" + +"Certainly." + +"This is abominable!" + +"Perhaps." + +"I'll put on the brakes." And put them on she did, with a savage +jerk. + +But nevertheless Weir's powerful machine drew her car slowly up out of +the creek upon the road, where he forced it about until it pointed +towards San Mateo. Then he retied the rope on the front axle. + +"Now for town," said he. + +"Why did you haul me out of there, I demand to know?" + +"Why? Because you were a public obstruction blocking traffic. If you +had remained there long enough you would have become a public +nuisance; and it's the duty of every citizen to abate nuisances. No +one would call you a nuisance, of course,--not to your face, at any +rate. But travelers might have felt some annoyance if compelled to +drive around you; they might even have had you arrested when they +learned you were acting out of willful stubbornness." + +In a sort of incredulous wonder, of charmed horror, the girl heard +herself thus unfeelingly described. + +"You--you barbarian!" she cried. + +"Ready? We're off for town now." + +"I'll run my car in the ditch and wreck it if you so much as pull it +another inch!" + +"I don't like to be frustrated in my generous acts; they are so few, +according to common report. Well, we'll leave the car, but it must be +drawn off the road." + +When this was accomplished, Weir replaced the rope in his machine. +Then he returned to her. + +"What now? Do you intend to sit here in the hot sunshine, to say +nothing of missing your dinner?" + +"That doesn't concern you." + +Weir shook his head gravely. + +"You must be saved from your own folly," said he. + +Before she had realized what was happening, he had opened the door of +the runabout, swung her out upon the ground and was marching her +towards his own machine. Stupefaction at this quick, atrocious deed +left her an automaton; and before she had fully regained her control +they were speeding towards San Mateo, she at his side. + +"This is outrageous!" she gasped. + +Steele Weir did not speak until they entered town. + +"Where is your home?" he asked. + +"Turn to the right at the end of the street." + +It was before a house of modern structure, banked with a bewildering +number of flowers and shaded by trees, that he halted the car. He +alighted, bared his head, assisted her to descend, bowed and then +without a word drove away, leaving her to stare after him with a +baffling mixture of feelings and the single indignant statement, "And +he didn't even wait long enough for me to thank him!" Nor did her +perplexity lessen when her car was left before the door during the +afternoon by one of the camp mechanics to whom Weir had telephoned +from San Mateo and who had put it in running order. + +Weir himself proceeded to Bowenville, where matters regarding +shipments and the unloading of machinery engaged him the rest of the +day. Into his mind, however, there floated at moments the image of the +girl's face, banish it as he would. He had learned her name by asking +who was the owner of the house where she had alighted, information +necessary to direct the mechanic as to the delivery of the stalled +car. Hosmer it was; and the residence was that of Dr. Hosmer. +Presumably she was his daughter. And what a vivid, charming, +never-surrender enemy! Lucky the chap who had won this high-spirited +girl. + +The memory of her eyes and her personality was still with him when +he ate his supper that evening in a restaurant in Bowenville. His own +past in relation to the other sex had been starred by no love +affair, not even by episodes of a sentimental nature; the character of +his work had for long periods kept him away from women's society, +but further than this there was the shadow upon his life, the shadow +of mystery that obliged him to follow a solitary course. He +considered himself unfree to seek friendships or favors among women. +By every demand of honor he was bound to solicit no girl's trust or +affection until that mystery was cleared and his father's innocence +established. It was for this reason that he seemed even to himself to +grow more hard, more harsh, more silent and aloof, until at last he +had come to believe that no fair face had the power to arouse his +interest or to quicken his pulse. + +But now, this girl he had met at the ford! + +Long-stifled emotions struggled in his breast. Sleeping desires awoke. +His spirit swelled like a caged thing within the shell of years of +indurated habit. A strange restlessness pervaded him. He had a fierce +passion somehow to rip in pieces the gray drab pattern of his +commonplace life. + +Perhaps it was this revolt against the fetters of fate that caused him +to welcome the chance for action that presently was offered. The +restaurant was of an ordinary type, with a lunch counter at one side, +a row of tables down the middle and half a dozen booths along the wall +offering some degree of privacy. In one of these Steele Weir was +smoking a cigar and finishing his coffee before making his ride back +to camp. From the booth adjoining he had for some time been hearing +scraps of conversation; now all at once the voices rose in protest and +in answering explanation, in perplexed appeal and earnest assurance. + +Weir's own reflections ceased. His head turned and remained fixed to +listen, while the cigar grew cold between his fingers. For ten minutes +or so his attitude of concentrated harkening to the two voices, a +girl's and a man's, remained unchanged. Little by little he was +piecing out the thread of the confidential dialogue--and of the little +drama being enacted in the booth. + +His brows became lowering as he gathered its significance, his lips +drew together in a tight thin line. He did not move when he heard the +man push back his chair to leave the place, nor alter his position +until there came the sound of the door closing at the front of the +restaurant. Then he reached for his hat, stood up and went lightly +around into the other booth, where he pulled the green calico curtain +across the opening. + +A girl of about seventeen, of plump clean prettiness, still sat at the +table, which was littered with dishes. The cheap finery of her hat and +dress showed a pathetic attempt to increase her natural comeliness. At +this minute her face showed amazement and a hint of apprehension. + +"What are you coming in here for?" she demanded. + +"I want to talk to you for a little while," Weir replied, seating +himself. "You will please listen. I've overheard enough of your talk +to catch its drift; you came here to be married, but now this man +wants to induce you to go to Los Angeles first." + +"That isn't any of your business," the girl flashed back, going white +and red by turns. + +"I'm making it mine, however. You live up on Terry Creek, by what I +heard; that's not far from my camp. I'm manager at the dam and my +name's Weir." + +At this statement the girl shrank back, beginning to bite the hem of +her handkerchief nervously and gazing at him with terrified eyes. + +"I'm here to help you, not harm you. You've run away from home to-day +to marry this fellow. Did he promise to marry you if you came to +Bowenville?" + +"Yes." + +"And now he wants you to go with him to Los Angeles first, promising +to marry you there?" + +The girl hesitated, with a wavering look. + +"Yes." + +"He gives you excuses, of course. But they don't satisfy your mind, +do they? They don't satisfy mine, at any rate. It's the old trick. +Suppose when you reached the coast he didn't marry you after all and +put you off with more promises and after a week or two abandoned +you?" + +"Oh, he wouldn't do that!" she cried, with a gulp. + +"That's just what he is planning. He didn't meet you here until after +dark, I judge. You'll both go to the train separately--I overheard +that part. Afterwards he could return from the coast and deny that he +had ever had anything to do with you, and it would simply be your word +against his. And which would people hereabouts believe, tell me that, +which would they believe, yours or his, after you had gone wrong?" + +The girl sat frozen. Then suddenly she began to cry, softly and with +jerks of her shoulders. Weir reached out and patted her arm. + +"What's your name?" he asked. + +"Mary--Mary Johnson." + +"Mary, I'm interfering in your affairs only because I know what men +will do. You must take no chances. If this fellow is really anxious to +marry you, he'll do it here in Bowenville." + +After a few sobs she wiped her eyes. + +"He said he didn't dare get the license in San Mateo, or his folks +would have stopped our marriage." + +"Then you should stay here to-night, go to the next county seat and be +married to-morrow. His parents are bound to learn about it once you're +married. A few days more or less make no difference. And though I +should return to my work, I'll just stay over a day and take you in my +car to-morrow to see that you're married straight and proper. Why go +clear to Los Angeles?" + +"He said it would be our honeymoon--and--and I had never been away +from here." + +"What's his name?" + +She hesitated in uncertainty whether or not she should answer. + +"Ed Sorenson," came at last from her lips. + +Steele Weir slowly thrust his head forward, fixing her with burning +eyes. + +"Son of the big cattleman?" he demanded. + +"Yes, sir." + +"And you love him?" + +"Yes, oh, yes!" + +Weir sat back in his seat, lighted a cigarette and stared past her +head at the opposite partition. The evil strain of the father had been +continued in the son and was working here to seduce this simple, +ignorant girl, incited by her physical freshness and the expectation +that she should be easy prey. + +"Well, I doubt if he loves you," he said, presently. + +"He does, he does!" + +"If he really does above everything else in the world, he'll be +willing to marry you openly, no matter what his father may say or do. +That's the test, Mary. If he's in earnest, he'll agree at once to go +with us to the next county seat to-morrow and be married there by a +minister. Isn't that true? Answer me that squarely; isn't it true?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Then by that we'll decide. If he agrees, well and good; if he +refuses, that will show him up--show he never had any intention of +marrying you. I'm a stranger to you, but I'm your friend. And you're +not going to Los Angeles unmarried!" + +The last words were uttered in a level menacing tone that caused Mary +Johnson to shiver. To her, reared in the humble adobe house on her +father's little ranch on Terry Creek, a man who could manage the great +irrigation project seemed a figure out of her ken, a vast form working +against the sky. His statements were not to be disputed, whatever she +might think. + +"Yes, sir," she said, just above a whisper. + +"All right. Now we'll wait for him. He was coming back for you, wasn't +he?" + +"Yes. I was to stay at the hotel till train time." + +"Is this your grip?" + +Weir jerked a thumb towards a worn canvas "telescope" fastened with a +single shawl strap, resting in the corner of the booth. + +"It's mine. Yes, sir." + +"How old is Ed Sorenson," he asked, after a pause. + +"About thirty, maybe." + +"How old are you?" + +"Seventeen next month." + +"But sixteen yet this month." + +"Yes, sir." + +He said nothing more. As the minutes passed, her timorous gaze +continued steadfastly on the stern countenance before her. She dully +expected something terrible to happen when Ed Sorenson appeared, for +she knew Ed would be angry; but she had been powerless to prevent the +intrusion of this terrible stranger. + +Fear, in truth, a fear that left her heart cold, was her feeling as +she contemplated Weir. Yet under that, was there not something else? A +sense of safety, of comforting assurance of protection? + +"You--you won't hurt Ed if he won't go with us?" she asked, in a low +voice. "If he gets mad and won't marry me here, I mean?" + +The man's eyes came round to hers. + +"I'll just break him in two, nothing more, Mary," was the calm +answer. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE ENEMY'S SPAWN + + +The curtain to the booth was flung back. + +"I've the train tickets; come along to the hotel----" exclaimed the +man who quickly entered. But the words died in his mouth at sight of +Weir sitting in the place he had vacated. + +He was over average height, of strong fleshy build, with a small +blonde mustache on his upper lip. Under his eyes little pouches had +already begun to form; his mouth was full and sensual; but he still +retained an air of liveliness, of carelessness and agility, that might +at first sight seem the spontaneity of youth. He wore a brown suit, a +gray flannel shirt and Stetson hat--the common apparel of the +country. + +"Who the devil are you? And what are you butting in here for?" he +exclaimed, with a vicious spark showing in his pale blue eyes. At the +same time he clapped a hand on Weir's shoulder, closing it in a hard +grasp. + +Instantly Weir struck the hand off with his fist. + +"Keep your dirty flippers to yourself," he said, rising. + +The blood faded from the other's countenance, leaving it white with +rage. + +"Get out of this booth, or I'll throw you out." + +It was Weir's turn to act. Like a flash he caught Sorenson's elbow, +jerked him forward, spun him about and dropped him upon the chair. + +"Sit there, you cradle-robber, until I'm through with you," he +commanded. "And if you don't want everybody in this restaurant to know +about your business with this girl, you'll lower your voice when you +talk." + +Sorenson shot an uneasy glance towards the curtain and his wrath +became not less furious but better controlled. Clearly public +attention was the last thing he desired in this affair. He leaned +back, staring at Steele Weir insolently, and produced a cigarette, at +which he began to puff. + +"Mary, get ready. We'll be going in a minute," said he. + +"No, you'll not, Sorenson. I've taken a hand in your game. This girl +says you're going to marry her, is that right?" The other rolled his +eyes upward and began to whistle a jig tune softly. "Well, this is the +plan she and I've made. She'll remain at the hotel to-night--as will +you and I--and to-morrow we'll drive to another county seat in my car +and you'll secure a licence there. Then you'll go to a minister's, +where I'll act as a witness, and the ceremony will be performed. +Afterwards the pair of you can proceed to Los Angeles, or elsewhere as +you please, on your wedding journey." + +"You're quite a little planner, aren't you?" the other jeered. + +"That's the arrangement if you agree." + +"I don't agree." + +Mary Johnson, in whose eyes a light of hope had dawned during Weir's +low-toned statement, began nervously to bite her lip. + +"Won't you do it, Ed?" she asked, timidly. + +"We'll do as I planned, or nothing," he stated. Then with sudden spite +he continued, "You're responsible for this mixup. What did you let +this fellow in here for while I was gone? Didn't you have sense +enough to keep your mouth shut?" + +Steele halted him by a gesture. + +"Don't begin abusing her; you're not married to her yet. I overheard +your talk and guessed the low-lived, scoundrelly trick you proposed to +play on her." + +"You damned eavesdropper----" + +"Sure, eavesdropper is right," Weir interrupted, coolly. "So I just +stepped in here from my booth next door to discuss the situation with +her; you can't mislead an innocent girl like her with the intention of +shaking her when you get her into a city, not if I know about it and +am around. If you sincerely intend to marry her, and will do so +to-morrow in my presence, then I'll withdraw. Afterwards I mean, of +course." + +Sorenson arose. + +"Come, Mary. Stand aside, you!" + +"She doesn't go with you," the engineer stated. + +For a moment the men's eyes locked, those of one full of blue fire and +hatred, those of the other quiet as pieces of flint. + +"And she shall keep with me while I telephone to your father that you +brought her here under promise of marriage, a girl of sixteen, without +her own parents' consent, and now refuse to marry her," Steele added. + +A sneer twisted the other man's mouth. + +"My father happens to be in the east, where he's been for a month," he +mocked. "If he were here, he wouldn't believe you; he'd know you were +a liar. He knows I'm engaged to marry----" Bite off the words as he +tried, they had escaped. + +"Ah, that's the way of it!" Weir remarked with a silky smoothness. +"You expect to marry some other girl--and have no intention whatever +of marrying Mary here." + +"To hell with you and your opinions!" + +"First, you coax her to Bowenville by a promise, then you persuade her +by more promises to go to Los Angeles," the engineer proceeded +steadily, "and there you would betray and abandon her to a life on the +streets, like the yellow cur you are." + +Sorenson snapped his fingers and moved round to the girl's side. + +"Pay no attention to him," he addressed her. "He's only a crazy +fool." + +But she drew back against the wall, staring at him with a strained, +searching regard. + +"Will you marry me to-morrow as he asks?" she questioned anxiously. + +"No. I explained the reason why once. Come on; let's get away from +him. Then I'll make everything clear and satisfactory to you." + +For a moment she stood wavering, picking at her handkerchief, her face +pale and unhappy, questioning his countenance. Finally she turned to +look at Steele Weir, standing silently by. + +"You never said you were engaged to another girl; you told me I was +the only one you loved," she muttered in a choked voice. "But I see +now you won't marry me. You wish me to go with you--but not to marry. +I'm going away--away anywhere. By myself! Where I'll never see any +one!" Burying her face in her hands, she shook with sobs. + +"This is what comes from your putting an oar in," said Sorenson, +lifting his fist in a burst of fury to strike Weir. + +The latter at once smote him across the mouth with open palm at the +vile epithet that followed. Sorenson staggered, then lunged forward, +tugging at something in his hip-pocket, while the table and dishes +went over in a crash. + +Before he could draw the weapon Steele's fingers shot forth and seized +his wrist; his other hand closed about Sorenson's throat in an iron +grasp. Slowly under that powerful grip the younger man's struggles +ceased, his eyes dilated, his knees yielded and gave way. The revolver +was wrenched from his numbed hold. His eyeballs seemed afire; his +breast heaved in violent spasms for the denied breath; and his heart +appeared about to burst. + +"You miserable skunk!" Weir said, barely moving his mouth. "I ought to +choke the life out of you." Then he released his hold. "I'll keep this +gun--and use it if you ever try to pull another on me! Now, make +tracks. Remember, too, to pay your bill as you go out." + +When Sorenson had straightened his coat, giving Weir a malignant look +during the process, he departed. His air of disdainful insolence had +quite evaporated, but that he considered the action between them only +begun was plain, though he spoke not a word. Weir, however, heard him +give a quieting explanation to the waiter hovering outside, who had +been drawn by the crash of dishes. + +"Thought a fight was going on," the aproned dispenser of food said to +Steele when he and the girl emerged. + +"Just an accident. Nothing broken, I imagine," was the response. + +"You couldn't break those dishes with a hammer; they're made for rough +work." + +"If there's any damage, this may cover it." And Steele tossed the +fellow a dollar. + +Outside the restaurant he slipped his hand inside Mary Johnson's arm +and led her along the street. With him he had brought the old strapped +grip. + +"Where you taking me?" she asked, in a worried quaver. + +"Home, Mary." + +"Oh, I'm afraid to go home." + +"Are you afraid of your own father and mother? They're the ones to +trust first of all." + +"But when father--mother is dead--sees the telescope, he'll want to +know where I've been. He doesn't know I have it. I told him I might +stay with a girl at San Mateo over night, and then sneaked it out." + +"The best thing is to tell him all about this occurrence." + +"Oh, I can't." + +"Then I shall. Leave that part to me." + +And though her heart was filled with fresh alarms and fears at the +prospect, there seemed nothing else to do. She longed to flee, to hide +in some dark hole, to cover her shame from her father and the world, +but in the hands of this determined man she felt herself powerless. +What he willed, she dumbly did. + +Terry Creek flowed out of the mountains four miles north of San Mateo, +an insignificant stream entering the Burntwood halfway down to +Bowenville. The Johnson ranch house was a mile up the canyon, where +the rocky walls expanded into a grassy park of no great area. They +reached the girl's home about half-past nine that night. + +For two hours Weir remained talking with the father, describing the +affair at Bowenville, fending off his first bitter anger at the girl +and gradually persuading him to see that Mary had been deceived, lured +away on hollow promises and was guiltless of all except failing to +take him into her confidence. At last peace was made. Mary wept for a +time, and was patted on the head by her rough, bearded father, who +exclaimed, "There, there, don't cry. You're safe back again; we'll +just forget it." + +Outside of the house, however, where he had accompanied Weir to his +car, he said with an oath: + +"But I'll not forget Ed Sorenson, if I go to hell for it. My little +girl!" + +"She's half a child yet, that's the worse of his offense," Steele +replied, savagely. + +"Mary said you choked him." + +"Some. Not enough." + +"I'll not forget him--or you, Mr. Weir." + +Steele mounted into his machine. He thoughtfully studied the rancher's +bearded, weather-tanned face, illuminated by the moonlight. + +"At present I'd say nothing about this matter to any one. Later on you +may be able to use it in squaring accounts," the engineer advised. + +"I hope so," was the answer, with a bitter note. "But talking would +only hurt Mary, not Ed Sorenson. Whatever the Sorensons do is all +right, you know, because they're rich. The daughter of a poor man like +me would get all the black end of the gossip; and I can't lift a +finger, that's what grinds me, unless I go out and shoot him, then +hang for it. For the bank's got a mortgage on my little bunch of +stock, and on my ranch here, and Sorenson, of course, is the bank. +Gordon and Vorse and a few others are in it too, but he's the bull of +the herd. If I opened my mouth about his son, I'd be kicked off of +Terry Creek, lock, stock and barrel. That's the way Sorenson keeps all +of us poor devils, white and Mexican, eating out of his hand. I've +just been poor since I came here a boy; the gang in San Mateo won't +let anybody but themselves have a chance. And I reckon old man +Sorenson wouldn't care much if his boy had ruined my girl. Cuss him a +little, maybe; that would be all. But I won't forget the whelp. Some +day my chance will come to play even." "Sure; if one just keeps quiet +and waits," Steele agreed. "Well, I must hit the trail. If you want +work any time, come over to the dam; we can always use a man with a +team." Johnson nodded. "After haying is done, maybe. And remember, I'm +much obliged to you for looking after my little girl. I won't forget +that, either." He reached up diffidently and shook hands with the +engineer. Weir's grip was sympathetic and sincere. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A SECRET CONFERENCE + + +On a certain afternoon Felipe Martinez, the lean and restless attorney +who had acted as the Mexican workmen's mouthpiece, observed through +the broad plate-glass window of the San Mateo Cattle Company's office +an incident that greatly interested him. For the moment he forgot the +resentment kindled by Sorenson's abrupt refusal and brutal words when +he asked for the nomination for county attorney. The election was in +the autumn; the nomination was equivalent to election; and Felipe +considered that he had too long been kept apart from that particular +spoil. + +Martinez had once had a slight difference with the banker, and now +outrageously Sorenson had recalled it. He had stated that Martinez +should hold no political office; he gave offices only to men who did +exactly as he advised; his exact words were that the Mexican was +"tricky and no good." And picking up his hat Sorenson who had that day +returned home from the east went out of the bank, leaving Martinez to +stare out of the window and meditatively twist a point of his silky +black mustache. + +It was before the window that there occurred the meeting between +Sorenson and the manager of the dam. Martinez perceived the two men +glance at each other and pass, but after a step or two both men +halted. As if worked by a single wire, they slowly swung about for a +second look. The Mexican's nimble brain calculated that they could not +have previously met and in consequence their behavior bespoke +something out of the ordinary. + +The pair stood exactly where they had turned, three or four paces +apart, he noted. The Mexican's mind palpitated with a slight thrill of +excitement. The manner of each of the men was that of a fighting +animal looking over another animal of the same sort: neither uttering +a word, nor stirring a finger, nor yielding a particle in his fixed +unwinking gaze. Martinez could almost feel the exchanged challenge, +the cold antagonism, the hostile curiosity, the matching of wills, the +instant hate, between the men. + +Though they had not met before, to be sure, nevertheless they were +enemies. Was it because of the discharge of the workmen? Then +Martinez' mind flashed back to the scene in Vorse's saloon when Gordon +had showed such sudden emotion at the engineer's name and his +enigmatical reference to some event in the past. That was it! +Something which had occurred thirty years ago, probably something +crooked. Men committed deeds in those early days that they would now +like to forget. He, Martinez, would look into the matter. + +Sorenson passed out of sight, and Weir likewise proceeded on his way. +Thereupon the lawyer sauntered over to the court house, where +presently he became engrossed in a pile of tomes in the register's +office. As examining records is a part of a lawyer's regular work, it +never excites curiosity or arouses suspicion. + +That same evening Martinez perceived Vorse enter Sorenson's office. +Vorse, he recalled, had been included in the engineer's threatening +remarks to Gordon. Shortly thereafter Gordon himself ambled along the +street and passed through the door. Last of all, Burkhardt, a short, +fleshy, bearded man, went into the building. The vultures of San +Mateo, as he secretly called them, had flocked together for +conference. Presently Martinez strolled by the office, outwardly +displaying no interest in the structure but furtively seeking to catch +a glimpse of the interior through a crack of the drawn shade. But in +this he was unsuccessful. + +Of one thing he was certain, however. His prolonged examination of the +county records had revealed an old bill of sale of a ranch and several +herds of cattle from one Joseph Weir to Sorenson, Vorse, Gordon and +Burkhardt. He had placed his finger on the link connecting the +engineer with these men, the entire four, as this old bill of sale +thus recorded showed the intimate though unexpressed partnership of +the men, which was common knowledge over the country; and intuition +told him also that this private assembly of the quartette quickly on +Sorenson's return home had its inspiration in the new manager of the +dam. + +Martinez determined to continue his investigations. Events might yet +prove that it would have been much better for the cattleman to have +given him the political nomination. Truly, it was possible. In any +case, it would do no harm to have "something on" Sorenson and the +others, these rulers of San Mateo. And there was the opposite side of +the affair--Weir's side; so it looked as if there might be profit +either way. + + * * * * * + +The four men sitting in the railed-off space in the San Mateo Cattle +Company's office constituted the cattle company. Moreover, they +comprised the financial, political and general power of this remote +section of New Mexico. In face, manner, garb, they were dissimilar. +Vorse, clothed in gray, was hawk-nosed and impassive; and though now, +like his companions, wealthy beyond simple needs he nevertheless +continued the operation of his saloon that had been a landmark in San +Mateo for forty years. Burkhardt was rough-featured, rough-tongued, +choleric, and coatless: typically the burly, uncurried, uncouth +stock man, whose commonest words were oaths or curses and whose way +with obstinate cattle or men was the way of the club or the fist. +Gordon was the wily, cautious, unscrupulous politician; he had +represented San Mateo in the legislature for years, both during +the Territorial period and since New Mexico had become a state, and +was not unknown in other parts of the southwest; but he was "Judge" +only by courtesy, the title most frequently given him, never having +been admitted to the bar or having practiced, and engaged himself +ostensibly in the insurance and real estate business. Like the +others, his share of the large cattle, sheep and land holdings of +the group made him independent. Sorenson, the last of the four and +in reality the leader because of a greater breadth of vision and a +natural capacity for business, was dressed in a tailored suit of +greenish plaid--a man with bushy eyebrows, a long fleshy nose, +predatory eyes, a heavy cat-fish mouth and a great, barrel-like body +that reared two or three inches over six feet when he stood on his +feet. But one thing they had in common, in addition to the gray hair +of age, and that was a joint liability for the past. For years they +had believed that liability extinguished through the operation of +time. They had considered as closed and sealed the account of early +secret, lawless acts by which they had acquired wealth and a grip on +the community. They were now law-observing members of society; they +controlled even if they sometimes failed to possess the goodwill +of the county--and they were not men to measure position by +friendships; their councils determined how much or how little other +men should own and in local politics their fingers moved the puppets +that served their will. + +With the entrance here of the powerful group of financiers who were +constructing the irrigation project they recognized the threat to +their old-time supremacy. Cattle and sheep interests would succumb to +farming; a swarm of new, independent settlers would arrive like +locusts; and their leadership would eventually be challenged if not +ended. New towns would spring up. New money would flow in to dispute +their financial mastery. New leaders would arise to assail their +political dominion. And against the prospect of all this they had +initiated a secret warfare, endeavoring by stealth to ruin the +irrigation company at the beginning and nip the danger in the bud. + +Now it had been revealed all at once that they had not only a +general and impersonal enemy in the form of the company, but a +specific one in the form of a man, its manager. Out of nowhere he +had emerged, out of thirty years' silence, a sinister figure who +tapped with significant finger the book of their secret past while +his eyes steadfastly demanded a reckoning. Did he know all, or +nothing? Knowing, did he deliberately leave them in doubt in order +to shatter their confidence? + +At least one of the four had been badly shaken on learning Weir's +identity, and all now were uneasy. It was as if Fate after a long +silence was about to open the sealed record. + +"Perhaps you were just imagining things, Judge," Sorenson was saying. + +Senator Gordon moistened his lips and tugged nervously at his gray +mustache. + +"No, no," he exclaimed. "Just ask Vorse. The man said his name was +Weir and that he was the son of Joe Weir. Then--then----" + +"Well?" Sorenson demanded, frowning at the other's visible trepidation. + +"Weir added, 'And I know what happened thirty years ago in this +selfsame room.' Those were his very words. Isn't that true, Vorse?" + +"Yes." + +"They could mean only one thing," said Gordon. + +"When the Judge went out he said to me," Vorse stated, "'That was for +you too.' I had my hand on my gun under the counter as he said it, +ready if he made a move. He knew what I had there, but it didn't faze +him. He's a better man than Joe Weir ever was, I want to remark, and +different; he has nerve and a bad eye. He knows something, lay your +bets on that." + +"How much? How much? If we only knew how much!" Judge Gordon +vouchsafed, testily. + +"How would he know anything? Joe Weir didn't know, so how can this +fellow know? Don't get scared at a shadow." It was the bearded, +rough-tongued Burkhardt who spoke, concluding his words with a +blasphemous oath. + +"There's the Mexican who saw what happened--and that boy who looked in +at the back door," Gordon asserted. "We just caught sight of him and +couldn't make out his face against the light. Then he had skipped when +we ran there. We never did learn who he was." + +"Do you think he remembers?" Sorenson said, scornfully. "He may be +dead. He may be on the other side of the world. Just some kid who +happened to drift by at the minute and look in, and there's not one +chance in a million he's anywhere around these parts yet. He would +have blabbed long ago to some one if he had been; don't figure him in, +he's lost." + +"Saurez isn't, though." + +At this Vorse put in a word. + +"He saw more than one killing in those days when he was roustabout for +me. It was only one more to him. Probably he has forgotten it. +Anyway," Vorse ended with deadly emphasis, "he knows what would happen +to him even now if he remembered it and talked. Leave him out of the +calculation too." + +"Then that just makes the four of us," said Burkhardt. "Nobody else. +So this fellow Weir doesn't know a thing." + +"But we can't be absolutely sure," Judge Gordon replied. + +"Well, he'd need proof, wouldn't he?" + +"Certainly, to bring legal action. But how do we know he hasn't even +that? Look all around the question as a lawyer does; let us assume the +millionth chance, for instance. Suppose that he somewhere met and +became acquainted with that boy. Suppose that he learned the latter +had been here at the time and saw the shooting; and heard his story. +Suppose that Weir knows this instant where he is and can produce him +as a witness in court." + +"I reckon in this county his testimony wouldn't count for much," +Burkhardt, who had been sheriff, stated, with a harsh laugh. + +Sorenson, however, was impressed by the Judge's reasoning, for he +drummed with fingers on the desk and sat in brooding silence. So +likewise sat Vorse, who had heard Weir's utterance and beheld his +face. + +"He knows something," he repeated, in a convinced tone. "Or he's a +damned good bluffer." + +"I passed him here at the door this afternoon," the banker remarked. +"I turned to look at him, guessing who he was, and he had stopped and +was looking at me. Cool about it too. We'll have to watch him." + +"Perhaps if we just tip him off to keep his mouth shut tight, that +will be enough," Burkhardt suggested. "If he knows the four of us are +ready----" + +Vorse sniffed. + +"You think he can be bluffed?" he said. "You haven't seen him yet; go +take a look. We'll not throw any scare into him. If he were that kind, +he wouldn't have told us who he is. He wanted us to know he's after +us, that's my opinion. He wants to shake our nerve--and he shook the +Judge's all right that day at my bar." + +"He did," Gordon admitted. "The thing was so infernally unexpected. +Almost like Joe Weir himself appearing. I didn't sleep a wink that +night, what with my heart being bad and what with seeing him." + +"Suppose he _has_ proofs?" Vorse asked after a pause, while his +narrowed eyes moved from one to another of his companions. + +A considerable silence followed. The question jerked into full light +the issue that had all the while been lurking in the recesses of their +minds--an issue full of ghastly possibilities. Judge Gordon's fingers +trembled as he wiped with handkerchief the cold sweat on his brow. + +"We're all in it," Vorse added. + +Burkhardt brought his fist down on the desk with a sudden crash. + +"If he has proofs, then it's him or us," he exclaimed, while the +blood suffused his face. "Him or us--and that means him! I'll never go +behind bars!" + +"Sure not. None of us," Vorse said. + +"It will mean----" Judge Gordon began in an agitated voice, but did +not finish. + +Sorenson gave a nod of his head. His bear-trap mouth was compressed in +a determined evil line. + +"Exactly. He'll never use his proofs. We're in too far to halt now if +matters come to the point of his trying to use them. He has a grip on +us in one way; he knows we can't declare his father, Joe Weir, did the +killing; that would make us--what do you call it, Judge?" + +"Accomplices after the fact. Besides, it would then come out that we +had taken over and shared among us his stuff, fifty thousand apiece. +It's a deplorable situation we're in, gentlemen, deplorable. If we +were but able to start the story Joe Weir believed and fled because +of, it would cut the ground out from under this man's feet at once." + +"It's him we'll cut, not the ground under him," Burkhardt growled, +thrusting his hairy chin forward towards the lawyer. "And cut his +damned throat." + +"I hate to think of our being forced to--to homicide. Even justifiable +homicide." + +"Homicide nothing! It's just killing a rattlesnake waiting in the +brush to strike. That's the way we used to do in the old days, and if +he's going to bring them back that's what we'll do again." + +Sorenson smiled grimly. + +"We'll wait till we're sure he has the proofs, then----" + +"Then we'll act quick and sure," Vorse shot out. + +"And quietly," the cattleman added. "We'll take no more chances this +time. It will be arranged carefully beforehand; all four of us will be +in it, of course,--equal responsibility; and there'll be no +witnesses." + +Judge Gordon's face wore a pallid, sickish look. + +"I hope to God there's some other way out of it," he muttered. + +"So do all of us," Burkhardt snarled. "But if there isn't, it means +guns. For you, too, along with the rest of us." + +Sorenson leaned forward and gazed from under his heavy brows, +compelling Gordon to meet his fixed look. + +"You were keen enough at the time for your share of Joe Weir's stuff," +he said. "So you'll play the hand out to the end now, the bad cards as +well as the good. You're no better than the rest of us, and it was you +who hatched the scheme for cleaning him up and who put over the +story." + +"I know, I know. But--but this would be too much like cold-blooded +murder." + +"Murder!" Sorenson grated. "Did you look straight into this fellow +Weir's eyes? Didn't you see something there that resembled murder? +He'd like only the chance to kill us one by one with his own hands: I +saw that much. Just as Burkhardt said, it's him or us. After you told +me about him, I had only to take one look. If he has the goods on +us--well, he'll have to die. Make up your mind to that. We're back to +the time of thirty years ago and fighting for our lives. We were not +only all in on the Weir job, but the Dent killing--all of us. Remember +that. If the facts become known, we'll be run into some other county +and court and hanged. And every enemy we've made in these years past +will put up his head and clamor for our blood. Let that sink into your +mind." + +The effect of this low fierce utterance was to hammer the truth home. +The Judge was ashen. Vorse's face appeared like an evil mask. +Burkhardt glowered savagely. + +At that instant there sounded the faint report of a shot in the +street. Then as the group sat unmoving, rigid, keyed to the highest +pitch of expectancy, there followed quickly two more shots. +Afterwards, silence. + +"A gun-play!" issued from Vorse's lips, softly. + +They all sprang up to hasten to the door. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A SHOT IN THE DARK + + +Steele Weir driving his car down the street in the dusk had caught +sight of Felipe Martinez standing near the cattle company's office. He +stopped close by, beckoned. Martinez would do as well as another. + +"You're a notary, I suppose?" he questioned. + +"Yes, Mr. Weir. Most of us lawyers here are," he replied politely, +when he had advanced. + +"I've some papers I want acknowledged to-night. Must get them into the +mail going down to Bowenville in the morning." + +"Only too pleased to facilitate your business, Mr. Weir. My office is +down a few doors." + +"Jump in." + +"It's but a few steps." + +"Then I'll get out here." And the engineer stopped the engine and +descended to the ground. + +Along the street open doorways and windows were already beginning to +make yellow panels of lamplight in the thin gloom. The air was still +warm, balmy, scented by the lingering aroma of the greasewood smoke of +supper fires in Mexican ovens. Stars were jeweling the sky. Few +persons moved in the twilight. + +One of these was a man who, standing at the door of a native saloon +across the street and a little farther up, had come diagonally over +towards the bank on seeing the engineer halt his car. He walked with a +slouching haste seldom exhibited by a Mexican and gained the spot as +Weir stepped out. There he slackened his pace while he scanned the +American with an intense, slow gaze that the engineer, chancing to +raise his eyes, squarely met. + +The Mexicans always looked at him and fell silent when he passed since +he had shown who was master at the dam. In the eyes of some was merely +stupid curiosity, in some a shrinking, and in many a half-veiled +hostility. That did not trouble Weir. In Mexico he had dealt with +recalcitrant workmen of more lawless nature than these. He usually +ignored them altogether now as they no longer were in his employ. But +this man seized his attention. + +It was not yet too dark to mark his face as he lounged past, slowly +turning his head about as he progressed until his chin was on his +shoulder, staring back. His look the while remained riveted on Weir--a +steady, contemplative, evil regard. In Chihuahua the engineer had once +seen a notorious local "killer" who had that same gaze. + +Martinez had also glanced at the fellow. + +"Who is that man? One of the discharged workmen?" Weir asked him, when +moving forward they in turn had passed the Mexican. + +"No, I imagine not. At any rate, he doesn't belong in San Mateo or +anywhere hereabouts. I know everybody for fifty miles, for I've been +active in social and political affairs. He's unknown to me. A +stranger." Then a little farther along: "Here is my office, Mr. Weir. +I'll have a light in an instant. Ah, now. Be so good as to have a +chair and we'll expedite your business." + +As Martinez filled out the acknowledgment blanks on the papers, his +eyes furtively skipped over the vital portions of the documents. The +latter were connected with company business. He had hoped they would +be personal so that he might learn something more of this manager's +affairs, possibly more of his secret antagonism for Sorenson and his +friends. Any intrigue appealed to the thin, slippery lawyer's soul, +but most of all some one's else intrigue into which he might +profitably put a finger. However, from these papers he was to learn +nothing. + +He had considered all possibilities of the affair, all possible +solutions of what long ago might have occurred between Joseph Weir, +undoubtedly the father of the man sitting across the table from him, +and the four men now conferring in Sorenson's office. This was no +petty squabble, he divined. There was something going on under the +surface that was big--big! And very dangerous too, for the spirit of +that moment in Vorse's bar was not to be mistaken; it had been tense, +electric. Utmost caution on Martinez's part would therefore be +necessary. + +As between the two parties, his sympathies at present inclined towards +Weir. The refusal on the latter's part to reëmploy the Mexican workmen +on their own terms was purely a matter of policy, and the lawyer's +first gusty anger had long been forgotten. But not so Sorenson's +sneering words of that afternoon. They struck to the heart of his +vanity, breeding an animosity that would last. Had not the banker +stated that the lawyer should hold no political office whatever? After +all his services? Had he not definitely shown that Martinez might +never expect anything there? Well, the lawyer wasn't one tamely to +yield his rights; he did not propose always to remain a scrimping, +pettifogging attorney, existing on crumbs. + +When with a flourish he had appended his name to the acknowledgments +and affixed his seal, he sat back thoughtfully studying the engineer, +who was carefully examining the paragraphs for errors. He knew his +business, did Martinez; the man would find no mistakes. Then the +lawyer's eyes suddenly glistened. He arose and closed the door as Weir +thrust the documents into a stout linen envelope, addressed and +stamped. + +"I'll be pleased to see your letter goes in the mail in the morning," +he said, returning to his place. "The stage leaves at eight-thirty." + +"Post-office is closed now, I suppose. Very well. It will be an +accommodation," the engineer responded. + +Martinez leaned forward. + +"If you can spare the time, I should like to have a little talk with +you," said he. "Pardon me if I appear presumptuous, but as you're +aware, Mr. Weir, I overheard your words to Judge Gordon in Vorse's +saloon. I inferred--check me at any instant if you consider this none +of my business!--that there exists some unpleasant feeling between you +two gentlemen and possibly others. Judge Gordon has always handled the +company's business in his private capacity of counselor. As you know, +he's a silent partner in many enterprises with Sorenson, Vorse and a +man named Burkhardt. They run this town and county. You should also +know that they're secretly opposed to your irrigation project, +whatever they profess. They've misled the people into believing it +will work an injury to this district, whereas it will of course be +beneficial. Unfortunately too they lead the people by the noses--but +not me! I refuse to be subservient." + +He paused to note the effect of his words. + +"Now, Mr. Weir, these are facts you can confirm if you're not already +informed of them, which I imagine you are. Because I'm independent in +my opinions and actions, I stand in disfavor with these gentlemen, +which may or may not be an objection in your view to what I have in +mind. And this is it. I should be pleased to execute any legal work +that you care to give me; it might be of advantage to your company at +times to have an attorney other than Judge Gordon, who is aligned +against you and will serve his own interests first. He's in a position +to cause you embarrassment." + +"Our eastern attorneys draw all documents." + +"Of course. But I was thinking of delays more than anything else. +There are a thousand ways a lawyer can push or halt matters at will, +and your project will never be free of legal red tape until +completed--if then! I'm not unselfish in this, I admit; the business +would be valuable to me. But aside from that, I'll give you this +advice anyway:--secure another lawyer in any case, one without +antagonistic personal interests, if you can find another in San Mateo +besides me. See, I'm frank! That may sound egotistical, but really I'm +the only free man of the lawyers here. And I've paid for my liberty!" +He made a sweeping gesture to indicate his shabby office. "If I had +taken orders, I could have been county attorney and probably a judge. +But I respect myself too much to take orders from Sorenson and his +bunch. I choose this sort of thing in preference." + +Steele Weir maintained a non-committal silence. Again the thin +dark-skinned lawyer swiftly weighed the man before him, considered the +dangers in which he might become involved if he went a step farther, +recoiled, then grew bolder. Sorenson had marked him for poverty and +nonentity; under the favoring shelter of the irrigation company's +power he might arise from both. For at moments the acute Mexican +sensed the inevitable victory of the new forces at work; this, one of +the last strong-holds of old time cattle and sheep interests, would +break down and yield to the plow and fence. + +"Now, there's something more, though I hesitate to mention it," he +went on, doubtfully. "While Sorenson and his crowd run things, it's +not because the people--and that means us Mexicans chiefly--love them. +We're indolent by nature; we idle rather than work; borrow when we can +rather than earn--I speak of our race, but we're learning that work +proves best in the long run. These men have squeezed my people, and +robbed them, and kept them down. Nothing more would I wish than to see +these leaders deposed. It's no secret they've built their wealth by +questionable methods, but who can prove it? + +"Do you know what I suspect? You have something on Sorenson's crowd. +That's why they're uneasy; that's why the four are sitting over in the +cattle company's office this minute with their heads together, meeting +the minute Sorenson arrives home. I saw them go in. Leaving aside the +question of your own affairs, I'd like to have matters changed here in +this county so that every man has a fair chance. Anything that will +bring that about enlists my interest. When I heard your statement to +Gordon and saw his face, I knew there was something in the past that +alarmed him. I recalled a name I had once run across when abstracting +a title----" + +It was not this ingenious twisting of the truth that caused the lawyer +to become filled with sudden dismay and stop, but the savage hardening +of the engineer's face. + +"Go on," Weir commanded. + +"Well, the name was Joseph Weir. I looked it up again to be sure, and +found the property had been deeded to Sorenson and the others, who +still have it. I wondered----" + +"What did you wonder?" came with a devouring look. + +"If--if Joseph Weir received consideration according to law." +Martinez' courage flowed back again. "I'll make no attempt to justify +my curiosity, sir, except to say that more than one man in the +southwest was done out of property in early days; and the practice has +not ceased, for that matter. But in these days the means is usually +legal and Mexicans the victims. Sharp mortgage dealings and so forth. +Now, if I've said too much, I'll instantly forget all about it. On the +other hand----" + +"Well?" + +"I might be of assistance. If you wish to look into that old +transaction, that is. If there was anything crooked about the deal, +and I set it down that there was with Sorenson mixed in, and with +Vorse and Burkhardt the witnesses named in the deed and Judge Gordon +taking the acknowledgment of Joseph Weir's signature, as the record +shows, then there should be some weak spot that could be attacked. +There may be men yet alive conversant with the circumstances; they +may know whether duress or fraud was exercised, supposing the sale +was not honest. Some of the old Mexicans may remember Weir, and could +give a clue; they have good memories for things of those days. Of +course, if the transaction was all right, then I'm all wrong in my +suppositions." + +Weir arose. + +"I can give you some of the company business, perhaps considerable of +it," he said. + +Martinez sprang up, an expression of gratitude upon his face. He had +not realized all that he had hoped for, but he was nevertheless +delighted. + +"I'm really sincere when I give you a thousand thanks, Mr. Weir," said +he, spreading his arms wide. "I'll not make promises as to the +efficiency of my services; let results speak for themselves." + +"I always do," was the comment. "But I'll tell you what I demand in +any one associated with me--absolute trustworthiness first of all, +then loyalty and ability." + +"Which leaves nothing," Martinez smiled. + +He preceded the engineer and swung the door open, stepping aside. To +the visitor's question regarding fees for the acknowledgments taken, +he waved a declining hand. + +"Nothing, nothing. Delighted to render you the service." + +"Very well." + +"I'll attend to the letter," the lawyer again assured him. + +"Come out to the dam in a day or two." + +"To-morrow, if you wish." + +"To-morrow afternoon will do." + +Steele Weir's frame filled the lighted doorway as he stepped forth +from the office. He paused to accustom his eyes to the darkness, for +during his colloquy with the attorney full night had descended. On the +same side of the street with himself and perhaps twelve or fifteen +paces off he saw a girl's figure appear and disappear before a window +as she moved along. + +Then suddenly a tongue of red flame darted at him across the street, +where lay a space of unlighted gloom. His hat was whipped off his +head. The sharp report of a shot cracked between the adobe walls. With +an unbelievably rapid movement Steele Weir drew the revolver in his +pocket, and which he had carried ever since his encounter with young +Sorenson in the restaurant, fired twice where he had seen the flame +and leaped aside into the darkness beside the doorway. There he +waited, half crouching, for a further attack. + +But none came. Men began to run towards the place. Shouts and calls +echoed along the street. In two minutes a crowd was surging before +Martinez' door wildly asking questions. + +Weir pocketed his pistol and walked back into the office, where he +found his bullet-pierced hat lying on the floor and the attorney +standing frozen with astonishment. A stream of people followed at his +heels. + +"Who did this shooting? Do you know, Felipe?" a tall raw-boned white +man who led them asked hastily. + +"This gentleman, Mr. Weir, was fired on, sheriff," Martinez burst out +volubly. + +"And I fired in return," the engineer stated. "The fellow was across +the street in the dark. You might look over there." + +Turning and pushing his way through the packed door, the sheriff +disappeared. The crowd melted away again. Presently as Weir glanced +about he saw a new figure at the doorway, staring at him. He went +towards the girl there outlined in the lamplight. + +"Was that you I saw moving along just before the exchange of +compliments, Miss Hosmer?" he asked. + +"Yes. I was coming towards you on my way home." + +"It probably gave you a fright." + +"It did, indeed. I heard the shot and saw your hat knocked off. I just +went cold in my tracks. At first I believed you killed." + +"I'm very much alive, as you see." + +"But it was dreadful! Who would fire at you from the dark? Some one +tried to murder you!" + +"It looks like it. Still here I am, ready to move your car out of the +water next time it's stalled." + +She entered the room slowly. + +"Who in San Mateo would do such a terrible thing, Mr. Martinez?" she +addressed the lawyer. The pallor was still on her face and her eyes +were large with horror. + +"Ah, Miss Janet, if we but knew! We'd lay hands on him and send him to +the penitentiary." + +Real emotion struggled in the lawyer's words. With the return of his +senses he had just begun to realize by what a narrow margin the +assassin's bullet had missed destroying his future client and +prospects. + +A growing murmur across the street attracted their attention. Then as +they continued to chat of the event, the sheriff reappeared, directing +half a dozen men who laid a burden in the light of Martinez' doorway. + +"You got him," he said to Weir, with ominous significance. "One bullet +through the head, one through his stomach. He's good and dead." + +Weir walked forward and inspected that outstretched figure. It was the +man whose gaze had been so malevolently fastened upon him as he joined +Martinez before Sorenson's office. + +"Who is he?" he asked. + +"A strange Mexican. Some of these men say he showed up this morning +and hung around the saloons, not talking much. Haven't you ever seen +him, before?" The question expressed a perplexed curiosity. + +"Once. When Martinez and I were coming here to transact some business. +He was taking a good look at me then when he passed us. That wasn't +over half an hour ago. Never saw him before that." + +"He shot at you first?" + +"I had just stepped out of this room. Could I see him hiding over +there? Or know he was there?" Then he added, "I was taken by surprise, +but I marked the flash of his gun." + +The sheriff, Madden by name, looked at Weir appreciatively. + +"You can use a gun yourself," said he, briefly. + +Martinez now repeated the fact of the dead man having fired the first +shot, which Janet Hosmer confirmed. + +"Well, is there anything more?" Weir questioned. + +"Not to-night, I reckon," Madden replied. "We'll have an inquest in +the morning; show up then. Where will I find your father, Miss +Hosmer?" + +"At home." Then to the engineer she explained, "Father acts in the +absence of the coroner, who's away just now." + +"I'm very sorry this happened on your account," said he. + +"And I'm very glad you were not hurt." + +Outside the corpse was being borne away, followed by the curious, avid +crowd of Mexicans. + +"You're still shaken by the thing," said Steele Weir. "It's enough to +upset any girl. Let me walk home with you, or you may be starting at +shadows all the way." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +JANET HOSMER + + +A silvery brightness shone in the east as they came out of Martinez' +office, that increased as they went forward until all at once the moon +arose into view, lighting the street, disclosing the flanking lines of +squat buildings, revealing the tall cottonwoods about the court house +and elsewhere thrust up in the town. + +Janet Hosmer breathed a sigh of relief. The darkness had seemed potent +for further evil, but now it was as if the latter retreated with the +shadows. She felt a desire to go on alone, to separate herself from +this companion with whom chance had brought her in contact at a +dramatic moment, to get away from the whole terrible affair. +Involuntarily her spirit shrank at the nearness of the man, for though +he had struck back in self-defense he nevertheless had killed another +and the act somehow appeared to set him apart from ordinary men, +isolate him, give him the character of an Ishmael. + +Yet her feelings were confused. Against this inclination was an avid +curiosity, or rather a wonderment, as to what must now be occurring in +his soul. Her eyes sought his face as he walked beside her. Neither +had spoken; and his countenance wore the same stern contained aspect, +calm, forceful, as the first time she had ever observed it. But what +was below the surface? What were the thoughts now revolving in his +mind and the emotions flowing in his breast? She could read nothing +on that composed mask of a face. Was it possible for a man to slay +another human being, even justifiably, without suffering a hurricane +of the spirit? + +But perhaps he had killed men before. The fact of his carrying a +weapon and his swift deadly fire pointed ominously to previous +experience. + +"Did you ever shoot any one before?" popped from between her lips. +Then she stopped, clapping her hand over her mouth in consternation +and staring at him palely. + +Weir had halted too. He regarded her in silence for a little, a slight +smile resting on his face. They stood before the cattle company's +office and his look went past her once to embrace the small darkened +building. + +"I'm not a murderer by trade, if that's what you mean," said he, at +last. "But I've killed a man or two before, yes." Then at the white +anguish of her lips and cheeks, his tone softened a degree as he went +on. "Unfortunately since becoming of age I've had to fight. If not +men, then the earth. If not the earth, then men. Sometimes both +together. You saw what happened to-night; that fellow was unknown to +me. He was not a workman who had been discharged and felt he had a +grievance----" + +"Oh, no!" she interjected. "The Mexicans here wouldn't attempt to +murder you, however angry they might feel." + +"I'm not so sure of that," he answered. + +"But I am; I know them, I've lived among them!" + +"Well, let that go. The man tried to kill me, at any rate. However, he +was merely a tool, hired for the business by some one else. Ordinarily +I don't discuss my affairs with any one, but since you've raised the +matter I'll just say that I've enemies in San Mateo who are anxious +to dispose of me." + +"Such enemies here!" + +"Yes. Who would be delighted to see me lie where that dead man lies +and who are apparently determined to effect it." He touched her sleeve +warningly. "But you will speak of this to no one." + +"No, oh, no! Not a word!" + +Steele gazed at her steadily. He already repented disclosing even so +little of his private concerns, an impulse altogether at variance with +his close-mouthed habit, but he had, for some vague reason, felt it +necessary to explain his course, to justify himself to this +clear-eyed, fine-spirited girl. He could not let her rest under a +misapprehension that he was a brute who reveled in blood-spilling. And +as he regarded her a conviction that she was absolutely to be trusted +settled firmly into his mind. + +She would be staunch; oxen and ropes could not drag information from +her once she had determined not to speak. Yes, she would be loyal to +her given word--and to her friends. Weir's eyes glanced at the diamond +on her finger. It would be a girl like her with whom he would have +chosen to mate if fate had not directed his feet on a road which +seemingly left him no choice but incessant and solitary struggle. + +"I hate it all; I have nothing but crusts and nettles!" he exclaimed, +with sudden fierce passion. And with a quick movement of his hand he +beckoned her on. + +Submissively she accompanied him, her bosom rising and falling with a +quickened rhythm. Too much had happened, one thing piling on another, +for her to sort her thoughts or to attempt to understand things yet; +and in her tossing state of mind she went at his gesture as one +follows a guide, or as a simple matter of course. + +In her mental turmoil that last passionate utterance of the man played +like a lambent flame. Tense, violent, spontaneous, it had come from +the heart. What harsh lot he had lived and sufferings borne she could +not even guess; but no man spoke with such unconscious bitterness who +had not undergone pain and travail of spirit. His head was now turned +a little towards her as they walked: she perceived him staring at the +moonlit street, his lips compressed, his brows knit. + +Then he glanced about at her, his face clearing. "Pay no attention to +what I said," he remarked. "I shouldn't have let loose that way. +Hello, what's on now?" + +Before them, and in front of the court house, was a packed crowd, +people who had run forth at the sound of shots, augmented by those who +had since arrived upon the scene. It was motionless. + +"Stand back, stand back; don't trample the body!" came Sheriff +Madden's voice in an angry order. + +The crowd surged a little apart in the center. + +"How do you know this dead man fired the first shot?" asked some one, +vehemently. + +The voices went lower so that Steele Weir and Janet Hosmer, who had +paused at the edge of the throng, were able only to catch the tones. + +"Who was that who questioned the sheriff?" Weir whispered. + +"Mr. Burkhardt, I think. Sounded like him." + +So intent were the Mexicans upon the occurrence in their midst that +those close by remained with backs towards the pair, failing to +notice their presence. All craned eagerly to miss nothing of the +controversy. + +"How do you know this engineer didn't start it?" came Burkhardt's +voice again. + +"Don't be a fool; there were witnesses." + +"I'd like to talk to those witnesses. I doubt if they really saw +anything. It looks to me as if there's another side to this +shooting." + +"Well, of course you know--you, sitting there in Sorenson's office, as +you say," was the ironical retort. + +At this juncture another voice interposed. + +"Madden, we want no mistake here. This Weir doesn't bear a very good +reputation for peacefulness, from what I've learned. If this Mexican +has simply been shot down----" + +"Who is that?" Steele demanded of the girl. "I can't see him." + +"That"--Janet Hosmer's speech faltered--"that is Mr. Sorenson. Oh, +they misunderstand! Let me push in there and tell them how it +happened." + +The engineer's hand closed about her arm. + +"You'll do nothing of the kind," he commanded, low. + +"But----" + +"No. Remain quiet and listen." + +Her eyes flew up to his at this extraordinary course, so injurious to +his own interests. She was anxious to press to the front and declare +his innocence in the affair of everything but defending his life from +an assassin. She could not understand why he also was not eager to +spring forward, why he restrained her. Then she saw the implacable +hatred on his face. + +A thrill quivered through her body. The feeling she had at that +instant was one of being on the point of seeing behind the curtain of +a mystery, of making a discovery so sinister that she would gasp. Her +very finger almost rested upon it. Why were Mr. Sorenson and Mr. +Burkhardt talking as they were? Trying by innuendo to make it seem her +companion might have been guilty of a crime? Could it be---- Her blood +slowly congealed to ice at the horror of where her reasoning led. + +_Could it be they were the enemies he meant!_ + +Such a thing was too dreadful, too absurd. They, the respected leaders +of the community, could never put a pistol in the dead wretch's hand +to slay this man beside her. Mr. Sorenson! The father of Ed, whom---- +She stared blankly at her left hand. + +Yet the banker's heavy, smooth words continued to assail her ears +steadily. She grasped their import once more. + +"--for the story is too thin. No man could hit another across the +street in the dark as this engineer claims, not only once but twice +put a bullet where it would kill. Probably the dead man had something +on this Weir, and the latter knew it. It's not impossible he found the +fellow in his path, drew and murdered him at once, quickly put a hole +in his own hat and then carried the body across the way, running back +to Martinez' office. The thing could have been done in a minute. +Martinez' himself wouldn't have seen how it was worked. I'm not saying +that was exactly how it was done, or that this Weir did actually +murder him, but--investigate, Madden, investigate." + +Steele Weir felt an angry tug at his sleeve. He looked around and +beheld Janet Hosmer's eyes distended with incredulity. + +"Come away, come away," she whispered. "I should never have believed +it if I hadn't heard with my own ears!" + +Keeping close to the line of buildings, they skirted the crowd, still +unnoticed, and left it behind. She walked with quick nervous steps; +her hand yet unconsciously grasped his coat sleeve. All the way to her +home, which they found dark since a messenger had called the doctor to +the court house and the Mexican girl servant also was gone, she said +nothing. + +"Come up on the veranda; I want to talk," she announced when he opened +the gate. + +"Wouldn't it be best if you took your mind off the whole thing, by a +book or something else? I'll go." + +"As if I could take my mind off! There are matters in this I must +know. You may wonder when I say it, Mr. Weir, but this happening +concerns me more than you dream." Her dark glowing gaze brooded on him +with a sort of intense determination. Then she went on, "It--it +involves my whole future as well as your own, though in a different +way. So come inside, if you please." + +Weir in silence accompanied her upon the dark, broad, vine-clad porch. +In the half-gloom he found chairs for them. + +"I'm going to the point at once," she declared. "Why did Mr. Sorenson +talk in such a fashion?" And he could feel her bending forward as if +hanging on his answer. + +"That's the one thing I can't discuss," said he. + +"I must know, I must know." + +"And unhappily I must refuse." + +"Oh, Mr. Weir, if you could but understand what this involves for me, +you wouldn't hesitate! I was shocked at the shooting, but I saw its +necessity on your part; you're not one to run from a foe, a cowardly +foe least of all. But what I heard there in the street horrified me. I +couldn't believe it; I can scarcely credit my ears yet. Mr. Sorenson +and Mr. Burkhardt were not near when you were attacked; they are not +acquainted with the circumstances or facts as you, Mr. Martinez and I +know them; they apparently didn't appear until the crowd started away +with the dead man. Yet at once----" + +"Ay, at once," Steele Weir let slip. + +"At once, immediately, when they had barely heard the story, they +began to tear it to pieces and suggest another, making you out a +villain. You're only an acquaintance, sir, scarcely more than a +stranger, but as I listened it outraged all my sense of justice. Mr. +Sorenson, of all men! My brain was in a whirl. But it's steady now." + +The engineer failed to open his lips at her pause. + +"I'm no fool, Mr. Weir; I think of other things besides dressing my +hair and using a powder puff. I can sometimes put two and two +together--when I see the 'twos' clearly. Now, tell me why Mr. Sorenson +talked as he did, for I must have my eyes clear." + +"Ask me anything but that, Miss Hosmer." + +He sat distressed and uneasy at her prolonged muteness. Suddenly she +questioned quietly: + +"Are those two men the enemies you spoke of?" + +"It will save me embarrassment if I go," he remarked, starting to +rise. "I don't want you to hate me, you know, and still I can't say +anything." + +Her grasp pulled him imperatively back. + +"You shall not go yet." + +"Then I can only continue to decline making answers. I frankly say +that I regret having uttered a word of explanation." + +"I don't regret it. And I intend to keep questioning you, however rude +you may think me. I must know," she cried impetuously, "and I shall +know! Mr. Sorenson is one of the men you referred to, or he would +never seek to direct suspicion at you. I saw the look on your face, +sir, as he spoke. But why should you two be enemies! You come here a +stranger to San Mateo, or have you been here before sometime? Did you +know him before?" + +Again he could feel her eyes straining at him. + +"It seems mad to think of him and Mr. Burkhardt, and perhaps others, +hiring some one to shoot you down from a dark doorway. It is utterly +mad--crazy. But why should they want to convict you, in the crowd's +opinion at least, of murdering the man. It would not be just trouble +about the dam--oh, no. But I can't see through it at all. Why won't +you tell me? You can trust me--and I want to help you as well as help +myself. You certainly don't hold against me my silly nonsense and +unkind words of the day you brought me home from the ford." + +"I didn't think them silly; they delighted me," he responded. "I +hadn't had anything happen to me so refreshing in years." + +"We must be friends. Something tells me they're going to make you +trouble over this shooting, and you'll need friends." + +"Something tells me you're right in both respects," he laughed. + +"And friends must stick together." + +"That's what they should do." + +In the dusk of the vine-clad, flower-scented place where they sat he +experienced the subtle power of this intimacy. Not a soul stirred in +the empty moonlit street before the house. No sounds disturbed the +warm peace of the night. In this secluded spot only there ran the +murmur of their voices. + +"I could never stand by and see any man unjustly accused and defamed +if I knew he was innocent, without lifting up my word in defense," she +proceeded. "But let me ask if on your side you're treating me +fairly?" + +Weir could have groaned. + +"You have a noble spirit, Miss Hosmer. You're more courageous and kind +than any girl I've ever known. Would you have me reveal what my best +judgment tells me should remain untold?" + +"But what of me? Would you keep it to yourself if my future happiness +might turn on it?" + +The appeal in her words shook Steele's heart. + +"How does this business affect your happiness? How?" he asked, in +perplexity. + +Now it was her turn to hesitate. Why should she pause, indeed, before +telling to this man what every one else knew. Yet hesitate she did, +from a feeling she could but partly analyze. Of her fiancé she had +already had disturbing secret doubts that had increased of late: +doubts of his habits, his character and the genuineness of his love; +so that it was with a little eddy of dissatisfaction and shame that +she admitted the relationship. More she questioned her own love as an +actual thing. In a startling way, too, this silent, forceful man, so +deadly in earnest and so earnestly deadly, so terrible in some +aspects, seemed at the instant to dwarf the other in stature and power +as if the latter were a plump manikin. + +Perhaps at the last minute she had a shiver of dread at what might +issue from the engineer's lips in the way of facts if he took her at +her word and told her what she had demanded to know. Did she want to +know? Suppose she let the affair rest where it was and went forward +to the future in the comfortable assurance of ignorance. + +In that case, it might be wooing later revelations that then could not +be escaped, revelations like consuming lightnings. She would settle it +now once for all. + +"It does concern my future and my happiness vitally," she declared, +earnestly. "For this reason----" + +"Yes?" + +"I'm engaged to marry Ed Sorenson, son of Mr. Sorenson." + +Weir leaped to his feet. + +"Good God! That fellow!" he exclaimed, astounded. + +Without another word he sprang down the steps and strode away. Janet +Hosmer, grasping the arms of her chair and staring after him, saw him +once bring down his clenched fist on nothing. Then he passed rapidly +along the street and out of sight. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +IN THE COIL + + +The Spirit of Irony couldn't have devised a more intolerable +situation. So thought Steele Weir as he strode away from the +dwelling, still laboring under the emotions provoked by the girl's +disclosure, wincing at his own biting thoughts and writhing at his +own helplessness. It needed only this revelation to cap the whole +diabolical evening. + +He could not have remained with her now if his life had depended on +it. She, engaged to that scoundrel Ed Sorenson! How could she have +been so blind to the lustful beast's nature? She must love him, of +course. He must have been careful to exhibit to her only such +qualities as would gain her affection and respect, or rather hollow +shams of qualities he never had possessed. Propinquity, lack of rivals +in this little town, no doubt were largely responsible for her feeling +for the man. But it was like standing by and seeing her fair young +body, her fresh pure life, her high soul, flung to a devouring swine. + +And by the rules of the game he couldn't open his lips to utter a word +of warning! That was the worst of it, that was the worst of it. No, +not by the rules of the game; not, for that matter, by the rules of +life; for the latter run that only can the person concerned see with +his or her own eyes what a loved one's character is, and must make and +abide by her own judgments. + +Steele Weir all at once stopped in his tracks. He stared straight +before him for a time seeing Janet Hosmer's face as it appeared when +she anxiously gazed at him from Martinez' door, coming out of the +night like a pallid moon-flower. At that instant she had feared he had +been wounded; her heart was fluttering with anguish. The tension of +his body relaxed and his hands slowly unclosed and involuntarily his +eyes went up to the moon sailing serenely in the sky above the +treetops and the flat-roofed adobe houses. What vaster blessing could +life bestow than to have such a look come seeking one beloved! + +He went on thoughtfully. + +"She shall not marry him," he said to himself, with a quick resolve. + +What were the rules of any game when an innocent girl's happiness was +at stake? Did he care for conventions, or even the contempt she +herself might feel for him for apparently belittling her lover? He +could stand that, so that her eyes were opened and the fellow's yellow +heart made plain. At the proper time he should act, view his part as +she might. A snap of his fingers for being misunderstood! He would go +his own way afterwards. + +The thing had its curious features, too. No mistake, the shock of +hearing Sorenson senior talking to the sheriff and the crowd, working +up sentiment, had stirred her indignation and wonder and uneasiness +and alarm. She was no fool, as she had said. She had a clear, +practical mind, give it something to work on. Her intuition had +immediately grasped the fact that there might be cellars under the +Sorenson household of which she knew nothing and which should be +promptly entered with a strong light. Whether the momentary desire +would last, that was the question. To-morrow, or the first time she +found herself in Ed Sorenson's reassuring presence, she might consider +that her brain had been upset by events of this night, jiggled awry in +a sort of moonlight madness, and her apprehensions as to happiness +unfounded shadows. + +Well, Weir would strike later. + +He turned into the main street. Evidently the body of the dead Mexican +had been carried into the jail behind the court house, or somewhere. +The throng had dispersed, though its elements were every place +talking, in pairs or in little knots of people. As he came along, +these fell silent at his passing. They stared at him, motionless, +expressionless, with the characteristic Mexican stolidity that is the +heritage of Indian blood. By his automobile he found Martinez posted, +stroking his long black mustache and regarding Sorenson's office, +which was still lighted though the curtain remained drawn over the +broad plate-glass window. + +"Just wanted to give you a whispered word," he said, in Steele Weir's +ear, darting a glance towards some of the Mexicans who, drawn by +insatiable curiosity, were lounging nearer. + +"Speak," said the engineer. + +"I came out of the office after you did and heard the talk." He made a +covert movement of forefinger towards the nearby building. "The four +of them are in there again. I saw you listening to Sorenson here in +the street; and would you care to have me express my opinion as to +what the signs indicate, Mr. Weir?" + +"Go ahead." + +"In the light of what I suggested during our talk in my office, the +silly twaddle of Burkhardt and Sorenson is understandable. I look +right through their scheme. They always frame up something against +anybody they want to dispose of; they do it in business matters +regularly, and very skillfully. They immediately perceived a chance, +sir, in this unfortunate encounter of yours and laid hands on it; +their talk was the first delicate maneuver to 'frame' you." + +"Sure," was the unperturbed answer. + +Martinez laid a finger on Weir's lapel. + +"Frankly, feeling hasn't been good towards you because of the work +controversy at the dam," he went on, with another swift glance about. +"They will use that. On the other hand, you have Miss Janet and me as +witnesses in support of your story. Unfortunately Miss Janet is, as +you may not be aware, engaged to----" + +Martinez paused dramatically. + +"Well?" + +"To Ed Sorenson," the lawyer half-hissed. "Nothing could be worse." + +"Why?" + +"Why? Look at the position she'll be in. Consider the pressure they +can put on her through that fact--and they'll not hesitate to do so, +in one way or another. Innocent as a dove, she is, Mr. Weir." He +thrust his head forward, showing his lips drawn apart and shining +teeth tight set. "And she's never heard a rumor of his hushed-up +affairs with poor, ignorant, Mexican girls who knew no better." + +"We'll simply have to trust to her courage to tell the truth on the +proper occasion." + +"Ah, but they'll trick her some way." + +"And you?" + +Martinez straightened, smiled, twirled his mustache. + +"I? They aren't quite foxy enough for that, Mr. Weir," he boasted, +with glistening eyes. + +The engineer was almost ready to believe that, but cunning was not the +only weapon in his enemies' arsenal. How would this lean lawyer stand +up under intimidation, bribes, threats? + +"I trust so, Martinez," said he. "Do you think they will try to get me +sometime by an out-and-out gun-play?" + +"No, no, no." + +"Do you think they could if they tried?" Weir inquired, grimly. + +The attorney paused with finger and thumb on the point of his +mustache, lifted his eyebrows and smiled broadly. + +"They'll consider twice before they attempt it, after your expert +exhibition this evening," said he. "It was amazing, your speed, your +accuracy." + +Steele tapped the man on the breast, who experienced a distinct tremor +at that significant touch and at the veiled menace in the dam +manager's eyes. + +"There's always one bullet in my gun for the man who betrays me, +Martinez." + +The lawyer licked his lips. On general principles he disliked +statements that committed one to the future. But it was necessary to +say something. + +"To be sure. I should feel the same in your circumstances," he +responded. Then as Weir turned to his car, he continued: "The inquest +to-morrow morning should be over early. I'll visit you in the +afternoon as planned." + +"Don't forget that letter," Weir called out. + +Martinez marveled. Kill a man, and still remember a letter! That +magnified his respect immensely. Cool, that fellow! Then a slight +shiver as if a chill from those black peaks west of the town had +struck through his flesh rippled along his spine; for he had been +over at the jail with the crowd and had viewed that dead body lying +there on the stone floor. Not only cool, but dangerous and deadly, +this engineer. He, Martinez, must be discreet; it would not do to risk +gaining Weir's enmity. That cold-faced man could not be "monkeyed +with." + +Martinez gnawed his mustache and eyed the dully illuminated office +window. He wondered if those four men inside had not at last found +their match, perhaps their master. Any one with half a brain could see +there was going to be a desperate struggle between the four and the +one, and he was not exactly sure yet that he wanted to venture farther +into the affair. But the very danger fascinated him with its subtle +and obscure features, exactly suited to his manipulation. + +A man who had been standing apart sauntered nearer. + +"Señor," he addressed the lawyer in Spanish. + +Martinez whirled about. + +"Ah, it's only you, Naharo." + +"He is a bad fighter, eh?" And the man, almost white because of +intermixed blood, moved a hand in the direction Weir's car had gone. + +"Perhaps not bad. Quick with a gun, however," was the careful reply. + +"With his fists also. I saw, or if I did not see, I very nearly did +so--it is the same--saw him use them in Bowenville. And on that dog of +an Ed Sorenson who would have seduced my little Dolorosa, as he did +Cristobal's daughter, if I had not perceived what he was at." + +The lawyer's ears were instantly pricked up. He caught the man by the +shirt-sleeve. + +"Come with me," he said. + +Once they were in his office he carefully closed and locked the door, +drawing the window shades. Literally he rubbed his hands one over the +other as he bade Naharo take a chair. Then the pair of them rolled and +lighted cigarettes. + +"Perhaps I should say no more, Señor Martinez." + +"It will go no farther. And if the engineer and Ed Sorenson had a +fight, then it must have been for that reason the latter's father +spoke as he did to-night. You heard him." + +"Yes. And I did not understand why. It was not because of what +happened at Bowenville, unquestionably not, for it had to do with +another girl----" + +"Ha, a girl! And the engineer mixed in it?" + +"Listen. As I say, he would not have told his father, because he keeps +such things quiet; it is four years since he last had to pay money to +settle a matter. Some think he now behaves, but it is not true. But he +is more careful. So his father did not know about this." + +"Tell it all, Naharo." + +The other inhaled a puff of smoke and half-closed his eyes. Though +nearly white, he retained the Mexican's high cheek bones, and languor, +and unforgiving nature. + +"I was in Bowenville, freighting up flour to the store of Smith's. I +had loaded by evening, to make an early start next day. I had gone +into the restaurant for supper, taking a seat far down at the end of +the counter near the kitchen. I was tired and thinking only of my +food. As I ate, there was a crash in one of the stalls and I looked +about. There was a fight, of course. But it ended at once. Then I +observed Ed Sorenson come out presently, jerking his collar and tie +straight. He was mad. He had been whipped, too. For he yet looked as +if he wanted to kill the other man in there, but he went away. Soon +the other man came out and with him was a young white girl, whom I +did not know. The man was this engineer and he carried an old piece of +baggage, not such as he would carry but as the girl might, for she +looked like a ranch girl who was poor. The girl was scared. The man +was calm as a priest. That scoundrel Ed Sorenson had been beaten. Aha, +so; it was clear. The engineer had put a spoke in the fellow's wheel. +Then I walked to the door and saw the two get into a car and start on +the trail this way. After that, I resumed my supper. You perceive, the +man had taken the girl away from the wolf." + +Martinez' restless eyes wandered about the room as he digested this +account. + +"Did you see the dead man?" he inquired, casually. + +"Yes, señor." + +Their looks met, held for an instant, dropped. Each read the thought +of the other: the motive for the attack on the engineer was clear. But +some convictions are better not expressed. + +"I should have liked to see Señor Weir do the shooting," Naharo +stated. "Dios, such shooting! Two shots, two hits. And in the dark!" + +Martinez' grinned. + +"It will not please--whoever hired the dead man. He was hired for the +job, of course." + +"Unquestionably, señor," was the reply. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE GATHERING STORM + + +At the inquest next morning no outward sign indicated what Weir's +enemies might be at. Indeed, none of them was present. The engineer +made a statement; the two witnesses, Janet Hosmer and Felipe Martinez, +were briefly interrogated, and the finding was returned that the +unknown Mexican had met death from two bullet wounds while attempting +to kill Steele Weir. + +One spectator there was who took a strong interest in proceedings, Ed +Sorenson. When, however, Janet Hosmer was notified by her father, who +was in charge, that she could withdraw, the young fellow hastened to +lead her away, with an audible remark that it was a shame she had had +to be "dragged into this disreputable gun-man's bloody show." Meaning +Steele Weir, naturally. + +That feeling was being intensified against him was only too apparent +in the hostile manner of the crowd and in the silence with which it +received the finding. There was his former unpopularity, to begin +with; there was now added a race resentment, for the slain man, +stranger though he was, was Mexican; and finally, he knew not what +distilled poison of lies concerning his innocence in the night fray. +Nothing more was needed to reveal the swelling hate which secret fear +of Weir but increased than a volley of curses and abuse hurled at his +head from a native saloon doorway as he passed in his car on his way +home. + +During the following week the engineer was too occupied with dam work +to have time for other matters. He pushed the concrete construction +and inspired his men with something of his own indomitable spirit, who +had learned of the cowardly attack in San Mateo and rallied to his +standard with a zeal and ardor for which the fact of employment alone +did not account. He had become a leader as well as their "boss." From +Meyers down to the humblest workman the camp had for him a new +admiration, a new respect and a new loyalty, which he could not help +but feel; he had proved that he could deliver the "goods"; and if the +Mexicans wanted war, the Americans here would be glad to oblige them. +Nor did they wait to let San Mateo know the fact. + +"We're wid 'Cold Steel' Weir, our boss, four hundred of us, till ye +can skate on hell," a huge Irishman, one of half a dozen standing at +Vorse's bar on Saturday night, remarked when the saloon-man uttered a +sneer at the manager. "Say that agin and we'll tear your rotten booze +joint to pieces and make ye eat it! And if another stinkin' greaser +tries to wing him from the dark, we'll come down here and wipe your +dirty little town off the map! That goes both ways from the jack!" He +snapped his fingers under the other's nose by way of added insult. + +A petty series of hostile acts against the company developed. +Teamsters were stoned by boys, which left them raging and murderous to +discover the men who set them on. Half a carload of cement in sacks +was ripped open and emptied on the earth at Bowenville. After Meyers, +Weir's assistant, found his automobile tires slashed to bits on coming +out of the post-office in San Mateo, it became necessary always to go +in pairs, one man to remain on watch. Weir himself just avoided a +serious accident one evening at dusk while a mile from the dam when he +instinctively ducked in his car as something grazed the top of his +wind-shield. A wire had been stretched across the road from a +telephone pole to a tree, at just the height to strike him at the +throat. + +He halted and removed the deadly contrivance. Men on watch of his +movements could have prepared it against his return; and, indeed, he +thought he detected a pair of flitting shadows behind a row of willow +bushes lining a Mexican irrigation ditch, but in the dusk he could not +be sure. On running thither, he found no one. + +The camp was not of a temper, however, to allow the attacks to be all +on one side. Atkinson, the superintendent, came to Weir one morning +towards the end of the week and informed him workmen were drifting +down to San Mateo nightly in hope of trouble. + +"They'll get a knife put into them," Steele Weir replied, with a frown +that did not entirely hide his satisfaction at this evidence of +support. + +"Maybe; and again maybe not," the superintendent stated, grinning. "A +bunch jumped some of our boys last night and I guess when the dust +settled there were a couple of Mexicans beaten nearly to death." + +"Call the men all together this noon," Weir ordered. + +At that hour he gave them a talk for what he called their long-eared +cussedness, and laid down a little law and wound up with a number of +reasonable explanations for the same. Every man who went out hunting +trouble was a camp liability, and would be fired. He did not propose +to give the town authorities a chance to jail workmen and impair the +dam work, just the thing they were waiting to do. The men should keep +away from San Mateo, or at least avoid disputes and rows. If they +spent no money there whatever it would sting the town where it would +hurt the most, in its pocket-book; and he himself was transferring the +company bank account to Bowenville, by way of example. If any man felt +the need of change from camp, he could have two days off at the end of +the month to spend at Bowenville. But keep away from the Mexicans! + +"And if they come up here huntin' us when we show up no more?" yelled +the same big Irishman who had paid his respects to Vorse. + +"In that case, tear their heads off," was the reply. "But put on your +gloves first or you'll dirty your fingers." Which bit of rough humor +caught the crowd's fancy and won a roar of laughter. + +Later as the crowd dispersed to eat Atkinson said to Meyers, "The boss +knows how to handle men all right, all right; he put sugar on the +pill. The gang went off grinning. They know they've got to be +good--but only up to a limit." + +Meantime Felipe Martinez had not been idle. He rode up to engineering +headquarters on his pony one evening and carried Weir out into the +open where their words would not be overheard. He reported that he was +quietly working for information of Weir's father among the older +Mexicans who would be likely to remember him, but proceeding +cautiously so that no one would suspect his purpose. He represented +himself to them as undertaking to write a history of San Mateo County; +he must depend upon them for data of early days; it would be a fine +book bound in leather, in which their names and possibly their +pictures would appear;--which never failed to flatter the parties with +whom he talked. And the lawyer laughed with amusement as he related +the success of his method. + +"I have already seen some thirty or forty people, a few of whom +recalled your father, but no more. But this afternoon," he continued, +"I discovered a woman who worked at the Weir ranch house." Martinez +perceived the engineer's attention quicken. "She said the Weirs had a +little boy of four years of age, perhaps five. You, Mr. Weir, of +course. They suddenly paid and discharged her one day, packed a trunk +and drove hurriedly off; and the next morning Sorenson took possession +of the ranch and she went home. They drove off in a great haste--there +was no railroad anywhere near here then--and that was the last she +ever saw or heard of them." + +"Yes." + +"One thing more there was: she said there was a story that went around +for awhile afterwards that Weir and another had lost their ranches and +cattle gambling. For that reason Weir left the country; and for that +reason, too, the other man, Dent, by name, committed suicide in +Vorse's saloon where they had gambled. She said Saurez, an old man +living with his son up a little creek, would know about that, for he +used to clean out Vorse's bar-room in those days." + +Steele Weir grasped Martinez's shoulder in a quick grip. + +"He did! Get everything he knows out of him," he commanded. + +"Leave it to me, Mr. Weir. I understand how to wheedle facts out of +these old fellows." + +But it was doubtful if the engineer heard his words. He had dropped +his hand, stood opening and shutting his fingers, while on his face +grew the hard implacable look that always whetted the attorney's +curiosity. + +Weir walked up on the hillside when Martinez had ridden away and there +sat down on a rock. It was a rift, though but a faint rift, that this +news made in the blank dark wall he had to confront; and he wished to +think. Proof as well as knowledge of what had happened in his father's +case was what he must have. Acting on intuition he had been able to +put fear into the hearts of the four men responsible for making his +father's life a hell, but proof of their guilt was necessary to make +them suffer in a similar fashion, to reveal their crime to the world, +to destroy them. Now at last, here was a possibility. If this former +roustabout of the saloon knew anything! + +Well, he must be patient--the mill of the gods grinds slowly. But when +finally he had gained all the strands and woven the net! Unconsciously +his hands arose before his face like talons closing on prey and shut +on air, until their veins swelled. That was how he would serve them, +those men. Though they might fall on their knees and implore mercy, +not one beat of pity should move his heart. + +It was almost dark when he arose. Behind him the great peaks soared +against the last greenish twilight. In the shacks the camp lamps were +showing at windows. At one side and in the canyon the concrete core of +the dam appeared white in the gloom, like a bank of snow. The murmur +of voices, an occasional distant laugh, came from men's quarters. + +Presently he slanted down the hillside past the camp, until he struck +into a road leading towards town, where he began to walk forward, +hatless and without coat, through the soft dusk. He was disinclined +for work as yet, the work always piled on his desk; he desired yet +for a little to rest his spirit in the evening calm. + +His thoughts had softened and turned to Janet Hosmer. He had not seen +her since the morning at the court house. He had not spoken with her +since that interview upon her veranda, which had terminated with his +shocked utterance. That he had thus given away to his feeling he had a +hundred times repented; and that he had so bruskly departed he was +profoundly chagrined. But what could he have done? No explanation was +possible. The situation in which he had been allowed of but one thing, +escape. + +With the rising tide of emotion reflected by memory of that moment his +steps had quickened. All at once he discovered before him the rippling +sheen of water. He was at Chico Creek, a mile from camp, where he +first had met Janet Hosmer. Engaged with his tangled problem, he had +been unaware of the distance covered. + +Pausing but an instant he waded through, smiling to himself at thought +of that afternoon's spirited encounter with the girl. She had not +dreamed then, nor he, that events would fling them together in a more +dramatic second meeting at Martinez' door. + +Suddenly he perceived a white-clad figure before him, standing +motionless, leaning forward to peer his way as he walked forth from +the ford. + +"It's you, Mr. Weir?" came in soft inquiry. + +"Yes. How in the world do you happen to be here, Janet Hosmer?" + +She laughed. + +"I thought I recognized you marching through the stream, so I wasn't +alarmed." + +"No one would think of harming you, I'm sure." + +"But anyway I should have vanished if you had been a stranger." + +"Not being one, you remained. I had no idea of such luck as this when +I set out for a walk." + +Both pleasure and satisfaction sounded in his voice. + +"I was just taking a little stroll myself," said she. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +AN UNEXPECTED ALLY + + +"Let me take the chance first thing to apologize for my behavior the +night we talked on your porch," Steele Weir exclaimed. "Your statement +of being engaged surprised me into words and conduct that has had me +in an unhappy state of mind ever since. Mr. Sorenson's talk to the +crowd stirred my anger. Had I known your exact relationship to him and +his son, I should have made no mistakes." + +"I had urged you to speak, had I not?" + +"Grant that. But I don't stand excused." + +"There was no questioning the sincerity of your last expression that +night, in any case," she said. "But I've not been indignant because of +what you exclaimed or because you hate the Sorensons. 'Hate' isn't too +strong a word, is it? I'm none the less interested however to know +what it's all about. You see I don't take any stock in the reasons +commonly given: that you're a 'bad man,' an agent of a rich +corporation trying to put our people out of business, a public menace +and all the rest." + +"Is that what they say?" Weir asked, with a laugh. + +"Part of it. Nor does it fool father, for he said only yesterday that +there's something more at bottom of the feeling against you than +merely a fight of moneyed interests. He knows from what I told him +that that dead man tried to murder you; yet he hears constant talk of +your 'crime,' of evidence being gathered against you by the county +attorney, Mr. Lucerio, and of the penalty you shall pay. All absurd, +to be sure." + +"Mr. Martinez tells me the same," Steele responded. "But he says also +that all the people do not believe the stories." + +"That's true." And she appeared to reflect upon the circumstance. + +To Weir nothing could be stranger than this talk on the dark road with +the girl who, too, should be naturally opposed to him. In fact, here +at this very spot and at their first meeting she had announced herself +as a critic and an enemy. He could smile over that now; she herself +probably did smile at the recollection. Yet she was calmly discussing +his situation without animus or even unfriendliness. + +How could that be possible if she actually loved the man whom she +expected to marry, Ed Sorenson? Why did she not at once spring to arms +in defense of the Sorenson side? Unless--unless she suspected the +baseness of her lover and his father, and fear had replaced love. + +All at once she spoke. + +"They will put you in jail if they can, and bring you to trial, +and--and----" + +"And hang me, that's what you hesitate to say," Steele finished for +her. "Whom do you mean by 'they'?" + +"The people." + +"Are the people here in this county really 'they'? Do the people, that +is, the mass of poor ignorant Mexicans, have anything to do with +public affairs? Both you and I know they do not." + +"Why deny it!" she sighed. "It's generally known that four men, with +a few more at their skirts, run things. They nominate the men who are +to fill office--there's only one political party in the county worth +mentioning--and give them orders and expect them to obey. For that +reason father would never accept an office. He could be coroner; he +could be county treasurer; he could go to the legislature; or anything +else--if he would but wear their political livery. But he prefers to +be a free man. I used to think nothing of it, see no wrong in such a +state of affairs, for everything went along well enough and about the +same as ever as far as I could see." + +"Possibly you didn't see everything that was occurring below the +surface even then." + +"Exactly what father told me yesterday. We talked about everything +under the sun, I imagine. And I informed him that you walked home with +me the night of the shooting; I had not spoken of it before." + +"That was proper; he should know it." + +"He doesn't share in the feeling against you, Mr. Weir, let me assure +you of that. Ever since he heard my explanation of the shooting and +then met you at the inquest, he's convinced that you're being done a +great injustice." + +Steele experienced a warm glow of pleasure. + +"I liked your father at first sight," said he, simply. "But where does +all this leave us?" He spoke in a light tone of amusement that he was +far from feeling. "Our position is--odd." + +"It is," she assented so earnestly that he began to laugh. + +"You mustn't allow it to disturb you. I'm really presuming upon your +kindness of heart and innocence in enjoying your company now. +Acquaintance with me is a rather serious matter here in San Mateo and +carries consequences. You don't think for an instant that I'd allow my +personal pleasure--and pleasure it is to be with you, needless to +say--to bring you into ill-favor among your friends and to make you +the subject of gossip. I appreciate your good spirit towards me; and I +admire you greatly. But it will be well if I admire you at a distance +hereafter." + +"I don't see whose business it is except mine." + +To Steele Weir it was like pushing aside the only thing that +brightened his hard, toilsome existence thus to abjure future +companionship with her. + +"Good heavens, do you fancy that comes easy for me to say?" he +exclaimed, drawing a deep breath. "I never before knew any one +who--well, I'll stop there." + +"Who what?" she demanded. + +"I nearly overstepped the bounds." + +"Oh, that's it." + +What imp of perversity was in the girl? Weir stared at her for a +moment through the gloom. + +And then she remarked that she must be returning home, and said she +would be glad if he would accompany her part way as there was a +Mexican's house half way to town where a particularly vicious dog +always rushed out. The dog rushed out exactly as she had predicted, +barking savagely, so that she slipped her arm into the engineer's and +held fast until they were past. + +"He does that only after dark; I hadn't expected to walk so far and it +was still light when I set out," said she. + +The touch of her fingers on his sleeve, the light swing of her form at +his side, the subtle fragrance that emanated from her hair and face, +this intimate nearness on the dark road, the heavy scent of flowers +in the bordering fields,--all sent the blood thumping from his heart. +If he--if he were in Ed Sorenson's place, what love he could pour +out! + +Ed Sorenson, the double-faced wretch who while engaged to her had +attempted to entice away for his own vile gratification the simple, +trustful girl on Terry Creek, he was to marry this sweet and charming +companion. What diabolical tragedies life could mix! + +"See, the moon is rising," she said. + +Over the edge of the mesa the yellow globe was bulging, rayless for +the moment, round and full. + +"We're almost at the edge of town, and I'll stop here," he replied. +"As I said, I'd not bring down upon your head a single unpleasant +word." + +"My head's not so tender," she responded quickly. "But I think you're +right--for the present." A tight little smile followed the words. +"We'll see." + +"That's best." + +"But I propose to stand by you. I told you that night I couldn't +remain indifferent when I saw an innocent man persecuted." + +"You give me a tremendous amount of happiness." + +"If I do, I'm glad. I don't believe you ever had much of it. Do you +know what is said? That you never smile. But I can swear that isn't +true, and I'm beginning to wonder if you really are--Heavens, what was +I about to say!" + +"Go ahead. It's nothing terrible, I wager." + +"Well, I won't finish that, but I'll ask a question even more +impertinent, if I may. Frankly, I'm dying of curiosity to know." + +Weir turned his head to listen to the approach of a horseman. He could +see the man galloping towards them for town, having turned into the +road from a lane a short distance off, his horse's hoofs striking an +occasional spark from a stone. Then the engineer looked smilingly at +Janet Hosmer. + +"I'll tell you anything--or almost anything." One subject alone was +sealed. + +"It's that name." + +"Name?" + +"'Cold Steel.' How did you get it?" + +"It was just pinned on me a few years ago. I'm not particularly proud +of it. I don't even know the rogue who gave me the label. And it means +nothing." + +"Even your enemies are using it,--and I understand what it signifies." +She bent her eyes upon him for a time. "That is, what it signifies to +your friends." + +"And to my enemies?" + +"More gossip. They say it's because you're a gun-man and a knife-man. +Oh, I wish I didn't have to have my ears filled with such vicious +slander! But it means the same to enemies as to friends if they would +but admit it. I'll wait until this rider passes, then I must go." + +No thought of friends or foes, both, or of any such person as Ed +Sorenson in particular, was in Steele's mind as he made answer. + +"I'd stand here forever if you didn't go," he said, with a low +eagerness that caused her breath to flutter in spite of herself. + +On her part, her mind was whispering, "He means it, I believe he +really means it." Which caused her to lift and lower her eyes +hurriedly, and feel a peculiar sense of trepidation and excitement. +Odd to state, she, too, just then had no recollection of any such +being as Ed Sorenson, which was the extreme of unloverliness. + +"Before I do go, I've something to tell you," she said hurriedly, +dropping her voice. "It's this: the dead man's name was"--here her +tone went down to a mere sibilance--"Pete Ortez." + +He leaned forward, once again the hard fierce man she had seen in +Martinez' office the night of the shooting. + +"How did you learn that?" + +"It--well, it was let slip inadvertently in my presence." + +Weir would not press her further. Nor was there need, for the sudden +embarrassment on her face and indeed the information itself could have +but one source, the man who knew, Ed Sorenson. + +"You're the equal of a thousand ordinary friends," he declared. "I can +make use of that item. Step aside, please; we're in the middle of the +road." And he drew her from in front of the horseman advancing upon +them. + +They said nothing, but waited for the man to pass. But he pulled his +mount from a gallop to a trot, and from a trot to a foot pace, and at +last when squarely even with them came to a full stop. From under his +broad hat brim he silently considered the girl in white summer dress +and the bare-headed engineer. + +Then he began to shake with laughter, which lasted but an instant. So +insulting, so sinister was that noiseless laugh that Janet's hand had +flown to Weir's arm, which she nervously clutched. As for Weir, his +limbs stiffened--she felt the tightening of the arm she grasped--as a +tiger's body grows taut preparatory to a spring. + +The short, fleshy, insolent rider sitting there in the moonlight was +Burkhardt. + +"Ed Sorenson better keep an eye on his little turtledove," he +remarked. And touching heel to his animal he swung ahead for town. + +For one dazed minute they stared after him. + +"Shoot him!" she suddenly said, through shut teeth. + +"I haven't my gun along, or I'd be glad to oblige you." + +"He deserves killing, the wretch!" + +"On more accounts than one," he replied, quietly. + +So quietly and so gravely, in truth, that her gust of rage subsided +before the low-spoken menace of the words. No quick anger was his but +a steady and deadly purpose. Again she felt the hard-held force, the +mystery of the man, as if flowing suddenly upward from subterranean +channels. What wrong had he suffered, what undeserved torture at the +hands of this man and others thus to freeze his soul? + +But he immediately turned to her, asking, "Does that upset the +broth?" + +A wan smile greeted his words. + +"I expect it will keep the cook busy, anyway," she said. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +BY RIGHT OF POSSESSION + + +Janet Hosmer made no effort to guess what her fiancé would say when +next he called, or to prepare a defense of explanations and excuses. +She was not that kind. What was necessary to be stated at the proper +time would arise to her lips. Nevertheless she had a heaviness of +heart, a natural distress as to the unpleasantness in prospect; and +had only the slightest hope that Ed would ignore or refuse to hear +Burkhardt's story. The man would tell her lover, of that she might +rest assured, out of hatred for the engineer if for no other reason. + +She knew how passionately Ed was set against Steele Weir, for a score +of times she had heard his incensed opinions, increasing lately to +tirades. It had seemed strange at first that one could be so bitter +over a simple difference like that of who should work at the dam. But +ever since Weir had uttered his hoarse exclamation regarding her +engagement, words so full of protest and amazed indignation, she was +aware the cause went deeper. + +At that moved ejaculation of her companion that night something, too, +had settled on her heart like a weight--an indefinable foreboding. The +anxiety aroused about Ed's father and his integrity came to include Ed +likewise. Loyalty of course required that she accept the man she had +promised to marry, without reservations. As between him and others +there should be but one choice. But did she really know him? Was he +simply the open, jolly, generous, upright adoring fellow he appeared? +Or were there less pleasant, more ignoble sides to his character? Was +he, as well as his father, capable of a mean, unworthy, selfish +persecution of another? + +The engineer had made no open accusation against him--or against any +one, for that matter. She had done her best to get him to express +himself, but he had refused. Enemies he might have, but he would not +discuss the fact beyond admitting it was true. Only at moments when +his restraint slipped could she measure his feelings. Quite different +that from Ed Sorenson's voluble, heated denunciations of the other. +Yet, heavens, how appalled this reserved man had been at hearing of +her engagement! Far more than words, far more than any open charge, +did his face and incredulity, both so patently sincere, bespeak the +mistake she was making and justify gnawing doubts of her lover. + +As she approached her home Ed Sorenson came dashing out to spring into +his runabout waiting before the gate. At sight of her he pulled up +short. + +"Ah, here you are," he said. + +"Yes, here I am," was her reply. + +"You doubtless know what I've been told," he stated, significantly. + +"No, I don't. I can only suspect." + +"Is it true you've been meeting this man Weir on the quiet? Meeting +him while engaged to me? You know what I think of him, and what every +other respectable person thinks of him." + +"Was that Mr. Burkhardt's report? That I am meeting Mr. Weir on the +quiet, to use your words?" she countered. + +Sorenson made an angry gesture at what he considered an evasion. + +"Janet, listen. He said he saw you at the edge of town, that you +were both bare-headed, standing close together, arms locked. Good +heavens, can't you imagine my feelings on hearing what he had to +say! He stopped me on the street and drew me aside to put me on my +guard, he said. Burkhardt wouldn't just make up a yarn like that +against you, and he's a good friend of mine. He didn't say half +what he suggested." + +The girl turned her face towards the house, shut her eyes for an +instant. She could picture the rider's brutal leering face and +unspoken insinuations; and her brain also placed in the scene her +lover greedily if angrily drinking in the tale. Harkening to it +instead of knocking the man down, that was the worst of it. +Harkening--and believing. + +"I'll not deign to resent your remark of meeting Mr. Weir 'on the +quiet'," said she, quietly. "I met him on the road accidentally." + +"Don't you think I'm entitled to know something about it?" he asked, +with an edged tone. + +"What is it you desire to know?" + +Nearly an oath of wrath escaped his mouth, but he kept his control. + +"Janet, you know what kind of a man he is," he said. "You know what I +feel against him, and father, and all our friends, and the town. And +the whole town, too, will probably hear of this, with a lot of gossip +added that isn't true." + +"But I met him accidentally." + +"You didn't have to chat with him like an old friend." + +Janet Hosmer gave him a slow, meditative look. + +"How do you know how I talked with him?" + +"You talked with him. That in itself was too much." + +"I don't view it in that light," she responded. "He was perfectly +civil. Whatever public opinion may be regarding the shooting, I know +he killed the man in self-defence. So that's nothing against him. You +would have done the same in his place." + +Ed Sorenson leaned towards her. + +"You were mistaken, Janet. I've said before that I feared you were, +but the prosecuting attorney has witnesses to the gun-play that he's +dug up. Martinez saw nothing; how could he from inside the office? And +remember that you're only a girl, Janet; in the darkness and with the +excitement you were confused. I haven't a doubt this scoundrel Weir +made you believe you saw what never occurred, when you appeared in +Martinez' office. When you've thought it over, you'll realize that +yourself. These new witnesses tell just the reverse of what you +fancied happened. I'm going to see that you're away from San Mateo +when the man's tried, as he will be." + +No reply coming from her, he continued: + +"He deceived you then and he'll endeavor to poison your mind right +along. You're too trustful. Now, I was angry at first, but if there +was anything in this meeting to-night that was out of the way, it was +his doing, I know. If he got familiar with you, as Burkhardt +hinted----" + +"Well?" + +"I'll kill the dog with my own hands!" + +"You may rest easy. His conduct was irreproachable, Mr. Burkhardt to +the contrary." + +Sorenson regarded her in perplexity, divided between anger and doubts. +Too, a new feeling unaccountably sprang into his breast--jealousy. In +the end apprehension all at once filled his mind, darkening his face +and bringing down his brows. + +Uneasy as at first he had been after the row in the restaurant, he had +eventually dismissed the matter from his mind, for no rumor of it had +reached San Mateo. Neither Weir nor Johnson, the girl's father, had +blabbed of it, so his alarm passed; they didn't want to talk of it for +the girl's sake, any more than he wished it known, was his grinning +conclusion. The deuce would have been to pay if Janet had got wind of +the business. But now his fears came winging back a hundred-fold as he +stared at her. + +"What did he say to you?" he asked, in a tense voice. + +"Not that tone with me, if you please." + +Sorenson, however, was past observation of her mood or temper. + +"He told you a lot of lies about me, didn't he?" he went on, not +hiding the sneer. "And you believed them." + +"He didn't say much, but what he did say was to the point. I don't +recall that there were any lies." + +"There were, of course. It would be just his chance to give you his +made-up story about me and that Johnson girl. That was what so +interested you." + +"No, he didn't say anything about you and any girl except me. Then +he only said he was sorry he couldn't have the pleasure of my +friendship----" + +"Ay-ee," the other grated. His lips worked above his teeth. + +A shudder passed over Janet Hosmer's skin at the sound and the sight, +for she had never seen him like this. A cold hand might have been +closing about her heart: his glare was animal-like and bestial. His +nature at the instant stood unclothed. + +"And he said he would be at pains to avoid even chance meetings with +me, because it would make talk and cause me annoyance." + +"He'll not meet you another time if I have anything to say about it." + +"I see. But I wanted you to understand that he told me no lies, nor +repeated any story--about you and a Johnson girl, I think you said." + +A visible breath of relief lifted his breast. He now would have +been glad for some one to boot him along the street for ever +mentioning the thing. He almost had put his foot in it. Apparently +she was not interested in seeking further knowledge of the subject +that he so ill-advisedly had brought up. Lucky for him she hadn't the +inquisitiveness of some girls. + +The narrow escape restored a trace of his good humor, and he was +shrewd enough to divert her mind before the incident made an +impression. He reached out and patted her shoulder. + +"Don't think me a scold, darling," said he. "Burkhardt upset me with +his news, that was all. He hates that gun-man so much that it's no +wonder he was angry at seeing him hoodwink you. He probably imagined a +lot. Just don't speak to Weir if he tries to stop you again. And +pretty soon we'll have him where he won't interfere with anybody." + +"When will that be?" + +"The county attorney's still collecting evidence. Nothing will be done +before the grand jury meets, which is in a couple of weeks. You must +arrange to go off on a visit about that time." + +"Why?" + +"So you won't have to go through the ordeal of appearing in court. +There are ways of fixing such things." He laughed softly. "Especially +here in San Mateo County. It's too rotten a business for you to have +to step into, this murder. Come along down to the drug store and have +some ice cream." + +"Not to-night. I'm feeling a little tired." + +"Then let us rest on your porch. I haven't seen you twice in the last +week." + +"Some other evening, Ed. I promised father to help get up his account +books." + +"You're not angry with me?" he asked. "If you're not, give me a kiss +before I go." + +A sharp smile showed on her lips. + +"I'm not angry, but I'm going to penalize you to that extent. If you +must have a cheek to press, go kiss----" She paused, while the +conviction darted into his mind that she had remembered that Johnson +girl blunder after all, then said: "Mr. Burkhardt's cheek." + +Again relief swept him. + +"Come, be kind, Janet," he began. But she was already through the gate +and skipping up the walk, vanishing in the gloom of the veranda. The +screen door clapped shut. "Peeved, all right. I'll have to be +extra-nice to her for a day or so until she calms down," he murmured +to himself. "Must send her a box of chocolates and some magazines +to-morrow to show my contrite heart; that always gets 'em. Hang it, +it's time to fix a day, too. We've been engaged long enough. She sure +has a figure and face--a beaut! I guess she didn't smell the booze on +my breath. Got to be careful about that till we're married." He jumped +into his car. + +The screen door had clapped shut, but Janet had not entered. She had +employed the artifice to convey the impression it had. She did not +wish to go in to her work just yet, for calm as she had appeared +during the interview her emotions were running full tide. Love Ed +Sorenson? Marry him? She groped for and dropped into a wicker chair, +her head sinking in shame and self-abasement. Never--never! + +And before her mind swam another face, a face with the hair ruffled +about the brow, clear of eyes and strong-lined, as she had beheld it +in the moonlight of the road. + +All at once she tugged at a finger, fiercely pulling off the +engagement ring. She rubbed her cheek as well, with an angry hand, for +the memory of kisses was burning her as by fire. + +Then she sat quite motionless for a long time. + +"I'll just ask father," she exclaimed. "There can't be more than a +dozen Johnsons around here." + +Which would have given Ed Sorenson a fresh jolt in his breathing +apparatus if he had overheard, and shriveled the cocky self-assurance +with which he sipped a high-ball that moment at Vorse's bar. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +JANET AND MARY + + +In a region as sparsely settled by white people as San Mateo and its +adjoining counties there were not, as Janet put it, more than a dozen +Johnson families. In fact, there were but two, she learned from her +father: one at Bowenville, the small railroad town of three hundred +people, a merchant with a wife and four little children; the other a +rancher on Terry Creek, whose wife was dead and who had one child, a +girl of sixteen or seventeen years of age. + +"I may be away at dinner time, so don't wait for me," she told her +father next morning. "I'm going out in the country a few miles--and +you know my car! If you'd just let me squeeze some of these patients +who never pay, you could have a new car yourself." + +"Mine's all right," he smiled. + +"But mine isn't. Look at it. You gave it to me only because you +scorned to ride in it any longer yourself. It would do for me, you +said, but you prance around in a bright shiny one yourself. I blush at +the row mine makes; sounds like a boiler factory; I drive only along +side streets. If the patients would pay what they owe, I could ride +like a lady instead of a slinking magpie." + +The doctor leaned back in his chair and laughed (they were at +breakfast) and remarked that old friends were best. + +"Don't call my asthmatic tin beast a friend; we're bitter enemies," +said she. + +It carried her to Terry Creek about noon, however, safely enough, +whither she went with a firm resolution that crushed a certain +embarrassment and anxiety. Suppose these people resented her +inquiries. + +She placed the bearded, tanned rancher at once, when she saw him +working on a piece of harness before the door as she drove up. She had +seen him in town at different times. She once had stopped here, too, +several years previous when accompanying her father, who had been +called to dress the rancher's injured hand. The girl could not have +been over twelve or thirteen then, a shabby, awkward girl wearing a +braid who came out to gaze shyly at her sitting in the car. + +Johnson arose from the ground and approached as she alighted, while +the girl's head popped into sight at the door. + +"I'm Dr. Hosmer's daughter, Janet," she stated, putting out her hand +and smiling. "I've come to see you on a matter. Shall we go into the +house?" + +With curiosity sharing a vague hostility in his bearing he led her in, +where his daughter was setting the table. Janet also told the girl who +she was. At once dismay and startlement greeted the announcement. But +she invited Janet to be seated, she herself withdrawing to a spot by +the stove. + +No need for Janet to beat about the bush with her errand. + +"Mr. Johnson," she said, "I've come to you and your daughter for a +little help if you can give it." That seemed the best way to break +down their reserve, an appeal rather than simply blunt questions--and +what was it if not an appeal? "What I have to say is just among the +three of us and I know it will go no farther. You're acquainted with +my father; he's respected by every one." + +"He is," Johnson stated, nodding. + +"The situation is this, to speak plainly: last night I heard something +that has caused me to come to you for information; I'm engaged to Ed +Sorenson, and in a moment of anger he denounced Mr. Weir, the engineer +at the dam, for having told me a false story--lies--about him and your +daughter." + +Janet perceived the quick, troubled look exchanged by man and girl. + +"Mr. Weir has never mentioned your daughter's name in my hearing; I +think him incapable of discussing any one maliciously. He's very +careful of what he says. I consider him a very honorable man. At any +rate, he said nothing of what Ed Sorenson suggested, and if the latter +himself hadn't spoken of the thing I should have had no inkling that +there had been anything justifying an inquiry on my part. There may +not be. But why should he imagine Mr. Weir had told me 'lies' linking +him and your daughter?" + +"I know Weir--and I know Ed Sorenson, too," was the rancher's grim +rejoinder. + +"This is a disagreeable subject, I know. But I'm not here out of mere +curiosity, but a desire to learn if something has been concealed from +me by Ed Sorenson that I should be informed of. His manner, his words, +the whole incident has filled me with doubts. See, I'm trusting you +absolutely." And she extended a hand in a gesture bespeaking +sincerity. + +Johnson peered at her in silence from under shaggy brows. + +"I ask myself why Mr. Sorenson took it for granted that the engineer +had been telling me false stories and if there was any ground for such +fears," she went on. "He had nothing to be afraid of, no matter what +might be said, if he had done nothing unworthy. I can't imagine Mr. +Weir, for instance, being alarmed in that way." + +"They're telling plenty of lies about him, for that matter, but I +guess it doesn't worry him any," Johnson said. + +"What I ask you touches a delicate subject, perhaps," Janet continued, +reluctantly. "You may feel that I'm pushing in where I'm not +concerned. But if Mr. Sorenson has done anything discreditable--if he +has acted in a way to make me ashamed when I know, then it becomes a +matter affecting my happiness too. I would never marry a man who had +done something dishonorable, for if I did so knowingly I should be +dishonored and dishonorable as well." + +Johnson suddenly thrust a brown forefinger at her. + +"Do you want to know what Sorenson did?" he demanded, wrathfully. + +Janet gripped her hands together. "Yes." + +"You'll not go spreading it all around the country? But I guess you +won't as long as it would make you out a fool too. I'll not have +Mary's name dragged about in a lot of gossip." + +"I assure you I shall remain silent, for her sake and my own." + +"All right, I'll tell you. You're too good a girl--any decent girl +is--to marry Ed Sorenson. He met Mary at a dance last spring in town +where she went with some friends of ours, and made love to her but +wouldn't let her tell me or any one. We don't get to town so very +often; she never knew he was engaged to marry you, there never +happening to be any mention of it to her. Then he got her to go to +Bowenville one day awhile ago, under promise to marry her there--Mary +is only sixteen, a little girl yet. To me, anyway." + +Janet felt the working of his love in those simple words. Felt it but +half-consciously, though, for her own soul was stifling at Ed +Sorenson's revealed infamy. + +"When he got her there, he told her they would have to go away farther +to be married--to Los Angeles." Again his finger came up, this time to +be shaken at her like a hammer. "He never intended to marry her; he +planned to get her there, ruin her, and cast her off. That's the sort +of man you're going to marry!" + +"I remember he expected to be away for a couple of weeks--a business +trip, he said. But afterwards he explained that it hadn't been +necessary to go." + +"A business trip! Yes, the dirty kind of business he likes. And if it +hadn't been that Weir heard him explaining to Mary that she must go on +and interfered--there in the restaurant--Ed Sorenson might have +succeeded. Mary trusted him, thought he was straight. But he's +crooked, crooked as his old man. When Weir told him to his face what +he thought of his tricks, he let it out he was engaged to you. Didn't +mean to, of course. Weir said he would stay right with them and see +that they got married next day before a minister, then Sorenson +snapped out he was to marry you. That opened Mary's eyes, that and his +refusing to go before a preacher as the engineer demanded. So Weir +brought her home to me. + +"And that isn't all I know," he snarled. "Mexicans and cowboys and +others have talked--women don't hear these things--how he's had to +pay Mexicans hush-money for girls of theirs he's wronged. But what do +people care? He's rich, he's old man Sorenson's boy; everything's kept +quiet; and he goes around as big as life." With a muttered oath he +turned away, his lips shut hard and his beard sticking out savagely. + +He came back to her again. + +"The young one gets it from the old one," he exclaimed. "Bad crooked +blood in both of them. I know. I've been here ever since I was a boy +and remember things Sorenson believes every one has forgotten, I know +how he got his start, how he and the rest of his bunch cleaned out +Dent of his ranch and cattle gambling and then killed him when he +discovered they had used marked cards, how at the same time they +robbed another man----" + +Janet struggled to her feet. She had covered her eyes and bowed her +head before the torrent of his vehemence. + +"No more, I want to hear no more," she gasped. "Let me go home. I'm +sick." + +"It all makes me sick, too," he answered. "Sick and sore, both. But +it's the truth. I'm sorry if it's been a bad pill to swallow, but it's +the God's truth, girl. I'm sorry it couldn't be any other way, but I +wouldn't see you marry that scoundrel if I lost a hand stopping you. +Mary felt sick at first, too; she's over it now. You'll not feel bad +long. Better stay for dinner with us." + +"I couldn't swallow a bite. Thank you for your kindness in asking +me--and for telling me what I wanted to know, too. Father never knew, +or he would have warned me. People saw I was engaged to Ed Sorenson +and would say nothing to father, of course. I shall always count you +as one of my best friends, Mr. Johnson. And you too, Mary; you must +come down and stay with me sometime, for I imagine you get lonely +here. No, another day I'll remain to dinner--and I want to be alone +now." + +They pressed her no further, seeing her wretchedness of spirit. But +they walked with her to the car and shook hands with her when she was +in and urged her to come again. + +When she had disappeared in the aspens among which the trail led, Mary +said to her father: + +"You said they killed a man named Dent." + +"They did. I saw the killing." + +"And nothing was ever done about it?" + +"No. Nobody but me knew of the happening and I'd of had a bullet +through my heart if I'd talked. I might yet even now, so see that you +keep your mouth shut." + +"You told her." + +"I was mad, so mad I could say anything. But she isn't the kind to +repeat the story; I'm not afraid on that score. She's clean strain all +through." + +"Did you know the man whom Sorenson and the others killed?" Mary +questioned, in some awe. + +"I knew of him, but I was only a lad then. I saw it all through the +back door of Vorse's saloon where it happened, but I've never breathed +about it to a soul. I didn't want to be murdered some dark night. +Those four men would see that the job was done quick even now, I'm +saying, if they were on to the fact. I know 'em, if nobody else +does." + +Mary's skin crawled with prickles of fear. + +"They must be awful bad." + +"They were devils then, and I don't think they've changed to angels +to-day, though they try to appear decent. I know 'em; I know what +they'll do once they start. You can't make sheep out of wolves just by +giving 'em a fleece." + +"You said they robbed another man at the same time they killed that +Dent." + +"Yes; and it only goes to show the hellish crooks they are. It was +another man in the saloon. He was drunk. They made him believe he had +killed Dent. Then said they'd help him to get away if he gave them his +property. He was a rich fellow who had come out from the east and gone +to ranching, a tenderfoot. They took his stuff and he skipped the +country with his wife. That was the last of him, and I reckon he +believes to this day that he's a murderer. And that's how they got the +start of their wealth, or a big part of it, Sorenson and Vorse and the +other two. They've got the San Mateo Cattle Company, with fifty +thousand head of steers, and ten or twenty bands of sheeps and +ranches, and the bank, and all the rest, and they walk around like +honest men. But they're thieves and murderers, Mary, thieves and +murderers! I'd rather be the man I am, poor and with nothing but this +little mortgaged piece of ground and my few cattle, than them, who +robbed Dent and killed him and then robbed and drove out Weir." + +"Was that the other man's name?" + +"Yes." + +"That's funny. The same as the man who brought me home." + +"There are lots of Weirs, like the Johnsons." + +"Not so many, I guess. Maybe they're related. Did the man who skipped +have any children?" + +"No. None I ever heard of, though I didn't know much about him. Just +him and his wife, I think." + +Johnson had perceived no resemblance between the engineer and the +vanished man of whom he spoke. As for that, however, he had no clear +recollection of the elder Weir's face; he was but twelve years old at +the time of the dramatic event, thirty years before. + +"Now, come along and eat," he said. "And remember! Not a word of this +to a soul." + +Meanwhile Janet Hosmer was driving slowly down the canyon, oblivious +that opportunity to unlock the whole mystery had been hers, never +dreaming that she had just missed by the slenderest margin what Steele +Weir would have given the world to know. + +For an instant Fate had placed the key in her hand. She knew it not; +it was withdrawn again and the door remained closed and locked while +the threads of Destiny continued to be spun. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE PLOT + + +In Vorse's saloon, where in the past so many evil ideas for the +acquisition of money or power had sprouted, the scheme had its +inception. It had been of slow growth, with innumerable suggestions +considered, tested, discarded. The intended arrest and trial of Weir +had been the first aim; but this had expanded until at last the plot +had become of really magnificent proportions, cunning yet daring, +devilish enough even to satisfy the hate and greed of its originators, +consummate in design, absolutely safe and conclusive. + +It was Sorenson who conceived the notion of pulling the irrigation +project down in ruins at the moment of Weir's own fall. Judge Gordon a +few days later had pieced out the method, which was either to corrupt +the workmen to wreck dam and camp or to place them in the equivocal +position of having done so apparently though others did it in fact. +Vorse and Burkhardt devised the details. Weir should be left free +until the blow had fallen on the camp, whereupon he should be +immediately clapped into jail on the murder charge, which, coming on +top of the "riot," would paralyze all company action and work. From +such a crushing double-blow no concern could quickly recover, if +indeed the loss did not result in total cessation of construction. + +Thus shedding their coats of expedient lawfulness, they reverted +under the menace of Steele Weir's presence to the men they were in an +earlier age--an age when a few white land and cattle "barons" +dominated the region, predatory, arrogant, masterful and despotic; the +age just ceasing when the elder Weir and Dent arrived; the age of +their youth forty years before, the age when railroads and telegraphs +and law were remote, and chicanery and force were the common agents, +and "guns" the final arbiters. + +To them Weir was like a reincarnated spirit of that age. He guessed if +he did not know their past. He had appeared in order to challenge +their supremacy, end their rule, avenge his father's dispossession at +their hands. He instinctively and by nature was an enemy; he would +have been their enemy in any other place and under any other +circumstances. He was a head-hunter, and in turn was to be hunted +down. He was the kind who neither made compromises nor asked quarter. +He veiled his purposes in as great secrecy as did they, and when he +struck it would be suddenly, fiercely, mercilessly--if he struck. They +were determined he should not strike, being himself first surprised +and crushed, for though in ignorance of what he could bring against +them their fears were real. Everything, indeed, about the man +antagonized them, alarmed them, stirred their hate and filmed their +eyes with blood. He must be destroyed. + +"And with him the dam," Sorenson had said. "Both together." For there +was no effort to conceal among themselves their savage intention. + +"He'll never come to trial," Vorse remarked, with a malignant gleam in +his blue eyes and a shutting of his thin lips. "An attempted jail +delivery by 'friends' will fix that. All they will have to do then is +to buy him a pine box." + +"If the man had but stayed away!" Judge Gordon exclaimed. Cunning, not +force, was his forte; and the measures in prospect at times had +oppressed him with dreadful forebodings. He was growing old, feeble, +and here when he was entitled to peace he still had to fight for his +own. + +In accordance with the scheme Burkhardt vanished from San Mateo for a +time, ostensibly on business but in fact on a journey across the +Mexican line, where he conducted negotiations with a certain +"revoluçionista" of no particular notoriety as yet, of avaricious +character, unscrupulous nature, and with a small following of fellow +bandits and a large animosity for Americans. His ambition was to +emulate the brilliant Villa. But pickings had been poor of late, no +more than that of stealing a few horses from across the border. To +Burkhardt, who had heard of him and sought him out, he listened with +interest and bargained with zest. Five thousand in gold for fifty men +was like pearls from Paradise. And whatever this Yankee's own private +purpose, it was a chance for the chieftain to strike secretly and +safely at Americans, in addition. + +"They will come through in squads after they've slipped across the +line," Burkhardt reported. "They're to pose as laborers." + +"When?" Sorenson asked. + +"Along next week. They're to drop off down along the railroad at +different towns and I'll run them up into the mountains with some +grub. Then we'll assemble them quietly a couple miles off from the +dam, where they'll be handy on the chosen night. Afterwards we'll slip +them back to the railroad, and they fade into Mexico. Weir's workmen +will be drunk and rowing--and will have done the job, eh?" Burkhardt +shook with suppressed, evil laughter. + +"If they're drunk, they may join in and help," Judge Gordon stated, +acutely. "A mob full of whiskey will do anything. If they did take a +hand, it would round out the case against them perfectly. Very likely +next day they, too, would fade, as you put it, Burkhardt; they would +want to get out of this part of country as quickly as possible when +they realized what had happened. I see no flaw in our plan. +Fortunately the three directors who are coming will be gone by the end +of next week." + +"What's that? What directors?" Burkhardt asked. + +"They're to be here on an inspection trip, so they wrote, and will be +pleased to hear our complaints in regard to the question of workmen." +Gordon's tone was ironical. "I wrote them protesting Weir's discharge +of our people, you remember, but that was some time ago." + +"What's the use of paying attention to the fools now?" + +"We must carry out the farce, Burkhardt, for the sake of appearances." + +"I'd like to blow them up along with their dam!" was the scowling +rejoinder, "Well, let 'em inspect. Next time they come back there +won't be any." + +"I believe we should arrest Weir before the thing's pulled off," +Gordon said, meditatively. "It would be surer." + +Sorenson set his heavy jaw. + +"No. I want him to see the wreck; I want him to know just what's +happened before he's haled away; I want him feeling good and sick +already when he gets the next jolt." + +"Sure. It's him or us, as I've said from the first; and I've always +believed in making a clean sweep," Vorse remarked. "We have the right +line this time. First, make his men drunk and sore; then smash the +works; then arrest him quick; and last finish him off with a bullet +during a pretended jail delivery." + +"There will be elements of danger in the last," Judge Gordon stated, +cautiously. + +Vorse smiled and Burkhardt grinned. + +"Not so you'll notice it," said the latter. "The town won't know +anything about it until afterwards. Just a few good men at night, +masked and working fast, and the thing is done." + +"I'll not feel easy till it's over." + +"Keep up your nerve, Judge," Burkhardt grunted. "You used to be as +lively as anybody when you were young." + +"I know, I know. But this Weir isn't going to stand idle. If he ever +gets a chance with his gun----" + +"He won't get it," said Vorse. + +"And he'll not resist the sheriff when Madden arrests him legally," +Sorenson added. "Nothing could be better for us than if he did. He +knows that." + +"Still I'll be glad when next week is past," the Judge replied, with a +sigh. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE CURRENT OF EVENTS + + +Though outwardly the world's face was as calm as ever, though peace +seemed to bask on San Mateo and the broad mesa and lofty mountain +range, events were rapidly shaping themselves to bring a thunder crash +of contending forces. Not Weir, not even the little evil cabal +plotting so desperately against him, guessed the scope and power of +the passions to be released. + +As a vital impulse towards the climax, though an unconscious one on +her part so far as the general play of circumstance was concerned, +Janet Hosmer informed Ed Sorenson of her determination to break their +engagement. This was the same evening she returned from the Johnson +ranch, when he called at her telephoned request. He went to her home +under the impression that his box of candy and bundle of new magazines +had restored him to favor. He was very jaunty, in fact, and bent on +persuading her to name an early day for their nuptials. + +Imagine his wrath when she explained that she wished to say that she +could not marry him, at the same time handing him his ring and the +other trinkets he had bestowed upon her. + +"Is it because of our little spat last night about the engineer?" he +demanded. "I apologized, Janet. I'm sorry still, and I love you above +everything else." + +"I think not," said she. + +"But I do, Janet. Above everything." + +"No, not above yourself and your vices. You deceived me for a long +time, but now I know the truth. You aroused my suspicions when you +mentioned a Johnson girl; there's only one Johnson girl hereabouts, as +I learned; and this noon I visited her and her father. They informed +me fully about your conduct towards Mary at Bowenville and your +promises to marry her--that, when you were engaged to me. There are +other things I heard to-day. Of affairs with Mexican girls that are +shameful." + +"Lies, lies!" was the passionate disclaimer. "Or if I have been +flirting a little, and never since my engagement, it's no more than +any fellow does." + +"You can neither excuse nor justify your words and actions towards +Mary Johnson not a month ago." + +"They're liars, I tell you." + +"Will you confront them and say that?" + +Taken by surprise Sorenson hesitated, flushed, and then made a gesture +of disdain. + +"I'll not, because I'll not condescend to answer such baseless +charges," he stated. "I thought you had sense enough not to believe +every little thing you hear. Certainly I expect you not to believe +this, and I know you won't on consideration. Then we'll be married. I +came here to-night to urge you to marry me soon." + +"I'll never marry you, and we're no longer engaged. You've acted +faithlessly and dishonorably. You're not the decent man I thought you +were." + +"Don't you still love me, Janet?" + +"No. I don't think I ever loved you; I was loving a man who didn't +exist, an illusion I imagined to be Ed Sorenson, not your real self. +If I loved at all, which I now doubt! And you never loved me, though +you may think you did and still do. But it's not so; for no man who +really loved a respectable girl could at the same time do what you +did. Think of it! While pretending to love me, you were secretly +trying to inveigle that poor ignorant girl away from home. You're not +a man; you're a beast. The shame and disgust and humiliation I suffer +at the thought of my position during that time, your effort to +hoodwink both Mary Johnson and me, so fills me with anger I can't talk +to you. Go, go! And please don't even speak to me hereafter, on the +street or anywhere else." + +Instead of departing the man grasped her wrist and gave her a venomous +look. + +"It was this sneak of an engineer, after all, who told you this lie +and turned you against me," he snarled. + +"Let me go. Mr. Weir said nothing. It was you yourself who betrayed +yourself, or I should not have known as I do, thank heavens. Stop +holding my wrist!" + +For an instant Sorenson wavered between whether he should obey her +command or strike her as his rage prompted. A very devil of passion +beating in his breast urged him to show her her place, deal with her +as he would like to do and as she deserved--throw her down and drag +her by the hair until she crawled forward and clasped his knees in +subjection. But the look in her eyes cooled this half-insane, +whiskey-inspired desire. + +He took his hand off her wrist, picked up his hat. + +"You can't throw me down this way," he sneered. "You're going to marry +me just the same, whether you think so or not. I have a voice in this +engagement, and you can't break your word and promise to me because +it happens to strike your fancy. Not for a single minute!" + +"If you were a gentleman and a decent man you wouldn't say that." + +"I'm not either, by your judgment, so I do say it. I say it again: +you're going to marry me, willingly or unwillingly. Now if after +thinking it over, you want to forget all this and go on as before, all +right. If not, our engagement still holds just the same. You may +release me, but I haven't released you. Remember that. And keep away +from that engineer if you know what's best for you!" + +With a scowl he stalked out of the house, leaving a very angry, very +tremulous and very heart-sick girl. The fellow was in truth not a man, +she perceived, but a creature so conscienceless and loathsome that she +seemed contaminated through and through by his touch, his words, and +their previous relations. How grossly he had deceived her as to his +real character! What a horrible future as his wife she had escaped! +Nor was she yet free, for he promised to make an infinity of trouble. + +That day she could do nothing. Her father noting her face asked what +was the trouble, and she told him the whole affair. + +"I've heard rumors of late about him and was worried," he said. "You +did the only thing, of course. Pay no attention to his words; I'll see +he doesn't annoy you." + +It was three or four days afterwards that she called Weir up at the +dam in a desire to hear the voice of a man she knew to be straight and +upright. + +"I've wondered if a girl is allowed to look at your dam," she said on +impulse, when they had chatted for a moment. "Father, who was at your +camp to attend an injured man, says you're making famous progress." + +"I'd be more than delighted to show you the work. But--I wonder----" + +"Don't let what people say disturb you," she replied quickly, divining +his thought. "I've arranged all that." A somewhat obscure remark to +Weir. + +"Then come any time--and often. I hope to be able to conduct you +around, the first visit at least. Next week I may not be able to do so +as a committee of directors arrive who'll take my time." + +"Oh, indeed," Janet answered, politely. + +"A manager has to be directed occasionally, or he may run wild," she +heard, with his laugh. + +"I'll come before they do," she said. + +Quite as she had announced she did run up to the canyon and go with +Weir over the hillsides and dam, asking questions and displaying a +great interest in the men and the operation of the machinery. The +concrete work was nearing an end. Already tracks were laid for the +dump trams that were to carry dirt from steam-shovels to the dam to +form its main body. + +She perceived the immense labor of the project and the coördinated +effort required. The necessity in itself of dragging hither from +Bowenville all of the supplies, the material, the huge machines, was +overwhelming. The responsibility of combining scientific knowledge and +raw industry to an exact result struck her as prodigious. The handling +of hundreds of subordinate workmen and assistants of various grades +and skill demanded exceptional ability, understanding, will and +generalship. Yet these things the man at her side, Steele Weir, +accomplished and supplied; and appeared quite calm and unmoved about +it, as if it was all a matter of course. + +She glanced at the ground, flushing. The thought of Ed Sorenson, +making only a pretense of doing anything useful and because his father +was rich doing nothing in reality but waste himself in vicious +practices, was in her mind. What must have the engineer believed of +her all this while when he knew Sorenson's true nature and infamous +record? Did he suppose her a light-headed feather, indifferent to +everything except that her husband should be rich? Very likely. There +were plenty of girls of that type. He naturally would suppose her +one. + +And she could say nothing to put herself in a better light and to gain +his respect--for that she now desired greatly. She saw him as he was, +a big man, a strong man, a man whose respect was to be prized. Beside +him she felt herself small and ordinary. That was all right, but she +was determined he should not believe her insignificant, shallow, +unworthy, mercenary. + +While she could not explain matters openly without shaming herself +and still lowering herself in his estimation, he being only an +acquaintance, yet there were ways of getting at the end. Janet could +act adroitly, like most women, when it best served the purpose. + +"Do you know, I just learned from friends of yours on Terry Creek that +you're a public benefactor as well as an engineer," she stated, when +they paused on the hillside for a last look at the dam. + +"I?" he exclaimed. + +His eyes came around and found hers fixed on him. + +"I happened to stop at the Johnson ranch. They didn't say so, but I +know they would be pleased to death if you would go to dinner there +some day. They have some fine fat chickens, if you like chicken fried +or baked, and they hesitate to ask you only because they're afraid +you'll refuse." + +"Fried chicken is my weakness. Of course I'll go; at the first spare +chance." + +But all the while Steele Weir's mind was eddying with wonderment. He +had colored at mention of the Johnson ranch, as if he had been caught +with a hand in a jam pot. And it meant only one thing: she knew of the +Bowenville episode. Involuntarily his eyes flashed to her left hand +with which she was brushing back the hair under her hat brim. There +was no diamond solitaire on its third finger. Surely, something had +happened. + +"Well, I must be returning home. I just thought I'd give you a tiny +hint," said she. An odd smile rested on her lips as she spoke, for +hints may carry multiple suggestions. + +"By Jove!" Weir said suddenly. + +Man of action though she knew him to be, she never anticipated he +would or could act so directly. He reached out and seized her left +hand and scanned it significantly. Then he raised his eyes. + +"What does this mean?" he asked, tapping the finger with one of his +own. "Does this mean----" + +It was Janet's turn to become scarlet. She tried to smile again, but +it was a wavering smile that appeared. + +"What does what mean?" she fenced. + +"That--well, that the ring is off permanently?" + +"Oh, yes." + +"And that there's now a chance for me?" + +Janet's eyes at that popped open very wide indeed. Meanwhile Weir +still held to the palm resting in his own. + +"You?" she breathed, faintly. + +"Me, yes." + +Presently with a gentle movement she drew her hand free. She had been +quite dumbfounded, but not so dumbfounded that she did not realize +that this new situation had requirements of its own. He appeared +absolutely sincere and resolute. + +"But I never dreamed of such a thing!" she stammered. + +"Nor I--because until now I hadn't the right. All I ask is that you +give me your friendship--and a chance--and--well, we'll see." + +"There's no reason why we shouldn't be friends," said she. "We are +already, aren't we?" + +"Yes--now. I never actually thought so before." + +"Things have changed," she stated. And her lips closed with a firm +pressure as she spoke. "Or I shouldn't have been here inspecting the +dam, should I?" Again the smile flashed upon her face. "You may +consider this a preliminary inspection to that of your high and mighty +directors, and I assure you my verdict--is that the word?--is +favorable. Now I must be going to the car. Father likes his meals on +time." + +"And when shall I see you again?" + +The note of eagerness in his voice set her heart moving a bit faster. +If he carried on his engineering work as he did his friendship, no +wonder he got things done. + +"Why, when you wish to call, Mr. Weir. Both father and I shall be +pleased to have you come any time." + +"I'll certainly avail myself of the privilege," said he. "You must +really go now?" + +With a feeling of exaltation at this new turn of affairs he watched +her drive away from camp, a feeling that persisted during the +succeeding days. + +The three directors arrived. That was Thursday evening; and Friday and +Saturday were devoted to a discussion of construction plans, +inspection of the works, analysis of costs and so on. Weir found the +men what he expected: quick to comprehend facts, incisive of mind, and +though of course not engineers yet able to measure results; while they +on their part were appreciative of the exceptional progress made and +of his thorough command of the project. They knew the first hour that +the right manager was in charge at last. + +Saturday afternoon Sorenson and Judge Gordon called at headquarters, +by appointment, to discuss the grievance held locally against the +company. Weir was present at the meeting. + +"As to whether the Mexican workmen who were discharged were actually +giving a full return in work for the wages, as you maintain, +gentlemen," said Mr. Pollock, one of the directors and a corporation +lawyer from New York, in reply to the visitors' statement, "that is a +question not of opinion but of fact." + +"Fact, yes," Judge Gordon argued. "Fact supported by the evidence of +the three hundred workmen against that of a single man, your manager, +who had just come." + +"Are not your three hundred men prejudiced witnesses?" the New Yorker +inquired, a slight smile upon his thin face. + +"No more than is Mr. Weir." + +"But Mr. Weir is the manager and consequently has the power of +decision in such matters." + +"Not to the extent of revoking unfairly your promise, given orally, to +be sure, but still given, to employ local labor." Sorenson was the +speaker and his heavy face wore an expression of ill-disguised +contempt. + +"Agreed. Local labor was to be hired," said Pollock. "But our company +isn't a philanthropic institution; it's run on strictly business +principles. Any agreement we made implied that local workmen should +give exactly what other workmen would give in work." + +"They did so," Judge Gordon affirmed. + +"There was no trouble until this man came," Sorenson remarked. "I +suppose he felt that he had to show his authority." + +"Ah, but there was if not trouble at any rate dissatisfaction on our +part," Pollock stated, tapping a finger on the table. "Construction +wasn't progressing as we knew it should, which was the very reason for +getting a new manager, one who could speed it up. But as I said, it +all comes down to a question of fact. You gentlemen offer your +workmen's avowals of industry to support your claim; Mr. Weir, on the +other hand, gives us some definite records to back up his side. Here +they are for the last week the workmen from San Mateo and neighborhood +worked--his first week here; and for the succeeding weeks under the +men shipped in; in material used, in cubic yards of concrete +construction, and in percentage of work finished. Examine them if you +please. They show daily and weekly results to be just a trifle less +than double for the corresponding time the imported workmen have been +here. In other words, the new men have, while shortening the time of +completion, given twice as much work for exactly the same wage paid +your Mexicans. In other words, too, your local laborers cancelled our +agreement by their own incompetence." + +"Your manager could easily have doctored those records," Sorenson +stated, coldly. + +"You scarcely mean that, sir," Pollock instantly replied icily, his +amiability vanishing. + +"Come, Judge, we may as well go, I think. We're appealing to a +prejudiced court." And Sorenson arose. + +"Our decision to view the matter like Mr. Weir is because his position +is sustained by these facts, not because we're prejudiced, as you +insinuate. But I may add that it would not be strange if we were +prejudiced, as we've become convinced that you gentlemen haven't been +sincere in your attitude towards our company and if anything are +strongly hostile. Any one may be deceived for a time, and we were, but +not permanently. You would have done much better to have recognized +that we have a perfect right to build this project on land that we +bought and with water that we acquired. For it will be built in any +case and in spite of such local opposition as may be made." Pollock +flicked the ash from his cigar with a careful finger. "That is a mere +piece of information or a declaration of war, whichever way you wish +to take it." + +"I told you we were wasting our time coming here," the cattleman said +to his companion. + +"Good day, gentlemen," said Judge Gordon, politely. + +And the pair went out to Sorenson's machine. + +Shortly after, the two other directors left to catch a train at +Bowenville, Pollock planning to stay with Weir to formulate a report +during the next day or two for presentation to the entire directorate +at its next meeting. Sorenson caught a glimpse of the car whirling +through town, with Weir at the wheel, who with Pollock accompanied the +departing men that certain unsettled points might be discussed up to +the last moment. + +As Weir and Pollock were returning, the latter eyed the engineer and +laughed. + +"You've evidently brushed these fellows', Sorenson's and Gordon's, fur +the wrong way to please them. But they'll probably leave us alone from +now on." + +"They'll not leave me alone." + +"Eh? How's that?" + +"Well, I have, as it happens, a little trouble with them on my own +hook. A private matter antedating the building of the dam. They're +after me. I had to put a piece of lead into a fellow who tried to kill +me from the dark one night. I speak of it in case you should be told +and wonder; otherwise I should not have mentioned the thing. I'm not +popular in San Mateo, in consequence." + +"Ah, I had heard nothing of that. It interests me. You were not +touched." + +"My hat, that was all." + +"Very interesting, very interesting, indeed," was Pollock's only +comment. But if his tone was casual, his eyes were busy in sidelong +study of the engineer, making a new appraisal and drawing fresh +conclusions. + +Meanwhile several knots were being tied in the web of circumstance. +Sorenson took his telephone and conversed briefly with Vorse, passing +the information that he had just seen the three directors leaving for +the east. So they were out of the way. In reply the saloon-keeper +stated that he would start the whisky end of the game that evening. +By the morrow, Sunday, when the camp was at rest, the workmen would +all be "celebrating." Burkhardt had reported the last load of +"southern cattle" shipped in and driven on the range the previous +evening--a seemingly innocent statement that Sorenson understood +perfectly. Up in the hills, safely hidden in the timber, lay the fifty +men brought from Mexico to make the assault on the dam the next night, +men whose instruments of destruction would be fire and dynamite. +Twenty-four hours more would bring the moment of action. + +Ignorant of all this Ed Sorenson had been forming a little individual +scheme that would promote his own affairs, chief of which was to win +Janet Hosmer. Drinking heavily ever since his rebuff, he had sunk into +a condition of evil determination and recklessness that made him fit +for any desperate act. After much meditation fed by whisky, he had +evolved a plan that would bring him success. Thereupon he had loaded +his car with a quantity of selected stuff and made a mysterious +journey at night. + +"She'll learn I meant business," was his frequent soliloquy. + +And while these strands were being knit into the skein Martinez was +producing another. Quietly, carefully, persuasively, he had been +pursuing his own particular course of eliciting history for use in his +"Chronicle," as he named it,--and for another use concerning which he +was as still as death. + +That he was successful in obtaining what he had been after was made +known to Weir about dusk that evening while he was talking with +Pollock in his office. But that he had not been so lucky in covering +his tracks was likewise apparent. + +The telephone rang. Steele took down the receiver. + +"See Janet Hosmer at once," Felipe Martinez' terrified voice came over +the wire. "She'll have it, the paper--the one you want. They've +learned I got it; they're after me now. Hammering on the door. If you +don't hurry----" + +His words ceased abruptly in an anguished quaver. At the same time +Weir heard carried to him the sound of a crash as of a door smashed. +Excusing himself hurriedly, Steele Weir seized his holster from a nail +and buckled on the belt. Then snatching his hat, he ran outside the +building to his car. + +"Now, who is he gunning for?" Pollock asked himself aloud, "I rather +wish he had invited me along." + +But neither he nor Weir himself, nor any soul in San Mateo, knew that +at last the furious torrent of events had burst upon the community. +Weir sensed something. But Sorenson brooding on the morrow thought the +moment had not yet come. His son was occupied with his own treacherous +scheme. Even Vorse and Burkhardt smashing their way into Martinez' +office saw nothing beyond the immediate necessity. Yet the flood was +bearing down on all. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +OLD SAUREZ' DEPOSITION + + +In order to understand why Vorse and Burkhardt were attacking +Martinez' office it is necessary to trace the lawyer's movements and +the incidents which precipitated that act. Martinez had, as stated, +not been idle. Following the clue obtained from the woman who had +worked in the elder Weir's household, he visited the old Mexican named +as having been used as roustabout by Vorse in early days. This was old +Saurez, whom he knew. The wrinkled old fellow seldom came to town now, +spending most of the time sitting against the sunny side of his son's +house on Pina Creek, twenty miles south, where he lived. + +Martinez in the ten days that had elapsed since informing Weir he had +learned of Saurez' possible knowledge of the past had proceeded to +make himself agreeable to the gray-headed old man. He had explained +his "history." He exercised all the arts of graciousness and flattery. +Beginning at the present he worked back through the past to the +killing of Jim Dent and the flight of Joseph Weir, extracting tales of +early fights, raids, accidents, big storms, violent deaths and +killings, making elaborate notes, winning the narrator's confidence +and gradually drawing forth the facts he really sought. + +Out of all the rambling talk and vague accounts of the Dent and Weir +affair Martinez was able to piece together the fragments in a clear +statement. This was that Saurez had seen Weir and Dent in Vorse's +saloon. The pair had gambled for a time with Vorse, Burkhardt (at that +time sheriff), Sorenson and Judge Gordon. After losing for a time Weir +refused to continue in the poker game, although he was drunk. Dent +played on notwithstanding Weir's urgence to desist; he had already +lost all his money and began staking his cattle and finally his ranch. +At this stage Weir had gone to sleep at another table, with his head +on his arms. Vorse had locked the front door to keep out visitors +during the big game. But the back door remained open for air. + +Saurez had busied himself cleaning the bar. All at once he saw the +players spring up in their game, Dent talking angrily about cheating, +marked cards and so on. Then the guns came out when he pointed at a +card that was marked--for it had been marked with pinpricks as Saurez +saw later on examining the deck, which Dent had perceived in spite of +the whisky in him. And Sorenson and Vorse had both shot him where he +stood. Yes, shootings were not uncommon. Every one but he, Saurez, had +likely forgotten all about the matter. That was long ago. + +Afterwards Vorse had sent the Mexican away for something or other, +with an injunction to keep his mouth closed. As said, speaking of it +now made no difference, though he expected Martinez to keep his +promise to publish none of the stories while he was still alive; that +was agreed. When the Mexican had left the saloon Weir was yet +sleeping, having only raised his head at the pistol shots to stare +drunkenly and then relapse. What occurred afterwards Saurez did not +know. Weir left the country. Dent was buried, the story being told +that he had committed suicide. Every one believed it: had he not lost +his ranch at poker? That was the end of the business. Other affairs +happened and it was forgotten. + +On this Saturday Martinez had persuaded Saurez to accompany him to San +Mateo. It would be necessary to sign the stories, he explained +lightly, to give them proper weight and in order that when the book +was published after Saurez' death they would be seen to be true +accounts, with Saurez' picture that a photographer would make +appearing in the middle. He, Saurez, would be famous, and his sons and +grandsons would have copies of the book in their houses to show +visitors and the priest. Ah, it would be well to have the priest +witness Saurez' signature, then sceptical people would know indeed +that the stories were Saurez' own accounts. So on and so on. + +The matter required infinite precautions, patience, skill on the +lawyer's part. He had prepared two or three dozen depositions of +events, as a husk for the real kernel. With Saurez in his office at +last he telephoned the priest to call at once and unostentatiously +caught on the street four other Mexicans of the better class, bringing +them in. When the priest arrived he closed the door and explained his +desire they should act as witnesses to Saurez' statements. He had +already solicited the _padre's_ advice as to the history; the others +all had heard of it; he gave them a number of the most harmless +depositions to read; and set Saurez to work making his mark on the +rest of the papers. During the reading and the accompanying lively +discussion of the witnesses, he had them pause to witness Saurez' mark +with their own names in the places provided. About the tenth +deposition when their attention was confused and flagging he slipped +the account concerning Weir and Dent, a many-paged attestation, upon +the table, so folded that nothing but the signing space was visible. +It was the critical instant for Martinez; his thin body was more +nervous than ever, his eyes brighter and more restless. But at last +the ordeal was over. + +Saurez' heavy black cross was at the bottom of the important +deposition, the priest and the other four men had appended their +names, and all that remained to do was for Martinez to fill out the +acknowledgment and affix his seal. He whisked the document behind his +back and called attention to a humorous episode in a paper one of the +men still held, starting a laugh. Then he suggested they rest and +opened a bottle of wine, over which the others congratulated Saurez +and Martinez and predicted a wonderful fame for the "Chronicle." +Finally the lawyer perceived, as he said, that Saurez was weary. +Anyway, it was supper-time. The remaining papers could be signed +another day. + +The witnesses departed, much pleased with the affair. + +"Walk up and down outside for a little time while I straighten the +sheets, then we'll go eat and afterwards I'll drive you home to bed," +the attorney said. "The fresh air will give you an appetite. Behold, +you're already becoming a famous man! I shall preserve these documents +safely as they are tremendously important to our town, our state, our +country!" And a grandiloquent gesture accompanied the words. "Come +back in a little while, my friend, then we'll see how much food you +can hide away." + +Saurez much gratified at these words and at everything went out +slowly, for he was troubled by rheumatism. The instant his back +disappeared Martinez sprang to the table, swiftly filled out the +acknowledgment of the old man's signature to the Weir document, +clapped the page under the seal and pressed home the stamp. Then +pushing the folded statement into an envelope and that into his +pocket, he leaned back with a sigh of exhaustion. The thing was +accomplished at last, but the strain had been great. Weir's command to +secure evidence had been obeyed. Only the promise to await Saurez' +death, troubled Martinez, and with a convenient sophistry he decided +that an agreement not to print the narrative in a book did not extend +to using it in court. Weir would be delighted--it was a famous coup. + +How long Martinez sat reveling in this well-earned satisfaction he was +unaware, until with a start he glanced at his watch. Three-quarters of +an hour had passed. He went out to look for Saurez. But he was not in +sight and though several persons had seen him they could not say where +he had gone. Martinez went again into his office. When another +half-hour had drifted by he decided the old man had encountered +friends and either caught a ride home or gone with one to supper. So +Martinez proceeded to his own meal. + +Yet he was pervaded by an unaccountable uneasiness. The sun had set in +a bank of clouds and night was not far off. He made another search for +the old Mexican, inquiring here and there, until he was informed by +one that he had seen Saurez in Vorse's saloon talking with Vorse and +sipping a glass of brandy. That was half an hour before. A chill of +fear spread over the lawyer's skin. + +Determined, however, to learn the worst, he stole to the saloon and +peered over the slatted door. The Mexican bar-keeper was wiping a +glass; Vorse was not in sight; and--ha! there was Saurez himself +drowsing by a table. Martinez slipped in and made his way to the +rear. + +"Come; time to go home," he said softly, giving the old Mexican's +shoulder a shake. This did not arouse the sleeper, so he added force +to his hand, at which the other sagged forward limply. + +Martinez jumped back. Next he stood quite still, staring. Then he +approached and lifting the drooping head, gazed at the wrinkled face +and glazed eyes. + +"Miguel, come here!" he exclaimed, anxiously. "Saurez is dead." + +"Dead!" The bar-keeper ran to the spot, eyes large with alarm and +excitement. "Dios, I thought him asleep! See, there is the glass in +which I gave him brandy at Señor Vorse's order. The old one said he +had come in to pay a little visit to his old employer and have a chat. +They talked for some time." + +"Was Vorse asking him questions?" + +"Yes. I think Saurez was telling him how he happened to be in town. I +paid little attention to them, however. After a while I glanced up and +saw Vorse standing by him. They were not talking. Then Vorse came away +and said the old man had fallen asleep, and he went out to supper." + +Martinez again lifted the head and darted glances over the dead man's +breast. There were no wounds, but on the shriveled brown throat he saw +what might have been a thumb-mark. He could not be sure, yet that was +his guess. + +"He was an old man," Miguel remarked. + +"Yes. You should notify his son and also the undertaker, so the body +can be taken care of. I'll telephone the latter too when I reach my +office." + +This Martinez did, informing Saurez's family that the old man had +died while apparently asleep at Vorse's, and expressed his sympathy +and sorrow. + +One feature of the case he instantly perceived; he was released from +any obligation to keep silent regarding the old man's declaration. +Fortunate was he to have obtained it before Vorse had got wind of his +purpose. At the thought of Vorse he arose and locked both front and +back doors of the building, pulled down the window shades and turned +out the light. + +It was almost dark by now. In the darkness he felt safer. Any one +passing would suppose him away. Perhaps he should spend the night +elsewhere--at the dam, for instance. Again the same shudder shook his +frame that he had experienced on seeing the mark on Saurez' throat. +Vorse had killed the old Mexican, of that he was convinced. With his +tongue made garrulous by brandy and by the presence of his old +employer the old man had doubtless related everything that occurred +between him and Martinez; and the vulture-like, bald-headed +saloon-keeper, recognizing that he had been unconsciously betrayed had +immediately acted to close this witness' lips forever against a second +utterance. + +Martinez himself was in danger. The perspiration dampened his face as +he realized that as far as he was concerned the die was cast. He must +fling in his fortunes with Weir to the utmost. He would first stand in +defense on his right as a lawyer to secure evidence for a client, but +if this failed--and what rights would Vorse halt for?--he must depend +upon the paper. Once they had that, they would speedily put him out of +the way as they had done Saurez. But if they had it not, they would at +least hesitate to wreak their vengeance until they could get it into +their possession. He must place it in Weir's hands at once, then if +questioned refuse to inform them of its whereabouts. Perhaps they +would try to seize it some time this night. He stood up, lighted the +lamp, saw that all was well in the office and took his hat. + +A peremptory knock sounded on the door of the rear room. + +"Open up there, Martinez," a voice commanded. + +He stole thither, listened. + +"Who is it?" he asked. + +"Never mind. Open this door or I'll pull it down," came in hoarse +tones he recognized as Burkhardt's. The man, or men, outside had +chosen the rear to force an entrance if necessary, where there would +be no spectators. "Jerk it open quick," Burkhardt continued savagely. +"We want you." Then again, "We knew you were there, though you kept +the place dark. Move lively before I use this ax." + +Never did Martinez' mind work more rapidly. Likewise his eyes darted +everywhere in search of the object he needed. Then he glided to a +decrepit arm-chair and turning it over stuffed the document in a rent +in its padded seat, out of sight underneath. Next he filled his +pockets with other papers signed by Saurez. Last, he hastily tore open +the little telephone book and ran a forefinger down the H's. + +"Doctor Hosmer's, hurry," he exclaimed. "Number F28." + +Blows were already sounding on the rear door, but the lock was strong +and resisted. Of all the persons he knew Janet Hosmer was the only one +he could trust to keep her word. And he dare not wait until Weir could +come. + +"Is this you, Janet? Martinez talking," he said, when he heard her +answer. "Listen. I'm at my office; men are trying to break in to get +a paper valuable for Mr. Weir's defense. They must not get it. He's to +be arrested and tried for murder of the man he killed. You and I know +he's innocent. This is a life and death matter. The paper is hidden in +the old chair. The men are breaking down the door. I'll get them away +long enough for you to come and obtain it. Give it to Weir--at once, +to-night, immediately. Promise me you will, promise! My own life +probably hangs on it. Return to your house and stay for half an hour +and if he hasn't arrived by that time, go to the dam. Thank you, thank +you--from my heart! Start now." + +The words had tumbled out in an agitated stream, occupying but a few +seconds. The panels were splintering in the door now, as the ax +smashed a way through. Martinez had no need to look up Weir's number; +and it was in a strain of terror and excitement that he waited for the +connection. + +"See Janet Hosmer at once," he shot at the engineer, followed by the +rest of the warning already quoted which had so electrifying an effect +upon Steele Weir. + +But the words had broken off abruptly. For as the door crashed off its +hinges Martinez dropped the telephone receiver and darted for the +front entrance, shooting back the bolt and flinging it open. He almost +plunged into Vorse who was on guard there. + +"Stand still," the man ordered. And Martinez kept the spot as if +congealed, for in the saloon-keeper's hand was a revolver with an +exceedingly large muzzle. + +Burkhardt burst in, ax still in hand, eyes bloodshot with rage. Vorse +turned and closed the front door. Then he glanced over the lawyer's +table and ran a hand into his inside coat pocket bulging with +documents. He glanced through one or two. + +"Here's what we're after," said he. "We'll take him to my place where +we can quietly settle the matter." His eyes rested on the Mexican with +ominous meaning. + +"Come along, you snake," Burkhardt growled, seizing their prisoner's +arm. "Out the back way--and keep your mouth shut. Don't try to make a +break of any kind, if you know what's best for you." + +Martinez' yellow skin was almost white. + +"But, gentlemen, what does this all mean?" he began, endeavoring to +pull back. + +"You'll learn soon enough." + +"Step right along," Vorse added. "Take him away, Burkhardt, then I'll +blow out this light." + +With no further word Martinez accompanied his captors into the gloom +of the night. They moved in silence through the dark space behind the +row of store buildings. The lawyer felt that at least the way was +clear for Janet Hosmer. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE MASK DROPPED + + +When Janet Hosmer, startled by Felipe Martinez' agitated appeal, +turned from the telephone, her single thought was to carry out on the +instant his fervid injunction. Something aimed at the engineer and the +lawyer was in movement, a plot for the former's arrest and the +destruction of evidence necessary to his defense, according to +Martinez' quick hurried words; and the Mexican now sought her aid, as +she was the only one within reach whom he could trust. That he must +call to her showed the desperate nature of the exigency--and he had +said lives were at stake! + +Haste was the imperative need. As her father was absent, she summoned +the Mexican girl from the kitchen, for instinct advised the wisdom of +having a companion on this errand; and the two of them, bare-headed +and walking fast, set out for the house. Dusk was just thickening to +night. No stars were visible. A warm moistness in the air forewarned +of rain from the blanket of clouds that had spread at sunset along the +peaks. Indeed, a few fine globules of water touched their faces as +they came into the main street and hurried along. + +Neither girl had observed the automobile, unlighted and moving slowly, +that approached the Hosmer house as they emerged. Apparently the +driver perceiving them against the lamplight of the doorway and noting +their departure thought better of bringing the car to a halt, for he +kept the machine in motion and as quietly as possible trailed the pair +by glimpses of their figures flitting before an occasional illuminated +window. When Janet and her companion turned into the main street where +the stores were lighted his task became easier. + +The street was peaceful. Janet saw no evidence of the violence or +danger indicated by the Mexican lawyer's declaration, but she was too +sensible to imagine on that account that peril did not exist. The town +was not aware of what had occurred, that was all,--not yet. The chief +actors in the conspiracy were still moving stealthily against their +intended victims; they had pounced on Martinez and once they had +seized the evidence they sought they would arrest Weir. Afterwards the +people, as she guessed the matter, would be aroused to create a strong +sentiment against the helpless men. It was an atrocious business. + +But as yet things were in a lull--and it was during this pause, brief, +critical, that Martinez expected her to act. That much she had grasped +from his hurried words. She reached his office and halted to listen. +No gleam came from the building, nor from the low structure on either +side, and across the way all was dark--dark as it had been that night +when the assassin's shot had been fired at Steele Weir. Repressing a +shudder, she bade the Mexican girl follow her, groped for the door +knob, found it and pushed the door open. + +Martinez had spoken of men forcing an entrance, so it must have been +at the rear. Inside all was pitchy black. + +"Juanita, you have a match in your pocket, haven't you?" she demanded, +anxiously. + +"Yes, Miss Janet." + +"Strike it, then." + +In the pent stillness of the dark office Janet could hear the Mexican +girl fumbling in the pocket of her gingham dress. There came a +scratching sound and a tiny flame. + +"Be careful of it," she warned. "Now give it to me. And close the +door." + +Janet lighted the smoky lamp resting on the table, next took it up in +her hand. A few papers had fallen upon the floor. The room was still +strong with fresh cigarette smoke. Martinez could not have been gone +more than five minutes. + +And in another five minutes' time too Martinez' captors might be back +again! + +Holding the lamp aloft she peered about for an old chair, her heart +beating rapidly, her lips compressed. But all the chairs, the three or +four in the room, were old. Her eyes encountered the Mexican girl +staring open-mouthed and scared. + +"Take the lamp and keep by me," Janet ordered. "Don't upset it. What +are you shaking for, you ninny?" + +"I can't help it--and you're so white," the other whimpered. + +"Never you mind me; do as I say." + +Janet swiftly went from one chair to another, turning them about, +upside down, all ways. No paper was hidden in or under any one of +them, or indeed was there space capable of holding a document. At last +she gave up, gazing about in dismay, dread, tears of vexation and +anxiety almost rising to her lids. Only one conclusion was to be +drawn: the men who had seized the lawyer had found the paper in spite +of his precaution. + +She examined the chairs a second time feverishly, for time was +flying. + +"I can't find it, Juanita, the paper he telephoned me to come and +get," she exclaimed. + +"Maybe it's in there where he sleeps." And the Mexican girl pointed at +the inner door standing barely ajar. + +"We'll see." + +Janet led the way within. There was Martinez' living- and sleeping-room. +The furnishings comprised a bed, an old scratched bureau, a stand +with wash-bowl, a red and black Navajo blanket on the floor, a trunk, +a stool and a dilapidated stuffed chair--just such a chair as a paper +could be hidden in. That into this room the lawyer's assailants had +burst their way was apparent from the splintered door hanging from one +hinge at the rear. + +Beckoning Juanita to bring the lamp, Janet ran to the arm-chair. + +"Ah, here it is!" she cried, when she had turned the piece of +furniture over and inserted her hand in the rent. "It wasn't found, +after all! Come away now." + +Relief and exultation replaced her depression of the moment before. +She had succeeded; she had helped the lawyer outwit his enemies; she +must now return home to await Steele Weir's arrival, or if he failed +in that then go to the dam. + +In the outer room she bade the Mexican girl place the lamp on the +table once more and blow it out. This was done. They groped forward to +the door. + +"Follow me out quietly, Juanita," Janet said. "Only Mr. Martinez knows +we've been here, and Mr. Weir, the engineer. See, I'm trusting you. +This is a very important paper for Mr. Weir, and other men are trying +to keep it out of his hands. So you must say nothing to any one about +our being here." + +Juanita assented in a whisper. Janet thereupon opened the door and +the pair stepped forth. A faint hissing sound directly before them +startled both. But the American girl immediately recognized it for +what it was, the faint murmur of an automobile engine. + +She quietly closed the office door, caught her companion's arm to lead +her away. + +"Don't talk," she whispered in her ear. + +At the same instant the beam of an electric hand torch flashed in +their eyes, blinding them. Then as quickly the light was extinguished +and a heavy blanket was flung over Janet's head. Her cry was choked +off, but not that of the Mexican girl who had been struck by the +corner of the cloth and who heard her mistress struggling in the arms +of the man who had seized her. The sound of the struggle moved towards +the car and then Juanita, paralyzed by fright, was stunned by a sudden +roar of the exhaust, a grind of gears, and a rush in the darkness. The +automobile had gone, carrying off Janet Hosmer a muffled prisoner. +Juanita regaining use of her legs fled for Doctor Hosmer's unmindful +of the mist against her face. + +Janet's sensation had been that of strangulation and terror. In the +thick folds of the blanket, held and lifted by strong arms, all she +could offer in the way of resistance was futile kicks. She had been +jammed into the automobile seat and firmly kept there by an embrace +while the car was being started, which did not relax as the machine +gathered speed. For some minutes this lasted, while she strained +painfully for breath, and then she perceived the car was stopping. + +Her terror increased. What now would happen? These men after +overpowering Felipe Martinez had abducted her in their determination +to possess themselves of the paper. Finding it in her hand--for she +still clutched it--what then? Would they kill her? + +The car was now completely at rest. The arm was withdrawn from about +her; hands gripped her hands and forced them together; a handkerchief +was tightly knotted about her wrists. Afterwards her ankles were bound +by a strap. Then the blanket was lifted from her form and head and she +gasped in again pure night air. + +"Here's a gag," said the man at her side. "Keep quiet and I'll not use +it; if you open your mouth to make a sound, I shall. It's up to you." +And with the hoarse threat she caught the heavy sickening odor of +whiskey on the speaker's breath. + +"You, Ed Sorenson! You've dared to do this!" she exclaimed, fear +vanishing in anger. + +"Yes, sweetheart," came with a mocking accent. + +"Untie me this minute and let me out!" + +"Oh, no. You've got the wrong line on this little game. We're going +for a ride, just you and me, as lovers should." + +Janet began to think fast. + +"How did you know I was in Mr. Martinez' office?" she demanded. + +"Because I saw you go in, little one. I was just pulling up at your +door to coax you out when I saw you and the Mexican wench appear. So I +followed along. Saved me the bother of telling you your father had +been hurt in an accident. He's chasing off somewhere thirty miles from +town on a 'false alarm' call to attend a dying man. Sorry I had to use +the blanket; sorry I have to keep your naughty little hands and feet +tied up. But it's the only way. After we're married, you'll forget all +about it in loving me." + +So this was the face of the matter. Not the paper she gripped, but +she herself was his object. His abduction of her had nothing to do +with Martinez' affair; he knew nothing of the larger plot; and for +that reason she experienced a degree of relief. + +"I'll never marry you, be certain of that," said she, recurring to his +statement. "If anything had been needed to settle that point, what you +have done now would be enough. You shall pay for this atrocious +treatment. Untie my hands." + +"Oh, no. We're starting on." + +"Your father as well as mine shall know of this." + +"I think not, dearie. We're going up into the hills where I've a nice +little cabin fixed up. And we'll stay there awhile. And then when we +come back, you'll not do any talking. On the contrary, you'll be +anxious to marry me--you'll be begging me to marry you. Of course! +People know we're engaged, and they'll know you've been away with me +for two or three days. Do you think they'll listen to any story about +my carrying you off against your will? They'll wink when they hear it. +Yes, you'll be ready to marry me all right, all right, when we come +back to San Mateo." + +Janet's blood ran cold at this heartless, black plan to ensnare her +into marriage. + +"Ed, you would never do a thing like that," she pleaded. "You're just +trying to scare me with a joke. Be a good fellow and untie my hands +and take me home." + +"No joke about this; straight business. I told you you should marry +me----" + +"You're drunk or mad!" she burst out, terrified. + +"Neither; perfectly calm. But I'm not the fellow to be tossed over at +a whim. I'm holding you to your word, that's all. You'll change your +mind back as it was by to-morrow; you'll be crazy to have me as a +husband then. I won't have to tie your hands and feet to keep you at +my side when we come riding home to go to the minister's. Now we've +had our little talk and understand each other; and it's beginning to +drizzle. Time to start for our little cabin. The less fuss you make, +the pleasanter it will be for both of us." + +He set the gears and the car started forward once more. A sensation of +being under the paws of a beast, odious and fetid, savage and +pitiless, overwhelmed her. That this was no trick of a moment but a +calculated scheme to abase and possess her she now realized with a +sort of dull horror. And on top of all he was, despite his denial, +partly drunk. + +Through the terror of her situation two thoughts now continued to +course like fiery threads--one a hope, one a purpose. The former +rested on Juanita, whom in his inflamed ferocity of intention, the man +seemed to have forgotten--on Juanita and Steele Weir, "Cold Steel" +Weir; and this failing, there remained the latter, a set idea to kill +herself before this brute at her side worked his will. Somehow she +could and would kill herself. Somehow she would find the means to free +her hands and the instrument to pierce her heart. + +Sorenson had switched on his lights. He drove the car through the damp +darkness at headlong speed along the trail that leaped from the gloom +to meet them and vanished behind. At the end of a quarter of an hour +he swung into a canyon; and Janet perceived they were ascending Terry +Creek. He stopped the car anew. + +"I'll just take no chances with you," he exclaimed. "We have to pass +your friends, the Johnsons, you know. Had to take my stuff up here in +the middle of the night--up one night and back the next--and mighty +still too, so that they wouldn't suspicion I was fixing a little +bower for you." + +He bound a cloth over her mouth and again flung the blanket over her +head. Janet struggled fiercely for a moment, but finally sank back +choking and half in a faint. She was barely conscious of the car's +climbing again. Though when passing the ranch house the man drove with +every care for silence, she was not aware of the fact. Her breath, +mind, soul, were stifled. She seemed transfixed in a hideous +nightmare. + +At length her lips and head were released. But her hands and feet were +numb. Still feeling as if she were in some dreadful dream she saw the +beam of the headlights picking out the winding trail, flashing on +trees by the wayside, shining on wet rocks, heard the chatter of the +creek over stones and the labor of the engine. + +The road was less plain, a mere track now, and steeper. They were +climbing, climbing up the mountain side, up into the heavier timber, +up into one of the "parks" among the peaks. Johnson's ranch was miles +behind and far below. Occasionally billows of fog swathed them in wet +folds that sent a chill to Janet's bones. + +Sorenson held his watch down to the driver's light. + +"Ten o'clock; we're making good time. Must give the engine a +drink--and take one myself." + +He descended to the creek with a bucket, bringing back water to fill +the steaming radiator. Afterwards, standing in the light of the car's +lamps, he tilted a flask to his lips and drank deep. + +"Not far now; three or four miles. But it's slow going. Have to make +it on 'low'," said he, swinging himself up into his place. + +Janet held her face turned away. She was thinking of Juanita and +Steele Weir. Had the girl gone home again? Or, terrified, had she run +to her own home and said nothing? Had the engineer come and waited and +learning nothing at last returned to the dam? Despair filled her +breast. Even should the Mexican girl have apprised him of the +kidnapping, how should he know where to follow? And in the solitude of +the wet dark mountains all about her hope died. + +She began desperately to tug against the handkerchief binding her +wrists. + +Suddenly the going became easier and she felt rather than saw that the +trees had thinned. A flash of the car lamps at a curve in the trail +showed a great glistening wall of rock towering overhead, then this +was passed and the way appeared to lead into a grassy open space. A +dark shape beside the road loomed into view--a cabin by a clump of +pine trees. Sorenson brought the car to a stop a few yards from the +house. + +"Here at last," he announced, springing down. + +He unstrapped her feet, bade her get out. + +"I make a last appeal to your decency and manhood--if you have +either," she said, sitting motionless. + +"Rot," he answered. Half dragging her, half lifting her, he removed +her from the machine. Slipping a hand within her arm he led her inside +the log house. + +"Sit there," he ordered. + +Janet dropped upon the seat, a rude plank bench against the wall +farthest from the door. Indeed, fatigue and the numbness of her limbs +rendered her incapable of standing. + +"When I've touched off this fire and set out some grub, then I'll +untie your hands," he continued. "A snug little cabin, eh? Just the +place for us, what? See all the stuff I've brought up here to make you +warm and happy and comfortable. Regular nest. Lot of work on my part, +I want to say." + +He touched a match to the wood already laid in the fireplace, flung +off his rain coat and stood to warm his hands at the blaze. Lighting a +cigarette, he began placing from a box of supplies plates and food on +the table in the middle of the room, but paused to reproduce his +flask. With a sardonic grin he lifted the bottle, bowed to Janet and +drank the liquor neat. When he had finished, he turned the bottle +upside down to show it was empty, then tossed it into a corner. Again +he fixed his drunken, mocking smile upon her. + +"Can't preach to me about booze here, can you, honey?" he said. "Ought +to take a swallow yourself; warm you up. I have plenty. Guess I better +untie your hands now." He advanced towards her, swaying slightly. +"You're going to love me from this time on, ain't you, girlie?" He +untied the handkerchief and dropped it at his feet. "No nonsense now +about trying to get away; I'll rope you for good if you try to start +anything. Hello, what's that?" + +"No; give it to me!" she cried, in alarm as he pulled the folded +sheets of paper from her stiffened fingers. + +"Something I ought to see, maybe." Then he added harshly, "Sit down, +if you don't care to have me teach you a thing or two. I'm master +here." + +He stepped to the table and drawing a box beside him settled upon it, +pulled the candle-stick nearer and began to read the document. Janet +glanced swiftly about the room for a weapon. Escape past him she could +not, for by a single spring he could bar the way; but could she lay +hand on a stick of wood she might fight her way out. None was nearer +than the fire, and again he could interpose. + +He read on and on, with a darkening brow and an evil glint showing in +his eyes. Page by page he perused Saurez' deposition until he reached +the end. Then he got to his feet, shaking the paper at her head. + +"You were in on this," he snarled. "This is what you were in Martinez' +office to get. You're wise to this cursed scheme to help Weir make my +father and Vorse and Burkhardt and Judge Gordon out a gang of +swindlers. So they trimmed _his_ father of something--at least I fancy +they did, and I hope to God they did, the coward! And you were in with +them! You're not quite the little white angel you'd have people +believe, are you? Not quite so innocent and simple as you've made me +think, anyway. Well, I'll square all that. That slippery snake, +Martinez, I'll twist his neck the minute I get back to town. I'll bet +a thousand it was framed up to use this when Weir was arrested--but +he'll never use it now!" + +He glared at the girl with a face distorted by rage. + +"We'll just burn it here and now," he continued. "Then we'll be sure +it won't be used." + +Janet gripped her hands tightly, while her lips opened to utter a wild +protest at this desecration. What the document contained she did not +yet know, except that it was evidence that fixed upon the men named +guilt for some past deed in which Weir had suffered and which would +bring them to account. But something more than protest was needed, she +saw in a flash, to deflect the man from his purpose and save the +sheets from the flame. + +She shut her lips for an instant to choke the cry, then said with an +assumption of unconcern: + +"Go ahead. I didn't want your father to see it, in any case." + +The paper had almost reached the candle, but the hand that held it +paused. Sorenson stared at it, and from it to her. At last a malignant +curl of his lips uncovered his teeth. + +"Oh, you didn't want him to see it," he sneered. "If that's so, I'll +just save it. He'll be interested in reading what your friends have +prepared to destroy his good name and reputation." + +He folded the document and slipped it into his inner coat pocket. Then +he walked towards her. At the look on his face Janet sprang to her +feet. + +"I've changed my mind about the marriage matter, just as you did," he +said. "I agree with you now; there won't be any marriage. But I'll +have your arms about my neck just the same." + +And he seized her wrist. + +"Let me go, let----" The words ceased on her lips. + +Her eyes were riveted on the cabin door; she scarcely felt the man's +loathsome touch on her arm. How had the door come unlatched? And was +it only the wind that slowly moved it open? + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +WEIR TAKES UP THE HUNT + + +On leaving the construction camp Steele Weir had whirled away down the +river road for San Mateo with a feeling both of satisfaction and of +enmity--satisfaction at Martinez' success in at last having secured +the evidence ardently desired, as betokened by his words; enmity at +whoever was laying violent hands on the lawyer. Unfortunately when yet +half a mile from town his car suffered one of the common misadventures +of automobiles:--ping-g-g! sang a tire in a shrill dying whine. + +Weir did not stop to change and inflate the tube, but pushed ahead on +his mission though at slackened speed. He brought his car to rest +before Doctor Hosmer's house. The windows were lighted, yet at his +knock there was no response; so brushing conventionalities aside he +entered and called Janet's name. Only echoes and a following silence +greeted his call. + +Doubtful whether to remain awaiting the girl's return or go at once to +Martinez' office in the hope of still finding her, he finally chose +the latter course leaving his car where it stood and proceeding on +foot, as a result of which he passed in the darkness Juanita hurrying +home in a fright. A bad choice and valuable time lost, he afterwards +discovered. At Martinez' office he stepped inside, called the lawyer +by name, called Janet Hosmer, stood for a little while in the black +room harkening and thinking, then went forth into the street. + +This time chance fell his way. He had but come out when he heard +footsteps and two men in low-toned talk as they approached; and he +withdrew further into the concealing darkness of the street. The new +visitors, striking matches at the entrance, walked inside. The men +were Vorse and Burkhardt. + +"If you had been here, we could have nailed him at once as soon as I +had Saurez' story," the former said. "Martinez had half an hour and +more to get the thing into somebody else's hands." + +"Well, I was looking after those men up in the hills," was the growled +answer. "Had to feed 'em and have 'em ready for to-morrow night. If we +don't find the document here, we'll screw its hiding-place out of that +dirty greaser if we have to use a cord on his head Indian-fashion. +Anyway it ought to be about this office. Martinez didn't know you had +learned about it from Saurez. He'd never let go a paper like that +until he had to." + +"I think you're right there," Vorse said. "He'd want to sell it for +all it was worth. Better shut and lock the door while we're searching. +Don't care to have any of his friends sticking in their heads while +we're here." + +Burkhardt, who had lighted the lamp, now closed the door, cutting off +so far as Steele Weir was concerned both a view of the men and their +conversation. However he had learned if not enough, at least +considerable. They had not yet gained possession of the paper. They +knew nothing of Janet's part in the affair. They had so far not +succeeded in unlocking Martinez' lips, but undoubtedly they would be +able to wring from the lawyer when they went about it the real truth +regarding the document. Very likely Martinez had anticipated that, had +known his powers were such as not to be greatly able to resist +physical torture and had planned to get the evidence into the +engineer's hands before he should be subjected to pains of the flesh. +That would be remembered to his credit, along with all the rest. Where +Martinez was being held prisoner was the additional information Weir +should have liked to glean before the door was shut. + +Postponing for the time the hunt along this line, he returned to the +Hosmer dwelling. In answer to his knock and call on this visit the +trembling Juanita appeared, immediately pouring forth a recital of the +happenings at the office as affecting her mistress. + +"You've told no one else?" he demanded. + +"No, señor. She said I was to say nothing of her being there for the +paper, and I was waiting for her father to come. But she informed me +Mr. Martinez and you knew she was there, so I've told you." + +"And you saw nothing of this man who cast the blanket over her head +and seized her?" + +"It was dark; we had just come out of the office. But--but the car +sounded like Ed Sorenson's. I've heard it start from here many times +with the same loud noise. They had quarreled, Señor Weir, and were no +longer engaged." + +"I know. Which way did he drive off?" + +"East, down the lower end of the street." + +"Bring a lamp out to my car, so I can fix my tire." + +With the girl holding the light by his side the engineer worked with +concentrated energy in stripping the wheel, in inserting a new tube, +replacing the tire and pumping it up. The thin drizzle glistened on +his face, but for all that it was none the less determined, stern. + +"You need not be afraid for yourself; no one but us knows you were +there," he said to her, climbing into his machine. "Nor for Miss +Janet, either. I'll bring her home safely. When Dr. Hosmer returns, +tell him everything. Also ask him to await our coming. Be sure and say +to him that I'll bring her home unharmed and that I advise silence in +regard to the matter until I have talked with him. You will remain +quiet, of course. This isn't a thing to be gossiped about." + +"No, señor." + +Away the automobile shot under the impulsion of the gas. Minutes, +golden minutes, had been wasted in taking up the pursuit because of +his going to Martinez' office and because of the flat tire. Sorenson +now would be miles away with his prisoner. + +Sweeping out of town with the car's headlights illuminating the road, +Steele Weir blessed the drizzling mist that dampened the dust so as to +leave a tire's imprint. Almost at once he picked up the track, for not +more than twenty or twenty-five minutes had elapsed since Sorenson's +flight and not even a horseman had since been over the way. + +Though he knew it not, the interval of time had been reduced by the +stop made by the first machine, a mile or so out of town, when the +abductor removed the blanket from Janet Hosmer's head to announce his +evil scheme. From the main road leading to Bowenville Weir saw the +car's trail turn aside into a mesa track pointing obliquely for Terry +Creek canyon; and he suspected that Sorenson was making a long drive +northward, skirting the mountain range and working away from the +railroad-tapped region. + +Once he thought he caught a flash of light far ahead of him, but knew +this was an illusion. Through this rainy darkness no car's beam, +however powerful, would show half a mile. The mist beat against his +face in a steady stream as he rushed forward in the night, his eyes +immovable on the wet twin tire-marks stamped on the road, his iron +grip on the wheel, his ears filled with the steady hum of the engine. +If Sorenson had driven fast, Steele Weir drove faster. + +At Terry Creek he plunged down the bank, across the water and up on +the other side without a change of gears, rocking and lurching. Once +on the smooth trail again the car seemed to stretch itself like a +greyhound for the race northward. But on a sudden he brought the +automobile to an abrupt halt. The surface of the road was undisturbed; +nothing had passed here. + +Swinging back again on the way he had come, Weir recrossed the creek +and slowly retraced his course. Then with an exclamation of +satisfaction he picked up the track where it turned up the canyon +trail. But why was the man going to the Johnson ranch? Mystified by +this baffling procedure on Sorenson's part, he nevertheless headed up +the stream with no lessening of his purpose to overtake the other. + +At the ranch house, whose kitchen window was lighted, he stopped and +leaped out. Johnson and Mary both answered his thumping knock. + +"Is Janet Hosmer here?" he questioned, while his eyes darted about the +kitchen. Then he made his own reply, "I see she's not. Ed Sorenson +kidnapped her to-night and drove to this canyon. Did you hear a car?" + +Mary faced her father. + +"You remember I thought I heard one!" she cried. "But the sound was so +low I wasn't sure, and when I went to the window I saw nothing. I +didn't hear it again. Father said it was just my imagination." + +"Where does this road lead?" + +"Up into the timber and to a 'park.' Used to be an old wood road. +Sheepmen sometimes use it to take their wagons up above; sometimes +cattle outfits too while on round-ups." + +"Could an auto go ahead on it?" + +"Yes, I guess so. By hard driving." + +"Then he's up there." + +Weir ran back to his car, jumped in. + +"Let me go with you," Johnson shouted after him. + +"No, I can handle the fellow," the engineer answered. And again his +machine started on. "How long ago was it that you heard him, Mary?" +was his parting question. + +"'Bout fifteen minutes ago," she cried. + +Fifteen minutes! But the girl's reckoning might be vague, and +"fifteen" minutes be half an hour. At any rate, with the road +ascending among the peaks Sorenson's speed would be greatly +diminished. The incline would be against him, the uneven twisting +rain-washed trail would require careful driving, the rain would hamper +his sight. Yet the fellow he pursued could not be more than three or +four miles ahead at most. + +On and on Weir pressed. The mist thickened; black wet tree trunks +loomed before him like ghosts and sank out of view again; the road +wound along the stream among rocks and bushes and over hillocks with +all the difficult sinuosity of a serpent's track; in his ears +persisted the chuckling talk of the creek, flowing in darkness except +when lighted by his car's lamps as the machine plunged through a ford, +as became more and more frequent with the ascent and the narrowing of +the canyon. + +Five miles, ten miles, fifteen miles he must have come since leaving +the ranch house. His car now was high in the mountain range, running +on low gear, the engine working hard in the thin air and against the +steep grade. He was not making more than five miles an hour, he +judged, at this moment. The radiator was boiling and steaming like a +cauldron. But he might be sure that if his travel was slow, Sorenson's +was no better; the road was the same for the pursued as for the +pursuer. + +At the end of another half hour he came around a ledge of rock, where +the creek flowed some fifty feet below and the granite wall allowed +just room to pass in a hair-pin turn. There a light gleamed before him +like a beacon, a dim gleam of a window. It was perhaps a hundred yards +distant. It marked the end of the trail, the end of the search. + +Here was Janet Hosmer! + +And he had come in time. They could not have been here long, for +Sorenson's start had not been sufficient for that; the scoundrel had +not yet recovered his breath from his hard drive, so to speak. He +probably would imagine himself safe and so be in no haste to +consummate his vile plan of enjoying his helpless victim. + +Rage that until now had been lying cold and implacable in Steele +Weir's breast began to flame in his veins and brain. He drove his car +past the rock and off the trail upon an open grassy space, very +carefully, very quietly. Next he stopped the engine and put out the +lights, then he got out, felt his gun in its holster and gazed ahead +for an instant. + +A form had passed and repassed before the window--Sorenson's figure, +of course. Brute, coward, degenerate he was, and to be dealt with as +such. Not only as such, indeed, but as a wretch who had dared to touch +Janet Hosmer against her will, to drag her from her home to this +lonely spot by violence for his own bestial purposes. + +The blood seemed like to burst Steele Weir's heart. This sweet, +honest, kind-souled, noble girl! Janet Hosmer, so bright-eyed and +pure! She, who had suffered this man's hate to save Martinez' +document, who had dared peril to help him, Weir! All the hunger of +heart of years, and all the stifled affection, now went out to her. He +loved her; the veil was rent from his mind and he realized the fact +indisputably--he loved Janet Hosmer. And the great creature of an Ed +Sorenson had dared to seize her with brutal hands! + +Weir broke into a run. By instinct he kept the trail, though once or +twice stumbling and once barely missing a collision with a tree. When +he reached the cabin, he dropped to a walk and crept to the window, +which was without glass or frame, open to the night. Peering in he +perceived Sorenson at the table reading a document, and as he watched +he had no need to be told this was the paper that so vitally concerned +himself. + +At last Sorenson got to his feet, shaking his hand at Janet Hosmer who +sat against the cabin wall and beginning to speak. Weir listened for a +little. Then he stole along the log house to find the door. + +At last his finger touched the latch. He lifted it soundlessly, as +silently pushed the door ajar until there was space for him to slip +in. This he did. His mouth was shut hard, his eyes watchful, his right +hand was closed about the butt of his revolver still resting in the +holster. + +Over Sorenson's shoulder he saw Janet Hosmer's face, pale and drawn +but with a sudden joy flaming there. If ever gratitude were written on +human countenance, it was on hers. Gratitude--and more! Something that +sent Steele Weir's blood rushing anew through his body, with hope, +with a song, with he knew not what. + +Janet suddenly jerked herself free and stepped back, her head held +high and proud. + +"You'll never touch me again, you coward. Look behind you," she +exclaimed. + +Involuntarily Sorenson turned head on shoulder. The frown still +darkened his liquor-flushed face and the sneer yet twisted his lips so +that his mustache was drawn back from his teeth. Thus he remained as +if changed to stone. + +What he saw was the man he most dreaded, with a shadow of a smile on +his lips, his figure motionless, his hand ready, like an avenging +Nemesis from out of the night. A perceptible shudder shook the fellow. +Weir it was--"Cold Steel," whose counter-stroke against one man +already had been swift and deadly, whom nothing checked or turned or +terrified, who now for a second time was plucking away the fruit of +Sorenson's efforts, who probably on this occasion would shoot him +outright. + +For a moment Steele Weir regarded him in silence. But at last he +spoke: + +"Stand away from that lady, you skunk!" + +Sorenson moved hastily aside. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +EARTH'S RETRIBUTION + + +Steele Weir crossed the cabin to Janet's side. + +"You are unhurt?" he asked, his eyes scanning her face anxiously. + +"Yes. And, oh, how glad I am you came!" she cried, low. "I knew you +would not fail me if you but learned of my plight; but it's wonderful +you should be here so soon. I prayed every minute of my ride that +Juanita would find and tell you." + +"I couldn't come half as fast as I wished." His smile assured and +cheered her. Then as his glance fell on her wrists, still red and +creased from being bound, he exclaimed, "What's this? Let me see." And +he caught and lifted her hands to look. + +"He had you tied?" Weir's gaze moved away to Sorenson. + +"Yes. Hands and feet." + +"All the way? All the long ride?" + +"Yes--look out!" + +Janet's words, half a gasp, half a shriek, gave warning of Sorenson's +movement, though none was needed. While apparently neglecting to watch +the other, Weir had kept the man sharp in the corner of his eye. The +motion with which his hand darted to his hip and up again was a single +lightning-like sweep; and his weapon covered his enemy before the +latter's hand so much as got his revolver in grasp. + +"Drop it; drop it on the floor!" the engineer ordered. The gun +clattered on the rough-hewn logs. "Now put your hands up and turn your +back this way." Sorenson obeyed, not without his eyes speaking the +disappointed wrath and hatred his tongue dared not utter. "I should +have allowed you to make a full draw and then killed you," Steele Weir +went on. "That would have been the simplest way to settle your case. +Only I don't like to kill bunglers, even when they deserve it." + +He re-sheathed his own gun and strode forward, picking up the one on +the floor--a black, ugly-looking automatic. This he dropped into a +coat pocket. + +"Now face about, you cur," he commanded. "I want a good look at a +man--no, I'll not call you a man--at a low-lived imitation of a man +who is such a sneaking, dirty beast that all he can do is to trap and +tie up a helpless girl. I don't know yet just what I shall do with +you, but I know what I ought to do--I ought to choke the miserable +life out of you! You're not fit to live. You soil the earth and +pollute the air. But you're of the same treacherous, underhanded, +scoundrelly breed as your father, same yellow flesh and blood, same +crooked mind and heart, same sort of poisonous snake, and since you +get it all from him I suppose it can't be helped. Nor changed, except +by killing and burying you. One thing is sure, when I'm done you won't +be trying any more deals like this. Bah, you slimy reptile, you belong +in a cess-pool!" + +Under Steele Weir's biting speech Sorenson's face went red and pale by +turns. His lips twitched and worked, moving his mustache in little +angry lifts, while he breathed with short spasmodic intakes. + +"First, you're after Mexican girls," Weir went on mercilessly. "Then +Mary Johnson, whom I pulled out of your vile fingers. And now it's--" +The engineer's fist arose suddenly above the other's head. "Why, I +ought to drop you dead in your tracks for so much as looking at Janet +Hosmer! Why don't you fight? Why don't you give me a chance, you +cowardly girl-robber? Haven't you a spark of--well, you haven't, I +see. I'll just tie you up and later figure out some way to make you +suffer for this night's work." And with a gesture of disgust Weir +turned away. + +It was the moment Sorenson had been waiting for. As the engineer's +back came about, exposed in one instant of carelessness, the man +struck Weir full force on the neck, sending him staggering. Then +Sorenson leaped for the doorway. + +Janet screamed. Weir recovered himself and whirled around, whipping +forth his revolver and firing two shots. But the bullets only buried +themselves in the door slammed shut after the escaping prisoner. + +"I myself ought to be shot for this," Steele snapped out. + +He ran across the cabin, flung the door open, sprang out. The +uselessness of seeking his enemy in the black wet gloom was only too +evident, but he would not give up. Gun in hand, he stood listening for +sound of fleeing footsteps. + +A light hand gripped his arm. Janet had followed him out, was at his +side. Barely audible he heard her quick, excited breathing. + +"Must you shoot him?" she whispered. + +"Why spare him for more deviltry? But I'll not have the chance now." + +"I can't bear to think of even his blood being on our hands. Let him +go," Janet said. + +"He's gone without our permission, I'd say." + +"Isn't it just as well? I'm not harmed, and he'll never dare show his +face in San Mateo again," she said. "He'll have to stay away; he'll +leave for good." + +"Not until I see him first. I want that paper." + +"Oh, the paper, I forgot it! And it's in his pocket," she cried, in +despair. + +"Like the fool I was, I forgot it for the moment too," Steele said +bitterly. "When I could have had it at once I must go off ranting +about his meanness. It was thought of what he had done to you that +made me overlook the paper; that set me boiling. Lost my head." + +Janet's answer was almost sufficient recompense for even such a +serious deprivation as that of the document. + +"I'll never forget that you were angry in my behalf," she said, +softly. "But perhaps you can gain possession of the paper yet." + +Before he could make a reply the sound of a motor engine startled +them. Sorenson was in his car, not far off. Weir immediately plunged +forward through the darkness in the direction of the noise, uttering a +shout for the man to stop or be shot. But after the taste of liberty +that he already had had Sorenson was prepared to take further chances; +the engine's roar burst into full volume and the car leaped ahead, +while its driver sent back a derisive curse to the cabin. + +Weir fired again, fired two or three times at the sound. Perhaps +Sorenson was crouching safely out of range; at any rate, the bullets +did not reach him, for the automobile plunged away. Steele slowly went +back to the girl. + +"How can he see without lights?" she questioned. + +"He can't see, but he'd rather risk not seeing the road than drawing +my fire. There's a bad place there at the rock; he'd better turn on +his lamps if he wants to round that." + +Sensing the danger that threatened Sorenson, both remained unmoving, +trying to penetrate the darkness, harkening to the automobile's +retreating murmur. A curiosity, a sort of detached suspense, rooted +them to the spot. + +"Ah, he's snapped them on!" Janet said, almost with relief. + +The powerful beam of the headlights had suddenly blazed forth. Either +feeling that he was safe from Weir's gun or realizing that he was on +the verge of a graver danger, Sorenson had chosen to make the light. +He was going at headlong speed; even where they watched, Steele and +Janet perceived that,--and only his fear of the peril behind which +made him heedless of the difficulties in front could account for that +reckless pace. + +The light leaped out into the night. Something else too seemed to +spring forth within the circle of the glow, dark, sudden, imminent, +rushing at the machine. A frantic jerk this way and that of the beam +showed the driver's mad effort to avoid the towering wall of granite. +Then a scream rang back to the man and girl before the cabin. Followed +instantly a crash, an extinguishment of the light, darkness, silence, +and finally a thin quivering flame at the base of the ledge, delicate +and blue, like a dancing chimera. + +Janet's hand reached out and closed in Steele Weir's, and he covered +it with his other hand. + +"Oh, how terrible!" she gasped. "Did you see? The rock seemed to smite +him!" + +"Yes." + +"He must be dead." + +"You remain here and I'll go find out." + +He led her into the cabin and to a stool by the table, where resting +her elbows on the board she pressed her hands over her eyes as if to +blot out the sight she had just witnessed. After all she had suffered, +the climax of this dreadful spectacle left her unnerved, weak, +shuddering. + +"Don't stay long," she whispered. "Come back as quick as you can. This +cabin, this whole spot in the mountains, is awful. I can almost feel +him hovering over me." + +"You mustn't permit such thoughts." He gave her shoulder an +encouraging pat. "It will take but a few minutes to see if he's still +alive and then we'll start home. You've been the bravest girl going +and will continue to be, I know. Everything is over; nothing can +happen to you now." + +Weir went out. He perceived that the wrecked car was fully afire by +this time, its flames illuminating the granite ledge and the ground +about. Evidently the machine's fuel tank had been smashed under the +impact and the gasoline had escaped, preventing an explosion but +fiercely feeding the blaze. He ran towards the place. + +At first he did not find Sorenson, so that he supposed him buried +beneath the wreckage, but presently he discovered his crumpled form +lying jammed between the base of the ledge and a boulder. Weir lifted +the limp figure from its resting place and bore it to open ground, +where he made an examination of the still form. Clearly Sorenson had +been pitched free of the car and crushed against the rock wall. His +cap was missing; his coat was ripped up the back and a part of it gone +as if caught and held by some obstruction in the car when he had been +shot forth; blood and a great bruise marked one cheek; and the way his +legs dragged when he was lifted up indicated some serious injury to +those members. But the man still breathed. + +"Miracles haven't ceased," Weir muttered, when he had made sure of the +fact. "But his chance is slim at best." + +It would be false to say that the engineer felt compassion at the +other's sudden catastrophe; he experienced none. On the contrary he +had a sense of justice fittingly executed, as if, escaping bullets and +man's blows, Sorenson had been felled by a more certain power, by the +inevitable consequences of his own deeds and sins, by a wall of evil +he himself had raised as much as by a wall of stone. + +He searched the man's breast pocket, then hunted for the missing +document among the stones and bushes. At last he gave up for the time +further seeking, with a conviction that the vital paper was gone for +good, destroyed in the fire of the burning car. But for his own +over-confidence, his belief he had Sorenson a safe prisoner back there +in the cabin, the sheets might be secure in his pocket. Well, it was +too late now. + +He again lifted the unconscious man in his arms and returned to the +log house. Inside he laid him on the rude bed which Sorenson himself +had spread with sheets and blankets. + +"He's alive?" Janet asked, awed. + +"Alive, but badly hurt." + +"You'll leave him here?" + +"Yes, while I take you away. We could do nothing for him in any case; +his injuries are grave and need a doctor's help. The best service we +can perform in his behalf is to start your father or some other +physician here as quickly as possible. He may live or he may die; that +isn't in our hands. He's unconscious and not suffering, and probably +will not feel pain for some hours if he does live, so we can go +without feeling that we're robbing him of any of his chances of +recovery. Your conscience may rest quite easy on that point. Come, +we'll start at once. The quicker we reach your father, the quicker he +will arrive here." + +When they were in his car he wrapped a robe about her against the +sharp chill. + +"I am cold; my teeth are chattering," she said. + +"You've been under a great strain. Just lie back and rest and think of +something else than what has happened, if you can," he urged. + +"I'll try to." + +The lamps blazed out at his touch of the switch and the car began to +move. She closed her eyes. She did not wish to see the scene of the +smash, with the leaping fire and the horrible pile of crushed metal. +Indeed, she drew the robe before her face, where she kept it for some +time. + +"Are we past the place?" she asked, finally. + +"A long way past." + +"Thank heaven! Nothing shall ever drag me up this road again!" + +"It will not take us long to reach Johnson's and be off this trail +altogether, for it's down-hill going all the way." + +"You said nothing about the paper? Did you get it?" + +"No; it wasn't on him. I'll return for another look, but it fell in +the fire, I think, and burned." + +"Do you know what was in it, Mr. Weir?" + +"No. But I can guess." + +"I know a little of its contents, from what he said before you +entered. It was a statement, something about his father and others +doing dishonest acts, I think. He didn't seem to be quite clear what +it was about either, but he spoke of your father and declared he +hoped the others had swindled him, which he inferred had happened. I +didn't know your father ever had been in this country. That's the +reason you hate those men, Mr. Sorenson and Mr. Vorse and Mr. +Burkhardt; because of some injury they worked your father." + +"That's the reason. And that too is why they're trying to get rid of +me one way or another. But they didn't hire the Mexican to attempt to +shoot me; Ed Sorenson employed him. Martinez, when you told me the +man's name, telegraphed around the country from Bowenville till he got +track of the fellow. He also secured evidence that a white man +resembling Ed Sorenson had been seen talking with him at the place he +came from. So we can draw our conclusions." + +"Then he hired the man to assassinate you!" + +"Looks like it. Because I took Mary Johnson away from him, and from +fear. He was afraid you might learn of the matter, I suppose, and +decided to get rid of me. He's a coward at heart, but none the less a +criminal by instinct, so he hired another to do what he dared not +attempt himself. A crook like his father, but with less nerve." + +Janet was silent while the car wound its way down the creek road, +through the misty darkness and among the invisible peaks. The full +danger that she had escaped was but now making itself clear to her +mind. + +"If he would go so far as to try to murder you," she faltered, "I +surely could have expected no pity from him." + +"Now listen to me," he said. "I'm going to give you a little scolding: +you must forget all this business; it just makes you fearful and +unhappy. The past is over, and he's out of your life for good. Look at +it that way. Consider the thing as a bad dream, done with and no more +important. That's 'the right view to take'"--he paused, then added +softly--"Janet." + +"How strong-souled you are!" she whispered. + +Strong, in truth, he seemed. Ignoring danger he had come swift on +Sorenson's track and rescued her, saved her, kept her clean from her +assailant's infamous brutishness. The one was a knave and a beast; but +he, Steele Weir, was a man, clear to see, quick to act, hard towards +enemies, gentle to friends. Every particle a man--sure of himself, and +fearless, and true-hearted, and firm of soul. + +She pressed her hands tight against her breast. He was a man one could +love and honor. "Cold Steel" Weir they called him--and, she divined, +his love if ever given would be as lasting as hoops of steel. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +IN THE NIGHT WATCHES + + +A light still burned in the Johnson ranch house, late as was the hour, +when the car swung round a copse of aspens and brought it in view. +Johnson himself came forth at sound of the automobile, with a sleepy +Mary following. + +"I wouldn't go to bed, of course, knowing you were to come back," said +he. But his true reason appeared in his added words, "I was just about +ready to saddle a horse and head up there myself. Mighty glad to see +you safe back, Miss Hosmer. Mary has had some coffee on the fire ever +since Weir went along, knowing you'd be cold and worn out." + +"Just the thing!" Steele exclaimed. "We're both chilled. Come, Janet." +And he stepped from the machine. + +Without demur the girl placed her hand in the one he offered and +descended stiffly. Mary ran back into the house to attend to the +coffee-pot and the visitors presently were seated at the kitchen table +at places already laid, with cups of steaming strong coffee and plates +of food before them. + +Janet contented herself with the hot, reviving drink, but Weir ate +heartily as well. Coming and going, forty miles of driving a rough +mountain road had given him a laborer's appetite. + +"It's late, one o'clock," Mary said to Janet. "Why don't you stay +with us the rest of the night? I wish you would." + +Janet put up an arm and drew down the face of the girl at her side and +kissed her. + +"You're a good friend, Mary, to be so thoughtful," she answered. "But +father will be terribly anxious every minute I'm away. I must reach +home as quickly as possible to ease his mind." + +Of Sorenson nothing had been spoken, though a repressed curiosity on +the part of the ranchman and his daughter had been evident from the +instant of Weir's and Janet's return. + +At this point Johnson jerked his head in the direction of the creek. + +"What did you do to him, Weir?" he growled. + +"Not as much as I intended at first. But he made up for it himself. +Ran his car against that granite ledge before the cabin while trying +to get away, and smashed himself up badly. I carried him into the hut +and left him there; he was alive when we drove off, but he may be dead +by now. Bad eggs like him are hard to kill, however. I'll start a +doctor up there when I arrive in San Mateo; probably one from +Bowenville." + +"Father won't attend him now, so long as there's another physician who +can, I know," Janet stated. + +"I should say not!" Johnson asseverated. "If that young hound Sorenson +had his deserts, we'd just leave him there and forget all about him." + +"That's where our civilized notions handicap us," Steele Weir said, +with a slight smile. "But at that, if he were the only person +concerned, I'd do no more than inform a doctor where he was and what +had happened to him, and wash my hands of the affair. There are other +things, though, to consider. Janet's position, primarily. Her case is +similar to that of Mary's awhile ago, and we must prevent talk." + +"Yes, of course." + +"The worst of the doings of a scoundrel like him that involve innocent +people is the talk. There are always some people low enough to ascribe +evil to the girl as well as the man in such a circumstance as this. I +propose to see that Janet doesn't suffer that. We avoided it in Mary's +case and we'll do so in this, though the situation is more difficult. +I've been thinking the matter over on the way down and have a plan +that will work out, I believe, but it requires your help, Johnson." + +"I reckon you know you'll not have to ask me twice for anything," the +rancher remarked. + +"And we may have to shuffle the facts a bit." + +"All right. I'll do all the lying necessary and never bat an eye." + +"It won't require much decorating, the story. But you will have to go +up and get him, starting at once." Then he concluded, "I hate to have +to ask you to make that drive late at night and in the darkness." + +"Never mind that. Glad to do it, if that's what you want." + +"Take your wagon and fill the box with hay and bring him down. By +coming back slowly he won't be jarred, and he has to be brought out +anyway. If he's dead, well, bring his body just the same. A doctor +should be easily at your house by the time you arrive; and your story +is that a sheepherder found him lying by his wrecked car, carried him +into the cabin and then came down and told you of the accident, on +which you went and brought him in, not knowing, of course, in the dark +who he was or what he was doing up there or how the smash-up had +occurred. You might suggest that he was camping there by himself to +fish, and stop at that." + +Johnson nodded. + +"I'll say just enough and no more," he remarked. + +"If you start at once, you'll be there by daylight if not before. That +will get you back here by nine or ten o'clock. I don't want him taken +to San Mateo; that would stir up a swarm of inquiries and might even +send some of the curious up to the spot. Let the trail get cold, so to +speak. People aren't half as curious about a thing three or four days +after it happens as at the moment." + +"I've noticed that myself." + +"And another thing, I don't wish his father to learn of the matter +just yet. Under other circumstances he should be the first to know, +but I want the news kept from him for a special reason. Besides, it +would be better if he found out about it from others and through +roundabout channels. His son up there I don't see doing any talking +himself for some time if he does live. When he is able to talk, I +believe he'll decide to keep his mouth shut or just accept the +explanation given that he was fishing or something of that kind. When +the doctor has looked him over, either he or you will carry him to +Bowenville. If we could ship him at once to Gaston, where there's some +sort of a hospital, I suppose, or even to Santa Fé, that would be the +thing. He'd be out of the way; there'd be no talk; there would be no +explanations to make except to the doctor." + +"Every doctor round these parts probably knows him," Johnson said, +"and so would insist on taking him home." + +"There's a new one at Bowenville, father says," Janet put in. "A young +man, just starting practice. He hasn't been there but a few weeks and +may not know Ed." + +"He's the man for us!" Weir declared. "We'll send for him. Now we must +be going." + +Steele arose from the table and stretched his shoulders. + +"And I'll hitch up my team immediately," the rancher said. + +"I'll go with you," Mary exclaimed. + +"Tut, tut, girl." + +"I can help you, and I want to do something to help Mr. Weir and Janet +Hosmer, even if it's only a little bit. I'm strong, I don't care if it +is late--anyway, I'd just have nightmares if I stayed here alone,--and +I can help you with him. I'm going," she ended, obstinately. + +Johnson eyed her for a moment, then yielded. + +"Nothing to be afraid of now," he rejoined, "but if you would rather +go along with your dad, all right." + +Five minutes later Steele and Janet were emerging from the canyon upon +the mesa. The drizzling rain still continued and the unseen mist beat +cool upon their cheeks as the car swung away from Terry Creek for +town. Except for the stream of light projected before them, they were +engulfed in Stygian darkness; and save for the slithering sound of the +tires on the wet road, they moved in profound night silence. + +"That business is arranged," Steele said, after a time. "But we still +have the results of the attack on Martinez to deal with. I don't know +how long he'll hold out against the men who dragged him off, probably +not long. I suppose Burkhardt and perhaps Vorse took him, and they'll +stop at nothing to get the paper they're after. How they learned of +it, I don't know, but find out about it they did; and they'll force +the information they want from Martinez if they have to resort to hot +irons. That's the kind of men they are. The lawyer will stick up to a +certain point--then he'll tell. That brings you into their way." + +"You also," Janet answered. + +"I've been there for some time," was his grim response. "But in your +case it's different. I'm worried, I tell you frankly." + +"Do you think they would dare try to intimidate me in my own home and +with father to protect me?" she cried, incredulously. + +"Not there, perhaps. But if they could inveigle you away, yes. They +wouldn't use hot irons in your case, of course, and I can't guess just +what they would do, but they would do--something. Those men think I +have the 'goods' on them; I repeat, they would stop at nothing to save +themselves if worst came to worst; their fear will make them fiends. +One couldn't suppose they would dare seize Martinez in all defiance of +law--but they did. One can't believe they would dream of torturing him +for information--but I haven't a doubt that's what they've done. So +you see why I'm worried about you. If anything happened, if any harm +came to you now, Janet--" + +His voice was unsteady as he spoke her name and ceased abruptly. She +thrilled to this betrayal of his feeling. + +"I wish I could just stick at your side, then I know I should be +safe," she said. + +And for answer she felt his hand grope and press her own for an +instant. + +"You can count on me being somewhere around." + +"I know that," she said, confidently. + +San Mateo was asleep, buried in gloom when they entered it, and quiet +except for the barking of a dog or two that their passage stirred to +activity. But in Dr. Hosmer's cottage a light was burning and as the +car came to a stop at its gate the door was flung open and the doctor +himself appeared framed in the doorway. He ran hastily down the walk +to meet them. + +"Janet!" he cried. And the girl flung her arms about him. + +"Juanita told you? Oh, it was dreadful! But Mr. Weir has brought me +home safe." + +Dr. Hosmer too agitated to speak reached out and grasped the +engineer's hand, pressing it fervently. + + * * * * * + +At about that moment three men sat in the rear of Vorse's saloon. The +shades were drawn and the front part of the long room was dark. Only a +dull light burned where they sat. They were talking in low tones, with +long pauses, with worried but determined, savage faces--Vorse, +Burkhardt, Sorenson. + +"Where the devil is she, that's what I want to know!" Burkhardt +growled. "I've been over twice and looked through a window. Doc was +there." + +"She's in bed and asleep, probably," Sorenson said. + +"I don't believe it. The old man would be in the sheets himself if +that were the case. Didn't I call up twice by 'phone too? She was out, +they said." + +"Couldn't do much with her father there, anyway. We've got to get the +paper by soft talk," Vorse commented. "I still half believe Martinez +was lying when he said it had been in that old chair. She couldn't +have got to the office and away in the hour or two before he told +without some one seeing her, and no one did so far as we can learn. We +locked the door too the second time we went back and it hasn't been +opened since; and we were there ten minutes after our first visit when +we learned the papers weren't among those in his pocket. I think he's +got it cached away somewhere still." + +"Then we'll give him another dose of our medicine." + +"If I know anything about men, he told the truth," Sorenson said. + +"Well, if the girl has it, we've got to get it from her if I have to +wring her neck to do it." It was Burkhardt's inflamed utterance. + +A pause followed. + +"Sorenson, your boy is engaged to her," Vorse stated. + +"Yes." + +"Then it's up to him to get it first thing in the morning. Maybe it +goes against the grain to let him know about this business of the +past, but it ain't going to knock him over; he's no fool, he's a wise +bird, he understands that a good many things are done in business that +aren't advertised. He knows we weren't missionaries in the old days. +And she'll hand it over for him when she might not for any one else." + +"That's right, Sorenson," Burkhardt affirmed, his scowling face +visibly clearing. + +"Ed went away somewhere this evening, that's the only drawback to your +scheme. Said something about Bowenville and catching the night train +to Santa Fé, and that he might be gone maybe a couple of days and +maybe a week." + +"Hell!" Burkhardt exploded, in consternation. + +Vorse however remained cool. + +"Then you must start telegrams to head him off, start them the instant +you get home. Telephone to Bowenville the message you want sent and +have the operator dispatch it to all trains going both ways since +early evening, in order to make sure. If you can reach him within two +or three hours, wherever he is, he can hop off, catch a train back +and be here by to-morrow evening. Make your message urgent. And +meanwhile we'll do what we can to get hold of that paper. At any rate +we can keep her from seeing Weir. If we have to watch her we'll do it; +and if we have to stop her from going to the dam we'll do that someway +too. You might invite her over to-morrow to spend the day at your +house." + +"Do you think she'll be likely to come if she reads that document?" +the banker inquired coldly. + +"Why not? Tell her right off the bat that the thing is a lie and a +forgery and that you want to explain about how it was made. She might +fall for that and carry the document to you. She's always had a good +opinion of you, hasn't she?" + +"Yes." + +"Then why should she change at a mere story." + +"You're right," Sorenson exclaimed with sudden energy. "The matter +described happened so long ago that she won't probably attach as much +importance to it as we've imagined she would. I'll ask her to bring it +to me to see--and that will be all that's necessary, once it's in my +fingers." + +"And what about him?" Burkhardt asked, striking the floor with his +heel. + +"Just leave him there for the present. To-morrow we'll have another +talk with him," the cattleman stated. "Better offer him a couple of +thousand to go to another state; he'll grab at the chance, I fancy. +Money heals most wounds. But, Vorse, keep your cellar locked and the +bartender away from it. We can start Martinez away sometime +to-morrow." + +"Don't know about that. To-morrow night will be our busy night," the +ex-sheriff said. + +"We might let Gordon handle him," Vorse suggested. + +"I thought perhaps you intended to keep the Judge in ignorance of this +Martinez matter. He seems to be getting sort of feeble." + +"He's not too feeble to take his share of the unpleasant jobs along +with the rest of us," Vorse answered, unfeelingly. "I shall have him +in here first thing in the morning and tell him what's happened and +what we've done and what he has to do." + +"Sure," said Burkhardt. + +"Well, that's agreeable to me," Sorenson stated, looking at his watch +and rising: "Time we were turning in, if there's nothing more." + + * * * * * + +At the dam camp Meyers, the assistant chief engineer, and Atkinson, +the superintendent, were still awake, smoking and talking in the +office. + +"I smelt enough booze on those fellows who came stringing in here to +fill the reservoir," the latter was saying. "Some one's feeding it to +them." + +"Nobody drunk, though." + +"No. But who's giving it to them and why? I asked one fellow and he +said he'd been to a birthday party, and wouldn't tell where. They were +all feeling pretty lush, even if they weren't soused. And to-morrow's +Sunday!" + +"They'll all be idle, you mean?" + +"Sure. If there's more liquor, they'll be after it. All day to drink +in means a big celebration. The whiskey is sent up from town, of +course, and I reckon sent just at this time to get us all in bad while +Mr. Pollock's here." + +"We'll look up the bootlegging nest to-morrow," Meyers said, with +finality. + +"What can we do if we do locate it? They're not selling the stuff, I +judge, but giving it away. That clears their skirts and forces us to +deal with the men themselves if there's any dealing done. Probably +they hope to start a big row among us that way." + +"We'll await Weir's advice." + +"Well, I've waited all I'm going to to-night. Seems to me for a +steady, quiet, self-respecting, dignified, unhooked, unmarried, +unmortgaged, unromantic man he's skylarking and gallivanting around +pretty late." + + * * * * * + +On the rocky creek road the ranchman and his daughter Mary were +driving up among the trees on their way to the cabin, a lantern +swinging from the end of the wagon tongue, the horses straining +against the grade. On Johnson's beard the moisture formed beads which +from time to time he brushed away. From the trees collected drops of +water fell on their hands and knees. All about as they proceeded the +bushes and rocks appeared in shadowy outline, to disappear in the +night once more, yielding to others. + +"Isn't this cabin where we're going the one we drove to three years +ago when you were hunting some cattle?" Mary asked. + +"Yes." + +"I never thought then that Ed Sorenson would be lying up there all +mashed to pieces," she said, with awed voice. + +"I guess he didn't either," was the dry response. + +"He ought to be ready to stop chasing girls after this," she +declared. + +"He won't if he can walk; his kind never does quit." + +"Then his kind ought to be locked up somewhere like mad dogs. In a +'sylum, maybe." + +"I guess you're right on that, Mary. They're dangerous." + +"Funny we didn't know he'd been up there, going past our house. He +must have been there first before taking Janet." + +"Sneaked up in the night, probably. He'd have to have grub and so on +if he expected to stay even a day or two. Crooks always look after +their bellies, be sure." + +"I reckon Janet Hosmer will like Mr. Weir a whole lot now, don't +you?" + +"She ought to, if she doesn't." + +A long silence followed while Mary apparently pursued the line of +thought opened up by this speculation. + +"If she has the good sense I think she has," the rancher stated at +length, for his mind at least had been following out the subject, +"she'll not only like him a whole lot, but she'll lead him to the +altar and put her brand on him." + +He spoke to unhearing ears. For just then Mary sagged against him, her +head sank on his shoulder. He put an arm around her form and let her +sleep, thus roughly expressing his tenderness and love. Weir had not +only rescued Janet Hosmer from the clutches of the man now lying +injured; he also had once saved Johnson's own child Mary from the +scoundrel's grasp. + +Weir might ask anything of him, even to the laying down of his life in +his defense. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +A QUEER PAPER + + +When Mary Johnson next opened her eyes it was at a little shake by her +father. She had slept heavily despite the jolting of the wagon; and +now looked about drowsy-eyed and at a loss to know where she was. Her +clothes and face were damp, her hands cold. She wasn't sure yet but +this was still a dream--the team and wagon, the cabin before which +they stood, the trees and rocks scattered about the grassy park-like +basin, and the soaring mountain peaks on every hand that were just +touched by the first early sun-rays. + +The rain and mists were gone, leaving the dawn clear, gray, sharp, +scented with the pungent odor of balsam and pine. From a distance came +the subdued murmur of Terry Creek, which here high in the mountain +range had its source in springs and brooks flowing from pools. All was +peaceful. + +Mary's look came to rest on the cabin. Over it reared the great pines +that grew in a clump behind. Its door was ajar, but the log house for +any sign of occupancy might have been untenanted. Immediately the girl +glanced back along the road they had come and beheld there in the dim +shadow at the foot of the lofty granite ledge a shapeless black lump. +She shivered. + +"You awake?" her father asked. + +"Yes." And she began to climb down over the wagon wheel. + +"Wait here. I'll go in first. He might be----" But though the rancher +did not complete his sentence the words spoken carried their own grave +implication. + +He came out again presently. Mary gazed at his face to read from it +the news it might carry, and it was with a breath of relief she +perceived that the injured man was still alive, for her father himself +appeared easier of mind. Neither would by choice have a dead man for a +passenger on the ride home, even Ed Sorenson. + +"He's breathing, but is still unconscious," Johnson declared. "Must +have got a crack in the head along with the rest. Face is covered with +dried blood. From the stuff inside the house he must have been fixing +for quite a stay--blankets, grub, whiskey, candles, and so on. We'll +eat a bite ourselves before starting back; get the pail out of the +wagon and bring some water and I'll make a pot of coffee. There's a +fireplace and wood inside." + +"I'll get the water, but I'll stay out while you're boiling it," the +girl said. "I don't want to see him until I have to go in and help +carry him out." + +She went off for the water, on her return setting the bucket by the +door. Then curious to see the place of Ed Sorenson's accident, she +wandered back along the trail to the ledge. There she beheld the +crumpled, fire-blackened remains of his automobile in a heap near the +stone wall. Apparently the car had first struck a small boulder, which +had flung Sorenson out on one side and forward, then leaping this hit +the ledge full force. + +At the instant he must have been off the road and headed wrong, she +guessed. The rapid daybreak of the mountains had by now dispersed the +last dimness and indeed the crags far above were bright with sunshine. +She could plainly see the ruin that the machine was, fire having +completed what the smash had left undamaged, and the part of the rock +that was smoked by the flames, and was able to smell yet the reek of +burnt oil, varnish and rubber. + +With the eyes of the curious she stared at the wreck, at the ledge, at +the ground, absorbed with simple speculations and filled with a sense +of awe. The machine must have made a big sound when it struck. It was +a lot of money gone quickly, that car. Not enough of it left to make +it worth hauling away. And so on and so on. + +Then all at once her wandering regard detected something white in a +crevice between two stones. At first she thought it the gleam of a +bird or a chipmunk. The thing was some yards off from the spot where +she stood, but the flutter persisted. So she approached it to learn +its nature. + +The thing was a paper. One corner of a sheet stuck up from the crack +in which it lay and was waved gently by the rising dawn breeze. She +drew it out and perceived it was fastened to other sheets that were +folded, all damp from the rain though not soaked because the cranny +had admitted little moisture. It was the last sheet which had come +partly unfolded, apparently as it fell, so was left in sight or she +would never have noticed the white flutter. This last sheet was blank, +but the others, neatly folded though wrinkled, were covered with +writing she saw on spreading them open. However, she could not read +the pages; the matter was typewritten, but it was not English. Some +foreign language, maybe. + +If Mary could not read the document, she could at least logically +deduce how it had happened to be in its present resting-place. The +paper was here because the wrecked automobile was here, so when Ed +Sorenson was pitched out the folded sheets of paper must have been +propelled from his pocket by the same force and at the same instant. +It hit a rock after flying through the air and slid down into the +crack. + +Perhaps it was only a business document; it looked like one. Again +perhaps it told something about his crooked private affairs--about his +schemes for ruining girls, possibly. Very likely, indeed. That seemed +to be about all he engaged himself at. When she found some one who +could read it, she would know for certain. She would just take it +along with her and say nothing about her find until she could have +somebody who understood the writing read it over for her. + +In places the typing had stained from dampness, but not seriously. She +could dry out the pages over the kitchen stove at home. So folding the +sheets again, she doubled the document, tied it in her handkerchief +and placed it inside her waist, where it could not be lost. Perhaps +there were other papers. But a further search disclosed none, +whereupon as her father was shouting to her from the cabin to come she +retraced her steps. + +When they had drunk their coffee and eaten some of Sorenson's food, +making their meal before the door, they carried the unconscious man +out to the wagon, bearing him in the blanket on which he lay. Other +blankets they spread over him. Johnson also placed at the prostrate +figure's feet the rest of the eatables in the cabin. + +"No need to leave this stuff to the pack-rats," said he. "We'll just +consider it a little pay towards fetching him out." + +"He ought to be willing to pay you a whole lot more when he learns the +trouble you've been to." + +"I wouldn't touch his money if he offered me a thousand dollars; I'd +throw it back in his face. I'm not doing this for pay, or friendship, +or charity; I'm doing it to help Janet Hosmer and because Weir asked +me. If the Sorensons had all the money on earth, they couldn't give me +a penny as between man and man. If they owed it to me, that would be +another matter. They'd pay it if I had to stick a gun down their +throats to make them come across." + +"We don't need any of their money, I guess," Mary said. + +"Nope. We're poor but we're straight. So we're better off than they +are--richer, if we just look at it that way." + +Once during the long drive, as they neared the ranch house, a low moan +came from the form on the straw in the wagonbed. Both Johnson and Mary +looked around quickly, then regarded each other. + +"Beginning to suffer," said the parent. "It's a wonder there's a whole +bone in his body. I hope the doctor is down below waiting for us." + +This proved to be the case when about ten o'clock Johnson drove his +worn-out team into his dooryard. Weir's car was there and with it the +engineer himself and a young medical practitioner. Climbing up into +the wagon, the doctor made a hasty examination of the patient. + +"Hips broken. Slight concussion of the skull, but not dangerous," was +his opinion. "I shall not be able to tell the full seriousness of his +injuries until I have him stripped on a table or bed. Probably there +are other broken bones,--ribs or something. We must get him down to +Bowenville as quickly as possible, for his is a bad case. But I guess +if he has pulled through so far he'll recover. If you'll drive your +wagon down to the mouth of the canyon, we'll transfer him to my car, +which is double seated, and then you can accompany me to town; Mr. +Weir says you are willing to go along and help. I'll send you back +from Bowenville." + +"Yes, I'll go along. Mary will ride down with us and bring back the +team and wagon." + +"Strange what he was doing up there in the mountains with an +automobile alone," the doctor remarked. + +"Oh, he might have wanted a day's fishing, or was taking a look at +cattle or range, something like that," Johnson stated. + +"Mr. Weir said a sheepherder found him. Wasn't that it, sir?" + +The engineer turned to the rancher. + +"Wasn't that the way of it?" + +"Yes. Showed up here late and said he had found the man and carried +him into the cabin. Said his wrecked car was still burning, so the +accident couldn't have occurred very long previous. Said we ought to +bring him down immediately as he was badly hurt. So I sent word to Dr. +Hosmer, and my girl and I set off at once, the sheepherder going back +with us. Said he just happened to be looking for a stray sheep or he +would never have come on this man, as he was heading his band for a +pass to get over on the west side of the range. S'pose we'll never see +him again." + +"Do you know who this man is?" + +"His face seems sort of familiar," Johnson replied, scratching his +chin. "But he looks like a city chap, by his clothes, what's left of +them. No papers or anything on him to tell his name. Might have come +over the pass himself from the other side; men go everywhere in these +hill-climbing cars they make nowadays." + +"Somebody will be seeking information soon and then we'll know," the +physician said. "He'll probably give his name and address himself when +he comes round. But if I'm not mistaken he'll need another sort of +car if he does any moving about when he's out of bed." + +"Why's that?" + +"Speaking off-hand, I'll say he'll never walk again. That's the way +broken hips usually turn out; and if his spine is injured, as I +suspect, he will probably be paralyzed from the waist down. Hard luck +for a young man like him. He'll wish at times he was killed +outright." + +Unobserved by the speaker Weir and Johnson exchanged a meaningful +look. In the minds of both moved the same thought, that Providence had +punished Ed Sorenson according to his sins and more adequately than +could man. Dreadful years were before him. He would, in truth, wish a +thousand times that he had died at the foot of the ledge. + +Half an hour later the visitors had departed, the rancher going with +the physician and his charge to Bowenville, Weir returning to San +Mateo. Mary had driven the wagon up from the mouth of the canyon, +unharnessed the horses, watered and fed them, and now was seated in +the kitchen staring absently out the open door. After so much +excitement she felt distrait, depressed. + +Finally she produced and dried the papers over the stove, in which she +had re-kindled a fire. + +"Funny how anybody should want to talk or write anything but English," +she remarked to herself, gazing at the pages. + +She attempted to extract some sense from the strange words. At the +bottom of the last sheet she deciphered, Felipe Martinez' name under +the notorial acknowledgment. All at once in scanning certain lines she +came on names that were plain enough--Sorenson, Vorse, Burkhardt, +Gordon. The last must mean Judge Gordon. Then presently she found two +more names that excited her curiosity--James Dent's and Joseph +Weir's. + +Springing to her feet she stared at the sheets in her hand. For some +reason or other her blood was beating with an odd sensation of +impending discovery. + +"Why--why----" she stammered. "Why, those are the men father told +about being shot, and him looking on as a boy! This is a queer paper! +I wish he were here." + +Possession of it gave her a feeling of uneasiness. Her father had +warned her never to speak of the matter to any one--and here was +something about it in writing, or so she guessed. He had said Sorenson +and the other men would kill him at once if they learned he had been a +witness. That meant they would kill her too if they found out that she +not only knew about their crime but had this paper as well. + +She looked about. Finally she retied the document in a tea-towel, +tight and secure, and buried it deep in the flour barrel. They would +not think of looking in the flour. But she went to the door just the +same and gazed anxiously down the canyon as if enemies might put their +heads in sight that very minute. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +ANXIETIES + + +"My dear doctor, your talents are wasted in San Mateo. They should be +employed in the larger field of diplomacy," said Steele Weir, when on +his arrival from Terry Creek he was apprised of what had occurred +during his absence. + +"From all indications I shall have full opportunity for their use +hereafter, whatever they may be, in our own bailiwick," Doctor +Hosmer replied, smiling. "There's more going on in our village, +apparently, than in many a small kingdom. I merely had Janet use the +truth with certain limitations, and there's no wiser course when +part of the facts are known. Sorenson seemed quite satisfied with her +explanation." + +The colloquy resulted from a meeting between Janet and the cattleman +while Weir was guiding the young physician, summoned from Bowenville, +to Johnson's ranch. Sorenson had appeared at the house about ten +o'clock that morning desiring to see the girl. They had talked +together on the veranda, where the visitor stated he had effected a +settlement and obtained an acknowledgment from Martinez, who was +trying to blackmail him and others; that a certain paper had been +prepared by the lawyer for use in the disreputable business; that the +man had said he had asked Janet to secure it from an old chair in his +office; and he wished to learn if she had done so. + +Janet had admitted such to be the case. + +"It was odd Mr. Martinez should telephone me to go get it, wasn't it?" +she had asked. "But I went, and there it was stuffed in the lining of +the chair." + +"You have it then?" Sorenson stated, with a sigh of relief and his +eyes kindling with eagerness. + +"No, I haven't it now." + +"What in heaven's name did you do with it?" he asked. + +"As I was coming out of Mr. Martinez' office, there at the door was +Ed. He had seen me go in and so stopped his car before the door; after +a time he took the paper to see what it was." + +"Then you didn't see its contents?" + +"No; I didn't even open it." + +"And he has it?" + +"He had it the last I saw of the paper. He read it. First, he was +going to burn it up because it made him angry, then he changed his +mind, saying he would take it to show to you, as he thought you would +be interested. Is there anything else you wish to know, Mr. +Sorenson?" + +"Where did he go from there?" + +"He drove away. From something he said, I judged that he planned to be +away from home several days." + +Revolting as it was to Janet to put so fair a face on Ed Sorenson's +conduct, nevertheless she had braced herself to go through with the +part and presented to the cattleman a clear, natural countenance. The +very simplicity of her story, its directness, its accord with the +facts as he knew them, carried conviction. Innocently drawn into the +affair, she had, in his view, been quickly guided out again by Ed's +luck and wit. + +Ed had the deadly document. The four men concerned might breathe +easily once more. Ed himself, in all probability, did not realize the +true menace of old Saurez' deposition, or he would at once have +brought it to him instead of continuing on his trip: the boy no doubt +thought it sufficient to keep it until he returned or mailed it back +from somewhere; he perhaps had taken it along for a more careful +reading. Good boy, anyway. He had got possession of the thing, that +was the main consideration. + +"He told me too that he was leaving last evening for a few days' +jaunt," Sorenson said, rising to go. "You'll likely have a whole +basketful of letters from him. Finest boy going, Ed, even if it's his +own father who says it. But he's the lucky one, Janet." The girl +lowered her eyelids, for at this flattery she felt she could no longer +dissemble her feelings. "Sorry to have bothered you about the matter," +he concluded. "Fellows like this Martinez are always making us +trouble. Run over and eat dinner with us soon." + +He went down the walk, large, dominant and still with a trace of +his early cowman's walk. Both his step and his erectness bespoke +the buoyant effect of the talk upon his spirits, which was not to +be wondered at as he had splendid news to import to his confrères +in crime. They would get rid of Martinez, destroy the paper when +Ed delivered it, and their skeleton--this one (of a number) which +had unexpectedly kicked the door open and started to dance in +public--would be safely locked up forever. For Saurez, the only +witness (as they believed) was now dead: he would make no more +depositions. Certainly Sorenson had reason to walk briskly away +from Doctor Hosmer's dwelling. + +Janet had somberly watched him till he was out of sight, then had gone +inside. + +"I don't see how I ever imagined him an honorable man," she said to +her father. "For all his pretended politeness he was ready if +necessary to bully me. One thing he can't ever say is that I didn't +tell him exact facts; what I omitted was the circumstances giving rise +to the facts." And her father, who now knew from Weir the story of the +happening of thirty years before, assured her that she need be +troubled over no moral hairsplitting. + +The incident, as Steele Weir perceived, diverted both suspicion and +danger from Janet, at least for a time. A big gain that. And he was +impressed by the subtle sagacity of the maneuver. + +"That wasn't just a clever move, it was a flash of genius," he told +father and daughter. Then after a few minutes more of talk he said: +"Now I must be running up to the dam. To-day is Sunday and the works +are quiet, so if I find everything all right I shall strike back +immediately for Terry Creek and the cabin up above. I want to make a +search for that paper by daylight." + +"After your hard night?" Janet exclaimed. "I snatched some sleep when +we had done talking last night, but father says you and he had none. +You can't make that terrible ride again without rest!" + +"Missing a night in bed is nothing new," he laughed. "Once or twice in +my life I've not had my clothes off in a week, and only such cat-naps +as I could steal meantime. But I'll not boast of that; your father +probably has gone longer periods without sleep, or with only broken +rest, than ever I did. Most doctors do. Be sure and let me know if +anything new occurs." + +But if Weir's mind was put at ease so far as Janet was concerned, he +had more than enough other cares to burden his thoughts. The loss of +the deposition, chief of all; then the matter of effecting Martinez' +release, wherever he was immured; and finally, as he learned from +Meyers and Atkinson on reaching camp, the insidious promise of trouble +in the "free whiskey party." + +"Perhaps whoever supplied the fire-water underestimated this +copper-lined crew's capacity and didn't furnish enough," Meyers +suggested. "Nobody was really drunk last night and here it is nearly +noon, with the men all hanging about camp. If there was whiskey yet to +be had, some of these thirsty, rollicking scrappers of ours would be +right back at the spigot this morning." + +"Maybe so," Atkinson admitted. "Seems so--and yet I ain't easy in my +mind. The men don't act right; they behave as if they're just waiting; +they're restless and not a man could I get to open his mouth about +where they found the stuff. If there wasn't to be any more, they would +have told and tried to kid me. They appear to me as if just biding +their time. Some men weren't gone, of course, those who don't drink. +They stayed in the bunk-house and they know nothing." + +"We'll go on the supposition then that there will be more coming, and +act accordingly," Weir stated, at once. "Watch them close, and put up +a warning that men who are not at work in the morning, or who bring +booze into camp, will be fired." + +"That's the trouble," the superintendent declared. "I don't think they +brought a drop in except in their skins. And as we say, they weren't +drunk. There's not a thing we can object to and they know it; somebody +has put 'em wise how to act. Here they are, sober this morning, +behaving themselves, and so on. We can't keep men from going for a +walk if they want to; we can't string barb-wire around the camp and +hold them in; we can't even say they can't touch a bottle if a +stranger offers them one when they're on the outside." + +"But we can hold up the consequences if they go on a spree," Steele +replied. "Most of them are satisfied with the work and pay and grub; +they don't want to go." + +"No, but they like whiskey too, free whiskey in particular. They would +say they're not getting drunk--no man ever really expects to when he +starts drinking--and talk about their 'rights.' There are two or three +fellows in camp now who are doing a lot of mouthing about labor's +rights; I. W. W.'s, I'd say. Shouldn't be surprised if they were the +ring-leaders." + +"If more whiskey comes, we must beat them to it." + +"That's my notion," Atkinson said, with a nod. "I didn't locate the +booze fountain last night, but I did this morning. Took a horse at +daylight and rode along the hills; about a mile south in some trees at +the foot of the mountain, I came across a case of empty bottles and a +keg half-full of water. That was all, but it showed where the +'birthday party' was." + +"That's the place to watch, then. Better send a trusty man there to +report to us immediately if he sees signs of a supply arriving for +to-night. Half a dozen of us with axes will soon start a temperance +wave in that locality." + +In accordance with this instruction the superintendent dispatched a +reliable man to maintain guard at the spot; and Weir, feeling that all +had been done that was possible under the circumstances, gave his +attention to other matters. + +But he perceived that with this "liquor attack" in the air, for it was +but another of his enemies' moves against him, of course, directed +with the purpose of creating internal disorder, he must postpone his +trip to the headwaters of Terry Creek. Knowing the crafty, +persistent, conscienceless character of the four men inspiring the +trick, he was under no delusion that the "free whiskey" would end with +a single case of bottles. Among three hundred men that would amount to +but two or three drinks apiece--a mere taste, only a teaser. And +because it was only a teaser, the men would want more. If he could +carry them over this idle Sunday sober, they would be at work on the +morrow and the chief danger be passed. + +Unfortunately a manager cannot take his workmen into his confidence in +such a case and explain the nature of such a cunning attack; the thing +was too complex, and their untutored minds would fail to perceive if +they did not actually reject the explanation, in jealousy for their +"rights" concluding that they were being hoodwinked. By very +perverseness they would refuse to deny themselves a free gift of +whiskey. + +With Pollock, however, whose interest as a director was vital, he +could talk in full expectation of being understood. And moreover, +owing to the entangled condition into which the company's and his own +personal affairs had come, strict honor required that he inform his +visitor of the entire situation and offer, if in the director's view +such action would best serve the company's ends, to resign. + +In his office immediately after dinner he gave the easterner a +complete account of happenings in San Mateo since his arrival as +manager, with a statement of his father's earlier residence here, of +the fraud practiced by Sorenson and his companions on him and his +tragically ruined life. + +"This, you see, has resulted not only in bringing the animosity of +these men against me but in aggravating their hostility to the +company," he concluded. "I've never been a quitter. It would go sorely +against the grain with me to quit now while under fire. But my own +feelings or fortunes should have no weight; the company's interests +alone are to be considered. I shall turn over the management to Meyers +and retire if you desire; I count my contract not binding upon your +board under the circumstances." + +Pollock arose and began to pace the office, gently beating the air +with his eye-glasses and thoughtfully regarding the floor. + +"I should not do your remarkable story proper justice if I did not +give it the serious attention it deserves," he said, after a time. +"Certain aspects of the case would appear to favor our accepting +your resignation, but on analysis, Weir, they turn out to be aspects +only, not real arguments. Assuming the facts are as you relate, which +I personally don't doubt, these men, if they will stop at nothing +to injure you, will be no more reluctant to injure us. In fact, if +you withdrew they would feel that they had gained a distinct +triumph, forced us to yield to their will, and would be inspired to +further and greater opposition. Personal hatred for you on their +part is no ground for their fixing their enmity on the company. But +that enmity, apparently, already existed before you came. Therefore if +they hate you likewise, you and our company have a common bond. And +that assures us of one thing, or several things: your vigilance, +care of company property, and loyalty. Last, and aside from that, +you are, I am confident, possessed of the exact qualities essential to +the successful solution of present difficulties. We prefer as manager +an energetic, determined, fighting man, however much disliked by +envious neighbors, to some fellow less firm and more inclined to +conciliation. The latter never gained anything with out-and-out +foes, from what I've seen. So you perceive, Weir, that when my +associates and I get into a row we're not quitters either. We shall +therefore just dismiss all talk of your resignation." + +"Very good; I wanted you to know the facts." + +Pollock paced to and fro for a time longer. + +"What really interests me is your own fight," he remarked at length. +"If the paper you spoke of should be found, I would be pleased to have +it translated for you. I should also like to consult with this man +Martinez; he seems a clever fellow. You expect to settle with this +quartet who defrauded your father, of course." + +"Certainly. But the money isn't the main thing. For no amount of money +would ever pay for the wrong done my father. I want to make these men +suffer, suffer as he suffered. Call it a simple desire for revenge if +you will; that's what it really is. They robbed him of his future as +well as of his ranch and cattle. They took away hope and implanted in +his breast terror and remorse wholly undeserved. But for them he might +have been a happy, prosperous, well-thought of man in this state. Yes, +revenge is what I want, not money. Revenge that will be for them an +equivalent of hell." + +"But they should pay the legal penalties of their crime as well," the +lawyer spoke. "Recovery of the original amounts gained by fraud from +both your father and this man Dent, and accumulated interest as well +as damages, should be had. In all it should make a large amount." + +"I suppose so. Probably enough to clean the four men out. But though +of course I should enjoy getting the property or money that was +rightfully my father's and now mine, still I'd let that go if I could +secure the satisfaction of making the four men pay in the coin I +want." + +"Don't be a fool, Weir. Don't overlook any bets, as the saying is. +Taking their property away from them will but add to their pain and to +your pleasure. Now we must see if Dent's heirs can be found. I suggest +that you employ some good attorney to start a hunt along that line, +for an action by Dent's relatives will indirectly strengthen your own +case. I'm doubtful about one thing, however----" + +"What is that?" + +"Your courts here, and the value of this old Mexican's deposition. The +case could be brought in a Federal Court as you're a non-resident, +which would solve the first point, but how much weight would this +Mexican's testimony have against white men of standing and after a +period of thirty years. If you could find another witness----" + +"There was one, a white boy, so Martinez hinted," Weir said. + +"Find him, find him. Search the whole country until you find him!" + +"That's a big undertaking, when I don't even know his name or whether +he's alive." + +"Begin nevertheless." + +"Well, I had better find my lost paper or secure another statement +from old Saurez first. At present I have absolutely nothing that a +court would look at; I haven't as much as I had yesterday. And even +Martinez has been spirited away." + +Pollock smiled. + +"I'm interested, greatly interested," he said. "I'm not actively +engaged in legal affairs at home and I may stay on here awhile longer. +Perhaps I can assist you; it promises excitement, at any rate. After +dry corporation matters, it should be a refreshing change--and I +haven't had a real vacation in years. Possibly this is the time to +take one." + +"I appreciate your kindness in speaking so, Mr. Pollock." + +"But I'm quite selfish; I'm seeking entertainment. And your peppery +affairs promise it. Do you give me permission to take a hand?" + +"Gladly." + +"Then as a beginning I'll go to town. Saurez, you say, was the old +Mexican's name? And give me the facts again as you know them about the +affair of your father and the man Dent in the saloon." + +Pollock listened closely as Steele Weir repeated the story. + +"That's all I know, and it's meager at best," the engineer concluded. + +"Pity you didn't get to read the deposition, which would have +increased your fund of information. More unfortunate it is that you +haven't the paper itself. But we'll do the best we can without it for +the present. Kindly have some one drive me in to San Mateo." + +"Atkinson, the superintendent, is going there for me. I thought he +might pick up something of Martinez' whereabouts." + +"Where does Judge Gordon live?" + +"I can't tell you that. But you can easily learn when you reach +town." + +"Well, the Judge used to handle company matters, you know." The smile +on Pollock's lips was inscrutable. "I used to have frequent +conferences with him when I was here at the inception of our project. +He is very shrewd in certain ways, but he impressed me as being not +exactly--what shall I say?--'cold steel', for instance." And still +wearing the thin smile, he went out. + +If Weir had not had so many things to make his mind grave, from a +missing paper and a missing lawyer to mysterious whiskey and fierce +enemies, he would have leaned back and laughed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE WEAK LINK + + +Though the sun was bright that day, unseen forces were gathering in +the sky above town, mesa and mountains, not of weather but of fate, to +loose their lightnings. Sunday peace seemed to reign, the languid +summer Sunday peace of tranquil nature. Yet even through this there +was a faint breath of impending events, a quiver or excitement in the +air, an increasing expectation on the part of men, who sensed but did +not realize what was to come. + +All day whispers and hints had passed among the people in San Mateo +and out to isolated farms and up nearby creeks, kindling in the +ignorant, brown-skinned Mexicans a lively interest and an exorbitant +curiosity. Nothing was said definitely; nothing was promised outright. +So in consequence speculation ran wild and rumors wilder. The hints +had to do with the manager of the dam who had shot the strange +Mexican: something was to be done with him, something was to happen to +him. He had been arrested, or was to be arrested; he had confessed, or +was about to confess the murder; he was going to kill other Mexicans, +or had killed other Mexicans; he was about to raid San Mateo with his +workmen and slay the town; he was to be hanged;--and so on eternally. +Uncertain as was everything else, what was sure apparently was that +something would happen at San Mateo that night. + +Families visiting about in wagons spread the news. Horsemen were at +pains to ride to outlying Mexican ranch houses, for what messenger is +so welcome as he who brings tales of great doings? He might be sure of +an audience at once. So it was that the plan craftily put in operation +by Weir's enemies, to gather and inflame the people, under cover of +whose pressure and excitement when the engineer was arrested he might +be slain by a pretended rescue or popular demonstration, whichever +should serve best, produced the expected result. During the afternoon +wagons and horsemen and men on foot began to appear in town, to join +already aroused relatives or friends at their adobe houses or to loaf +along the main street in groups. + +Outwardly there were few signs in the aspect of the Mexican folk of +something extraordinary developing. But to the sheriff, Madden, +aroused from an afternoon nap at his home by a telephoned message from +the county attorney requesting him to come to the court house, the +unwonted number in the town was in itself a significant fact. + +"I didn't know this was a fiesta, Alvarez. What's up with you people?" +he asked of one he met on the street. + +"The fiesta is to be to-night, eh?" the man laughed. "Have you this +engineer locked up yet?" + +"What engineer?" + +"The killer, the gun-man, that Weir. It is said he is already arrested +and is to be hanged from the big cottonwood at dark beside the jail. +It is also said he is still loose and bringing five hundred workmen to +burn the town, rob the bank, kill the men and steal the girls." + +"If he is to do either, it's news to me," Madden said, and proceeded +to the office of Lucerio, the county attorney. + +Madden was a blunt man, who for policy's sake might close his eyes to +unimportant political influence as exercised by the Sorenson crowd. +But he was no mere compliant tool. This was his first term in office. +He had never yet crossed swords with the cattleman and the others +associated with him, because the occasion had never arisen. When he +had allowed himself to be nominated for sheriff, though Sorenson might +imagine Madden to be at his orders, the latter had accepted the office +with certain well-defined ideas of his duty. + +"What do you want of me?" he asked Lucerio, for whom he had little +liking. + +"I desire to tell you, Madden, that at eight o'clock I'll have a +warrant for you to serve on the engineer Weir. You'll go to the dam +and arrest him and bring him in to the jail." + +"Well, apparently the whole country except me knew this was to happen. +The town's filling up as if it were going to be a bull-fight." + +"I know nothing of that." + +"All right; give me the warrant." + +"At eight o'clock. I don't want it served before then." + +"Why?" + +"I have my reasons." + +"Sorenson? And Vorse and Burkhardt? They've stirred up this charge +against the man." Lucerio making an angry answer, he continued. "Well, +everybody knows you jump when they pull the string. I'll have to serve +the warrant, naturally. But I'm going to tell you what I think: you've +faked the evidence you've got; we had the truth from Martinez and +Janet Hosmer at the inquest; you're trying to railroad Weir to the +gallows." + +"Mr. Sorenson shall know what you've said. As for me"--the Mexican +swelled with outraged dignity--"the evidence was placed in my hands. +It warrants the engineer's arrest and trial. You attend to your +department and I'll attend to mine." + +"All to the good, Mr. County Attorney. I'll arrest him; he won't make +me any trouble on that score. But you won't find it so easy to prove +his guilt. And afterwards, just look out, for if he doesn't come +gunning for you and fill your carcass full of lead, I miss my guess. +You won't be able to hide behind Sorenson, either." + +He left the county attorney at that, the latter unable despite all his +efforts to hide his uneasiness and alarm. Madden reaching the street +looked at his watch; it was half past five, so he started home for +supper. + +Some way before him he saw Martinez walking. The lawyer did not stop +to converse with any of the loiterers along the street, but moved +steadily along. He had come out of Vorse's saloon and was going +towards his office. Just then the sound of an automobile caused Madden +to turn his head in time to see Weir speed along but stop with a +sudden application of brakes as he caught sight of the attorney. + +A hail brought Martinez to the car. A few minutes' rapid speech there +followed. Then the lawyer mounted beside Weir, the machine went on, +turning into a side street and vanishing. To Madden there was nothing +unusual in the circumstance, and he only noted the surprise and +silence along the street at the engineer's passage. The Mexicans would +know the man wasn't yet arrested at any rate, he thought. But he +should like to learn what was the purpose in bringing them all to +town! He would keep an eye open for any lynching nonsense if it were +attempted. + +Weir and Martinez were hastening to Judge Gordon's house, for shortly +before the engineer had received an unexpected call from Pollock for +him to join him there. Evidently the eastern lawyer had turned a card +of some sort; and Weir had gone at once, wondering what the meeting +might portend. The sight of Martinez, free and composed of hearing, +walking along the street, further amazed him. + +He perceived, however, when the lawyer stepped out to the car from +Vorse's place that he was pale, his mouth tight-drawn and his eyes +glittering. + +"You got my message?" the latter asked, quickly. + +"The telephone message, yes. Janet Hosmer got the paper also." + +"They dragged me to Vorse's cellar," Martinez whispered fiercely. +"They beat me with their fists, Vorse and Burkhardt. Then they tied me +and squeezed my eyeballs till I could stand the pain no longer and +told. I've been there ever since, bound and without food or water, the +devils! Sorenson came with them last night, afterwards. And now he and +Vorse came again--there they are back there in the bar yet--and gave +me a draft on a Chicago bank for a thousand dollars and said to get +out and stay out of New Mexico and never open my mouth about what had +happened." + +"Get in with me," Weir ordered. + +At Judge Gordon's house the lawyer said: + +"You are going in here? He's one of them." + +"I know it. Come in, however. I may need you. You're not going to +leave San Mateo, but there's no reason why you shouldn't cash the +draft. That's only part of the damages you'll make them pay for what +you underwent." + +"It isn't money I want from them," Martinez replied, between his +teeth. + +Judge Gordon lived in a rambling adobe house two squares from the +Hosmer dwelling. It was old but had been kept in good repair, and as +he had never married he had lived comfortably enough with an old +Mexican pair as servants. One of these, the woman, admitted the +visitors at their knock and conducted them, as if expected, to the +Judge's study, a long room lined with cases of books, mostly legal, +and filled with old-fashioned furniture. + +That something had occurred to change the Judge's aspect during the +hours in which Pollock had been closeted with him was at once +apparent. He looked older, broken, haggard of face, terrified. + +"I met Mr. Martinez and brought him along," Weir said. + +"Was that necessary?" Judge Gordon asked, heavily. + +"He's my attorney, for one thing." + +"And I've been a prisoner in Vorse's cellar for twenty-four hours for +another, and you're one of those responsible for my being there and +for the torture to which I was subjected," Martinez exclaimed, +glaring. + +"Mr. Martinez, I give you my word of honor that I knew nothing of your +incarceration until this morning." + +"That for your word of honor!" the lawyer cried, snapping his fingers +in the air. "And in any case, you're an accessory after the fact. You +let me stay." + +Pollock stepped forward. + +"Is this Mr. Martinez? Glad to meet you, sir. Mr. Weir has spoken very +favorably of you and of your handling of legal matters for the +irrigation company, of which I am a director. Pollock is my name. Are +you a notary? Ah, that is good. There will be some papers to +acknowledge and witness and so on." + +He pointed at seats, seemingly having direction of matters, and the +visitors sat down. Judge Gordon had sagged down in the padded leather +chair in which he sat; his face was colorless, his eyes moving +aimlessly to and fro, his white mustache and hair in disorder. + +"Let us begin on business at once," Pollock stated, on his feet as was +usual when entering a discussion and removing his eye-glasses. "I +called on Judge Gordon this afternoon after my talk with you, Weir, +and disclosed the evidence which has been gathered relative to the +fraud perpetrated on your father and the crime against the man Dent. I +assumed, and rightly, that to a man of the Judge's legal mind the +facts we hold would prove the futility of resistance, and I set out to +convince him of the wisdom of sparing himself a long losing fight, in +which he would be opposing not only the evidence which was sure to +convict him, and not only you, Mr. Weir, but our company which +proposed to see the fight through. I went so far, Weir, as to promise +him immunity from your wrath and from public prosecution." + +Weir arose slowly. + +"No," said he, "no." + +"But, my dear fellow----" + +"No. He made my father's life a hell for thirty years. Why should I +spare him?" + +"If granting him freedom from prosecution did actually spare him +anything, I should say 'No' also, standing in your place. But with the +facts made public as they will be, with Judge Gordon losing his +legislative office and the esteem in which he had been held, with him +relinquishing the bulk of his fortune as he agrees, with his finding +it necessary to go elsewhere to live at his time of life, with the +thought constantly in his mind of how low he has been brought, don't +you think he will be suffering quite adequately? I should think so. He +would probably die quicker in prison, but I believe he will suffer +more outside. See, I don't hesitate to measure the alternatives, for +the Judge and I have discussed and canvassed the whole situation, +which was necessary, of course, in order to arrive at a clear +understanding." And Pollock smiled genially. + +"Does he admit my charges?" + +"He hasn't denied them." + +"Will he admit them?" + +"I've outlined exactly what we must have--deeds to his property and an +acknowledged statement of the Joseph Weir and James Dent affair, +supplementing the Saurez affidavit, which by the way he at first +thought we did not possess but which an account of what happened last +night in the mountains and your recovery of the same"--Pollock's +eyelid dropped for an instant towards Weir--"convinced him of. This +statement is not to be produced as evidence against his associates +except in the last extremity, and if not needed is always to be kept +secret. We are to give him, when the papers are signed, a draft for +ten thousand dollars. This will permit him to have something to live +on. He states that he will want to go from San Mateo at once." + +During this speech Weir's eyes had glanced to and fro between the +lawyer ticking off his words with his glasses and the figure in the +leather chair. Old and shattered as Judge Gordon had suddenly become, +wretched as Weir saw him to be, the engineer nevertheless felt no +pity. The man had been in the conspiracy that had ruined his father; +he suffered now not because of remorse but through fear of public +opinion; and was a fox turned craven because he found himself +enmeshed in a net. And to save his own skin he was selling out his +friends. + +Weir's face went dark, but Pollock quickly stepped forward and drew +him into a corner of the room. + +"Keep calm, man," was the lawyer's low advice. "Do you think if we had +him tied up as tightly as I've made him believe that I should propose +a compromise in his case. He's the weak link. Do you think I've had an +easy time the last three hours bringing him to the point he's at? I +had to invent evidence that couldn't possibly exist. I had to give him +a merciless mental 'third degree.' I told him if he refused I was +going to Sorenson with the same offer, who would jump at the chance. +And, my dear man, we haven't, in reality, enough proof to convict a +mouse since you lost that paper. So now, so far as he's concerned, you +must bend a little, a very little--and you'll be able to hang the +remaining three." + +This incisive reasoning was not to be denied. + +"I yield," said Weir. + +Beaming, Mr. Pollock walked back to the table. + +"Mr. Weir consents," he stated. "Mr. Martinez, if you will go to your +office and bring the necessary forms and your seal we can make the +transfers and statement and wind the matter up." + +An hour later Judge Gordon had signed the deeds, stock certificates +from his safe and bills of sale spread before him, passing the +ownership of lands, cattle and shares in companies to Pollock for +equitable division between Weir and the Dent heirs if found. The old +Mexican servants were called in and witnessed his shaky signatures to +the papers. + +At the statement regarding the Dent shooting and Weir fraud, which +Pollock had dictated to Martinez with Gordon's assistance, he +staggered to his feet while the pen dropped from his hand. + +"I can't sign it, I can't sign it; they would kill me!" he groaned. + +The two aged servants stared at him wonderingly. + +"My dear Judge, they'll never know of it until it's too late for them +to do anything--if they ever know," came the easterner's words, in +smooth persuasiveness. + +Judge Gordon brushed a hand over his eyes. + +"Give me a moment," he muttered. + +He stood for a time motionless. Then he walked across the room and +opened a door and entered an inner chamber. + +"He won't live a year after this," Pollock whispered to his +companions. + +The speaker could have shortened the time immensely and have still +been safe in his prophecy. For when at the end of five minutes he sent +the woman to request the Judge to return, she stumbled out of the +bed-chamber with affrighted eyes. She said the Judge was asleep on his +bed and could not be aroused. + +Sleep of the profoundest, the men discovered on going in. And in his +fingers was an empty vial. So far as Judge Gordon was concerned Weir +had had his revenge. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +AN OLD ADOBE HOUSE + + +Revenge Weir had. But even in death Judge Gordon, true to his evasive, +contriving character, had tricked him; and the irony lay in the fact +that in this last act the trick was unpremeditated, unconscious, +unintentional. Instead of the signed confession, necessary above +everything else, which seemed almost in his fingers, the man had left +a little poison vial. + +Night had settled over the earth when the three men, after directing +the Mexican servants to bring the undertaker, went out of the house, +for considerable time had been occupied in the discussion and the +preparation of papers preceding Judge Gordon's tragic end. With him +Mr. Pollock carried the documents pertaining to the property +restitution. These, considered in connection with the suicide, would +constitute something like a confession, he grimly asserted. + +Avoiding the main street of San Mateo they drove out of the town for +camp. The first part of the ride was pursued in silence, for each was +busy with his own thoughts in consequence of the sudden shocking +termination of the meeting. When about half way to camp, however, +their attention was taken from the subject by a sight wholly +unexpected, a scene of high colors and of a spirit that mocked at what +had just happened. + +Some way off from the road, at one side, two bonfires burned brightly +before an adobe house, the flames leaping upward in the darkness and +lighting the long low-roofed dwelling and the innumerable figures of +persons. At the distance the place was from the highway, perhaps two +hundred yards, one could make out only the shadowy forms of men--of a +considerable number of men, at that. + +"I never saw any one at that old tumble-down house before, Martinez," +Weir remarked, lessening the speed of the car. "Always supposed it +empty." + +"No one does live there. The ground belongs to Vorse, who leases it +for farming to Oterez. Perhaps Oterez is giving a party there. They +are dancing." + +Weir brought the machine to a full stop, with suspicion rapidly +growing in his mind. The place was owned by Vorse, for one thing, and +the number about the house was too large for an ordinary Mexican +family merry-making, for another. In view of what had occurred the +previous night all "parties" in the neighborhood of the dam deserved +inquiry, and this house was but a mile from camp. + +They could now hear the sound of music, the shrill quick scrap of a +pair of fiddles and the notes of guitars. Against the fire-light too +they could distinguish the whirl of skirts. + +"Just run over there, will you, Martinez, and have a look at that +dance?" Weir said. "See how much whiskey is there, and who the people +are." + +The Mexican jumped down, climbed through the barb-wire fence bordering +the field and disappeared towards the house. + +"I told you about some one giving the men booze last night," the +engineer addressed his remaining companion. "We found the place off +south along the hills where that business happened, and stationed a +man there to warn us if another attempt was made to use the spot. But +I shouldn't be surprised if this is the location used for to-night; +it has all the signs. We suspected that this evening would be the real +blow-out and if the men are going there I shall send down the foremen +and engineers to break it up. Vorse's owning this house and his being +the source of the liquor is almost proof. I met Atkinson returning to +the dam when you sent him back from town and he'll know something is +up if the workmen have been melting away from camp. This is simply +another damnably treacherous move of the gang against us to interfere +with our work, starting a big drunk and perhaps a row. We'll stop it +right at the beginning." + +"Are the officials of this county so completely under Sorenson and his +crowd's thumbs that they won't move in a case like this?" Pollock +questioned. + +"Yes." + +"Then we must act on our own initiative, as you say." + +"That's our only recourse. Giving whiskey isn't actually an illegal +act--and they're giving it away, not trying to sell it here without a +government licence." + +"The thing's illegal if it's part of a conspiracy to disrupt our work, +and if we can secure proof that such is the fact it will but add one +more item to the score to be settled with these San Mateo outlaws." + +"There are more men going there. See them?" Weir asked. "You hear them +on the road ahead of us. They're ducking through the fence and +crossing to the house. Our workmen. The thing's plain now; they had +word there would be another 'party' to-night, but they didn't know +just where until they received word this evening. I suppose the whole +camp except a few men will be here." + +"Won't they turn ugly if you interfere?" + +"Can't help that. I'll send men down with axes and when the booze is +poured on the ground it makes no difference then; the men will be kept +sober. If they are stubborn, I'll run a new bunch in and fire these +fellows. But I don't imagine they will quit work, however surly, for +they know whiskey's no excuse. Men usually cool down after a night's +sleep." + +From where they sat and since Weir had turned out his car lamps, they +could see the steady string of men emerging from the darkness of the +field and approaching the house, to quickly dissolve in the gathering +already there. In their lively steps, as well as in the eager voices +occasionally raised along the dark road, the men's desire to join in +the debauch was apparent. + +With the swelling of the crowd the scraping of the fiddles became +louder, the dancing more furious, shouts and yells more frequent, +while a dense line of men passing and jamming in and out of the door +pointed only too plainly that inside the house liquor flowed. This +would be no matter of a few drinks per man, but a big drunk if not +stopped. + +Martinez confirmed this opinion on his return. + +"There are two barrels inside and a couple of fellows are dipping it +up in tin cups like water," said he. "They're not even troubling to +draw the stuff; the barrels have been placed on end and the heads +knocked out. It will be the biggest spree San Mateo ever saw, with +plenty of fighting after awhile. Women, you know, always start fights +during a spree." + +"Those surely are not women from town," Weir exclaimed. + +"Oh, no. I never saw them before. Brought in here from somewhere--Santa +Fé perhaps, El Paso more likely. You know the kind who would mix with +that crowd--tough girls. They're wearing low necks and short skirts, +red stockings and all that. You know the kind. Out of joints and dives +somewhere. There's only a dozen, but they keep circulating and dancing +with different ones. I just put my head through a window to look inside, +which is lighted by a big kerosene lamp hanging from the roof; and I +tell you, gentlemen, it made me sick the way those two fellows were +dipping up whiskey and the crowd drinking it down." + +"And more men coming all the time," Weir stated. + +"And more coming, yes. It will be very bad there by midnight. Vorse +and Burkhardt and Sorenson are managing the thing, of course." +Martinez lighted a cigarette and stepped into the car. "No mistake +about that, for Vorse's bartender is one of the men at the barrels. +And I imagine Judge Gordon knew this thing was coming off though he +made no mention of it." + +"Since we were ignorant of the matter, he naturally wouldn't inform +us," Pollock remarked, dryly. + +"Time to put a stop to the show before it grows bad," Weir stated +resolutely. And he started the machine. + +"If it can be stopped," Martinez replied. + +That was the question, whether or not now it would be possible even to +reach and destroy the barrels inside the house, what with the numbers +who would oppose the move and what with the state of intoxication that +must rapidly prevail at the place. + +For as they drove away they could already detect in the mad revel +about the old adobe dwelling a faster beat in the sharp shrieking +music, a wilder abandon in the movements of the figures about the +flames, a more reckless, fiercer note in the cries and oaths. + +"This is deviltry wholesale," Pollock said. "On a grand scale, one +might put it." + +So thought a horseman who approached and halted almost at the same +spot where the car had rested. This was Madden who with a warrant for +Weir's arrest in his pocket had arrived opposite the house a moment +after the automobile's departure. He had secured the warrant at eight +o'clock according to the county attorney's request, but he had taken +his own time about setting off to serve it. + +For a quarter of a mile he had been interested in the evidences of +unwonted hilarity at the usually untenanted structure. Now he sat in +his saddle, silent and motionless, observing the distant scene. He +easily guessed the men were from the construction camp and that liquor +was running. + +"I can almost smell it here, Dick," he addressed his horse. + +But two circumstances puzzled him. One was that there had been no news +in town of such a big affair impending for the night; the second, that +there were women present--for no Mexican, however ignorant, would take +or allow his women folks to attend such a howling show. Coming on top +of the crowd in town, he wondered if this business might not be linked +up with Weir's affairs. These were his workmen and this was Vorse's +farm-house and very likely Vorse's liquor. After he had arrested the +engineer he would look into the thing. + +Fifteen minutes later, when he had gone on, other passers-by paused +for a minute on the road to stare at the amazing picture across the +field. These were Dr. Hosmer and Janet, Johnson and his daughter Mary: +the two men being in the doctor's car, the two girls in Janet's +runabout. + +"What on earth is going on there!" Janet exclaimed, when the two +machines had pulled up. + +The two fires, fed by fresh fuel, were leaping higher than ever, +bringing out in strong relief the long squat building, the dark, +restless, noisy throng, and the space of illuminated earth. Against +the night the flames and building and mob of hundreds of men seemed a +crimson vision from some inferno to an accompaniment of mad music. + +"The camp's gone on a tear; drive ahead," her father said. "This isn't +a sight for you girls to look at." + +And with that the two cars sped forward towards the dam, where on this +night so much was converging. For their occupants already had had an +experience that had started them at once to seek the man around whose +figure were swirling a hundred passions and dark currents of destiny. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +WITH FANGS BARED + + +That Sunday afternoon Janet Hosmer had awakened about sunset from an +after-dinner sleep, rested and refreshed, with her mind continuing to +be occupied by thoughts of Steele Weir about whom had eddied her +dreams. The man was no longer the mystery he had been, since now she +knew all the circumstances of his life, and on that account was +nearer, more human, and yet as compelling. + +That on his part his interest went beyond mere friendship she had +recognized from his voice and eyes when they were together. Ah, in +truth, how his tones deepened and his look betrayed his feelings! At +the thought Janet's heart beat faster and her cheeks grew warm and an +indefinable joy seemed to fill her breast. She would not deny it: his +presence, his touch gave her a greater happiness than she had ever +known. At a single stride, as it were, he had come into the middle of +her life and dominated her mind and changed her whole outlook. + +How he too had changed and grown in the coming! From the avaricious, +calculating, heartless manager of the construction work, as she seeing +through colored San Mateo eyes had believed him to be, he now stood +forth a figure of power, undaunted by difficulties, undismayed by +enemies however numerous, fearless to a fault, stern perhaps--but who +would not have been made stern in his place?--and determined, cool, +resourceful, alert, and of an integrity as firm and upright as a +marble shaft. Yet beneath this exterior his heart was quick and tender +for those who needed sympathy or help, and his hand swift to aid. + +More than once a hot flush burned on Janet's face, as sitting there on +the vine-hung veranda in the gathering dusk, recollection assailed her +with memories of wasted kindnesses given the infamous Ed Sorenson, of +trust bestowed and of love plighted. That passage in her life seemed +to leave her contaminated forever. It burned in her soul like a +disgrace or a dishonorable act. But Steele Weir--and she swam in +glorious ether at the thought--did not appear to view it in that +light. + +Juanita running in the twilight to the house interrupted her +introspection. + +"I came to tell you," the Mexican girl exclaimed panting before +Janet. + +"Tell me what?" For Juanita's reappearance in itself was unusual, as +Sunday afternoon and evening were her own to spend at home. + +"People are saying Mr. Weir is to be arrested and hanged from a tree +in the court house yard! Everybody has come to town to see. Three +uncles and aunts and nine cousins of ours have already come to our +house from where they live four miles down the river. All the town is +talking about it. But though I said nothing, I knew how Mr. Weir had +saved you and that he had done nothing to be hanged for. If anybody is +to be killed it ought to be that Ed Sorenson." + +"Are you sure of this, Juanita?" + +"Yes, yes, Miss Janet. It is so." + +"Then this is part of the plot against him; let me think. They might +arrest him but they would never dare try to hang him, unless they +could pretend----" + +What they might pretend Janet never stated, as at that instant a motor +car dashed up and stopped before the gate. Even in the gloom she made +out that the figure garbed in a gray dust coat was Sorenson's. +Springing out of the machine, he jerked the gate open and strode +towards the house, while a premonition of a fresh and unpleasant turn +of affairs quivered in Janet's mind. + +"I've come back again, you see," he said. "Step inside where you can +hear what I have to say." + +The words were like an order; the man's manner, indeed, was +overbearing and brutal. But the girl concealing her resentment, +preceded him into the house and bade Juanita light a lamp. + +"And now you get out!" Sorenson commanded the servant in so savage a +tone that she fled to the kitchen without waiting to consult Janet's +eyes. "I see your father isn't here," he continued, addressing Janet. + +The latter made no reply. To be sure, Dr. Hosmer was not in the room +but he was in the house, sleeping. Let the cattleman think him absent +if he wished. + +"So much the better; if he's not about, he won't try to interfere," +the man went on. "Now, my girl, I've learned all about your tricks, +and----" + +"Sir, you talk like that to me in my own house!" Janet broke in, with +a flash of eyes. "You will walk out of that door this instant and +never set foot here again." + +"Will I, you slippery young Jezebel? I'll do nothing of the kind until +I'm ready, which will be when you've handed over that paper. Don't try +to deny that you have it or Weir has it; I suppose he has now, and +I'll be forced to go shoot him down as he deserves. But I came here +first to make sure. It would be just like the rest of the schemes of +you two to have you keep it, thinking I'd be fooled. I have half a +notion to wring your white neck for lying to me to-day--lying, while +all the time you knew my son was hanging between life and death." + +So savage was his voice, so threatening his visage and air that Janet +retreated a step. His hands worked as if he actually felt her soft +throat in his clutch; his huge body and big beefy head swayed towards +her ominously; while his eyes carried a baleful light that revealed in +full intensity the man's real brutal soul. Hitherto carefully coated +in an appearance of respectability fitted to a station of wealth, +influence and prominence, he now stood as he truly was, domineering, +repellant, lawless. Janet could at that minute measure the close +kinship of father and son. + +"Fortunately a man in Bowenville recognized Ed, or I should never have +known he had been injured," Sorenson went on. "So your little scheme +to keep me in ignorance went wrong. The doctor 'phoned me about five +and I took my wife and we rushed there, and I have just this instant +returned. Do you know what the doctor says? Ed will live, but be a +life cripple, a useless wreck, a bundle of smashed bones, always +sitting in a chair, always eating out his heart. And all because of +you and that engineer! Ed was conscious; he told me the real story +about which you lied,----" + +"I did not lie," Janet stated, firmly. + +Sorenson made an angry gesture as if to sweep aside this declaration. + +"He told me how you promised to slip away with him to spend a week in +the mountains, and how you warned this Weir so that the two of you +could trick my son and get him out of the way. You, who always +pretended to be so innocent and virtuous! And then Weir caused the +accident up there in the hills that has crippled my boy for life! Did +it to get him out of the path to you, and you helped, like the +traitress you are; and the two of you took the paper." + +Janet's form had stiffened at these insulting speeches. + +"Your son is the liar," said she. "Did he tell you how he flung a +blanket over my head as Juanita and I were coming out of Martinez' +office? How he tied my hands and feet and carried me off like a +victim--and victim he intended me to be! Yes, Mr. Weir rescued me +because Juanita met and told him what had happened and he followed. +Your son was drunk. He tried to commit a crime because I had rejected +him a week before, on learning that during our engagement he had +endeavored to mislead another girl. A drunkard and a criminal both, +that's your son. And he alone brought on his accident by his drunken, +reckless driving. Now I've told you the truth; leave the house!" + +"You can't put that kind of a story over on me," he snarled. "I +believe what Ed said. Even if he has had affairs with other girls, +that makes no difference now. You tried to double-cross him; you've +wrecked his body and life; and you shall pay for it." + +Neither of the pair in their intense excitement had heard a wagon +drive to a stop before the house. Whether in fact they would have +heard a peal of thunder might be a question. Sorenson, enraged by his +son's injury and burning for revenge, was oblivious to all else but +his passion, while Janet Hosmer, divided between contempt and fear, +had but the single thought of ridding herself of the man. + +"You cannot injure me," she said, in reply to his savage utterance. + +"I'll drive you and your father out of this town and this state," he +exclaimed. "They shall know here in San Mateo, and wherever you go if +it's in my power to reach there, what sort of a pretending, +double-faced, disreputable wanton----" + +"You coward!" Janet burst out. + +Then she turned to flee out of the room to arouse her father. But +Sorenson was too quick for her; he sprang forward and seized one of +her wrists. + +"No you don't, you perfumed wench!" he growled. + +A scream formed on Janet's lips. The heavy, rage-crimsoned face bent +over her as if to kill her by its very nearness. Brute the man was, +and as a brute he appeared determined she should feel his power. She +pulled back, jerking to free herself, and shrieked. + +Intervention came from an unexpected quarter. Rushing into the room +came the rancher Johnson, followed by his daughter. + +"Let go of her," the man ordered, harshly. + +Sorenson looked about over his shoulder. + +"Keep out of this, and get out," he answered. + +Johnson leaped forward and struck the other on the jaw. The cattleman +releasing his hold on Janet staggered back, at the same time thrusting +a hand under his coat. + +But the rancher's pistol was whipped forth first. + +"You'd try that game, would you?" Johnson said, with his ragged beard +out-thrust and stiff. "Put up your hands; I want to see how they look +sticking up over your head." + +Sorenson though now holding them in sight did not at once comply. + +"Johnson, you're butting into something that doesn't concern you," he +said, endeavoring to speak calmly. + +"You've made one mistake in striking me; don't make another by keeping +that gun pointed at my head. Remember I've a mortgage on your place +that you'll wish renewed one of these days." + +The expression of scorn on the rancher's face was complete. + +"Trying that line, are you?" he sneered. "Think you can play the +money-lender now and scare me? You didn't look much like a banker +reaching for your gun; you just looked like a killer then, a plain +bar-room killer--but I beat you to the draw. You've got fat and slow, +haven't you, since early days when you use to put lead into poor +devils whose stuff you wanted. And you didn't look like a banker to +me, either, trying to bulldoze Janet when I came in; you looked like +the big dirty coward you are. Aha, here's the doctor! Now just tell +him how it comes you can order me out of his house, and why you were +threatening Janet and making her scream." + +The physician turned a white, angry countenance to Sorenson. + +"I heard the scream. Is it true you were abusing my daughter?" he +demanded, stepping in front of the man. + +"I came here because I learned my son Ed had been broken to bits +through her trickery and damnable----" + +The words were cut off by the doctor's hand which smote the +blasphemous lips uttering them. + +Even more than Johnson's blow did this slap upon the mouth enrage the +cattleman. His face became congested, his shoulders heaved, but behind +the doctor was the revolver still directed at his head. + +"You've come here uninvited and you've said too much," Doctor Hosmer +stated in cold even tones. "You may be the town magnate, but you're +only a ruffian and a crook after all. You can't bluff or bully us. +More than that, you've insulted my daughter and me beyond any future +reparation. As for your son, he got less than he deserved." He turned +to the rancher. "You came just in time, it seems. Please see that he +leaves the house." + +Johnson waved with his gun significantly towards the door. + +"Move right along lively," he added. "And I'll go along with you to +see that you don't hamstring my horses, which I don't put past an +underhanded cattle-thief like you." + +Sorenson seemed striving for words that would adequately blast those +before him, but they appeared lacking. With a last malignant glare he +walked out upon the veranda and down across the yard, with his guard +following him. + +When Johnson returned after Sorenson's departure in his car, he was +grinning sardonically. + +"I shouldn't want him running among my cattle; he'd bite 'em and give +'em the rabies," he remarked. + +Janet caught and pressed his toil-roughened hand. + +"You'll never know how much I thank you for coming in just when you +did," she cried. + +"Pshaw, your father would have showed up and stopped him." + +"I'm not so sure. Father has no weapon, and that man did have one. It +was the sight of your pistol that made him cower. You couldn't have +chosen a more lucky minute to arrive." + +"Well, it was a little bit timely, as it turned out. Considering too +that we were coming to see you anyway, it was just as well to walk in +when we could do some good. Mary has something for you to read, if you +read Spanish." + +"Yes, I do." + +"That's good. Show 'em what you have, daughter." + +Mary drew a knotted handkerchief from her bosom and undid the knots. +Appeared the doubled paper she had found. This she passed to Janet. + +"Why,--why, this is the document I had!" the latter exclaimed, +joyfully. "Where did you find it?" + +"Up by the smashed automobile, when father and I were at the cabin." +She exchanged a guarded look with her father. "There are names in it +that made me think it might be valuable. So when father came back from +Bowenville I showed it to him. But neither of us could read it. We +thought we'd better bring it to you to read." + +"It is valuable, very valuable. I had it when I was seized by Ed +Sorenson and he took it away from me. Evidently, then, it fell from +his pocket at the time of the accident. Yes, indeed, it's important. +It means everything to certain parties. I'll read it, but you +understand what it tells is private at present." + +"We understand--and I think I know what it's going to say," Johnson +remarked, grimly. + +Thereupon while the others listened Janet read a translation of the +long document. To her and her father the facts were not new, for Weir +had already related such as he knew of the happenings in Vorse's +saloon on that eventful day thirty years previous. Nor for that matter +were they strange to Johnson and his daughter, though of course +neither Janet nor her father were aware of the rancher's more intimate +knowledge of the subject. + +"A pretty good story as far as it goes, but like all lawyers' papers +long-winded," Johnson stated, critically. + +"What do you mean, far as it goes?" Janet asked, curiously. "Did you +know this old Mexican? Did you ever hear him tell about the thing?" + +"I knew he was there at the time, but he never told me anything." + +Here Dr. Hosmer spoke. + +"Saurez died yesterday. It must have been shortly after he made this +deposition. He died in Vorse's saloon, which gives a color of +suspicion to his death. In addition, Martinez, as you know, was +dragged away somewhere." + +"Then Vorse learned old Saurez had blabbed, and killed him," Johnson +said, in a convinced tone. "Vorse is a bad bird, I want to say. But so +are all of them, Sorenson, Burkhardt and Judge Gordon as well." + +Janet brought the talk back to the subject. + +"You make me still wonder, Mr. Johnson," she said. "You seemed to +think there's more to the account than is told in this paper." + +Again the rancher and his daughter glanced at each other, hesitatingly. + +"Tell them, father," Mary broke forth all at once. "They know this +much, and you know you can trust them." + +The man, however, shook his head with a certain dogged purpose. + +"If this is just a paper in some trifling lawsuit or other, it will be +better if I keep my own counsel," he stated. "I've riled Sorenson +considerable as it is now, and I don't care particularly about having +him gunning on my trail active-like. If it really mattered----" + +"It does matter; it matters everything," Janet cried, "if you really +know something more!" + +"Why?" + +"Because it concerns Mr. Weir. The Joseph Weir described and named in +this affidavit was his father. He believes these men robbed his +father; this paper proves it, but not absolutely, for Mexican evidence +here in this country doesn't carry as much weight against white +men--especially men as rich and strong as these named--as it would in +other places perhaps. You know that. This paper was obtained for Mr. +Weir." + +"Oho, so that's the way of it!" Johnson said, with a long drawn-out +tone. + +He regarded the paper in silence for a time, busy with his thoughts, +absently twisting his beard, until at length a look of satisfaction +grew on his face. + +"Well, well, this is fine," he went on presently. "I never thought I +should be able to pay the obligation I owe him, and I won't fully at +that, but this will help. No, that paper doesn't tell all, for I +reckon Saurez didn't see all." He glanced triumphantly at the doctor +and the girl. "But I did." + +"You!" both exclaimed. + +But before he could explain, the memory of the cattleman's threat +recurred to Janet to banish thoughts of aught else than Weir's danger +from her mind. + +"Mr. Sorenson said he was going up to the dam to shoot Mr. Weir," she +exclaimed. "We must give warning." + +"Did he say he was going himself?" Johnson asked. + +"To get the paper, yes." Then Janet continued anxiously. "But the +paper isn't all. His son told him what occurred in the mountains and I +believe the man wants to harm Mr. Weir as well as to obtain the paper. +Perhaps he plans on gaining the document first, then killing him. In +any case, we must put Mr. Weir on guard." + +"I'll just drive up there and tell the engineer," Johnson stated. +"Shouldn't be surprised if I got a chance yet to use my gun. You girls +can stay here." + +Janet gazed at him with a flushing face. + +"The man could go to the dam and kill Mr. Weir and get safely home +while you're starting with your team," said she. "No, we must drive +there in a car. Father, you take Mr. Johnson in yours, and I'll carry +Mary in mine. We'll go along of course, for we'll not remain here in +the cottage alone with such terrible things happening in San Mateo." + +And to this there was no dissent. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE ALARM + + +At the dam Weir found Meyers and Atkinson anxiously waiting his +return. The sudden concerted melting away of workmen from camp had +been warning to his subordinates that the danger of a general spree +had taken definite form, which the report of a pair of young engineers +confirmed when they followed a group of laborers to the old adobe +house and beheld the beginning of the debauch. + +"Get out all the staff, Meyers, and you, Atkinson, all the foremen and +sober men left, then go down the road and put that joint out of +business, taking axes and whatever is necessary." + +"And if they fight?" Meyers asked. + +"Try first to placate them. If that fails, some of you draw them off +in order to permit the others to enter the house and destroy the +whiskey. It's a tough job, but you may succeed. If the crowd turns +ugly as it may, being drunk, come back. No need to take the risk of +broken heads or being beaten up. See, however, if you can't outwit the +outfit. Possibly you could push that mud house over from the rear by +means of a beam; that would do the business. I leave it to you to +decide what's best to do, men, after you've examined the situation." + +"The camp will be unguarded except for you and the two men with you," +Weir's assistant suggested. "If the crowd drinking down at that place +should take the notion to come here and tear things up, there would +be nothing to hinder them. A few should stay, anyway, I imagine--half +a dozen, who can use guns." + +"Well, pick out six to remain," the other agreed. + +For Meyers' suggestion had raised a disagreeable possibility. It was +never safe to ignore precautions when a gang of two or three hundred +rough, active laborers, however loyal when sober, were made +irresponsible and crazy by liquor; and one stage of drunkenness in +such men was usually manifested in a wild desire for violence. The +scheme of Weir's enemies might comprise using this very act for +wrecking the camp. + +Six men, to be sure, would offer little resistance to stemming the +movement once it was started, but the sight of steel in the guards' +hands might cause even a reckless mob to pause long enough for an +appeal. If the men should be brought to listen, they could probably be +diverted from their purpose, as impassioned crowds are easily swayed +by men of force. + +In any case the camp and dam should be defended to the last. That went +without saying. + +Meyers and Atkinson had little more than departed with their muster of +engineers, foremen and sober workmen, some fifty in all, when the two +cars driven by Dr. Hosmer and Janet arrived at headquarters. To the +occupants of both machines the camp appeared singularly dark and +silent, the office building and the commissary shack alone showing +lights. + +The four visitors entered the main room in the former building, where +they found Mr. Pollock and Martinez. + +"Mr. Weir stepped out for a moment to make a round of the camp and the +horse corrals," the easterner replied in answer to an inquiry from the +doctor. "Will you be seated?" And he politely placed chairs for Janet +and Mary, while his look scrutinized the party with discreet +interest. + +"Oh, Mr. Martinez, you've escaped!" Janet exclaimed, after a surprised +stare at the lawyer. + +The Mexican smiled, bowed and drew one point of his black mustache +through his fingers. + +"I have indeed, Miss Janet," said he. "Not without an unpleasant +experience, however. I understand you secured the paper concerning +which I telephoned you, and though I understand it has since been +lost--through no fault of yours--I desire to express my thanks for +your excellent assistance in the matter." + +"But it has been found again; we have it with us." + +Martinez gave a start, none the less sincere for being dramatic. + +"What! Saurez' deposition? Weir thought it burned. Why, this is the +most wonderful luck in the world! It gives us the whip-hand again." + +Janet nodded. + +"Mary Johnson here found it in a crack in the rocks when she and her +father went up to the cabin to bring Ed Sorenson down. Father has it. +That's one reason we're here. But there's another; Mr. Sorenson has +learned of his son's accident, has seen him, talked with him, been +told lies and now is in a dreadful rage, threatening every one +concerned. He was at our house and made a scene. He's coming here, or +so he said, to kill Mr. Weir and obtain the document. So we hurried to +the dam to give warning." + +At this juncture Mr. Pollock stepped forward. + +"Mr. Sorenson hasn't yet appeared, and I assure you he will be +prevented from harming any one if he comes. You are Miss Janet Hosmer, +I judge, of whom I've heard so much that is praiseworthy. Will you +allow me to introduce myself? I'm Mr. Pollock, a company director, +and to a degree in Mr. Weir's confidence." + +Janet expressed her pleasure at his acquaintance and in turn +introduced her father and the Johnsons. + +"Mr. Weir spoke of you to us, but we weren't aware he had informed you +of the paper." Then she added, "But he would wish to, naturally." + +Weir's voice, without, in conversation with some one caused them all +to look towards the door. In the panel of light falling on the +darkness before the house they perceived the engineer's tall figure by +a horse, from which the rider was dismounting. Letting the reins drag +and leaving the horse to stand, the latter walked with Weir into the +room. + +"Why, this is a delightful surprise!" the engineer exclaimed on +beholding the four who had come while he was out. "And unexpected." +His eyes rapidly interrogated the different faces. "I suppose it's +business, not pleasure, that brings you." + +"That's so," said Johnson, the rancher, nodding. + +"Well, Madden is here on business, too, it seems." He glanced at Mr. +Pollock. "Mr. Madden is our sheriff and he has a warrant for my +arrest." He turned back to the officer. "You come at a bad time for my +affairs. You saw that big show at the old house half way down the +road? That crowd is made up of my workmen, who are being entertained +with free whiskey, and there's no telling but what they may come here +to tear things up. The whiskey is furnished by Vorse, I suspect, and +is being served at Vorse's place. Your warrant is inspired by Vorse +and others, isn't it? The two circumstances coming at the same moment, +the free drunk and my arrest, look fishy to me. What do you think? I'm +in charge of a property here representing a good deal of money and I +should hate to be absent if the men took the idea into their heads to +turn the camp upside down, especially if the idea was inspired by +Vorse and his friends." + +"I haven't served the warrant yet," Madden replied. + +"And you know that I'm not going to skip the country at the prospect +of your serving it?" + +"No. There's no hurry; I'll just sit around for a while. And +understand, Weir, this arrest is none of my doings, except officially. +I take no stock in the yarn about your having attacked the greaser you +killed. Martinez' and Miss Janet's testimony at the inquest satisfied +me in that respect." + +Mr. Pollock now drew Weir aside for a whispered conference. When they +rejoined the others the engineer made the lawyer acquainted with the +sheriff. + +"Mr. Weir has agreed to my suggestion to take you into our confidence, +Mr. Madden," he stated. "There may be other warrants for you to serve +soon, and I'm sure you will respect what we reveal. All of us here +except you know the facts I'm about to relate; indeed, have shared in +them to an extent; and in addition to our word we'll present proof. +You know Dr. Hosmer and his daughter certainly, you probably know Mr. +Johnson and the young lady with him, and are aware whether their +statements are to be relied on." + +"They are," Madden answered, without hesitation. + +"You're already convinced of the truth of Weir's innocence in the +charge of murder now being preferred against him. Well, now, a friend +at court is worth something; and we propose to make you that friend." + +"I'm not against him like most of the town, anyway," was the sheriff's +answer. + +"Go ahead with your explanation," Pollock said to the engineer. + +Thereupon Weir briefly sketched out events for the officer as they had +occurred and as showing the motives which had inspired his enemies in +seeking to destroy him:--the original plot against his father, his +determination to uncover the four conspirators, the episode at the +restaurant in Bowenville, the discovery of Ed Sorenson as the hirer of +the dead Mexican assassin, the obtaining of Saurez' deposition and +Martinez' imprisonment in Vorse's saloon cellar, Janet's abduction and +rescue and the loss of the paper. + +"But the paper isn't lost," Dr. Hosmer interrupted. "Mary Johnson +found it and here it is." With which he drew the crumpled document +from his breast pocket and laid it on the table. + +"You have it again!" Weir exclaimed. "You found it, Mary!" He stepped +forward and took the girl's hand in his for a moment. "You're a friend +indeed to bring this back to me." + +"I owed you more than that," she said, coloring. + +"But Mr. Sorenson has learned about his son and the paper and +everything that happened, except Ed Sorenson told him lies instead of +the truth," Janet put in. "He's terribly angry at all of us. He said +he would kill you for crippling Ed." + +"Sorenson is welcome to try," Weir responded, with a quick blaze in +his eyes. + +At this point Mr. Pollock interposed. + +"You didn't finish your story, Weir. Relate for Mr. Madden's benefit +what occurred at Judge Gordon's house." + +This tragic conclusion to the afternoon's happenings the engineer +told, though remarking that the company director should be the true +narrator. At his announcement that Judge Gordon had taken his own life +by poison his listeners remained dumbfounded. + +"He's dead, then?" Madden asked, at last. + +"Yes. And the transfer of property made to Mr. Pollock amounts to an +acknowledgment of his guilt. Now, I should like to have Martinez read +this deposition, for I've never heard its contents myself." + +This the Mexican did, translating the Spanish paragraphs into English +with fluent ease, ending by reading the list of witnesses. Martinez +gave the paper a slap of his hand. + +"And old Saurez was found dead in Vorse's saloon by me an hour after +he had signed this," he said. "Draw your own conclusions." + +Madden shifted on his seat. He glanced at the document and at the +others and then gazed out the door at the darkness. + +"Looks like a clear case; I always imagined if these men's past was +dug into there would be a lot of crooked business turned up. But +granting that everything is as shown, with Lucerio the county attorney +under Sorenson's thumb and the community as it is there's a question +if Saurez' statement even will be enough to convict them." + +At that Janet jumped up, her eyes gleaming. + +"That is not all the proof, not all by any means!" she cried. + +"What more is there?" + +"Mr. Johnson's evidence." + +"Johnson's!" came in surprised tones from all four of the men +uninformed of the rancher's story. + +"Yes, he saw the man Dent killed and the plotters make your father, +Mr. Weir, believe he had done the killing." + +Steele stared at Johnson dumbfounded. + +"Just that; I saw the whole dirty trick worked, looking through the +back door of the saloon." + +"Then you were the boy!" Weir gasped. "The boy who looked in! After +thirty years I supposed that boy gone, lost, vanished beyond +finding." + +"I stayed right here," was the reply. "Of course I kept my mouth shut +about what I had seen. I worked on ranches and rode range and at last +got the little place on Terry Creek and married. Nothing strange in my +remaining in the country where I grew up, especially as I only knew +the cattle business." + +Weir swung about to Madden. + +"Here's a live witness," said he. "With the other proof his evidence +should be final." + +"Whenever you say, I'll arrest the men. As for this warrant I have, +I'll just continue to carry it in my pocket," the sheriff stated. "I +must remark that I never heard of a more villainous plot, taking it +all around, than you've brought to light." + +"And the charges must cover everything," Pollock said sternly. "From +Dent's murder to the conspiracy against the irrigation company." + +"I'll stay here in case you need me to stop any trouble with your +workmen," Madden remarked. + +But trouble though imminent was coming from another direction, as was +suddenly shown when a man, dust-covered and hatless, rushed into the +office. + +"They're on the way," he cried. + +"Who? The workmen?" Weir demanded. + +"No. I don't know anything about the workmen, but a bunch of Mexicans, +fifty or more, are headed this way to blow up the dam. I saw and heard +them." + +"Where?" + +"At the spring a mile south. I was watching down there, where Atkinson +had sent me after supper, relieving the man who kept lookout during +the afternoon. That was where the booze was dealt out last night, you +remember. I was sitting there when I heard a crowd coming. At first I +thought it was our men, but when they stopped to drink and smoke, I +saw by their talk they were Mexicans. But there was one white man with +them, a leader. He and a Mexican talked in English. They're to raid +the camp, crawling up the canyon, to dynamite the dam first, then fire +the buildings." + +"Then they're on the road here now?" + +"Yes." The speaker licked his lips. "I cut along the hillside until I +got ahead of them, but it was slow going in the dark and stumbling +through the sage. They must be close at hand by this time, though I +came faster than they did. The white man said to the Mexican that they +wanted to reach the dam just at moonrise, and that will be pretty +quick now." + +"Go to the bunk-house and call the men waiting there, and get a gun +yourself," Weir ordered. "The storekeeper will give you one." When the +messenger had darted out, he looked at the others. "You must take +these girls away from here, doctor, at once." + +"But I don't go," Johnson snapped forth, drawing his revolver and +giving the cylinder a spin. + +"I never could hit anything, and haven't had a firearm in my hand for +years, but I can try," Pollock stated. "This promises to be +interesting, very interesting." + +"Very," said Weir. + +For a little he stood in thought, while the others gazed at him +without speaking. His straight body seemed to gather strength and +power before their eyes, his clean-cut features to become hard and +masterful. + +"Up the canyon he said they were coming, didn't he?" he remarked at +last, more to himself than to them. "Very well, so much the better. +Johnson, you and Madden take charge of the men when they come and line +them along the hillside this side of the dam. Put out all lights." +With which he strode out of the building. + +They looked after him in uncertainty. + +"I'm not going; you may be hurt, and need me," Mary stated, with a +stubborn note in her voice. + +"Then keep out of reach--and run for town if the ruffians get into +camp," was her father's answer. + +"I stay too," Janet exclaimed, resolutely. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +NO QUARTER + + +The peril threatening the unfinished dam now alone engaged Steele +Weir's mind. Personal considerations did not enter into his +calculations, least of all thought of personal danger; for when he +placed himself in an undertaking whatever rested under his hand, as in +this case the irrigation company's property, became for him a trust to +attend, to direct, to guard. Even more than if it had been his own +property did he feel the obligation, for the interests concerned were +not his. But the matter went deeper than a prospective money loss; it +struck down to principles and rights--the principles of order and +industry as against viciousness and havoc; the rights of law-abiding +men who create as against the wantonness of lawless men who would +destroy. + +Were it his own workmen who, inflamed by drink and incited by a spirit +of recklessness, were coming to wreck the camp in a moment of mad +intoxication, he would have made allowances for the cause. Before +resorting to extreme measures in defending his charge, he first would +have sought to bring them to their senses. Drunken men are men +unbalanced, irrational. + +But here was another case: an attack by a secret, sober, malevolent +band, who in cold blood approached to demolish the company works. Not +liquor moved them on their mission, but money--money paid by his arch +enemies. The men were simply hired tools, brazenly indifferent no +doubt to crimes, desperate in character certainly, for a handful of +coins ready to wipe out a million dollars' worth of property and +effort. Such deserved no consideration or quarter. + +Weir proposed to give none. With enemies of this kind he had but one +policy, strike first and strike with deadly force. One does not seek +to dissuade a rattlesnake; one promptly stamps it under heel. One +cannot compromise with ravenous wolves; one shoots them down. One does +not wait to see how far a treacherous foe will go; one forestalls and +crushes him before he begins. Moreover, if wise, one does it in such +fashion that the enemy will not arise from the blow. + +With the information given him by the guard posted at the spring Weir +immediately grasped the true nature of the plot. The "whiskey party" +was but a means of withdrawing the workmen from the scene, of +weakening the camp, while a picked company of ruffians wrecked the +property. It was an assault intended to wipe out the works and end +construction, coincident with his arrest. Both the company and he were +to pay the penalty for resisting the powers that rule San Mateo. And +if the tale were spread that the destruction had been wrought by his +workmen while drunk, who would doubt it? + +Like shadows the band of Mexican desperadoes would come, dynamite the +dam, fire the buildings, stampede the horses, and like shadows vanish +again. In the unexpectedness of the raid, in the confusion, in the dim +light, no one would with certainty be able to say who the assailants +were. A scheme ferocious in its conception and diabolical in its +cunning! But there was one flaw--the element of chance. Chance had +given Weir warning. + +A strong man warned is a strong man armed. + +As the engineer stood in the office, swiftly measuring the imminent +menace of which he had just been told, calculating the meager +instruments of defense at hand, his mind sweeping up all the salient +aspects, features, advantages and disadvantages of the situation, he +seized on the one weak spot in the attacking party's plan. At that +spot he would strike. + +So giving Johnson and Madden the order to take charge of the little +handful of guards, he had plunged out into the night. + +The men from the bunk-house were already running toward the office, +before the door of which the rancher gathered them together to make +sure of their arms and ammunition. All told, when Martinez and Pollock +presently came from the store with guns, the little party numbered +eleven. + +"Is this all there are of us?" Dr. Hosmer asked. + +"We are worth all that crowd that's coming," Johnson exclaimed, taking +a spare gun Martinez had brought him. + +"Did Weir send the rest of the engineers down to that house? I +understood so." + +"That's where they are, I reckon." + +Dr. Hosmer considered for a minute. + +"I can be there in five minutes in my car. The road is on the north +side of the stream, as is this camp: the gang that's heading here to +blow things up is coming up from the south, so it will not block the +way. Men could be here in twenty minutes from down yonder by +running." + +"A good suggestion, doctor," Pollock said. "It may take you a bit +longer to find and tell them what's occurring, but even so they may +return in time. Fifty, or even twenty, might give us enough +assistance to beat off the attack." + +"There comes the moon," said the man who had been at the spring. "They +must be near now." + +Far in the east the moon was stealing above the horizon. Under its +light the mesa took form out of the darkness--the level sagebrush +plain criss-crossed by willow-lined ditches and checkered by small +Mexican fields, the winding shimmering Burntwood River with its border +of cottonwoods, the narrow road, the distant town of San Mateo, a +vague blot of shadow picked out by tiny specks of light. + +The mountains too now reared in view, silent, silvered, majestic, +towering about the camp on the lower base. One could see, as the moon +swam higher, the low long buildings of the camp clustered on the +hillside above the canyon, in the bottom of which was the dashing +stream and the bone-white core of the dam. + +"Look down yonder on the other side!" Martinez exclaimed suddenly, +pointing a long thin forefinger at the mouth of the canyon where a +group of black dots were moving up the river. + +"That's them," said the man who had given the warning. + +"And they're armed," said another. "You can see the moon shine on +their gun-barrels." + +On the opposite side of the stream, some two hundred yards below the +dam and three or four hundred feet lower in elevation than the camp, +advancing up the canyon in a string, the men looked like a line of +insects. + +"I'm off for help," the doctor said, springing into his car. "Janet, +you and Mary go higher up among the rocks and hide if these buildings +are attacked." Away he went, buzzing down the hillside to the long +stretch of road. + +Weir now came into sight, walking quickly towards the group. That he +saw the Mexicans down in the canyon was evident from his swift +appraising glances thither. + +"Johnson, move your men down halfway to the dam and have them scatter +there behind bowlders. I shall go still lower down," he said. "You +will hold your fire until I signal with my hat from the dam." + +"You're going to the dam?" + +"Yes." + +"We ought to go with you." + +"I don't need you. You'll be more effective hidden above. You'll have +plenty of light as the moon is shining squarely in the gorge. And +await my signal." + +"All right; you're the general." + +"But take no extreme risks, Weir. The company doesn't ask you to +sacrifice yourself," Pollock stated. + +"The sacrifice will be down among those fellows," Steele replied, with +set jaw. "Don't worry about me. Now, start, men." + +He stood for a little watching the rate of progress of the line of +Mexicans ascending the stream, which was not rapid owing to the broken +rocks lining the bank. Then he swung about to the two girls. + +"Every one here now is under my orders," he said. "You two will take +your car and go at once. This is no place for you." + +"But----" Janet began. + +"I'm taking no chances that you shall fall into the hands of those +scoundrels," he declared, sternly. "They may succeed in reaching this +spot. You must not be here; you must go." + +Taking each by an arm he piloted them to the car. + +"Sorry, but it has to be," he added. "This is work for men, and men +alone." + +Janet and Mary climbed up into the seat. + +"You--you will take care of yourself," Janet said, tremulously. + +"I expect to. Still, this isn't going to be a croquet party; anything +may happen. Good-by." + +With that he swung about and breaking into a run made for a small +building half-buried in the hillside and apart from the camp. There he +stooped and picked up under each arm what looked like a cylinder of +some size and went down towards the dam. For a time they could see +him, but all at once he slipped behind an outcrop of rock and they saw +him no more. + +Janet turned to eye her companion. Once more her face was pale. + +"Well?" she inquired of Mary. + +"I reckon we'd better do as he says. He'd be awful mad if we didn't. +Did you see his eyes when he talked to us?" + +"But if he--he and others are wounded?" + +Uneasily Mary gazed at the older girl and then down at the canyon. On +the hillside the men led by her father were no longer in sight, +somewhere concealed among the stones that dotted the earth. But down +by the stream and now scarcely fifty yards from the white stretch of +concrete barring the river bed through a tunnel in which the water +foamed and escaped, the Mexicans were clearly visible, their hats +bobbing about, their guns flinging upward an occasional gleam. + +"It doesn't seem as if anything was going to happen," Mary went on in +awed tones. "Things are so quiet and peaceful." + +Still Janet delayed starting the car, divided in feelings between a +wish to respect Steele Weir's insistent command and a growing fear for +his safety. She could see nothing of him. Into the shadow of a rock he +had disappeared and thither she gazed with straining eyes, hoping to +see again his straight strong figure. + +"Why, look down there at the dam," Mary said, whose eyes had been +wandering from, point to point of the scene. "Isn't that him?" + +Janet's heart gave a quicker beat, then seemed to sink in her breast +as staring downward she recognized the engineer. He had come out all +at once from the shade cast by a wooden framework. He had with him the +burdens he had lifted from the ground before the little detached stone +house at the edge of the camp, and these, the cylinders, he placed on +the surface of the concrete core at the spot where he stood. Then he +knelt down, struck a match, lighted a cigar--as if any man in his +senses would stop to smoke in such a situation!--and busied himself at +some task over the cylinders. + +Only for an instant had he stood erect on the flat top of the dam. +Apparently he had been unseen by the attackers, engaged in picking +their footing: and now in his crouching position, retired from the +upper edge of the dam's front as he was, it was very likely that he +was wholly out of view of the band. + +At last Weir moved his cylinders forward towards this edge. Afterwards +he straightened up and standing hands on hips, smoking his cigar, the +tiny crimson glow of which rose and fell, he watched the party nearing +the foot of the white gleaming wall, fifty feet below him. + +For Janet the sight was too much. His indifference to risk froze her; +he appeared to be courting death; and she strove to open her lips to +send down to him an imploring cry to draw back, but succeeded in +uttering only a tremulous wail. + +"They'll shoot him," Mary was saying, "oh, they'll kill him!" + +A surge of terror swept Janet. Next thing she knew she was out of the +car and running down the hillside among the stones and the stalks of +sagebrush, frantic to reach him, to pull him out of view of the men +beneath. Only a single one of them had to cast a glance upward and to +raise his gun and fire, then he would die. He should not die! She +should fling herself as a protection before him rather than that he +should be slain! + +On a sudden a hand reached up from a rock and seized her arm, stopping +her with a jerk. Then she was roughly pulled down beside it. The man +was Madden, the sheriff. + +"What in hell are you doing?" he demanded harshly. "Have you gone +crazy?" + +His grip was not relinquished. + +"But see him! Aren't you men going to help him? Are you going to let +him be killed?" + +Madden forced her to her knees, so that she was sheltered by the +outcrop of stone. + +"Any man who can smoke a cigar like that at such a time as this knows +just what he's doing," was the answer. "Keep quiet and watch." + +"Oh, I don't want to see," she said. But she continued to look with +fascinated eyes at the lone, calm figure on the dam. + +Presently Madden pushed his gun forward over the rock. + +"They've caught sight of him," he stated. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE THUNDERBOLT + + +The greater part of the number of bandits had stopped in a group a few +yards from the base of the white dam core, though a few stragglers +were some way behind. Among these Steele Weir made out the figure of +one whom he recognized as a white man; he whom the guard from the +spring had mentioned as directing the company; and when at a number of +exclamations from Mexicans who perceived the engineer the man lifted +his face, Weir saw he was Burkhardt. + +No more than this was needed to show whose the hand behind this +treacherous conspiracy. Clear, too, it was that Burkhardt, determined +that no mistake or abandonment of the operation should occur, had come +to see it through in person. Weir could ask nothing better; he had one +of the plotters caught in the act. + +Apparently orders had been to carry through the first part of the +diabolical plan of destruction in silence, that of gaining control of +the dam, for when two or three Mexicans flung up rifles to shoot at +Weir a sharp word from another Mexican, seemingly their leader, had +checked the volley and shouted to Burkhardt. + +The latter had stopped; he stared for a few seconds at the man on the +white wall above and finally signaled with a wave of his arm. + +"Come down here," he ordered. + +But Weir made no move to obey. He continued to stand motionless, +coolly regarding the party beneath. His eyes particularly considered +two men who carried wooden boxes, square and stout, on their +shoulders. At last he spoke. + +"What do you want here?" + +"Come down, then you'll learn," Burkhardt shouted up, making no effort +to hide the enmity in his voice. + +Weir puffed at his cigar, removed it from his lips to glance at its +glowing end, while the Mexicans stared up at him in silence, puzzled +by this lone guard who carried no rifle, who did not flee away to +spread an alarm and seek aid, and who so unexpectedly had appeared as +if anticipating their visit. + +Murmurs broke out. Why were they not allowed to shoot him at once in +the approved Mexican bandit fashion and proceed to their work? If +he were not shot at once, he yet could escape for aid. The party +had to ascend the hillside in order to mount to the top of the +concrete work. Time would be required to place and fire their charges +of dynamite--and they were eager to get at the loot in the buildings +above. + +"Kill him," Burkhardt roared suddenly, jerking forth his revolver and +blazing at the engineer. + +The bullet sang past Weir's head. He did not duck; indeed, kept his +place calmly while the Mexicans were raising their guns, as if to show +his supreme contempt for their power. But at the instant Burkhardt +fired again and a dozen rifles blazed he sprang back and dropped flat, +leaving the deadly missiles to speed harmlessly above the dam. + +Raising himself cautiously he seized the end of a fuse projecting from +one of the canisters and held the crimson end of his cigar against it +until a sputter of sparks showed that it had caught. From this fuse he +turned to the one in the second can and repeated the operation. + +This was the essence of his plan of defense. With guns the defenders +on the hillside would be outnumbered and probably killed in an attack. +The information that the assailants were to steal up the canyon, +however, was the key that would unlock a desperate situation, and his +mind had grasped the mode and means of defeating the enemy. + +With the first shots quiet had returned. The night seemed for Weir as +peaceful as ever, the earth bathed in moonlight, the camp at rest. +Only before him there was the sputter of the two fuses, one at the +right, one at the left, as the trains of fire burned towards the holes +in the canisters. He watched these calculatingly. His cigar no longer +of service had been cast aside. + +All at once he rose erect again. A few men were starting along the +wall to climb the hillside, but the greater number were gathered about +Burkhardt and the Mexican leader. Now Weir glanced at them and now at +the fuses. + +"I warn you to leave this dam and camp, Burkhardt," he shouted, when a +few seconds had passed. "Don't say I didn't give you warning." + +Every head jerked upward at this surprising reappearance and voice. +They had supposed him fled, the men down there, and were having a last +hasty conference, doubtless as to the wisdom of now first attacking +the camp. A grim smile came on the engineer's face. Their astonishment +was comic--or would have been at a moment less perilous and fraught +with less grave consequences. + +An oath ripped from Burkhardt's lips. An angry curse it might have +been at Madden that he had failed to arrest and hold the engineer +according to plan. He gestured right and left, yelling something to +the men around him. He himself began to run towards one end of the +dam. + +Weir stooped, picked up one of the canisters, blew on the fuse now +burned so near the hole. Some men perhaps at this instant would have +quailed for their own safety and at the prospect of hurling death +among others. For death this tin cylinder meant for those below. But +there was no tremor in Steele Weir's arm or heart. + +He was the man of metal who had won the name "Cold Steel"--calm, +implacable, of steel-like purpose. With such enemies he could hold no +other communion than that which gave death. For such there was no +mercy. By the same sort of law that they would execute let them +suffer--the law of lawlessness and force. Destruction they would give, +destruction let them gain. + +He straightened. He took a last look at the snapping, sparkling, +smoldering fuse, then flung his burden full down upon the spot where +the Mexicans were again pointing their guns at him. Swiftly picking up +the second canister, while bullets whined by, he cast it down after +the first. A glimpse of startled faces he had, of men attempting to +scatter from before the huge missiles, then he flung himself full +length upon the dam. + +Interminably time seemed to stretch itself out as lying there he +listened, waited, sought to brace himself for the impending shock. A +quick doubt assailed his mind. Had the charges failed. + +All at once the earth seemed rent by a roar that shook the very dam. +Followed instantly a second volume of sound more terrific, more +blasting in its quality, more dreadful in its power, deafening, +stunning, as if the world had erupted. + +"Their dynamite!" Weir breathed to himself. + +His ear-drums appeared to be broken. His hat was gone. His body ached +from the tremendous dispersion of air. But that he could still hear he +discovered when through his shocked auditory nerves he distinguished, +as if far off, faint booming echoes from the hills. + +He got to his knees, finally to his feet. Pressing his hands to his +head he gazed slowly about. Stones and a rain of earth were still +falling, as if from a meteoric bombardment. About him he perceived +sections of woodwork shaken to pieces, collapsed. + +Stepping to the edge of the dam he peered downward. A vast hole showed +in the earth before the wall though the wall itself was uninjured and +only smeared with a layer of soil. Huge rocks lay where there had been +none before, uprooted and flung aside by the explosion, dispersed by +the gigantic blast. On the hillside half a dozen men were picking +themselves up and struggling wildly to flee. Nearer, a few other forms +lay in the moonlight mangled and still, or mangled, and writhing in +pain. Of all the rest--nothing. + +Almost completely Burkhardt's predatory band had been blotted out. +Weir's thunderbolt had struck down into its very heart, and it had +vanished. + +As he turned and walked towards the end of the dam, he staggered a +little. The sight had shaken even his iron nerve. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +WEIR STRIKES WHILE THE IRON IS HOT + + +In his runabout, with Sheriff Madden at his side, and followed by +Atkinson and half a dozen men for guards in two other machines, Weir +sped along the road to San Mateo. They carried with them Burkhardt, +who had been found stunned and slightly injured, and two Mexican +bandits who had been captured. Those of the party of attackers yet +alive but seriously hurt were being treated at camp by Dr. Hosmer, +while the young engineers, armed and eager, were scouring the mountain +side for the few Mexicans who had got away. + +It seemed a miracle that Burkhardt had escaped death, but the +explanation was found no doubt in the fact he had started from the +spot where the canisters fell and so at the moment of explosion was +outside the area of its full destruction. To Weir the matter went +deeper than that. Providence appeared to have saved him for +punishment, for the long term of imprisonment he deserved for his +crimes. + +"I'd much rather have him alive than dead," Steele had remarked to +Madden, when the man was brought up from the canyon a prisoner. + +The tremendous thunder-clap of sound from the camp had quickened the +return of the superintendent and his men, already reached and warned +by the doctor. More, it had startled even the drunken workmen so that +when some one shouted that the dam had been blown up the debauch came +to an immediate end, the house was deserted and the throng, incited by +curiosity and wonder, went staggering and running for camp. + +The first of these had arrived and the rest were tailing behind for +half a mile when Weir and his companions set out for town, the +blinding headlights of the machines scattering on either side of the +road the approaching workmen. It was not likely many would go back to +the house when they were told at headquarters how narrowly destruction +of the works had been averted and how their spree had been a move in +the plot. Between shame at being-duped and drowsiness resulting from +drink they would, after a look at the hole blown in the earth at the +base of the dam, want to seek their bunk-houses. + +As they sped towards town Weir and Madden rapidly made their plans, +for the sheriff having witnessed with his own eyes the enormity of the +plotters' guilt was all for quick action. + +"These engineers of yours with us and the other men Meyers will bring +down can be thrown as a guard around the jail," he stated. "I'll swear +them all in as deputies. With Sorenson and Vorse locked up along with +Burkhardt--and I'll throw Lucerio, the county attorney, in with them +on the off chance he's an accomplice--there will be high feeling +running in San Mateo. As quick as I can make arrangements, we'll take +them to safe quarters elsewhere--to-night if possible, to-morrow at +the latest, in fast machines. These men have friends, remember." + +"You've Burkhardt handcuffed; it might be well to gag him, too, for +fear the crowd might make trouble if he yelled for help," Weir +replied. + +"Yes, we'll do that, though I think we can rush him into the jail +before anyone knows what's happening." + +On the outskirts of town therefore the cars stopped. When Burkhardt, +who had recovered his senses and with them a knowledge of his plight, +perceived the sheriff's intention his rage burst all bounds. + +"You fool, you muddle-headed blunderer!" he exclaimed, with a string +of oaths. "Take these cuffs off! You'll lose your job for this trick. +When I see Sorenson----" + +"When you see him, you'll see him; and that will be inside a cell," +was the cool rejoinder. "I didn't know you were a dynamiter and +would-be murderer until to-night, but I watched you at work and saw +you shoot twice at Weir." + +"You'll unlock these, I say, here and now!" And the raging voice went +off in a further stream of biting curses. "Look at me; I'm Burkhardt. +You're crazy to talk of throwing me in jail, with my influence +and----" + +"Your influence be damned," was the imperturbable answer. "You'll have +a long time in a penitentiary to see how much influence you have, if +you don't swing first." + +Burkhardt struggled fiercely for a moment against the steel bands +about his wrists and the men who held him. + +"No crook like this Weir shall ever send me behind bars, or any other +man put me there. Wait till Sorenson and Vorse and Judge Gordon learn +what you're trying! Wait till they find out you've double-crossed us +for this engineer! Wait till Gordon turns me loose with a _habeas +corpus_, you'll sweat blood for this night's work, Madden!" + +The sheriff shook out the red handkerchief with which he expected to +bind the prisoner's mouth. + +"I'll wait for a long time if I wait for Gordon to issue the writ," he +remarked. "Seeing that he's dead." + +"Dead! You're a liar, you sneaking cur; you can't bluff me. And when +I'm loose, if I don't fill you full of lead it will be because----" + +But Burkhardt's explanation was never finished on that point, for +Madden whipped the rolled handkerchief over his mouth and quickly +knotted it behind, shutting off the flow of seething vituperative +speech. If looks could slay, those he received from the prisoner's +bloodshot maddened eyes would have dropped the sheriff in his tracks; +as it was, they fell harmless against the law officer's person. + +"Things have changed sort of sudden, haven't they, Burkhardt?" Madden +stated, sardonically. "Never can tell what's going to happen between +supper and breakfast. Here I go out to serve a warrant on Weir, and +instead I'm bringing you in for trying a low I.W.W. trick. Surprising +cards a fellow sometimes gets on the draw." With which he went back to +the other car. + +Counting on quickness for the safe delivery of his men in jail, Madden +did not attempt to approach the court house by a side street. On the +contrary he drove fast down the main way, with the other two cars +following close, passing without pause through the crowd of Mexicans +drawn forth in wonder at the booming report of the explosion that had +sounded from the dam. + +One could see that excitement was at a high pitch. With the rumors +that all day had been in circulation, with later vague tales of the +great debauch proceeding at the old 'dobe house half way up the road +to camp, with the thunder-clap that had burst from the base of the +mountains coming on top of all, every man, woman and child had run to +the main street, where those in the automobiles could see by wagging +tongues and gesticulating hands that speculation was rife and +curiosity afire. + +"The talk this evening when I set out for your camp was that I +expected to bring you in and hang you," Madden said dryly, to the +engineer. "Quite a crowd had come to town. Plain to see now that +Burkhardt and his bunch had started the talk. I shouldn't be surprised +if there had been trouble had I arrested and locked you up. There are +a few bad Mexicans around these parts that would do anything for +money, and it's evident from what's happened that Sorenson's gang was +ready to go the limit. What I'm trying to figure out is where these +fellows Burkhardt had with him up yonder came from." + +"I can tell you. From across the line. I've seen plenty just like them +down there," Weir affirmed. "Look at their hats and clothes--but +you'll be able to make them talk after a while. However, you won't +find any of them speaking English. Offer one of them some money and a +trip home and he'll give you the story quick enough, especially after +you've thrown a scare into him. We can afford to let one go to get the +facts." + +"You better keep out of sight after we have the men in the jail. Slip +behind the jail to the rear of the yard, and when I've locked them up +and told Atkinson what to do about keeping the people away from the +building, I'll join you there." + +"I understand," Weir stated. + +"And we can slip off and grab Vorse if he's in his saloon and then +Sorenson before any one knows what's happening." + +"That's right; don't want the game spoiled now. Here we are." + +The cars had arrived at the gate before the courthouse. Here, too, +however, the crowd was densest, having gathered at the spot as if the +roar of powder from the camp was an overture to Weir's arrest and +appearance. It had proved a prelude to his appearance, at any rate. +The crowd perceived him with Madden and it believed him a prisoner +even if not handcuffed and marched with a pistol at his head. + +A profound silence at first greeted the party as it alighted. Madden, +assisting Burkhardt to alight, pulled the man's broad-brimmed hat low +over his eyes to conceal his face from the revealing moonlight. A +short struggle again ensued, but Burkhardt finally yielded to the +pressure exerted by his companion guards. + +A murmur of astonishment ran over the surrounding throng, each instant +being augmented by the voices of others running to the place. Not only +did it appear that the engineer was under arrest, but likewise +others,--a handcuffed, gagged man and two sullen Mexicans, strangers +to the community. Yet a number of the onlookers, possibly men with +Vorse's or Sorenson's money in their pockets, shouted as the +new-comers moved through the press: + +"Killer, murderer! Hang him, shoot him!" And more voices began to join +in the cry. + +Clearly the intent was to stir up feeling in the crowd to a point +where action against Weir would seem a spontaneous outbreak. Even +women joined in the cry; curses followed; fists were shaken. + +"Open up the way," Madden ordered, as a surge of the crowd threatened +to surround him and his party. In his hand, as if to emphasize his +command, a six-shooter swung into view, sweeping to and fro and +menacing the press of people. + +The frightened men directly before the party struggled to get out of +line of the weapon, yielding suddenly a clear passage. + +"Quick! Around the courthouse and back to the jail," Madden exclaimed +to those with him. + +Pushing forward from the moonlight into the shade cast by the +cottonwoods, they dragged their prisoners past the first building +towards the low stout stone structure at the rear, half-illuminated +and half-concealed by the patches of light and shade falling from the +trees. + +A minute later Madden whipped out his keys. + +"Two men remain here at the door and don't be afraid to show your +rifles to that bunch," he said. "In with you, Burkhardt; there's a +nice soft stone floor to sleep on. Keep those Mexican camp-burners +covered, Atkinson, till I get the cells open. You, Weir, slip on back +there in the shadow and wait for me." + +The engineer had taken but three steps into the gloom along the +outside jail wall, glancing about to avoid any curious straggler of +the crowd already hurrying around the court house towards the jail, +when he heard a call. In the advance was a slim well-dressed Mexican, +full in the moonlight and very important of bearing. The call was +directed not at Weir but at Madden. + +"You got him all right, sheriff?" he said. + +"Yes. He came in with me," was the answer. + +"But who are these others?" + +"Step inside and I'll tell you, Lucerio." + +The county attorney joined the sheriff, peered inside the doorway and +hesitated. It was dark within; no light showed except a patch of +moonlight at the far side of the building that fell through a barred +window. + +"Go right in," Madden exclaimed. And laying hand on the other's +shoulder he forced him ahead. The door closed after the pair. Before +the doorway there remained, however, the pair of young engineers, +rifle in hand, whose threatening bearing and glistening gun-barrels +were apparent even in the patchy light dropping through the boughs. At +a distance of about ten feet off the crowd of people halted, staring +eagerly at the jail building, showing their white teeth as they +carried on low talk in Spanish and awaiting with impatience the return +of Madden and Lucerio that they might flood them with questions. + +Weir remained to see no more, for the increasing crowd pushed out +further and further on the flanks, a circumstance that would +eventually result in his discovery. So slipping to the rear of the +jail and keeping well in the shadows he gained the fence. This he +leaped and, lighting a cigarette, examined his pistol, then proceeded +to smoke calmly until Madden arrived. + +"Hurry; slip away," the latter said. "They wondered what the devil I +dodged back here for and are coming, curious as cats." + +The two men glided away, keeping well in shadows until they gained the +side street and thence passed to the main thoroughfare. + +"What if Sorenson and Vorse are somewhere in that crowd?" Madden +asked. "They're likely to be, expecting your arrest." + +"Then we'll have to wait till they leave it. But I don't believe +they're there. They won't want to show their hand even by being on the +scene." + +"Probably they've found out Gordon is dead." + +"Probably. But on the other side, they suppose now that the dam has +been destroyed and that I'm locked up," Weir said. "Still, I'll guess +that if they've learned Pollock and Martinez and I were at Gordon's +all the afternoon, and he committed suicide, they'll be worrying some +just the same." + +Madden glanced at his companion. + +"I don't believe we'll bring Vorse in--alive," he said. + +"That's the way I want him, and Sorenson, too. I want to see them go +up for life, but if not that then hanged. But a life term for both, +along with Burkhardt, is my choice. I want them to suffer as my father +suffered. Only worse. Dying's too easy for them. Let them have hell +here for awhile before they get it on the other side. Let the iron +bars and stone walls kill them. I hope they live for twenty years to +gnaw out their hearts every day and every night behind steel doors. +That wouldn't half pay what they owe. But if they finish in prison, +knowing there's no hope, knowing I've put them there for what they did +to my father and Jim Dent, knowing that all the money and cattle they +stole had slipped through their fingers, that they've lost all they +gained and more, that their curses and crimes are crushing their own +heads, why, that will help. And Sorenson--Sorenson there every day +knowing his son lies a helpless cripple, without the money that has +been piled up for him! I couldn't invent a worse hell for him. And +that's the hell he's going to have!" + +Though a man not easy to move, Madden at Weir's cold implacable +expression of hatred shivered slightly. Sorenson and his accomplices +would be lucky indeed if they died by the rope. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +VORSE + + +Across the main street the two men walked, wearing their hats low and +making no answer to shouted questions of those hurrying to the +courthouse yard. Already the grounds about the court house and the +street in front were jammed with eager, excited Mexicans, thrilled +with an expectation of something to happen, though they knew not +exactly what. The murderer, the killer, they have taken the killer, +was the constant statement tossed from mouth to mouth. + +"But not the killer they think," Madden said, in a low aside to Weir +as they moved ahead on their errand. + +The pair were now advancing toward the saloon, along the opposite side +of the street where a slight shadow afforded them concealment. By the +time they came opposite the building they had escaped altogether from +the crowd, though looking thither over shoulder they could see the +black press of people in the moonlight at the public building; and +here the street was empty except for a few belated women and children +running toward the assemblage. + +Madden's hand suddenly gripped the engineer's arm as they were about +to step forth from the shadow to cross the street to the saloon. + +"There he is," the sheriff whispered. + +Vorse had pushed open the slatted door of his place and stepped +outside. In the moonlight his figure and face were clearly visible: +his thin whip-cord body and predatory face, and bald head as shiny and +hard as a fish-scale. He wore no coat, while his vest hung unbuttoned +and open as usual. About his waist was an ammunition belt carrying a +holster, as if he were prepared for action. + +Thus he stood for a time, hands on hips, motionless, his cruel +hatchet-like face directed towards the scene further along the street. +Presently a man came running to him, Miguel, his bartender, who had +been one of the two men serving out whiskey to the workmen at the old +adobe house and who at the break-up of the spree had hastened back to +town to report to his employer. Now, it seemed, he had fresher news to +give. + +"Yes, it is the engineer, for a certainty," he exclaimed panting, as +he stopped before Vorse. "The sheriff arrested him and he now lies in +jail there. It is said he fought and tried to shoot Madden, but that +the sheriff was too quick and shot the gun out of his hand. It is said +also that the dam is blown into a million little stones, but men are +riding there on horses to see for themselves. They will soon return. +Anyway a fight there was up there undoubtedly, for Madden brought in +not only the engineer but three other men, bound and handcuffed and +struggling furiously, trying to strike and bite the crowd like mad +dogs. From time to time the sheriff had to beat them on the heads with +his pistol, especially the engineer, who is the worst. I did not see +them, but those who did said their faces were streaming with blood." + +"All right. Go find José Molina and 'Silver' Leon." + +"Are they not up in the hills with their bands of sheep?" + +"No. They are here. Look around till you find them; then send them to +me." + +"That means something lively to happen, eh?" Miguel said with a +laugh. + +He did not wait, however, for an answer, but set off at once for the +court house. + +"I hope Meyers shows up soon with more men," Madden said to Weir. +"Those two sheepherders of Vorse's are a pair of snakes; he always +hires that kind; and they probably have some fellows with them like +themselves." + +"Meyers is on the way with twenty men or so by this time. They had to +come in wagons, as we had the cars. Atkinson ought to be able to stand +off the crowd with the half dozen boys he has until the others +arrive." + +While they had conducted this brief exchange of opinions they had kept +their gaze on the saloon-keeper, who continued to stand before his +door. The cold and merciless character of the man was never more +revealed than now as he waited for his hired assassins to come to +receive orders. Possessing already a full knowledge of the plot, Weir +and Madden were able to guess what culmination was now contemplated +and measure the true depth of the conspirators' infamy. The sheriff +especially boiled with inward wrath that they should expect to make +him not only a dupe but a tool in their crime. + +"It's clear they never intended you should come to trial when +arrested," he said to his companion. + +"Certainly not. That isn't the way they play the game. And I suppose +Vorse there imagines the cards are all falling his way at this +moment." + +"He's going in." + +"Good. Now then!" + +Weir struck off across the street, striding forward at a pace Madden +found it difficult to keep. As they neared the door, Weir loosened the +gun in his holster. + +In this action the sheriff imitated him and then changing his mind +drew the weapon itself. Plain man that he was, he was an instinctive +judge of character; he had encountered men of Vorse's type before, +less shrewd but equally savage; their nature was to fight, not +surrender; their way was to kill or be killed in the final issue. He +anticipated no arrest. + +He felt no necessity, however, to express this view to the engineer, +who had proved himself in the time he had been at San Mateo wholly +competent to deal with any situation that arose. Moreover, while Vorse +had had a reputation of being a quick shot in the past, he was +confident Weir was his master. + +With a quiet movement the engineer pushed open the door and stepped +into the saloon. Madden following him had allowed the slatted door to +swing shut again and the sound of its hinges caused Vorse, who was +just starting away from the bar, to turn about. In his hand was a tray +holding a bottle of whiskey, a bottle of mineral water and glasses, +which apparently he had just lifted up. + +For a space of ten seconds or so he remained unmoving, the tray in his +hand and his eyes regarding the visitors fixedly. Behind him in the +rear of the saloon a second man had sprung up from the table where he +sat, but after that first startled action he, too, had not stirred. +The man was Sorenson. + +With Madden at his side and with a grim smile on his lips Weir walked +slowly towards Vorse. In his tread there was something of the quality +of a tiger's, the light, deliberate, poised advance, the easy and +dangerous movement of body, the effortless glide of a powerful animal +ready to spring and strike. His hands swung idly at his sides, but +that did not mean they would not be swift once they responded to the +call of the brain that controlled them. + +"You gentlemen were just about to celebrate my downfall, I perceive, +by pouring a libation," Weir said. "Don't let me interrupt. Only I +must request you to conduct the proceedings there where you're +standing, Vorse, instead of at the rear of the room: Madden and I wish +a good view of the ceremony. If Mr. Sorenson will be so agreeable as +to step forward, you may go ahead." + +Sorenson did not join Vorse, but instead he spoke. + +"Why haven't you locked up your prisoner, Madden?" he demanded +harshly. "And you're letting him keep his gun. Don't you know enough +to disarm a murderer and throw him into jail when you arrest him?" + +"I haven't arrested him yet," was the sheriff's answer. + +"Well, do it then. You have the warrant for the scoundrel. Perhaps you +haven't heard he almost killed my boy Ed last night--and you're +allowing him to walk around with you as if he were a bosom friend. Do +your duty, or we'll get a sheriff who will." + +"That's why I'm here, to do my duty." + +"You didn't have to bring this man here to do it." + +"I decided to bring him, however." + +From Vorse had come not a word. Only his gleaming evil eyes continued +to rest on the two men without wink or change. For him explanations +were unnecessary; he had divined instantly that somewhere, somehow the +plotters' plans had gone awry. + +"Did you know that Gordon is dead?" Weir asked, all at once. + +Vorse lowered the tray to the bar and ran the tip of his tongue over +his lips. + +"No," said he, "we didn't know it." + +"He deeded his property over this evening and then swallowed poison," +the engineer stated. "He saw the game was up." + +"You can't make me believe your lies," came sneering from Sorenson. +"And you shall pay, you and that girl, for every broken bone in my +boy's body. I'll spend my last dollar for that if necessary. Madden, +do your duty and lock him up." + +The sheriff said nothing, but lifted his gun a little. Vorse by a +slight movement of his body had edged from the bar as if to gain +freedom for action. + +"The game's up for you men too," Weir said. "You've murdered and +robbed and swindled in this country long enough; I've got the proof +and I'm going to remove you from this community. It's not I who will +be arrested. You killed Jim Dent after cleaning him out at cards and +then made my father believe he was guilty of the crime. All I fear is +that the court will hang you instead of sending you up for life; that +would be too good for you. I want your crooked souls to die a thousand +deaths within stone walls before you die in body. The game's up, I +say. I've Saurez' deposition and I've the man who was the boy looking +in the back door there that day thirty years ago and saw you shoot +Dent, and he'll go on the stand against you." + +A stillness so profound that one could hear the tiny insects hovering +about the lamps succeeded this statement. If words had not been +enough, Weir's cold, harsh face would have removed the men's last +hope, for on it was not a single trace of relenting. A stone could +have been no flintier. + +"Well?" Vorse inquired softly. + +His arched bony nose appeared thinner and more hawk-like. His lips +were compressed in a white scornful smile, while his eyelids now +drooped until but slits of light showed from the orbs. + +"And you may be interested to know Burkhardt and some of the Mexicans +he hired are now locked up in jail; the rest, or nearly all, are +dead," Weir continued, with slow distinctness. "Your little scheme to +blow up the dam and burn the camp failed. We caught Burkhardt at the +spot leading the gang. Your plot to make the workmen drunk and leave +the dam unprotected worked well enough so far as that part was +concerned, but a keg of powder dropped on your bunch of imported +bandits ended that part of the show. And we have Burkhardt! You +gentlemen are going to join him in the jail, where we shall give you +all the care and attention you deserve." + +Vorse turned his head about towards Sorenson. + +"Do you hear?" he asked. + +"Madden, you've too much sense to believe all this trumped-up libel!" +Sorenson exclaimed furiously. "About us, respected leaders of this +town! Arrest the blackguard!" + +Even facing assured proof of his complicity and guilt, the cattleman +still believed in the power of his wealth and influence, in his +ability to browbeat opponents, to command the man he had elected to +office, to dominate and ruthlessly crush by sheer will power all +resistance, as he had done for years. + +"I take no orders from you," the sheriff replied. + +"Well, I suppose I can empty the till and lock the safe before going?" +Vorse questioned. + +"No. Keep in front of the bar where you are," the sheriff commanded. + +"And have everything stolen." + +"Your bar-keeper will be back presently. He will look after things for +you." + +"You say Burkhardt is locked up?" + +"Yes." + +"That will hurt his pride," Vorse laughed. "He always swore that no +one should put him behind bars. He wouldn't have minded so much +finishing in a gun-fight, but to serve a term in prison would surely +go against the grain with Burk. Though I think with Sorenson----" + +Weir's eyes had never left the speaker. Through the other's +inconsequential talk and apparently careless acceptance of the fact of +arrest the engineer had noted the tense gathering of the man's body. + +"Put your hands up," he interrupted at this point. + +Vorse had uttered no following word after speaking Sorenson's name; +his voice terminated abruptly. At the same instant his right hand flew +to his holster and whipped out his gun. It was the advantageous time +for which he had waited, for Madden's look which had been moving back +and forth from Vorse to Sorenson so as to cover both had passed to the +latter. And Weir's weapon was undrawn. + +But if Vorse drew fast, the engineer's motion was like a flash of +light. His weapon leaped on a level with the other's breast. The +report sounded a second before that of Vorse's and three before +Madden's, who also had fired. + +Then, if ever, Steele Weir had displayed his amazing speed in beating +an enemy to his gun, for Vorse had indeed been quick, keyed by a +knowledge that for him this meant imprisonment or freedom, a slow +death or liberty. + +For a minute he stood half crouching as he had been at the instant of +shooting, his eyes glaring balefully at his enemy and the thin cruel +smile on his lips, while the two men in front stood warily waiting +with weapons extended. Then Vorse clutched at his breast, muttered +thickly and toppled over full length on the floor. + +The sharp pungent smell of powder smoke mingled with the reek of +liquor. + +"He's dead," Madden said. + +"Yes." + +"Are you hit?" + +"No. His bullet went past my hip; he never got his gun up." + +Madden glanced about towards the rear of the room. A command for +Sorenson to stop broke from his lips. Next he fired. And Weir swinging +his look that way saw Sorenson's form, untouched by the bullet, +vanishing through the rear door into the night. Using the minute that +the two men's surveillance had been lifted he had escaped. + +"Hard luck when we had him," Weir growled. + +"He can't get away." + +"I'm not so sure. And he's armed." + +"He'll strike for home to get his car." + +"Or to the office for money," Weir exclaimed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE FOURTH MAN + + +A last look Steele Weir had at the dead man on the floor before he +turned to go in search of Sorenson. Not so astute or crafty as Judge +Gordon, nor so intelligent as Sorenson, nor so belligerent as +Burkhardt, he had been as rapacious and infinitely more cool-minded +than any of the three. If anything, he was the one of them all to +proceed to a crime, whether fraud or murder, in sheer cold blood and +by natural craving. No uneasy conscience would have ever disturbed his +rest: no remorse or pity ever stirred in his breast. He was the human +counterpart of a bird of prey. + +Well, he was dead now. Three of the quartette who had been joined by +avarice and lawless actions were taken care of--Burkhardt a prisoner, +Gordon dead by self-administered poison, Vorse by bullets. Almost did +Steele Weir feel himself an embodiment of Fate, clipping the strands +of these men's power and lives as with shears. Sorenson alone remained +to be dealt with and his freedom should be short. + +Beckoning Madden, he went swiftly through the door where the cattleman +had leaped into the shadows. Where the gloom ceased and the space +behind the row of store buildings was clear in the moonlight, nothing +was to be seen. Naturally the man had kept within black shade in his +flight. + +When they reached the rear of the cattle company's office building, +they peered in through its barred back windows, but all was dark +inside the structure so far as they could determine. To all appearance +Sorenson had not stopped here: it was quiet, gloomy, untenanted. + +"We'll have to try his home now," the sheriff stated. "If we don't +find him there, we'll set the telephones going to warn all the ranches +and towns around to be on the lookout and either to stop or report him +if he shows up. He hasn't start enough to get away now." + +They hastened on along the line of buildings until they reached a side +street. But when they had proceeded a short way, Weir stopped. + +"I'm not satisfied about the office," said he. "Suppose you go on to +his house and I'll return for a look inside from the front. If you +fail to find him join me at Martinez' office, where no one is likely +to be around and we can then lay further plans." + +"That suits," Madden responded, and set off alone. + +Weir's alert brain had been turning over the possibilities of +Sorenson's course. Rather by pursuing what would be the man's line of +reasoning than by depending on chance, he had come to the quick +decision to turn back once again to the office. Sorenson would so act +as would best serve his immediate escape and that of the future. + +Would he expect the sheriff and the engineer to look for him to flee +by the speediest means, an automobile, and to the natural avenue of +escape, the railroad? Yes. Therefore on that expectation he would +adopt another way to throw off pursuit. And perilous as a delay would +be in getting away from San Mateo, yet he must risk the few minutes +necessary to get money. For to fly with pockets empty meant eventual, +certain capture. Money a fugitive from justice must possess above +everything in order to possess wings; and no one would know that +better than Sorenson. + +Though Madden and he had seen no light in the office building, the +cattleman nevertheless might have been within. If he had been in the +vault, he could safely have lighted a candle without their perceiving +its beams; and though the safe was modern it probably had no time +lock. Sorenson could unlock it with a few twirls of the combination, +stuff his pockets with currency and negotiable paper to the amount of +thousands and then slip away. + +Fortunately the moonlight was to Weir's advantage. He quickened his +steps, passed round the corner into the main street and moved towards +the building. For him the crowd at the court house at that moment had +no interest; one person, and one person alone, commanded his +thoughts. + +How correct had been his logic--logic not unmixed with intuition, +perhaps--appeared when he was yet some fifty yards away from the door +he sought. A tall bulky figure suddenly stepped forth from the +building and instantly ran across the street and lost itself in the +shifting, jostling crowd that was half-disclosed, half-concealed by +the broken shadows of the moonlit trees. + +Steele Weir proceeded to a spot near the office and halted. His first +impulse to rush after Sorenson had been promptly suppressed, as cooler +judgment ruled. To seek his quarry in that throng would be labor +wasted, while to reveal his identity would be to court a disastrous +interference with the business at hand. From where he stood he should +much better be able to see Sorenson when he did emerge, unless he +chose to remain in the crowd or steal away at the rear of the court +house yard, a chance Weir must take. + +Five minutes passed. The restless, talkative Mexicans continued to +swarm and buzz with excitement, ceaselessly moving about, forming and +reforming in groups, agitatedly repeating newer and wilder rumors +concerning events. Despite Weir's intent watch for Sorenson, the +engineer could not but observe the mob's manifestations, observe them +with sardonic humor. For their ebullition of the present would be +nothing to what it would be if they learned he stood across the +street, uncaged, unfettered, free and armed, a "gun-man" loose instead +of a "gun-man" in jail. + +All at once Weir noted out of the tail of his eye a slight stir among +a number of horses standing with reins a-trail before a store a little +way down the street. The horses were partly in the light, partly in +the shadow, so that all he could see was that one or two of them had +jerked aside quickly, then resumed their listless postures. + +He was about to withdraw his eyes when he saw a man swing upon the +back of one of them and start off at an easy canter. Weir sprang +towards the spot at a run. That big figure could only be Sorenson's, +for no Mexican he had ever seen in San Mateo could match it. And the +plan of escape showed the other's craft in an emergency; gradually +working his way through the crowd he had at last gained the protective +shadow of the building on that side of the street and slipped along in +it until he reached the horses. + +Doubtless the man had conceived the plan at the instant he had stepped +from his office, sweeping the street by one gauging look. With the +whole town assembled at the court house, his departure was little +likely to be noted by the Mexicans, while Madden and Weir would never +suspect him of riding off on a horse, or suspect too late. Indeed, he +rode at first as if in no great haste, but as he turned his mount +into a narrow by-way, more a lane than a street that disappeared +between two mud walls, Weir saw him strike his heels into the pony's +flanks. + +But for the startled movement of the nearby horses when Sorenson +took stirrup, Weir would not have looked that way. He might +possibly have seen the horseman start off, but that is not certain. +He unquestionably would have supposed him an ordinary rider if he +had not noticed the man until he reached the mouth of the lane. + +Meantime the engineer had made his best speed to the line of waiting +horses. Slowing to a walk so as not to scare them, though as he +discovered on examination most of them looked too bony and spiritless +for that, he approached and carefully inspected the bunch. He took his +time in the selection: the more haste in choosing a mount might prove +less speed in the end. He tightened the saddle-girths and ran a finger +along the head straps of the bridle of the horse picked to judge their +fit, receiving a snap from the pony's teeth, which gave him +satisfaction. Not only was this animal a wiry, tough-looking little +beast, but he had life. + +Up into the saddle Weir went, followed Sorenson's line to the lane, +down which he swung. Coming out into the next street, he pursued it to +an intersecting street, and there galloped for the edge of town +without trying to guess the way taken by his enemy. Once he reached +the open fields he would quickly get sight of the man racing away +somewhere on the mesa. + +Evidently the quarry he pursued had not taken so direct a course as +Weir, for when the latter at length came forth where he could have a +wide view he perceived the horseman a quarter of a mile off and +further east, galloping south. The engineer at once raced thither to +gain the same road and turning into it made for Sorenson. + +Thus the two men sped away from San Mateo. The wire fences and the +adobe houses of Mexicans owning little farms adjoining soon ceased. +The wide mesa lay on either side. Though a quarter of a mile had +separated the men when Weir first observed the other, the distance +between had been increased while the engineer was gaining the road, +until now the interval was almost twice as great. + +Weir guessed the fleeing man's plan. Instead of seeking the railroad +for the present, he would disappear in the mountains, where with the +assistance of some loyal employee, cowman or sheepherder, he would lie +hid until the first fury of the hunt had subsided. Possibly his bold +brain even conceived the idea of again returning to San Mateo some +dark night soon and further looting the office, vigilance being +relaxed. + +In any case, he would expect to remain safe from pursuit in a mountain +fastness until either on horseback or by automobile he could work his +way out of the country. With what he had unquestionably carried off he +would not be a poor man. In some spot far away he could assume a new +name, start in business and later be joined by his wife and crippled +son. + +Alas, for those plans, arising like mushrooms on the ruins of his +life! Behind him followed the same inexorable antagonist who so +swiftly had brought everything crashing about his head. Possibly +Sorenson once out of the town had failed to look back; possibly +looking back he had been unable to distinguish against the blur of +houses and trees the horseman galloping in the moonlight along the +same road. + +But all at once when they were two miles away from San Mateo he +discovered Weir, who had been gradually cutting down the space between +until now again he was within a quarter of a mile of his quarry. +Sorenson had been riding rapidly but not hard; he now beat his horse +to a furious gallop,--a good pony, too, from its speed, showing that +the banker as well as Weir had picked his mount with care. + +Weir did not urge his horse to a similar pace, only maintaining a fast +steady gallop that kept the other in sight though the space between +again widened. Apparently Sorenson realized the folly of attempting to +outrun, his pursuer at once, for he soon dropped back into a regular, +mile-eating gallop. Gradually in turn Weir crept up to his old +position. + +To each the only sound was that of drumming hoof-beats. In front rode +the fleeing man--dethroned leader and criminal and murderer. Behind +relentlessly came his Nemesis, the son of the man whom he had deceived +and damned to mental suffering. All about them as they flew along was +the silent, moonlit, sage-covered mesa. At their right towered the +misty, unchanging peaks, as if watching unmoved this strange race of +two human beings. A strange race, in truth,--a race where vengeance +rode. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE VICTOR + + +Ten miles the two men had gone when Sorenson's horse began to fail. +The rider's weight was proving too much for the sturdy little animal +and though he strove to maintain his speed the strain told on lungs +and legs. Weir had reduced the distance first to three hundred yards, +then to two hundred, and at last but a hundred separated him from the +man and horse ahead. + +The hard chase indeed was beginning to tell on his own mount. Flecks +of foam flew from its lips; its neck was wet with sweat; the whistle +of its breath was audible to the engineer at every stride. For as both +men had realized that now the end could not be far off, they had +pushed their horses to faster and faster galloping. + +On a sudden Sorenson swung his animal into a dim trail leading from +the main road skirting the mountain range to the base of the mountains +themselves. The first slopes were but a mile away, covered with a +scattering growth of pinyon pines. Just in front, too, for which the +trail seemed pointing, was a dark ravine filled with brush that rose +to the denser timber above. This was the fugitive's goal. Once he +could fling himself from the saddle and plunge into the undergrowth he +would be safe from his pursuer. + +The two ponies struggled on with exhausted leaps. Weir had reduced the +interval to seventy-five yards by the time half the distance was +covered and to fifty as they drew near the mouth of the ravine. He +measured his gain and the remaining two hundred yards or so with +savage eyes, then drew his revolver. He desired to take Sorenson +unharmed. But rather than that the man should escape he would kill +him. + +Sorenson's horse stumbled, but a jerk of the reins saved him and kept +him moving on. The engineer struck his own pony fiercely on the flank, +which produced a tremendous effort in the striving beast that brought +it within thirty paces or so of Sorenson. That, however, was the best +it could do, labor as it would. Its knees were trembling at every +stride, its head swinging heavily. + +Sorenson's horse suddenly went to its knees. But the man leaping clear +took the ground on his feet and instantly set off at a run for the +line of brush in the draw some seventy or eighty paces away. A last +spurt Weir's pony made, bringing his rider to within thirty yards of +the cattleman, who glancing over his shoulder halted, swung about, +fired a shot and again started to run. + +The pony under Weir came to an abrupt stop, shaking. He was done, +whether from exhaustion or the bullet the engineer did not wait to +see. Flinging himself out the saddle he raced after his man, taking +the rough trail leading up the slope in swift strides. On foot +Sorenson was no match for him. But the latter had the start; he was +now almost within reach of the thick screen of bushes; and he bent +every energy to make the ambuscade. + +Still running, Weir flung up his gun and fired. Close the shot must +have gone to Sorenson, so close as to inject into the man's mind +recollection of his pursuer's accuracy and a fear of a bullet in his +back, for when within twenty feet of the bushes he dropped behind a +small bowlder, whence he fired twice at Weir but without striking his +mark. + +Neither man after the furious ride and the concluding run on foot was +fit for sure marksmanship. This Weir realized, so stopped where he was +some forty feet off from Sorenson's stone in order to regain his +breath and calm his nerves. Of the cattleman he could see nothing; the +man crouched low out of sight, perhaps reloading his weapon, perhaps +steeling himself for a dash across that small moonlit space that +separated him from safety, or perhaps preparing for a quick upward +spring and a fresh volley directed at his foe. + +It may be questioned if in his heart Sorenson was not almost disposed +to fight the matter out. He was no coward; his original hatred for the +engineer had by recent events been swelled to a diabolical desire to +kill; and now even if he, Sorenson, succeeded in slipping away, his +whereabouts would be known unless he destroyed the man. Safety +demanded that he not only escape but escape without this witness. + +Weir had not sought cover. He stood upright, his revolver ready, +trusting to have an advantage in his speed when it came to an exchange +of shots. Then he began an advance, a slow noiseless circling advance +that at the same time of taking him closer to his enemy brought him +round on his flank. + +Sorenson's hand and pistol appeared and half his face while three +shots rattled from his gun, two at the spot where Weir had been and +one at him in his new position, which the hiding man had immediately +located. The last shot ticked the engineer's sleeve. In return Weir +fired twice, the first bullet striking the rock and ricocheting off +with a loud whine, while the second struck the pistol from Sorenson's +hand. + +Instantly Weir sprang forward. + +"Show yourself," he ordered. And the kneeling fugitive, disarmed, +gripping his bleeding hand, sullenly arose to his feet. "You've led me +a chase, but I have you at last," the engineer continued. "Now you're +going back to San Mateo and jail. Walk towards the horses." + +Sorenson cast one bitter glance at the thicket in the ravine; by only +the little matter of a few yards he had failed to gain liberty. For +Weir his visage when he looked around again was never more hard, +hostile, full of undying hatred. Though balked, he was not submissive, +and was the kind who kept his animosity to the end. Then he started +off towards the horses, his own which had staggered to its feet again +and Weir's, both standing with hanging heads and heaving, quivering +sides. + +All at once the cattleman halted and faced about. + +"Most men have a price, and I suppose you have yours," he said, with +forced calmness. "I'm ready to pay it." + +"You're going to pay it," was the answer. + +"How much will you ask to let me go?" + +"If you offered me ten million, which you haven't got, I wouldn't +accept it," Weir said, harshly. "There isn't enough money in the world +to buy your liberty. You're going back to San Mateo, and from there to +the penitentiary or to the gallows, one or the other." + +"It will be neither," Sorenson stated. + +"You're mistaken, but I shall not argue the matter with you. Keep +walking towards the horses." + +Sorenson's lips became compressed. He glanced down at his bleeding +hand, shook the blood from his fingers. + +"I stay here," said he. + +Weir went a step nearer and thrust his face forward, jaw set, eyes +smoldering. + +"Go on, I say," he exclaimed. + +But the other did not retreat before him or indeed move at all. A +sneer lifted his gray mustache. + +"You have a gun; you're a killer; here I am unarmed and in your +power," he said. "You intend to take me in; I propose to stay here. If +I go to San Mateo, it will be as a dead man. I'll see whether you have +the nerve to shoot me down where I now stand. If you have, go to it. +You can then take my body to town, but I'll not have paid the price +you name and I'll have the satisfaction of knowing I beat you at the +last--in that, at least. Your bragging will be empty. Start your +shooting any time you please." The tone spoke complete contempt. + +Weir said nothing. The defiance, the supreme audacity of this +assertion, coming so unexpectedly, surprised him and left him at a +loss. He would not kill an unresisting man, even Sorenson, his worst +enemy. Sorenson in his place probably would not have hesitated to do +so, for he had no fine scruples in such matters; but for Steele Weir +the thing was no more possible than striking a woman or a child. + +It was not a question of nerve, as the other had stated. It was a test +of brutality and consciencelessness. To shoot a man while escaping is +one thing; to kill him while a prisoner, however contemptuous and +brazen, was another. But there are means other than bullets for +handling obstinate prisoners. + +Weir shifted his weapon so as to grasp the barrel and have the butt +free. + +"I'll leave your execution to the proper officials, if an execution +is what you want," he said. "Now will you go?" he demanded, +threateningly. + +His foe gazed at the clubbed pistol and turned as if to yield. Next +instant he whirled, lunging at Weir and flinging his arms about his +captor. An exultant exclamation slipped from his lips; his hot breath +fell on the engineer's cheek; his eyes glared into those of the man +his arms encircled. He had tricked Weir by his pretense of obstinacy, +led him to weaken his guard and had him in his grasp. + +Weir braced himself to resist the man's effort to force him down. +Strong arms the other had, now doubly strengthened by hate and a +belief in victory. All the power of Sorenson's great body was exerted +to lift him off his feet, crush him in a terrific bear-hug, put him on +his back and render him helpless; and Weir in his turn was tensing his +muscles and arching his frame with every ounce of his lean, iron-like +frame. + +Thus they swayed and struggled in the moonlight, without witnesses. A +sinister silent fight, marked only by their fierce breathing and +fiercer heart-beats. The pistol had dropped from Steele Weir's hand; +instead of attempting to break the other's hold he had yielded to it +and pushing his own arms forward had clasped his hands behind +Sorenson's back in the wrestler's true defense to such an attack. + +Once Sorenson almost had him on his knees, but by a quick powerful +upthrust of his legs he regained his upright position. However, it had +been a close shave for Weir, for he well knew that his opponent would +use any tactics, fair or foul, to kill him if he once lay on his +back. + +"You hound from hell!" Sorenson snarled. "You crippled my boy, and you +shall die for that. You've ruined me in San Mateo, and you shall die +for that. You jailed Burkhardt and poisoned Gordon and shot Vorse, and +you shall die for that. I'm going to choke the life out of you, and +grind your dead head into the dust, and then spit on you. That's how +I treat snakes. Say your prayers, if you know any, for you'll never +get another chance. Your friends won't recognize your remains when I'm +done with you." + +Venomous and impassioned, all the hate in the man's heart flowed forth +in a fuming stream. For hate and murderous desire was all that was +left him in the wreck of life caused by the engineer. If he could no +longer rule, he could at least destroy. + +Weir had made no response to the fierce imprecations. He was working +his hands upward, straining his arms so as to reach Sorenson's head. + +"When the coyotes are gnawing your skull," Sorenson went on, raging, +"when the worms are feeding on you----" + +The words died in a gurgle of pain. Weir's hands had closed about his +temples, a finger sunk in each eye, forcing his head back. Sorenson +shook himself frantically to break the torturing hold. His head went +farther and farther back as if it seemed his neck would snap; his +mouth opened to gasp, "Oh, God!" and all at once his hug slipped +apart. + +Instantly Weir tripped him, falling on top. Reaching out like a flash +he seized his pistol lying on the ground and brought it down on the +head of his enemy, who momentarily blinded and suffering could not +resist. Sorenson went limp. From the savage beast of a minute before +he had been changed to a huge, motionless, sprawling figure, with face +upturned to the moon. + +And on that face the victor of the life and death struggle could still +behold, through the contorted lines stamped by pain, the man's brutal +passion and fixed malevolence. + +Weir arose. + +"You felt the hound of hell's teeth," he muttered. + +With thongs from one of the saddles he bound Sorenson's hands, pulling +the knots tight and hard. The prostrate man moaned, opened his eyes. +Weir jerked him dazed and staggering to his feet. + +"Up into the saddle with you if you don't want another rap on the +head," Steele ordered, bruskly. "And go straight this time. From now +on I'll take you at your word and put a hole through your black heart +if you try any more tricks." + +When his prisoner was mounted, he fastened his ankles together by +another thong under the belly of the pony. Weir was taking no chances. +Up into his own saddle then he swung himself. + +No exultant curses now came from his captive's lips. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +A FINAL CHALLENGE + + +The hour was drawing near midnight when Weir and his prisoner entered +the town. Most of the women and children of the crowd of Mexicans had +gone to their homes, but men yet remained before the court house and +in the street, discussing and arguing the exciting events of the +night. + +In some mysterious manner knowledge that Burkhardt and not Weir was +the prisoner in the jail, together with news of Judge Gordon's suicide +and Vorse's death, had spread from mouth to mouth. Amazement and +incredulity had been followed by an aroused feeling of anger, for to +the Mexicans it appeared that the crushing blow dealt the leaders of +the town was the arbitrary act of the man they believed a lawless +gun-man. Were not Weir's foremen and engineers guarding the jail? Men +who were strangers, not even citizens of the county? + +But though an undercurrent of feeling ran among the talking groups, +gradually increasing as the time passed, yet was there no active +desire on the part of all or a concerted movement to drive away the +seeming invaders of the law. For any such attempt a strong leader was +necessary. There was none: Madden frowned upon them, only saying as he +moved about that he was executing the law; Sorenson, the dominating +figure of the town, and Burkhardt's, Vorse's and Gordon's friend, was +strangely absent. + +The determined guard about the jail was in itself a deterrent to mob +action. Meyers had brought twenty or more men from camp, armed and +alert, who with those already about the building constituted a force +to make any crowd of Mexicans, however angry, think twice before +seeking to rescue prisoners. But the wish and the spirit were not +lacking. Employees of the plotters, men who had received favors from +Sorenson or Vorse or Burkhardt, Mexicans of a naturally vicious and +unruly temper, were all for rushing the jail. The great number of the +people, however, peaceful and indolent, preferred to content +themselves with satisfying their curiosity by talk instead of seeking +a taste of blood. And so as a result of this divided opinion the +hostility for Weir had not expressed itself in an effort to assail the +keepers of the jail. + +When he was discovered to have returned to town, this angry feeling +assumed a menacing form. He approached the court house by the side +street, Sorenson riding at his side, for it was his plan to lodge his +prisoner in the Jail with as much secrecy as possible. Nevertheless in +this he was disappointed; men saw him arrive, assist his prisoner to +alight and climb the board fence about the yard; and drawn by the +expectation of new events the nearer groups hastened forward. + +Weir impelled his man towards the jail. + +"Stand back," he commanded the Mexicans. + +The latter at first stared in astonishment at beholding the pair, one +of whom was San Mateo's foremost citizen, now sullenly advancing with +wrists bound. Exclamations burst from their lips. + +At that a flash of hope filled Sorenson's breast. + +"To my rescue, friends!" he cried, beginning to struggle. + +Weir jerked him ahead fiercely and cast fiercer looks at the +Mexicans. + +"This man is under arrest. And remember I can still shoot straight," +he warned. + +Towards him came Madden running, who in Weir's disappearance earlier +in the night he had guessed a pursuit of the cattleman and had +therefore returned to the jail. He placed himself at Sorenson's +right. + +"Whoever tries to take Sorenson from the hands of the law does so at +his own peril," he exclaimed. + +A few mocking shouts resulted. These were gradually increased until +the Mexicans, now being joined by scores of others from the street, +became a howling, cursing, hysterical mob, crying Sorenson and +Burkhardt's innocence, calling down imprecations on the heads of the +sheriff and the engineer, stirred by certain lawless spirits to wilder +and wilder passion. + +Weir and Madden had not been standing still, for the crowd was not yet +numerous enough at first or bold enough to attack. Moreover the two +men held their pistols well in view. Forcing Sorenson ahead, driving +apart those who blocked their way, they pushed across the yard until +but a few paces from the jail. + +One Mexican, a ranch hand from one of Vorse's ranches, wearing a great +high-peaked felt hat and chaps, insolently thrust himself before the +trio, spitting at Weir's face and in Spanish begging companions to +help him release Sorenson. His right hand was resting on his holster +as if but awaiting an excuse to use his gun. + +"Get to one side," was Weir's harsh order. + +The man's answer was a string of foul curses. Like a panther the +engineer leaped forward and struck the fellow on the side of his head +with revolver barrel, dropping him where he stood. + +As the crowd remained suddenly mute, unmoving, their howls checked by +this swift reprisal, Weir spoke to Madden: + +"Quick! To the door!" + +Each with an arm in Sorenson's, they made a run for the jail, passed +through the line of armed guards and for the moment were safe. The +sheriff lost no time in dragging the prisoner inside and when +presently he stepped forth again, locking the door after him, he +showed a relieved face. + +"I put irons on him, hands and feet," he informed Weir. "He's out of +the way at any rate if we're in for a row." + +That was exactly what appeared in prospect. Only the rifles in the +grip of the two dozen men about the jail kept the now thoroughly +aroused mob from rushing forward. From yelling it had changed to low +fierce murmurs that bespoke a more desperate mood. + +"We ought to move the men somewhere else," Steele Weir stated. "Pretty +soon they'll go for arms and then we'll have real trouble." + +"I arranged while you were gone to transfer them to the county seat in +the next county," Madden said. "Telephoned the sheriff; he's expecting +them. To-morrow we can take them to Santa Fé, out of this part of the +country till time for their trial. I placed the automobile your man +brought Burkhardt in from the dam and another machine back in the +alley; they are there now in the shadow." + +"Good. The quicker you take them, the better. They ought to be gagged +when brought out. Get them here to the door; the men who are to drive +should have the cars ready, engines going----" + +"That's fixed. Your superintendent will drive one car and one of the +engineers the other; they can slip back there at once. Six more of the +guards are to go with us." + +"All right. You know whom you want. Station them here at the door to +rush the prisoners back the instant you're ready. Have them go round +to the rear on the dark side of the jail; they should gain a good +start before they're discovered." + +Madden called from the line Atkinson and the men whom he had chosen to +accompany him on the night ride. A brief parley followed. Then he and +two of the engineers went inside the jail, while the superintendent +and one young fellow stole away in the shadows towards the spot where +stood the cars. + +Meanwhile the throng had grown until it filled all the space about the +rear of the court house and formed a mass of human bodies on which the +checkered moonlight played reaching to within half a dozen paces of +the jail. A shot rang out and a bullet struck the jail. It was like a +match lighted near powder, that if allowed to burn would set off an +explosion. One shot would lead to others from reckless spirits, to a +volley and in the end to an onslaught. + +Perhaps that was the reasoning and the purpose of the man who had +fired. In any case, it must not be repeated. + +Weir strode forward towards the crowd. + +"If that man, or any of you, want to shoot this out with me, let him +show himself," he said, threateningly and swinging the muzzle of his +weapon along the line of faces. + +A quick retreat on the part of those nearest marked the respect with +which it was considered. Frantically they strove to push further back +into the mob, clawing and elbowing. + +"If you try any more shots," he continued, speaking in Spanish as +before, "those rifles will open fire." He paused to allow this +information to have full effect. "Finally, if you attempt wrecking +this jail, the three hundred workmen from the dam will march down to +San Mateo and teach you proper observance of the law. If you're really +looking for trouble, those three hundred men will give this town +trouble that will be remembered for twenty years." + +Standing there in the moonlight between the two parties, between the +thin line of sentinels about the jail and the dense mob in front, +Steele Weir's action seemed the height of rashness. A rush of the +Mexicans and he would be overwhelmed, a cowardly shot from somewhere +in the rear and he might be killed. It was like inviting disaster. + +If, however, he recognized his danger, he gave no sign of it. By the +power of his gun and sheer boldness he faced them, calm, fearless, +masterful. His unexpected advance had surprised the Mexicans, left +them confused and uncertain. Wild and sinister tales concerning his +prowess magnified him in their eyes notwithstanding their animosity. +Now they seemed to feel his iron will beating against their faces. + +During the pause that ensued Weir heard the jail door open. Madden was +preparing to take his prisoners out. + +"I'm not seeking trouble, but I'm not avoiding it," the engineer +proceeded, for this was the critical minute, and he sought to have all +eyes focused upon him instead of upon the activity at his back. "The +sheriff represents the law here in San Mateo, and I give you plain +warning that every man who attempts violence to-night will be called +upon to pay the account. By to-morrow the Governor may have soldiers +stationed in your houses and in your streets, for the prisoners are +now the prisoners of the state, arrested for stealing cattle----" + +That was a happy inspiration. Had Weir stated the whole category of +Sorenson's and Burkhardt's crimes, including murder and dynamiting, +he could not have struck so shrewdly as in naming the sin of +cattle-stealing. For this was a cattle country and even the most +ignorant Mexican grasped the significance of this charge. + +A visible stir answered the statement. + +"For stealing cattle from other men"--he did not trouble to mention +the fact the crime had occurred thirty years previous--"and for that +and other things Sheriff Madden has arrested them. Because they are +rich, their guilt is all the worse. Perhaps they have taken cattle +belonging to you, who knows? That may come out in their trial; if they +have taken them, you shall have them back." + +From the rear of the grounds came the low sounds of automobile engines +being started. Weir dared not look about to learn if Madden and his +party were safely on their way thither. As for the Mexicans, the +speaker's words had created a sensation. For men were there who owned +small herds now feeding on the range, and from anger their minds +yielded to sudden anxiety; each saw himself a possible sufferer from +cattle depredations; and in the minds of these, at least, thought of +loss supplanted thought of Sorenson and Burkhardt. + +"I helped Sheriff Madden arrest these men because they stole cattle, +possibly some of your steers among them. Is that why you would like to +lynch me, as I've heard you wanted to do?" he demanded, savagely. +"Because I save your animals? Or is it because I shot that renegade +Mexican whom Ed Sorenson hired to try and kill me? Ed Sorenson, yes. +Sheriff Madden has the knowledge of it. Not only would Sorenson the +father like to see me die because I know about his cattle-stealing, +but Ed Sorenson, the son, hired that strange Mexican to shoot me from +the dark because I stopped him from trying to steal a girl. Has Ed +Sorenson left your daughters alone? I would save your daughters from +his evil hands, as I would your cattle from his father's." + +A man all at once pushed forth from the crowd, wrathfully elbowing his +way among neighbors. He was Naharo, the Mexican who had chatted once +with Martinez in the latter's office. + +"It is true," he shouted, facing his countrymen. "I, Naharo, vow it +the truth. For I saw this engineer take a young girl away from Ed +Sorenson in the restaurant at Bowenville that the scoundrel intended +to seduce. It is so, the truth; the engineer saved her. And are there +not men among you"--his voice gained a savage, rasping note--"whose +girls have been betrayed by the cattle-stealing Sorenson's son?" + +"Where is he--where is he now?" some one shouted, angrily. It might +have been a father who stood in Naharo's case. + +"He lies crippled," Weir stated. "Last night he tried to steal yet +another girl from San Mateo, and fleeing when overtaken was pitched +from his car and crushed against a rock. He will steal no more +daughters of San Mateo." + +Sensation on sensation. The crowd fairly hummed with new excitement +resulting from these disclosures. Ed Sorenson's ways were known to +most and the revelations seemed true to his character; and from +believing the statements of the son to accepting those concerning the +father was but a step. Cattle--girls! It began to look as if this +engineer was in the right. + +With half of his attention Weir was harkening for the sound of +starting automobiles. He had heard the scuffle of feet when the party +slipped away from the jail door into the shadows. He had almost +measured their passage to the alley. Ah, and now! There was a quick +grind of gears, the pop of exhausts, then a dying of the sounds as the +cars left the grounds. + +"You wished to kill me when you came here, but I had not then and have +not now any intention of dying," he stated. "For I have work to +do--and work for you if you want it. Instead of stealing your cattle +and daughters as the Sorensons did, I'll give you jobs. We are about +to begin digging canals and ditches on the mesa; I want men and +teams--you and yours at good pay for a good day's work. Our quarrel of +the past need not be remembered. I have never been your enemy, only +the enemy of the four men who deceived and oppressed you. And now they +are gone, two dead and two off to be tried for their crimes." + +Weir stood for a moment silent, while they as silently stared at him. + +"Ha, bueno, we shall work!" Naharo exclaimed. + +"We shall work and build your ditches, señor," cried a score of +voices. + +Then the cry swelled to a noisy chorus. The crowd began to stir and +disintegrate and break into groups, gesticulating, talking, discussing +all the astonishing items of news given by the engineer, from the +particulars of the Sorensons' depravity to announcement of renewed +hire. + +"Señor, we hold you in greatest respect," said a man to Weir, smiling +in friendly fashion. + +"And also your pistol," said a companion, laughing. + +"No one will need to wear pistols here in San Mateo from now on," was +the answer. And he politely bade them good-night. + +His belief was sincere. San Mateo had gained an end of violence, and +henceforth his weapon would gather dust. He had triumphed. Not only +had he subdued his enemies, but he had won the good will of the +people. + +One thing more alone remained to be won to bring him utter happiness. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +THE RECLUSE + + +As Weir drove his car homeward through the moonlight, he knew that at +last the dark shadow upon his life had passed forever. Memories +poignant and sad, memories bitter and stern, returned again and again +to his mind; but these henceforth with time would soften and change. +Of these his last visit to his father was most vivid, that day in +spring that had proved their last together.... + + * * * * * + +He had been there with his father for a week, and now must go. He was +chopping wood that morning, with his father looking on. Steele had +cast a measuring glance at the pile of wood cut, then wiped the fine +dew of perspiration from his brow, buried the ax blade in the +chopping-log and seated himself upon a sawn block. A smile shaped +itself upon his lips. Though he never chopped wood now except on these +rare visits to his recluse father's cabin here on the forested +mountain side, his tall lean figure was as tough and wiry as ever, his +arm as tireless, his eye as true to cut the exact line. There was yet +no softening of his fibers or fat on his ribs, and there would be +neither if he had anything to say about it. + +From the little Idaho town in the valley below, which he viewed +through the clearing before the cabin, his gaze came around to his +father seated on the doorstep. Taciturn and brooding the latter had +always been, but the pity and sorrow struck at the son's heart as he +perceived what a mere shell of a man now sat there, gray-haired, bent, +fleshless, consumed body and soul by the destroying acid of some dark +secret. Even when a lad Steele Weir had sensed the mystery clouding +his father's life. Like an evil spell it had condemned them to +solitude here in the mountains, until Steele's youth at last rebelled +and he had departed, hungry for schooling, for human society and for a +wider field of action. + +What that secret might be he had for years not allowed himself to +speculate. Unbidden at times the memory of certain revealing looks or +acts of his father's floated into his mind:--a dread if not terror +that on occasion dilated the elder man's eyes, and a steadfast driving +of himself at work as if to obliterate painful and despairing +thoughts, and an uneasy, furtive vigilance when forced to visit town. +Once when a stranger, a short heavy-set bearded man, had unexpectedly +appeared at the door, his father had leaped for the revolver hanging +in its holster on the wall. + +On catching a second view of the chance visitor he had exclaimed, "Not +Burkhardt after all!" With which he burst into a wild laugh, the +shrill mirthless laugh of a man suddenly freed of a terrible fear. +However, as he returned the gun-belt to its place, his hand shook so +that he pawed all around the nail on which it was accustomed to hang. + +Steele Weir would never forget that moment of panic, his father's +spring to the wall and following laugh--the only laugh he had +heard from those lips; and though but twelve years old at the time +he could not misread the episode. On another occasion he found his +father kneeling at the grave under the giant pine beyond the +cabin--the grave of the gentle mother of whom Steele had but dim +recollections--and his father's hands were clasped, his head bowed. +With an infinite yearning he had longed to creep forward and +comfort him by his presence, by a clasp of the hand, but the +recollection of his father's habitual chill reserve daunted him and +he stole away. + +On his own life the mystery had left its gloomy impress. A solitary +and joyless boyhood, overhung by he knew not what danger, haunted by a +parent's lurking fear and anguish, had made him a silent, cold, ever +watchful man, never entirely free from the expectation that his +father's sealed past at some instant would open and confront him with +the terrible facts. For that reason he felt that the success he had +gained as an engineer, a success won by relentless toil and solid +ability, rested on a quicksand. For that cause he had welcomed +engineering projects full of danger and by his indifference to that +danger gained his name "Cold Steel." + +Now on this day with his father he once again put the question he +always asked on his visits, and with no more hope of a consenting +reply than before. + +"I must be going to-morrow. Won't you come along with me this time, +father? I want you to live with me, so that I can look after you and +be with you. We can fix up a good cabin at the engineering camp. +You're not so strong as you were; you could fall sick here and die and +never a person know it. I doubt if you spend, making yourself +comfortable, one dollar in ten of the money I send you. You would be +interested in the building of this big irrigation project I'm to +direct." + +His father appeared to shudder. + +"No, no," he muttered. "I've lived here and I'll die here." + +"That's what I'm afraid of," Steele responded. "Afraid you may become +sick and die for lack of care." + +"No. I'll remain, my son." + +That was conclusive. It was the answer of not only thirty years of +living at the spot, but of his secret dread. Steele saw once more the +stark fear in his eyes, the fear of contact with men, of venturing out +into the world, of precipitating fate. + +For a time his father plucked his white unkempt beard with unsteady +hand. + +"Where's the place you're going this time?" he presently inquired, +without real interest. + +"New Mexico." + +On the elder's face appeared suddenly a gray shadow as if the blood +were ebbing from his heart. + +"Where in New Mexico?" he whispered. + +"The town of San Mateo." + +His father struggled to his feet. With one hand he clutched the +doorframe for support. The skin of his cheeks had gone a sickly +white. + +"San Mateo--San Mateo!" he gasped. "Not there, not there, Steele! Keep +away, keep away, keep away! My God, not San Mateo--you!" + +He swayed as if about to fall full length, gesturing blindly before +his face as if to sweep away the thought, while his son ran towards +him. + +"Father, you're sick," Steele exclaimed, putting an arm about the +other. And, in truth, the elder man seemed fainting, ready to +collapse. "Come, let me help you in so you can lie down. I must bring +a doctor." + +Steele almost carried him to the bed. On it his father sank, remaining +with closed eyes and scarcely breathing. + +"No doctor; bring no doctor," he said painfully, at last. "I feel--I +feel as if dying." + +"I must bring a doctor. And I have a flask of whiskey; let me pour you +a little to revive your heart." + +The change the words wrought from passivity to action was startling. +The elder Weir arose suddenly on elbow, glaring fiercely. + +"Whiskey, never! It brought me to this, it damned my life. If it had +not been for whiskey----" Without finishing the words he fell back on +the bed. + +The loathing, the hatred, the utter horror of his exclamation, +banished from his son's mind further thought of using this stimulant. + +"But the doctor?" he inquired, gently. + +"No use, Steele. I've been the same as a dead man for days. Just +ashes. I want to die; I want to lie by your mother there under the big +pine. And maybe I'll have peace--peace." + +Steele took in his own the wasted hand hanging from the bed. He held +it tight, with a feeling of infinite tragedy. + +"You'll be yourself again soon," he said comfortingly, though without +faith in the assurance. + +His father's lips moved in a whisper. + +"No; my time is here at last," said he. "But don't go to San Mateo, +Steele,--don't go, don't go. Oh, my God, spare me that!" + +"Would you have me break my word? I never have to any man, father. I +accepted this offer and signed a contract. I'm morally bound; these +men are depending on me. Were you ever at San Mateo? Was it something +that happened there that makes you fearful to have me go? San Mateo is +a thousand miles from here." + +The face before him became like the face of a corpse. For an instant +Steele's heart went cold in the belief that his father had died under +the effect of his declaration. But at last the eyelids raised, the +eyes gazed at him. And all at once the features of the harsh visage +seemed softened, changed, lightened by a dim illumination. + +"I see you now as you are, a man, stronger than I ever was," he +murmured. "I lived in fear, but my fear was not for myself. Had I been +alone, nothing would have mattered after your mother died. But my fear +was for you--and of you. I was afraid your life would be blasted; I +was in terror lest you should hate and despise me when you learned the +truth. So I sought to conceal it." + +"You had no need to fear that." + +"I see it now. Tell me everything or nothing as you wish about your +going to San Mateo to work; it will frighten me no longer." + +Steele briefly spoke of his new work there, of the magnitude of the +project and the desire he had had that his father might be with him. + +"I'm proud of you," his father said. "God knows I have not been the +parent I would or should have been." + +"It's enough for me if your heart's easy now." + +"I feel as if I were gaining peace at last and--and I must speak. In +San Mateo--ah, Steele, you will hear of me there,--you may have to +fight the damning influence of my name and past, but I know now you'll +come through it. And all I pray for is that you can retain a little +love for me despite everything." + +"Whatever it is I shall hear of my father, I should rather hear it +from his lips than from strangers'." + +The hand in his closed spasmodically. For a long time nothing was +said, and the only sound in the room was the ticking of the tin clock +on the shelf busily measuring off the seconds of the old man's failing +span. To Steele it was as if his father was slowly summoning the few +remaining shreds of his fortitude to reveal the cancer of his past. + +"I'm a branded murderer," he said at last, gasping. + +"But you never killed a man out of mere wanton desire to slay," Steele +responded firmly. "I too have killed men in fights in Mexico. That +fact doesn't weight my mind." + +"In the line of your duty, in the line of your duty. But I was drunk. +He was a friend. When I became sober, I saw him with a bullet hole in +his head." + +"Do you remember nothing of shooting him?" + +"Nothing, nothing." + +"How do you know you killed him?" his son demanded with inexorable +logic. "What is the proof?" + +A low groan escaped his father. + +"Men said I had killed him. But my own mind was blank." + +"Who were the men? Were they present at the time?" + +"They were four--Sorenson, Vorse, Gordon, Burkhardt." + +"Were you arrested and tried?" + +"No. They helped me to escape. Because of your mother, they said, and +because they said they were my friends. But I never felt they were +really friends. For they were always against new-comers and wanted to +keep things in their own hands. You were only three or four years old +at that time, Steele, so you wouldn't remember anything about matters +there." + +"What were you doing at San Mateo, father?" + +Now that the hideous past at last stood uncovered the son was able to +turn upon it his incisive mind; he would drag out and scrutinize every +bone of the skeleton which had terrorized his father and shadowed his +own life Facts faced are never so dreadful as fears unmaterialized. +And more, he sought with all the love of a son for circumstances that +would mitigate, excuse, or even justify his father's act. + +"I was ranching," was the low answer. "I had come to San Mateo two +years before from the east, bringing you and your mother and +considerable money. I bought a ranch and stocked it with cattle; I was +doing well, in spite of the fact I was new to the country and the +business. Also I was making friends, and I had been nominated for the +legislature of the Territory to run against Gordon. But I had taken to +drinking with the men I met, other cattlemen, because I fancied no +harm in it. And then while in a drunken stupor I killed Jim Dent." + +"Had you quarreled with him?" + +"Never, never--till that moment I killed Jim. They said I quarreled +with him then. But I remember nothing. Jim was my best friend; I would +have trusted him with my life. Even now I can't make it seem real I +shot him, though it must be true by those four witnesses." + +"What of your ranch? Your political nomination?" + +"I withdrew from the latter; that was one of the terms made by Gordon +on which they were to help me escape instead of turning me over for +prosecution. And my ranch and cattle, I had to deed them over to the +four men too." + +"Then their friendship wasn't disinterested," Steele said quickly, +with suspicion dawning on his face. + +"They weren't really friends, I knew that." + +"How were they to arrange your escape?" + +The senior Weir seemed to shudder at the question. + +"By bribing the sheriff and county attorney. I was then to leave the +country at once, never showing my face again, or I should be arrested. +I was still half dazed by whiskey and terror; I took your mother and +you and fled this far, when my money gave out. So here I've remained +ever since, for here I could hide and here was her grave." + +"What's the last thing you remember of the circumstance previous to +learning Dent was dead?" he asked. + +"Ah, though I had been drinking I can remember clearly up to the time +I stopped playing poker with Jim and the four men, for we were losing +and I felt they were working a crooked deal on us somehow. I asked Jim +to quit also, for though I hadn't lost much he was losing fast and +playing recklessly. But he wouldn't drop out of the game, and when +Vorse and Sorenson cursed me and said for me to mind my own business I +went back to a table near the rear door and laid my head on my arms +and went to sleep. When I was awake again, Vorse and Gordon were +holding me up by their table and Jim was dead on the floor. I had come +forward, they said, begun a big row with Dent and finally shot him." + +"Then the only witnesses were these four men who were gambling with +him, who cursed you when you attempted to persuade him to drop his +cards," Steele proceeded, "one of whom was your political adversary, +men who were old-timers and opposed to new-comers, who pretended to be +your friends but took your ranch and cattle. It begins to look to me +as if they not only killed your friend Dent but double-crossed you in +the bargain. Did you look in your gun afterwards?" + +"No. I was sick with the horror of the accusation, I tell you, Steele. +I had no way to deny it; it seemed indeed as if I must have killed +him. And from that day until this I've never had the courage of soul +to reload my pistol, or even clean it. It hangs there on the wall with +the very shells, two empty, the rest unfired, that it carried that day +in San Mateo." + +Weir sprang up and crossed to the nail where hung the weapon. The +latter he drew from the holster and broke open, so that the cartridges +were ejected into his hand. For an instant he stared at them, but at +length walked to the bed before which he extended his palm. + +"Look--look for yourself!" he exclaimed hoarsely. "You never killed +Jim Dent; drunk or sober, you never killed any one. You're not a +murderer. You're the innocent victim of those four infamous +scoundrels; they deceived you, they ruined your life; and their +damnable fraud not only killed my mother in her youth, as I guess, by +grief and despair, but has brought you now to your death too." + +His father had raised himself on an arm to gaze incredulously at the +six unfired cartridges lying in Weir's palm. Then all at once his +bearded lips trembled and a great light of joy flashed upon his face. + +"Innocent--innocent!" he whispered. "Steele, my son,--Helen, my wife! +No stain on my soul!" + +As he sank back Steele's arms caught him. He did not speak again, but +his eyes rested radiantly on his boy's before they glazed in death. +Fear had passed from them, forever. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +UNDER THE MOON + + +Lights still were burning at headquarters when Steele Weir slowly +drove his runabout up the hillside slope to the dam camp. The men who +had acted as guards about the jail, except those who went with Madden, +were somewhere on the road behind him, returning home in the wagons. A +reaction of mind and body had set in for Weir; after the previous +night's loss of sleep and prolonged exertions, after the swift +succession of dramatic events, after the tremendous call that had been +made upon his brain power, nervous force and will, he experienced a +strange unrest of spirit. His triumph seemed yet incomplete, somehow +unsatisfying. + +It was as he approached the camp that he saw a slender girlish figure +sitting on a rock in the moonlight. He swung his car off the road +beside the spot where Janet Hosmer sat. + +"What, you are still awake?" he asked, with a smile. + +"Could I sleep while not knowing what was happening or what danger you +might be in?" she returned. "Mr. Pollock said we must not think of +returning home until quiet was restored in San Mateo. One of the +engineer's houses was given to us by Mr. Meyers before he left, where +Mary and I could sleep. But I could not close my eyes. So much had +happened, so much was yet going on! So I came out here to be alone and +to think and watch." + +"And your father?" + +"He's attending the wounded Mexicans in the store." + +Steel alighted and tossing his hat upon the car seat gazed out over +the mesa, misty in the moonlight. + +"There will be no more trouble," said he. "Sorenson and Burkhardt are +Madden's prisoners, and on their way to a place of safe-keeping in +another county. Vorse is dead. The people in town have a fairly good +understanding of matters now, I think." + +"How in the world did such a change of opinion occur?" Janet +exclaimed. + +"I had a little talk with the crowd and made explanations. The feeling +for me was almost friendly when I left; what enmity remains will soon +die out, I'm sure." + +Though unaware from Steele Weir's laconic statement of what had +actually occurred, the girl divined that his words concealed vastly +more than their surface purport. With the general hostility against +the engineer that had existed, for him to swing the community to his +side meant a dramatic moment and a remarkable moral conquest. + +"Your friends have always known you would win," she said, smiling up +at him. + +He seated himself on the rock beside her. + +"It's but a short time ago, Janet, that I had no friends, or so +few they could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Business +acquaintances, yes. Professional companions, yes. Men who perhaps +respected my ability as an engineer, yes. But real friends, scarcely +one. And now I think I have gained some, which is the greatest +satisfaction I have from all that has happened. After years the +pendulum has swung to my side. Do you know the hour my luck changed?" + +Janet shook her head wonderingly. + +"No, I can't even guess," said she. + +"Well, it was that afternoon, and that moment, I found you sitting in +your stalled car in the creek down there. That was the beginning. From +that time things began to run in my favor and they haven't ceased to +do so for a moment since, I now see looking back over events. You +brought good luck to me that day in your car." + +"What an extraordinary idea! Then at bottom you're superstitious," +Janet replied. "I shall have to give you a new name; I must no longer +call you 'Cold Steel.'" + +"I really never liked that name," Weir said quickly. "Perhaps I was +cold steel once, but I have changed along with everything else. And +you're responsible for that too." + +Janet leaned forward and looked into his eyes. + +"You were never truly harsh to any one except those who deserved it," +she said. "I know! You would never have been so quick to help Mary +Johnson or me, or others who needed help, if your heart was not always +generous and sympathetic. Only against evil were you as steel, and in +moments requiring supreme courage and sacrifice. And that's how you +gained the name before you ever came here." + +"Anyway I've changed," said he. "I'm out from under the cloud which I +felt always hung above me. As I say, you brought me good luck that +day--and I see clearly that I shall continue to be superstitious." + +"Why, all occasion for that is past now." + +"No," said Steele Weir. "No, less than ever. For I'm certain you hold +my good fortune in your hand yet, and will continue to hold it. And +that means----" + +He paused, regarding her so intensely that the blood beat up into her +face. There was no mistaking that look and it thrilled her to the +soul. + +"Yes?" she managed to say. + +"It means my happiness, now and for all time to come," he went on. +"See, I shall have accomplished what I set out to do and what in +justice had to be done, bringing these men to punishment--to +punishment in one form or another. I shall have given my employer, the +company, service worthy of the hire. I shall have rid you and San +Mateo of an unscrupulous parasite in the person of Ed Sorenson, though +my persecution of him now shall stop and I shall leave him enough out +of the property recovered from his father to live in comfort somewhere +with his mother. + +"Mr. Pollock states I shall have no trouble in getting legal title and +possession of most of the wealth of these four men,--I and any +relatives of the dead Jim Dent who can be found. For thirty years' +accumulated interest charges owing me will swallow up all the men's +properties. That, however, is only a material victory. I shall have +relieved Johnson of fear of financial constraint; and saved his +daughter from a serious mistake. I shall have started Martinez on the +road to success--and I should not be surprised if he prospered, became +the leading attorney in this county, was elected judge and so on. + +"In a way, too, I shall have helped to remove the oppressive weight of +these men, Sorenson, Burkhardt, Judge Gordon and Vorse, with their +sinister influence, from this community and region. They have always +held the natives in more or less open subjection, financial, +political, and moral. There should be a freer air in San Mateo +henceforth. The people will have a chance to grow. They no longer will +feel the threat of brutal masters always over them; and with the +completion of the irrigation project and the infusion of new settlers +they will become better citizens. + +"I see all this," he concluded. "It pleases me; it gives me cause for +satisfaction. But it doesn't give me the happiness I want, or the +love. That is alone in your hands to bestow." + +Janet felt herself trembling; she could not speak. + +"I think I felt the stirring of love from the moment I saw you there +at the ford," he exclaimed. "Last night when I knew that wretch had +carried you off to the mountains, I could have torn him limb from +limb. That was my love speaking, Janet. If I should have to go through +life without you--oh, the thought is too bitter to dwell on!--then I +should think life not worth living. But I have imagined that you might +have for me a little----" + +Janet swiftly clasped his hand with her own. + +"I love you," she cried softly. "I was sitting here when you came +because I loved you. If I am necessary to your happiness, you also are +necessary to mine. I honor you for what you have done and love you for +what you are, a strong true heart." + +"Ah, Janet, you give me the greatest joy in the world," he whispered. +"Love--that is more than all." + +His arms drew her to his breast. Her lips went to his in consecration +of that love. Their hearts beat the rapture of that love. + +Over the silent peaceful mountains the moon spread its effulgent +light. Over the mesa that was no more to know the fierce sound of +strife. Over the town, at last free of its avaricious masters, free of +the savage spirit of an outlaw time. Over the Burntwood River flowing +in a shimmering band to the horizon. Over the camp where centered so +many men's plans and labors. And over the lovers, chief of all, that +light fell as in a silvery halo. + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's In the Shadow of the Hills, by George C. Shedd + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30037 *** |