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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/30989-8.txt b/30989-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..927684d --- /dev/null +++ b/30989-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6210 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mystery Ranch, by Arthur Chapman + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Mystery Ranch + +Author: Arthur Chapman + +Release Date: January 16, 2010 [EBook #30989] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYSTERY RANCH *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + MYSTERY RANCH + + BY ARTHUR CHAPMAN + + AUTHOR OF "OUT WHERE THE WEST BEGINS," AND "CACTUS CENTER" + + +BOSTON AND NEW YORK +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY +The Riverside Press Cambridge +1921 + +COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO. + +COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY ARTHUR CHAPMAN + +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +There was a swift padding of moccasined feet through the hall leading to +the Indian agent's office. + +Ordinarily Walter Lowell would not have looked up from his desk. He +recognized the footfalls of Plenty Buffalo, his chief of Indian police, +but this time there was an absence of the customary leisureliness in the +official's stride. The agent's eyes were questioning Plenty Buffalo +before the police chief had more than entered the doorway. + +The Indian, a broad-shouldered, powerfully built man in a blue uniform, +stopped at the agent's desk and saluted. Lowell knew better than to ask +him a question at the outset. News speeds best without urging when an +Indian tells it. The clerk who acted as interpreter dropped his papers +and moved nearer, listening intently as Plenty Buffalo spoke rapidly in +his tribal tongue. + +"A man has been murdered on the road just off the reservation," +announced the interpreter. + +Still the agent did not speak. + +"I just found him," went on the police chief to the clerk, who +interpreted rapidly. "You'd better come and look things over." + +"How do you know he was murdered?" asked the agent, reaching for his +desk telephone. + +"He was shot." + +"But couldn't he have shot himself?" + +"No. He's staked down." + +Lowell straightened up suddenly, a tingle of apprehension running +through him. Staked down--and on the edge of the Indian reservation! +Matters were being brought close home. + +"Is there anything to tell who he is?" + +"I didn't look around much," said Plenty Buffalo. "There's an auto in +the road. That's what I saw first." + +"Where is the body?" + +"A few yards from the auto, on the prairie." + +The agent called the sheriff's office at White Lodge, the adjoining +county seat. The sheriff was out, but Lowell left the necessary +information as to the location of the automobile and the body. Then he +put on his hat, and, gathering up his gloves, motioned to Plenty Buffalo +and the interpreter to follow him to his automobile which was standing +in front of the agency office. Plenty Buffalo's pony was left at the +hitching-rack, to recover from the hard run it had just been given. The +wooden-handled quirt at the saddle had not been spared by the Indian. + +Flooded with June sunshine the agency had never looked more attractive, +from the white man's standpoint. The main street was wide, with a +parkway in the center, shaded with cottonwoods. The school buildings, +dormitories, dining-hall, auditorium, and several of the employees' +residences faced this street. The agent's house nestled among trees and +shrubbery on the most attractive corner. The sidewalks were wide, and +made of cement. There was a good water system, as the faithfully +irrigated lawns testified. Arc lights swung from the street +intersections, and there were incandescents in every house. A sewer +system had just been completed. Indian boys and girls were looking after +gardens in vacant lots. There were experimental ranches surrounding the +agency. In the stables and enclosures were pure-bred cattle and sheep, +the nucleus of tribal flocks and herds of better standards. + +In less than four years Walter Lowell had made the agency a model of its +kind. He had done much to interest even the older Indians in +agriculture. The school-children, owing to a more liberal educational +system, had lost the customary look of apathy. The agent's work had been +commended in annual reports from Washington. The agency had been +featured in newspaper and magazine articles, and yet Lowell had felt +that he was far from accomplishing anything permanent. Ancient customs +and superstitions had to be reckoned with. Smouldering fires +occasionally broke out in most alarming fashion. Only recently there had +been a serious impairment of reservation morale, owing to the +spectacular rise of a young Indian named Fire Bear, who had gathered +many followers, and who, with his cohorts, had proceeded to dance and +"make medicine" to the exclusion of all other employment. Fire Bear's +defection had set many rumors afloat. Timid settlers near the +reservation had expressed fear of a general uprising, which fear had +been fanned by the threats and boastings sent broadcast by some of Fire +Bear's more reckless followers. + +Lowell was frankly worried as he sped away from the agency with Plenty +Buffalo and the interpreter. Every crime, large or small, which occurred +near the reservation, and which did not carry its own solution, was laid +to Indians. Here was something which pointed directly to Indian +handiwork, and Lowell in imagination could hear a great outcry going up. + +Plenty Buffalo gave little more information as the car swayed along the +road that led off the reservation. + +"He says he was off the reservation trailing Jim McFann," remarked the +interpreter. "He thought Jim was going along the road to Talpers's +store, but Plenty Buffalo was mistaken. He did not find Jim, but what he +did find was this man who had been killed." + +"Jim McFann isn't a bad fellow at heart, but this bootlegging and +trailing around with Bill Talpers will get him in trouble yet," replied +the agent. "He's pretty clever, or Plenty Buffalo's men would have +caught him long before this." + +They were approaching Talpers's store as the agent spoke. The store was +a barn-like building, with a row of poplars at the north, and a big +cottonwood in front. A few houses were clustered about. Bill Talpers, +store-keeper and postmaster, looked out of the door as the automobile +went past. Generally there were Indians sitting in front of the store, +but to-day there were none. Plenty Buffalo volunteered the information +that there had been a "big sing" on a distant part of the reservation +which had attracted most of the residents from this neighborhood. +Talpers was seen running out to his horse, which stood in front of the +store. + +"He'll be along pretty soon," said the agent. "He knows there's +something unusual going on." + +The road over which the party was traveling was sometimes called the +Dollar Sign, for the reason that it wound across the reservation line +like a letter S. After leaving White Lodge, which was off the +reservation, any traveler on the road crossed the line and soon went +through the agency. Then there was a curve which took him across the +line again to Talpers's, after which a reverse curve swept back into the +Indians' domain. All of which was the cause of no little trouble to the +agent and the Indian police, for bootleggers found it easy to operate +from White Lodge or Talpers's and drop back again across the line to +safety. + +Another ten miles, on the sweep of the road toward the reservation, and +the automobile was sighted. The body was found, as Plenty Buffalo had +described it. The man had been murdered--that much was plain enough. + +"Buckshot, from a sawed-off shotgun probably," said the agent, +shuddering. + +Whoever had fired the shot had done his work with deadly accuracy. Part +of the man's face had been carried away. He had been well along in +years, as his gray hair indicated, but his frame was sturdy. He was +dressed in khaki--a garb much affected by transcontinental automobile +tourists. The car which he had been driving was big and expensive. + +Other details were forgotten for the moment in the fact that the man had +been staked to the prairie. Ropes had been attached to his hands and +feet. These ropes were fastened to tent-stakes driven into the prairie. + +"The man had been camping along the route," said the agent, "and whoever +did this shooting probably used the victim's own tent-stakes." + +This opinion was confirmed after a momentary examination of the tonneau +of the car, which disclosed a tent, duffle-bag, and other camping +equipment. + +"Look around the prairie and see if you can find any of this man's +belongings scattered about," said Lowell. + +"Plenty Buffalo wants to know if you noticed all the pony tracks," said +the interpreter. + +"Yes," replied Lowell bitterly. "I couldn't very well help seeing them. +What does Plenty Buffalo think about them?" + +"They're Indian pony tracks--no doubt about that," said the interpreter, +"but there is no telling just when they were made." + +"I see. It might have been at the time of the murder, or afterward." + +Lowell looked closely at the pony tracks, which were thick about the +automobile and the body. Plainly there had been a considerable body of +horsemen on the scene. Plenty Buffalo, skilled in trailing, had not +hesitated to announce that the tracks were those of Indian ponies. If +more evidence were needed, there were the imprints of moccasined feet in +the dust. + +Lowell surveyed the scene while Plenty Buffalo and the interpreter +searched the prairie for more clues. The agent did not want to disturb +the body nor search the automobile until the arrival of the sheriff, as +the murder had happened outside of Government jurisdiction, and the +local authorities were jealous of their rights. The murder had been done +close to the brow of a low hill. The gently rolling prairie stretched to +a creek on one side, and to interminable distance on the other. There +was a carpet of green grass in both directions, dotted with clumps of +sagebrush. It had rained a few days before--the last rain of many, it +chanced--and there were damp spots in the road in places and the grass +and the sage were fresh in color. Meadow-larks were trilling, and the +whole scene was one of peace--provided the beholder could blot out the +memory of the tenantless clay stretched out upon clay. + +In a few minutes Sheriff Tom Redmond and a deputy arrived in an +automobile from White Lodge. They were followed by Bill Talpers, in the +saddle. + +Redmond was a tall, square-shouldered cattleman, who still clung to the +rough garb and high-heeled boots of the cowpuncher, though he seldom +used any means of travel but the automobile. Western winds, heated by +fiery Western suns, had burned his face to the color of saddle-leather. +His eyebrows were shaggy and light-colored, and Nature's bleaching +elements had reduced a straw-colored mustache to a discouraging +nondescript tone. + +"Looks like an Injun job, Lowell, don't it?" asked Redmond, as his sharp +eyes took in the situation in darting glances. + +"Isn't it a little early to come to that conclusion?" queried the agent. + +"There ain't no other conclusion to come to," broke in Talpers, who had +joined the group in an inspection of the scene. "Look at them pony +tracks--all Injun." + +Talpers was broad--almost squat of figure. His complexion was brick red. +He had a thin, curling black beard and mustache. He was one of the men +to whom alkali is a constant poison, and his lips were always cracked +and bleeding. His voice was husky and disagreeable, his small eyes +bespoke the brute in him, and yet he was not without certain qualities +of leadership which seemed to appeal particularly to the Indians. His +store was headquarters for the rough and idle element of the +reservation. Also it was the center of considerable white trade, for it +was the only store for miles in either direction, and in addition was +the general post-office. + +Knowing of Talpers's friendliness for the rebellious element among the +Indians, Lowell looked at the trader in surprise. + +"You didn't see any Indians doing this, did you, Talpers?" he asked. + +The trader hastened to qualify his remark, as it would not do to have +the word get out among the Indians that he had attempted to throw the +blame on them. + +"No--I ain't exactly sayin' that Injuns done it," said the trader, "but +I ain't ever seen more signs pointin' in one direction." + +"Well, don't let signs get you so far off the right trail that you can't +get back again," replied the agent, turning to help Tom Redmond and his +deputy in the work of establishing the identity of the slain man. + +It was work that did not take long. Papers were found in the pockets +indicating that the victim was Edward B. Sargent, of St. Louis. In the +automobile was found clothing bearing St. Louis trademarks. + +"Judging from the balance in this checkbook," said the sheriff, "he was +a man who didn't have to worry about financial affairs. Probably this is +only a checking account, for running expenses, but there's thirty +thousand to his credit." + +"He's probably some tourist on his way to the coast," observed the +deputy, "and he thought he'd make a détour and see an Injun reservation. +Somebody saw a good chance for a holdup, but he showed fight and got +killed." + +"Nobody reported such a machine as going through the agency," offered +Lowell. "The car is big enough and showy enough to attract attention +anywhere." + +"I didn't see him go past my place," said Talpers. "And if my clerk'd +seen him he'd have said somethin' about it." + +"Well, he was killed sometime yesterday--that's sure," remarked the +sheriff. "He might have come through early in the morning and nobody saw +him, or he might have hit White Lodge and the agency and Talpers's late +at night and camped here along the Dollar Sign until morning and been +killed when he started on. The thing of it is that this is as far as he +got, and we've got to find the ones that's responsible. This kind of a +killing is jest going to make the White Lodge Chamber of Commerce get up +on its hind legs and howl. There's bound to be speeches telling how, +just when we've about convinced the East that we've shook off our wild +Western ways, here comes a murder that's wilder'n anything that's been +pulled off since the trapper days." + +"Accordin' to my way of thinkin'," said Talpers, "that man wasn't +tortured after he was staked down. Any one who knows anything about +Injun character knows that when they pegged a victim out that way, they +intended for him to furnish some amusement, such as having splinters +stuck into him and bein' set afire by the squaws." + +"They probably thought they seen some one coming," said the sheriff, +"and shot him after they got him tied down, and then made a quick +getaway." + +"That man was shot before he was tied down," interposed Lowell quietly. + +"What makes you think that?" Redmond said quickly. + +"There are no powder marks on his face. And any one shot at such close +range, by some one standing over him, would have had his head blown +away." + +Redmond assented, grudgingly. + +"What does Plenty Buffalo think about it all?" he asked. + +Lowell called the police chief and the interpreter. Plenty Buffalo +declared that he was puzzled. He was not prepared to make any statement +at all as yet. He might have something later on. + +"Very well," said the agent, motioning to Plenty Buffalo to go on with +the close investigations he had been silently carrying on. "We may get +something of value from him when he has finished looking. But there's no +use coaxing him to talk now." + +"I s'pose not," rejoined Redmond sneeringly. "What's more, I s'pose he +can't even see them Injun pony tracks around the body." + +"He called my attention to them as soon as we arrived here," said +Lowell. "But as far as that goes he didn't need to. Those things are as +evident as the bald fact that the man has been killed." + +"Well, that's about the only clue there is, as far as I can figger out," +remarked the sheriff testily, "and that points straight and clean to +some of your wards on the reservation." + +"Count on me for any help," replied Lowell crisply. "All I'm interested +in, of course, is seeing the guilty brought out into the light." + +Turning away and ending a controversy, which he knew would be fruitless, +Lowell made another searching personal examination of the scene. He +examined the stakes, having in mind the possibility of finger-prints. +But no tell-tale mark had been left behind. The stakes were too rough to +admit the possibility of any finger-prints that might be microscopically +detected. The road and prairie surrounding the automobile were examined, +but nothing save pony tracks, numerous and indiscriminately mingled, +rewarded his efforts. + +"Them Injuns jest milled around this machine and the body of that +hombrey," said Talpers. "There must have been twenty-five of 'em in the +bunch, anyway, ain't I right, Plenty Buffalo?" added the trader, +repeating his remark in the Indian's tribal tongue, in which the white +man was expert. + +"Heap Injun here," agreed Plenty Buffalo, not averse to showing off a +large part of his limited English vocabulary. + +"That trouble-maker, Fire Bear, is the only one who travels much with a +gang, ain't he?" demanded Redmond. + +"Yes," assented the agent. "He has had from fifty to one hundred young +Indians making medicine with him on Wolf Mountain. Rest assured that +Fire Bear and every one with him will have to give an account of +himself." + +"That's the talk!" exclaimed Redmond, pulling at his mustache. "I ain't +afraid of your not shooting straight in this thing, Mr. Lowell, but +you've got to admit that you've stuck up for Injuns the way no other +agent has ever stuck up for 'em before, and natchelly--" + +"Naturally you thought I might even cover up murder for them," added +Lowell good-naturedly. "Well, get that idea out of your head. But also +get it out of your head that I'm going to see any Indian or Indians +railroaded for a crime that possibly he or they didn't commit." + +"All right!" snapped the sheriff, instantly as belligerent and +suspicious as ever. "But this thing is going to be worked out on the +evidence, and right now the evidence--" + +"Which is all circumstantial." + +"Yes, circumstantial it may be, but it's mighty strong against some of +your people over that there line, and it's going to be followed up." + +Lowell shrugged his shoulders, knowing the futility of further argument +with the sheriff, who was representative of the considerable element +that always looked upon Indians as "red devils" and that would never +admit that any good existed in race or individual. + +The agent assisted in removing the body of the murdered man to the big +automobile that had been standing in the road, a silent witness to the +crime. Lowell drove the machine to White Lodge, at the request of the +sheriff, and sent telegrams which might establish the dead man's +identity beyond all doubt. + +Meantime the news of the murder was not long in making its devious way +about the sparsely settled countryside. Most of the population of White +Lodge, and ranchers from remote districts, visited the scene. One +fortunate individual, who had arrived before the body had been removed, +interested various groups by stretching himself out on the prairie on +the exact spot where the slain man had been found. + +"Here he laid, jest like this," the actor would conclude, "right out +here in the bunch grass and prickly pear, with his hands and feet tied +to them tent-stakes, and pony tracks and moccasin tracks all mixed +around in the dust jest as if a hull tribe had been millin' here. If a +lot of Injuns don't swing for this, then there's no use of callin' this +a white man's country any more." + +The flames of resentment needed no fanning, as Lowell found. The agent +had not concluded his work with the sheriff at White Lodge before he +heard thinly veiled threats directed at all Indians and their friends. +He paid no attention to the comments, but drove back to the agency, +successfully masking the grave concern he felt. In the evening, his +chief clerk, Ed Rogers, found Lowell reading a magazine. + +"The talk is that you'll have to get Fire Bear for this murder," said +Rogers. Then the chief clerk added, bluntly: "I thought sure you'd be +working on this case." + +Lowell smiled at the clerk's astonishment. + +"There's nothing more that requires my attention just now," he said. "If +Fire Bear is wanted, we can always get him. That's one thing that +simplifies all such matters, where Indians are concerned. An Indian +can't lose himself in a crowd, like a white man. Furthermore, he never +thinks of leaving the reservation." + +Here the young agent rose and yawned. + +"Anyway," he remarked, "it isn't our move right now. Until it is, I +prefer to think of pleasanter things." + +But the agent's thoughts were not on any of the pleasant things +contained in the magazine he had flung into a corner. They were dwelling +most consistently upon a pleasing journey he had enjoyed, a few days +before, with a young woman whom he had taken from the agency to Mystery +Ranch. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +Helen Ervin's life in a private school for girls at San Francisco had +been uneventful until her graduation. She had been in the school for ten +years. Before that, she had vague recollections of a school that was not +so well conducted. In fact, almost her entire recollection was of +teachers, school chums, and women who had been hired as companions and +tutors. Some one had paid much money for her upbringing--that much Helen +Ervin knew. The mystery of her caretaking was known, of course, by Miss +Scovill, head of the Scovill School, but it had never been disclosed. It +had become such an ancient mystery that Helen told herself she had lost +all interest in it. Miss Scovill was kind and motherly, and would answer +any other questions. She had taken personal charge of the girl, who +lived at the Scovill home during vacations as well as throughout the +school year. + +"Some day it will all be explained to you," Miss Scovill had said, "but +for the present you are simply to learn all you can and continue to be +just as nice as you have been. And meantime rest assured that somebody +is vitally interested in your welfare and happiness." + +The illuminating letter came a few days after graduation. The girls had +all gone home and school was closed. Helen was alone in the Scovill +home. Miss Scovill had gone away for a few days, on business. + +The letter bore a postmark with a strange, Indian-sounding name: "White +Lodge." It was in a man's handwriting--evidently a man who had written +much. The signature, which was first to be glanced at by the girl, read: +"From your affectionate stepfather, Willis Morgan." The letter was as +follows: + + No doubt you will be surprised at getting this letter from one + whose existence you have not suspected. I had thought to let you + remain in darkness concerning me. For years I have been pleased to + pay your expenses in school--glad in the thought that you were + getting the best care and education that could be purchased. But my + affairs have taken a bad turn. I am, to put it vulgarly, cramped + financially. Moreover, the loneliness in my heart has become fairly + overmastering. I can steel myself against it no longer. I want you + with me in my declining years. I cannot leave here. I have become + greatly attached to this part of the country, and have no doubt + that you will be, also. Sylvan scenes, with a dash of human + savagery in the foreground, form the best relief for a too-extended + assimilation of books. It has been like balm to me, and will prove + so to you. + + Briefly, I want you to come, and at once. A check to cover expenses + is enclosed. Your school years are ended, and a life of quiet, amid + scenes of aboriginal romance, awaits you here. Selfishly, perhaps, + I appeal to your gratitude, if the prospect I have held out does + not prove enticing of itself. If what I have done for you in all + these years entitles me to any return, I ask you not to delay the + payment. By coming now, you can wipe the slate clean of any + indebtedness. + +Then followed directions about reaching the ranch--the Greek Letter +Ranch, the writer called it--and a final appeal to her sense of +gratitude. + +When Helen finished reading the letter, her heart was suffused with pity +for this lonely man who had come thus strangely and unexpectedly into +her life. Her good impulses had always prompted her strongly. Miss +Scovill was away, so Helen left her a note of explanation, telling +everything in detail. "I know, dear foster mother," wrote the girl, +"that you are going to rejoice with me, now that I have found my +stepfather. I'll be looking forward to the time when you can visit us at +the Greek Letter Ranch." + +Making ready for the journey took only a short time. In a few hours +Helen was on her way, little knowing that Miss Scovill, on her return, +was frantically sending out telegrams which indicated anything but a +peaceful acceptance of conditions. One of these telegrams, sent to an +address which Helen would not have recognized, read: + + The dove has been lured to the serpent's nest. Take what action you + deem best, but quickly. + +Helen enjoyed her trip through California and then eastward through the +Northwest country to the end of the spur which pointed toward the +reservation. From the railroad's end she went to White Lodge by stage. +From White Lodge she was told she had better take a private conveyance +to her destination. She hired a rig of a livery-stable keeper, who said +he could not possibly take her beyond the Indian agency. + +"Mebbe some one there'll take you the rest of the way," said the +liveryman; and, accepting his hopeful view of the situation, the girl +consented to go on in such indefinite fashion. + +Thus it happened that a slender, white-clad young woman, with a suitcase +at her feet, stood on the agency office porch, undergoing the steady +scrutiny of four or five blanketed Indian matrons when Walter Lowell +came back from lunch. In a few words Helen had explained matters, and +Lowell picked up her suitcase, and, after ascertaining that she had had +no lunch, escorted her up the street to the dining-hall. + +"We have a little lunch club of employees, and guests often sit in with +us," said the agent cordially. "After you eat, and have rested up a bit, +I'll see that you are driven over to the--to the Greek Letter Ranch." + +As a matter of fact, Lowell had to think several times before he could +get the Greek Letter Ranch placed in his mind. He had fallen into the +habit--in common with others in the neighborhood--of calling it Mystery +Ranch. Also Willis Morgan's name was mentioned so seldom that the +agent's mental gymnastics were long sustained and almost painfully +apparent before he had matters righted. + +"Rogers," said Lowell to his chief clerk, on getting back to the agency +office, "how many years has Willis Morgan been in this part of the +country?" + +"Willis Morgan," echoed Rogers, scratching his head. "Oh, I know now! +You mean the 'squaw professor.' He hasn't been called Morgan since he +married that squaw who died five years go. There was talk that he used +to be a college professor, which is right, I guess, from the number of +books he reads. But when he married an Indian folks just called him the +'squaw prof.' He's been out here twelve or fifteen years, I guess. Let's +see--he got those Indian lands through his wife when Jones was agent. He +must have moved off the reservation when Arbuckle was agent, just before +you came on." + +"Did he always use a Greek letter brand on his cattle?" + +"Always. He never ran many cattle. I guess he hasn't got any at all now. +But what he did have he always insisted on having branded with that +pitchfork brand, as the cowpunchers call it." + +"I know--it's the letter Psi." + +"Well, Si, or whatever other nickname it is, even the toughest-hearted +old cowmen used to kick on having to put such a big brand on critters. +That big pitchfork on flanks or shoulders must have spoiled many a hide +for Morgan, but he always insisted on having it slapped on." + +"Have the Indians always got along with him pretty well?" + +"Yes, because they're afraid of him and leave him alone. It ain't +physical fear, but something deeper, like being afraid of a snake, I +guess. You see he knows so damn much, he's uncanny. It's the power of +mind over matter. Seems funny to think of him having the biggest Indians +buffaloed, but he's done it, and he's buffaloed the white folks, too. He +gave it out that he wanted to be let alone, and, by jimminy, he's been +let alone! I'll bet there aren't four people in the county who have seen +his face in as many years." + +"Did he have any children?" + +"No. His wife was a pretty little Indian woman. He just married her to +show his defiance of society, I guess. Anyway, he must have killed her +by inches. If he had the other Indians scared, you can imagine how he +must have terrorized her. Yet I'll bet he never raised his voice above +an ordinary conversational tone." + +Lowell frowned as he looked out across the agency street. + +"Why, what's come up about Morgan?" asked Rogers. + +"Oh, not such a lot," replied the agent. "It's only that there's a girl +here--his stepdaughter, it seems--and she's going to make her home with +him." + +"Good Lord!" ejaculated the chief clerk. + +"She's over at the club table now having lunch," went on Lowell. "I'm +going to drive her over to the ranch. She seems to think this stepfather +of hers is all kinds of a nice fellow, and I can't tell her that she'd +better take her little suitcase and go right back where she came from. +Besides, who knows that she may be right and we've been misjudging +Morgan all these years?" + +"Well, if Willis Morgan's been misjudged, then I'm really an angel all +ready to sprout wings," observed the clerk. "But maybe he's braced up, +or, if he hasn't, this stepdaughter has tackled the job of reforming +him. If she does it, it'll be the supreme test of what woman can do +along that line." + +"What business have bachelors such as you and I to be talking about any +reformations wrought by woman?" asked Lowell smilingly. + +"Not much," agreed Rogers. "Outside of the school-teachers and other +agency employees I haven't seen a dozen white women since I went to +Denver three years ago. And you--why, you haven't been away from here +except on one trip to Washington in the last four years." + +Each man looked out of the window, absorbed in his own dreams. Lowell +had forsaken an active career to take up the routine of an Indian +agent's life. After leaving college he had done some newspaper work, +which he abandoned because a position as land investigator for a +corporation with oil interests in view had given him a chance to travel +in the West. There had been a chance journey across an Indian +reservation, with a sojourn at an agency. Lowell had decided that his +work had been spread before him. By persistent personal effort and the +use of some political influence, he secured an appointment as Indian +agent. The monetary reward was small, but he had not regretted his +choice. Only there were memories such as this girl brought to +him--memories of college days when there were certain other girls in +white dresses, and when there was music far removed from weird Indian +chants, and the thud-thud of moccasins was not always in his ears.... + +Lowell rose hastily. + +"They must be through eating over there," he said. "But I positively +hate to start the trip that will land the girl at that ranch." + +The agent drove his car over to the dining-hall. When Helen came out, +the agency blacksmith was carrying her suitcase, and the matron, Mrs. +Ryers, had her arm about the girl's waist, for friends are quickly made +in the West's lonely places. School-teachers and other agency employees +chorused good-bye as the automobile was driven away. + +The girl was flushed with pleasure, and there were tears in her eyes. + +"I don't blame you for liking to live on an Indian reservation," she +said, "amid such cordial people." + +"Well, it isn't so bad, though, of course, we're in a backwater here," +said Lowell. "An Indian reservation gives you a queer feeling that way. +The tides of civilization are racing all around, but here the progress +is painfully slow." + +"Tell me more about it, please," pleaded the girl. "This lovely +place--surely the Indians like it." + +"Some of them do, perhaps," said Lowell. "But they haven't been trained +to this sort of thing. A lodge out there on the prairie, with game to be +hunted and horses to be ridden--that would suit the most advanced of +them better than settled life anywhere. But, of course, all that is +impossible, and the thing is to reconcile them to the inevitable things +they have to face. And even reconciling white people to the inevitable +is no easy job." + +"No, it's harder, really, than teaching these poor Indians, I suppose," +agreed the girl. "But don't you find lots to recompense you?" + +Lowell stole a look at her, and then he slowed the car's pace +considerably. There was no use hurrying to the ranch with such a +charming companion aboard. The fresh June breeze had loosened a strand +or two of her brown hair. The bright, strong sunshine merely emphasized +the youthful perfection of her complexion. She had walked with a certain +buoyancy of carriage which Lowell ascribed to athletics. Her eyes were +brown, and rather serious of expression, but her smile was quick and +natural--the sort of a smile that brings one in return, so Lowell +concluded in his fragmentary process of cataloguing. Her youth was the +splendid thing about her to-day. To-morrow her strong, resourceful +womanhood might be still more splendid. Lowell surrendered himself +completely to the enjoyment of the drive, and likewise he slowed down +the car another notch. + +"Of course, just getting out of school, I haven't learned so much about +the inevitableness of life," said the girl, harking back to Lowell's +remark concerning the Indians, "but I'm beginning to sense the +responsibilities now. I've just learned that it was my stepfather who +kept me in that delightful school so many years, and now it's time for +repayment." + +"Repayment seems to be exacted for everything in life," said Lowell +automatically, though he was too much astonished at the girl's remark to +tell whether his reply had been intelligible. Was it possible the "squaw +professor" had been misjudged all these years, and was living a life of +sacrifice in order that this girl might have every opportunity? Lowell +had not recovered from the astounding idea before they reached Talpers's +place. He stopped the automobile in front of the store, and the trader +came out. + +"Mr. Talpers, meet Miss Ervin, daughter of our neighbor, Mr. Morgan," +said the agent. "Miss Ervin will probably be coming over here after her +mail, and you might as well meet her now." + +Talpers bobbed his head, but not enough to break the stare he had bent +upon the girl, who flushed under his scrutiny. As a matter of fact, the +trader had been too taken aback at the thought of a woman--and a young +and pretty woman--being related to the owner of Mystery Ranch to do more +than mumble a greeting. Then the vividness of the girl's beauty had +slowly worked upon him, rendering his speechlessness absolute. + +"I don't like Mr. Talpers as well as I do some of your Indians," said +the girl, as they rolled away from the store, leaving the trader on the +platform, still staring. + +"Well, I don't mind confiding in you, as I've confided in Bill himself, +that Mr. Talpers is something over ninety per cent undesirable. He is +one of the thorns that grow expressly for the purpose of sticking in the +side of Uncle Sam. He's cunning and dangerous, and constantly lowers the +reservation morale, but he's over the line and I can't do a thing with +him unless I get him red-handed. But he's postmaster and the only trader +near here, and you'll have to know him, so I thought I'd bring out the +Talpers exhibit early." + +Helen laughed, and forgot her momentary displeasure as the insistent +appeal of the landscape crowded everything else from her mind. The white +road lay like a carelessly flung thread on the billowing plateau land. +The air was crisp with the magic of the upper altitudes. Gray clumps of +sagebrush stood forth like little islands in the sea of grass. A winding +line of willows told where a small stream lay hidden. The shadows of +late afternoon were filling distant hollows with purple. Remote +mountains broke the horizon in a serrated line. Prairie flowers scented +the snow-cooled breeze. + +They paused on the top of a hill, where, a few days later, a tragedy was +to be enacted. The agent said nothing, letting the panorama tell its own +story. + +"Oh, it's almost overwhelming," said Helen finally, with a sigh. +"Sometimes it all seems so intimate, and personally friendly, and then +those meadow-larks stop singing for a moment, and the sun brings out the +bigness of everything--and you feel afraid, or at least I do." + +Lowell smiled understandingly. + +"It works on strong men the same way," he said. "That's why there are no +Indian tramps, I guess. No Indian ever went 'on his own' in this big +country. The tribes people always clung together. The white trappers +came and tried life alone, but lots of them went queer as a penalty. The +cowpunchers flocked together and got along all right, but many a +sheep-herder who has tried it alone has had to be taken in charge by his +folks. Human companionship out in all those big spaces is just as +necessary as bacon, flour, and salt." + +The girl sighed wistfully. + +"Of course, I've had lots of companionship at school," she said. "Is +there any one besides my stepfather on his ranch? There must be, I +imagine." + +"There's a Chinese cook, I believe--Wong," replied Lowell. "But you are +going to find lots to interest you. Besides, if you will let me--" + +"Yes, I'll let you drive over real often," laughed the girl, as Lowell +hesitated. "I'll be delighted, and I know father will be, also." + +Lowell wanted to turn the car around and head it away from the hated +ranch which was now so close at hand. His heart sank, and he became +silent as they dropped into the valley and approached the watercourse, +near which Willis Morgan's cabin stood. + +"Here's the place," he said briefly, as he turned into a travesty of a +front yard and halted beside a small cabin, built of logs and containing +not more than three or four rooms. + +The girl looked at Lowell in surprise. Something in the grim set of his +jaw told her the truth. Pride came instantly to her rescue, and in a +steady voice she made some comment on the quaintness of the +surroundings. + +There was no welcome--not even the barking of a dog. Lowell took the +suitcase from the car, and, with the girl standing at his side, knocked +at the heavy pine door, which opened slowly. An Oriental face peered +forth. In the background Lowell could see the shadowy figure of Willis +Morgan. The man's pale face and gray hair looked blurred in the +half-light of the cabin. He did not step to the door, but his voice +came, cold and cutting. + +"Bring in the suitcase, Wong," said Morgan. "Welcome to this humble +abode, stepdaughter o' mine. I had hardly dared hope you would take such +a plunge into the primitive." + +The girl was trying to voice her gratitude to Lowell when Morgan's hand +was thrust forth and grasped hers and fairly pulled her into the +doorway. The door closed, and Lowell turned back to his automobile, with +anger and pity struggling within him for adequate expression. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Walter Lowell tore the wrapper of his copy of the "White Lodge Weekly +Star" when the agency mail was put on his desk a few days after the +murder on the Dollar Sign road. + +"I'm betting Editor Jay Travers cuts into the vitriol supply for our +benefit in this issue of his household journal," remarked the agent to +his chief clerk. + +"He won't overlook the chance," replied Rogers. "Here's where he earns a +little of the money the stockmen have been putting into his newspaper +during the last few years." + +"Yes, here it is: 'Crime Points to Indians. Automobile Tourist Killed +Near Reservation. Staked Down, Probably by Redskins. Wave of Horror +Sweeping the County--Dancing should be Stopped--Policy of Coddling +Indians--White Settlers not Safe.' Oh, take it and read it in detail!" +And Lowell tossed the paper to Rogers. + +"And right here, where you'd look for it first thing--right at the top +of the editorial column--is a regular old-fashioned English leader, +calling on the Government to throw open the reservation to grazing," +said Rogers. + +"The London 'Times' could thunder no more strongly in proportion. The +grateful cowmen should throw at least another five thousand into ye +editor's coffers. But, after all, what does it matter? A dozen +newspapers couldn't make the case look any blacker for the Indians. If +some hot-headed white man doesn't read this and take a shot at the first +Indian he meets, no great harm will be done." + +The inquest over the slain man had been duly held at White Lodge. The +coroner's jury found that the murder had been done "by a person or +persons unknown." The telegrams which Lowell had sent had brought back +the information that Edward B. Sargent was a retired inventor of mining +machinery--that he was prosperous, and lived alone. His servants said he +had departed in an automobile five days before. He had left no word as +to his destination, but had drawn some money from the bank--sufficient +to cover expenses on an extended trip. His servants said he was in the +habit of taking such trips alone. Generally he went to the Rocky +Mountains in his automobile every summer. He was accustomed to life in +the open and generally carried a camping outfit. His description tallied +with that which had been sent. He had left definite instructions with a +trust company about the disposal of his fortune, and about his burial, +in case of his death. Would the county authorities at White Lodge please +forward remains without delay? + +While the inquiry was in progress, Walter Lowell spent much of his time +at White Lodge, and caught the brunt of the bitter feeling against the +Indians. It seemed as if at least three out of four residents of the +county had mentally tried and convicted Fire Bear and his companions. + +"And if there is one out of the four that hasn't told me his opinion," +said Lowell to the sheriff, "it's because he hasn't been able to get to +town." + +Sheriff Tom Redmond, though evidently firm in his opinion that Indians +were responsible for the crime, was not as outspoken in his remarks as +he had been at the scene of the murder. The county attorney, Charley +Dryenforth, a young lawyer who had been much interested in the progress +of the Indians, had counseled less assumption on the sheriff's part. + +"Whoever did this," said the young attorney, "is going to be found, +either here in this county or on the Indian reservation. It wasn't any +chance job--the work of a fly-by-night tramp or yeggman. The Dollar Sign +is too far off the main road to admit of that theory. It's a home job, +and the truth will come out sooner or later, just as Lowell says, and +the only sensible thing is to work with the agent and not against +him--at least until he gives some just cause for complaint." + +Like the Indian agent, the attorney had a complete understanding of the +prejudices in the case. There is always pressure about any Indian +reservation. White men look across the line at unfenced acres, and +complain bitterly against a policy that gives so much land to so few +individuals. There are constant appeals to Congressmen. New treaties, +which disregard old covenants as scraps of paper, are constantly being +introduced. Leasing laws are being made and remade and fought over. The +Indian agent is the local buffer between contending forces. But, used as +he was to unfounded complaint and criticism, Walter Lowell was hardly +prepared for the bitterness that descended upon him at White Lodge after +the crime on the Dollar Sign. Men with whom he had hunted and fished, +cattlemen whom he had helped on the round-up, and storekeepers whose +trade he had swelled to considerable degree, attempted to engage in +argument tinged with acrimony. Lowell attempted to answer a few of them +at first, but saw how futile it all was, and took refuge in silence. He +waited until there was nothing more for him to do at White Lodge, and +then he went back to the agency to complete the job of forgetting an +incredible number of small personal injuries.... There was the girl at +Willis Morgan's ranch. Surely she would be outside of all these +wave-like circles of distrust and rancor. He intended to have gone to +see her within a day or two after he had taken her over to Morgan's, but +something insistent had come up at the agency, and then had come the +murder. Well, he would go over right away. He took his hat and gloves +and started for the automobile, when the telephone rang. + +"It's Sheriff Tom Redmond," said Rogers. "He's coming over to see you +about going out after Fire Bear. An indictment's been found, and he's +bringing a warrant charging Fire Bear with murder." + + * * * * * + +Bill Talpers sat behind the letter cage that marked off Uncle Sam's +corner of his store, and paid no attention to the waiting Indian outside +who wanted a high-crowned hat, but who knew better than to ask for it. + +Being postmaster had brought no end of problems to Bill. This time it +was a problem that was not displeasing, though Mr. Talpers was not quite +sure as yet how it should be followed out. The problem was contained in +a letter which Postmaster Bill held in his hand. The letter was open, +though it was not addressed to the man who had read it a dozen times and +who was still considering its import. + +Lovingly, Bill once more looked at the address on the envelope. It was +in a feminine hand and read: + + MR. EDWARD B. SARGENT. + +The town that figured on the envelope was Quaking-Asp Grove, which was +beyond White Lodge, on the main transcontinental highway. Slowly Bill +took from the envelope a note which read: + + _Dear Uncle and Benefactor_: + + I have learned all. Do not come to the ranch for me, as you have + planned. Evil impends. In fact I feel that he means to do you harm. + I plead with you, do not come. It is the only way you can avert + certain tragedy. I am sending this by Wong, as I am watched + closely, though he pretends to be looking out only for my welfare. + I can escape in some way. I am not afraid--only for you. Again I + plead with you not to come. You will be going into a deathtrap. + + HELEN + +Wong, the factotum from the Greek Letter Ranch, had brought the letter +and had duly stamped it and dropped it in the box for outgoing mail, +three days before the murder on the Dollar Sign road. Wong had all the +appearance of a man frightened and in a hurry. Talpers sought to detain +him, but the Chinese hurried back to his old white horse and climbed +clumsily into the saddle. + +"It's a long time sence I've seen that old white hoss with the big +pitchfork brand on his shoulder," said Talpers. "You ain't ridin' up +here for supplies as often as you used to, Wong. Must be gettin' all +your stuff by mail-order route. Well, I ain't sore about it, so wait +awhile and have a little smoke and talk." + +But Wong had shaken his head and departed as rapidly in the direction of +the ranch as his limited riding ability would permit. + +The letter that Wong had mailed had not gone to its addressed +destination. Talpers had opened it and read it, out of idle curiosity, +intending to seal the flap again and remail it if it proved to be +nothing out of the ordinary. But there were hints of interesting things +in the letter, and Bill kept it a day or so for re-reading. Then he kept +it for another day because he had stuck it in his pocket and all but +forgotten about it. Afterward came the murder, with the name of Sargent +figuring, and Bill kept the letter for various reasons, one of which was +that he did not know what else to do with it. + +"It's too late for that feller to git it now, any ways," was Bill's +comfortable philosophy. "And if I'd go and mail it now, some fool +inspector might make it cost me my job as postmaster. Besides, it may +come useful in my business--who knows?" + +The usefulness of the letter, from Bill's standpoint, began to be +apparent the day after the murder, when Helen Ervin rode up to the store +on the white horse which Wong had graced. The girl rode well. She was +hatless and dressed in a neat riding-suit--the conventional attire of +her classmates who had gone in for riding-lessons. Her riding-clothes +were the first thing she had packed, on leaving San Francisco, as the +very word "ranch" had suggested delightful excursions in the saddle. + +Two or three Indians sat stolidly on the porch as Helen rode up. She had +learned that the old horse was not given to running away. He might roll, +to rid himself of the flies, but he was not even likely to do that with +the saddle on, so Helen did not trouble to tie him to the rack. She let +the reins drop to the ground and walked past the Indians into the store, +where Bill Talpers was watching her greedily from behind his +postmaster's desk. + +"You are postmaster here, Mr. Talpers, aren't you?" asked Helen, with a +slight acknowledgment of the trader's greeting. + +Bill admitted that Uncle Sam had so honored him. + +"I'm looking for a letter that was mailed here by Wong, and should be +back from Quaking-Asp Grove by this time. It had a return address on it, +and I understand the person to whom it was sent did not receive it." + +Talpers leaned forward mysteriously and fixed his animal-like gaze on +Helen. + +"I know why he didn't git it," said Bill. "He didn't git it because he +was murdered." + +Helen turned white, and her riding-whip ceased its tattoo on her boot. +She grasped at the edge of the counter for support, and Bill smiled +triumphantly. He had played a big card and won, and now he was going to +let this girl know who was master. + +"There ain't no use of your feelin' cut up," he went on. "If you and me +jest understand each other right, there ain't no reason why any one else +should know about that letter." + +"You held it up and it never reached Quaking-Asp Grove!" exclaimed +Helen. "You're the real murderer. I can have you put in prison for +tampering with the mails." + +The last shot did not make Bill blink. He had been looking for it. + +"Ye-es, you might have me put in prison. I admit that," he said, +stroking his sparse black beard, "but you ain't goin' to, because I'd +feel in duty bound to say that I jest held up the letter in the +interests of justice, and turn the hull thing over to the authorities. +Old Fussbudget Tom Redmond is jest achin' to make an arrest in this +case. He wants to throw the hull Injun reservation in jail, but he'd +jest as soon switch to a white person, if confronted with the proper +evidence. Now this here letter"--and here Bill took the missive from his +pocket--"looks to me like air-tight, iron-bound, copper-riveted sort of +testimony that says its own say. Tom couldn't help but act on it, and +act quick." + +Helen looked about despairingly. The Indians sat like statues on the +porch. They had not even turned their heads to observe what was going on +inside the store. The old white horse was switching and stamping and +shuddering in his constant and futile battle against flies. Beyond the +road was silence and prairie. + +Turning toward the trader, Helen thought to start in on a plea for +mercy, but one look into Talpers's face made her change her mind. Anger +set her heart beating tumultuously. She snatched at the letter in the +trader's hand, but Bill merely caught her wrist in his big fingers. +Swinging the riding-whip with all her strength, she struck Talpers +across the face again and again, but he only laughed, and finally +wrenched the whip away from her and threw it out in the middle of the +floor. Then he released her wrist. + +"You've got lots o' spunk," said Bill, coming out from behind the +counter, "but that ain't goin' to git you anywheres in pertic'ler in a +case like this. You'd better set down on that stool and think things +over and act more human." + +Helen realized the truth of Talpers's words. Anger was not going to get +her anywhere. The black events of recent hours had brought out +resourcefulness which she never suspected herself of having. Fortunately +Miss Scovill had been the sort to teach her something of the realities +of life. The Scovill School for Girls might have had a larger +fashionable patronage if it had turned out more graduates of the +clinging-vine type of femininity instead of putting independence of +thought and action as among the first requisites. + +"That letter doesn't amount to so much as you think," said Helen; "and, +anyway, suppose I swear on the stand that I never wrote it?" + +"You ain't the kind to swear to a lie," replied Bill, and Helen flushed. +"Besides, it's in your writin', and your name's there, and your Chinaman +brought it here. You can't git around them things." + +"Suppose I tell my stepfather and he comes here and takes the letter +away from you?" + +Talpers sneered. + +"He couldn't git that letter away from me, onless we put it up as a +prize in a Greek-slingin' contest. Besides, he's too ornery to help out +even his own kin. Why, I ain't one tenth as bad as that stepfather of +yourn. He just talked poison into the ears of that Injun wife of his +until she died. I guess mebbe by your looks you didn't know he had an +Injun wife, but he did. Since she died--killed by inches--he's had that +Chinaman doin' the work around the ranch-house. I guess he can't make a +dent on the Chinese disposition, or he'd have had Wong dead before this. +If you stay there any time at all, he'll have you in an insane asylum or +the grave. That's jest the nature of the beast." + +Talpers was waxing eloquent, because it had come to him that his one +great mission in life was to protect this fine-looking girl from the +cruelty of her stepfather. An inexplicable feeling crept into his +heart--the first kindly feeling he had ever known. + +"It's a dum shame you didn't have any real friends like me to warn you +off before you hit that ranch," went on Bill. "That young agent who +drove you over ought to have told you, but all he can think of is +protectin' Injuns. Now with me it's different. I like Injuns all right, +but white folks comes first--especially folks that I'm interested in. +Now you and me--" + +Helen picked up her riding-whip. + +"I can't hear any more to-day," she said. + +Talpers followed her through the door and out on the porch. + +"All right," he remarked propitiatingly. "This letter'll keep, but mebbe +not very long." + +In spite of her protests, he turned the horse around for her, and held +her stirrup while she mounted. His solicitousness alarmed her more than +positive enmity on his part. + +"By gosh! you're some fine-lookin' girl," he said admiringly, his gaze +sweeping over her neatly clad figure. "There ain't ever been a +ridin'-rig like that in these parts. I sure get sick of seein' these +squaws bobbin' along on their ponies. There's lots of women around here +that can ride, but I never knowed before that the clothes counted so +much. Now you and me--" + +Helen struck the white horse with her whip. As if by accident, the lash +whistled close to Bill Talpers's face, making him give back a step in +surprise. As the girl rode away, Talpers looked after her, grinning. + +"Some spirited girl," he remarked. "And I sure like spirit. But mebbe +this letter I've got'll keep her tamed down a little. Hey, you +Bear-in-the-Cloud and Red Star and Crane--you educated sons o' guns +settin' around here as if you didn't know a word of English--there ain't +any spirits fermentin' on tap to-day, not a drop. It's gettin' scarce +and the price is goin' higher. Clear out and wait till Jim McFann comes +in to-morrow. He may be able to find somethin' that'll cheer you up!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Sheriff Tom Redmond was a veteran of many ancient cattle trails. He had +traveled as many times from Texas to the Dodge City and Abilene points +of shipment as some of our travelers to-day have journeyed across the +Atlantic--and he thought just as little about it. More than once he had +made the trifling journey from the Rio Grande to Montana, before the +inventive individual who supplied fences with teeth had made such +excursions impossible. Sheriff Tom had seen many war-bonneted Indians +looming through the dust of trail herds. Of the better side of the +Indian he knew little, nor cared to learn. But at one time or another he +had had trouble with Apache, Comanche, Kiowa, Ute, Pawnee, Arapahoe, +Cheyenne, and Sioux. He could tell just how many steers each tribe had +cost his employers, and how many horses were still charged off against +Indians in general. + +"I admit some small prejudice," said Sheriff Tom in the course of one of +his numerous arguments with Walter Lowell. "When I see old Crane hanging +around Bill Talpers's store, he looks to me jest like the cussed +Comanche that rose right out of nowheres and scared me gray-headed when +I was riding along all peaceful-like on the Picketwire. And that's the +way it goes. Every Injun I see, big or little, resembles some redskin I +had trouble with, back in early days. The only thing I can think of 'em +doing is shaking buffalo robes and running off live stock--not raising +steers to sell. I admit I'm behind the procession. I ain't ready yet to +take my theology or my false teeth from an Injun preacher or dentist." + +Lowell preferred Sheriff Tom's outspokenness to other forms of +opposition and criticism which were harder to meet. + +"Some day," he said to the sheriff, "you'll fall in line, but meantime +if you can get rid of a pest like Bill Talpers for me, you'll do more +for the Indians than they could get out of all the new leases that might +be written." + +"I've been working on Bill Talpers now for ten years and I ain't been +able to git him to stick foot in a trap," was the sheriff's reply. "But +I think he's getting to a point where he's all vain-like over the +cunning he's shown, and he'll cash himself in, hoss and beaver, when he +ain't expecting to." + +When the sheriff arrived at the agency, with the warrant for Fire Bear +in his pocket, he found a string of saddle and pack animals tied in +front of the office, under charge of two of the best cowmen on the +reservation, White Man Walks and Many Coups. + +"I'll have your car put in with mine, Tom," said Lowell, who was dressed +in cowpuncher attire, even to leather _chaparejos_. "I know you're +always prepared for riding. There's a saddle horse out there for you. +We've some grub and a tent and plenty of bedding, as we may be out +several days and find some rough going." + +"I judge it ain't going to be any moonlight excursion on the Hudson, +then, bringing in this Injun," observed Redmond. + +Lowell motioned to the sheriff to step into the private office. + +"Affairs are a little complicated," said the agent, closing the door. +"Plenty Buffalo has turned up something that makes it look as if Jim +McFann may know something about the murder." + +"What's Plenty Buffalo found?" + +"He discovered a track made by a broken shoe in that conglomeration of +hoof marks at the scene of the murder." + +"Why didn't he say so at the time?" + +"Because he wasn't sure that it pointed to Jim McFann. But he'd been +trailing McFann for bootlegging and was pretty sure Jim was riding a +horse with a broken shoe. He got hold of an Indian we can trust--an +Indian who stands pretty well with McFann--and had him hunt till he +found Jim." + +"Where was he?" + +"McFann was hiding away up in the big hills. What made him light out +there no one knows. That looked bad on the face of it. Then this Indian +scout of ours, when he happened in on Jim's camp, found that McFann was +riding a horse with a broken shoe." + +"Looks as if we ought to bring in the half-breed, don't it?" + +"Wait a minute. The broken shoe isn't all. Those pieces of rope that +were used to tie that man to the stakes--they were cut from a rawhide +lariat." + +"And Jim McFann uses that kind?" + +"Yes." + +"Do you know where McFann is hanging out?" + +"He may have moved camp, but we can find him." + +The sheriff frowned. Matters were getting more complicated than he had +thought possible. From the first he had entertained only one idea +concerning the murder--that Fire Bear had done the work, or that some of +the reckless spirits under the rebellious youth had slain in a moment of +bravado. + +"Well, it may be that McFann and Fire Bear's crowd had throwed in +together and was all mixed up in the killing," remarked the sheriff. "A +John Doe warrant ought to be enough to get everybody we want." + +"We can get anybody that's wanted," said Lowell, "but you must remember +one thing--you're dealing with people who are not used to legal +procedure and who may resent wholesale arrests." + +"You'll take plenty of Injun police along, I suppose." + +"No--I'm not even going to take Plenty Buffalo. The whole police force +and all the deputies you might be able to swear in in a week couldn't +bring in Fire Bear if he gave the signal to the young fellows around +him. We're going alone, except for those two Indians out there, who will +just look after camp affairs for us." + +"I dunno but you're right," observed Redmond after a pause, during which +he keenly scrutinized the young agent's face. "Anyway, I ain't going to +let it be said that you've got more nerve than I have. Let the lead hoss +go where he chooses--I'll follow the bell." + +"Another thing," said Lowell. "You're on an Indian reservation. These +Indians have been looking to me for advice and other things in the last +four years. If it comes to a point where decisive action has to be +taken--" + +"You're the one to take it," interrupted the sheriff. "From now on it's +your funeral. I don't care what methods you use, so long as I git Fire +Bear, and mebbe this half-breed, behind the bars for a hearing down at +White Lodge." + +The men walked out of the office, and the sheriff was given his mount. +The Indians swung the pack-horses into line, and the men settled +themselves in their saddles as they began the long, plodding journey to +the blue hills in the heart of the reservation. + + * * * * * + +The lodges of Fire Bear and his followers were placed in a circle, in a +grove somber enough for Druidical sacrifice. White cliffs stretched high +above the camp, with pine-trees growing at all angles from the +interstices of rock. At the foot of the cliffs, and on the green slope +that stretched far below to the forest of lodgepole pines, stood many +conical, tent-like formations of rock. They were even whiter than the +canvas tepees which were grouped in front of them. At any time of the +day these formations were uncanny. In time of morning or evening shadow +the effect upon the imagination was intensified. The strange outcropping +was repeated nowhere else. It jutted forth, white and mysterious--a +monstrous tenting-ground left over from the Stone Age. As if to deepen +the effect of the weird stage setting, Nature contrived that all the +winds which blew here should blow mournfully. The lighter breezes +stirred vague whisperings in the pine-trees. The heavy winds wrought +weird noises which echoed from the cliffs. + +Lowell had looked upon the Camp of the Stone Tepees once before. There +had been a chase for a cattle thief. It was thought he had hidden +somewhere in the vicinity of the white semicircle, but he had not been +found there, because no man in fear of pursuit could dwell more than a +night in so ghostly a place of solitude. + +It had been late evening when Lowell had first seen the Camp of the +Stone Tepees. He remembered the half-expectant way in which he had +paused, thinking to see a white-clad priest emerge from one of the +shadowy stone tents and place a human victim upon one of the sacrificial +tablets in the open glade. It was early morning when Lowell looked on +the scene a second time. He and the sheriff had made a daylight start, +leaving the Indians to follow with the pack-horses. It was a long climb +up the slopes, among the pines, from the plains below. The trail, for +the greater part of the way, had followed a stream which was none too +easy fording at the best, and which regularly rose several inches every +afternoon owing to the daily melting of late snows in the mountain +heights. It was necessary to cross and recross the stream many times. +Occasionally the horses floundered over smooth rocks and were nearly +carried away. All four men were wet to the waist. Redmond, with memories +of countless wider and more treacherous fords crowding upon him, merely +jested at each new buffeting in the stream. The Indians were concerned +only lest some pack-animal should fall in midstream. Lowell, a good +horseman and tireless mountaineer, counted physical discomfort as +nothing when such vistas of delight were being opened up. + +The giant horseshoe in the cliffs was in semi-darkness when they came in +sight of it. Lowell was in the lead, and he turned his horse and +motioned to the sheriff to remain hidden in the trees that skirted the +glade. The voice of a solitary Indian was flung back and forth in the +curve of the cliffs. His back was toward the white men. If he heard +them, he made no sign. He was wrapped in a blanket, from shoulders to +heels, and was in the midst of a long incantation, flung at the beetling +walls with their foot fringe of stone tents. The tepees of the Indians +were hardly distinguishable from those which Nature had pitched on this +world-old camping-ground. No sound came from the tents of the Indians. +Probably the "big medicine" of the Indian was being listened to, but +those who heard made no sign. + +"It's Fire Bear," said Lowell, as the voice went on and the echoes +fluttered back from the cliffs. + +"He's sure making big medicine," remarked the sheriff. "They've picked +one grand place for a camp. By the Lord! it even sort of gave me the +shivers when I first looked at it. What'll we do?" + +"Wait till he gets through," cautioned Lowell. "They'd come buzzing out +of those tents like hornets if we broke in now, in all probability." + +The sheriff's face hardened. + +"Jest the same, that sort of thing ought to be stopped--all of it," he +said. + +"Do you stop every fellow that mounts a soap box, or, what's more +likely, stands up on a street corner in an automobile and makes a +Socialist speech?" + +"No--but that's different." + +"Why is it? An Indian reservation is just like a little nation. It has +its steady-goers, and it has its share of the shiftless, and also it has +an occasional Socialist, and once in a while a rip-snorting Anarchist. +Fire Bear doesn't know just what he is yet. He's made some pretty big +medicine and made some prophecies that have come true and have gained +him a lot of followers, but I can't see that it's up to me to stop him. +Not that I have any cause to love that Indian over there in that +blanket. He's been the cause of a lot of trouble. He's young and +arrogant. In a big city he would be a gang-leader. The police and the +courts would find him a problem--and he's just as much, or perhaps more, +of a problem out here in the wilds than he would be in town." + +The sheriff made no reply, but watched Fire Bear narrowly. Soon the +Indian ended his incantations, and the tents of his followers began +opening and blanketed figures came forth. Lowell and the sheriff stepped +out into the glade and walked toward the camp. The Indians grouped +themselves about Fire Bear. There was something of defiance in their +attitude, but the white men walked on unconcernedly, and, without any +preliminaries, Lowell told Fire Bear the object of their errand. + +"You're suspected of murdering that white man on the Dollar Sign road," +said Lowell. "You and these young fellows with you were around there. +Now you're wanted, to go to White Lodge and tell the court just what you +know about things." + +Fire Bear was one of the best-educated of the younger generation of +Indians. He had carried off honors at an Eastern school, both in his +studies and athletics. But his haunts had been the traders' stores when +he returned to the reservation. Then he became possessed of the idea +that he was a medicine man. Fervor burned in his veins and fired his +speech. The young fellows who had idled with him became his zealots. He +began making prophecies which mysteriously worked out. He had prophesied +a flood, and one came, sweeping away many lodges. When he and his +followers were out of food, he had prophesied that plenty would come to +them that day. It so happened that lightning that morning struck the +trace chain on a load of wood that was being hauled down the +mountain-side by a white leaser. The four oxen drawing the load were +killed, and the white man gave the beef to the Indians, on condition +that they would remove the hides for him. This had sent Fire Bear's +stock soaring and had gained many recruits for his camp--even some of +the older Indians joining. + +Lowell had treated Fire Bear leniently--too leniently most of the white +men near the reservation had considered. With the Indians' religious +ceremonials had gone the usual dancing. An inspector from Washington had +sent in a recommendation that the dancing be stopped at once. Lowell had +received several broad hints, following the inspector's letter, but he +was waiting an imperative order before stopping the dancing, because he +knew that any high-handed interference just then would undo an +incalculable amount of his painstaking work with the Indians. He had +figured that he could work personally with Fire Bear after the young +medicine man's first ardor in his new calling had somewhat cooled. Then +had come the murder, with everything pointing to the implication of the +young Indian, and with consequent action forced on the agent. + +A threatening circle surrounded the white men in Fire Bear's camp. + +"Why didn't you bring the Indian police to arrest me?" asked the young +Indian leader. + +"Because I thought you'd see things in their right light and come," said +Lowell. + +Fire Bear thought a moment. + +"Well, because you did not bring the police, I will go with you," he +said. + +"You don't have to tell us anything that might be used against you," +said the sheriff. + +Fire Bear smiled bitterly. + +"I've studied white man's law," he said. + +Redmond rubbed his head in bewilderment. Such words, coming from a +blanketed Indian, in such primitive surroundings, passed his +comprehension. Yet Lowell thought, as he smiled at the sheriff's +amazement, that it merely emphasized the queer jumble of old and new on +every reservation. + +"I'll ask you to wait for me out there in the trees," said Fire Bear. + +Redmond hesitated, but the agent turned at once and walked away, and the +sheriff finally followed. Fire Bear exhorted his followers a few +moments, and then disappeared in his tent. Soon he came out, dressed in +the "store clothes" of the ordinary Indian. He joined Redmond and the +agent at the edge of the glade, and they made their way toward the +creek, no one venturing to follow from the camp. At the bottom of the +slope they found the Indian helpers with the horses. + +"Fire Bear," said Lowell, as they paused before starting out, "there's +one thing more I want of you. Help us to find Jim McFann. He's as deep +or deeper in this thing than you are." + +"I know he is," replied Fire Bear, "but it wasn't for me to say so. I'll +help find him for you." + +They had to fight to get Jim McFann. They found the half-breed cooking +some bacon over a tiny fire, at the head of a gulch that was just made +for human concealment. If it had not been for the good offices of Fire +Bear on the trail, they might have hunted a week for their man. McFann +had moved camp several times since Plenty Buffalo had located him. Each +time he had covered his tracks with surpassing care. + +Lowell, according to prearranged plan, had walked in upon McFann, with +Redmond covering the half-breed, ready to shoot in case a weapon was +drawn. But McFann merely made a headlong dive for Lowell's legs, and +there was a rough-and-tumble fight about the camp-fire which was settled +only when the agent managed to get a lock on his wiry opponent which +pinned McFann's back to the ground. + +"You wouldn't fight that hard if you thought you was being yanked up for +a little bootlegging, Jim," mused Tom Redmond, pulling his long +mustache. "You know what we've come after you for, don't you?" + +McFann threshed about in another futile attempt to escape, and cursed +his captors with gifts of expletive which came from two races. + +"It's on account of that tenderfoot that was found on the Dollar Sign," +growled Jim, "but Fire Bear and his gang can't tell any more on me than +I can on them." + +"That's the way to get at the truth," chuckled the sheriff triumphantly. +"I guess by the time you fellers are through with each other we'll know +who shot that man and staked him down." + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +On the day following the incarceration of Fire Bear and Jim McFann, +Lowell rode over to the scene of the murder on the Dollar Sign road. + +It seemed to the agent as if a fresh start from the very beginning would +do more than anything else to put him on the trail of a solution of the +mystery. + +Lowell was not inclined to accept Redmond's comfortable theory that +either Fire Bear or Jim McFann was guilty--or that both were equally +deep in the crime. Nor did he assume that these men were not guilty. It +was merely that there were some aspects of the case which did not seem +to him entirely convincing. Circumstantial evidence pointed strongly to +Fire Bear and the half-breed, and this evidence might prove all that was +necessary to fasten the crime upon the prisoners. In fact Redmond was so +confident that he prophesied a confession from one or both of the men +before the time arrived for their hearing in court. + +As Lowell approached Talpers's store, the trader came out and hailed +him. + +"I hear Redmond's arrested Fire Bear and Jim McFann," said Talpers. + +"Yes." + +"Well, as far as public opinion goes, I s'pose Tom has hit the nail on +the head," observed Bill. "There's some talk right now about lynchin' +the prisoners. Folks wouldn't talk that way unless the arrest was pretty +popular." + +"That's Tom Redmond's lookout. He will have to guard against a +lynching." + +Talpers stroked his beard and smiled reflectively. Evidently he had +something on his mind. His attitude was that of a man concealing +something of the greatest importance. + +"There's one thing sure," went on Bill. "Jim McFann ain't any more +guilty of a hand in that murder than if he wasn't within a thousand +miles of the Dollar Sign when the thing happened." + +"That will have to be proved in court." + +"Well, as far as McFann's concerned I know Redmond's barkin' up the +wrong tree." + +"How do you know it?" + +Talpers made a deprecating motion. + +"Of course I don't know it absolutely. It's jest what I feel, from bein' +as well acquainted with Jim as I am." + +"Yes, you and Jim are tolerably close to each other--everybody knows +that." + +Talpers shot a suspicious glance at the agent, and then he reassumed his +mysterious grin. + +"Where you goin' now?" he asked. + +"Just up on the hill." + +"I've been back there a couple of times," sneered Bill, "but I couldn't +find no notes dropped by the murderer." + +"Well, there's just one thing that's plain enough now, Talpers," said +Lowell grimly, as he released his brakes. "While Jim McFann is in jail a +lot of Indians are going to be thirsty, and your receipts for whiskey +are not going to be so big." + +Talpers scowled angrily and stepped toward the agent. Lowell sat calmly +in the car, watching him unconcernedly. Then Talpers suddenly turned and +walked toward the store, and the agent started his motor and glided +away. + +Bill's ugly scowl did not fade as he stalked into his store. Lowell's +last shot about the bootlegging had gone home. Talpers had had more +opposition from Lowell than from any other Indian agent since the trader +had established his store on the reservation line. In fact the young +agent had made whiskey-dealing so dangerous that Talpers was getting +worried. Lowell had brought the Indian police to a state of efficiency +never before obtained. Bootlegging had become correspondingly difficult. +Jim McFann had complained several times about being too close to +capture. Now he was arrested on another charge, and, as Lowell had said, +Talpers's most profitable line of business was certain to suffer. As +Bill walked back to his store he wondered how much Lowell actually knew, +and how much had been shrewd guesswork. The young agent had a certain +inscrutable air about him, for all his youth, which was most disturbing. + +Talpers had not dared come out too openly for McFann's release. He +offered bail bonds, which were refused. He had managed to get a few +minutes' talk with McFann, but Redmond insisted on being present, and +all the trader could do was to assure the half-breed that everything +possible would be done to secure his release. + +Bill's disturbed condition of mind vanished only when he reached into +his pocket and drew out the letter which indicated that the girl at +Mystery Ranch knew something about the tragedy which was setting not +only the county but the whole State aflame. Here was a trump card which +might be played in several different ways. The thing to do was to hold +it, and to keep his counsel until the right time came. He thanked the +good fortune that had put him in possession of the postmastership--an +office which few men were shrewd enough to use to their own good +advantage! Any common postmaster, who couldn't use his brains, would +have let that letter go right through, but that wasn't Bill Talpers's +way! He read the letter over again, slowly, as he had done a dozen times +before. Written in a pretty hand it was--handwriting befitting a dum +fine-lookin' girl like that! Bill's features softened into something +resembling a smile. He put the letter back in his pocket, and his +expression was almost beatific as he turned to wait on an Indian woman +who had come in search of a new shawl. + +Talpers's attitude, which had been at once cynical and mysterious, was +the cause of some speculation on Lowell's part as the agent drove away +from the trader's store. Something had happened to put so much of +triumph in Talpers's face and speech, but Lowell was not able to figure +out just what that something could be. He resolved to keep a closer eye +than customary on the doings of the trader, but soon all thoughts of +everything save those concerned directly with the murder were banished +from his mind when he reached the scene of the tragedy. + +Getting out of his automobile, Lowell went over the ground carefully. +The grass and even some of the sage had been trampled down by the +curious crowds that had flocked to the scene. An hour's careful search +revealed nothing, and Lowell walked back to his car, shaking his head. +Apparently the surroundings were more inscrutable than ever. The rolling +hills were beginning to lose their green tint, under a hot sun, +unrelieved by rain. The last rain of the season had fallen a day or so +before the murder. Lowell remembered the little pools he had splashed +through on the road, and the scattered "wallows" of mud that had +remained on the prairie. Such places were now all dry and caked. A few +meadow-larks were still singing, but even their notes would be silenced +in the long, hot days that were to come. But the distant mountains, and +the little stream in the bottom of the valley, looked cool and inviting. +Ordinarily Lowell would have turned his machine toward the line of +willows and tried an hour or so of fly-fishing, as there were plenty of +trout in the stream, but to-day he kept on along the road over which he +had taken Helen Ervin to her stepfather's ranch. + +As Lowell drove up in front of Willis Morgan's ranch-house, he noticed a +change for the better in the appearance of the place. Wong had been +doing some work on the fence, but had discreetly vanished when Lowell +came in sight. The yard had been cleared of rubbish and a thick growth +of weeds had been cut down. + +Lowell marveled that a Chinese should be doing such work as repairing a +fence, and wondered if the girl had wrought all the changes about the +place or if it had been done under Morgan's direction. + +As if in answer, Helen Ervin came into the yard with a rake in her hand. +She gave a little cry of pleasure at seeing Lowell. + +"I'd have been over before, as I promised," said Lowell, "and in fact I +had actually started when I had to make a long trip to a distant part of +the reservation." + +"I suppose it was in connection with this murder," she said. + +"Yes." + +"Tell me about it. What bearing did your trip have on it?" + +Lowell was surprised at the intensity of her question. + +"Well, you see," he said, "I had to bring in a couple of men who are +suspected of committing the crime. But, frankly, I thought that in this +quiet place you had not so much as heard of the murder." + +The girl smiled, but there was no mirth in her eyes. + +"Of course it isn't as if one had newsboys shouting at the door," she +replied, "but we couldn't escape hearing of it, even here. Tell me, who +are these men you have arrested?" + +"An Indian and a half-breed. Their tracks were found at the scene of the +murder." + +"But that evidence is so slight! Surely they cannot--they may not be +guilty." + +"If not, they will have to clear themselves at the trial." + +"Will they--will they be hanged if found guilty?" + +"They may be lynched before the trial. There is talk of it now." + +Helen made a despairing gesture. + +"Don't let anything of that sort happen!" she cried. "Use all your +influence. Get the men out of the country if you can. But don't let +innocent men be slain." + +Lowell attempted to divert her mind to other things. He spoke of the +changed appearance of the ranch. + +"Your coming has made a great difference here," he said. "This doesn't +look like the place where I left you not many days ago." + +Helen closed her eyes involuntarily, as if to blot out some vision in +her memory. + +"That terrible night!" she exclaimed. "I--" + +She paused, and Lowell looked at her in surprise and alarm. + +"What is it?" he asked. "Is there anything wrong--anything I can do to +help you?" + +"No," she said. "Truly there is not, now. But there was. It was only the +recollection of my coming here that made me act so queerly." + +"Look here," said Lowell bluntly, "is that stepfather of yours treating +you all right? To put it frankly, he hasn't a very good reputation +around here. I've often regretted not telling you more when I brought +you over here. But you know how people feel about minding their own +affairs. It's a foolish sort of reserve that keeps us quiet when we feel +that we should speak." + +"No, I'm treated all right," said the girl. "It was just homesickness +for my school, I guess, that worked on me when I first came here. But I +can't get over the recollection of that night you brought me to this +place. Everything seemed so chilling and desolate--and dead! And then +those few days that followed!" + +She buried her face in her hands a moment, and then said, quietly: + +"Did you know that my stepfather had married an Indian woman?" + +"Yes. Do you mean that you didn't know?" + +"No, I didn't know." + +"What a fool I was for not telling you these things!" exclaimed Lowell. +"I might have saved you a lot of humiliation." + +"You could have saved me more than humiliation. He told me all about +her--the Indian woman. He laughed when he told me. He said he was going +to kill me as he had killed her--by inches." + +Lowell grew cold with horror. + +"But this is criminal!" he declared. "Let me take you away from this +place at once. I'll find some place where you can go--back to my +mother's home in the East." + +"No, it's all right now. I'm in no danger, and I can't leave this place. +In fact I don't want to," said the girl, putting her hand on Lowell's +arm. + +"Do you mean to tell me that he treated you so fiendishly during the +first few days, and then suddenly changed and became the most +considerate of relatives?" + +"I tell you I am being treated all right now. I merely told you what +happened at first--part of the cruel things he said--because I couldn't +keep it all to myself any longer. Besides, that Indian woman--poor +little thing!--is on my mind all the time." + +"Then you won't come away?" + +"No--he needs me." + +"Well, this beats anything I ever heard of--" began Lowell. Then he +stopped after a glance at her face. She was deathly pale. Her eyes were +unnaturally bright, and her hands trembled. It seemed to him that the +school-girl he had brought to the ranch a few days before had become a +woman through some great mental trial. + +"Come and see, or hear, for yourself," said Helen. + +Wonderingly, Lowell stepped into the ranch-house kitchen. Helen pointed +to the living-room. + +Through the partly open door, Lowell caught a glimpse of an aristocratic +face, surmounted by gray hair. A white hand drummed on the arm of a +library chair which contained pillows and blankets. From the room there +came a voice that brought to Lowell a sharp and disagreeable memory of +the cutting voice he had heard in false welcome to Helen Ervin a few +days before. Only now there was querulous insistence in the voice--the +insistence of the sick person who calls upon some one who has proved +unfailing in the performance of the tasks of the sick-room. + +Helen stepped inside the room and closed the door. Lowell heard her +talking soothingly to the sick man, and then she came out. + +"You have seen for yourself," she said. + +Lowell nodded, and they stepped out into the yard once more. + +"I'll leave matters to your own judgment," said Lowell, "only I'm asking +two things of you. One is to let me know if things go wrong, and the +other isn't quite so important, but it will please me a lot. It's just +to go riding with me right now." + +Helen smilingly assented. Once more she was the girl he had brought over +from the agency. She ran indoors and spoke a few words to Wong, and came +out putting on her hat. + +They drove for miles toward the heart of the Indian reservation. The +road had changed to narrow, parallel ribbons, with grass between. +Cattle, some of which belonged to the Indians and some to white leasers, +were grazing in the distance. Occasionally they could see an Indian +habitation--generally a log cabin, with its ugliness emphasized by the +grace of a flanking tepee. Everything relating to human affairs seemed +dwarfed in such immensity. The voices of Indian herdsmen, calling to +each other, were reduced to faint murmurs. The very sound of the motor +seemed blanketed. + +Lowell and the girl traveled for miles in silence. He shrewdly suspected +that the infinite peace of the landscape would prove the best tonic for +her overwrought mind. His theory proved correct. The girl leaned back in +the seat, and, taking off her hat, enjoyed to the utmost the rush of the +breeze and the swift changes in the great panorama. + +"It isn't any wonder that the Indians fought hard for this country, is +it?" asked Lowell. "It's all too big for one's comprehension at first, +especially when you've come from brick walls and mere strips of sky, but +after you've become used to it you can never forget it." + +"I'd like to keep right on going to those blue mountains," said the +girl. "It's wonderful, but a bit appalling, to a tenderfoot such as I +am. I think we'd better go back." + +Lowell drove in a circuitous route instead of taking the back trail. +Just after they had swung once more into the road near the ranch, they +met a horseman who proved to be Bill Talpers. The trader reined his +horse to the side of the road and motioned to Lowell to stop. Bill's +grin was bestowed upon the girl, who uttered a little exclamation of +dismay when she established the identity of the horseman. + +"I jest wanted to ask if you found anything up there," said Bill, +jerking his thumb toward the road over which he had just ridden. It was +quite plain that Talpers had been drinking. + +"Maybe I did, and maybe not, Bill," answered Lowell disgustedly. +"Anyway, what about it?" + +"Jest this," observed Bill, talking to Lowell, but keeping his gaze upon +Helen. "Sometimes you can find letters where you don't expect the guilty +parties to leave 'em. Mebbe you ain't lookin' in the right place for +evidence. How-de-do, Miss Ervin? I'm goin' to drop in at the ranch and +see you and your stepfather some day. I ain't been very neighborly so +far, but it's because business has prevented." + +Lowell started the car, and as they darted away he looked in +astonishment at the girl. Her pallor showed that once more she was under +great mental strain. It came to Lowell in a flash that Bill's arrogance +sprang from something deeper than mere conceit or drunkenness. +Undoubtedly he had set out deliberately to terrorize the girl, and had +succeeded. Lowell waited for some remark from Helen, but none came. He +kept back the questions that were on the tip of his tongue. Aside from a +few banalities, they exchanged no words until Lowell helped her from the +car at the ranch. + +"I want to tell you," said Lowell, "that I appreciate such confidence as +you have reposed in me. I won't urge you to tell more but I'm going to +be around in the offing, and, if things don't go right, and especially +if Bill Talpers--" + +There was so much terror in the girl's eyes that Lowell's assurances +came to a lame ending. She turned and ran into the house, after a +fluttering word of thanks for the ride, and Lowell, more puzzled than +ever, drove thoughtfully away. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +White Lodge was a town founded on excitement. Counting its numerous +shootings and consequent lynchings, and proportioning them to its +population, White Lodge had experienced more thrills than the largest of +Eastern cities. Some ribald verse-writer, seizing upon White Lodge's +weakness as a theme, had once written: + + We can put the card deck by us, + We can give up whiskey straight; + Though we ain't exactly pious, + We can fill the parson's plate; + We can close the gamblin' places, + We can save our hard-earned coin, + BUT we want a man for breakfast + In the mor-r-rnin'. + +But of course such lines were written in early days, and for newspaper +consumption in a rival town. White Lodge had grown distinctly away from +its wildness. It had formed a Chamber of Commerce which entered bravely +upon its mission as a lodestone for the attraction of Eastern capital. +But the lure of adventurous days still remained in the atmosphere. Men +who were assembled for the purpose of seeing what could be done about +getting a horseshoe-nail factory for White Lodge wound up the session by +talking about the days of the cattle and sheep war. All of which was +natural, and would have taken place in any town with White Lodge's +background of stirring tradition. + +Until the murder on the Dollar Sign road there had been little but +tradition for White Lodge to feed on. The sheriff's job had come to be +looked upon as a sinecure. But now all was changed. Not only White +Lodge, but the whole countryside, had something live to discuss. Even +old Ed Halsey, who had not been down from his cabin in the mountains for +at least five years, ambled in on his ancient saddle horse to get the +latest in mass theory. + +So far as theorizing was concerned, opinion in White Lodge ran all one +way. The men who had been arrested were guilty, so the local newspaper +assumed, echoing side-walk conversation. The only questions were: Just +how was the crime committed, and how deeply was each man implicated? +Also, were there any confederates? Some of the older cattlemen, who had +been shut out of leases on the reservation, were even heard to hint that +in their opinion the whole tribe might have had a hand in the killing. +Anyway, Fire Bear's cohorts should be rounded up and imprisoned without +delay. + +Lowell was not surprised to find that he had been drawn into the vortex +of unfriendliness. More articles and editorials appeared in the "White +Lodge Weekly Star," putting the general blame for the tragedy upon the +policy of "coddling" the Indians. + +"The whole thing," wound up one editorial, "is the best kind of an +argument for throwing open the reservation to white settlement." + +"That is the heart of the matter as it stands," said Lowell, pointing +out the editorial to his chief clerk. "This murder is to be made the +excuse for a big drive on Congress to have the reservation thrown open." + +"Yes," observed Rogers, "the big cattlemen have been itching for another +chance since their last bill was defeated in Congress. They remind me of +the detective concern that never sleeps, only they might better get in a +few honest, healthy snores than waste their time the way they have +lately." + +Lowell paid no attention to editorial criticism, but it was not easy to +avoid hearing some of the personal comment that was passed when he +visited White Lodge. In fact he found it necessary to come to blows with +one cowpuncher, who had evidently been stationed near Lowell's +automobile to "get the goat" of the young Indian agent. The encounter +had been short and decisive. The cowboy, who was the hero of many fistic +engagements, passed some comment which had been elaborately thought out +at the camp-fire, and which, it was figured by his collaborators, "would +make anything human fight or quit." + +"That big cowpuncher from Sartwell's outfit sure got the agent's goat +all right," said Sheriff Tom Redmond, in front of whose office the +affair happened. "That is to say, he got the goat coming head-on, horns +down and hoofs striking fire. That young feller was under the +cowpuncher's arms in jest one twenty-eighth of a second, and there was +only two sounds that fell on the naked ear--one being the smack when +Lowell hit and the other the crash when the cowpuncher lit. If that rash +feller'd taken the trouble to send me a little note of inquiry in +advance, I could have told him to steer clear of a man who tied into a +desperate man the way that young agent tied into Jim McFann out there on +the reservation. But no public or private warnings are going to be +necessary now. From this time on, young Lowell's going to have more +berth-room than a wildcat." + +Such matters as cold nods from former friends were disregarded by +Lowell. He had been through lesser affairs which had brought him under +criticism. In fact he knew that a certain measure of such injustice +would be the portion of any man who accepted the post of agent. He went +his way, doing what he could to insure a fair trial for both men, and at +the same time not overlooking anything that might shed new light on a +case which most of the residents of White Lodge seemed to consider as +closed, all but the punishment to be meted out to the prisoners. + +The hearing was to be held in the little court-room presided over by +Judge Garford, who had been a figure at Vigilante trials in early days +and who was a unique personification of kindliness and firmness. Both +prisoners had refused counsel, nor had any confession materialized, as +Tom Redmond had prophesied. McFann had spent most of his time cursing +all who had been concerned in his arrest. Talpers had called on him +again, and had whispered mysteriously through the bars: + +"Don't worry, Jim. If it comes to a showdown, I'll be there with +evidence that'll clear you flyin'." + +As a matter of fact, Talpers intended to play a double game. He would +let matters drift, and see if McFann did not get off in the ordinary +course of events. Meantime the trader would use his precious possession, +the letter written by Helen Ervin, to terrify the girl. In case the girl +proved defiant, why, then it would be time to produce the letter as a +law-abiding citizen should, and demand that the searchlight of justice +be turned on the author of a missive apparently so directly concerned +with the murder. If it so happened that the letter in his hands proved +to be a successful weapon, and if Bill Talpers were accepted as a +suitor, he would let the matter drop, so far as the authorities were +concerned--and Jim McFann could drop with it. If the half-breed were to +be sacrificed when a few words from Bill Talpers might save him, so much +the worse for Jim McFann! The affairs of Bill Talpers were to be +considered first of all, and there was no need of being too solicitous +over the welfare of any mere cat's-paw like the half-breed. + +If Jim McFann had known what was passing in the mind of the trader, he +would have torn his way out of jail with his bare hands and slain his +partner in bootlegging. But the half-breed took Talpers's fair words at +face value and faced his prospects with a trifle more of equanimity. + +Fire Bear continued to view matters with true Indian composure. He had +made no protestations of innocence, and had told Lowell there was +nothing he wanted except to get the hearing over with as quickly as +possible. The young Indian, to Lowell's shrewd eye, did not seem well. +His actions were feverish and his eyes unnaturally bright. At Lowell's +request, an agency doctor was brought and examined Fire Bear. His report +to Lowell was the one sinister word: "Tuberculosis!" + +When the men were brought into the court-room a miscellaneous crowd had +assembled. Cowpunchers from many miles away had ridden in to hear what +the Indian and "breed" had to say for themselves. The crowd even +extended through the open doors into the hallway. Late comers, who could +not get so much as standing room, draped themselves upon the stairs and +about the porch and made eager inquiry as to the progress of affairs. + +Helen Ervin rode in to attend the hearing, in response to an inner +appeal against which she had struggled vainly. She met Lowell as she +dismounted from the old white horse in front of the court-house. Lowell +had called two or three times at the ranch, following their ride across +the reservation. He had not gone into the house, but had merely stopped +to get her assurance that everything was going well and that the sick +man was steadily progressing toward convalescence. + +"Why didn't you tell me you were coming over?" asked Lowell. "I would +have brought you in my machine. As it is, I must insist on taking you +back. I'll have Plenty Buffalo lead your pony back to the ranch when he +returns to the agency." + +"I couldn't help coming," said Helen. "I have a feeling that innocent +men are going to suffer a great injustice. Tell me, do you think they +have a chance of going free?" + +"They may be held for trial," said Lowell. "No one knows what will be +brought up either for or against them in the meantime." + +"But they should not spend so much as a day in jail," insisted Helen. +"They--" + +Here she paused and looked over Lowell's shoulder, her expression +changing to alarm. The agent turned and beheld Bill Talpers near them, +his gaze fixed on the girl. Talpers turned away as Lowell escorted Helen +upstairs to the court-room, where he secured a seat for her. + +As the prisoners were brought in Helen recognized the unfriendliness of +the general attitude of White Lodge toward them. Hostility was expressed +in cold stares and whispered comment. + +The men afforded a contrasting picture. Fire Bear's features were pure +Indian. His nose was aquiline, his cheek-bones high, and his eyes black +and piercing, the intensity of their gaze being emphasized by the fever +which was beginning to consume him. His expression was martial. In his +football days the "fighting face" of the Indian star had often appeared +on sporting pages. He surveyed the crowd in the court-room with calm +indifference, and seldom glanced at the gray-bearded, benign-looking +judge. + +Jim McFann, on the contrary, seldom took his eyes from the judge's face. +Jim was not so tall as Fire Bear, but was of wiry, athletic build. His +cheek-bones were as high as those of the Indian, but his skin was +lighter in color, and his hair had a tendency to curl. His sinewy hands +were clenched on his knees, and his moccasined feet crossed and +uncrossed themselves as the hearing progressed. + +Each man testified briefly in his own behalf, and each, in Helen's +opinion, told a convincing story. Both admitted having been on the scene +of the crime. Jim McFann was there first. The half-breed testified that +he had been looking for a rawhide lariat which he thought he had dropped +from his saddle somewhere along the Dollar Sign road the day before. He +had noticed an automobile standing in the road, and had discovered the +body staked down on the prairie. In answer to a question, McFann +admitted that the rope which had been cut in short lengths and used to +tie the murdered man to the stakes had been the lariat for which he had +been searching. He was alarmed at this discovery, and was about to +remove the rope from the victim's ankles and wrists, when he had +descried a body of horsemen approaching. He had thought the horsemen +might be Indian police, and had jumped on his horse and ridden away, +making his way through a near-by gulch and out on the prairie without +being detected. + +"Why were you so afraid of the Indian police?" was asked. + +The half-breed hesitated a moment, and then said: + +"Bootlegging." + +There was a laugh in the court-room at this--a sharp, mirthless laugh +which was checked by the insistent sound of the bailiff's gavel. + +Jim McFann sank back in his chair, livid with rage. In his eyes was the +look of the snarling wild animal--the same look that had flashed there +when he sprang at Lowell in his camp. He motioned that he had nothing +more to say. + +Fire Bear's testimony was as brief. He said that he and a company of his +young men--perhaps thirty or forty--all mounted on ponies, had taken a +long ride from the camp where they had been making medicine. The trip +was in connection with the medicine that was being made. Fire Bear and +his young men had ridden by a circuitous route, and had left the +reservation at the Greek Letter Ranch on the same morning that McFann +had found the slain man's body. They had intended riding along the +Dollar Sign road, past Talpers's and the agency, and back to their camp. +But on the big hill between Talpers's and the Greek Letter Ranch they +had found the automobile standing in the road, and a few minutes later +had found the body, just as McFann had described it. They had not seen +any trace of McFann, but had noticed the tracks of a man and pony about +the automobile and the body. The Indians had held a quick consultation, +and, on the advice of Fire Bear, had quit the scene suddenly. It was the +murder of a white man, off the reservation. It was a case for white men +to settle. If the Indians were found there, they might get in trouble. +They had galloped across the prairie to their camp, by the most direct +way, and had not gone on to Talpers's nor to the agency. + +Helen expected both men to be freed at once. To her dismay, the judge +announced that both would be held for trial, without bail, following +perfunctory statements from Plenty Buffalo, Walter Lowell, and Sheriff +Tom Redmond, relating to later events in the tragedy. As in a dream +Helen saw some of the spectators starting to leave and Redmond's deputy +beckon to his prisoners, when Walter Lowell rose and asked permission to +address the court in behalf of the Government's ward, Fire Bear. + +Lowell, in a few words, explained that further imprisonment probably +would be fatal to Fire Bear. He produced the certificate of the agency +physician, showing that the prisoner had contracted tuberculosis. + +"If Fire Bear will give me his word of honor that he will not try to +escape," said the agent, "I will guarantee his appearance on the day set +for his trial." + +A murmur ran through the court-room, quickly hushed by the insistent +gavel. + +Lowell had been reasonably sure of his ground before he spoke. The +venerable judge had always been interested in the work at the agency, +and was a close student of Indian tradition and history. The request had +come as a surprise, but the court hesitated only a moment, and then +announced that, if the Government's agent on the reservation would be +responsible for the delivery of the prisoner for trial, the defendant, +Fire Bear, would be delivered to said agent's care. The other defendant, +being in good health and not being a ward of the Government, would have +to stand committed to jail for trial. + +Fire Bear accepted the news with outward indifference. Jim McFann, with +his hands tightly clenched and the big veins on his forehead testifying +to the rage that burned within him, was led away between Redmond and his +deputy. There was a shuffling of feet and clinking of spurs as men rose +from their seats. A buzz came from the crowd, as distinctly hostile as a +rattler's whirr. Words were not distinguishable, but the sentiment could +not have been any more distinctly indicated if the crowd had shouted in +unison. + +Judge Garford rose and looked in a fatherly way upon the crowd. At a +motion from him the bailiff rapped for attention. The judge stroked his +white beard and said softly: + +"Friends, there is some danger that excitement may run away with this +community. The arm of the law is long, and I want to say that it will be +reached out, without fear or favor, to gather in any who may attempt in +any way to interfere with the administration of justice." + +To Helen it seemed as if the old, heroic West had spoken through this +fearless giant of other days. There was no mistaking the meaning that +ran through that quietly worded message. It brought the crowd up with a +thrill of apprehension, followed by honest shame. There was even a +ripple of applause. The crowd started once more to file out, but in +different mood. Some of the more impetuous, who had rushed downstairs +before the judge had spoken, were hustled away from the agent's +automobile, around which they had grouped themselves threateningly. + +"The judge means business," one old-timer said in an awe-stricken voice. +"That's the way he looked and talked when he headed the Vigilantes' +court. He'll do what he says if he has to hang a dozen men." + +When Lowell and Helen came out to the automobile, followed by Fire Bear, +the court-house square was almost deserted. Fire Bear climbed into the +back seat, at Lowell's direction. He was without manacles. Helen +occupied the seat beside the driver. As they drove away, she caught a +glimpse of Judge Garford coming down the court-house steps. He was +engaged in telling some bit of pioneer reminiscence--something broadly +pleasant. His face was smiling and his blue eyes were twinkling. He +looked almost as any grandparent might have looked going to join a +favorite grandchild at a park bench. Yet here was a man who had torn +aside the veil and permitted one glimpse at the old, inspiring West. + +Helen turned and looked at him again, as, in an earlier era, she would +have looked at Lincoln. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +The stage station at White Lodge was a temporary center of public +interest every afternoon at three o'clock when Charley Hicks drove the +passenger bus in from Quaking-Asp Grove. After a due inspection of the +passengers the crowd always shifted immediately to the post-office to +await the distribution of mail. + +A well-dressed, refined-looking woman of middle age was among the +passengers on the second day after the hearing of Fire Bear and Jim +McFann. She had little or nothing to say on the trip--perhaps for the +reason that speech would have been difficult on account of the +monopolizing of the conversation by the other passengers. These included +two women from White Lodge, one rancher from Antelope Mesa, and two +drummers who were going to call on White Lodge merchants. The +conversation was unusually brisk and ran almost exclusively on the +murder. + +Judge Garford's action in releasing Fire Bear on the agent's promise to +produce the prisoner in court was the cause of considerable criticism. +The two women, the ranchman, and one of the drummers had voted that too +much leniency was shown. The other drummer appealed to the stage-driver +to support his contention that the court's action was novel, but +entirely just. + +"Well, all I can say is," remarked the driver, "that if that Injun shows +up for trial, as per his agreement, without havin' to be sent for, it's +goin' to be a hard lesson for the white race to swaller. You can imagine +how much court'd be held if all white suspects was to be let go on their +word that they'd show up for trial. Detectives 'd be chasin' fugitives +all over the universe. If that Injun shows up, I'll carry the hull +reservation anywheres, without tickets, if they'll promise to pay me at +the end of the trip." + +The driver noticed that the quiet lady in the back seat, though taking +no part in the conversation, seemed to be a keenly interested listener. +No part of the discussion of the murder escaped her, but she asked no +questions. On alighting at White Lodge, she asked the driver where she +could get a conveyance to take her to Willis Morgan's ranch. + +The driver looked at her in such astonishment that she repeated her +question. + +"I'd 'a' plum forgot there was such a man in this part of the country," +said Charley, "if it hadn't 'a' been that sometime before this here +murder I carried a young woman--a stepdaughter of his'n--and she asked +me the same question. I don't believe you can hire any one to take you +out there, but I'll bet I can get you took by the same young feller that +took this girl to the ranch. He's the Indian agent, and I seen him in +his car when we turned this last corner." + +Followed by his passenger the driver hurried back to the corner and +hailed Walter Lowell, who was just preparing to return to the agency. + +On having matters explained, Lowell expressed his willingness to carry +the lady passenger over to the ranch. Her suitcase was put in the +automobile, and soon they were on the outskirts of White Lodge. + +"I ought to explain," said the agent's passenger, "that my name is +Scovill--Miss Sarah Scovill--and Mr. Morgan's stepdaughter has been in +my school for years." + +"I know," said Lowell. "I've heard her talk about your school, and I'm +glad you're going out to see her. She needs you." + +Miss Scovill looked quickly at Lowell. She was one of those women whose +beauty is only accentuated by gray hair. Her brow and eyes were +serene--those of a dreamer. Her mouth and chin were delicately modeled, +but firm. Their firmness explained, perhaps, why she was executive head +of a school instead of merely a teacher. Not all her philosophy had been +won from books. She had traveled and observed much of life at first +hand. That was why she could keep her counsel--why she had kept it +during all the talk on the stage, even though that talk had vitally +interested her. She showed the effects of her long, hard trip, but would +not hear of stopping at the agency for supper. + +"If you don't mind--if it is not altogether too much trouble to put you +to--I must go on," she said. "I assure you it's very important, and it +concerns Helen Ervin, and I assume that you are her friend." + +Lowell hastened his pace. It all meant that it would be long past the +supper hour when he returned to the agency, but there was an appeal in +Miss Scovill's eyes and voice which was not to be resisted. Anyway, he +was not going to offer material resistance to something which was +concerned with the well being of Helen Ervin. + +They sped through the agency, past Talpers's store, and climbed the big +hill just as the purples fell into their accustomed places in the +hollows of the plain. As they bowled past the scene of the tragedy, +Lowell pointed it out, with only a brief word. His passenger gave a +little gasp of pain and horror. He thought it was nothing more than +might ordinarily be expected under such circumstances, but, on looking +at Miss Scovill, he was surprised to see her leaning back against the +seat, almost fainting. + +"By George!" said Lowell contritely, "I shouldn't have mentioned it to +you." + +He slowed down the car, but Miss Scovill sat upright and recovered her +mental poise, though with evident effort. + +"I'm glad you did mention it," she said, looking back as if fascinated. +"Only, you see, I'd been hearing about the murder most of the day in the +stage, and then this place is so big and wide and lonely! Please don't +think I'm foolish." + +"It's all because you're from the city and haven't proportioned things +as yet," said Lowell. "Now all this loneliness seems kindly, to me. It's +only crowds that seem cruel. I often envy trappers dying alone in such +places. Also I can understand why the Indians wanted nothing better in +death than to have their bodies hoisted high atop of a hill, with +nothing to disturb." + +As they rounded the top of the hill and the road came up behind them +like an inverted curtain, Miss Scovill gave one last backward look. +Lowell saw that she was weeping quietly, but unrestrainedly. He drove on +in silence until he pulled the automobile up in front of the Morgan +ranch. + +"You'll find Miss Ervin here," said Lowell, stepping out of the car. +"This is the Greek Letter Ranch." + +If the prospect brought any new shock to Miss Scovill, she gave no +indication of the fact. She answered Lowell steadily enough when he +asked her when he should call for her on her return trip. + +"My return trip will be right now," she said. "I've thought it all +out--just what I'm to do, with your help. Please don't take my suitcase +from the car. Just turn the car around, and be ready to take us back +to-night--I mean Helen and myself. I intend to bring her right out and +take her away from this place." + +Wonderingly Lowell turned the car as she directed. Miss Scovill knocked +at the ranch-house door. It was opened by Wong, and Miss Scovill stepped +inside. The door closed again. Lowell rolled a cigarette and smoked it, +and then rolled another. He was about to step out of the car and knock +at the ranch-house door when Helen and Miss Scovill came out, each with +an arm about the other's waist. + +Miss Scovill's face looked whiter than ever in the moonlight. + +"Something has happened," she said--"something that makes it impossible +for me to go back--for Helen to go back with me to-night. If you can +come and get me in the morning, I'll go back alone." + +Lowell's amazement knew no bounds. Miss Scovill had made this long +journey from San Francisco to get Helen--evidently to wrest her at once +away from this ranch of mystery--and now she was going back alone, +leaving the girl among the very influences she had intended to combat. + +"Please, Mr. Lowell, do as she says," interposed Helen, whose demeanor +was grave, but whose joy at this meeting with her teacher and foster +mother shone in her eyes. + +"Yes, yes--you'll have our thanks all through your life if you will take +me back to-morrow and say nothing of what you have seen or heard," said +Miss Scovill. + +Lowell handed Miss Scovill's suitcase to the silent Wong, who had +slipped out behind the women. + +"I'm only too glad to be of service to you in any way," he said. "I'll +be here in the morning early enough so you can catch the stage out of +White Lodge." + +Much smoking on the way home did not clear up the mystery for Lowell. +Nor did sitting up and weighing the matter long after his usual bedtime +bring him any nearer to answering the questions: Why did Miss Scovill +come here determined to take Helen Ervin back to San Francisco with her? +Why did Miss Scovill change her mind so completely after arriving at +Morgan's ranch? Also why did said Miss Scovill betray such unusual +agitation on passing the scene of the murder on the Dollar Sign road--a +murder that she had been hearing discussed from all angles during the +day? + +This last question was intensified the next morning, when, with Helen in +the back seat with Miss Scovill, Lowell drove back to White Lodge. When +they passed the scene of the murder, Lowell took pains to notice that +Miss Scovill betrayed no signs of mental strain. Yet only a few hours +before she had been completely unnerved at passing by this same spot. + +The women talked little on the trip to White Lodge. What talk there was +between them was on school matters--mostly reminiscences of Helen's +school-days. Lowell could not help thinking that they feared to talk of +present matters--that something was weighing them down and crushing them +into silence. But they parted calmly enough at White Lodge. After the +stage had gone with Miss Scovill, Helen slipped into the seat beside +Lowell and chatted somewhat as she had done during their first journey +over the road. + +As for Lowell, he dismissed for the moment all thoughts of tragedy and +mystery from his mind, and gave himself up to the enjoyment of the ride. +They stopped at the agency, and Helen called on some of the friends she +had made on her first journey through. Lowell showed her about the +grounds, and she took keen interest in all that had been done to improve +the condition of the Indians. + +"Of course the main object is to induce the Indian to work," said +Lowell. "The agency is simply an experimental plant to show him the +right methods. It was hard for the white man to leave the comfortable +life of the savage and take up work. The trouble is that we're expecting +the Indian to acquire in a generation the very things it took us ages to +accept. That's why I haven't been in too great a hurry to shut down on +dances and religious ceremonies. The Indian has had to assimilate too +much, as it is. It seems to me that if he makes progress slowly that is +about all that can be expected of him." + +"It seems to me that saving the Indian from extermination, as all this +work is helping to do, is among the greatest things in the world," said +Helen. "The sad thing to me is that these people seem so remote from all +help. The world forgets so easily what it can't see." + +"Yes, there are no newspapers out here to get up Christmas charity +drives, and there are few volunteer settlement workers to be called on +for help at any time. And there are no charity balls for the Indian. It +isn't that he wants charity so much as understanding." + +"Understanding often comes quickest through charity," interposed Helen. +"It seems to me that no one could ask a better life-work than to help +these people." + +"There's more to them than the world has been willing to concede," +declared Lowell. "I never have subscribed to Parkman's theory that the +Indian's mind moves in a beaten track and that his soul is dormant. The +more I work among them the more respect I have for their capabilities." + +Further talk of Indian affairs consumed the remainder of the trip. +Lowell was an enthusiast in his work, though he seldom talked of it, +preferring to let results speak for themselves. But he had found a ready +and sympathetic listener. Furthermore, he wished to take the girl's mind +from the matters that evidently were proving such a weight. He succeeded +so well that not until they reached the ranch did her troubled +expression return. + +"Tell me," said Lowell, as he helped her from the automobile, "is he--is +Morgan better, and is he treating you all right?" + +"Yes, to both questions," said she. Then, after a moment's hesitation, +she added: "Come in. Perhaps it will be possible for you to see him." + +Lowell stepped into the room that served as Morgan's study. One wall was +lined with books, Greek predominating. Helen knocked at the door of the +adjoining room, and there came the clear, sharp, cynical voice that had +aroused all the antagonism in Lowell's nature on his first visit. + +"Come in, come in!" called the voice, as cold as ice crystals. + +Helen entered, and closed the door. The voice could be heard, in +different modulations, but always with profound cynicism as its basis. + +Lowell, with a gesture of rage, stepped to the library table. He picked +up a volume of Shakespeare's tragedies, and noticed that all references +to killing and to bloodshed in general had been blotted out. Passage +after passage was blackened with heavy lines in lead pencil. In +astonishment, Lowell picked up another volume and found that the same +thing had been done. Then the door opened and he heard the cutting voice +say: + +"Tell the interesting young agent that I am indisposed. I have never had +a social caller within my doors here, and I do not wish to start now." + +Helen came out and closed the door. + +"You heard?" she asked. + +"Yes," replied Lowell. "It's all right. I'm only sorry if my coming has +caused you any additional pain or embarrassment. I won't ask you again +what keeps you in an atmosphere like this, but any time you want to +leave, command me on the instant." + +"Please don't get our talk back where it was before," pleaded Helen, as +they stepped out on the porch and Lowell said good-bye. "I've enjoyed +the ride and the talk to-day because it all took me away from myself and +from this place of horrors. But I can't leave here permanently, no +matter how much I might desire it." + +"It's all going to be just as you say," Lowell replied. "Some day I'll +see through it all, perhaps, but right now I'm not trying very hard, +because some way I feel that you don't want me to." + +She shook hands with him gratefully, and Lowell drove slowly back to the +agency, not forgetting his customary stop at the scene of the murder--a +stop that proved fruitless as usual. + +When he entered the agency office, Lowell was greeted with an excited +hail from Ed Rogers. + +"Here's news!" exclaimed the chief clerk. "Tom Redmond has telephoned +over that Jim McFann has broken jail." + +"How did he get away?" + +"Jim had been hearing all this talk about lynching. It had been coming +to him, bit by bit, in the jail, probably passed on by the other +prisoners, and it got him all worked up. It seems that the jailer's kid, +a boy about sixteen years old, had been in the habit of bringing Jim's +meals. Also the kid had a habit of carrying Dad's keys around, just to +show off. Instead of grabbing his soup, Jim grabbed the kid by the +throat. Then he made the boy unlock the cell door and Jim slipped out, +gagged the kid, and walked out of the jail. He jumped on a cowboy's pony +in front of the jail, and was gone half an hour before the kid, who had +been locked in Jim's cell, managed to attract attention. Tom Redmond +wants you to get out the Indian police, because he's satisfied Jim has +skipped to the reservation and is hiding somewhere in the hills." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +"That there girl down at the Greek Letter Ranch is the best-lookin' girl +in these parts. I was goin' to slick up and drop around to see her, but +this here Injun agent got in ahead of me. A man with nothin' but a +cowpony don't stand a show against a feller with an auto when it comes +to callin' on girls these days." + +The nasal, drawling voice of Andy Wolters, cowpuncher for one of the big +leasing outfits on the Indian reservation, came to the ears of Bill +Talpers as the trader sat behind his post-office box screen, scowling +out upon a sunshiny world. + +A chorus of laughter from other cowpunchers greeted the frank +declaration of Mr. Wolters. + +"Agent or no agent, you wouldn't stand a show with that girl," chimed in +one of the punchers. "The squaw professor'd run you through the +barb-wire fence so fast that you'd leave hide and clothes stickin' to +it. Willis Morgan ain't ever had a visitor on his place sence he run the +Greek Letter brand on his first steer." + +"Well, he ain't got any more steers left. That old white horse is all +the stock I see of his--anyways, it's all that's carryin' that pitchfork +brand." + +"You know what they say about how old Morgan got that pitchfork brand, +don't you?--how he was huntin' through the brand book one night, turnin' +the pages over and cussin' because nothin' seemed to suit his fancy, +when all of a sudden there was a bright light and a strong smell of +sulphur, and the devil himself was right there at Morgan's side. 'Use +this for a brand,' says the devil, and there was the mark of his +pitchfork burnt on Morgan's front door, right where you'll see it to-day +if you ever want to go clost enough." + +"Anyway, git that out of your head about Morgan's ranch never havin' any +visitors," said another cowboy. "This here Injun agent's auto runs down +there reg'lar. Must be that he's a kind of a Trilby and has got old +Morgan hypnotized." + +"Aw, you mean a Svengali." + +"I bet you these spurs against a package of smokin' tobacco I know what +I mean," stoutly asserted the cowpuncher whose literary knowledge had +been called in question, and then the talk ran along the familiar +argumentative channels that had no interest for Bill Talpers. + +The trader looked back into the shadowy depths of his store. Besides the +cowboys there were several Indians leaning against the counters or +sitting lazily on boxes and barrels. Shelves and counters were piled +with a colorful miscellany of goods calculated to appeal to primitive +tastes. There were bright blankets and shawls, the latter greedily eyed +by every Indian woman who came into the store. There were farming +implements and boots and groceries and harness. In the corner where Bill +Talpers sat was the most interesting collection of all. This corner was +called the pawnshop. Here Bill paid cash for silver rings and bracelets, +and for turquoise and other semi-precious stones either mounted or in +the rough. Here he dickered for finely beaded moccasins and hat-bands +and other articles for which he found a profitable market in the East. +Here watches were put up for redemption, disappearing after they had +hung their allotted time. + +Traders on the reservation were not permitted to have such corners in +their stores, but Bill, being over the line, drove such bargains as he +pleased and took such security as he wished. + +As Bill looked over his oft-appraised stock, it seemed to have lost much +of its one-time charm. Storekeeping for a bunch of Indians and +cowpunchers was no business for a smart, self-respecting man to be in--a +man who had ambitions to be somebody in a busier world. The thing to do +was to sell out and clear out--after he had married that girl at +Morgan's ranch. He had been too lenient with that girl, anyway. Here he +held the whip-hand over her and had never used it. He had been waiting +from day to day, gloating over his opportunities, and this Indian agent +had been calling on her and maybe was getting her confidence. + +Maybe it had gone so far that the girl had told Lowell about the letter +she had mailed and that Bill had held up. Something akin to a chill +moved along Bill's spinal column at the thought. But of course such a +thing could not be. The girl couldn't afford to talk about anything like +that letter, which was certain to drag her into the murder. + +Bill looked at the letter again and then tucked it back in the safe. +That was the best place to keep it. It might get lost out of his pocket +and then there'd be the very devil to pay. He knew it all by heart, +anyway. It was enough to give him what he wanted--this girl for a wife. +She simply couldn't resist, with that letter held over her by a +determined man like Bill Talpers. After he had married her, he'd sell +out this pile of junk and let somebody else haggle with the Injuns and +cowpunchers. Bill Talpers'd go where he could wear good clothes every +day, and his purty wife'd hold up her head with the best of them! He'd +go over and state his case that very night. He'd lay down the law right, +so this girl at Morgan's 'd know who her next boss was going to be. If +Willis Morgan tried to interfere, Bill Talpers 'd crush him just the way +he'd crushed many a rattler! + +As a preliminary to his courting trip, Bill took a drink from a bottle +that he kept handy in his corner. Then he walked out to his +sleeping-quarters in the rear of the store and "slicked up a bit," +during which process he took several drinks from another bottle which +was stowed conveniently there. + +Leaving his store in charge of his clerk, Bill rode over the Dollar Sign +highway toward Morgan's ranch. The trader was dressed in black. A white +shirt and white collar fairly hurt the eye, being in such sharp contrast +with Bill's dark skin and darker beard. A black hat, wide of brim and +carefully creased, replaced the nondescript felt affair which Bill +usually wore. He donned the best pair of new boots that he could select +from his stock. They hurt his feet so that he swung first one and then +the other from the stirrups to get relief. There was none to tell Bill +that his broad, powerful frame looked better in its everyday +habiliments, and he would not have believed, even if he had been told. +He had created a sensation as he had creaked through the store after his +dressing-up operations had been completed, and he intended to repeat the +thrill when he burst upon the vision of the girl at Morgan's. + + * * * * * + +Wong had cleared away the supper dishes at the Greek Letter Ranch, and +had silently taken his way to the little bunkhouse which formed his +sleeping-quarters. + +In the library a lamp glowed. A gray-haired man sat at the table, bowed +in thought. A girl, sitting across from him, was writing. Outside was +the silence of the prairie night, broken by an occasional bird call near +by. + +"It is all so lonely here, I wonder how you can stand it," said the man. +There was deep concern in his voice. All sharpness had gone from it. + +"It is all different, of course, from the country in which I have been +living, and it _is_ lonely, but I could get used to it soon if it were +not for this pall--" + +Here the girl rose and went to the open window. She leaned on the sill +and looked out. + +The man's gaze followed her. She was even more attractive than usual, in +a house dress of light color, her arms bare to the elbows, and her pale, +expressive face limned against the black background of the night. + +"I know what you would say," replied the man. "It would be bearable +here--in fact, it might be enjoyable were it not for the black shadow +upon us. Rather it is a shadow which is blood-red instead of black." + +His voice rose, and excitement glowed in his deep-set, clear gray eyes. +His face lost its pallor, and his well-shaped, yet strong hands clutched +nervously at the arms of his chair. + +The girl turned toward him soothingly, when both paused and listened. + +"It is some Indian going by," said the man, as hoof-beats became +distinct. + +"The Indians don't ride this late. Besides, no Indian would stop here." + +The man stepped to an adjoining room. As he disappeared, there came the +sound of footfalls on the porch and Bill Talpers's heavy knock made the +front door panels shake. + +The girl hesitated a moment, and then opened the door. The trader walked +in without invitation, his new boots squeaking noisily. If he had +expected any exhibition of fear on the part of the girl, Talpers was +mistaken. She looked at him calmly, and Bill shifted uneasily from one +foot to another as he took off his hat. + +"I thought I'd drop in for a little social call, seein' as you ain't +called on me sence our talk about that letter," said Bill, seating +himself at the table. + +"It was what I might have expected," replied the girl. + +"That's fine," said Bill amiably. "I'm tickled to know that you expected +me." + +"Yes, knowing what a coward you are, I thought you would come." + +Talpers flushed angrily, and then grinned, until his alkali-cracked lips +glistened in the lamplight. + +"That's the spirit!" he exclaimed. "I never seen a more spunky woman, +and that's the kind I like. But there ain't many humans that can call me +a coward. I guess you don't know how many notches I've got on the handle +of this forty-five, do you?" he asked, touching the gun that swung in a +holster at his hip under his coat. "Well, there's three notches on +there, and that don't count an Injun I got in a fair fight. I don't +count any _coups_ unless they're on white folks." + +"I'm not interested in your record of bloodshed." The girl's voice was +low, but it stung Bill to anger. + +"Yes, you are," he retorted. "You're goin' to be mighty proud of your +husband's record. You'll be glad to be known as the wife of Bill +Talpers, who never backed down from no man. That's what I come over here +for, to have you say that you'll marry me. If you don't say it, I'll +have to give that letter over to the authorities at White Lodge. It sure +would be a reg'lar bombshell in the case right now." + +The trader's squat figure, in his black suit, against the white +background made by the lamp, made the girl think of a huge, grotesque +blot of ink. His broad, hairy hand rested on the table. She noticed the +strong, thick fingers, devoid of flexibility, yet evidently of terrific +strength. + +"Now you and me," went on Talpers, "could get quietly married, and I +could sell this store of mine for a good figger, and I'd be willin' to +move anywheres you want--San Francisco, or Los Angeles, or San Diego, or +anywheres. And I could burn up that letter, and there needn't nobody +know that the wife of Bill Talpers was mixed up in the murder that is +turnin' this here State upside down. Furthermore, jest to show you that +Bill Talpers is a square sort, I won't ever ask you myself jest how deep +and how wide you're in this murder, nor why you wrote that letter, nor +what it was all about. Ain't that fair enough?" + +The girl laughed. + +"It's too fair," she said. "I can't believe you'd hold to such a +bargain." + +"You try me and see," urged Bill. "All you've got to do is to say you'll +marry me." + +"Well, I'll never say it." + +"Yes, you will," huskily declared Bill, putting his hat on the table. +"You'll say it right here, to-night. Your stepfather's sick, I hear. If +he was feelin' his best he wouldn't be more'n a feather in my way--not +more'n that Chinaman of yours. I've got to have your word to-night, or, +by cripes, that letter goes to White Lodge!" + +The girl was alarmed. She was colorless as marble, but her eyes were +defiant. Talpers advanced toward her threateningly, and she retreated +toward the door which opened into the other room. Bill swung her aside +and placed himself squarely in front of the door, his arms outspread. + +"No hide and seek goes," he said. "You stay in this room till you give +me the right answer." + +The girl ran toward the door opening into the kitchen. Talpers ran after +her, clumsily but swiftly. The girl saw that she was going to be +overtaken before reaching the door, and dodged to one side. The trader +missed his grasp for her, and pitched forward, the force of his fall +shaking the cabin. He struck his head against a corner of the table, and +lay unconscious, spread out in a broad helplessness that made the girl +think once more of spilled ink. + +The white-haired man stood in the doorway to the other room. He held a +revolver, with which he covered Talpers, but the trader did not move. +The white-haired man deftly removed Talpers's revolver from its holster +and put it on the table. Then he searched the trader's pockets. + +"I'm glad I didn't have to shoot this swine," he said to the girl. +"Another second and it would have been necessary. The letter isn't here, +but you can frighten him with these trinkets--his own revolver and this +watch which evidently he took from the murdered man on the hill. You +know what else of Edward Sargent's belongings were taken." + +The girl nodded. + +"He will recover soon," went on the gray-haired man. "You will be in no +further danger. He will be glad to go when he sees what evidence you +have against him." + +The white-haired man had taken a watch from one of Talpers's pockets. He +put the timepiece on the table beside the trader's revolver. Then the +door to the adjoining room closed again, and the girl was alone with the +trader waiting for him to recover consciousness. + +Soon Bill Talpers sat up. His hand went to his head and came away +covered with blood. The world was rocking, and the girl at the table +looked like half a dozen shapes in one. + +"This is your own revolver pointed at you, Mr. Talpers," she said, "but +this watch on the table, by which you will leave this house in three +minutes, is not yours. It belonged once to Edward B. Sargent, and you +are the man who took it." + +Talpers tried to answer, but could not at once. + +"You not only took this watch," said the girl slowly, "but you took +money from that murdered man." + +"It's all a lie," growled Bill at last. + +"Wait till you hear the details. You took twenty-eight hundred dollars +in large bills, and three hundred dollars in smaller bills." + +Talpers looked at the girl in mingled terror and amazement. Guilt was in +his face, and his fears made him forget his aching head. + +"You kept this money and did not let your half-breed partner in crime +know you had found it," went on the girl. "Also you kept the watch, and, +as it had no mark of identification, you concluded you could safely wear +it." + +Talpers struggled dizzily to his feet. + +"It's all lies," he repeated. "I didn't kill that man." + +"You might find it hard to convince a jury that you did not, with such +evidence against you." + +The trader looked at the watch as if he intended to make a dash to +recover it, but the girl kept him steadily covered with his own +revolver. Muttering curses, and swaying uncertainly on his feet, Talpers +seized his hat and rushed from the house. He could be heard fumbling +with the reins at the gate, and then the sound of hoofs came in +diminuendo as he rode away. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +In his capacity of Indian agent Walter Lowell often had occasion to scan +the business deals of his more progressive wards. He was at once banker +and confidant of most of the Indians who were getting ahead in +agriculture and stock-raising. He did not seek such a position, nor did +he discourage it. Though it cost him much extra time and work, he +advised the Indians whenever requested. + +One of the reservation's most prosperous stock-raisers, who had been +given permission to sell off some of his cattle, came to Lowell with a +thousand-dollar bill, asking if it were genuine. + +"It's all right," said Lowell, "but where did you get it?" + +The Indian said he had received it from Bill Talpers in the sale of some +livestock. Lowell handed it back without comment, but soon afterward +found occasion to call on Bill Talpers at the trader's store. + +Bill had been a frequent and impartial visitor to the bottles that were +tucked away at both ends of his store. His hands and voice were shaky. +His hat was perched well forward on his head, covering a patch of +court-plaster which his clerk had put over a scalp wound, following a +painful process of hair-cutting. Bill had just been through the process +of "bouncing" Andy Wolters, who remained outside, expressing wonder and +indignation to all who called. + +"All I did was ask Bill where his favorite gun was gone," quoth Andy in +his nasal voice, as Lowell drove up to the store platform. "I never seen +Bill without that gun before in my life. I jest started to kid him a +little by askin' him who took it away from him, when he fired up and +throwed me out of the store." + +Lowell stepped inside the store. + +"Bill," said Lowell, as the trader rose from his chair behind the screen +of letter-boxes, "I want you to help me out in an important matter." + +Bill's surprise showed in his swollen face. + +"It's this," went on Lowell. "If any of the Indians bring anything here +to pawn outside of the usual run of turquoise jewelry and spurs, I want +you to let me know. Also, if they offer any big bills in payment for +goods--say anything like a thousand-dollar bill--just give me the high +sign, will you? It may afford a clue in this murder case." + +Talpers darted a look of suspicion at the agent. Lowell's face was +serene. He was leaning confidentially across the counter, and his eyes +met Bill's in a look that made the trader turn away. + +"You know," said Lowell, "it's quite possible that money and valuables +were taken from Sargent's body. To be sure, they found his checkbook and +papers, but they wouldn't be of use to anyone else. A man of Sargent's +wealth must have had considerable ready cash with him, and yet none was +found. He would hardly be likely to start out on a long trip across +country without a watch, and yet nothing of the sort was discovered. +That's why I thought that if any Indians came in here with large amounts +of money, or if they tried to pawn valuables which might have belonged +to a man in Sargent's position, you could help clear up matters." + +Hatred and suspicion were mingled in Talpers's look. The trader had +spent most of his hours, since his return from Morgan's ranch, cursing +the folly that had led him into wearing Sargent's watch. And now came +this young Indian agent, with talk about thousand-dollar bills. There +was another mistake Bill had made. He should have taken those bills far +away and had them exchanged for money of smaller denomination. But he +had been hard-pressed for cash, and suspicion seemed to point in such +convincing fashion toward Fire Bear and the other Indians that it did +not seem possible that it could be shifted elsewhere. Yet all his +confidence had been shaken when Helen Ervin had calmly and correctly +recounted to him the exact things that he had taken from that body on +the hill. Probably she had been talking to the agent and had told him +all she knew. + +"I know what you're drivin' at," snarled Bill, his rage getting the +better of his judgment. "You've been talkin' to that girl at Morgan's +ranch, and she's been tellin' you all she thinks she knows. But she'd +better go slow with all her talk about valuables and thousand-dollar +bills. She forgets that she's as deep in this thing as anybody and I've +got the document to prove it." + +The surprise in the Indian agent's face was too genuine to be mistaken. +Talpers realized that he had been betrayed into overshooting his mark. +The agent had been engaged in a little game of bluff, and Talpers had +fallen into his trap. + +"All this is mighty interesting to me, Bill," said Lowell, regaining his +composure. "I just dropped in here, hoping for a little general +cooperation on your part, and here I find that you know a lot more than +anybody imagined." + +"You ain't got anything on me," growled Bill, "and if you go spillin' +any remarks around here, it's your death-warrant sure." + +Lowell did not take his elbow from the counter. His leaning position +brought out the breadth of his shoulders and emphasized the athletic +lines of his figure. He did not seem ruffled at Bill's open threat. He +regarded Talpers with a steady look which increased Bill's rage and +fear. + +"The trouble with you is that you're so dead set on protectin' them +Injuns of yours," said the trader, "that you're around tryin' to throw +suspicion on innocent white folks. The hull county knows that Fire Bear +done that murder, and if you hadn't got him on to the reservation the +jail'd been busted into and he'd been lynched as he ought to have been." + +Bill waited for an answer, but none came. The young agent's steady, +thoughtful scrutiny was not broken. + +"You've coddled them Injuns ever sence you've been on the job," went on +Bill, casting aside discretion, "and now you're encouragin' them in +downright murder. Here this young cuss, Fire Bear, is traipsin' around +as he pleases, on nothin' more than his word that he'll appear for +trial. But when Jim McFann busts out of jail, you rush out the hull +Injun police force to run him down. And now here you are around, off the +reservation, tryin' to saddle suspicion on your betters. It ain't right, +I claim. Self-respectin' white men ought to have more protection around +here." + +Talpers's voice had taken on something of a whine, and Lowell +straightened up in disgust. + +"Bill," he said, "you aren't as much of a man as I gave you credit for +being, and what's more you've been in some crooked game, just as sure as +thousand-dollar bills have four figures on them." + +Paying no attention to the imprecations which Talpers hurled after him, +the agent went back to his automobile and turned toward the agency. He +had intended going on to the Greek Letter Ranch, but Talpers's words had +caused him to make a change in his plans. At the agency he brought out a +saddle horse, and, following a trail across the undulating hills on the +reservation, reached the wagon-road below the ranch, without arousing +Talpers's suspicion. + +As he tied his pony at the gate, Lowell noticed further improvement in +the general appearance of the ranch. + +"Somebody more than Wong has been doing this heavy work," he said to +Helen, who had come out to greet him. "It must be that Morgan--your +stepfather is well enough to help. Anyway, the ranch looks better every +time I come." + +"Yes, he is helping some," said Helen uneasily. "But I'm getting to be a +first-rate ranch-woman. I had no idea it was so much fun running a place +like this." + +"I came over to see if you couldn't take time enough off for a little +horseback ride," said Lowell. "This is a country for the saddle, after +all. I still get more enjoyment from a good horseback ride than from a +dozen automobile trips. I'll saddle up the old white horse while you get +ready." + +Helen ran indoors, and Lowell went to the barn and proceeded to saddle +the white horse that bore the Greek Letter brand. The smiling Wong came +out to cast an approving eye over the work. + +"This old fly-fighter's a pretty good horse for one of his age, isn't +he, Wong?" said Lowell, giving a last shake to the saddle, after the +cinch had been tightened. + +In shattered English Wong went into ecstasies over the white horse. Then +he said, suddenly and mysteriously: + +"You know Talpels?" + +"You mean Bill Talpers?" asked Lowell. "What about him?" + +Once more the dominant tongue of the Occident staggered beneath Wong's +assault, as the cook described, partly in pantomime, the manner of Bill +Talpers's downfall the night before. + +"Do you mean to say that Talpers was over here last night and that here +is where he got that scalp-wound?" demanded Lowell. + +Wong grinned assent, and then vanished, after making a sign calling for +secrecy on Lowell's part, as Helen arrived, ready for the ride. + +Lowell was a good horseman, and the saddle had become Helen's chief +means of recreation. In fact riding seemed to bring to her the only +contentment she had known since she had come to the Greek Letter Ranch. +She had overcome her first fear of the Indians. All her rides that were +taken alone were toward the reservation, as she had studiously avoided +going near Talpers's place. Also she did not like to ride past the hill +on the Dollar Sign road, with its hints of unsolved mystery. But she had +quickly grown to love the broad, free Indian reservation, with its +limitless miles of unfenced hills. She liked to turn off the road and +gallop across the trackless ways, sometimes frightening rabbits and +coyotes from the sagebrush. Several times she had startled antelope, and +once her horse had shied at a rattlesnake coiled in the sunshine. The +Indians she had learned to look upon as children. She had visited the +cabins and lodges of some of those who lived near the ranch, and was not +long in winning the esteem of the women who were finding the middle +ground, between the simplicity of savage life and the complexities of +civilization, something too much for mastery. + +Lowell and Helen galloped in silence for miles along the road they had +followed in the automobile not many days before. At the crest of a high +ridge, Helen turned at right angles, and Lowell followed. + +"There's a view over here I had appropriated for myself, but I'm willing +to share it with you, seeing that this is your own particular +reservation and you ought to know about everything it contains," said +Helen. + +The ridge dipped and then rose again, higher than before. The plains +fell away on both sides--infinite miles of undulations. Straight ahead +loomed the high blue wall of the mountains. They walked their horses, +and finally stopped them altogether. The chattering of a few prairie +dogs only served to intensify the great, mysterious silence. + +"Sometimes the stillness seems to roll in on you here like a tide," said +Helen. "I can positively feel it coming up these great slopes and +blanketing everything. It seems to me that this ridge must have been +used by Indian watchers in years gone by. I can imagine a scout standing +here sending up smoke signals. And those little white puffs of clouds up +there are the signals he sent into the sky." + +"I think you belong in this country," Lowell answered smilingly. + +"I'm sure I do. You remember when I first saw these plains and hills I +told you the bigness frightened me a little when the sun brought it all +out in detail. Well, it doesn't any more. Just to be unfettered in mind, +and to live and breathe as part of all this vastness, would be ideal." + +"That's where you're in danger of going to the other extreme," the agent +replied. "You'll remember that I told you human companionship is as +necessary as bacon and flour and salt in this country. You're more +dependent on the people about you here, even if your nearest neighbor is +five or ten miles away, than you would be in any apartment building in a +big city. You might live and die there, and no one would be the wiser. +Also you might get along tolerably well, while living alone. But you +can't do it out here and keep a normal mental grip on life." + +"My, what a lecture!" laughed the girl, though there was no merriment in +her voice. "But it hardly applies to me, for the reason that I always +depend upon my neighbors in the ordinary affairs of life. I'm sure I +love to be sociable to my Indian neighbors, and even to their agent. +Haven't I ridden away out here just to be sociable to you?" + +"No dodging! I promised I wouldn't say anything more about the matters +that have been disturbing you so, but that promise was contingent on +your playing fair with me. I understand Bill Talpers has been causing +you some annoyance, and you haven't said a word to me about it." + +Helen flashed a startled glance at Lowell. He was impassive as her +questioning eyes searched his face. Amazement and concern alternated in +her features. Then she took refuge in a blaze of anger. + +"I don't know how you found out about Talpers!" she cried. "It is true +that he did cause a--a little annoyance, but that is all gone and +forgotten. But I am not going to forget your impertinence quite so +easily." + +"My what?" + +"Your impertinence?" + +The girl was trembling with anger, or apprehension, and tapped her boot +nervously with her quirt as she spoke. + +"You've been lecturing me about various things," she went on, "and now +you bring up Talpers as a sort of bugaboo to frighten me." + +"You don't know Bill Talpers. If he has any sort of hold on you or on +Willis Morgan, he'll try to break you both. He is as innocent of +scruples as a lobo wolf." + +"What hold could he possibly have on me--on us?" + +She looked at Lowell defiantly as she asked the question, but he thought +he detected a note of concern in her voice. + +"I didn't say he had any hold. I merely pointed out that if he were +given any opportunity he'd make life miserable for both of you." + +Lowell did not add that Talpers, in a fit of rage and suspicion, +augmented by strong drink, had hinted that Helen knew something of the +murder. He had been inclined to believe that Talpers had merely been +"fighting wild" when he made the veiled accusation--that the trader, +being very evidently only partly recovered from a bout with his pet +bottles, had made the first counter-assertion that had come into his +head in the hope of provoking Lowell into a quarrel. But there was a +quality of terror in the girl's voice which struck Lowell with chilling +force. Something in his look must have caught Helen's attention, for her +nervousness increased. + +"You have no right to pillory me so," she said rapidly. "You have been +perfectly impossible right along--that is, ever since this crime +happened. You've been spying here and there--" + +"Spying!" + +"Yes, downright spying! You've been putting suspicion where it doesn't +belong. Why, everybody believes the Indians did it--everybody but you. +Probably some Indians did it who never have been suspected and never +will be--not the Indians who are under suspicion now." + +"That's just about what another party was telling me not long ago--that +I was coddling the Indians and trying to fasten suspicion where it +didn't rightfully belong." + +"Who else told you that?" + +"No less a person than Bill Talpers." + +"There you go again, bringing in that cave man. Why do you keep talking +to me about Talpers? I'm not afraid of him." + +Most girls would have been on the verge of hysteria, Lowell thought, +but, while Helen was plainly under a nervous strain, her self-command +returned. The agent was in possession of some information--how much she +did not know. Perhaps she could goad him into betraying the source of +his knowledge. + +"I know you're not afraid of Talpers," remarked Lowell, after a pause, +"but at least give me the privilege of being afraid for you. I know Bill +Talpers better than you do." + +"What right have you to be afraid for me? I'm of age, and besides, I +have a protector--a guardian--at the ranch." + +Lowell was on the point of making some bitter reply about the +undesirability of any guardianship assumed by Willis Morgan, squaw man, +recluse, and recipient of common hatred and contempt. But he kept his +counsel, and remarked, pleasantly: + +"My rights are merely those of a neighbor--the right of one neighbor to +help another." + +"There are no rights of that sort where the other neighbor isn't asking +any help and doesn't desire it." + +"I'm not sure about your not needing it. Anyway, if you don't now, you +may later." + +The girl did not answer. The horses were standing close together, heads +drooping lazily. Warm breezes came fitfully from the winds' playground +below. The handkerchief at the girl's neck fluttered, and a strand of +her hair danced and glistened in the sunshine. The graceful lines of her +figure were brought out by her riding-suit. Lowell put his palm over the +gloved hand on her saddle pommel. Even so slight a touch thrilled him. + +"If a neighbor has no right to give advice," said Lowell, "let us assume +that my unwelcome offerings have come from a man who is deeply in love +with you. It's no great secret, anyway, as it seems to me that even the +meadow-larks have been singing about it ever since we started on this +ride." + +The girl buried her face in her hands. Lowell put his arm about her +waist, and she drooped toward him, but recovered herself with an effort. +Putting his arm away, she said: + +"You make matters harder and harder for me. Please forget what I have +said and what you have said, and don't come to see me any more." + +She spoke with a quiet intensity that amazed Lowell. + +"Not come to see you any more! Why such an extreme sentence?" + +"Because there is an evil spell on the Greek Letter Ranch. Everybody who +comes there is certain to be followed by trouble--deep trouble." + +The girl's agitation increased. There was terror in her face. + +"Look here!" began Lowell. "This thing is beyond all promises of +silence. I--" + +"Don't ask what I mean!" said the girl. "You might find it awkward. You +say you are in love with me?" + +"I repeat it a thousand times." + +"Well, you are the kind of man who will choose honor every time. I +realize that much. Suppose you found that your love for me was bringing +you in direct conflict with your duty?" + +"I know that such a thing is impossible," broke in Lowell. + +Helen smiled, bitterly. + +"It is so far from being impossible that I am asking you to forget what +you have said, and to forget me as well. There is so much of evil on the +Greek Letter Ranch that the very soil there is steeped in it. I am going +away, but I know its spell will follow me." + +"You are going?" queried Lowell. "When?" + +"When these men now charged with the murder are acquitted. They will be +acquitted, will they not?" + +The eager note in her question caught Lowell by surprise. + +"No man can tell," he replied. "It's all as inscrutable as that mountain +wall over there." + +Helen shaded her eyes with her gauntleted hand as she looked in the +direction indicated by Lowell. Black clouds were pouring in masses over +the mountain-range. The sunshine was being blotted out, as if by some +giant hand. The storm-clouds swept toward them as they turned the horses +and started back along the ridge. A huge shadow, which Helen +shudderingly likened to the sprawling figure of Talpers in the +lamplight, raced toward them over the plains. + +"There isn't a storm in all that blackness," Lowell assured her. "It's +all shadow and no substance. Perhaps your fears will turn out that way." + +The girl regarded him gravely. + +"I've tried to hope as much, but it's no use, especially when you've +felt the first actual buffetings of the storm." + +The approaching cloud shadow seemed startlingly solid. The girl urged +her horse into a gallop, and Lowell rode silently at her side. The +shadow overtook them. Angry winds seemed to clutch at them from various +angles, but no rain came from the cloud mass overhead. When they rode +into the ranch yard, the sun was shining again. They dismounted near the +barn, and Wong took the white horse. Lowell and the girl walked through +the yard to the front gate, the agent leading his horse. As they passed +near the porch there came through the open door that same chilling, +sarcastic voice which stirred all the ire in Lowell's nature. + +"Helen," the voice said, "that careless individual, Wong, must be +reprimanded. He has mislaid one of my choicest volumes. Perhaps it would +be better for you to attend to replacing the books on the shelves after +this." + +Every word was intended to humiliate, yet the voice was moderately +pitched. There was even a slight drawl to it. + +Lowell's face betrayed his anger as he glanced at the girl. He made a +gesture of impatience, but Helen motioned to him, in warning. + +"Some day you're going to let me take you away from this," he said +grimly, looking at her with an intensity of devotion which brought the +red to her cheeks. "Meantime, thanks for taking me out on that magic +ridge. I'll never forget it." + +"It will be better for you to forget everything," answered the girl. + +Lowell was about to make a reply, when the voice came once more, cutting +like a whiplash in a renewal of the complaint concerning the lost book. +The girl turned, with a good-bye gesture, and ran indoors. Lowell led +his horse outside the yard and rode toward Talpers's place, determined +to have a few definite words with the trader. + +When Lowell reached Talpers's, the usual knot of Indians was gathered on +the front porch, with the customary collection of cowpunchers and +ranchmen discussing matters inside the store. + +"Bill ain't been here all the afternoon," said Talpers's clerk in answer +to Lowell's question. "He sat around here for a while after you left +this morning, and then he saddled up and took a pack-horse and hit off +toward the reservation, but I don't know where he went or when he'll be +back." + +Lowell rode thoughtfully to the agency, trying in vain to bridge the gap +between Talpers's cryptic utterances bearing on the murder, and the not +less cryptic statements of Helen in the afternoon--an occupation which +kept him unprofitably employed until far into the night. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +Bill Talpers's return to sobriety was considerably hastened by alarm +after the trader's words with Lowell. As long as matters were even +between Bill Talpers and the girl, the trader figured that he could at +least afford to let things rest. The letter in his possession was still +a potent weapon. He could at least prevent the girl from telling what +she seemed to know of the trader's connection with the murder. He had +figured that the letter would be the means of bringing him a most +engaging bride. It would have done so if he had not been such a fool as +to drink too much. Talpers usually was a canny drinker, but when a man +goes asking--or, in this case, demanding--a girl's hand in marriage, it +is not to be wondered at if he oversteps the limit a trifle in the +matter of fortifying himself with liquor. But in this case Bill realized +that he had gone beyond all reasonable bounds. That fall had been +disastrous in every way. She was clever and quick, that girl, or she +never would have been able to turn an incident like that to such good +advantage. Most girls would have sniveled in a corner, thought Bill, +until he had regained his senses, but she started right in to look for +that letter. He had been smart enough to leave the letter in the safe at +the store, but she had found plenty in that watch! + +Another thought buzzed disturbingly in Bill's head. How did she know +just how much money had been taken from Sargent's body? Also, how did +she know that the watch was Sargent's, seeing that it had no marks of +identification on it? If there had been so much as a scratch on the +thing, Talpers never would have worn it. She might have been making a +wild guess about the watch, but she certainly was not guessing about the +money. Her certainty in mentioning the amount had given Bill a chill of +terror from which he was slow in recovering. Another thing that was +causing him real agony of spirit was the prominence of Lowell in affairs +at the Greek Letter Ranch. It would be easy enough to hold the girl in +check with that letter. She would never dare tell the authorities how +much she knew about Talpers, as Bill could drag her into the case by +producing his precious documentary evidence. But the agent--how much was +he learning in the course of his persistent searching, and from what +angle was he going to strike? Would the girl provide him with +information which she might not dare give to others? Women were all +weaklings, thought Bill, unable to keep any sort of a secret from a +sympathetic male ear, especially when that ear belonged to as handsome a +young fellow as the Indian agent! Probably she would be telling the +agent everything on his next trip to the ranch. Bill had been watching, +but he had not seen the young upstart from the agency go past, and +neither had Bill's faithful clerk. But the visit might be made any day, +and Talpers's connection with the tragedy on the Dollar Sign road might +at almost any hour be falling into the possession of Lowell, whose +activity in running down bootleggers had long ago earned him Bill's +hatred. + +Something would have to be done, without delay, to get the girl where +she would not be making a confidant of Lowell or any one else. +Scowlingly Bill thought over one plan after another, and rejected each +as impractical. Finally, by a process of elimination, he settled on the +only course that seemed practical. A broad fist, thudding into a +leather-like palm, indicated that the Talpers mind had been made up. +With his dark features expressing grim resolve, Bill threw a burden of +considerable size on his best pack-animal. This operation he conducted +alone in the barn, rejecting his clerk's proffer of assistance. Then he +saddled another horse, and, without telling his clerk anything +concerning his prospective whereabouts or the length of his trip, +started off across the prairie. He often made such excursions, and his +clerk had learned not to ask questions. Diplomacy in such matters was +partly what the clerk was paid for. A good fellow to work for was Bill +Talpers if no one got too curiously inclined. One or two clerks had been +disciplined on account of inquisitiveness, and they would not be as +beautiful after the Talpers methods had been applied, but they had +gained vastly in experience. Some day he would do even more for this +young Indian agent. Bill's cracked lips were stretched in a grin of +satisfaction at the very thought. + +The trader traveled swiftly toward the reservation. He often boasted +that he got every ounce that was available in horseflesh. Traveling with +a pack-horse was little handicap to him. Horses instinctively feared +him. More than one he had driven to death without so much as touching +the straining animal with whip or spur. Nothing gave Bill such acute +satisfaction as the knowledge that he had roused fear in any creature. + +With the sweating pack-animal close at the heels of his saddle pony, +Talpers rode for hours across the plains. Seemingly he paid no attention +to the changes in the landscape, yet his keen eyes, buried deeply +beneath black brows, took in everything. He saw the cloud masses come +tumbling over the mountains, but, like Lowell, he knew that the drought +was not yet to be ended. The country became more broken, and the grade +so pronounced that the horses were compelled to slacken their pace. The +pleasant green hills gave place to imprisoning mesas, with red sides +that looked like battlements. Beyond these lay the foothills--so close +that they covered the final slopes of the mountains. + +It was a lonely country, innocent of fences. The cattle that ran here +were as wild as deer and almost as fleet as antelope. Twice a year the +Indians rounded up their range possessions, but many of these cattle had +escaped the far-flung circles of riders. They had become renegades and +had grown old and clever. At the sight of a human being they would +gallop away in the sage and greasewood. + +Once Talpers saw the gleam of a wagon-top which indicated the presence +of a wolf hunter in the employ of the leasers who were running cattle on +the reservations and who suffered much from the depredations of +predatory animals. By working carefully around a hill, the trader +continued on his way without having been seen. + +Passing the flanking line of mesas, Bill pushed his way up a watercourse +between two foothills. The going became rougher, and all semblance of a +trail was lost, yet the trader went on unhesitatingly. The slopes +leading to the creek became steeper and were covered with pine and +quaking aspen, instead of the bushy growths of the plains. The stream +foamed over rocks, and its noise drowned the sound of the horses' hoofs +as the animals scrambled over the occasional stretches of loose shale. +With the dexterity of the born trailsman, Talpers wormed his way along +the stream when it seemed as if further progress would be impossible. In +a tiny glade, with the mountain walls rising precipitously for hundreds +of feet, Talpers halted and gave three shrill whistles. An answer came +from the other end of the glade, and in a few minutes Talpers was +removing pack and saddle in Jim McFann's camp. + +Since his escape from jail the half-breed had been hiding in this +mountain fastness. Talpers had supplied him with "grub" and weapons. He +had moved camp once in a while for safety's sake, but had felt little +fear of capture. As a trailer McFann had few equals, and he knew every +swale in the prairie and every nook in the mountains on the reservation. + +Talpers brought out a bottle, which McFann seized eagerly. + +"There's plenty more in the pack," said the trader, "so drink all you +want. Don't offer me none, as I am kind o' taperin' off." + +"Did you see any Indian police on the way?" asked the half-breed. + +"No--nothin' but Wolfer Joe's wagon, 'way off in the hills. I guess the +police ain't lookin' for you very hard. That ain't the fault of the +agent, though," added Talpers meaningly. "He's promised he'll have you +back in Tom Redmond's hands in less'n a week." + +The half-breed scowled and muttered an oath as he took another drink. +Talpers had told the lie in order to rouse McFann's antagonism toward +Lowell, and he was pleased to see that his statement had been accepted +at face value. + +"But that ain't the worst for you, nor for me either," went on the +trader. "That girl at the Greek Letter Ranch knows that you and me took +the watch from the man on the Dollar Sign road." + +"How did she know that?" exclaimed McFann in amazement. + +"That's somethin' she won't tell, but she knows that you and me was +there, and that the story you told in court ain't straight. I'm +satisfied she ain't told any one else--not yet." + +"Do you think she will tell any one?" + +"I'm sure of it. You see, she sorter sprung this thing on me when I was +havin' a little argyment about her marryin' me. She got spiteful and +come at me with the statement that the watch I was wearin' belonged to +that feller Sargent." + +Bill did not add anything about the money. It was not going to do to let +the half-breed know he had been defrauded. + +McFann squatted by the fire, the bottle in his hand and his gaze on +Talpers's face. + +"She mentioned both of us bein' there," went on the trader. "She give +the details in a way that I'll admit took me off my feet. It's an +awkward matter--in fact, it's a hangin' matter--for both of us, if she +tells. You know how clost they was to lynchin' you, over there at White +Lodge, with nothin' so very strong against you. If that gang ever hears +about us and this watch of Sargent's, we'll be hung on the same tree." + +Talpers played heavily on the lynching, because he knew the fear of the +mob had become an obsession with McFann. He noticed the half-breed's +growing uneasiness, and played his big card. + +"I spent a long time thinkin' the hull thing over," said Talpers, "and +I've come to the conclusion that this girl is sure to tell the Indian +agent all she knows, and the best thing for us to do is to get her out +of the way before she puts the noose around our necks." + +"Why will she tell the Indian agent?" + +"Because he's callin' pretty steady at the ranch, and he's made her +think he's the only friend she's got around here. And as soon as he +finds out, we might as well pick out our own rope neckties, Jim. It's +goin' to take quick action to save us, but you're the one to do it." + +"What do you want me to do?" asked McFann suspiciously. + +"Well, you're the best trailer and as good a shot as there is in this +part of the country. All that's necessary is for you to drop around the +ranch and--well, sort of make that girl disappear." + +"How do you mean?" + +Talpers rose and came closer to McFann. + +"I mean kill her!" he said with an oath. "Nothin' else is goin' to do. +You can do it without leavin' a track. Willis Morgan or that Chinaman +never'll see you around. Nobody else but the agent ever stops at the +Greek Letter Ranch. It's the only safe way. If she ever tells, Jim, +you'll never come to trial. You'll be swingin' back and forth somewheres +to the music of the prairie breeze. You know the only kind of fruit that +grows on these cotton woods out here." + +Jim McFann had always been pliable in Talpers's hands. Talpers had +profited most by the bootlegging operations carried on by the pair, +though Jim had done most of the dangerous work. Whenever Jim needed +supplies, the trader furnished them. To be sure, he charged them off +heavily, so there was little cash left from the half-breed's bootlegging +operations. Talpers shrewdly figured that the less cash he gave Jim, the +more surely he could keep his hold on the half-breed. McFann had grown +used to his servitude. Talpers appeared to him in the guise of the only +friend he possessed among white and red. + +Jim rose slowly to his moccasined feet. + +"I guess you're right, Bill," he said. "I'll do what you say." + +The trader's eyes glowed with satisfaction. The desire for revenge had +come uppermost in his heart. The girl at the ranch had outwitted him in +some way which he could not understand. Twenty-four hours ago he had +confidently figured on numbering her among the choicest chattels in the +possession of William Talpers. But now he regarded her with a hatred +born of fear. The thought of what she could do to him, merely by +speaking a few careless words about that watch and money, drove all +other thoughts from Talpers's mind. Jim McFann could be made a deadly +and certain instrument for insuring the safety of the Talpers skin. One +shot from the half-breed's rifle, either through a cabin window or from +some sagebrush covert near the ranch, and the trader need have no +further fears about being connected with the Dollar Sign murder. + +"I thought you'd see it in the right light, Jim," approved Talpers. "It +won't be any trick at all to get her. She rides out a good deal on that +white horse." + +Jim McFann did not answer. He had begun preparations for his trip. +Swiftly and silently the half-breed saddled his horse, which had been +hidden in a near-by thicket. From the supply of liquor in Talpers's +pack, Jim took a bottle, which he was thrusting into his saddle pocket +when the trader snatched it away. + +"You've had enough, Jim," growled Talpers. "You do the work that's cut +out for you, and you can have all I've brought to camp. I'll be here +waitin' for you." + +McFann scowled. + +"All right," he said sullenly, "but it seems as if a man ought to have +lots for a job like this." + +"After it's all done," said Talpers soothingly, "you can have all the +booze you want, Jim. And one thing more," called the trader as McFann +rode away, "remember it ain't goin' to hurt either of us if you get a +chance to put the Indian agent away on this same little trip." + +Jim McFann waved an assenting sign as he disappeared in the trees, and +the trader went back to the camp-fire to await the half-breed's return. +He hoped McFann would find the agent at the Greek Letter Ranch and would +kill Lowell as well as the girl. But, if there did not happen to be any +such double stroke of luck in prospect, the removal of the Indian agent +could be attended to later on. + +When he reached the mesas beyond the foothills, the half-breed turned +away from the stream and struck off toward the left. He kept a sharp +lookout for Indian police as he traveled, but saw nothing to cause +apprehension. Night was fast coming on when he reached the ridge on +which Lowell and Helen had stood a few hours before. Avoiding the road, +the half-breed made his way to a gulch near the ranch, where he tied his +horse. Cautiously he approached the ranch-house. The kitchen door was +open and Wong was busy with the dishes. The other doors were shut and +shades were drawn in the windows. Making his way back to the gulch, the +half-breed rolled up in his blanket and slept till daybreak, when he +took up a vantage-point near the house and waited developments. Shortly +after breakfast Wong came out to the barn and saddled the white horse +for Helen. The half-breed noticed with satisfaction that the girl rode +directly toward the reservation instead of following the road that led +to the agency. Hastily securing his horse the half-breed skirted the +ranch and located the girl's trail on the prairie. Instead of following +it he ensconced himself comfortably in some aspens at the bottom of a +draw, confident that the girl would return by the same trail. + +If McFann had continued on Helen's trail he would have followed her to +an Indian ranch not far away. A tattered tepee or two snuggled against a +dilapidated cabin. The owner of the ranch was struggling with +tuberculosis. His wife was trying to run the place and to bring up +several children, whose condition had aroused the mother instinct in +Helen. Though she had found her first efforts regarded with suspicion, +Helen had persisted, until she had won the confidence of mother and +children. Her visits were frequent, and she had helped the family so +materially that she had astonished the field matron, an energetic woman +who covered enormous distances in the saddle in the fulfillment of +duties which would soon wear out a settlement worker. + +The half-breed smoked uneasily, his rifle across his knees. Two hours +passed, but he did not stir, so confident was he that Helen would return +by the way she had followed in departing from the ranch. + +McFann's patience was rewarded, and he tossed away his cigarette with a +sigh of satisfaction when Helen's voice came to him from the top of the +hill. She was singing a nonsense song from the nursery, and, astride +behind her saddle and clinging to her waist, was a wide-eyed Indian girl +of six years, enjoying both the ride and the singing. + +Here was a complication upon which the half-breed had not counted. In +fact, during his hours of waiting Jim had begun to look at matters in a +different light. It was necessary to get Helen away, where she could not +possibly tell what she knew, but why not hide her in the mountains? Or, +if stronger methods were necessary, let Talpers attend to them himself? +For the first time since he had come under Talpers's domination, Jim +McFann was beginning to weaken. As the girl came singing down the +hillside, Jim peered uneasily through the bushes. Talpers had shoved him +into a job that simply could not be carried out--at least not without +whiskey. If Bill had let him bring all he wanted to drink, perhaps +things could have been done as planned. + +Whatever was done would have to be accomplished quickly, as the white +horse, with its double burden, was getting close. Jim sighted once or +twice along his rifle barrel. Then he dropped the weapon into the hollow +of his arm, and, leading his horse, stepped in front of Helen. + +The parley was brief. McFann sent the youngster scurrying along the back +trail, after a few threats in Indian tongue, which were dire enough to +seal the child's lips in fright. Helen was startled at first when the +half-breed halted her, but her composure soon returned. She had no +weapon, nor would she have attempted to use one in any event, as she +knew the half-breed was famous for his quickness and cleverness with +firearms. Nor could anything be gained by attempting to ride him down in +the trail. She did not ask any questions, for she felt they would be +futile. + +The half-breed was surprised at the calmness with which matters were +being taken. With singular ease and grace--another gift from his Indian +forbears--Jim slid into his saddle, and, seizing the white horse by the +bridle, turned the animal around and started it up the trail beside him. +In a few minutes Jim had found his trail of the evening before, and was +working swiftly back toward the mountains. When Helen slyly dropped her +handkerchief, as an aid to any one who might follow, the half-breed +quietly turned back and, after picking it up, informed her that he would +kill her if she tried any more such tricks. Realizing the folly of any +further attempts to outwit the half-breed, Helen rode silently on. Not +once did McFann strike across a ridge. Imprisoning slopes seemed to be +shutting them in without surcease, and Helen looked in vain for any aid. + +As they approached the foothills, and the travel increased in +difficulty, McFann told Helen to ride close behind him. He glanced +around occasionally to see that she was obeying orders. The old white +horse struggled gamely after the half-breed's wiry animal, and McFann +was compelled to wait only once or twice. Meanwhile Helen had thought +over the situation from every possible angle, and had concluded to go +ahead and not make any effort to thwart the half-breed. She knew that +the reservation was more free from crime than the counties surrounding +it. She also knew that it would not be long before the agent was +informed of her disappearance, and that the Indian police--trailers who +were the half-breed's equal in threading the ways of the +wilderness--would soon be on McFann's tracks. After her first shock of +surprise she had little fear of McFann. The thought that disturbed her +most of all was--Talpers. She knew of the strange partnership of the +men. Likewise she felt that McFann would not have embarked upon any such +crime alone. The thought of Talpers recurred so steadily that the lithe +figure of the half-breed in front of her seemed to change into the +broad, almost misshapen form of the trader. + +The first real fear that had come to her since the strange journey began +surged over Helen when McFann led the way into the glade where he had +been camped, and she saw a dreaded and familiar figure stooped over a +small fire, engaged in frying bacon. But there was nothing of triumph in +Talpers's face as he straightened up and saw Helen. Amazement flitted +across the trader's features, succeeded by consternation. + +"Now you've done it and done it right!" exclaimed the trader, with a +shower of oaths directed at Jim McFann. "Didn't have the nerve to shoot +at a purty face like that, did you? Git her into that tent while you and +me set down and figger out what we're goin' to do!" + +The half-breed helped Helen dismount and told her to go to his tent, a +small, pyramid affair at one end of the glade. Jim fastened the flaps on +the outside and went back to the camp-fire, where Talpers was storming +up and down like a madman. Helen, seated on McFann's blanket roll, heard +their voices rising and falling, the half-breed apparently defending +himself and Talpers growing louder and more accusative. Finally, when +the trader's rage seemed to have spent itself somewhat, the tent flaps +were opened and Jim McFann thrust some food into Helen's hands. She ate +the bacon and biscuits, as the long ride had made her hungry. Then +Talpers roughly ordered her out of the tent. He and the half-breed had +been busy packing and saddling. They added the tent and its contents to +their packs. Telling Helen to mount the white horse once more, Talpers +took the lead, and, with the silent and sullen half-breed bringing up +the rear, the party started off along a trail much rougher than the one +that had been followed by McFann and the girl in the morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +It was fortunate that Helen had accustomed herself to long rides, as +otherwise she could not have undergone the experiences of the next few +hours in the saddle. All semblance of a trail seemed to end a mile or so +beyond the camp. The ride became a succession of scrambles across +treacherous slides of shale, succeeded by plunges into apparently +impenetrable walls of underbrush and low-hanging trees. The general +course of the river was followed. At times they had climbed to such a +height that the stream was merely a white line beneath them, and its +voice could not be heard. Then they would descend and cross and recross +the stream. The wild plunges across the torrent became matters of +torture to Helen. The horses slipped on the boulders. Water dashed over +the girl's knees, and each ford became more difficult, as the stream +became more swollen, owing to the melting of near-by snowbanks. One of +the pack-horses fell and lay helplessly in the stream until it was +fairly dragged to its feet. The men cursed volubly as they worked over +the animal and readjusted the wet pack, which had slipped to one side. + +After an hour or two of travel the half-breed took Talpers's place in +the lead, the trader bringing up the rear behind Helen and the +pack-horses. Two bald mountain-peaks began to loom startlingly near. The +stream ran between the peaks, being fed by the snows on either slope. As +the altitude became more pronounced the horses struggled harder at their +work. The white horse was showing the stamina that was in him. Helen +urged him to his task, knowing the folly of attempting to thwart the +wishes of her captors. They passed a slope where a forest fire had swept +in years gone by. Wild raspberry bushes had grown in profusion among the +black, sentinel-like trunks of dead trees. The bushes tore her +riding-suit and scratched her hands, but she uttered no complaint. + +Under any other circumstances Helen would have found much in the ride to +overcome its discomforts. The majesty of the scenery impressed itself +upon her mind, troubled as she was. Silence wrapped the two great peaks +like a mantle. An eagle swung lazily in midair between the granite +spires. Here was another plane of existence where the machinations of +men seemed to matter little. Almost indifferent to her discomforts Helen +struggled on, mechanically keeping her place in line. The half-breed +looked back occasionally, and even went so far as to take her horse by +the bridle and help the animal up an unusually hard slope. + +When it became apparent that further progress was an impossibility +unless the pack-horses were abandoned, the half-breed turned aside, and, +after a final desperate scramble up the mountain-side, the party entered +a fairly open, level glade. Helen dismounted with the others. + +"We're goin' to camp here for a while," announced Talpers, after a short +whispered conference with the half-breed. "You might as well make +yourself as comfortable as you can, but remember one thing--you'll be +shot if you try to get away or if you make any signals." + +Helen leaned back against a tree-trunk, too weary to make answer, and +Talpers went to the assistance of McFann, who was taking off the packs +and saddles. The horses were staked out near at hand, where they could +get their fill of the luxuriant grass that carpeted the mountain-side +here. McFann brought water from a spring near at hand, and the trader +set out some food from one of the packs, though it was decided not to +build a fire to cook anything. Helen ate biscuits and bacon left from +the previous meal. While she was eating, McFann put up the little tent. +Then, after another conference with Talpers, the half-breed climbed a +rock which jutted out of the shoulder of the mountain not far from them. +His lithe figure was silhouetted against the reddening sky. Helen +wondered, as she looked up at him, if the rock had been used for +sentinel purposes in years gone by. Her reflections were broken in upon +by Talpers. + +"That tent is yours," said the trader, in a low voice. "But before you +turn in I've got a few words to say to you. You haven't seemed to be as +much afraid of me on this trip as you was the other night at your +cabin." + +"There's no reason why I should be," said Helen quietly. "You don't dare +harm me for several reasons." + +"What are they?" sneered Talpers. + +"Well, one reason is--Jim McFann. All I have to do to cause your +partnership to dissolve at once is to tell Jim that you found that money +on the man who was murdered and didn't divide." + +Talpers winced. + +"Furthermore, this business has practically made an outlaw of you. It +all depends on your treatment of me. I'm the collateral that may get you +back into the good graces of society." + +Talpers wiped the sweat beads off his forehead. + +"You don't want to be too sure of yourself," he growled, though with so +much lack of assurance that Helen was secretly delighted. "You want to +remember," went on the trader threateningly, "that any time we want to +put a bullet in you, we can make our getaway easy enough. The only thing +for you to do is to keep quiet and see that you mind orders." + +Talpers ended the interview hastily when McFann came down from the rock. +The men talked together, after shutting Helen in the tent and +reiterating that she would be watched and that the first attempt to +escape would be fatal. Helen flung herself down on the blankets and +watched the fading lights of evening as they were reflected on the +canvas. She could hear the low voices of Talpers and McFann, hardly +distinguishable from the slight noises made by the wind in the trees. +The moon cast the shadows of branches on the canvas, and the noise of +the stream, far below, came fitfully to Helen's ears. She was more at +ease in mind than at any other time since Jim McFann had confronted her +with his rifle over his arm. She felt that Talpers was the moving spirit +in her kidnaping. She did not know how near her knowledge of the +trader's implication in the Dollar Sign tragedy had brought her to +death. Nor did she know that Talpers's rage over Jim McFann's weakening +had been so great that the trader had nearly snatched up his rifle and +shot his partner dead when the half-breed brought Helen into camp. + +As a matter of fact, when Talpers had realized that Jim McFann had +failed in his mission of assassination, the trader had been consumed +with alternate rage and fear. A kidnaping had been the last thing in the +world in the trader's thoughts. Assassination, with some one else doing +the work, was much the better way. Running off with womenfolk could not +be made a profitable affair, but here was the girl thrown into his hands +by fate. It would not do to let her go. Perhaps a way out of the mess +could be thought over. McFann could be made to bear the brunt in some +way. Meantime the best thing to do was to get as far into the hills as +possible. McFann could outwit the Indian police. He had been doing it +right along. He had fooled them during long months of bootlegging. Since +his escape from jail the police had redoubled their efforts to capture +McFann, but he had gone right on fooling them. If worst came to worst, +McFann and he could make their getaway alone, first putting the girl +where she would never tell what she knew about them. Across the +mountains there was a little colony of law-breakers that had long been +after Talpers as a leader. He had helped them in a good many ways, these +outlaws, particularly in rustling cattle from the reservation herds. It +was Bill Talpers who had evolved the neat little plan of changing the ID +brand of the Interior Department to the "two-pole pumpkin" brand, which +was done merely by extending another semicircle to the left of the "I" +and connecting that letter and the "D" at top and bottom, thus making +two perpendicular lines in a flattened circle. + +The returns from his interest in the gang's rustling operations had been +far more than Bill had ever secured from his store. In fact, +storekeeping was played out. Bill never would have kept it up except for +the opportunity it gave him to find out what was going on. To be sure, +he should have played safe and kept away from such things as that affair +on the Dollar Sign road. But he could have come clear even there if it +had not been for the uncanny knowledge possessed by that girl. The +thought of what would happen if she took a notion to tell McFann how he +had been "double-crossed" by his partner gave Talpers something +approaching a chill. The half-breed was docile enough as long as he +thought he was being fairly dealt with. But once let him find out that +he had been unfairly treated, all the Indian in him would come to the +surface with a rush! Fortunately the girl was proving herself to be +close-mouthed. She had traveled for hours with the half-breed without +telling him of Talpers's perfidy. Now Bill would see to it that she got +no chance to talk with McFann. The half-breed was too tender-hearted +where women were concerned. That much had been proved when he had fallen +down in the matter of the work he had been sent out to do. If she had a +chance the girl might even persuade him to let her escape, which was not +going to do at all. If anybody was to be left holding the sack at the +end of the adventure, it would not be Bill Talpers! + +With various stratagems being brought to mind, only to be rejected one +after another, Talpers watched the tent until midnight, the half-breed +sleeping near at hand. Then Bill turned in while McFann kept watch. As +for Helen, she slept the sleep of exhaustion until wakened by the touch +of daylight on the canvas. + +With senses preternaturally sharpened, as they generally are during +one's first hours in the wilderness, Helen listened. She heard Talpers +stirring about among the horses. It was evident that he was alarmed +about something, as he was pulling the picket-pins and bringing the +animals closer to the center of the glade. McFann had been looking down +the valley from the sentinel rock. She did not hear him come into camp, +as the half-breed always moved silently through underbrush that would +betray the presence of any one less skilled in woodcraft. She heard his +monosyllabic answers to Talpers's questions. Then Bill himself pushed +his way through the underbrush and climbed the rock. When he returned to +the camp he came to the tent. + +"I don't mind tellin' you that Plenty Buffalo is out there on the trail, +with an Injun policeman or two. That young agent don't seem to have had +nerve enough to come along," said Talpers, producing a small rope. "I'll +have to tie your hands awhile, just to make sure you don't try gittin' +away. I'm goin' to tell 'em that at the first sign of rushin' the camp +you're goin' to be shot. What's more I'm goin' to mean what I tell 'em." + +Talpers tied Helen's hands behind her. He left the flaps of the tent +open as he picked up his rifle and returned to McFann, who was sitting +on a log, composedly enough, keeping watch of the other end of the glade +where the trail entered. Helen sank to her knees, with her back to the +rear of the tent, so she could command a better view. The tent had been +staked down securely around the edges, so there was no opportunity for +her to crawl under. + +Apparently the two men in the glade, as Helen saw them through the +inverted V of the open tent flaps, were most peacefully inclined. They +sat smoking and talking, and, from all outward appearances, might have +been two hunters talking over the day's prospects. Suddenly they sprang +to their feet, and, with rifles in readiness, looked toward the trail, +which was hidden from Helen's vision. + +"Don't come any nearer, Plenty Buffalo," called Talpers, in Indian +language. "If you try to rush the camp, the first thing we'll do is to +kill this girl. The only thing for you to do is to go back." + +Then followed a short colloquy, Helen being unable to hear Plenty +Buffalo's voice. + +Evidently he was well down the trail, hidden in the trees, and was +making no further effort to approach. The men sat down again, watching +the trail and evidently figuring out their plan of escape. There was no +means of scaling the mountain wall behind them. Horses could not +possibly climb that steep slope, covered with such a tangle of trees and +undergrowth, but it was possible to proceed farther along the upper edge +of the valley until finally timber-line was reached, after which the +party could drop over the divide into the happy little kingdom just off +the reservation where a capable man with the branding-iron was always +welcome and where the authorities never interfered. + +Helen listened for another call from Plenty Buffalo, but the minutes +dragged past and no summons came. The silence of the forest became +almost unbearable. The men sat uneasily, casting occasional glances back +at the tent, and making sure that Helen was remaining quiet. Finally +Plenty Buffalo called again. There was another brief parley and Talpers +renewed his threats. While the talk was going on, Helen heard a slight +noise behind her. Turning her head, she saw the point of a knife cutting +a long slit in the back of the tent. Then Fire Bear's dark face peered +in through the opening. The Indian's long brown arm reached forth and +the bonds at Helen's wrists were cut. The arm disappeared through the +slit in the canvas, beckoning as it did so. Helen backed slowly toward +the opening that had been made. + +The talk between Plenty Buffalo and Talpers was still going on. Helen +waited until both men had glanced around at her. Then, as they turned +their heads once more toward Plenty Buffalo's hiding-place, she half +leaped, half fell through the opening in the tent. A strong hand kept +her from falling and guided her swiftly through the underbrush back of +the tent. Her face was scratched by the bushes that swung back as the +half-naked Indian glided ahead of her, but, in almost miraculous +fashion, she found a traversable path opened. Torn and bleeding, she +flung herself behind a rock, just as a shout from the camp told that her +disappearance had been discovered. There was a crashing of pursuers +through the underbrush, but a gun roared a warning, almost in Helen's +ear. + +The shot was fired by Lowell, who, hatless and with torn clothing, had +followed Fire Bear within a short distance of the camp. Helen crouched +against the rock, while Lowell stood over her firing into the forest +tangle. Fire Bear stood nonchalantly beside Lowell. Helen noticed, +wonderingly, that there was not a scratch on the Indian's naked +shoulders, yet Lowell's clothes were torn, and blood dripped from his +palms where he had followed Fire Bear along the seemingly impassable way +back of the camp. + +One or two answering shots were fired, but evidently Talpers and his +companion were afraid of an attack by Plenty Buffalo, so no pursuit was +attempted. + +The Indian turned, and, motioning for Lowell and Helen to follow, +disappeared in the undergrowth along the trail which he and the agent +had made while Plenty Buffalo was attracting the attention of Talpers +and the half-breed. Helen tried to rise, but the sudden ending of the +mental strain proved unnerving. She leaned against the rock with her +eyes closed and her body limp. Lowell lifted her to her feet, almost +roughly. For a moment she stood with Lowell's arms about her and his +kisses on her face. Her whiteness alarmed him. + +"Tell me you haven't been harmed," he cried. "If you have--" + +"Just these scratches and a good riding-suit in tatters," she answered, +as she drew away from him with a reassuring smile. + +Lowell's brow cleared, and he laughed gleefully, as he picked up his +rifle. + +"Well, there's just one more hard scramble ahead," he replied, "and +perhaps some more tatters to add to what both of us have. I'd carry you, +but the best I can do is to help you over some of the more difficult +places. Fire Bear has started. Have you strength enough to try to +follow?" + +He led her along the trail taken by Fire Bear--a trail in name only. The +Indian had waited for them a few yards away. How much he had seen and +heard when Lowell held her in his arms Helen could only surmise, but the +thought sent the blood into her cheeks with a rush. + +It was as Lowell had said--another scramble. At times it seemed as if +she could not go on, but always at the right time Lowell gave the +necessary help that enabled her to surmount some seemingly impassable +obstacle. As for Fire Bear, he made his way over huge rocks and along +steep pitches of shale with the ease of a serpent. At last the way +became somewhat less difficult to traverse, and, when they came out on +the trail by the stream, Helen realized that the tax on her physical +resources was ended. + +A short distance down the trail they met Plenty Buffalo with two Indian +policemen. One of the police had been wounded in the arm by a shot from +Talpers. The trader and McFann had hurriedly packed and made their +escape, leaving the white horse, which Plenty Buffalo had brought for +Helen. + +After a hasty examination of the Indian's arm it was decided to hurry +back to the agency for aid. + +"I've sent out a call for more of the Indian police," said Lowell. +"They'll probably be there when we get back to the agency. We just +picked up what help we could find when we got word of your +disappearance." + +When Helen looked around for Fire Bear, the Indian had disappeared. + +"We never could have done anything without Fire Bear," said Lowell, as +he swung into the saddle preparatory to the homeward ride. "He is the +greatest trailer I ever saw. Probably he's gone back to his camp, now +that this interruption in his religious ceremonies is over." + +Plenty Buffalo led the way back to the agency with the wounded +policeman. Lowell had examined the man's injury and was satisfied that +it was only superficial. The policeman himself took matters with true +Indian philosophy, and galloped on with Plenty Buffalo, the most +unconcerned member of the party. + +Lowell rode with Helen, letting the others go on ahead after they had +reached the open country beyond the foothills. He explained the +circumstances of the rescue--how Wong had brought a note signed "Willis +Morgan," telling of Helen's disappearance. At the same time Fire Bear +had come to the agency with the news that one of his young men had seen +McFann and Helen riding toward the mountains. Fire Bear was convinced +that something was wrong and had lost no time in telling Lowell. With +Plenty Buffalo and one or two Indian policemen who happened to be at the +agency, a posse was hurriedly made up. Fire Bear took the trail and +followed it so swiftly and unerringly that the party was almost within +striking distance of the fugitives by night-fall. A conference had been +held, and it was decided to let Plenty Buffalo parley with Talpers and +McFann from the trail, while Fire Bear attempted the seemingly +impossible task of entering the camp from the side toward the mountain. + +Helen was silent during most of the ride to the agency. Lowell ascribed +her silence to a natural reaction from the physical and mental strain of +recent hours. After reaching the agency he saw that the wounded +policeman was properly taken care of. Then Lowell and Helen started for +the Greek Letter Ranch in the agent's car, leaving her horse to be +brought over by one of the agency employees. + +"Do you intend to go back and take up the chase for Talpers and McFann?" +asked Helen. + +"Of course! Just as soon as I can get more of the Indian police +together." + +"But they'll hardly be taken alive, will they?" + +"Perhaps not." + +"That means that blood will be shed on my account," declared Helen. +"I'll not have it! I don't want those men captured! What if I refuse to +testify against them?" + +Lowell looked at her in amazement. Then it came to him overwhelmingly +that here was the murder mystery stalking between them once more, like a +ghost. He recalled Talpers's broad hint that Helen knew something of the +case, and that if Bill Talpers were dragged into the Dollar Sign affair +the girl at the Greek Letter Ranch would be dragged in also. + +"There is no need of the outside world knowing anything about this," +went on Helen. "The Indian police do not report to any one but you, do +they?" + +"No. Their lips are sealed so far as their official duties are +concerned." + +"Fire Bear will have nothing to say?" + +"He has probably forgotten it by this time in his religious fervor." + +"Then I ask you to let these men go." + +"If you will not appear against them," said Lowell, "I can't see that +anything will be gained by bringing them in. But probably it would be a +good thing to exterminate them on the tenable ground that they are +general menaces to the welfare of society." + +The girl's troubled expression returned. + +"On one condition I will send word to Talpers that he may return," went +on Lowell. "That condition is that you rescind your order excluding me +from the Greek Letter Ranch. If Talpers comes back I've got to be +allowed to drop around to see that you are not spirited away." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +Talpers was back in his store in two days. Lowell sent word that the +trader might return. At first Talpers was hesitant and suspicious. There +was a lurking fear in his mind that the agent had some trick in view, +but, as life took its accustomed course, Bill resumed his domineering +attitude about the store. A casual explanation that he had been buying +some cattle was enough to explain his absence. + +Bill's recent experiences had caused him to regard the agent with new +hatred, not unmixed with fear. The obvious thing for Lowell to have done +was to have rushed more men on the trail and captured Talpers and McFann +before they crossed the reservation line. It could have been done, with +Fire Bear doing the trailing. Even the half-breed admitted that much. +But, instead of carrying out such a programme, the agent had sent Fire +Bear and Plenty Buffalo with word that the trader might come back--that +no prosecution was intended. + +Clearly enough such an unusual proceeding indicated that the girl was +still afraid on account of the letter, and had persuaded the agent to +abandon the chase. There was the key to the whole situation--the letter! +Bill determined to guard it more closely than ever. He opened his safe +frequently to see that it was there. + +As a whole, then, things were not breaking so badly, Bill figured. To be +sure, it would have cleared things permanently if Jim McFann had done as +he had been told, instead of weakening in such unexpected and absurd +fashion. Bringing that girl into camp, as Jim had done, had given +Talpers the most unpleasant surprise of his life. He had come out of the +affair luckily. The letter was what had done it all. He would lie low +and keep an eye on affairs from now on. McFann would have no difficulty +in shifting for himself out in the sagebrush, now that he was alone. +Bill would see that he got grub and even a little whiskey occasionally, +but there would be no more assignments for him in which women were +concerned, for the half-breed had too tender a heart for his own good! + +The Indian agent stopped at Bill's store occasionally, on his way to and +from the Greek Letter Ranch. Their conversation ran mostly to trade and +minor affairs of life in general. Even the weather was fallen back upon +in case some one happened to be within earshot, which was usually the +case, as Bill's store was seldom empty. No one who heard them would +suspect that the men were watching, weighing, and fathoming each other +with all the nicety at individual command. Talpers was always wondering +just how much the Indian agent knew, and Lowell was saying to himself: + +"This scoundrel has some knowledge in his possession which vitally +affects the young woman I love. Also he is concerned, perhaps deeply, in +the murder on the Dollar Sign road. Yet he has fortified himself so well +in his villainy that he feels secure." + +For all his increased feeling of security, Talpers was wise enough to +let the bottle alone and also to do no boasting. Likewise he stuck +faithfully to his store--so faithfully that it became a matter of public +comment. + +"If Bill sticks much closer to this store he's goin' to fall into a +decline," said Andy Wolters, who had been restored to favor in the +circle of cowpunchers that lolled about Talpers's place. "He's gettin' a +reg'lar prison pallor now. He used to be hittin' the trail once in a +while, but nowadays he's hangin' around that post-office section as if +he expected a letter notifyin' him that a rich uncle had died." + +"Mebbe he's afraid of travelin' these parts since that feller was killed +on the Dollar Sign," suggested another cowboy. "Doggoned if I don't feel +a little shaky myself sometimes when I'm ridin' that road alone at +night. Looks like some of them Injuns ought to have been hung for that +murder, right off the reel, and then folks'd feel a lot easier in their +minds." + +The talk then would drift invariably to the subject of the murder and +the general folly of the court in allowing Fire Bear to go on the Indian +agent's recognizance. But Talpers, though he heard the chorus of +denunciation from the back of the store, and though he was frequently +called upon for an opinion, never could be drawn into the conversation. +He bullied his clerk as usual, and once in a while swept down, in a +storm of baseless anger, upon some unoffending Indian, just to show that +Bill Talpers was still a man to be feared, but for the most part he +waited silently, with the confidence of a man who holds a winning hand +at cards. + +The same days that saw Talpers's confidence returning were days of +dissatisfaction to Lowell. He felt that he was being constantly +thwarted. He would have preferred to give his entire attention to the +murder mystery, but details of reservation management crowded upon him +in a way that made avoidance impossible. Among his duties Lowell found +that he must act as judge and jury in many cases that came up. There +were domestic difficulties to be straightened out, and thieves and +brawlers to be sentenced. Likewise there was occasional flotsam, cast up +from the human sea outside the reservation, which required attention. + +One of those reminders of the outer world was brought in by an Indian +policeman. The stranger was a rough-looking individual, to all +appearances a harmless tramp, who had been picked up "hoofing it" across +the reservation. + +The Indian policeman explained, through the interpreter, that he had +found the wanderer near a sub-agency, several miles away--that he had +shown a disposition to fight, and had only been cowed by the prompt +presentation of a revolver at his head. + +"Why, you 're no tramp--you're a yeggman," said Lowell to the prisoner, +interrupting voluble protestations of innocence. "You're one of the +gentry that live off small post-offices and banks. I'll bet you've +stolen stamps enough in your career to keep the Post-Office Department +going six months. And you've given heart disease to no end of +stockholders in small banks--prosperous citizens who have had to make +good the losses caused by your safe-breaking operations. Am I bringing +an unjust indictment against you, pardner?" + +A flicker of a smile was discernible somewhere in the tangle of beard +that hid the lineaments of the prisoner's face. + +"If I inventoried the contents of this bundle," continued Lowell, "I'd +find a pretty complete outfit of the tools that keep the safe companies +working overtime on replacements, wouldn't I?" + +The prisoner nodded. + +"There's no use of my dodgin', judge," he said. "The tools are +there--all of 'em. But I'm through with the game. All I want now is +enough of a stake to get me back home to Omaha, where the family is. +That's why I was footin' it acrost this Injun country--takin' a short +cut to a railroad where I wouldn't be watched for." + +"I'll consider your case awhile," remarked Lowell after a moment's +thought. "Perhaps we can speed you on your way to Omaha and the family." + +The prisoner was taken back to the agency jail leaving his bundle on +Lowell's desk. About midnight Lowell took the bundle and, going to the +jail, roused the policeman who was on guard and was admitted to the +prisoner's cell. + +"Look here, Red," said Lowell. "Your name is Red, isn't it?" + +"Red Egan." + +"Well, Red Egan, did you ever hear of Jimmy Valentine?" + +The prisoner scratched his head while he puffed at a welcome cigarette. + +"No? Well, Red, this Jimmy Valentine was in the business you're +quitting, and he opened a safe in a good cause. I want you to do the +same for me. If you can do a neat job, with no noise, I'll see that you +get across the reservation all right, with stake enough to get you to +Omaha." + +"You're on, judge! I'd crack one more for a good scout like you any +day." + +Three quarters of an hour later Red Egan was working professionally upon +the safe in Bill Talpers's store. The door to Talpers's sleeping-room +was not far away, but it was closed, and the trader was a thorough +sleeper, so the cracksman might have been conducting operations a mile +distant, so far as interruption from Bill was concerned. + +As he worked, Red Egan told whispered stories to a companion--stories +which related to barriers burned, pried, and blown away. + +"I don't mind how close they sleep to their junk," observed Red, as he +rested momentarily from his labors. "Unless a man's got insomnier and +insists on makin' his bed on top of his safe, he ain't got a chance to +make his iron doors stay shut if one of the real good 'uns takes a +notion to make 'em fly apart. There she goes!" he added a moment later, +as the safe door swung open. + +"All right, Red," came the whispered reply, "but remember that I get +whatever money's in sight, just for appearances' sake, though it's +letters and such things I'm really after." + +"It goes as you say, boss, and I hope you get what you want. There goes +that inside door." + +In the light of a flash-lamp Lowell saw a letter and a roll of bills. He +took both, while Red Egan, his work done, packed up the kit of tools. + +Lowell had recognized Helen's handwriting on the envelope, and knew he +had found what he wanted. + +"You've earned that trip to Omaha, Red," said Lowell, after they had +gone back to their horses which had been standing in a cottonwood grove +near by. "When we get back to the agency I'll put you in my car and +drive you far enough by daybreak so that you can catch a train at noon." + +"You're a square guy, judge, but if that's the letter you've been +wantin' to get, why don't you read it? Or maybe you know what's in it +without readin' it." + +"No, I don't know what's in it, and I don't want to read it, Red." + +Red's amazed whistle cut through the night silence. + +"Well, if that ain't the limit! Havin' a safe-crackin' job done for a +letter that you ain't ever seen and don't want to see the inside of!" + +"It's all right, Red. Don't worry about it, because you've earned your +money twice over to-night. Don't look on your last job as a failure, by +any means." + + * * * * * + +A few hours later the Indian agent, not looking like a man who had been +up all night, halted his car at Talpers's store, after he had received +an excited hail from Andy Wolters. + +"You're jest in time!" exclaimed Andy. "Bill Talpers's safe has been +cracked and Bill is jest now tryin' to figger the damage. He says he's +lost a roll of money and some other things." + +Lowell found Talpers going excitedly through the contents of his broken +safe. It was not the first time the trader had pawed over the papers. +Nor were the oaths that fell on Lowell's ears the first that the trader +had uttered since the discovery that he had been robbed as he slept. + +It was plain enough that Talpers was suffering from a deeper shock than +could come through any mere loss of money. Not even when Lowell +contrived to drop the roll of bills, where the trader's clerk picked it +up with a whoop of glee, did Talpers's expression change. His oaths were +those of a man distraught, and the contumely he heaped upon Sheriff Tom +Redmond moved that official to a spirited defense. + +"I can't see why you hold me responsible for a safe that you've been +keeping within earshot all these years," retorted Tom, in answer to +Talpers's sneers about the lack of protection afforded the county's +business men. "If you can't hear a yeggman working right next to your +sleeping-quarters, how do you expect me to hear him, 'way over to White +Lodge? I'll leave it to Lowell here if your complaint is reasonable. +I'll do the best I can to get this man, but it looks to me as if he's +made a clean getaway. What sort of papers was it you said you lost, +Bill?" + +"I didn't say." + +"Well, then, I'm asking you. Was they long or short, rolled or flat, or +tied with pink ribbon?" + +"Never mind!" roared Talpers. "You round up this burglar and let me go +through him. I'll get what's mine, all right." + +Redmond made a gesture of despair. A man who had been robbed and had +recovered his money, and was so keen after papers that he wouldn't or +couldn't describe, was past all fooling with. The sheriff rode off, +grumbling, without even questioning Lowell to ascertain if the Indian +police had seen any suspicious characters on the reservation. + +Bill Talpers's mental convolutions following the robbery reminded Lowell +of the writhing of a wounded snake. Bill's fear was that the letter +would be picked up and sent back to the girl at the Greek Letter Ranch. +Suspicion of a plot in the affair did not enter his head. To him it was +just a sinister stroke of misfortune--one of the chance buffets of fate. +One tramp burglar out of the many pursuing that vocation had happened +upon the Talpers establishment at a time when its proprietor was in an +unusually sound sleep. Bill gave himself over to thoughts of the various +forms of punishment he would inflict upon the wandering yeggman in case +a capture were effected--thoughts which came to naught, as Red Egan had +been given so generous a start toward his Omaha goal that he never was +headed. + +As the days went past and the letter was not discovered, Bill began to +gather hope. Perhaps the burglar, thinking the letter of no value, had +destroyed it, in natural disgust at finding that he had dropped the +money which undoubtedly was the real object of his safe-breaking. + +If Talpers had known what had really happened to the letter, all his +self-comfortings would have vanished. Lowell had lost no time in taking +the missive to Helen. He had found affairs at the Greek Letter Ranch +apparently unchanged. Wong was at work in the kitchen. Two Indians, who +had been hired to harvest the hay, which was the only crop on the ranch, +were busy in a near-by field. Helen, looking charming in a house dress +of blue, with white collar and cuffs, was feeding a tame magpie when +Lowell drove into the yard. + +"Moving picture entitled 'The Metamorphosis of Miss Tatters,'" said +Lowell, amusedly surveying her. + +"The scratches still survive, but the riding-suit will take a lot of +mending," said Helen, showing her scratched hands and wrists. + +"Well, if this very becoming costume has a pocket, here's something to +put in it," remarked Lowell, handing her the letter. + +Helen's smile was succeeded by a startled, anxious look, as she glanced +at the envelope and then at Lowell. + +"No need for worry," Lowell assured her. "Nobody has read that letter +since it passed out of the possession of our esteemed postmaster, Bill +Talpers, sometime after one o'clock this morning." + +"But how did he come to give it up?" asked Helen, her voice wavering. + +"He did not do so willingly. It might be said he did not give it up +knowingly. As a matter of fact, our friend Talpers had no idea he had +lost his precious possession until it had been gone several hours." + +"But how--" + +"'How' is a word to be flung at Red Egan, knight of the steel drill and +the nitro bottle and other what-nots of up-to-date burglary," said +Lowell. "Though I saw the thing done, I can't tell you how. I only hope +it clears matters for you." + +"It does in a way. I cannot tell you how grateful I am," said Helen, her +trembling hands tightly clutching the letter. + +"Only in a way? I am sorry it does not do more." + +"But it's a very important way, I assure you!" exclaimed Helen. "It +eliminates this man--this Talpers--as a personal menace. But when you +are so eager to get every thread of evidence, how is it that you can +give this letter to me, unread? You must feel sure it has some bearing +on the awful thing--the tragedy that took place back there on the hill." + +"That is where faith rises superior to a very human desire to look into +the details of mystery," said Lowell. "If I were a real detective, or +spy, as you characterized me, I would have read that letter at the first +opportunity. But I knew that my reading it would cause you grave +personal concern. I have faith in you to the extent that I believe you +would do nothing to bring injustice upon others. Consequently, from now +on I will proceed to forget that this letter ever existed." + +"You may regret that you have acted in this generous manner," said the +girl. "What if you find that all your faith has been misplaced--that I +am not worthy of the trust--" + +"Really, there is nothing to be gained by saying such things," +interposed Lowell. "As I told you, I am forgetting that the letter ever +existed." + +"Do you know," she said, "I wish this letter could have come back to me +from any one but you?" + +"Why?" + +"Because, coming as it has, I am more or less constrained to act as +fairly as you believe I shall act." + +"You might give it back to Talpers and start in on any sort of a deal +you chose." + +"Impossible! For fear Talpers may get it, here is what I shall do to the +letter." + +Here Helen tore it in small pieces and tossed them high in the air, the +breeze carrying them about the yard like snow. + +"In which event," laughed Lowell, "it seems that I win, and my faith in +you is to be justified." + +"I wish I could assure you of as much," answered Helen sadly. "But if it +happens that your trust is not justified, I hope you will not think too +harshly of me." + +"Harshly!" exclaimed Lowell. "Harshly! Why, if you practiced revolver +shooting on me an hour before breakfast every morning, or if you used me +for a doormat here at the Greek Letter Ranch, I couldn't think anything +but lovingly of you." + +"Oh!" cried Helen, clapping her hands over her ears and running up the +porch steps, as Lowell turned to his automobile. "You've almost undone +all the good you've accomplished to-day." + +"Thanks for that word 'almost,'" laughed Lowell. + +"Then I'll make it 'quite,'" flung Helen, but her words were lost in the +shifting of gears as Lowell started back to the agency. + +That night Helen dreamed that Bill Talpers, on hands and knees, was +moving like a misshapen shadow about the yard in the moonlight picking +up the letter which she had torn to pieces. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +Sheriff Tom Redmond sat in Lowell's office at the agency, staring grimly +across at the little park, where the down from the cottonwood trees +clung to the grass like snow. The sheriff had just brought himself to a +virtual admission that he had been in the wrong. + +"I was going to say," remarked Tom, "that, in case you catch Jim McFann, +perhaps the best thing would be for you to sort o' close-herd him at the +agency jail here until time for trial." + +Lowell looked at the sheriff inquiringly. + +"I'll admit that I've been sort of clamoring for you to let me bring a +big posse over here and round up McFann in a hurry. Well, I don't +believe that scheme would work." + +"I'm glad we agree on that point." + +"You've been taking the ground that unless we brought a lot of men over, +we couldn't do any better than the Injun police in the matter of +catching this half-breed. Also you've said that if we _did_ bring a +small army of cattlemen, it would only be a lynching party, and Jim +McFann'd never live to reach the jail at White Lodge." + +"I don't think anything could stop a lynching." + +"Well, I believe you're right. The boys have been riding me, stronger +and stronger, to get up a posse and come over here. In fact, they got so +strong that I suspected they had something up their sleeves. When I sort +o' backed up on the proposition, a lot of them began pulling wires at +Washington, so's to make you get orders that'd let us come on the +reservation and get both of these men." + +"I know it," said Lowell, "but they've found they can't make any +headway, even with their own Congressmen, because Judge Garford's stand +is too well known. He's let everybody know that he's against anything +that may bring about a lynching. So far as the Department is concerned, +I've put matters squarely up to it and have been advised to use my own +judgment." + +"Well, I never seen people so wrought up, and I'm free to admit now that +if Jim McFann hadn't broke jail he'd have been lynched on the very day +that he made his getaway. The only question is--do you think you can get +him before the trial, and are you sure the Injun'll come in?" + +"I'm not sure of anything, of course," replied Lowell, "but I've staked +everything on Fire Bear making good his word. If he doesn't, I'm ready +to quit the country. McFann's a different proposition. He has been too +clever for the police, but I have rather hesitated about having Plenty +Buffalo risk the lives of his men, because I have had a feeling that +McFann might be reached in a different way. I'm sure he's been getting +supplies from the man who has been using him in bootlegging operations." + +"You mean Talpers?" + +"Yes. If McFann is mixed up in anything, from bootlegging to bigger +crimes, he is only a tool. He can be a dangerous tool--that's +admitted--but I'd like to gather in the fellow who does the planning." + +"By golly! I wish I had you working with me on this murder case," said +Redmond, in a burst of confidence. "I'll admit I never had anything +stump me the way this case has. I'm bringing up against a blank wall at +every turn." + +"Haven't you found out anything new about Sargent?" + +"Not a thing worth while. He lived alone--had lots of money that he made +by inventing mining machinery." + +"Any relatives?" + +"None that we can find out about." + +"Have you learned anything through his bank?" + +"He had plenty of money on deposit; that's all." + +"Did he have any lawyers?" + +"Not that we've heard from." + +"Does any one know why he came on this trip?" + +"No; but he was in the habit of making long jaunts alone through the +West." + +"What sort of a home did he have?" + +"A big house in the suburbs. Lived there alone with two servants. They +haven't been able to tell a thing about him that's worth a cuss." + +"Would anything about his home indicate what sort of a man he was?" + +"The detectives wrote something about his having a lot of Indian +things--Navajo blankets and such." + +"Indians may have been his hobby. Perhaps he intended to visit this +reservation." + +"If that was so, why should he drive through the agency at night and be +killed going away from the reservation? No, he was going somewhere in a +hurry or he wouldn't have traveled at night." + +"But automobile tourists sometimes travel that way." + +"Not in this part of the country. In the Southwest, perhaps, to avoid +the heat of the day." + +"Well, what do you think about it all, Tom?" + +"That this feller was a pilgrim, going somewhere in a hurry. He was held +up by some of your young bucks who were off the reservation and feeling +a little too full of life for their own good. A touch of bootleg whiskey +might have set them going. Mebbe that's where Jim McFann came in. They +might have killed the man when he resisted. The staking-out was probably +an afterthought--a piece of Injun or half-breed devilment." + +"How about the sawed-off shotgun? I doubt if there's one on the +reservation." + +"Probably that was Sargent's own weapon. He had traveled in the West a +good many years. Mebbe he had used sawed-off shotguns as an express +messenger or something of the sort in early days. It's a fact that there +ain't any handier weapon of _dee_fense than a sawed-off shotgun, no +matter what kind of a wheeled outfit you're traveling in." + +"It's all reasonable enough, Tom," said Lowell reflectively. "It may +work out just as you have figured, but frankly I don't believe the +Indians and McFann are in it quite as far as you think." + +"Well, if they didn't do it, who could have? You've been over the ground +more than any one else. Have you found anything to hang a whisper of +suspicion on?" + +Lowell shook his head. + +"Nothing to talk about, but there are some things, indefinite enough, +perhaps, that make me hesitate about believing the Indians to be +guilty." + +"How about McFann? He's got the nerve, all right." + +"Yes, McFann would kill if it came to a showdown. There's enough Indian +in him, too, to explain the staking-down." + +"He admits he was on the scene of the murder." + +"Yes, and his admission strengthens me in the belief that he's telling +the truth, or at least that he had no part in the actual killing. If he +were guilty, he'd deny being within miles of the spot." + +"Mebbe you're right," said the sheriff, rising and turning his hat in +his hand and methodically prodding new and geometrically perfect +indentations in its high crown, "but you've got a strong popular opinion +to buck. Most people believe them Injuns and the breed have a guilty +knowledge of the murder." + +"When you get twelve men in the jury box saying the same thing," replied +Lowell, "that's going to settle it. But until then I'm considering the +case open." + + * * * * * + +Jim McFann's camp was in the loneliest of many lonely draws in the +sage-gray uplands where the foothills and plains meet. It was not a camp +that would appeal to the luxury-loving. In fact, one might almost fall +over it in the brush before knowing that a camp was there. A "tarp" bed +was spread on the hard, sun-cracked soil. A saddle was near by. There +was a frying-pan or two at the edge of a dead fire. A pack-animal and +saddle horse stood disconsolately in the greasewood, getting what +slender grazing was available, but not being allowed to wander far. It +was the camp of one who "traveled light" and was ready to go at an +instant's notice. + +So well hidden was the half-breed that, in spite of explicit directions +that had been given by Bill Talpers, Andy Wolters had a difficult time +in finding the camp. Talpers had sent Andy as his emissary, bearing grub +and tobacco and a bottle of whiskey to the half-breed. Andy had turned +and twisted most of the morning in the monotony of sage. Song had died +upon his lips as the sun had beaten upon him with all its unclouded +vigor. + +Andy did not know it, but for an hour he had been under the scrutiny of +the half-breed, who had been quick to descry the horseman moving through +the brush. McFann had been expecting Talpers, and he was none too +pleased to find that the trader had sent the gossiping cowpuncher in his +stead. Andy, being one of those ingenuous souls who never can catch the +undercurrents of life, rattled on, all unconscious of the effect of +light words, lightly flung. + +"You dig the grub and other stuff out o' that pack," said Andy, "while I +hunt an inch or two of shade and cool my brow. When it comes to makin' a +success of hidin' out in the brush, you can beat one of them renegade +steers that we miss every round-up. I guess you ain't heard about the +robbery that's happened in our metropolis of Talpersville, have you?" + +The half-breed grunted a negative. + +"Of course not, seein' as you ain't gettin' the daily paper out here. +Well, an expert safe-buster rode Bill Talpers's iron treasure-chest to a +frazzle the other night. Took valuable papers that Bill's all fussed up +about, but dropped a wad of bills, big enough to choke one of them +prehistoric bronks that used to romp around in these hills." + +McFann looked up scowlingly from his task of estimating the amount of +grub that had been sent. + +"Seems to me," went on Andy, "that if I got back my money, I wouldn't +give a durn about papers--not unless they was papers that established my +rights as the long-lost heir of some feller with about twenty million +dollars. That roll had a thousand-dollar bill wrapped around the +outside." + +The half-breed straightened up. + +"How do you know there was a thousand-dollar bill in that roll?" he +demanded, with an intensity that surprised the cowboy. + +"Bill told me so himself. He had took a few snifters, and was feelin' +melancholy over them papers, and I tried to cheer him up by tellin' him +jest what I've told you, that as long as I had my roll back, I wouldn't +care about all the hen-tracks that spoiled nice white paper. He chirked +up a bit at that, and got confidential and told me about this +thousand-dollar bill. They say it ain't the only one he had. The story +is that he sprung one on an Injun the other day in payment for a bunch +o' steers. There must be lots more profit in prunes and shawls and the +other things that Bill handles than most people have been thinkin', with +thousand-dollar bills comin' so easy." + +The half-breed was listening intently now. He had ceased his work about +the camp, and was standing, with hands clenched and head thrust forward, +eyeing Andy so narrowly that the cowboy paused in his narrative. + +"What's the matter, Jim?" he asked; "Bill didn't take any of them +thousand-dollar things from you, did he?" + +"Mebbe not, and mebbe so," enigmatically answered the half-breed. "Go on +and tell me the rest." + +When he had completed his story of the robbery at Talpers's store, Andy +tilted his enormous sombrero over his eyes, and, leaning back in the +shade, fell asleep. The half-breed worked silently about the camp, +occasionally going to a near-by knoll and looking about for some sign of +life in the sagebrush. He made some biscuits and coffee and fried some +bacon, after which he touched Andy none too gently with his moccasined +foot and told the cowboy to sit up and eat something. + +After one or two ineffectual efforts to start conversation, the visitor +gave up in disgust. The meal was eaten in silence. Even the obtuse Andy +sensed that something was wrong, and made no effort to rouse the +half-breed, who ate grimly and immediately busied himself with the +dish-washing as soon as the meal was over. Andy soon took his departure, +the half-breed directing him to a route that would lessen the chances of +his discovery by the Indian police. + +After Andy had gone the half-breed turned his attention to the bottle +which had been sent by Talpers. He visited the knoll occasionally, but +nothing alive could be discerned in the great wastes of sage. When the +shadows deepened and the chill of evening came down from the high +altitudes of the near-by peaks, McFann staked out his ponies in better +grazing ground. Then he built a small camp-fire, and, sitting +cross-legged in the light, he smoked and drank, and meditated upon the +perfidy of Bill Talpers. + +McFann was astir at dawn, and there was determination in every move as +he brought in the horses and began to break camp. + +The half-breed owned a ranch which had come down to him from his Indian +mother. Shrewdly suspecting that the police had ceased watching the +ranch, Jim made his way homeward. His place was located in the +bottom-land along a small creek. There was a shack on it, but no attempt +at cultivation. As he looked the place over, Jim's thoughts became more +bitter than ever. If he had farmed this land, the way the agent wanted +him to, he could have been independent by now, but instead of that he +had listened to Talpers's blandishments and now had been thrown down by +his professed friend! + +Jim took off his pack and threw his camping equipment inside the shack. +Then he turned his pack-animal into the wild hay in the pasture he had +fenced off in the creek bottom. He had some other live stock roaming +around in the little valley--enough steers and horses to make a +beginning toward a comfortable independence, if he had only had sense +enough to start in that way. Also there was good soil on the upland. He +could run a ditch from the creek to the nearest mesa, where the land was +red and sandy and would raise anything. The reservation agriculturist +had been along and had shown him just how the trick could be done, but +Bill Talpers's bootlegging schemes looked a lot better then! + +The half-breed slammed his shack door shut and rode away with his greasy +hat-brim pulled well over his eyes. He paid little attention to the +demands he was making on horseflesh, and he rode openly across the +country. If the Indian police saw him, he could outdistance them. The +thing that he had set out to do could be done quickly. After that, +nothing mattered much. + +Skirting the ridge on which Helen and Lowell had stood, Jim made a +détour as he approached the reservation line and avoided the Greek +Letter Ranch. He swung into the road well above the ranch, and, +breasting the hill where the murder had taken place on the Dollar Sign, +he galloped down the slope toward Talpers's store. + +The trader was alone in his store when the half-breed entered. Talpers +had seen McFann coming, some distance down the road. Something in the +half-breed's bearing in the saddle, or perhaps it was some inner stir of +guilty fear, made Talpers half-draw his revolver. Then he thrust it back +into its holster, and, swinging around in his chair, awaited his +partner's arrival. He even attempted a jaunty greeting. + +"Hello, Jim," he called, as the half-breed's lithe figure swung in +through the outer doorway; "ain't you even a little afraid of the Injun +police?" + +McFann did not answer, but flung open the door into Bill's sanctum. It +was no unusual thing for the men to confer there, and two or three +Indians on the front porch did not even turn their heads to see what was +going on inside. Talpers's clerk was out and Andy Wolters had just +departed, after reporting to the trader that the half-breed had seemed +"plumb uneasy out there in the brush." Andy had not told Bill the cause +of McFann's uneasiness, but on that point the trader was soon to be +enlightened. + +"Bill," said the half-breed purringly, "I hear you've been having your +safe cracked." + +Something in the half-breed's voice made the trader wish he had not +shoved back that revolver. It would not do to reach for it now. McFann's +hands were empty, but he was lightning in getting them to his guns. + +The trader's lips seemed more than usually dry and cracked. His voice +wheezed at the first word, as he answered. + +"Yes, Jim, I was robbed," he said. Then he added, propitiatingly: "But +I've got a new safe. Ain't she a beauty?" + +"She sure is," replied McFann, though he did not take his eyes off +Talpers. "Got your name on, and everything. Let's open her up, and see +what a real safe looks like inside." + +Talpers turned without question and began fumbling at the combination. +His hands trembled, and once he dropped them at his side. As he did so +McFann's hands moved almost imperceptibly. Their movement was toward the +half-breed's hips, and Talpers brought his own hands quickly back to the +combination. The tumblers fell, and the trader swung the door open. + +"Purtier 'n a new pair of boots," approved the half-breed, as a brave +array of books and inner drawers came in view. "Now them inside boxes. +The one with the thousand-dollar bill in it." + +"Why, what's gittin' into you, Jim?" almost whined Talpers. "You know I +ain't got any thousand-dollar bill." + +"Don't lie to me," snapped the half-breed, a harsh note coming into his +voice. "You've made your talk about a thousand-dollar bill. I want to +see it--that's all." + +Slowly Talpers unlocked the inner strong box and took therefrom a roll +of money. + +"There it is," he said, handing it to McFann. A thousand-dollar bill was +on the outside of the roll. + +"I ain't going to ask where you got that," said McFann steadily, +"because you'd lie to me. But I know. You took it from that man on the +hill. You told me you'd jest found him there when I come on you prowling +around his body. You said you didn't take anything from him, and I was +fool enough to believe you. But you didn't get these thousand-dollar +bills anywhere else. You double-crossed me, and if things got too warm +for you, you was going to saw everything off on me. Easy enough when I +was hiding out there in the sagebrush, living on what you wanted to send +out to me. I've done all this bootlegging work for you, and I covered up +for you in court, about this murder, all because I thought you was on +the square. And all the time you had took your pickings from this man on +the hill and had fooled me into thinking you didn't find a thing on him. +Here's the money, Bill. I wouldn't take it away from you. Lock it in +your safe again--if you can!" + +The half-breed flung the roll of bills in Talpers's face. The trader, +made desperate by fear, flung himself toward McFann. If he could pinion +the half-breed's arms to his side, there could be but one outcome to the +struggle that had been launched. The trader's great weight and +grizzly-like strength would be too much for the wiry half-breed to +overcome. But McFann slipped easily away from Talpers's clutching hands. +The trader brought up against the mailing desk with a crash that shook +the entire building. The heat of combat warmed his chilled veins. +Courage returned to him with a rush. He roared oaths as he righted +himself and dragged his revolver from the holster on his hip. + +Before the trader's gun could be brought to a shooting level, paralysis +seemed to seize his arm. Fire seared his side and unbearable pain +radiated therefrom. Only the fighting man's instinct kept him on his +feet. His knees sagged and his arm drooped slowly, despite his desperate +endeavors to raise that blue-steel weapon to its target. He saw the +half-breed, smiling and defiant, not three paces away, but seemingly in +another world. There was a revolver in McFann's hand, and faint tendrils +of smoke came from the weapon. + +Grimly setting his jaws and with his lips parted in a mirthless grin, +Talpers crossed his left hand to his right. With both hands he tried to +raise the revolver, but it only sank lower. His knees gave way and he +slid to the floor, his back to his new safe and his swarthy skin showing +a pale yellow behind his sparse, curling black beard. + +"Put the money away, Bill, put it away, quick," said McFann's mocking +voice. "There it is, under your knee. You sold out your pardner for +it--now hide it in your new safe!" + +Talpers's cracked lips formed no reply, but his little black eyes glowed +balefully behind their dark, lowering brows. + +"You're good at shooting down harmless Indians, Bill," jeered McFann, +"but you're too slow in a real fight. Any word you want to send to the +Indian agent? I'm going to tell him I believe you did the murder on the +Dollar Sign road." + +A last flare of rage caused Talpers to straighten up. Then the paralysis +came again, stronger than before. The revolver slipped from the trader's +grasp, and his head sank forward until his chin rested on his broad +chest. + +McFann looked contemptuously at the great figure, helpless in death. +Then he lighted a cigarette, and, laughing at the terror of the Indians, +who had been peeping in the window at the last of the tragedy, the +half-breed walked out of the store, and, mounting his horse, rode to the +agency and gave himself up to Lowell. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +Lowell consulted with Judge Garford and Sheriff Tom Redmond, and it was +decided to keep Jim McFann in jail at the agency until time for his +trial for complicity in the first murder on the Dollar Sign road. + +Sheriff Redmond admitted that, owing to the uncertainty of public +sentiment, he could not guarantee the half-breed's safety if McFann were +lodged in the county jail. Consequently the slayer of Bill Talpers +remained in jail at the agency, under a strong guard of Indian police, +supplemented by trustworthy deputies sent over by Redmond. + +The killing of Talpers was the excuse for another series of attacks on +Lowell by the White Lodge paper. Said the editor: + + The murder of our esteemed neighbor, William Talpers, by James + McFann, a half-breed, is another evidence of the necessity of + opening the reservation to white settlement. + + This second murder on the Dollar Sign road is not a mystery. Its + perpetrator was seen at this bloody work. Furthermore, he is + understood to have coolly confessed his crime. But, like the first + murder, which is still shrouded in mystery, this was a crime which + found its inception on the Indian reservation. Are white residents + adjacent to the reservation to have their lives snuffed out at the + pleasure of Government wards and reservation offscourings in + general? Has not the time come when the broad acres of the Indian + reservation, which the redskins are doing little with, should be + thrown open to the plough of the white man? + +"'Plough of the white man' is good," cynically observed Ed Rogers, after +calling Lowell's attention to the article. "If those cattlemen ever get +the reservation opened, they'll keep the nesters out for the next forty +years, if they have to kill a homesteader for every hundred and sixty +acres. So far as Bill Talpers's killing is concerned, I can't see but +what it is looked upon as a good thing for the peace of the community." + +It seemed to be a fact that Jim McFann's act had appealed irresistibly +to a large element. Youthful cowpunchers rode for miles and waited about +the agency for a glimpse of the gun-fighter who had slain the +redoubtable Bill Talpers in such a manner. None of them could get near +the jail, but they stood in picturesque groups about the agency, +listening to the talk of Andy Wolters and others who had been on more or +less intimate terms with the principals in the affair. + +"And there was me a-snoozin' in that breed's camp the very day before he +done this shootin'," said Andy to an appreciative circle. "He must have +had this thing stewin' in his head at the time. It's a wonder he didn't +throw down on me, jest for a little target practice. But I guess he +figgered he didn't need no practice to get Bill Talpers, and judgin' +from the way things worked out, his figgerin' was right. Some artist +with the little smoke machine, that boy, 'cause Bill Talpers wasn't no +slouch at shootin'! I remember seein' Bill shoot the head off a +rattlesnake at the side of the road, jest casual-like, and when it come +to producin' the hardware he was some quick for a big man. He more than +met his match this time, old Bill did. And, by gosh! you can bet that +nobody after this ever sends me out to any dry camps in the brush to +take supplies to any gunman who may be hid out there. Next time I might +snooze and never wake up." + +All was not adulation for Jim McFann. Because of the Indian strain in +his blood a minor undercurrent of prejudice had set in against him, more +particularly among the white settlers and the cattlemen who were casting +covetous eyes on reservation lands. While McFann was not strictly a ward +of the Government, he had land on the reservation. His lot was cast with +the Indians, chiefly because he found few white men who would associate +with him on account of his Indian blood. Talpers was not loved, but the +killing of any white man by some one of Indian ancestry was something to +fan resentment without regard to facts. Bets were made that McFann would +not live to be tried on the second homicide charge against him, many +holding the opinion that he would be hanged, with Fire Bear, for the +first murder. Also wagers were freely made that Fire Bear would not be +produced in court by the Indian agent, and that it would be necessary to +send a force of officers to get the accused Indian. + +Lowell apparently paid no attention to the rumors that were flying +about. A mass of reservation detail had accumulated, and he worked hard +to get it out of the way before the trial. He had made changes in the +boarding-school system, and had established an experimental farm at the +agency. He had supervised the purchase of livestock for the improvement +of the tribal flocks and herds. In addition there had been the personal +demands that shower incessantly upon every Indian agent who is +interested in his work. + +Reports from the reservation agriculturists, whose work was to help the +Indians along farming lines, were not encouraging. Drought was +continuing without abatement. + +"The last rain fell the day before the murder on the Dollar Sign road," +said Rogers. "Remember how we splashed through mud the day we ran out +there and found that man staked down on the prairie?" + +"And now the Indians are saying that the continued drought is due to +Fire Bear's medicine," observed Lowell. "Even some of the more +conservative Indians believe there is no use trying to raise crops until +the charge against Fire Bear is dismissed and the evil spell is lifted." + +In spite of the details of reservation management that crowded upon him, +Lowell found time for occasional visits to the Greek Letter Ranch to see +Helen Ervin. He told her the details of the Talpers shooting, so far as +he knew them. + +"There isn't much that I can tell about the cause of the shooting," said +Lowell, in answer to one of her questions. "I could have had all the +details, but I cautioned Jim McFann to say nothing in advance of his +trial. But from what I have gathered here and there, Jim and Talpers +fell out over money matters. A thousand-dollar bill was found on the +floor under Talpers's body. It had evidently been taken from the safe, +and might have been what they fought over." + +Helen nodded in comprehension of the whole affair, though she did not +tell Lowell that he had made it clear to her. She guessed that in some +way Jim McFann had come into possession of the facts of his partner's +perfidy. She wondered how the half-breed had found out that Talpers had +taken money from the murdered man and had not divided. She had held that +knowledge over Talpers's head as a club. She could see that he feared +McFann, and she wondered if, in his last moments, Talpers had wrongfully +blamed her for giving the half-breed the information which turned him +into a slayer. + +"Anyway, it doesn't make much difference what the fight was over," +declared Lowell. "Talpers had been playing a double game for a long +time. He tried just once too often to cheat his partner--something +dangerous when that partner is a fiery-tempered half-breed." + +"Is this shooting of Talpers going to have any effect on McFann's trial +for the other murder?" asked Helen. + +"It may inflame popular sentiment against both men still +further--something that never seems to be difficult where Indians are +concerned." + +Lowell tried in vain to lead the talk away from the trial. + +"Look here," he exclaimed finally, "you're worrying yourself +unnecessarily over this! I don't believe you're getting much of any +sleep, and I'll bet Wong will testify that you are eating very little. +You mustn't let matters weigh on your mind so. Talpers is gone, and you +have the letter that was in his safe and that he used as a means of +worrying you. Your stepfather is getting better right along--so much so +that you can leave here at any time. Pretty soon you'll have this place +of tragedy off your mind and you'll forget all about the Indian +reservation and everything it contains. But until that time comes, I +prescribe an automobile ride for you every day. Some of the roads around +here will make it certain that you will be well shaken before the +prescription is taken." + +Lowell regretted his light words as soon as he had uttered them. + +"This trial is my whole life," declared the girl solemnly. "If those men +are convicted, there can never be another day of happiness for me!" + + * * * * * + +On the morning set for the opening of the trial, Lowell left his +automobile in front of his residence while he ate breakfast. To all +appearances there was nothing unusual about this breakfast. It was +served at the customary time and in the customary way. Apparently the +young Indian agent was interested only in the meal and in some letters +which had been sent over from the office, but finally he looked up and +smiled at the uneasiness of his housekeeper, who had cast frequent +glances out of the window. + +"What is it, Mrs. Ruel?" asked Lowell. + +"The Indian--Fire Bear. Has he come?" + +"Oh, that's what's worrying you, is it? Well, don't let it do so any +more. He will be here all right." + +Mrs. Ruel looked doubtful as she trotted to the kitchen. Returning, she +stood in the window, a steaming coffee-pot in her hands. + +"Tell me what you see, Sister Annie," said Lowell smilingly. + +"Nawthin' but the kids assemblin' for school. There's old Pete, the +blacksmith, purtendin' to be lookin' your machine over, when he's just +come to rubber the way I am, f'r that red divvle. They're afraid, most +of the agency folks, that Fire Bear won't show up. I wouldn't take an +Injun's word f'r annythin' myself--me that lost an uncle in the +Fetterman massacree. You're too good to 'em, Mister Lowell. You should +have yanked this Fire Bear here in handcuffs--him and McFann together." + +"Your coffee is fine--and I'll be obliged if you'll pour me some--but +your philosophy is that of the dark ages, Mrs. Ruel. Thanks. Now tell me +what traveler approaches on the king's highway." + +Mrs. Ruel trotted to the window, with the coffee-pot still in her hands. + +"It's some one of them educated loafers that's always hangin' around the +trader's store. I c'n tell by the hang of the mail-order suit. No, it +ain't! He's climbin' off his pony, and now he's jumped into the back of +your automobile, and is settin' there, bold as brass, smokin' a +cigarette. It's Fire Bear himself!" + +"I thought so," observed Lowell. "Now another cup of coffee, please, and +a little more of that toast, and we'll be off to the trial." + +Mrs. Ruel returned to the kitchen, declaring that it really didn't prove +anything in general, because no other agent could make them redskins do +the things that Mister Lowell hypnotized 'em into doin'. + +Lowell finished his breakfast and climbed into his automobile, after a +few words with Fire Bear. The young Indian had started the day before +from his camp in the rocks. He had traveled alone, and had not rested +until he reached the agency. Lowell knew there would be much dancing in +the Indian camp until the trial was over. + +Driving to the agency jail, Lowell had McFann brought out. The +half-breed, unmanacled and without a guard, sat beside Fire Bear in the +back seat. Lowell decided to take no policemen from the reservation. He +was certain that Fire Bear and McFann would not try to escape from him. +The presence of Indian policemen might serve only to fan the very +uncertain public sentiment into disastrous flames. + +White Lodge was crowded with cattlemen and homesteaders and their +families, who had come to attend the trial. A public holiday was made of +the occasion, and White Lodge had not seen such a crowd since the annual +bronco-busting carnival. + +As he drove through the streets, Lowell was conscious of a change in +public feeling. The prisoners in the automobile were eyed curiously, but +without hatred. In fact, Jim McFann's killing of Talpers, which had been +given all sorts of dramatic renditions at camp-fires and firesides, had +raised that worthy to the rank of hero in the eyes of the majority. Also +the coming of Fire Bear, as he had promised, sent up the Indian's stock. +As Lowell took his men to the court-room he saw bets paid over by men +who had wagered that Fire Bear would not keep his word and that he would +have to be brought to the court-room by force. + +The court-house yard could not hold the overflow of spectators from the +court-room. The crowd was orderly, though there was a tremendous craning +of necks when the prisoners were brought in, to see the man who had +killed so redoubtable a gunman as Bill Talpers. Getting a jury was +merely a matter of form, as no challenges were made. The trial opened +with Fire Bear on the stand. + +The young Indian added nothing to the testimony he had given at his +preliminary hearing. He told, briefly, how he and his followers had +found the body beside the Dollar Sign road. The prosecuting attorney was +quick to sense a difference in the way the Indian's story was received. +When he had first told it, disbelief was evident. Today it seemed to be +impressing crowd and jury as the truth. + +The same sentiment seemed to be even more pronounced when Jim McFann +took the stand, after Fire Bear's brief testimony was concluded without +cross-examination. Audience and jury sat erect. Word was passed out to +the crowd that the half-breed was testifying. In the court-room there +was such a stir that the bailiff was forced to rap for order. + +The prosecuting attorney, seeing the case slipping away from him, was +moved to frantic denunciations. He challenged McFann's every statement. + +"You claim that you had lost your lariat and were looking for it. Also +that you came upon this dead body, with your rope used to fasten the +murdered man to stakes that had been driven into the prairie?" sneered +the attorney. + +"Yes;" said McFann. + +"And you claim that you were frightened away by the arrival of Fire Bear +and his Indians before you had a chance to remove the rope?" + +"Yes; but I want to add something to that statement," said the +half-breed. + +"All right--what is it?" + +"There was another man by the body when I came there looking for my +rope." + +"Who was that man?" + +"Talpers." + +A thrill ran through the court-room as the half-breed went on and +described how he had found the trader stooping over the murdered man, +and how Talpers had shown him a watch which he had taken from the +victim, but claimed that was all the valuables that had been found. Also +he described how Talpers had prevailed upon him to keep the trader's +presence a secret, which McFann had done in his previous testimony. + +"Why do you come in with this story, at this late day?" asked the +attorney. + +"Because Talpers was lying to me all the time. He had taken money from +that man--some of it in thousand-dollar bills. I did not care for the +money. It was just that this man had lied to me, after I had done all +his bootlegging work. He was playing safe at my expense. If it had been +found that the dead man was robbed, he was ready to lay the blame on me. +When I heard of the money he had hidden, I knew the game he had played. +I walked in on him, and made him take the dead man's money from his +safe. I threw the money in his face and dared him to fight. When he +tried to shoot me, I killed him. It was better that he should die. I +don't care what you do with me, but how are you going to hang Fire Bear +or hang me for being near that body, _when Bill Talpers was there +first_?" + +Jim McFann's testimony remained unshaken. Cast doubt upon it as he +would, the prosecuting attorney saw that the half-breed's new testimony +had given an entirely new direction to the trial. He ceased trying to +stem the tide and let the case go to the jury. + +The crowd filed out, but waited around the court-house for the verdict. +The irrepressible cowpunchers, who had a habit of laying wagers on +anything and everything, made bets as to the number of minutes the jury +would be out. + +"Whichever way it goes, it'll be over in a hurry," said Tom Redmond to +Lowell, "but hanged if I don't believe your men are as good as free this +minute. Talpers's friends have been trying to stir up a lot of sentiment +against Jim McFann, but it has worked the other way. The hull county +seems to think right now that McFann done the right sort of a job, and +that Talpers was not only a bootlegger, but was not above murder, and +was the man who committed that crime on the Dollar Sign road. Of course, +if Talpers done it, Fire Bear couldn't have. Furthermore, this young +Injun has made an awful hit by givin' himself up for trial the way he +has. To tell you the truth, I didn't think he'd show up." + +Lowell escaped as soon as he could from the excited sheriff and sought +Helen Ervin, whom he had seen in the court-room. + +"I'm sorry I couldn't come to get you, on account of having to bring in +the prisoners," said Lowell, "but I imagine this is the last ride to +White Lodge you will have to take. The jury is going to decide +quickly--or such is the general feeling." + +Lowell had hardly spoken when a shout from the crowd on the court-house +steps announced to the others that the jury had come in. + +Lowell and Helen found places in the court-room. Judge Garford had not +left his chambers. As soon as the crowd had settled down, the foreman +announced the verdict. + +"Not guilty!" was the word that was passed to those outside the +building. There was a slight ripple of applause in the court-room which +the bailiff's gavel checked. Lowell could not help but smile bitterly as +he thought of the different sentiment at the close of the preliminary +hearing, such a short time before. He wondered if the same thought had +come to Judge Garford. But if the aged jurist had made any comparisons, +they were not reflected in his benign features. A lifetime among scenes +of turbulence, and watching justice gain steady ascendancy over frontier +lawlessness, had made the judge indifferent to the manifestations of the +moment. + +"It's just as though we were a lot of jumping-jacks," thought Lowell, +"and while we're doing all sorts of crazy things, the judge is looking +far back behind the scenes studying the forces that are making us go. +And he must be satisfied with what he sees or our illogical actions +wouldn't worry him so little." + +Fire Bear and McFann took the verdict with customary calm. The Indian +was released from custody and took his place in Lowell's automobile. The +half-breed was remanded to jail for trial for the Talpers slaying. +Lowell, after saying good-bye to the half-breed, lost no time in +starting for the agency. On the way he caught up with Helen, who was +riding leisurely homeward. As he stopped the machine she reined up her +horse beside him and extended her hand in congratulation. + +"You're not the only one who is glad of the acquittal," she exclaimed. +"I am glad--oh, I cannot tell you how much!" + +Lowell noticed that her expression of girlishness had returned. The +shadow which had fallen upon her seemed to have been lifted +miraculously. + +"Wasn't it strange the way things turned out?" she went on. "A little +while ago every one seemed to believe these men were guilty, and now +there's not a one who doesn't seem to think that Talpers did it." + +"There's one who doesn't subscribe to the general belief," answered +Lowell. + +"What do you mean?" + +Lowell was conscious that she was watching him narrowly. + +"I mean that I don't believe Bill Talpers had anything to do with +murdering that man on the Dollar Sign road!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +"There's one thing sure in all cases of crime: If people would only +depend more on Nature and less on themselves, they'd get results +sooner." + +Lowell and his chief clerk were finishing one of their regular evening +discussions of the crime which most people were forgetting, but which +still occupied the Indian agent's mind to the complete exclusion of all +reservation business. + +"What do you mean?" asked Rogers, from behind smoke clouds. + +"Just the fact that, if we can only find it, Nature has tagged every +crime in a way that makes it possible to get an answer." + +"But there are lots of crimes in which no manifestation of Nature is +possible." + +"Not a one. What are finger-prints but manifestations of Nature? And yet +for ages we couldn't see the sign that Nature hung out for us. No doubt +we're just as obtuse about a lot of things that will be just as simple +and just as plain when their meaning is finally driven home." + +"But Nature hasn't given a hint about that Dollar Sign road crime. Yet +it took place outdoors, right in Nature's haunts." + +"You simply mean that we haven't been able to comprehend Nature's +signals." + +"But you've been over the ground a dozen times, haven't you?" + +"Fifty times--but all that merely proves what I contend. If I go over +that ground one hundred times, and don't find anything, what does it +prove? Merely that I am ninety-nine times stupider than I should be. I +should get the answer the first time over." + +Rogers laughed. + +"I prefer the most comfortable theory. I've settled down in the popular +belief that Bill Talpers did the killing. Think how easy that makes it +for me--and the chances are that I'm right at that." + +"You are hopeless, Ed! But remember, if this thing goes unsolved it will +only be because we haven't progressed beyond the first-reader stage in +interpreting what Mother Nature has to teach us." + +For several days following the acquittal of Fire Bear and McFann, Lowell +had worked almost unceasingly in the hope of getting new evidence in the +case which nearly everybody else seemed willing to forget. A similar +persistency had marked Lowell's career as a newspaper reporter. He had +turned up several sensations when rival newspaper men had abandoned +certain cases as hopeless so far as new thrills were concerned. + +Lowell had not exaggerated when he told Rogers he had gone over the +scene of the murder fifty times. He had not gone into details with his +clerk. Rogers would have been surprised to know that his chief had even +blocked out the scene of the murder in squares like a checkerboard. Each +one of these squares had been examined, slowly and painfully. The net +result had been some loose change which undoubtedly had been dropped by +Talpers in robbing the murdered man; an eagle feather, probably dropped +from a _coup_ stick which some one of Fire Bear's followers had borrowed +from an elder; a flint arrowhead of great antiquity, and a belt buckle +and some moccasin beads. + +Far from being discouraged at the unsuccessful outcome of his +checkerboarding plan, Lowell took his automobile, on the morning +following his talk with Rogers, and again visited the scene of the +crime. + +For six weeks the hill had been bathed daily in sunshine. The drought, +which the Indians had ascribed to evil spirits called down by Fire Bear, +had continued unbroken. The mud-holes in the road, through which Lowell +had plunged to the scene of the murder when he had first heard of the +crime, had been churned to dust. Lowell noticed that an old buffalo +wallow at the side of the road was still caked in irregular formations +which resembled the markings of alligator hide. The first hot winds +would cause these cakes of mud to disintegrate, but the weather had been +calm, and they had remained just as they had dried. + +As he glanced about him at the peaceful panorama, it occurred to the +agent that perhaps too much attention had been centered upon the exact +spot of the murder. Yet, it seemed reasonable enough to suppose, no +murderer would possibly lie in wait for a victim in such an open spot. +If the murder had been deliberately planned, as Lowell believed, and if +the victim's approach were known, there could have been no waiting here +on the part of the murderer. + +Getting into his automobile, Lowell drove carefully up the hill, +studying both sides of the road as he went. Several hundred yards from +the scene of the murder, he found a clump of giant sagebrush and +greasewood, close to the road. Lowell entered the clump and found that +from its eastern side he could command a good view of the Dollar Sign +road for miles. Here a man and horse might remain hidden until a +traveler, coming up the hill, was almost within hailing distance. The +brush had grown in a circle, leaving a considerable hollow which was +devoid of vegetation. Examining this hollow closely, Lowell paused +suddenly and uttered a low ejaculation. Then he walked slowly to his +automobile and drove in the direction of the Greek Letter Ranch. + +When he arrived at the ranch house Lowell was relieved to find that +Helen was not at home. Wong, who opened the door a scant six inches, +told him she had taken the white horse and gone for a ride. + +"Well, tell Mister Willis Morgan I want to see him," said Lowell. + +Wong was much alarmed. Mister Morgan could not be seen. The Chinese +combination of words for "impossible" was marshaled in behalf of Wong's +employer. + +Lowell, putting his shoulder against the Greek letter brand which was +burnt in the panel, pushed the door open and stepped into the room which +served as a library. + +"Now tell Mister Morgan I wish to see him, Wong," said the agent firmly. + +The door to the adjoining room opened, and Lowell faced the questioning +gaze of a gray-haired man who might have been anywhere from forty-five +to sixty. One hand was in the pocket of a velvet smoking-jacket, and the +other held a pipe. The man's eyes were dark and deeply set. They did not +seem to Lowell to be the contemplative eyes of the scholar, but rather +to belong to a man of decisive action--one whose interests might be in +building bridges or tunnels, but whose activities were always concerned +with material things. His face was lean and bronzed--the face of a man +who lived much in the outdoors. His nose was aquiline, and his lips, +though thin and firm, were not unkindly. In fact, here was a man who, in +the class-room, might be given to quips with his students, rather than +to sternness. Yet this was the man of whom it was said.... Lowell's face +grew stern as the long list of indictments against Willis Morgan, +recluse and "squaw professor," came to his mind. + +The gray-haired man sat down at the table, and Lowell, in response to a +wave of the hand that held the pipe, drew up opposite. + +"You and I have been living pretty close together a long time," said +Lowell bluntly, "and if we'd been a little more neighborly, this call +might not be so difficult in some ways." + +"My fault entirely." Again the hand waved--this time toward the +ceiling-high shelves of books. "Library slavery makes a man selfish, +I'll admit." + +The voice was cold and hard. It was such a voice that had extended a +mocking welcome to Helen Ervin when she had stood hesitatingly on the +threshold of the Greek Letter Ranch-house. Lowell sneered openly. + +"You haven't always been so tied up to your books that you couldn't get +out," he said. "I want to take you back to a little horseback ride which +you took just six weeks ago." + +"I don't remember such a trip." + +"You will remember it, as I particularize." + +"Very well. You are beginning to interest me." + +"You rode from here to the top of the hill on the Dollar Sign road. Do +you remember?" + +"What odds if I say yes or no? Go on. I want to hear the rest of this +story." + +"When you reached a clump of tall sage and grease wood, not far below +the crest of the hill, you entered it and remained hidden. You had a +considerable time to wait, but you were patient--very patient. You knew +the man you wanted to meet was somewhere on the road--coming toward you. +From the clump of bushes you commanded a view of the Dollar Sign road +for miles. As I say, it was long and tedious waiting. It had rained in +the night. The sun came out, strong and warm, and the atmosphere was +moist. Your horse, that old white horse which has been on the ranch so +many years, was impatiently fighting flies. Though you are not any +kinder to horseflesh than you are to human beings who come within your +blighting influence, you took the saddle off the animal. Perhaps the +horse had caught his foot in a stirrup as he kicked at a buzzing fly." + +The keen, strong features into which Lowell gazed were mask-like in +their impassiveness. + +"Soon you saw something approaching on the road over the prairie," went +on the agent. "It must be the automobile driven by the man you had come +to meet. You saddled quickly and rode out of the sagebrush. You met the +man in the automobile as he was climbing the hill. He stopped and you +talked with him. You had violent words, and then you shot him with a +sawed-off shotgun which you had carried for that purpose. You killed the +man, and then, to throw suspicion on others, conceived the idea of +staking him down to the prairie. It would look like an Indian trick. +Besides, you knew that there had been some trouble on the reservation +with Indians who were dancing and generally inclined to oppose +Government regulations. You had found a rope which had been dropped on +the road by the half-breed, Jim McFann. You took that rope from your +saddle and cut it in four pieces and tied the man's hands and wrists to +his own tent-stakes, which you found in his automobile. + +"Your plans worked out well. It was a lonely country and comparatively +early in the day. There was nobody to disturb you at your work. +Apparently you had thought of every detail. You had left a few tracks, +and these you obliterated carefully. You knew you would hardly be +suspected unless something led the world to your door. You had been a +recluse for years, hated by white men and feared by red. Few had seen +your face. You could retire to this lonely ranch and live your customary +life, with no fear of suffering for the crime you had committed. To be +sure, an Indian or two might be hanged, but a matter like that would +rest lightly on your conscience. + +"Apparently your plans were perfect, but you overlooked one small thing. +Most clever scoundrels do. You did not think that perhaps Nature might +lay a trap to catch you--a trap in the brush where you had been hidden. +Your horse rolled in the mud to rid himself of the pest of flies. You +were so intent on the approach of your victim that you did not notice +the animal. Yet there in the mud, and visible to-day, was made the +imprint of your horse's shoulder, _bearing the impression of the Greek +Letter brand_!" + +As Lowell finished, he rose slowly, his hands on the table and his gaze +on the unflinching face in front of him. The gray-haired man rose also. + +"I suppose," he said, in a voice from which all trace of harshness had +disappeared, "you have come to give me over to the authorities on +account of this crime." + +"Yes." + +"Very well. I committed the murder, much as you have explained it, but I +did not ride the white horse to the hill. Nor am I Willis Morgan. I am +Edward Sargent. Morgan was the man whom I killed and staked down on the +prairie!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +Helen Ervin rode past the ranch door just as the gray-haired man made +his statement to Lowell. + +"You are Edward Sargent, the man who was supposed to have been +murdered?" repeated the Indian agent, in astonishment. + +"Yes; but wait till Miss Ervin comes in. The situation may require a +little clearing, and she can help." + +Surprise and anxiety alternated in Helen's face as she looked in through +the open doorway and saw the men seated at the table. She paused a +moment, silhouetted in the door, the Greek letter on the panel standing +out with almost startling distinctness beside her. As she stood poised +on the threshold in her riding-suit, the ravages of her previous trip +having been repaired, she made Lowell think of a modernized +Diana--modernized as to clothes, but carrying, in her straight-limbed +grace, all the world-old spell of the outdoors. + +"Our young friend has just learned the truth, my dear," said the +gray-haired man. "He knows that I am Sargent, and that our stepfather, +Willis Morgan, is dead." + +Helen stepped quickly to Sargent's side. There was something suggesting +filial protection in her attitude. Sargent smiled up at her, +reassuringly. + +"Probably it is better," he said, "that the whole thing should be +known." + +"But in a few days we should have been gone," said Helen. "Why have all +our hopes been destroyed in this way at the last moment? Is this some of +your work," she added bitterly, addressing Lowell--"some of your work as +a spy?" + +Sargent spoke up quickly. + +"It was fate," he said. "I have felt from the first that I should not +have attempted to escape punishment for my deed. The young man has +simply done his duty. He worked with the sole idea of getting at the +truth--and it is always the truth that matters most. What difference can +it make who is hurt, so long as the truth is known?" + +"But how did it become known," asked Helen, "when everything seemed to +be so thoroughly in our favor? The innocent men who were suspected had +been released. The public was content to let the crime rest at the door +of Talpers--a man capable of any evil deed. What has happened to change +matters so suddenly?" + +"It was the old white horse that betrayed us," said Sargent, with a grim +smile. "It shows on what small threads our fates hang balanced. The +Greek letter brand still shows in the mud where the horse rolled on the +day of the murder on the Dollar Sign hill. When our young friend here +saw that bit of evidence, he came directly to the ranch and accused me +of knowledge of the crime, all the time thinking I was Willis Morgan." + +"Let me continue my work as a spy," broke in Lowell bitterly, "and ask +for a complete statement." + +"Willis Morgan was my twin brother," said Sargent. "As Willard Sargent +he had made a distinguished name for himself among the teachers of Greek +in this country. He was a professor at an early age, his bent toward +scholarship being opposite to mine, which was along the lines of +invention. My brother was a hard, cruel man, beneath a polished +exterior. Cynicism was as natural to him as breathing. He married a +young and beautiful woman, who had been married before, and who had a +little daughter--a mere baby, Willard's wife soon died, a victim of his +cynicism and studied cruelty. The future of this helpless stepdaughter +of my brother's became a matter of the most intimate concern to me. My +brother was mercenary to a marked degree. I had become successful in my +inventions of mining machinery. I was fast making a fortune. Willard +called upon me frequently for loans, which I never refused. In fact, I +had voluntarily advanced him thousands of dollars, from which I expected +no return. A mere brotherly feeling of gratitude would have been +sufficient repayment for me. But such a feeling my brother never had. +His only object was to get as much out of me as he could, and to sneer +at me, in his high-bred way, while making a victim of me. + +"His success in getting money from me led him into deep waters. He +victimized others, who threatened prosecution. Realizing that matters +could not go on as they were going, I told my brother that I would take +up the claims against him and give him one hundred thousand dollars, on +certain conditions. Those conditions were that he was to renounce all +claim to his little stepdaughter, and that I was to have sole care of +her. He was to go to some distant part of the country and change his +name and let the world forget that such a creature as Willard Sargent +ever existed. + +"My brother was forced to agree to the terms laid down. The university +trustees were threatening him with expulsion. He resigned and came out +here. He married an Indian woman, and, as I understand it, killed her by +the same cold-hearted, deliberately cruel treatment that had brought +about the death of his first wife. + +"Meantime Willard's stepdaughter, who was none other than Helen, was +brought up by a lifelong friend of mine, Miss Scovill, at her school for +girls in California. The loving care that she was given can best be told +by Helen. I did not wish the girl to know that she was dependent upon +her uncle for support. In fact, I did not want her to learn anything +which might lead to inquiries into her babyhood, and which would only +bring her sorrow when she learned of her mother's fate. My brother, +always clever in his rascalities, learned that Helen knew nothing of my +existence. He sent her a letter, when Miss Scovill was away, telling +Helen that he had been crippling himself financially to keep her in +school, and now he needed her at this ranch. Before Miss Scovill had +returned, Helen, acting on the impulse of the moment, had departed for +my brother's place. Miss Scovill was greatly alarmed, and sent me a +telegram. As soon as I received word, I started for my brother's ranch. +I happened to have started on an automobile tour at the time, and +figured that I could reach here as quickly by machine as by making +frequent changes from rail to stage. + +"When Helen arrived at the ranch, it can be imagined how the success of +his scheme delighted Willis Morgan, as my brother was known here. He +threatened her with the direst of evils, and declared he would drag her +beneath the level of the poorest squaw on the Indian reservation. +Fortunately she is a girl of spirit and determination. The Chinese +servant was willing to help her to escape. She would have fled at the +first opportunity, in spite of my brother's declaration that escape +would be impossible, but it happened that, during the course of his +boasting, her captor overstepped himself. He told her of my existence, +and that I had really been the one who had kept her in school. He had +managed to keep a thorough system of espionage in effect, so far as Miss +Scovill and myself were concerned. He had known when she left San +Francisco, and he also knew that I was coming, by automobile, to take +Helen from the ranch. He laughed as he told her of my coming. All the +ferocity of his nature blazed forth, and he told Helen that he intended +to kill me at sight, and would also kill her. + +"Desirous of warning me, even at risk of her own life, Helen mailed a +letter to me at Quaking-Asp Grove, hoping to catch me before I reached +that place. In this letter she warned me not to come to the ranch, as +she felt that tragedy impended. Talpers held up the letter and read it, +and thought to hold it as a club over Helen's head, showing that she +knew something of the murder. + +"I rode through Quaking-Asp Grove and White Lodge and the Indian agency +at night. I had a breakdown after going past Talpers's store--a tire to +replace. By the time I climbed the hill on the Dollar Sign road it was +well along in the morning. I saw a man coming toward me on a white +horse. It was my brother, Willard Sargent, or Willis Morgan. He looked +much like me. The years seemed to have dealt with us about alike. I +knew, as soon as I saw him, that he had come out to kill me. We talked a +few minutes. I had stopped the car at his demand, and he sat in the +saddle, close beside me. There is no need of going into the details of +our conversation. He was full of reproaches. His later life had been +more of a punishment for him than I had suspected. His voice was full of +venom as he threatened me. He told me that Helen was at the ranch, but I +would never see her. He had a sawed-off shotgun in his hand. I had no +weapon. I made a quick leap at him and threw him from his horse. The +shotgun fell in the road. I jumped for it just as he scrambled after it. +I wrested the weapon from him. He tried to draw a revolver that swung in +a holster at his hip. There was no chance for me to take that from him. +It was a case of his life or mine. I fired the shotgun, and the charge +tore away the lower part of his face. + +"Strangely enough, I had no regret at what I had done. It was not that I +had saved my own life--I had managed to intervene between Helen and a +fate worse than death. I weighed matters and acted with a coolness that +surprised me, even while I was carrying out the details that followed. +It occurred to me that, because of our close resemblance to each other, +it might be possible for me to pass myself off as my brother. I knew +that he had lived the life of a recluse here, and that few people knew +him by sight. We were dressed much alike, as I was traveling in khaki, +and he wore clothes of that material. I removed everything from his +pockets, and then I put my watch and checkbook and other papers in his +pockets. I even went so far as to put my wallet in his inner pocket, +containing bills of large denomination. + +"I had heard that there was some dissatisfaction among certain young +Indians on the reservation--that those Indians were dancing and making +trouble in general. It seemed to me that such a situation might be made +use of in some way. Why not drag my brother's body out on the prairie at +the side of the road and stake it down? Suspicion might be thrown on the +Indians. I had no sooner thought of the plan than I proceeded to carry +it out. I worked calmly and quickly. There was no living thing in sight +to cause alarm. I took a rawhide lariat, which I found attached to the +saddle on the old white horse, and used it to tie my brother's ankles +and wrists to tent-stakes which I took from my automobile. + +"After my work was done, I looked it over carefully, to see that I had +left nothing undone and had made no blunder in what I had accomplished. +I obliterated all tracks, as far as possible. Although it had rained the +night before, and there was mud in the old buffalo wallows and in the +depressions in the road, the prairie where I had staked the body was dry +and dusty. + +"After I had arranged everything to my satisfaction, I mounted the old +white horse and rode to the ranch, merely following the trail the horse +had made coming out. When I arrived here and made myself known to Helen, +you can imagine her joy, which soon was changed to consternation when +she found what had been done. But my plan of living here and letting the +world suppose that I was Willard Sargent, or Willis Morgan, seemed +feasible. Wong was our friend from the first. We knew we could depend on +his Oriental discretion. But we were not to escape lightly. Talpers's +attitude was a menace until, through a fortunate set of circumstances, +we managed to secure a compensating hold over him. Undoubtedly Talpers +had been first on the scene after the murder. He had robbed my brother's +body, and was caught in his ghoul-like act by his partner, Jim McFann. +The half-breed believed Talpers when the trader told him that a watch +was all he had found on the dead man. The later discovery that Talpers +had deceived him, and had really taken a large sum of money from the +body, led the half-breed to kill the trader. + +"I decided to await the outcome of the trial. It would have been +impossible for me to let Fire Bear or McFann go to prison, or perhaps to +the gallows, for my deed. If either one, or both, had been convicted, I +intended to make a confession. But matters seemed to work out well for +us. The accused men were freed, and it seemed to be the general opinion +that Talpers had committed the crime. Talpers was dead. There was no +occasion for me to confess. I had thoughts of going away, quietly, to +some place where I could begin life over again. Miss Scovill is in +possession of a will making Helen my heir. This will could have been +produced, and thus Helen would have been well provided for. I had kept +in seclusion here, and had even feigned illness, in order that none +might suspect me of being other than Willis Morgan. But if any one had +seen me I do not believe the deception would have been discovered, so +close is my resemblance to my brother. Always having been a passable +mimic, I imitated my brother's voice. It was a voice that had often +stirred me to wrath, because of its cold, cutting qualities. The first +time I imitated my brother's voice, Wong came in from the kitchen +looking frightened beyond measure. He thought the ghost of his old +employer had returned to the ranch. + +"But of what use is all such planning when destiny wills otherwise? A +trifling incident--the rolling of a horse in the mud--brought everything +about my ears. Yet I believe it is for the best. Nor do I believe your +discovery to have been a mere matter of chance. Probably you were led by +a higher force than mere devotion to duty. Truth must have loyal +servitors such as you if justice is to survive in this world. I am +heartily glad that you persisted in your search. I feel more at ease in +mind and body to-night than I have felt since the day of the tragedy. +Now if you will excuse me a moment, I will make preparations for giving +myself up to the authorities--perhaps to higher authorities than those +at White Lodge." + +Sargent stepped into the adjoining room as he finished talking. Helen +did not raise her head from the table. Something in Sargent's final +words roused Lowell's suspicion. He walked quickly into the room and +found Sargent taking a revolver from the drawer of a desk. Lowell +wrested the weapon from his grasp. + +"That's the last thing in the world you should do," said the Indian +agent, in a low voice. "There isn't a jury that will convict you. If +it's expiation you seek, do you think that cowardly sort of expiation is +going to bring anything but new unhappiness to _her_ out there?" + +"No," said Sargent. "I give you my word this will not be attempted +again." + + * * * * * + +Space meeting space--plains and sky welded into harmonies of blue and +gray. Cloud shadows racing across billowy uplands, and sagebrush nodding +in a breeze crisp and electric as only a breeze from our upper Western +plateau can be. Distant mountains, with their allurements enhanced by +the filmiest of purple veils. Bird song and the chattering of prairie +dogs from the foreground merely intensifying the great, echoless silence +of the plains. + +Lowell and Helen from a ridge--_their_ ridge it was now!--watched the +changes of the panorama. They had dismounted, and their horses were +standing near at hand, reins trailing, and manes rising and falling with +the undulations of the breeze. It was a month after Sargent's confession +and his surrender as the slayer of the recluse of the Greek Letter +Ranch. As Lowell had prophesied, Sargent's acquittal had been prompt. +His story was corroborated by brief testimony from Lowell and Helen. +Citizens crowded about him, after the jury had brought in its verdict of +"Not guilty," and one of the first to congratulate him was Jim McFann, +who had been acquitted when he came up for trial for slaying Talpers. +The half-breed told Sargent of Talpers's plan to kill Helen. + +"I'm just telling you," said the half-breed, "to ease your mind in case +you're feeling any responsibility for Talpers's death." + +Soon after his acquittal Sargent departed for California, where he +married Miss Scovill--the outcome of an early romance. Helen was soon to +leave to join her foster parents, and she and Lowell had come for a last +ride. + +"I cannot realize the glorious truth of it all--that I am to come soon +and claim you and bring you back here as my wife," said Lowell. "Say it +all over again for me." + +He was standing with both arms about her and with her face uptilted to +his. No doubt other men and women had stood thus on this glacier-wrought +promontory--lovers from cave and tepee. + +"It is all true," Helen answered, "but I must admit that the +responsibilities of being an Indian agent's wife seem alarming. The +thought of there being so much to do among these people makes me afraid +that I shall not be able to meet the responsibilities." + +"You'll be bothered every day with Indians--men, women, and babies. +You'll hear the thumping of their moccasined feet every hour of the day. +They'll overrun your front porch and seek you out in the sacred +precincts of your kitchen, mostly about things that are totally +inconsequential." + +"But think of the work in its larger aspects--the good that there is to +be done." + +Lowell smiled at her approvingly. + +"That's the way you have to keep thinking all the time. You have to look +beyond the mass of detail in the foreground--past all the minor +annoyances and the red tape and the seeming ingratitude. You've got to +figure that you're there to supply the needed human note--to let these +people understand that this Government of ours is not a mere machine +with the motive power at Washington. You've got to feel that you've been +sent here to make up for the indifference of the outside world--that the +kiddies out in those ramshackle cabins and cold tepees are not going to +be lonely, and suffer and die, if you can help it. You've got to feel +that it's your help that's going to save the feeble and sick--sometimes +from their own superstitions. There's no reason why we can't in time get +a hospital here for Indians, like Fire Bear, who have tuberculosis. +We're going to save Fire Bear, and we can save others. And then there +are the school-children, with lonely hours that can be lightened, and +with work to be found for them in the big world after they have learned +the white man's tasks. But there are going to be heartaches and +disillusionments for a woman. A man can grit his teeth and smash through +some way, unless he sinks back into absolute indifference as a good many +Indian agents do. But a woman--well, dear, I dread to think of your +embarking on a task which is at once so alluring and so endless and +thankless." + +Helen put her hand on his lips. + +"With you helping me, no task can seem thankless." + +"Well, then, this is our kingdom of work," said Lowell, with a sweep of +his sombrero which included the vast reservation which smiled so +inscrutably at them. "There's every human need to be met out there in +all that bigness. We'll face it together--and we'll win!" + +They rode back leisurely along the ridge and took the trail that led to +the ranch. The house was closed, as Wong was at the agency, ready to +leave for the Sargents' place in California. The old white horse, which +Helen rode, tried to turn in at the ranch gate. + +"The poor old fellow doesn't understand that his new home is at the +agency," said Helen. "He is the only one that wants to return to this +place of horrors." + +"The leasers will be here soon," replied Lowell. "They are going to put +up buildings and make a new place all told. The Greek letter on the door +will be gone, but, no matter what changes are made, I have no doubt that +people will continue to know it as Mystery Ranch." + + +THE END + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mystery Ranch, by Arthur Chapman + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYSTERY RANCH *** + +***** This file should be named 30989-8.txt or 30989-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/9/8/30989/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Mystery Ranch + +Author: Arthur Chapman + +Release Date: January 16, 2010 [EBook #30989] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYSTERY RANCH *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<h1>MYSTERY RANCH</h1> + +<h2>BY ARTHUR CHAPMAN</h2> + +<h3>AUTHOR OF "OUT WHERE THE WEST BEGINS," AND "CACTUS CENTER"</h3> + +<h4>BOSTON AND NEW YORK<br /> +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY<br /> +The Riverside Press Cambridge<br /> +1921</h4> + +<h4>COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO.<br /> +COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY ARTHUR CHAPMAN<br /> +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED</h4> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI</a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>MYSTERY RANCH</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + + +<p>There was a swift padding of moccasined feet through the hall leading to +the Indian agent's office.</p> + +<p>Ordinarily Walter Lowell would not have looked up from his desk. He +recognized the footfalls of Plenty Buffalo, his chief of Indian police, +but this time there was an absence of the customary leisureliness in the +official's stride. The agent's eyes were questioning Plenty Buffalo +before the police chief had more than entered the doorway.</p> + +<p>The Indian, a broad-shouldered, powerfully built man in a blue uniform, +stopped at the agent's desk and saluted. Lowell knew better than to ask +him a question at the outset. News speeds best without urging when an +Indian tells it. The clerk who acted as interpreter dropped his papers +and moved nearer, listening intently as Plenty Buffalo spoke rapidly in +his tribal tongue.</p> + +<p>"A man has been murdered on the road just off the reservation," +announced the interpreter.</p> + +<p>Still the agent did not speak.</p> + +<p>"I just found him," went on the police chief to the clerk, who +interpreted rapidly. "You'd better come and look things over."</p> + +<p>"How do you know he was murdered?" asked the agent, reaching for his +desk telephone.</p> + +<p>"He was shot."</p> + +<p>"But couldn't he have shot himself?"</p> + +<p>"No. He's staked down."</p> + +<p>Lowell straightened up suddenly, a tingle of apprehension running +through him. Staked down—and on the edge of the Indian reservation! +Matters were being brought close home.</p> + +<p>"Is there anything to tell who he is?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't look around much," said Plenty Buffalo. "There's an auto in +the road. That's what I saw first."</p> + +<p>"Where is the body?"</p> + +<p>"A few yards from the auto, on the prairie."</p> + +<p>The agent called the sheriff's office at White Lodge, the adjoining +county seat. The sheriff was out, but Lowell left the necessary +information as to the location of the automobile and the body. Then he +put on his hat, and, gathering up his gloves, motioned to Plenty Buffalo +and the interpreter to follow him to his automobile which was standing +in front of the agency office. Plenty Buffalo's pony was left at the +hitching-rack, to recover from the hard run it had just been given. The +wooden-handled quirt at the saddle had not been spared by the Indian.</p> + +<p>Flooded with June sunshine the agency had never looked more attractive, +from the white man's standpoint. The main street was wide, with a +parkway in the center, shaded with cottonwoods. The school buildings, +dormitories, dining-hall, auditorium, and several of the employees' +residences faced this street. The agent's house nestled among trees and +shrubbery on the most attractive corner. The sidewalks were wide, and +made of cement. There was a good water system, as the faithfully +irrigated lawns testified. Arc lights swung from the street +intersections, and there were incandescents in every house. A sewer +system had just been completed. Indian boys and girls were looking after +gardens in vacant lots. There were experimental ranches surrounding the +agency. In the stables and enclosures were pure-bred cattle and sheep, +the nucleus of tribal flocks and herds of better standards.</p> + +<p>In less than four years Walter Lowell had made the agency a model of its +kind. He had done much to interest even the older Indians in +agriculture. The school-children, owing to a more liberal educational +system, had lost the customary look of apathy. The agent's work had been +commended in annual reports from Washington. The agency had been +featured in newspaper and magazine articles, and yet Lowell had felt +that he was far from accomplishing anything permanent. Ancient customs +and superstitions had to be reckoned with. Smouldering fires +occasionally broke out in most alarming fashion. Only recently there had +been a serious impairment of reservation morale, owing to the +spectacular rise of a young Indian named Fire Bear, who had gathered +many followers, and who, with his cohorts, had proceeded to dance and +"make medicine" to the exclusion of all other employment. Fire Bear's +defection had set many rumors afloat. Timid settlers near the +reservation had expressed fear of a general uprising, which fear had +been fanned by the threats and boastings sent broadcast by some of Fire +Bear's more reckless followers.</p> + +<p>Lowell was frankly worried as he sped away from the agency with Plenty +Buffalo and the interpreter. Every crime, large or small, which occurred +near the reservation, and which did not carry its own solution, was laid +to Indians. Here was something which pointed directly to Indian +handiwork, and Lowell in imagination could hear a great outcry going up.</p> + +<p>Plenty Buffalo gave little more information as the car swayed along the +road that led off the reservation.</p> + +<p>"He says he was off the reservation trailing Jim McFann," remarked the +interpreter. "He thought Jim was going along the road to Talpers's +store, but Plenty Buffalo was mistaken. He did not find Jim, but what he +did find was this man who had been killed."</p> + +<p>"Jim McFann isn't a bad fellow at heart, but this bootlegging and +trailing around with Bill Talpers will get him in trouble yet," replied +the agent. "He's pretty clever, or Plenty Buffalo's men would have +caught him long before this."</p> + +<p>They were approaching Talpers's store as the agent spoke. The store was +a barn-like building, with a row of poplars at the north, and a big +cottonwood in front. A few houses were clustered about. Bill Talpers, +store-keeper and postmaster, looked out of the door as the automobile +went past. Generally there were Indians sitting in front of the store, +but to-day there were none. Plenty Buffalo volunteered the information +that there had been a "big sing" on a distant part of the reservation +which had attracted most of the residents from this neighborhood. +Talpers was seen running out to his horse, which stood in front of the +store.</p> + +<p>"He'll be along pretty soon," said the agent. "He knows there's +something unusual going on."</p> + +<p>The road over which the party was traveling was sometimes called the +Dollar Sign, for the reason that it wound across the reservation line +like a letter S. After leaving White Lodge, which was off the +reservation, any traveler on the road crossed the line and soon went +through the agency. Then there was a curve which took him across the +line again to Talpers's, after which a reverse curve swept back into the +Indians' domain. All of which was the cause of no little trouble to the +agent and the Indian police, for bootleggers found it easy to operate +from White Lodge or Talpers's and drop back again across the line to +safety.</p> + +<p>Another ten miles, on the sweep of the road toward the reservation, and +the automobile was sighted. The body was found, as Plenty Buffalo had +described it. The man had been murdered—that much was plain enough.</p> + +<p>"Buckshot, from a sawed-off shotgun probably," said the agent, +shuddering.</p> + +<p>Whoever had fired the shot had done his work with deadly accuracy. Part +of the man's face had been carried away. He had been well along in +years, as his gray hair indicated, but his frame was sturdy. He was +dressed in khaki—a garb much affected by transcontinental automobile +tourists. The car which he had been driving was big and expensive.</p> + +<p>Other details were forgotten for the moment in the fact that the man had +been staked to the prairie. Ropes had been attached to his hands and +feet. These ropes were fastened to tent-stakes driven into the prairie.</p> + +<p>"The man had been camping along the route," said the agent, "and whoever +did this shooting probably used the victim's own tent-stakes."</p> + +<p>This opinion was confirmed after a momentary examination of the tonneau +of the car, which disclosed a tent, duffle-bag, and other camping +equipment.</p> + +<p>"Look around the prairie and see if you can find any of this man's +belongings scattered about," said Lowell.</p> + +<p>"Plenty Buffalo wants to know if you noticed all the pony tracks," said +the interpreter.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Lowell bitterly. "I couldn't very well help seeing them. +What does Plenty Buffalo think about them?"</p> + +<p>"They're Indian pony tracks—no doubt about that," said the interpreter, +"but there is no telling just when they were made."</p> + +<p>"I see. It might have been at the time of the murder, or afterward."</p> + +<p>Lowell looked closely at the pony tracks, which were thick about the +automobile and the body. Plainly there had been a considerable body of +horsemen on the scene. Plenty Buffalo, skilled in trailing, had not +hesitated to announce that the tracks were those of Indian ponies. If +more evidence were needed, there were the imprints of moccasined feet in +the dust.</p> + +<p>Lowell surveyed the scene while Plenty Buffalo and the interpreter +searched the prairie for more clues. The agent did not want to disturb +the body nor search the automobile until the arrival of the sheriff, as +the murder had happened outside of Government jurisdiction, and the +local authorities were jealous of their rights. The murder had been done +close to the brow of a low hill. The gently rolling prairie stretched to +a creek on one side, and to interminable distance on the other. There +was a carpet of green grass in both directions, dotted with clumps of +sagebrush. It had rained a few days before—the last rain of many, it +chanced—and there were damp spots in the road in places and the grass +and the sage were fresh in color. Meadow-larks were trilling, and the +whole scene was one of peace—provided the beholder could blot out the +memory of the tenantless clay stretched out upon clay.</p> + +<p>In a few minutes Sheriff Tom Redmond and a deputy arrived in an +automobile from White Lodge. They were followed by Bill Talpers, in the +saddle.</p> + +<p>Redmond was a tall, square-shouldered cattleman, who still clung to the +rough garb and high-heeled boots of the cowpuncher, though he seldom +used any means of travel but the automobile. Western winds, heated by +fiery Western suns, had burned his face to the color of saddle-leather. +His eyebrows were shaggy and light-colored, and Nature's bleaching +elements had reduced a straw-colored mustache to a discouraging +nondescript tone.</p> + +<p>"Looks like an Injun job, Lowell, don't it?" asked Redmond, as his sharp +eyes took in the situation in darting glances.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it a little early to come to that conclusion?" queried the agent.</p> + +<p>"There ain't no other conclusion to come to," broke in Talpers, who had +joined the group in an inspection of the scene. "Look at them pony +tracks—all Injun."</p> + +<p>Talpers was broad—almost squat of figure. His complexion was brick red. +He had a thin, curling black beard and mustache. He was one of the men +to whom alkali is a constant poison, and his lips were always cracked +and bleeding. His voice was husky and disagreeable, his small eyes +bespoke the brute in him, and yet he was not without certain qualities +of leadership which seemed to appeal particularly to the Indians. His +store was headquarters for the rough and idle element of the +reservation. Also it was the center of considerable white trade, for it +was the only store for miles in either direction, and in addition was +the general post-office.</p> + +<p>Knowing of Talpers's friendliness for the rebellious element among the +Indians, Lowell looked at the trader in surprise.</p> + +<p>"You didn't see any Indians doing this, did you, Talpers?" he asked.</p> + +<p>The trader hastened to qualify his remark, as it would not do to have +the word get out among the Indians that he had attempted to throw the +blame on them.</p> + +<p>"No—I ain't exactly sayin' that Injuns done it," said the trader, "but +I ain't ever seen more signs pointin' in one direction."</p> + +<p>"Well, don't let signs get you so far off the right trail that you can't +get back again," replied the agent, turning to help Tom Redmond and his +deputy in the work of establishing the identity of the slain man.</p> + +<p>It was work that did not take long. Papers were found in the pockets +indicating that the victim was Edward B. Sargent, of St. Louis. In the +automobile was found clothing bearing St. Louis trademarks.</p> + +<p>"Judging from the balance in this checkbook," said the sheriff, "he was +a man who didn't have to worry about financial affairs. Probably this is +only a checking account, for running expenses, but there's thirty +thousand to his credit."</p> + +<p>"He's probably some tourist on his way to the coast," observed the +deputy, "and he thought he'd make a détour and see an Injun reservation. +Somebody saw a good chance for a holdup, but he showed fight and got +killed."</p> + +<p>"Nobody reported such a machine as going through the agency," offered +Lowell. "The car is big enough and showy enough to attract attention +anywhere."</p> + +<p>"I didn't see him go past my place," said Talpers. "And if my clerk'd +seen him he'd have said somethin' about it."</p> + +<p>"Well, he was killed sometime yesterday—that's sure," remarked the +sheriff. "He might have come through early in the morning and nobody saw +him, or he might have hit White Lodge and the agency and Talpers's late +at night and camped here along the Dollar Sign until morning and been +killed when he started on. The thing of it is that this is as far as he +got, and we've got to find the ones that's responsible. This kind of a +killing is jest going to make the White Lodge Chamber of Commerce get up +on its hind legs and howl. There's bound to be speeches telling how, +just when we've about convinced the East that we've shook off our wild +Western ways, here comes a murder that's wilder'n anything that's been +pulled off since the trapper days."</p> + +<p>"Accordin' to my way of thinkin'," said Talpers, "that man wasn't +tortured after he was staked down. Any one who knows anything about +Injun character knows that when they pegged a victim out that way, they +intended for him to furnish some amusement, such as having splinters +stuck into him and bein' set afire by the squaws."</p> + +<p>"They probably thought they seen some one coming," said the sheriff, +"and shot him after they got him tied down, and then made a quick +getaway."</p> + +<p>"That man was shot before he was tied down," interposed Lowell quietly.</p> + +<p>"What makes you think that?" Redmond said quickly.</p> + +<p>"There are no powder marks on his face. And any one shot at such close +range, by some one standing over him, would have had his head blown +away."</p> + +<p>Redmond assented, grudgingly.</p> + +<p>"What does Plenty Buffalo think about it all?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Lowell called the police chief and the interpreter. Plenty Buffalo +declared that he was puzzled. He was not prepared to make any statement +at all as yet. He might have something later on.</p> + +<p>"Very well," said the agent, motioning to Plenty Buffalo to go on with +the close investigations he had been silently carrying on. "We may get +something of value from him when he has finished looking. But there's no +use coaxing him to talk now."</p> + +<p>"I s'pose not," rejoined Redmond sneeringly. "What's more, I s'pose he +can't even see them Injun pony tracks around the body."</p> + +<p>"He called my attention to them as soon as we arrived here," said +Lowell. "But as far as that goes he didn't need to. Those things are as +evident as the bald fact that the man has been killed."</p> + +<p>"Well, that's about the only clue there is, as far as I can figger out," +remarked the sheriff testily, "and that points straight and clean to +some of your wards on the reservation."</p> + +<p>"Count on me for any help," replied Lowell crisply. "All I'm interested +in, of course, is seeing the guilty brought out into the light."</p> + +<p>Turning away and ending a controversy, which he knew would be fruitless, +Lowell made another searching personal examination of the scene. He +examined the stakes, having in mind the possibility of finger-prints. +But no tell-tale mark had been left behind. The stakes were too rough to +admit the possibility of any finger-prints that might be microscopically +detected. The road and prairie surrounding the automobile were examined, +but nothing save pony tracks, numerous and indiscriminately mingled, +rewarded his efforts.</p> + +<p>"Them Injuns jest milled around this machine and the body of that +hombrey," said Talpers. "There must have been twenty-five of 'em in the +bunch, anyway, ain't I right, Plenty Buffalo?" added the trader, +repeating his remark in the Indian's tribal tongue, in which the white +man was expert.</p> + +<p>"Heap Injun here," agreed Plenty Buffalo, not averse to showing off a +large part of his limited English vocabulary.</p> + +<p>"That trouble-maker, Fire Bear, is the only one who travels much with a +gang, ain't he?" demanded Redmond.</p> + +<p>"Yes," assented the agent. "He has had from fifty to one hundred young +Indians making medicine with him on Wolf Mountain. Rest assured that +Fire Bear and every one with him will have to give an account of +himself."</p> + +<p>"That's the talk!" exclaimed Redmond, pulling at his mustache. "I ain't +afraid of your not shooting straight in this thing, Mr. Lowell, but +you've got to admit that you've stuck up for Injuns the way no other +agent has ever stuck up for 'em before, and natchelly—"</p> + +<p>"Naturally you thought I might even cover up murder for them," added +Lowell good-naturedly. "Well, get that idea out of your head. But also +get it out of your head that I'm going to see any Indian or Indians +railroaded for a crime that possibly he or they didn't commit."</p> + +<p>"All right!" snapped the sheriff, instantly as belligerent and +suspicious as ever. "But this thing is going to be worked out on the +evidence, and right now the evidence—"</p> + +<p>"Which is all circumstantial."</p> + +<p>"Yes, circumstantial it may be, but it's mighty strong against some of +your people over that there line, and it's going to be followed up."</p> + +<p>Lowell shrugged his shoulders, knowing the futility of further argument +with the sheriff, who was representative of the considerable element +that always looked upon Indians as "red devils" and that would never +admit that any good existed in race or individual.</p> + +<p>The agent assisted in removing the body of the murdered man to the big +automobile that had been standing in the road, a silent witness to the +crime. Lowell drove the machine to White Lodge, at the request of the +sheriff, and sent telegrams which might establish the dead man's +identity beyond all doubt.</p> + +<p>Meantime the news of the murder was not long in making its devious way +about the sparsely settled countryside. Most of the population of White +Lodge, and ranchers from remote districts, visited the scene. One +fortunate individual, who had arrived before the body had been removed, +interested various groups by stretching himself out on the prairie on +the exact spot where the slain man had been found.</p> + +<p>"Here he laid, jest like this," the actor would conclude, "right out +here in the bunch grass and prickly pear, with his hands and feet tied +to them tent-stakes, and pony tracks and moccasin tracks all mixed +around in the dust jest as if a hull tribe had been millin' here. If a +lot of Injuns don't swing for this, then there's no use of callin' this +a white man's country any more."</p> + +<p>The flames of resentment needed no fanning, as Lowell found. The agent +had not concluded his work with the sheriff at White Lodge before he +heard thinly veiled threats directed at all Indians and their friends. +He paid no attention to the comments, but drove back to the agency, +successfully masking the grave concern he felt. In the evening, his +chief clerk, Ed Rogers, found Lowell reading a magazine.</p> + +<p>"The talk is that you'll have to get Fire Bear for this murder," said +Rogers. Then the chief clerk added, bluntly: "I thought sure you'd be +working on this case."</p> + +<p>Lowell smiled at the clerk's astonishment.</p> + +<p>"There's nothing more that requires my attention just now," he said. "If +Fire Bear is wanted, we can always get him. That's one thing that +simplifies all such matters, where Indians are concerned. An Indian +can't lose himself in a crowd, like a white man. Furthermore, he never +thinks of leaving the reservation."</p> + +<p>Here the young agent rose and yawned.</p> + +<p>"Anyway," he remarked, "it isn't our move right now. Until it is, I +prefer to think of pleasanter things."</p> + +<p>But the agent's thoughts were not on any of the pleasant things +contained in the magazine he had flung into a corner. They were dwelling +most consistently upon a pleasing journey he had enjoyed, a few days +before, with a young woman whom he had taken from the agency to Mystery +Ranch.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + + +<p>Helen Ervin's life in a private school for girls at San Francisco had +been uneventful until her graduation. She had been in the school for ten +years. Before that, she had vague recollections of a school that was not +so well conducted. In fact, almost her entire recollection was of +teachers, school chums, and women who had been hired as companions and +tutors. Some one had paid much money for her upbringing—that much Helen +Ervin knew. The mystery of her caretaking was known, of course, by Miss +Scovill, head of the Scovill School, but it had never been disclosed. It +had become such an ancient mystery that Helen told herself she had lost +all interest in it. Miss Scovill was kind and motherly, and would answer +any other questions. She had taken personal charge of the girl, who +lived at the Scovill home during vacations as well as throughout the +school year.</p> + +<p>"Some day it will all be explained to you," Miss Scovill had said, "but +for the present you are simply to learn all you can and continue to be +just as nice as you have been. And meantime rest assured that somebody +is vitally interested in your welfare and happiness."</p> + +<p>The illuminating letter came a few days after graduation. The girls had +all gone home and school was closed. Helen was alone in the Scovill +home. Miss Scovill had gone away for a few days, on business.</p> + +<p>The letter bore a postmark with a strange, Indian-sounding name: "White +Lodge." It was in a man's handwriting—evidently a man who had written +much. The signature, which was first to be glanced at by the girl, read: +"From your affectionate stepfather, Willis Morgan." The letter was as +follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>No doubt you will be surprised at getting this letter from one +whose existence you have not suspected. I had thought to let you +remain in darkness concerning me. For years I have been pleased to +pay your expenses in school—glad in the thought that you were +getting the best care and education that could be purchased. But my +affairs have taken a bad turn. I am, to put it vulgarly, cramped +financially. Moreover, the loneliness in my heart has become fairly +overmastering. I can steel myself against it no longer. I want you +with me in my declining years. I cannot leave here. I have become +greatly attached to this part of the country, and have no doubt +that you will be, also. Sylvan scenes, with a dash of human +savagery in the foreground, form the best relief for a too-extended +assimilation of books. It has been like balm to me, and will prove +so to you.</p> + +<p>Briefly, I want you to come, and at once. A check to cover expenses +is enclosed. Your school years are ended, and a life of quiet, amid +scenes of aboriginal romance, awaits you here. Selfishly, perhaps, +I appeal to your gratitude, if the prospect I have held out does +not prove enticing of itself. If what I have done for you in all +these years entitles me to any return, I ask you not to delay the +payment. By coming now, you can wipe the slate clean of any +indebtedness.</p></div> + +<p>Then followed directions about reaching the ranch—the Greek Letter +Ranch, the writer called it—and a final appeal to her sense of +gratitude.</p> + +<p>When Helen finished reading the letter, her heart was suffused with pity +for this lonely man who had come thus strangely and unexpectedly into +her life. Her good impulses had always prompted her strongly. Miss +Scovill was away, so Helen left her a note of explanation, telling +everything in detail. "I know, dear foster mother," wrote the girl, +"that you are going to rejoice with me, now that I have found my +stepfather. I'll be looking forward to the time when you can visit us at +the Greek Letter Ranch."</p> + +<p>Making ready for the journey took only a short time. In a few hours +Helen was on her way, little knowing that Miss Scovill, on her return, +was frantically sending out telegrams which indicated anything but a +peaceful acceptance of conditions. One of these telegrams, sent to an +address which Helen would not have recognized, read:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The dove has been lured to the serpent's nest. Take what action you +deem best, but quickly.</p></div> + +<p>Helen enjoyed her trip through California and then eastward through the +Northwest country to the end of the spur which pointed toward the +reservation. From the railroad's end she went to White Lodge by stage. +From White Lodge she was told she had better take a private conveyance +to her destination. She hired a rig of a livery-stable keeper, who said +he could not possibly take her beyond the Indian agency.</p> + +<p>"Mebbe some one there'll take you the rest of the way," said the +liveryman; and, accepting his hopeful view of the situation, the girl +consented to go on in such indefinite fashion.</p> + +<p>Thus it happened that a slender, white-clad young woman, with a suitcase +at her feet, stood on the agency office porch, undergoing the steady +scrutiny of four or five blanketed Indian matrons when Walter Lowell +came back from lunch. In a few words Helen had explained matters, and +Lowell picked up her suitcase, and, after ascertaining that she had had +no lunch, escorted her up the street to the dining-hall.</p> + +<p>"We have a little lunch club of employees, and guests often sit in with +us," said the agent cordially. "After you eat, and have rested up a bit, +I'll see that you are driven over to the—to the Greek Letter Ranch."</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, Lowell had to think several times before he could +get the Greek Letter Ranch placed in his mind. He had fallen into the +habit—in common with others in the neighborhood—of calling it Mystery +Ranch. Also Willis Morgan's name was mentioned so seldom that the +agent's mental gymnastics were long sustained and almost painfully +apparent before he had matters righted.</p> + +<p>"Rogers," said Lowell to his chief clerk, on getting back to the agency +office, "how many years has Willis Morgan been in this part of the +country?"</p> + +<p>"Willis Morgan," echoed Rogers, scratching his head. "Oh, I know now! +You mean the 'squaw professor.' He hasn't been called Morgan since he +married that squaw who died five years go. There was talk that he used +to be a college professor, which is right, I guess, from the number of +books he reads. But when he married an Indian folks just called him the +'squaw prof.' He's been out here twelve or fifteen years, I guess. Let's +see—he got those Indian lands through his wife when Jones was agent. He +must have moved off the reservation when Arbuckle was agent, just before +you came on."</p> + +<p>"Did he always use a Greek letter brand on his cattle?"</p> + +<p>"Always. He never ran many cattle. I guess he hasn't got any at all now. +But what he did have he always insisted on having branded with that +pitchfork brand, as the cowpunchers call it."</p> + +<p>"I know—it's the letter Psi."</p> + +<p>"Well, Si, or whatever other nickname it is, even the toughest-hearted +old cowmen used to kick on having to put such a big brand on critters. +That big pitchfork on flanks or shoulders must have spoiled many a hide +for Morgan, but he always insisted on having it slapped on."</p> + +<p>"Have the Indians always got along with him pretty well?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, because they're afraid of him and leave him alone. It ain't +physical fear, but something deeper, like being afraid of a snake, I +guess. You see he knows so damn much, he's uncanny. It's the power of +mind over matter. Seems funny to think of him having the biggest Indians +buffaloed, but he's done it, and he's buffaloed the white folks, too. He +gave it out that he wanted to be let alone, and, by jimminy, he's been +let alone! I'll bet there aren't four people in the county who have seen +his face in as many years."</p> + +<p>"Did he have any children?"</p> + +<p>"No. His wife was a pretty little Indian woman. He just married her to +show his defiance of society, I guess. Anyway, he must have killed her +by inches. If he had the other Indians scared, you can imagine how he +must have terrorized her. Yet I'll bet he never raised his voice above +an ordinary conversational tone."</p> + +<p>Lowell frowned as he looked out across the agency street.</p> + +<p>"Why, what's come up about Morgan?" asked Rogers.</p> + +<p>"Oh, not such a lot," replied the agent. "It's only that there's a girl +here—his stepdaughter, it seems—and she's going to make her home with +him."</p> + +<p>"Good Lord!" ejaculated the chief clerk.</p> + +<p>"She's over at the club table now having lunch," went on Lowell. "I'm +going to drive her over to the ranch. She seems to think this stepfather +of hers is all kinds of a nice fellow, and I can't tell her that she'd +better take her little suitcase and go right back where she came from. +Besides, who knows that she may be right and we've been misjudging +Morgan all these years?"</p> + +<p>"Well, if Willis Morgan's been misjudged, then I'm really an angel all +ready to sprout wings," observed the clerk. "But maybe he's braced up, +or, if he hasn't, this stepdaughter has tackled the job of reforming +him. If she does it, it'll be the supreme test of what woman can do +along that line."</p> + +<p>"What business have bachelors such as you and I to be talking about any +reformations wrought by woman?" asked Lowell smilingly.</p> + +<p>"Not much," agreed Rogers. "Outside of the school-teachers and other +agency employees I haven't seen a dozen white women since I went to +Denver three years ago. And you—why, you haven't been away from here +except on one trip to Washington in the last four years."</p> + +<p>Each man looked out of the window, absorbed in his own dreams. Lowell +had forsaken an active career to take up the routine of an Indian +agent's life. After leaving college he had done some newspaper work, +which he abandoned because a position as land investigator for a +corporation with oil interests in view had given him a chance to travel +in the West. There had been a chance journey across an Indian +reservation, with a sojourn at an agency. Lowell had decided that his +work had been spread before him. By persistent personal effort and the +use of some political influence, he secured an appointment as Indian +agent. The monetary reward was small, but he had not regretted his +choice. Only there were memories such as this girl brought to +him—memories of college days when there were certain other girls in +white dresses, and when there was music far removed from weird Indian +chants, and the thud-thud of moccasins was not always in his ears....</p> + +<p>Lowell rose hastily.</p> + +<p>"They must be through eating over there," he said. "But I positively +hate to start the trip that will land the girl at that ranch."</p> + +<p>The agent drove his car over to the dining-hall. When Helen came out, +the agency blacksmith was carrying her suitcase, and the matron, Mrs. +Ryers, had her arm about the girl's waist, for friends are quickly made +in the West's lonely places. School-teachers and other agency employees +chorused good-bye as the automobile was driven away.</p> + +<p>The girl was flushed with pleasure, and there were tears in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"I don't blame you for liking to live on an Indian reservation," she +said, "amid such cordial people."</p> + +<p>"Well, it isn't so bad, though, of course, we're in a backwater here," +said Lowell. "An Indian reservation gives you a queer feeling that way. +The tides of civilization are racing all around, but here the progress +is painfully slow."</p> + +<p>"Tell me more about it, please," pleaded the girl. "This lovely +place—surely the Indians like it."</p> + +<p>"Some of them do, perhaps," said Lowell. "But they haven't been trained +to this sort of thing. A lodge out there on the prairie, with game to be +hunted and horses to be ridden—that would suit the most advanced of +them better than settled life anywhere. But, of course, all that is +impossible, and the thing is to reconcile them to the inevitable things +they have to face. And even reconciling white people to the inevitable +is no easy job."</p> + +<p>"No, it's harder, really, than teaching these poor Indians, I suppose," +agreed the girl. "But don't you find lots to recompense you?"</p> + +<p>Lowell stole a look at her, and then he slowed the car's pace +considerably. There was no use hurrying to the ranch with such a +charming companion aboard. The fresh June breeze had loosened a strand +or two of her brown hair. The bright, strong sunshine merely emphasized +the youthful perfection of her complexion. She had walked with a certain +buoyancy of carriage which Lowell ascribed to athletics. Her eyes were +brown, and rather serious of expression, but her smile was quick and +natural—the sort of a smile that brings one in return, so Lowell +concluded in his fragmentary process of cataloguing. Her youth was the +splendid thing about her to-day. To-morrow her strong, resourceful +womanhood might be still more splendid. Lowell surrendered himself +completely to the enjoyment of the drive, and likewise he slowed down +the car another notch.</p> + +<p>"Of course, just getting out of school, I haven't learned so much about +the inevitableness of life," said the girl, harking back to Lowell's +remark concerning the Indians, "but I'm beginning to sense the +responsibilities now. I've just learned that it was my stepfather who +kept me in that delightful school so many years, and now it's time for +repayment."</p> + +<p>"Repayment seems to be exacted for everything in life," said Lowell +automatically, though he was too much astonished at the girl's remark to +tell whether his reply had been intelligible. Was it possible the "squaw +professor" had been misjudged all these years, and was living a life of +sacrifice in order that this girl might have every opportunity? Lowell +had not recovered from the astounding idea before they reached Talpers's +place. He stopped the automobile in front of the store, and the trader +came out.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Talpers, meet Miss Ervin, daughter of our neighbor, Mr. Morgan," +said the agent. "Miss Ervin will probably be coming over here after her +mail, and you might as well meet her now."</p> + +<p>Talpers bobbed his head, but not enough to break the stare he had bent +upon the girl, who flushed under his scrutiny. As a matter of fact, the +trader had been too taken aback at the thought of a woman—and a young +and pretty woman—being related to the owner of Mystery Ranch to do more +than mumble a greeting. Then the vividness of the girl's beauty had +slowly worked upon him, rendering his speechlessness absolute.</p> + +<p>"I don't like Mr. Talpers as well as I do some of your Indians," said +the girl, as they rolled away from the store, leaving the trader on the +platform, still staring.</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't mind confiding in you, as I've confided in Bill himself, +that Mr. Talpers is something over ninety per cent undesirable. He is +one of the thorns that grow expressly for the purpose of sticking in the +side of Uncle Sam. He's cunning and dangerous, and constantly lowers the +reservation morale, but he's over the line and I can't do a thing with +him unless I get him red-handed. But he's postmaster and the only trader +near here, and you'll have to know him, so I thought I'd bring out the +Talpers exhibit early."</p> + +<p>Helen laughed, and forgot her momentary displeasure as the insistent +appeal of the landscape crowded everything else from her mind. The white +road lay like a carelessly flung thread on the billowing plateau land. +The air was crisp with the magic of the upper altitudes. Gray clumps of +sagebrush stood forth like little islands in the sea of grass. A winding +line of willows told where a small stream lay hidden. The shadows of +late afternoon were filling distant hollows with purple. Remote +mountains broke the horizon in a serrated line. Prairie flowers scented +the snow-cooled breeze.</p> + +<p>They paused on the top of a hill, where, a few days later, a tragedy was +to be enacted. The agent said nothing, letting the panorama tell its own +story.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's almost overwhelming," said Helen finally, with a sigh. +"Sometimes it all seems so intimate, and personally friendly, and then +those meadow-larks stop singing for a moment, and the sun brings out the +bigness of everything—and you feel afraid, or at least I do."</p> + +<p>Lowell smiled understandingly.</p> + +<p>"It works on strong men the same way," he said. "That's why there are no +Indian tramps, I guess. No Indian ever went 'on his own' in this big +country. The tribes people always clung together. The white trappers +came and tried life alone, but lots of them went queer as a penalty. The +cowpunchers flocked together and got along all right, but many a +sheep-herder who has tried it alone has had to be taken in charge by his +folks. Human companionship out in all those big spaces is just as +necessary as bacon, flour, and salt."</p> + +<p>The girl sighed wistfully.</p> + +<p>"Of course, I've had lots of companionship at school," she said. "Is +there any one besides my stepfather on his ranch? There must be, I +imagine."</p> + +<p>"There's a Chinese cook, I believe—Wong," replied Lowell. "But you are +going to find lots to interest you. Besides, if you will let me—"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'll let you drive over real often," laughed the girl, as Lowell +hesitated. "I'll be delighted, and I know father will be, also."</p> + +<p>Lowell wanted to turn the car around and head it away from the hated +ranch which was now so close at hand. His heart sank, and he became +silent as they dropped into the valley and approached the watercourse, +near which Willis Morgan's cabin stood.</p> + +<p>"Here's the place," he said briefly, as he turned into a travesty of a +front yard and halted beside a small cabin, built of logs and containing +not more than three or four rooms.</p> + +<p>The girl looked at Lowell in surprise. Something in the grim set of his +jaw told her the truth. Pride came instantly to her rescue, and in a +steady voice she made some comment on the quaintness of the +surroundings.</p> + +<p>There was no welcome—not even the barking of a dog. Lowell took the +suitcase from the car, and, with the girl standing at his side, knocked +at the heavy pine door, which opened slowly. An Oriental face peered +forth. In the background Lowell could see the shadowy figure of Willis +Morgan. The man's pale face and gray hair looked blurred in the +half-light of the cabin. He did not step to the door, but his voice +came, cold and cutting.</p> + +<p>"Bring in the suitcase, Wong," said Morgan. "Welcome to this humble +abode, stepdaughter o' mine. I had hardly dared hope you would take such +a plunge into the primitive."</p> + +<p>The girl was trying to voice her gratitude to Lowell when Morgan's hand +was thrust forth and grasped hers and fairly pulled her into the +doorway. The door closed, and Lowell turned back to his automobile, with +anger and pity struggling within him for adequate expression.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + + +<p>Walter Lowell tore the wrapper of his copy of the "White Lodge Weekly +Star" when the agency mail was put on his desk a few days after the +murder on the Dollar Sign road.</p> + +<p>"I'm betting Editor Jay Travers cuts into the vitriol supply for our +benefit in this issue of his household journal," remarked the agent to +his chief clerk.</p> + +<p>"He won't overlook the chance," replied Rogers. "Here's where he earns a +little of the money the stockmen have been putting into his newspaper +during the last few years."</p> + +<p>"Yes, here it is: 'Crime Points to Indians. Automobile Tourist Killed +Near Reservation. Staked Down, Probably by Redskins. Wave of Horror +Sweeping the County—Dancing should be Stopped—Policy of Coddling +Indians—White Settlers not Safe.' Oh, take it and read it in detail!" +And Lowell tossed the paper to Rogers.</p> + +<p>"And right here, where you'd look for it first thing—right at the top +of the editorial column—is a regular old-fashioned English leader, +calling on the Government to throw open the reservation to grazing," +said Rogers.</p> + +<p>"The London 'Times' could thunder no more strongly in proportion. The +grateful cowmen should throw at least another five thousand into ye +editor's coffers. But, after all, what does it matter? A dozen +newspapers couldn't make the case look any blacker for the Indians. If +some hot-headed white man doesn't read this and take a shot at the first +Indian he meets, no great harm will be done."</p> + +<p>The inquest over the slain man had been duly held at White Lodge. The +coroner's jury found that the murder had been done "by a person or +persons unknown." The telegrams which Lowell had sent had brought back +the information that Edward B. Sargent was a retired inventor of mining +machinery—that he was prosperous, and lived alone. His servants said he +had departed in an automobile five days before. He had left no word as +to his destination, but had drawn some money from the bank—sufficient +to cover expenses on an extended trip. His servants said he was in the +habit of taking such trips alone. Generally he went to the Rocky +Mountains in his automobile every summer. He was accustomed to life in +the open and generally carried a camping outfit. His description tallied +with that which had been sent. He had left definite instructions with a +trust company about the disposal of his fortune, and about his burial, +in case of his death. Would the county authorities at White Lodge please +forward remains without delay?</p> + +<p>While the inquiry was in progress, Walter Lowell spent much of his time +at White Lodge, and caught the brunt of the bitter feeling against the +Indians. It seemed as if at least three out of four residents of the +county had mentally tried and convicted Fire Bear and his companions.</p> + +<p>"And if there is one out of the four that hasn't told me his opinion," +said Lowell to the sheriff, "it's because he hasn't been able to get to +town."</p> + +<p>Sheriff Tom Redmond, though evidently firm in his opinion that Indians +were responsible for the crime, was not as outspoken in his remarks as +he had been at the scene of the murder. The county attorney, Charley +Dryenforth, a young lawyer who had been much interested in the progress +of the Indians, had counseled less assumption on the sheriff's part.</p> + +<p>"Whoever did this," said the young attorney, "is going to be found, +either here in this county or on the Indian reservation. It wasn't any +chance job—the work of a fly-by-night tramp or yeggman. The Dollar Sign +is too far off the main road to admit of that theory. It's a home job, +and the truth will come out sooner or later, just as Lowell says, and +the only sensible thing is to work with the agent and not against +him—at least until he gives some just cause for complaint."</p> + +<p>Like the Indian agent, the attorney had a complete understanding of the +prejudices in the case. There is always pressure about any Indian +reservation. White men look across the line at unfenced acres, and +complain bitterly against a policy that gives so much land to so few +individuals. There are constant appeals to Congressmen. New treaties, +which disregard old covenants as scraps of paper, are constantly being +introduced. Leasing laws are being made and remade and fought over. The +Indian agent is the local buffer between contending forces. But, used as +he was to unfounded complaint and criticism, Walter Lowell was hardly +prepared for the bitterness that descended upon him at White Lodge after +the crime on the Dollar Sign. Men with whom he had hunted and fished, +cattlemen whom he had helped on the round-up, and storekeepers whose +trade he had swelled to considerable degree, attempted to engage in +argument tinged with acrimony. Lowell attempted to answer a few of them +at first, but saw how futile it all was, and took refuge in silence. He +waited until there was nothing more for him to do at White Lodge, and +then he went back to the agency to complete the job of forgetting an +incredible number of small personal injuries.... There was the girl at +Willis Morgan's ranch. Surely she would be outside of all these +wave-like circles of distrust and rancor. He intended to have gone to +see her within a day or two after he had taken her over to Morgan's, but +something insistent had come up at the agency, and then had come the +murder. Well, he would go over right away. He took his hat and gloves +and started for the automobile, when the telephone rang.</p> + +<p>"It's Sheriff Tom Redmond," said Rogers. "He's coming over to see you +about going out after Fire Bear. An indictment's been found, and he's +bringing a warrant charging Fire Bear with murder."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Bill Talpers sat behind the letter cage that marked off Uncle Sam's +corner of his store, and paid no attention to the waiting Indian outside +who wanted a high-crowned hat, but who knew better than to ask for it.</p> + +<p>Being postmaster had brought no end of problems to Bill. This time it +was a problem that was not displeasing, though Mr. Talpers was not quite +sure as yet how it should be followed out. The problem was contained in +a letter which Postmaster Bill held in his hand. The letter was open, +though it was not addressed to the man who had read it a dozen times and +who was still considering its import.</p> + +<p>Lovingly, Bill once more looked at the address on the envelope. It was +in a feminine hand and read:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">MR. EDWARD B. SARGENT.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The town that figured on the envelope was Quaking-Asp Grove, which was +beyond White Lodge, on the main transcontinental highway. Slowly Bill +took from the envelope a note which read:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><i>Dear Uncle and Benefactor</i>:</p> + +<p>I have learned all. Do not come to the ranch for me, as you have +planned. Evil impends. In fact I feel that he means to do you harm. +I plead with you, do not come. It is the only way you can avert +certain tragedy. I am sending this by Wong, as I am watched +closely, though he pretends to be looking out only for my welfare. +I can escape in some way. I am not afraid—only for you. Again I +plead with you not to come. You will be going into a deathtrap.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Helen</span></p></div> + +<p>Wong, the factotum from the Greek Letter Ranch, had brought the letter +and had duly stamped it and dropped it in the box for outgoing mail, +three days before the murder on the Dollar Sign road. Wong had all the +appearance of a man frightened and in a hurry. Talpers sought to detain +him, but the Chinese hurried back to his old white horse and climbed +clumsily into the saddle.</p> + +<p>"It's a long time sence I've seen that old white hoss with the big +pitchfork brand on his shoulder," said Talpers. "You ain't ridin' up +here for supplies as often as you used to, Wong. Must be gettin' all +your stuff by mail-order route. Well, I ain't sore about it, so wait +awhile and have a little smoke and talk."</p> + +<p>But Wong had shaken his head and departed as rapidly in the direction of +the ranch as his limited riding ability would permit.</p> + +<p>The letter that Wong had mailed had not gone to its addressed +destination. Talpers had opened it and read it, out of idle curiosity, +intending to seal the flap again and remail it if it proved to be +nothing out of the ordinary. But there were hints of interesting things +in the letter, and Bill kept it a day or so for re-reading. Then he kept +it for another day because he had stuck it in his pocket and all but +forgotten about it. Afterward came the murder, with the name of Sargent +figuring, and Bill kept the letter for various reasons, one of which was +that he did not know what else to do with it.</p> + +<p>"It's too late for that feller to git it now, any ways," was Bill's +comfortable philosophy. "And if I'd go and mail it now, some fool +inspector might make it cost me my job as postmaster. Besides, it may +come useful in my business—who knows?"</p> + +<p>The usefulness of the letter, from Bill's standpoint, began to be +apparent the day after the murder, when Helen Ervin rode up to the store +on the white horse which Wong had graced. The girl rode well. She was +hatless and dressed in a neat riding-suit—the conventional attire of +her classmates who had gone in for riding-lessons. Her riding-clothes +were the first thing she had packed, on leaving San Francisco, as the +very word "ranch" had suggested delightful excursions in the saddle.</p> + +<p>Two or three Indians sat stolidly on the porch as Helen rode up. She had +learned that the old horse was not given to running away. He might roll, +to rid himself of the flies, but he was not even likely to do that with +the saddle on, so Helen did not trouble to tie him to the rack. She let +the reins drop to the ground and walked past the Indians into the store, +where Bill Talpers was watching her greedily from behind his +postmaster's desk.</p> + +<p>"You are postmaster here, Mr. Talpers, aren't you?" asked Helen, with a +slight acknowledgment of the trader's greeting.</p> + +<p>Bill admitted that Uncle Sam had so honored him.</p> + +<p>"I'm looking for a letter that was mailed here by Wong, and should be +back from Quaking-Asp Grove by this time. It had a return address on it, +and I understand the person to whom it was sent did not receive it."</p> + +<p>Talpers leaned forward mysteriously and fixed his animal-like gaze on +Helen.</p> + +<p>"I know why he didn't git it," said Bill. "He didn't git it because he +was murdered."</p> + +<p>Helen turned white, and her riding-whip ceased its tattoo on her boot. +She grasped at the edge of the counter for support, and Bill smiled +triumphantly. He had played a big card and won, and now he was going to +let this girl know who was master.</p> + +<p>"There ain't no use of your feelin' cut up," he went on. "If you and me +jest understand each other right, there ain't no reason why any one else +should know about that letter."</p> + +<p>"You held it up and it never reached Quaking-Asp Grove!" exclaimed +Helen. "You're the real murderer. I can have you put in prison for +tampering with the mails."</p> + +<p>The last shot did not make Bill blink. He had been looking for it.</p> + +<p>"Ye-es, you might have me put in prison. I admit that," he said, +stroking his sparse black beard, "but you ain't goin' to, because I'd +feel in duty bound to say that I jest held up the letter in the +interests of justice, and turn the hull thing over to the authorities. +Old Fussbudget Tom Redmond is jest achin' to make an arrest in this +case. He wants to throw the hull Injun reservation in jail, but he'd +jest as soon switch to a white person, if confronted with the proper +evidence. Now this here letter"—and here Bill took the missive from his +pocket—"looks to me like air-tight, iron-bound, copper-riveted sort of +testimony that says its own say. Tom couldn't help but act on it, and +act quick."</p> + +<p>Helen looked about despairingly. The Indians sat like statues on the +porch. They had not even turned their heads to observe what was going on +inside the store. The old white horse was switching and stamping and +shuddering in his constant and futile battle against flies. Beyond the +road was silence and prairie.</p> + +<p>Turning toward the trader, Helen thought to start in on a plea for +mercy, but one look into Talpers's face made her change her mind. Anger +set her heart beating tumultuously. She snatched at the letter in the +trader's hand, but Bill merely caught her wrist in his big fingers. +Swinging the riding-whip with all her strength, she struck Talpers +across the face again and again, but he only laughed, and finally +wrenched the whip away from her and threw it out in the middle of the +floor. Then he released her wrist.</p> + +<p>"You've got lots o' spunk," said Bill, coming out from behind the +counter, "but that ain't goin' to git you anywheres in pertic'ler in a +case like this. You'd better set down on that stool and think things +over and act more human."</p> + +<p>Helen realized the truth of Talpers's words. Anger was not going to get +her anywhere. The black events of recent hours had brought out +resourcefulness which she never suspected herself of having. Fortunately +Miss Scovill had been the sort to teach her something of the realities +of life. The Scovill School for Girls might have had a larger +fashionable patronage if it had turned out more graduates of the +clinging-vine type of femininity instead of putting independence of +thought and action as among the first requisites.</p> + +<p>"That letter doesn't amount to so much as you think," said Helen; "and, +anyway, suppose I swear on the stand that I never wrote it?"</p> + +<p>"You ain't the kind to swear to a lie," replied Bill, and Helen flushed. +"Besides, it's in your writin', and your name's there, and your Chinaman +brought it here. You can't git around them things."</p> + +<p>"Suppose I tell my stepfather and he comes here and takes the letter +away from you?"</p> + +<p>Talpers sneered.</p> + +<p>"He couldn't git that letter away from me, onless we put it up as a +prize in a Greek-slingin' contest. Besides, he's too ornery to help out +even his own kin. Why, I ain't one tenth as bad as that stepfather of +yourn. He just talked poison into the ears of that Injun wife of his +until she died. I guess mebbe by your looks you didn't know he had an +Injun wife, but he did. Since she died—killed by inches—he's had that +Chinaman doin' the work around the ranch-house. I guess he can't make a +dent on the Chinese disposition, or he'd have had Wong dead before this. +If you stay there any time at all, he'll have you in an insane asylum or +the grave. That's jest the nature of the beast."</p> + +<p>Talpers was waxing eloquent, because it had come to him that his one +great mission in life was to protect this fine-looking girl from the +cruelty of her stepfather. An inexplicable feeling crept into his +heart—the first kindly feeling he had ever known.</p> + +<p>"It's a dum shame you didn't have any real friends like me to warn you +off before you hit that ranch," went on Bill. "That young agent who +drove you over ought to have told you, but all he can think of is +protectin' Injuns. Now with me it's different. I like Injuns all right, +but white folks comes first—especially folks that I'm interested in. +Now you and me—"</p> + +<p>Helen picked up her riding-whip.</p> + +<p>"I can't hear any more to-day," she said.</p> + +<p>Talpers followed her through the door and out on the porch.</p> + +<p>"All right," he remarked propitiatingly. "This letter'll keep, but mebbe +not very long."</p> + +<p>In spite of her protests, he turned the horse around for her, and held +her stirrup while she mounted. His solicitousness alarmed her more than +positive enmity on his part.</p> + +<p>"By gosh! you're some fine-lookin' girl," he said admiringly, his gaze +sweeping over her neatly clad figure. "There ain't ever been a +ridin'-rig like that in these parts. I sure get sick of seein' these +squaws bobbin' along on their ponies. There's lots of women around here +that can ride, but I never knowed before that the clothes counted so +much. Now you and me—"</p> + +<p>Helen struck the white horse with her whip. As if by accident, the lash +whistled close to Bill Talpers's face, making him give back a step in +surprise. As the girl rode away, Talpers looked after her, grinning.</p> + +<p>"Some spirited girl," he remarked. "And I sure like spirit. But mebbe +this letter I've got'll keep her tamed down a little. Hey, you +Bear-in-the-Cloud and Red Star and Crane—you educated sons o' guns +settin' around here as if you didn't know a word of English—there ain't +any spirits fermentin' on tap to-day, not a drop. It's gettin' scarce +and the price is goin' higher. Clear out and wait till Jim McFann comes +in to-morrow. He may be able to find somethin' that'll cheer you up!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + + +<p>Sheriff Tom Redmond was a veteran of many ancient cattle trails. He had +traveled as many times from Texas to the Dodge City and Abilene points +of shipment as some of our travelers to-day have journeyed across the +Atlantic—and he thought just as little about it. More than once he had +made the trifling journey from the Rio Grande to Montana, before the +inventive individual who supplied fences with teeth had made such +excursions impossible. Sheriff Tom had seen many war-bonneted Indians +looming through the dust of trail herds. Of the better side of the +Indian he knew little, nor cared to learn. But at one time or another he +had had trouble with Apache, Comanche, Kiowa, Ute, Pawnee, Arapahoe, +Cheyenne, and Sioux. He could tell just how many steers each tribe had +cost his employers, and how many horses were still charged off against +Indians in general.</p> + +<p>"I admit some small prejudice," said Sheriff Tom in the course of one of +his numerous arguments with Walter Lowell. "When I see old Crane hanging +around Bill Talpers's store, he looks to me jest like the cussed +Comanche that rose right out of nowheres and scared me gray-headed when +I was riding along all peaceful-like on the Picketwire. And that's the +way it goes. Every Injun I see, big or little, resembles some redskin I +had trouble with, back in early days. The only thing I can think of 'em +doing is shaking buffalo robes and running off live stock—not raising +steers to sell. I admit I'm behind the procession. I ain't ready yet to +take my theology or my false teeth from an Injun preacher or dentist."</p> + +<p>Lowell preferred Sheriff Tom's outspokenness to other forms of +opposition and criticism which were harder to meet.</p> + +<p>"Some day," he said to the sheriff, "you'll fall in line, but meantime +if you can get rid of a pest like Bill Talpers for me, you'll do more +for the Indians than they could get out of all the new leases that might +be written."</p> + +<p>"I've been working on Bill Talpers now for ten years and I ain't been +able to git him to stick foot in a trap," was the sheriff's reply. "But +I think he's getting to a point where he's all vain-like over the +cunning he's shown, and he'll cash himself in, hoss and beaver, when he +ain't expecting to."</p> + +<p>When the sheriff arrived at the agency, with the warrant for Fire Bear +in his pocket, he found a string of saddle and pack animals tied in +front of the office, under charge of two of the best cowmen on the +reservation, White Man Walks and Many Coups.</p> + +<p>"I'll have your car put in with mine, Tom," said Lowell, who was dressed +in cowpuncher attire, even to leather <i>chaparejos</i>. "I know you're +always prepared for riding. There's a saddle horse out there for you. +We've some grub and a tent and plenty of bedding, as we may be out +several days and find some rough going."</p> + +<p>"I judge it ain't going to be any moonlight excursion on the Hudson, +then, bringing in this Injun," observed Redmond.</p> + +<p>Lowell motioned to the sheriff to step into the private office.</p> + +<p>"Affairs are a little complicated," said the agent, closing the door. +"Plenty Buffalo has turned up something that makes it look as if Jim +McFann may know something about the murder."</p> + +<p>"What's Plenty Buffalo found?"</p> + +<p>"He discovered a track made by a broken shoe in that conglomeration of +hoof marks at the scene of the murder."</p> + +<p>"Why didn't he say so at the time?"</p> + +<p>"Because he wasn't sure that it pointed to Jim McFann. But he'd been +trailing McFann for bootlegging and was pretty sure Jim was riding a +horse with a broken shoe. He got hold of an Indian we can trust—an +Indian who stands pretty well with McFann—and had him hunt till he +found Jim."</p> + +<p>"Where was he?"</p> + +<p>"McFann was hiding away up in the big hills. What made him light out +there no one knows. That looked bad on the face of it. Then this Indian +scout of ours, when he happened in on Jim's camp, found that McFann was +riding a horse with a broken shoe."</p> + +<p>"Looks as if we ought to bring in the half-breed, don't it?"</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute. The broken shoe isn't all. Those pieces of rope that +were used to tie that man to the stakes—they were cut from a rawhide +lariat."</p> + +<p>"And Jim McFann uses that kind?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Do you know where McFann is hanging out?"</p> + +<p>"He may have moved camp, but we can find him."</p> + +<p>The sheriff frowned. Matters were getting more complicated than he had +thought possible. From the first he had entertained only one idea +concerning the murder—that Fire Bear had done the work, or that some of +the reckless spirits under the rebellious youth had slain in a moment of +bravado.</p> + +<p>"Well, it may be that McFann and Fire Bear's crowd had throwed in +together and was all mixed up in the killing," remarked the sheriff. "A +John Doe warrant ought to be enough to get everybody we want."</p> + +<p>"We can get anybody that's wanted," said Lowell, "but you must remember +one thing—you're dealing with people who are not used to legal +procedure and who may resent wholesale arrests."</p> + +<p>"You'll take plenty of Injun police along, I suppose."</p> + +<p>"No—I'm not even going to take Plenty Buffalo. The whole police force +and all the deputies you might be able to swear in in a week couldn't +bring in Fire Bear if he gave the signal to the young fellows around +him. We're going alone, except for those two Indians out there, who will +just look after camp affairs for us."</p> + +<p>"I dunno but you're right," observed Redmond after a pause, during which +he keenly scrutinized the young agent's face. "Anyway, I ain't going to +let it be said that you've got more nerve than I have. Let the lead hoss +go where he chooses—I'll follow the bell."</p> + +<p>"Another thing," said Lowell. "You're on an Indian reservation. These +Indians have been looking to me for advice and other things in the last +four years. If it comes to a point where decisive action has to be +taken—"</p> + +<p>"You're the one to take it," interrupted the sheriff. "From now on it's +your funeral. I don't care what methods you use, so long as I git Fire +Bear, and mebbe this half-breed, behind the bars for a hearing down at +White Lodge."</p> + +<p>The men walked out of the office, and the sheriff was given his mount. +The Indians swung the pack-horses into line, and the men settled +themselves in their saddles as they began the long, plodding journey to +the blue hills in the heart of the reservation.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The lodges of Fire Bear and his followers were placed in a circle, in a +grove somber enough for Druidical sacrifice. White cliffs stretched high +above the camp, with pine-trees growing at all angles from the +interstices of rock. At the foot of the cliffs, and on the green slope +that stretched far below to the forest of lodgepole pines, stood many +conical, tent-like formations of rock. They were even whiter than the +canvas tepees which were grouped in front of them. At any time of the +day these formations were uncanny. In time of morning or evening shadow +the effect upon the imagination was intensified. The strange outcropping +was repeated nowhere else. It jutted forth, white and mysterious—a +monstrous tenting-ground left over from the Stone Age. As if to deepen +the effect of the weird stage setting, Nature contrived that all the +winds which blew here should blow mournfully. The lighter breezes +stirred vague whisperings in the pine-trees. The heavy winds wrought +weird noises which echoed from the cliffs.</p> + +<p>Lowell had looked upon the Camp of the Stone Tepees once before. There +had been a chase for a cattle thief. It was thought he had hidden +somewhere in the vicinity of the white semicircle, but he had not been +found there, because no man in fear of pursuit could dwell more than a +night in so ghostly a place of solitude.</p> + +<p>It had been late evening when Lowell had first seen the Camp of the +Stone Tepees. He remembered the half-expectant way in which he had +paused, thinking to see a white-clad priest emerge from one of the +shadowy stone tents and place a human victim upon one of the sacrificial +tablets in the open glade. It was early morning when Lowell looked on +the scene a second time. He and the sheriff had made a daylight start, +leaving the Indians to follow with the pack-horses. It was a long climb +up the slopes, among the pines, from the plains below. The trail, for +the greater part of the way, had followed a stream which was none too +easy fording at the best, and which regularly rose several inches every +afternoon owing to the daily melting of late snows in the mountain +heights. It was necessary to cross and recross the stream many times. +Occasionally the horses floundered over smooth rocks and were nearly +carried away. All four men were wet to the waist. Redmond, with memories +of countless wider and more treacherous fords crowding upon him, merely +jested at each new buffeting in the stream. The Indians were concerned +only lest some pack-animal should fall in midstream. Lowell, a good +horseman and tireless mountaineer, counted physical discomfort as +nothing when such vistas of delight were being opened up.</p> + +<p>The giant horseshoe in the cliffs was in semi-darkness when they came in +sight of it. Lowell was in the lead, and he turned his horse and +motioned to the sheriff to remain hidden in the trees that skirted the +glade. The voice of a solitary Indian was flung back and forth in the +curve of the cliffs. His back was toward the white men. If he heard +them, he made no sign. He was wrapped in a blanket, from shoulders to +heels, and was in the midst of a long incantation, flung at the beetling +walls with their foot fringe of stone tents. The tepees of the Indians +were hardly distinguishable from those which Nature had pitched on this +world-old camping-ground. No sound came from the tents of the Indians. +Probably the "big medicine" of the Indian was being listened to, but +those who heard made no sign.</p> + +<p>"It's Fire Bear," said Lowell, as the voice went on and the echoes +fluttered back from the cliffs.</p> + +<p>"He's sure making big medicine," remarked the sheriff. "They've picked +one grand place for a camp. By the Lord! it even sort of gave me the +shivers when I first looked at it. What'll we do?"</p> + +<p>"Wait till he gets through," cautioned Lowell. "They'd come buzzing out +of those tents like hornets if we broke in now, in all probability."</p> + +<p>The sheriff's face hardened.</p> + +<p>"Jest the same, that sort of thing ought to be stopped—all of it," he +said.</p> + +<p>"Do you stop every fellow that mounts a soap box, or, what's more +likely, stands up on a street corner in an automobile and makes a +Socialist speech?"</p> + +<p>"No—but that's different."</p> + +<p>"Why is it? An Indian reservation is just like a little nation. It has +its steady-goers, and it has its share of the shiftless, and also it has +an occasional Socialist, and once in a while a rip-snorting Anarchist. +Fire Bear doesn't know just what he is yet. He's made some pretty big +medicine and made some prophecies that have come true and have gained +him a lot of followers, but I can't see that it's up to me to stop him. +Not that I have any cause to love that Indian over there in that +blanket. He's been the cause of a lot of trouble. He's young and +arrogant. In a big city he would be a gang-leader. The police and the +courts would find him a problem—and he's just as much, or perhaps more, +of a problem out here in the wilds than he would be in town."</p> + +<p>The sheriff made no reply, but watched Fire Bear narrowly. Soon the +Indian ended his incantations, and the tents of his followers began +opening and blanketed figures came forth. Lowell and the sheriff stepped +out into the glade and walked toward the camp. The Indians grouped +themselves about Fire Bear. There was something of defiance in their +attitude, but the white men walked on unconcernedly, and, without any +preliminaries, Lowell told Fire Bear the object of their errand.</p> + +<p>"You're suspected of murdering that white man on the Dollar Sign road," +said Lowell. "You and these young fellows with you were around there. +Now you're wanted, to go to White Lodge and tell the court just what you +know about things."</p> + +<p>Fire Bear was one of the best-educated of the younger generation of +Indians. He had carried off honors at an Eastern school, both in his +studies and athletics. But his haunts had been the traders' stores when +he returned to the reservation. Then he became possessed of the idea +that he was a medicine man. Fervor burned in his veins and fired his +speech. The young fellows who had idled with him became his zealots. He +began making prophecies which mysteriously worked out. He had prophesied +a flood, and one came, sweeping away many lodges. When he and his +followers were out of food, he had prophesied that plenty would come to +them that day. It so happened that lightning that morning struck the +trace chain on a load of wood that was being hauled down the +mountain-side by a white leaser. The four oxen drawing the load were +killed, and the white man gave the beef to the Indians, on condition +that they would remove the hides for him. This had sent Fire Bear's +stock soaring and had gained many recruits for his camp—even some of +the older Indians joining.</p> + +<p>Lowell had treated Fire Bear leniently—too leniently most of the white +men near the reservation had considered. With the Indians' religious +ceremonials had gone the usual dancing. An inspector from Washington had +sent in a recommendation that the dancing be stopped at once. Lowell had +received several broad hints, following the inspector's letter, but he +was waiting an imperative order before stopping the dancing, because he +knew that any high-handed interference just then would undo an +incalculable amount of his painstaking work with the Indians. He had +figured that he could work personally with Fire Bear after the young +medicine man's first ardor in his new calling had somewhat cooled. Then +had come the murder, with everything pointing to the implication of the +young Indian, and with consequent action forced on the agent.</p> + +<p>A threatening circle surrounded the white men in Fire Bear's camp.</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you bring the Indian police to arrest me?" asked the young +Indian leader.</p> + +<p>"Because I thought you'd see things in their right light and come," said +Lowell.</p> + +<p>Fire Bear thought a moment.</p> + +<p>"Well, because you did not bring the police, I will go with you," he +said.</p> + +<p>"You don't have to tell us anything that might be used against you," +said the sheriff.</p> + +<p>Fire Bear smiled bitterly.</p> + +<p>"I've studied white man's law," he said.</p> + +<p>Redmond rubbed his head in bewilderment. Such words, coming from a +blanketed Indian, in such primitive surroundings, passed his +comprehension. Yet Lowell thought, as he smiled at the sheriff's +amazement, that it merely emphasized the queer jumble of old and new on +every reservation.</p> + +<p>"I'll ask you to wait for me out there in the trees," said Fire Bear.</p> + +<p>Redmond hesitated, but the agent turned at once and walked away, and the +sheriff finally followed. Fire Bear exhorted his followers a few +moments, and then disappeared in his tent. Soon he came out, dressed in +the "store clothes" of the ordinary Indian. He joined Redmond and the +agent at the edge of the glade, and they made their way toward the +creek, no one venturing to follow from the camp. At the bottom of the +slope they found the Indian helpers with the horses.</p> + +<p>"Fire Bear," said Lowell, as they paused before starting out, "there's +one thing more I want of you. Help us to find Jim McFann. He's as deep +or deeper in this thing than you are."</p> + +<p>"I know he is," replied Fire Bear, "but it wasn't for me to say so. I'll +help find him for you."</p> + +<p>They had to fight to get Jim McFann. They found the half-breed cooking +some bacon over a tiny fire, at the head of a gulch that was just made +for human concealment. If it had not been for the good offices of Fire +Bear on the trail, they might have hunted a week for their man. McFann +had moved camp several times since Plenty Buffalo had located him. Each +time he had covered his tracks with surpassing care.</p> + +<p>Lowell, according to prearranged plan, had walked in upon McFann, with +Redmond covering the half-breed, ready to shoot in case a weapon was +drawn. But McFann merely made a headlong dive for Lowell's legs, and +there was a rough-and-tumble fight about the camp-fire which was settled +only when the agent managed to get a lock on his wiry opponent which +pinned McFann's back to the ground.</p> + +<p>"You wouldn't fight that hard if you thought you was being yanked up for +a little bootlegging, Jim," mused Tom Redmond, pulling his long +mustache. "You know what we've come after you for, don't you?"</p> + +<p>McFann threshed about in another futile attempt to escape, and cursed +his captors with gifts of expletive which came from two races.</p> + +<p>"It's on account of that tenderfoot that was found on the Dollar Sign," +growled Jim, "but Fire Bear and his gang can't tell any more on me than +I can on them."</p> + +<p>"That's the way to get at the truth," chuckled the sheriff triumphantly. +"I guess by the time you fellers are through with each other we'll know +who shot that man and staked him down."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + + +<p>On the day following the incarceration of Fire Bear and Jim McFann, +Lowell rode over to the scene of the murder on the Dollar Sign road.</p> + +<p>It seemed to the agent as if a fresh start from the very beginning would +do more than anything else to put him on the trail of a solution of the +mystery.</p> + +<p>Lowell was not inclined to accept Redmond's comfortable theory that +either Fire Bear or Jim McFann was guilty—or that both were equally +deep in the crime. Nor did he assume that these men were not guilty. It +was merely that there were some aspects of the case which did not seem +to him entirely convincing. Circumstantial evidence pointed strongly to +Fire Bear and the half-breed, and this evidence might prove all that was +necessary to fasten the crime upon the prisoners. In fact Redmond was so +confident that he prophesied a confession from one or both of the men +before the time arrived for their hearing in court.</p> + +<p>As Lowell approached Talpers's store, the trader came out and hailed +him.</p> + +<p>"I hear Redmond's arrested Fire Bear and Jim McFann," said Talpers.</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Well, as far as public opinion goes, I s'pose Tom has hit the nail on +the head," observed Bill. "There's some talk right now about lynchin' +the prisoners. Folks wouldn't talk that way unless the arrest was pretty +popular."</p> + +<p>"That's Tom Redmond's lookout. He will have to guard against a +lynching."</p> + +<p>Talpers stroked his beard and smiled reflectively. Evidently he had +something on his mind. His attitude was that of a man concealing +something of the greatest importance.</p> + +<p>"There's one thing sure," went on Bill. "Jim McFann ain't any more +guilty of a hand in that murder than if he wasn't within a thousand +miles of the Dollar Sign when the thing happened."</p> + +<p>"That will have to be proved in court."</p> + +<p>"Well, as far as McFann's concerned I know Redmond's barkin' up the +wrong tree."</p> + +<p>"How do you know it?"</p> + +<p>Talpers made a deprecating motion.</p> + +<p>"Of course I don't know it absolutely. It's jest what I feel, from bein' +as well acquainted with Jim as I am."</p> + +<p>"Yes, you and Jim are tolerably close to each other—everybody knows +that."</p> + +<p>Talpers shot a suspicious glance at the agent, and then he reassumed his +mysterious grin.</p> + +<p>"Where you goin' now?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Just up on the hill."</p> + +<p>"I've been back there a couple of times," sneered Bill, "but I couldn't +find no notes dropped by the murderer."</p> + +<p>"Well, there's just one thing that's plain enough now, Talpers," said +Lowell grimly, as he released his brakes. "While Jim McFann is in jail a +lot of Indians are going to be thirsty, and your receipts for whiskey +are not going to be so big."</p> + +<p>Talpers scowled angrily and stepped toward the agent. Lowell sat calmly +in the car, watching him unconcernedly. Then Talpers suddenly turned and +walked toward the store, and the agent started his motor and glided +away.</p> + +<p>Bill's ugly scowl did not fade as he stalked into his store. Lowell's +last shot about the bootlegging had gone home. Talpers had had more +opposition from Lowell than from any other Indian agent since the trader +had established his store on the reservation line. In fact the young +agent had made whiskey-dealing so dangerous that Talpers was getting +worried. Lowell had brought the Indian police to a state of efficiency +never before obtained. Bootlegging had become correspondingly difficult. +Jim McFann had complained several times about being too close to +capture. Now he was arrested on another charge, and, as Lowell had said, +Talpers's most profitable line of business was certain to suffer. As +Bill walked back to his store he wondered how much Lowell actually knew, +and how much had been shrewd guesswork. The young agent had a certain +inscrutable air about him, for all his youth, which was most disturbing.</p> + +<p>Talpers had not dared come out too openly for McFann's release. He +offered bail bonds, which were refused. He had managed to get a few +minutes' talk with McFann, but Redmond insisted on being present, and +all the trader could do was to assure the half-breed that everything +possible would be done to secure his release.</p> + +<p>Bill's disturbed condition of mind vanished only when he reached into +his pocket and drew out the letter which indicated that the girl at +Mystery Ranch knew something about the tragedy which was setting not +only the county but the whole State aflame. Here was a trump card which +might be played in several different ways. The thing to do was to hold +it, and to keep his counsel until the right time came. He thanked the +good fortune that had put him in possession of the postmastership—an +office which few men were shrewd enough to use to their own good +advantage! Any common postmaster, who couldn't use his brains, would +have let that letter go right through, but that wasn't Bill Talpers's +way! He read the letter over again, slowly, as he had done a dozen times +before. Written in a pretty hand it was—handwriting befitting a dum +fine-lookin' girl like that! Bill's features softened into something +resembling a smile. He put the letter back in his pocket, and his +expression was almost beatific as he turned to wait on an Indian woman +who had come in search of a new shawl.</p> + +<p>Talpers's attitude, which had been at once cynical and mysterious, was +the cause of some speculation on Lowell's part as the agent drove away +from the trader's store. Something had happened to put so much of +triumph in Talpers's face and speech, but Lowell was not able to figure +out just what that something could be. He resolved to keep a closer eye +than customary on the doings of the trader, but soon all thoughts of +everything save those concerned directly with the murder were banished +from his mind when he reached the scene of the tragedy.</p> + +<p>Getting out of his automobile, Lowell went over the ground carefully. +The grass and even some of the sage had been trampled down by the +curious crowds that had flocked to the scene. An hour's careful search +revealed nothing, and Lowell walked back to his car, shaking his head. +Apparently the surroundings were more inscrutable than ever. The rolling +hills were beginning to lose their green tint, under a hot sun, +unrelieved by rain. The last rain of the season had fallen a day or so +before the murder. Lowell remembered the little pools he had splashed +through on the road, and the scattered "wallows" of mud that had +remained on the prairie. Such places were now all dry and caked. A few +meadow-larks were still singing, but even their notes would be silenced +in the long, hot days that were to come. But the distant mountains, and +the little stream in the bottom of the valley, looked cool and inviting. +Ordinarily Lowell would have turned his machine toward the line of +willows and tried an hour or so of fly-fishing, as there were plenty of +trout in the stream, but to-day he kept on along the road over which he +had taken Helen Ervin to her stepfather's ranch.</p> + +<p>As Lowell drove up in front of Willis Morgan's ranch-house, he noticed a +change for the better in the appearance of the place. Wong had been +doing some work on the fence, but had discreetly vanished when Lowell +came in sight. The yard had been cleared of rubbish and a thick growth +of weeds had been cut down.</p> + +<p>Lowell marveled that a Chinese should be doing such work as repairing a +fence, and wondered if the girl had wrought all the changes about the +place or if it had been done under Morgan's direction.</p> + +<p>As if in answer, Helen Ervin came into the yard with a rake in her hand. +She gave a little cry of pleasure at seeing Lowell.</p> + +<p>"I'd have been over before, as I promised," said Lowell, "and in fact I +had actually started when I had to make a long trip to a distant part of +the reservation."</p> + +<p>"I suppose it was in connection with this murder," she said.</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Tell me about it. What bearing did your trip have on it?"</p> + +<p>Lowell was surprised at the intensity of her question.</p> + +<p>"Well, you see," he said, "I had to bring in a couple of men who are +suspected of committing the crime. But, frankly, I thought that in this +quiet place you had not so much as heard of the murder."</p> + +<p>The girl smiled, but there was no mirth in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Of course it isn't as if one had newsboys shouting at the door," she +replied, "but we couldn't escape hearing of it, even here. Tell me, who +are these men you have arrested?"</p> + +<p>"An Indian and a half-breed. Their tracks were found at the scene of the +murder."</p> + +<p>"But that evidence is so slight! Surely they cannot—they may not be +guilty."</p> + +<p>"If not, they will have to clear themselves at the trial."</p> + +<p>"Will they—will they be hanged if found guilty?"</p> + +<p>"They may be lynched before the trial. There is talk of it now."</p> + +<p>Helen made a despairing gesture.</p> + +<p>"Don't let anything of that sort happen!" she cried. "Use all your +influence. Get the men out of the country if you can. But don't let +innocent men be slain."</p> + +<p>Lowell attempted to divert her mind to other things. He spoke of the +changed appearance of the ranch.</p> + +<p>"Your coming has made a great difference here," he said. "This doesn't +look like the place where I left you not many days ago."</p> + +<p>Helen closed her eyes involuntarily, as if to blot out some vision in +her memory.</p> + +<p>"That terrible night!" she exclaimed. "I—"</p> + +<p>She paused, and Lowell looked at her in surprise and alarm.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" he asked. "Is there anything wrong—anything I can do to +help you?"</p> + +<p>"No," she said. "Truly there is not, now. But there was. It was only the +recollection of my coming here that made me act so queerly."</p> + +<p>"Look here," said Lowell bluntly, "is that stepfather of yours treating +you all right? To put it frankly, he hasn't a very good reputation +around here. I've often regretted not telling you more when I brought +you over here. But you know how people feel about minding their own +affairs. It's a foolish sort of reserve that keeps us quiet when we feel +that we should speak."</p> + +<p>"No, I'm treated all right," said the girl. "It was just homesickness +for my school, I guess, that worked on me when I first came here. But I +can't get over the recollection of that night you brought me to this +place. Everything seemed so chilling and desolate—and dead! And then +those few days that followed!"</p> + +<p>She buried her face in her hands a moment, and then said, quietly:</p> + +<p>"Did you know that my stepfather had married an Indian woman?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Do you mean that you didn't know?"</p> + +<p>"No, I didn't know."</p> + +<p>"What a fool I was for not telling you these things!" exclaimed Lowell. +"I might have saved you a lot of humiliation."</p> + +<p>"You could have saved me more than humiliation. He told me all about +her—the Indian woman. He laughed when he told me. He said he was going +to kill me as he had killed her—by inches."</p> + +<p>Lowell grew cold with horror.</p> + +<p>"But this is criminal!" he declared. "Let me take you away from this +place at once. I'll find some place where you can go—back to my +mother's home in the East."</p> + +<p>"No, it's all right now. I'm in no danger, and I can't leave this place. +In fact I don't want to," said the girl, putting her hand on Lowell's +arm.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to tell me that he treated you so fiendishly during the +first few days, and then suddenly changed and became the most +considerate of relatives?"</p> + +<p>"I tell you I am being treated all right now. I merely told you what +happened at first—part of the cruel things he said—because I couldn't +keep it all to myself any longer. Besides, that Indian woman—poor +little thing!—is on my mind all the time."</p> + +<p>"Then you won't come away?"</p> + +<p>"No—he needs me."</p> + +<p>"Well, this beats anything I ever heard of—" began Lowell. Then he +stopped after a glance at her face. She was deathly pale. Her eyes were +unnaturally bright, and her hands trembled. It seemed to him that the +school-girl he had brought to the ranch a few days before had become a +woman through some great mental trial.</p> + +<p>"Come and see, or hear, for yourself," said Helen.</p> + +<p>Wonderingly, Lowell stepped into the ranch-house kitchen. Helen pointed +to the living-room.</p> + +<p>Through the partly open door, Lowell caught a glimpse of an aristocratic +face, surmounted by gray hair. A white hand drummed on the arm of a +library chair which contained pillows and blankets. From the room there +came a voice that brought to Lowell a sharp and disagreeable memory of +the cutting voice he had heard in false welcome to Helen Ervin a few +days before. Only now there was querulous insistence in the voice—the +insistence of the sick person who calls upon some one who has proved +unfailing in the performance of the tasks of the sick-room.</p> + +<p>Helen stepped inside the room and closed the door. Lowell heard her +talking soothingly to the sick man, and then she came out.</p> + +<p>"You have seen for yourself," she said.</p> + +<p>Lowell nodded, and they stepped out into the yard once more.</p> + +<p>"I'll leave matters to your own judgment," said Lowell, "only I'm asking +two things of you. One is to let me know if things go wrong, and the +other isn't quite so important, but it will please me a lot. It's just +to go riding with me right now."</p> + +<p>Helen smilingly assented. Once more she was the girl he had brought over +from the agency. She ran indoors and spoke a few words to Wong, and came +out putting on her hat.</p> + +<p>They drove for miles toward the heart of the Indian reservation. The +road had changed to narrow, parallel ribbons, with grass between. +Cattle, some of which belonged to the Indians and some to white leasers, +were grazing in the distance. Occasionally they could see an Indian +habitation—generally a log cabin, with its ugliness emphasized by the +grace of a flanking tepee. Everything relating to human affairs seemed +dwarfed in such immensity. The voices of Indian herdsmen, calling to +each other, were reduced to faint murmurs. The very sound of the motor +seemed blanketed.</p> + +<p>Lowell and the girl traveled for miles in silence. He shrewdly suspected +that the infinite peace of the landscape would prove the best tonic for +her overwrought mind. His theory proved correct. The girl leaned back in +the seat, and, taking off her hat, enjoyed to the utmost the rush of the +breeze and the swift changes in the great panorama.</p> + +<p>"It isn't any wonder that the Indians fought hard for this country, is +it?" asked Lowell. "It's all too big for one's comprehension at first, +especially when you've come from brick walls and mere strips of sky, but +after you've become used to it you can never forget it."</p> + +<p>"I'd like to keep right on going to those blue mountains," said the +girl. "It's wonderful, but a bit appalling, to a tenderfoot such as I +am. I think we'd better go back."</p> + +<p>Lowell drove in a circuitous route instead of taking the back trail. +Just after they had swung once more into the road near the ranch, they +met a horseman who proved to be Bill Talpers. The trader reined his +horse to the side of the road and motioned to Lowell to stop. Bill's +grin was bestowed upon the girl, who uttered a little exclamation of +dismay when she established the identity of the horseman.</p> + +<p>"I jest wanted to ask if you found anything up there," said Bill, +jerking his thumb toward the road over which he had just ridden. It was +quite plain that Talpers had been drinking.</p> + +<p>"Maybe I did, and maybe not, Bill," answered Lowell disgustedly. +"Anyway, what about it?"</p> + +<p>"Jest this," observed Bill, talking to Lowell, but keeping his gaze upon +Helen. "Sometimes you can find letters where you don't expect the guilty +parties to leave 'em. Mebbe you ain't lookin' in the right place for +evidence. How-de-do, Miss Ervin? I'm goin' to drop in at the ranch and +see you and your stepfather some day. I ain't been very neighborly so +far, but it's because business has prevented."</p> + +<p>Lowell started the car, and as they darted away he looked in +astonishment at the girl. Her pallor showed that once more she was under +great mental strain. It came to Lowell in a flash that Bill's arrogance +sprang from something deeper than mere conceit or drunkenness. +Undoubtedly he had set out deliberately to terrorize the girl, and had +succeeded. Lowell waited for some remark from Helen, but none came. He +kept back the questions that were on the tip of his tongue. Aside from a +few banalities, they exchanged no words until Lowell helped her from the +car at the ranch.</p> + +<p>"I want to tell you," said Lowell, "that I appreciate such confidence as +you have reposed in me. I won't urge you to tell more but I'm going to +be around in the offing, and, if things don't go right, and especially +if Bill Talpers—"</p> + +<p>There was so much terror in the girl's eyes that Lowell's assurances +came to a lame ending. She turned and ran into the house, after a +fluttering word of thanks for the ride, and Lowell, more puzzled than +ever, drove thoughtfully away.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + + +<p>White Lodge was a town founded on excitement. Counting its numerous +shootings and consequent lynchings, and proportioning them to its +population, White Lodge had experienced more thrills than the largest of +Eastern cities. Some ribald verse-writer, seizing upon White Lodge's +weakness as a theme, had once written:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We can put the card deck by us,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">We can give up whiskey straight;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Though we ain't exactly pious,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">We can fill the parson's plate;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We can close the gamblin' places,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">We can save our hard-earned coin,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">BUT we want a man for breakfast<br /></span> +<span class="i4">In the mor-r-rnin'.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>But of course such lines were written in early days, and for newspaper +consumption in a rival town. White Lodge had grown distinctly away from +its wildness. It had formed a Chamber of Commerce which entered bravely +upon its mission as a lodestone for the attraction of Eastern capital. +But the lure of adventurous days still remained in the atmosphere. Men +who were assembled for the purpose of seeing what could be done about +getting a horseshoe-nail factory for White Lodge wound up the session by +talking about the days of the cattle and sheep war. All of which was +natural, and would have taken place in any town with White Lodge's +background of stirring tradition.</p> + +<p>Until the murder on the Dollar Sign road there had been little but +tradition for White Lodge to feed on. The sheriff's job had come to be +looked upon as a sinecure. But now all was changed. Not only White +Lodge, but the whole countryside, had something live to discuss. Even +old Ed Halsey, who had not been down from his cabin in the mountains for +at least five years, ambled in on his ancient saddle horse to get the +latest in mass theory.</p> + +<p>So far as theorizing was concerned, opinion in White Lodge ran all one +way. The men who had been arrested were guilty, so the local newspaper +assumed, echoing side-walk conversation. The only questions were: Just +how was the crime committed, and how deeply was each man implicated? +Also, were there any confederates? Some of the older cattlemen, who had +been shut out of leases on the reservation, were even heard to hint that +in their opinion the whole tribe might have had a hand in the killing. +Anyway, Fire Bear's cohorts should be rounded up and imprisoned without +delay.</p> + +<p>Lowell was not surprised to find that he had been drawn into the vortex +of unfriendliness. More articles and editorials appeared in the "White +Lodge Weekly Star," putting the general blame for the tragedy upon the +policy of "coddling" the Indians.</p> + +<p>"The whole thing," wound up one editorial, "is the best kind of an +argument for throwing open the reservation to white settlement."</p> + +<p>"That is the heart of the matter as it stands," said Lowell, pointing +out the editorial to his chief clerk. "This murder is to be made the +excuse for a big drive on Congress to have the reservation thrown open."</p> + +<p>"Yes," observed Rogers, "the big cattlemen have been itching for another +chance since their last bill was defeated in Congress. They remind me of +the detective concern that never sleeps, only they might better get in a +few honest, healthy snores than waste their time the way they have +lately."</p> + +<p>Lowell paid no attention to editorial criticism, but it was not easy to +avoid hearing some of the personal comment that was passed when he +visited White Lodge. In fact he found it necessary to come to blows with +one cowpuncher, who had evidently been stationed near Lowell's +automobile to "get the goat" of the young Indian agent. The encounter +had been short and decisive. The cowboy, who was the hero of many fistic +engagements, passed some comment which had been elaborately thought out +at the camp-fire, and which, it was figured by his collaborators, "would +make anything human fight or quit."</p> + +<p>"That big cowpuncher from Sartwell's outfit sure got the agent's goat +all right," said Sheriff Tom Redmond, in front of whose office the +affair happened. "That is to say, he got the goat coming head-on, horns +down and hoofs striking fire. That young feller was under the +cowpuncher's arms in jest one twenty-eighth of a second, and there was +only two sounds that fell on the naked ear—one being the smack when +Lowell hit and the other the crash when the cowpuncher lit. If that rash +feller'd taken the trouble to send me a little note of inquiry in +advance, I could have told him to steer clear of a man who tied into a +desperate man the way that young agent tied into Jim McFann out there on +the reservation. But no public or private warnings are going to be +necessary now. From this time on, young Lowell's going to have more +berth-room than a wildcat."</p> + +<p>Such matters as cold nods from former friends were disregarded by +Lowell. He had been through lesser affairs which had brought him under +criticism. In fact he knew that a certain measure of such injustice +would be the portion of any man who accepted the post of agent. He went +his way, doing what he could to insure a fair trial for both men, and at +the same time not overlooking anything that might shed new light on a +case which most of the residents of White Lodge seemed to consider as +closed, all but the punishment to be meted out to the prisoners.</p> + +<p>The hearing was to be held in the little court-room presided over by +Judge Garford, who had been a figure at Vigilante trials in early days +and who was a unique personification of kindliness and firmness. Both +prisoners had refused counsel, nor had any confession materialized, as +Tom Redmond had prophesied. McFann had spent most of his time cursing +all who had been concerned in his arrest. Talpers had called on him +again, and had whispered mysteriously through the bars:</p> + +<p>"Don't worry, Jim. If it comes to a showdown, I'll be there with +evidence that'll clear you flyin'."</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, Talpers intended to play a double game. He would +let matters drift, and see if McFann did not get off in the ordinary +course of events. Meantime the trader would use his precious possession, +the letter written by Helen Ervin, to terrify the girl. In case the girl +proved defiant, why, then it would be time to produce the letter as a +law-abiding citizen should, and demand that the searchlight of justice +be turned on the author of a missive apparently so directly concerned +with the murder. If it so happened that the letter in his hands proved +to be a successful weapon, and if Bill Talpers were accepted as a +suitor, he would let the matter drop, so far as the authorities were +concerned—and Jim McFann could drop with it. If the half-breed were to +be sacrificed when a few words from Bill Talpers might save him, so much +the worse for Jim McFann! The affairs of Bill Talpers were to be +considered first of all, and there was no need of being too solicitous +over the welfare of any mere cat's-paw like the half-breed.</p> + +<p>If Jim McFann had known what was passing in the mind of the trader, he +would have torn his way out of jail with his bare hands and slain his +partner in bootlegging. But the half-breed took Talpers's fair words at +face value and faced his prospects with a trifle more of equanimity.</p> + +<p>Fire Bear continued to view matters with true Indian composure. He had +made no protestations of innocence, and had told Lowell there was +nothing he wanted except to get the hearing over with as quickly as +possible. The young Indian, to Lowell's shrewd eye, did not seem well. +His actions were feverish and his eyes unnaturally bright. At Lowell's +request, an agency doctor was brought and examined Fire Bear. His report +to Lowell was the one sinister word: "Tuberculosis!"</p> + +<p>When the men were brought into the court-room a miscellaneous crowd had +assembled. Cowpunchers from many miles away had ridden in to hear what +the Indian and "breed" had to say for themselves. The crowd even +extended through the open doors into the hallway. Late comers, who could +not get so much as standing room, draped themselves upon the stairs and +about the porch and made eager inquiry as to the progress of affairs.</p> + +<p>Helen Ervin rode in to attend the hearing, in response to an inner +appeal against which she had struggled vainly. She met Lowell as she +dismounted from the old white horse in front of the court-house. Lowell +had called two or three times at the ranch, following their ride across +the reservation. He had not gone into the house, but had merely stopped +to get her assurance that everything was going well and that the sick +man was steadily progressing toward convalescence.</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you tell me you were coming over?" asked Lowell. "I would +have brought you in my machine. As it is, I must insist on taking you +back. I'll have Plenty Buffalo lead your pony back to the ranch when he +returns to the agency."</p> + +<p>"I couldn't help coming," said Helen. "I have a feeling that innocent +men are going to suffer a great injustice. Tell me, do you think they +have a chance of going free?"</p> + +<p>"They may be held for trial," said Lowell. "No one knows what will be +brought up either for or against them in the meantime."</p> + +<p>"But they should not spend so much as a day in jail," insisted Helen. +"They—"</p> + +<p>Here she paused and looked over Lowell's shoulder, her expression +changing to alarm. The agent turned and beheld Bill Talpers near them, +his gaze fixed on the girl. Talpers turned away as Lowell escorted Helen +upstairs to the court-room, where he secured a seat for her.</p> + +<p>As the prisoners were brought in Helen recognized the unfriendliness of +the general attitude of White Lodge toward them. Hostility was expressed +in cold stares and whispered comment.</p> + +<p>The men afforded a contrasting picture. Fire Bear's features were pure +Indian. His nose was aquiline, his cheek-bones high, and his eyes black +and piercing, the intensity of their gaze being emphasized by the fever +which was beginning to consume him. His expression was martial. In his +football days the "fighting face" of the Indian star had often appeared +on sporting pages. He surveyed the crowd in the court-room with calm +indifference, and seldom glanced at the gray-bearded, benign-looking +judge.</p> + +<p>Jim McFann, on the contrary, seldom took his eyes from the judge's face. +Jim was not so tall as Fire Bear, but was of wiry, athletic build. His +cheek-bones were as high as those of the Indian, but his skin was +lighter in color, and his hair had a tendency to curl. His sinewy hands +were clenched on his knees, and his moccasined feet crossed and +uncrossed themselves as the hearing progressed.</p> + +<p>Each man testified briefly in his own behalf, and each, in Helen's +opinion, told a convincing story. Both admitted having been on the scene +of the crime. Jim McFann was there first. The half-breed testified that +he had been looking for a rawhide lariat which he thought he had dropped +from his saddle somewhere along the Dollar Sign road the day before. He +had noticed an automobile standing in the road, and had discovered the +body staked down on the prairie. In answer to a question, McFann +admitted that the rope which had been cut in short lengths and used to +tie the murdered man to the stakes had been the lariat for which he had +been searching. He was alarmed at this discovery, and was about to +remove the rope from the victim's ankles and wrists, when he had +descried a body of horsemen approaching. He had thought the horsemen +might be Indian police, and had jumped on his horse and ridden away, +making his way through a near-by gulch and out on the prairie without +being detected.</p> + +<p>"Why were you so afraid of the Indian police?" was asked.</p> + +<p>The half-breed hesitated a moment, and then said:</p> + +<p>"Bootlegging."</p> + +<p>There was a laugh in the court-room at this—a sharp, mirthless laugh +which was checked by the insistent sound of the bailiff's gavel.</p> + +<p>Jim McFann sank back in his chair, livid with rage. In his eyes was the +look of the snarling wild animal—the same look that had flashed there +when he sprang at Lowell in his camp. He motioned that he had nothing +more to say.</p> + +<p>Fire Bear's testimony was as brief. He said that he and a company of his +young men—perhaps thirty or forty—all mounted on ponies, had taken a +long ride from the camp where they had been making medicine. The trip +was in connection with the medicine that was being made. Fire Bear and +his young men had ridden by a circuitous route, and had left the +reservation at the Greek Letter Ranch on the same morning that McFann +had found the slain man's body. They had intended riding along the +Dollar Sign road, past Talpers's and the agency, and back to their camp. +But on the big hill between Talpers's and the Greek Letter Ranch they +had found the automobile standing in the road, and a few minutes later +had found the body, just as McFann had described it. They had not seen +any trace of McFann, but had noticed the tracks of a man and pony about +the automobile and the body. The Indians had held a quick consultation, +and, on the advice of Fire Bear, had quit the scene suddenly. It was the +murder of a white man, off the reservation. It was a case for white men +to settle. If the Indians were found there, they might get in trouble. +They had galloped across the prairie to their camp, by the most direct +way, and had not gone on to Talpers's nor to the agency.</p> + +<p>Helen expected both men to be freed at once. To her dismay, the judge +announced that both would be held for trial, without bail, following +perfunctory statements from Plenty Buffalo, Walter Lowell, and Sheriff +Tom Redmond, relating to later events in the tragedy. As in a dream +Helen saw some of the spectators starting to leave and Redmond's deputy +beckon to his prisoners, when Walter Lowell rose and asked permission to +address the court in behalf of the Government's ward, Fire Bear.</p> + +<p>Lowell, in a few words, explained that further imprisonment probably +would be fatal to Fire Bear. He produced the certificate of the agency +physician, showing that the prisoner had contracted tuberculosis.</p> + +<p>"If Fire Bear will give me his word of honor that he will not try to +escape," said the agent, "I will guarantee his appearance on the day set +for his trial."</p> + +<p>A murmur ran through the court-room, quickly hushed by the insistent +gavel.</p> + +<p>Lowell had been reasonably sure of his ground before he spoke. The +venerable judge had always been interested in the work at the agency, +and was a close student of Indian tradition and history. The request had +come as a surprise, but the court hesitated only a moment, and then +announced that, if the Government's agent on the reservation would be +responsible for the delivery of the prisoner for trial, the defendant, +Fire Bear, would be delivered to said agent's care. The other defendant, +being in good health and not being a ward of the Government, would have +to stand committed to jail for trial.</p> + +<p>Fire Bear accepted the news with outward indifference. Jim McFann, with +his hands tightly clenched and the big veins on his forehead testifying +to the rage that burned within him, was led away between Redmond and his +deputy. There was a shuffling of feet and clinking of spurs as men rose +from their seats. A buzz came from the crowd, as distinctly hostile as a +rattler's whirr. Words were not distinguishable, but the sentiment could +not have been any more distinctly indicated if the crowd had shouted in +unison.</p> + +<p>Judge Garford rose and looked in a fatherly way upon the crowd. At a +motion from him the bailiff rapped for attention. The judge stroked his +white beard and said softly:</p> + +<p>"Friends, there is some danger that excitement may run away with this +community. The arm of the law is long, and I want to say that it will be +reached out, without fear or favor, to gather in any who may attempt in +any way to interfere with the administration of justice."</p> + +<p>To Helen it seemed as if the old, heroic West had spoken through this +fearless giant of other days. There was no mistaking the meaning that +ran through that quietly worded message. It brought the crowd up with a +thrill of apprehension, followed by honest shame. There was even a +ripple of applause. The crowd started once more to file out, but in +different mood. Some of the more impetuous, who had rushed downstairs +before the judge had spoken, were hustled away from the agent's +automobile, around which they had grouped themselves threateningly.</p> + +<p>"The judge means business," one old-timer said in an awe-stricken voice. +"That's the way he looked and talked when he headed the Vigilantes' +court. He'll do what he says if he has to hang a dozen men."</p> + +<p>When Lowell and Helen came out to the automobile, followed by Fire Bear, +the court-house square was almost deserted. Fire Bear climbed into the +back seat, at Lowell's direction. He was without manacles. Helen +occupied the seat beside the driver. As they drove away, she caught a +glimpse of Judge Garford coming down the court-house steps. He was +engaged in telling some bit of pioneer reminiscence—something broadly +pleasant. His face was smiling and his blue eyes were twinkling. He +looked almost as any grandparent might have looked going to join a +favorite grandchild at a park bench. Yet here was a man who had torn +aside the veil and permitted one glimpse at the old, inspiring West.</p> + +<p>Helen turned and looked at him again, as, in an earlier era, she would +have looked at Lincoln.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + + +<p>The stage station at White Lodge was a temporary center of public +interest every afternoon at three o'clock when Charley Hicks drove the +passenger bus in from Quaking-Asp Grove. After a due inspection of the +passengers the crowd always shifted immediately to the post-office to +await the distribution of mail.</p> + +<p>A well-dressed, refined-looking woman of middle age was among the +passengers on the second day after the hearing of Fire Bear and Jim +McFann. She had little or nothing to say on the trip—perhaps for the +reason that speech would have been difficult on account of the +monopolizing of the conversation by the other passengers. These included +two women from White Lodge, one rancher from Antelope Mesa, and two +drummers who were going to call on White Lodge merchants. The +conversation was unusually brisk and ran almost exclusively on the +murder.</p> + +<p>Judge Garford's action in releasing Fire Bear on the agent's promise to +produce the prisoner in court was the cause of considerable criticism. +The two women, the ranchman, and one of the drummers had voted that too +much leniency was shown. The other drummer appealed to the stage-driver +to support his contention that the court's action was novel, but +entirely just.</p> + +<p>"Well, all I can say is," remarked the driver, "that if that Injun shows +up for trial, as per his agreement, without havin' to be sent for, it's +goin' to be a hard lesson for the white race to swaller. You can imagine +how much court'd be held if all white suspects was to be let go on their +word that they'd show up for trial. Detectives 'd be chasin' fugitives +all over the universe. If that Injun shows up, I'll carry the hull +reservation anywheres, without tickets, if they'll promise to pay me at +the end of the trip."</p> + +<p>The driver noticed that the quiet lady in the back seat, though taking +no part in the conversation, seemed to be a keenly interested listener. +No part of the discussion of the murder escaped her, but she asked no +questions. On alighting at White Lodge, she asked the driver where she +could get a conveyance to take her to Willis Morgan's ranch.</p> + +<p>The driver looked at her in such astonishment that she repeated her +question.</p> + +<p>"I'd 'a' plum forgot there was such a man in this part of the country," +said Charley, "if it hadn't 'a' been that sometime before this here +murder I carried a young woman—a stepdaughter of his'n—and she asked +me the same question. I don't believe you can hire any one to take you +out there, but I'll bet I can get you took by the same young feller that +took this girl to the ranch. He's the Indian agent, and I seen him in +his car when we turned this last corner."</p> + +<p>Followed by his passenger the driver hurried back to the corner and +hailed Walter Lowell, who was just preparing to return to the agency.</p> + +<p>On having matters explained, Lowell expressed his willingness to carry +the lady passenger over to the ranch. Her suitcase was put in the +automobile, and soon they were on the outskirts of White Lodge.</p> + +<p>"I ought to explain," said the agent's passenger, "that my name is +Scovill—Miss Sarah Scovill—and Mr. Morgan's stepdaughter has been in +my school for years."</p> + +<p>"I know," said Lowell. "I've heard her talk about your school, and I'm +glad you're going out to see her. She needs you."</p> + +<p>Miss Scovill looked quickly at Lowell. She was one of those women whose +beauty is only accentuated by gray hair. Her brow and eyes were +serene—those of a dreamer. Her mouth and chin were delicately modeled, +but firm. Their firmness explained, perhaps, why she was executive head +of a school instead of merely a teacher. Not all her philosophy had been +won from books. She had traveled and observed much of life at first +hand. That was why she could keep her counsel—why she had kept it +during all the talk on the stage, even though that talk had vitally +interested her. She showed the effects of her long, hard trip, but would +not hear of stopping at the agency for supper.</p> + +<p>"If you don't mind—if it is not altogether too much trouble to put you +to—I must go on," she said. "I assure you it's very important, and it +concerns Helen Ervin, and I assume that you are her friend."</p> + +<p>Lowell hastened his pace. It all meant that it would be long past the +supper hour when he returned to the agency, but there was an appeal in +Miss Scovill's eyes and voice which was not to be resisted. Anyway, he +was not going to offer material resistance to something which was +concerned with the well being of Helen Ervin.</p> + +<p>They sped through the agency, past Talpers's store, and climbed the big +hill just as the purples fell into their accustomed places in the +hollows of the plain. As they bowled past the scene of the tragedy, +Lowell pointed it out, with only a brief word. His passenger gave a +little gasp of pain and horror. He thought it was nothing more than +might ordinarily be expected under such circumstances, but, on looking +at Miss Scovill, he was surprised to see her leaning back against the +seat, almost fainting.</p> + +<p>"By George!" said Lowell contritely, "I shouldn't have mentioned it to +you."</p> + +<p>He slowed down the car, but Miss Scovill sat upright and recovered her +mental poise, though with evident effort.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you did mention it," she said, looking back as if fascinated. +"Only, you see, I'd been hearing about the murder most of the day in the +stage, and then this place is so big and wide and lonely! Please don't +think I'm foolish."</p> + +<p>"It's all because you're from the city and haven't proportioned things +as yet," said Lowell. "Now all this loneliness seems kindly, to me. It's +only crowds that seem cruel. I often envy trappers dying alone in such +places. Also I can understand why the Indians wanted nothing better in +death than to have their bodies hoisted high atop of a hill, with +nothing to disturb."</p> + +<p>As they rounded the top of the hill and the road came up behind them +like an inverted curtain, Miss Scovill gave one last backward look. +Lowell saw that she was weeping quietly, but unrestrainedly. He drove on +in silence until he pulled the automobile up in front of the Morgan +ranch.</p> + +<p>"You'll find Miss Ervin here," said Lowell, stepping out of the car. +"This is the Greek Letter Ranch."</p> + +<p>If the prospect brought any new shock to Miss Scovill, she gave no +indication of the fact. She answered Lowell steadily enough when he +asked her when he should call for her on her return trip.</p> + +<p>"My return trip will be right now," she said. "I've thought it all +out—just what I'm to do, with your help. Please don't take my suitcase +from the car. Just turn the car around, and be ready to take us back +to-night—I mean Helen and myself. I intend to bring her right out and +take her away from this place."</p> + +<p>Wonderingly Lowell turned the car as she directed. Miss Scovill knocked +at the ranch-house door. It was opened by Wong, and Miss Scovill stepped +inside. The door closed again. Lowell rolled a cigarette and smoked it, +and then rolled another. He was about to step out of the car and knock +at the ranch-house door when Helen and Miss Scovill came out, each with +an arm about the other's waist.</p> + +<p>Miss Scovill's face looked whiter than ever in the moonlight.</p> + +<p>"Something has happened," she said—"something that makes it impossible +for me to go back—for Helen to go back with me to-night. If you can +come and get me in the morning, I'll go back alone."</p> + +<p>Lowell's amazement knew no bounds. Miss Scovill had made this long +journey from San Francisco to get Helen—evidently to wrest her at once +away from this ranch of mystery—and now she was going back alone, +leaving the girl among the very influences she had intended to combat.</p> + +<p>"Please, Mr. Lowell, do as she says," interposed Helen, whose demeanor +was grave, but whose joy at this meeting with her teacher and foster +mother shone in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes—you'll have our thanks all through your life if you will take +me back to-morrow and say nothing of what you have seen or heard," said +Miss Scovill.</p> + +<p>Lowell handed Miss Scovill's suitcase to the silent Wong, who had +slipped out behind the women.</p> + +<p>"I'm only too glad to be of service to you in any way," he said. "I'll +be here in the morning early enough so you can catch the stage out of +White Lodge."</p> + +<p>Much smoking on the way home did not clear up the mystery for Lowell. +Nor did sitting up and weighing the matter long after his usual bedtime +bring him any nearer to answering the questions: Why did Miss Scovill +come here determined to take Helen Ervin back to San Francisco with her? +Why did Miss Scovill change her mind so completely after arriving at +Morgan's ranch? Also why did said Miss Scovill betray such unusual +agitation on passing the scene of the murder on the Dollar Sign road—a +murder that she had been hearing discussed from all angles during the +day?</p> + +<p>This last question was intensified the next morning, when, with Helen in +the back seat with Miss Scovill, Lowell drove back to White Lodge. When +they passed the scene of the murder, Lowell took pains to notice that +Miss Scovill betrayed no signs of mental strain. Yet only a few hours +before she had been completely unnerved at passing by this same spot.</p> + +<p>The women talked little on the trip to White Lodge. What talk there was +between them was on school matters—mostly reminiscences of Helen's +school-days. Lowell could not help thinking that they feared to talk of +present matters—that something was weighing them down and crushing them +into silence. But they parted calmly enough at White Lodge. After the +stage had gone with Miss Scovill, Helen slipped into the seat beside +Lowell and chatted somewhat as she had done during their first journey +over the road.</p> + +<p>As for Lowell, he dismissed for the moment all thoughts of tragedy and +mystery from his mind, and gave himself up to the enjoyment of the ride. +They stopped at the agency, and Helen called on some of the friends she +had made on her first journey through. Lowell showed her about the +grounds, and she took keen interest in all that had been done to improve +the condition of the Indians.</p> + +<p>"Of course the main object is to induce the Indian to work," said +Lowell. "The agency is simply an experimental plant to show him the +right methods. It was hard for the white man to leave the comfortable +life of the savage and take up work. The trouble is that we're expecting +the Indian to acquire in a generation the very things it took us ages to +accept. That's why I haven't been in too great a hurry to shut down on +dances and religious ceremonies. The Indian has had to assimilate too +much, as it is. It seems to me that if he makes progress slowly that is +about all that can be expected of him."</p> + +<p>"It seems to me that saving the Indian from extermination, as all this +work is helping to do, is among the greatest things in the world," said +Helen. "The sad thing to me is that these people seem so remote from all +help. The world forgets so easily what it can't see."</p> + +<p>"Yes, there are no newspapers out here to get up Christmas charity +drives, and there are few volunteer settlement workers to be called on +for help at any time. And there are no charity balls for the Indian. It +isn't that he wants charity so much as understanding."</p> + +<p>"Understanding often comes quickest through charity," interposed Helen. +"It seems to me that no one could ask a better life-work than to help +these people."</p> + +<p>"There's more to them than the world has been willing to concede," +declared Lowell. "I never have subscribed to Parkman's theory that the +Indian's mind moves in a beaten track and that his soul is dormant. The +more I work among them the more respect I have for their capabilities."</p> + +<p>Further talk of Indian affairs consumed the remainder of the trip. +Lowell was an enthusiast in his work, though he seldom talked of it, +preferring to let results speak for themselves. But he had found a ready +and sympathetic listener. Furthermore, he wished to take the girl's mind +from the matters that evidently were proving such a weight. He succeeded +so well that not until they reached the ranch did her troubled +expression return.</p> + +<p>"Tell me," said Lowell, as he helped her from the automobile, "is he—is +Morgan better, and is he treating you all right?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, to both questions," said she. Then, after a moment's hesitation, +she added: "Come in. Perhaps it will be possible for you to see him."</p> + +<p>Lowell stepped into the room that served as Morgan's study. One wall was +lined with books, Greek predominating. Helen knocked at the door of the +adjoining room, and there came the clear, sharp, cynical voice that had +aroused all the antagonism in Lowell's nature on his first visit.</p> + +<p>"Come in, come in!" called the voice, as cold as ice crystals.</p> + +<p>Helen entered, and closed the door. The voice could be heard, in +different modulations, but always with profound cynicism as its basis.</p> + +<p>Lowell, with a gesture of rage, stepped to the library table. He picked +up a volume of Shakespeare's tragedies, and noticed that all references +to killing and to bloodshed in general had been blotted out. Passage +after passage was blackened with heavy lines in lead pencil. In +astonishment, Lowell picked up another volume and found that the same +thing had been done. Then the door opened and he heard the cutting voice +say:</p> + +<p>"Tell the interesting young agent that I am indisposed. I have never had +a social caller within my doors here, and I do not wish to start now."</p> + +<p>Helen came out and closed the door.</p> + +<p>"You heard?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Lowell. "It's all right. I'm only sorry if my coming has +caused you any additional pain or embarrassment. I won't ask you again +what keeps you in an atmosphere like this, but any time you want to +leave, command me on the instant."</p> + +<p>"Please don't get our talk back where it was before," pleaded Helen, as +they stepped out on the porch and Lowell said good-bye. "I've enjoyed +the ride and the talk to-day because it all took me away from myself and +from this place of horrors. But I can't leave here permanently, no +matter how much I might desire it."</p> + +<p>"It's all going to be just as you say," Lowell replied. "Some day I'll +see through it all, perhaps, but right now I'm not trying very hard, +because some way I feel that you don't want me to."</p> + +<p>She shook hands with him gratefully, and Lowell drove slowly back to the +agency, not forgetting his customary stop at the scene of the murder—a +stop that proved fruitless as usual.</p> + +<p>When he entered the agency office, Lowell was greeted with an excited +hail from Ed Rogers.</p> + +<p>"Here's news!" exclaimed the chief clerk. "Tom Redmond has telephoned +over that Jim McFann has broken jail."</p> + +<p>"How did he get away?"</p> + +<p>"Jim had been hearing all this talk about lynching. It had been coming +to him, bit by bit, in the jail, probably passed on by the other +prisoners, and it got him all worked up. It seems that the jailer's kid, +a boy about sixteen years old, had been in the habit of bringing Jim's +meals. Also the kid had a habit of carrying Dad's keys around, just to +show off. Instead of grabbing his soup, Jim grabbed the kid by the +throat. Then he made the boy unlock the cell door and Jim slipped out, +gagged the kid, and walked out of the jail. He jumped on a cowboy's pony +in front of the jail, and was gone half an hour before the kid, who had +been locked in Jim's cell, managed to attract attention. Tom Redmond +wants you to get out the Indian police, because he's satisfied Jim has +skipped to the reservation and is hiding somewhere in the hills."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + + +<p>"That there girl down at the Greek Letter Ranch is the best-lookin' girl +in these parts. I was goin' to slick up and drop around to see her, but +this here Injun agent got in ahead of me. A man with nothin' but a +cowpony don't stand a show against a feller with an auto when it comes +to callin' on girls these days."</p> + +<p>The nasal, drawling voice of Andy Wolters, cowpuncher for one of the big +leasing outfits on the Indian reservation, came to the ears of Bill +Talpers as the trader sat behind his post-office box screen, scowling +out upon a sunshiny world.</p> + +<p>A chorus of laughter from other cowpunchers greeted the frank +declaration of Mr. Wolters.</p> + +<p>"Agent or no agent, you wouldn't stand a show with that girl," chimed in +one of the punchers. "The squaw professor'd run you through the +barb-wire fence so fast that you'd leave hide and clothes stickin' to +it. Willis Morgan ain't ever had a visitor on his place sence he run the +Greek Letter brand on his first steer."</p> + +<p>"Well, he ain't got any more steers left. That old white horse is all +the stock I see of his—anyways, it's all that's carryin' that pitchfork +brand."</p> + +<p>"You know what they say about how old Morgan got that pitchfork brand, +don't you?—how he was huntin' through the brand book one night, turnin' +the pages over and cussin' because nothin' seemed to suit his fancy, +when all of a sudden there was a bright light and a strong smell of +sulphur, and the devil himself was right there at Morgan's side. 'Use +this for a brand,' says the devil, and there was the mark of his +pitchfork burnt on Morgan's front door, right where you'll see it to-day +if you ever want to go clost enough."</p> + +<p>"Anyway, git that out of your head about Morgan's ranch never havin' any +visitors," said another cowboy. "This here Injun agent's auto runs down +there reg'lar. Must be that he's a kind of a Trilby and has got old +Morgan hypnotized."</p> + +<p>"Aw, you mean a Svengali."</p> + +<p>"I bet you these spurs against a package of smokin' tobacco I know what +I mean," stoutly asserted the cowpuncher whose literary knowledge had +been called in question, and then the talk ran along the familiar +argumentative channels that had no interest for Bill Talpers.</p> + +<p>The trader looked back into the shadowy depths of his store. Besides the +cowboys there were several Indians leaning against the counters or +sitting lazily on boxes and barrels. Shelves and counters were piled +with a colorful miscellany of goods calculated to appeal to primitive +tastes. There were bright blankets and shawls, the latter greedily eyed +by every Indian woman who came into the store. There were farming +implements and boots and groceries and harness. In the corner where Bill +Talpers sat was the most interesting collection of all. This corner was +called the pawnshop. Here Bill paid cash for silver rings and bracelets, +and for turquoise and other semi-precious stones either mounted or in +the rough. Here he dickered for finely beaded moccasins and hat-bands +and other articles for which he found a profitable market in the East. +Here watches were put up for redemption, disappearing after they had +hung their allotted time.</p> + +<p>Traders on the reservation were not permitted to have such corners in +their stores, but Bill, being over the line, drove such bargains as he +pleased and took such security as he wished.</p> + +<p>As Bill looked over his oft-appraised stock, it seemed to have lost much +of its one-time charm. Storekeeping for a bunch of Indians and +cowpunchers was no business for a smart, self-respecting man to be in—a +man who had ambitions to be somebody in a busier world. The thing to do +was to sell out and clear out—after he had married that girl at +Morgan's ranch. He had been too lenient with that girl, anyway. Here he +held the whip-hand over her and had never used it. He had been waiting +from day to day, gloating over his opportunities, and this Indian agent +had been calling on her and maybe was getting her confidence.</p> + +<p>Maybe it had gone so far that the girl had told Lowell about the letter +she had mailed and that Bill had held up. Something akin to a chill +moved along Bill's spinal column at the thought. But of course such a +thing could not be. The girl couldn't afford to talk about anything like +that letter, which was certain to drag her into the murder.</p> + +<p>Bill looked at the letter again and then tucked it back in the safe. +That was the best place to keep it. It might get lost out of his pocket +and then there'd be the very devil to pay. He knew it all by heart, +anyway. It was enough to give him what he wanted—this girl for a wife. +She simply couldn't resist, with that letter held over her by a +determined man like Bill Talpers. After he had married her, he'd sell +out this pile of junk and let somebody else haggle with the Injuns and +cowpunchers. Bill Talpers'd go where he could wear good clothes every +day, and his purty wife'd hold up her head with the best of them! He'd +go over and state his case that very night. He'd lay down the law right, +so this girl at Morgan's 'd know who her next boss was going to be. If +Willis Morgan tried to interfere, Bill Talpers 'd crush him just the way +he'd crushed many a rattler!</p> + +<p>As a preliminary to his courting trip, Bill took a drink from a bottle +that he kept handy in his corner. Then he walked out to his +sleeping-quarters in the rear of the store and "slicked up a bit," +during which process he took several drinks from another bottle which +was stowed conveniently there.</p> + +<p>Leaving his store in charge of his clerk, Bill rode over the Dollar Sign +highway toward Morgan's ranch. The trader was dressed in black. A white +shirt and white collar fairly hurt the eye, being in such sharp contrast +with Bill's dark skin and darker beard. A black hat, wide of brim and +carefully creased, replaced the nondescript felt affair which Bill +usually wore. He donned the best pair of new boots that he could select +from his stock. They hurt his feet so that he swung first one and then +the other from the stirrups to get relief. There was none to tell Bill +that his broad, powerful frame looked better in its everyday +habiliments, and he would not have believed, even if he had been told. +He had created a sensation as he had creaked through the store after his +dressing-up operations had been completed, and he intended to repeat the +thrill when he burst upon the vision of the girl at Morgan's.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Wong had cleared away the supper dishes at the Greek Letter Ranch, and +had silently taken his way to the little bunkhouse which formed his +sleeping-quarters.</p> + +<p>In the library a lamp glowed. A gray-haired man sat at the table, bowed +in thought. A girl, sitting across from him, was writing. Outside was +the silence of the prairie night, broken by an occasional bird call near +by.</p> + +<p>"It is all so lonely here, I wonder how you can stand it," said the man. +There was deep concern in his voice. All sharpness had gone from it.</p> + +<p>"It is all different, of course, from the country in which I have been +living, and it <i>is</i> lonely, but I could get used to it soon if it were +not for this pall—"</p> + +<p>Here the girl rose and went to the open window. She leaned on the sill +and looked out.</p> + +<p>The man's gaze followed her. She was even more attractive than usual, in +a house dress of light color, her arms bare to the elbows, and her pale, +expressive face limned against the black background of the night.</p> + +<p>"I know what you would say," replied the man. "It would be bearable +here—in fact, it might be enjoyable were it not for the black shadow +upon us. Rather it is a shadow which is blood-red instead of black."</p> + +<p>His voice rose, and excitement glowed in his deep-set, clear gray eyes. +His face lost its pallor, and his well-shaped, yet strong hands clutched +nervously at the arms of his chair.</p> + +<p>The girl turned toward him soothingly, when both paused and listened.</p> + +<p>"It is some Indian going by," said the man, as hoof-beats became +distinct.</p> + +<p>"The Indians don't ride this late. Besides, no Indian would stop here."</p> + +<p>The man stepped to an adjoining room. As he disappeared, there came the +sound of footfalls on the porch and Bill Talpers's heavy knock made the +front door panels shake.</p> + +<p>The girl hesitated a moment, and then opened the door. The trader walked +in without invitation, his new boots squeaking noisily. If he had +expected any exhibition of fear on the part of the girl, Talpers was +mistaken. She looked at him calmly, and Bill shifted uneasily from one +foot to another as he took off his hat.</p> + +<p>"I thought I'd drop in for a little social call, seein' as you ain't +called on me sence our talk about that letter," said Bill, seating +himself at the table.</p> + +<p>"It was what I might have expected," replied the girl.</p> + +<p>"That's fine," said Bill amiably. "I'm tickled to know that you expected +me."</p> + +<p>"Yes, knowing what a coward you are, I thought you would come."</p> + +<p>Talpers flushed angrily, and then grinned, until his alkali-cracked lips +glistened in the lamplight.</p> + +<p>"That's the spirit!" he exclaimed. "I never seen a more spunky woman, +and that's the kind I like. But there ain't many humans that can call me +a coward. I guess you don't know how many notches I've got on the handle +of this forty-five, do you?" he asked, touching the gun that swung in a +holster at his hip under his coat. "Well, there's three notches on +there, and that don't count an Injun I got in a fair fight. I don't +count any <i>coups</i> unless they're on white folks."</p> + +<p>"I'm not interested in your record of bloodshed." The girl's voice was +low, but it stung Bill to anger.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you are," he retorted. "You're goin' to be mighty proud of your +husband's record. You'll be glad to be known as the wife of Bill +Talpers, who never backed down from no man. That's what I come over here +for, to have you say that you'll marry me. If you don't say it, I'll +have to give that letter over to the authorities at White Lodge. It sure +would be a reg'lar bombshell in the case right now."</p> + +<p>The trader's squat figure, in his black suit, against the white +background made by the lamp, made the girl think of a huge, grotesque +blot of ink. His broad, hairy hand rested on the table. She noticed the +strong, thick fingers, devoid of flexibility, yet evidently of terrific +strength.</p> + +<p>"Now you and me," went on Talpers, "could get quietly married, and I +could sell this store of mine for a good figger, and I'd be willin' to +move anywheres you want—San Francisco, or Los Angeles, or San Diego, or +anywheres. And I could burn up that letter, and there needn't nobody +know that the wife of Bill Talpers was mixed up in the murder that is +turnin' this here State upside down. Furthermore, jest to show you that +Bill Talpers is a square sort, I won't ever ask you myself jest how deep +and how wide you're in this murder, nor why you wrote that letter, nor +what it was all about. Ain't that fair enough?"</p> + +<p>The girl laughed.</p> + +<p>"It's too fair," she said. "I can't believe you'd hold to such a +bargain."</p> + +<p>"You try me and see," urged Bill. "All you've got to do is to say you'll +marry me."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll never say it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, you will," huskily declared Bill, putting his hat on the table. +"You'll say it right here, to-night. Your stepfather's sick, I hear. If +he was feelin' his best he wouldn't be more'n a feather in my way—not +more'n that Chinaman of yours. I've got to have your word to-night, or, +by cripes, that letter goes to White Lodge!"</p> + +<p>The girl was alarmed. She was colorless as marble, but her eyes were +defiant. Talpers advanced toward her threateningly, and she retreated +toward the door which opened into the other room. Bill swung her aside +and placed himself squarely in front of the door, his arms outspread.</p> + +<p>"No hide and seek goes," he said. "You stay in this room till you give +me the right answer."</p> + +<p>The girl ran toward the door opening into the kitchen. Talpers ran after +her, clumsily but swiftly. The girl saw that she was going to be +overtaken before reaching the door, and dodged to one side. The trader +missed his grasp for her, and pitched forward, the force of his fall +shaking the cabin. He struck his head against a corner of the table, and +lay unconscious, spread out in a broad helplessness that made the girl +think once more of spilled ink.</p> + +<p>The white-haired man stood in the doorway to the other room. He held a +revolver, with which he covered Talpers, but the trader did not move. +The white-haired man deftly removed Talpers's revolver from its holster +and put it on the table. Then he searched the trader's pockets.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad I didn't have to shoot this swine," he said to the girl. +"Another second and it would have been necessary. The letter isn't here, +but you can frighten him with these trinkets—his own revolver and this +watch which evidently he took from the murdered man on the hill. You +know what else of Edward Sargent's belongings were taken."</p> + +<p>The girl nodded.</p> + +<p>"He will recover soon," went on the gray-haired man. "You will be in no +further danger. He will be glad to go when he sees what evidence you +have against him."</p> + +<p>The white-haired man had taken a watch from one of Talpers's pockets. He +put the timepiece on the table beside the trader's revolver. Then the +door to the adjoining room closed again, and the girl was alone with the +trader waiting for him to recover consciousness.</p> + +<p>Soon Bill Talpers sat up. His hand went to his head and came away +covered with blood. The world was rocking, and the girl at the table +looked like half a dozen shapes in one.</p> + +<p>"This is your own revolver pointed at you, Mr. Talpers," she said, "but +this watch on the table, by which you will leave this house in three +minutes, is not yours. It belonged once to Edward B. Sargent, and you +are the man who took it."</p> + +<p>Talpers tried to answer, but could not at once.</p> + +<p>"You not only took this watch," said the girl slowly, "but you took +money from that murdered man."</p> + +<p>"It's all a lie," growled Bill at last.</p> + +<p>"Wait till you hear the details. You took twenty-eight hundred dollars +in large bills, and three hundred dollars in smaller bills."</p> + +<p>Talpers looked at the girl in mingled terror and amazement. Guilt was in +his face, and his fears made him forget his aching head.</p> + +<p>"You kept this money and did not let your half-breed partner in crime +know you had found it," went on the girl. "Also you kept the watch, and, +as it had no mark of identification, you concluded you could safely wear +it."</p> + +<p>Talpers struggled dizzily to his feet.</p> + +<p>"It's all lies," he repeated. "I didn't kill that man."</p> + +<p>"You might find it hard to convince a jury that you did not, with such +evidence against you."</p> + +<p>The trader looked at the watch as if he intended to make a dash to +recover it, but the girl kept him steadily covered with his own +revolver. Muttering curses, and swaying uncertainly on his feet, Talpers +seized his hat and rushed from the house. He could be heard fumbling +with the reins at the gate, and then the sound of hoofs came in +diminuendo as he rode away.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + + +<p>In his capacity of Indian agent Walter Lowell often had occasion to scan +the business deals of his more progressive wards. He was at once banker +and confidant of most of the Indians who were getting ahead in +agriculture and stock-raising. He did not seek such a position, nor did +he discourage it. Though it cost him much extra time and work, he +advised the Indians whenever requested.</p> + +<p>One of the reservation's most prosperous stock-raisers, who had been +given permission to sell off some of his cattle, came to Lowell with a +thousand-dollar bill, asking if it were genuine.</p> + +<p>"It's all right," said Lowell, "but where did you get it?"</p> + +<p>The Indian said he had received it from Bill Talpers in the sale of some +livestock. Lowell handed it back without comment, but soon afterward +found occasion to call on Bill Talpers at the trader's store.</p> + +<p>Bill had been a frequent and impartial visitor to the bottles that were +tucked away at both ends of his store. His hands and voice were shaky. +His hat was perched well forward on his head, covering a patch of +court-plaster which his clerk had put over a scalp wound, following a +painful process of hair-cutting. Bill had just been through the process +of "bouncing" Andy Wolters, who remained outside, expressing wonder and +indignation to all who called.</p> + +<p>"All I did was ask Bill where his favorite gun was gone," quoth Andy in +his nasal voice, as Lowell drove up to the store platform. "I never seen +Bill without that gun before in my life. I jest started to kid him a +little by askin' him who took it away from him, when he fired up and +throwed me out of the store."</p> + +<p>Lowell stepped inside the store.</p> + +<p>"Bill," said Lowell, as the trader rose from his chair behind the screen +of letter-boxes, "I want you to help me out in an important matter."</p> + +<p>Bill's surprise showed in his swollen face.</p> + +<p>"It's this," went on Lowell. "If any of the Indians bring anything here +to pawn outside of the usual run of turquoise jewelry and spurs, I want +you to let me know. Also, if they offer any big bills in payment for +goods—say anything like a thousand-dollar bill—just give me the high +sign, will you? It may afford a clue in this murder case."</p> + +<p>Talpers darted a look of suspicion at the agent. Lowell's face was +serene. He was leaning confidentially across the counter, and his eyes +met Bill's in a look that made the trader turn away.</p> + +<p>"You know," said Lowell, "it's quite possible that money and valuables +were taken from Sargent's body. To be sure, they found his checkbook and +papers, but they wouldn't be of use to anyone else. A man of Sargent's +wealth must have had considerable ready cash with him, and yet none was +found. He would hardly be likely to start out on a long trip across +country without a watch, and yet nothing of the sort was discovered. +That's why I thought that if any Indians came in here with large amounts +of money, or if they tried to pawn valuables which might have belonged +to a man in Sargent's position, you could help clear up matters."</p> + +<p>Hatred and suspicion were mingled in Talpers's look. The trader had +spent most of his hours, since his return from Morgan's ranch, cursing +the folly that had led him into wearing Sargent's watch. And now came +this young Indian agent, with talk about thousand-dollar bills. There +was another mistake Bill had made. He should have taken those bills far +away and had them exchanged for money of smaller denomination. But he +had been hard-pressed for cash, and suspicion seemed to point in such +convincing fashion toward Fire Bear and the other Indians that it did +not seem possible that it could be shifted elsewhere. Yet all his +confidence had been shaken when Helen Ervin had calmly and correctly +recounted to him the exact things that he had taken from that body on +the hill. Probably she had been talking to the agent and had told him +all she knew.</p> + +<p>"I know what you're drivin' at," snarled Bill, his rage getting the +better of his judgment. "You've been talkin' to that girl at Morgan's +ranch, and she's been tellin' you all she thinks she knows. But she'd +better go slow with all her talk about valuables and thousand-dollar +bills. She forgets that she's as deep in this thing as anybody and I've +got the document to prove it."</p> + +<p>The surprise in the Indian agent's face was too genuine to be mistaken. +Talpers realized that he had been betrayed into overshooting his mark. +The agent had been engaged in a little game of bluff, and Talpers had +fallen into his trap.</p> + +<p>"All this is mighty interesting to me, Bill," said Lowell, regaining his +composure. "I just dropped in here, hoping for a little general +cooperation on your part, and here I find that you know a lot more than +anybody imagined."</p> + +<p>"You ain't got anything on me," growled Bill, "and if you go spillin' +any remarks around here, it's your death-warrant sure."</p> + +<p>Lowell did not take his elbow from the counter. His leaning position +brought out the breadth of his shoulders and emphasized the athletic +lines of his figure. He did not seem ruffled at Bill's open threat. He +regarded Talpers with a steady look which increased Bill's rage and +fear.</p> + +<p>"The trouble with you is that you're so dead set on protectin' them +Injuns of yours," said the trader, "that you're around tryin' to throw +suspicion on innocent white folks. The hull county knows that Fire Bear +done that murder, and if you hadn't got him on to the reservation the +jail'd been busted into and he'd been lynched as he ought to have been."</p> + +<p>Bill waited for an answer, but none came. The young agent's steady, +thoughtful scrutiny was not broken.</p> + +<p>"You've coddled them Injuns ever sence you've been on the job," went on +Bill, casting aside discretion, "and now you're encouragin' them in +downright murder. Here this young cuss, Fire Bear, is traipsin' around +as he pleases, on nothin' more than his word that he'll appear for +trial. But when Jim McFann busts out of jail, you rush out the hull +Injun police force to run him down. And now here you are around, off the +reservation, tryin' to saddle suspicion on your betters. It ain't right, +I claim. Self-respectin' white men ought to have more protection around +here."</p> + +<p>Talpers's voice had taken on something of a whine, and Lowell +straightened up in disgust.</p> + +<p>"Bill," he said, "you aren't as much of a man as I gave you credit for +being, and what's more you've been in some crooked game, just as sure as +thousand-dollar bills have four figures on them."</p> + +<p>Paying no attention to the imprecations which Talpers hurled after him, +the agent went back to his automobile and turned toward the agency. He +had intended going on to the Greek Letter Ranch, but Talpers's words had +caused him to make a change in his plans. At the agency he brought out a +saddle horse, and, following a trail across the undulating hills on the +reservation, reached the wagon-road below the ranch, without arousing +Talpers's suspicion.</p> + +<p>As he tied his pony at the gate, Lowell noticed further improvement in +the general appearance of the ranch.</p> + +<p>"Somebody more than Wong has been doing this heavy work," he said to +Helen, who had come out to greet him. "It must be that Morgan—your +stepfather is well enough to help. Anyway, the ranch looks better every +time I come."</p> + +<p>"Yes, he is helping some," said Helen uneasily. "But I'm getting to be a +first-rate ranch-woman. I had no idea it was so much fun running a place +like this."</p> + +<p>"I came over to see if you couldn't take time enough off for a little +horseback ride," said Lowell. "This is a country for the saddle, after +all. I still get more enjoyment from a good horseback ride than from a +dozen automobile trips. I'll saddle up the old white horse while you get +ready."</p> + +<p>Helen ran indoors, and Lowell went to the barn and proceeded to saddle +the white horse that bore the Greek Letter brand. The smiling Wong came +out to cast an approving eye over the work.</p> + +<p>"This old fly-fighter's a pretty good horse for one of his age, isn't +he, Wong?" said Lowell, giving a last shake to the saddle, after the +cinch had been tightened.</p> + +<p>In shattered English Wong went into ecstasies over the white horse. Then +he said, suddenly and mysteriously:</p> + +<p>"You know Talpels?"</p> + +<p>"You mean Bill Talpers?" asked Lowell. "What about him?"</p> + +<p>Once more the dominant tongue of the Occident staggered beneath Wong's +assault, as the cook described, partly in pantomime, the manner of Bill +Talpers's downfall the night before.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to say that Talpers was over here last night and that here +is where he got that scalp-wound?" demanded Lowell.</p> + +<p>Wong grinned assent, and then vanished, after making a sign calling for +secrecy on Lowell's part, as Helen arrived, ready for the ride.</p> + +<p>Lowell was a good horseman, and the saddle had become Helen's chief +means of recreation. In fact riding seemed to bring to her the only +contentment she had known since she had come to the Greek Letter Ranch. +She had overcome her first fear of the Indians. All her rides that were +taken alone were toward the reservation, as she had studiously avoided +going near Talpers's place. Also she did not like to ride past the hill +on the Dollar Sign road, with its hints of unsolved mystery. But she had +quickly grown to love the broad, free Indian reservation, with its +limitless miles of unfenced hills. She liked to turn off the road and +gallop across the trackless ways, sometimes frightening rabbits and +coyotes from the sagebrush. Several times she had startled antelope, and +once her horse had shied at a rattlesnake coiled in the sunshine. The +Indians she had learned to look upon as children. She had visited the +cabins and lodges of some of those who lived near the ranch, and was not +long in winning the esteem of the women who were finding the middle +ground, between the simplicity of savage life and the complexities of +civilization, something too much for mastery.</p> + +<p>Lowell and Helen galloped in silence for miles along the road they had +followed in the automobile not many days before. At the crest of a high +ridge, Helen turned at right angles, and Lowell followed.</p> + +<p>"There's a view over here I had appropriated for myself, but I'm willing +to share it with you, seeing that this is your own particular +reservation and you ought to know about everything it contains," said +Helen.</p> + +<p>The ridge dipped and then rose again, higher than before. The plains +fell away on both sides—infinite miles of undulations. Straight ahead +loomed the high blue wall of the mountains. They walked their horses, +and finally stopped them altogether. The chattering of a few prairie +dogs only served to intensify the great, mysterious silence.</p> + +<p>"Sometimes the stillness seems to roll in on you here like a tide," said +Helen. "I can positively feel it coming up these great slopes and +blanketing everything. It seems to me that this ridge must have been +used by Indian watchers in years gone by. I can imagine a scout standing +here sending up smoke signals. And those little white puffs of clouds up +there are the signals he sent into the sky."</p> + +<p>"I think you belong in this country," Lowell answered smilingly.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure I do. You remember when I first saw these plains and hills I +told you the bigness frightened me a little when the sun brought it all +out in detail. Well, it doesn't any more. Just to be unfettered in mind, +and to live and breathe as part of all this vastness, would be ideal."</p> + +<p>"That's where you're in danger of going to the other extreme," the agent +replied. "You'll remember that I told you human companionship is as +necessary as bacon and flour and salt in this country. You're more +dependent on the people about you here, even if your nearest neighbor is +five or ten miles away, than you would be in any apartment building in a +big city. You might live and die there, and no one would be the wiser. +Also you might get along tolerably well, while living alone. But you +can't do it out here and keep a normal mental grip on life."</p> + +<p>"My, what a lecture!" laughed the girl, though there was no merriment in +her voice. "But it hardly applies to me, for the reason that I always +depend upon my neighbors in the ordinary affairs of life. I'm sure I +love to be sociable to my Indian neighbors, and even to their agent. +Haven't I ridden away out here just to be sociable to you?"</p> + +<p>"No dodging! I promised I wouldn't say anything more about the matters +that have been disturbing you so, but that promise was contingent on +your playing fair with me. I understand Bill Talpers has been causing +you some annoyance, and you haven't said a word to me about it."</p> + +<p>Helen flashed a startled glance at Lowell. He was impassive as her +questioning eyes searched his face. Amazement and concern alternated in +her features. Then she took refuge in a blaze of anger.</p> + +<p>"I don't know how you found out about Talpers!" she cried. "It is true +that he did cause a—a little annoyance, but that is all gone and +forgotten. But I am not going to forget your impertinence quite so +easily."</p> + +<p>"My what?"</p> + +<p>"Your impertinence?"</p> + +<p>The girl was trembling with anger, or apprehension, and tapped her boot +nervously with her quirt as she spoke.</p> + +<p>"You've been lecturing me about various things," she went on, "and now +you bring up Talpers as a sort of bugaboo to frighten me."</p> + +<p>"You don't know Bill Talpers. If he has any sort of hold on you or on +Willis Morgan, he'll try to break you both. He is as innocent of +scruples as a lobo wolf."</p> + +<p>"What hold could he possibly have on me—on us?"</p> + +<p>She looked at Lowell defiantly as she asked the question, but he thought +he detected a note of concern in her voice.</p> + +<p>"I didn't say he had any hold. I merely pointed out that if he were +given any opportunity he'd make life miserable for both of you."</p> + +<p>Lowell did not add that Talpers, in a fit of rage and suspicion, +augmented by strong drink, had hinted that Helen knew something of the +murder. He had been inclined to believe that Talpers had merely been +"fighting wild" when he made the veiled accusation—that the trader, +being very evidently only partly recovered from a bout with his pet +bottles, had made the first counter-assertion that had come into his +head in the hope of provoking Lowell into a quarrel. But there was a +quality of terror in the girl's voice which struck Lowell with chilling +force. Something in his look must have caught Helen's attention, for her +nervousness increased.</p> + +<p>"You have no right to pillory me so," she said rapidly. "You have been +perfectly impossible right along—that is, ever since this crime +happened. You've been spying here and there—"</p> + +<p>"Spying!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, downright spying! You've been putting suspicion where it doesn't +belong. Why, everybody believes the Indians did it—everybody but you. +Probably some Indians did it who never have been suspected and never +will be—not the Indians who are under suspicion now."</p> + +<p>"That's just about what another party was telling me not long ago—that +I was coddling the Indians and trying to fasten suspicion where it +didn't rightfully belong."</p> + +<p>"Who else told you that?"</p> + +<p>"No less a person than Bill Talpers."</p> + +<p>"There you go again, bringing in that cave man. Why do you keep talking +to me about Talpers? I'm not afraid of him."</p> + +<p>Most girls would have been on the verge of hysteria, Lowell thought, +but, while Helen was plainly under a nervous strain, her self-command +returned. The agent was in possession of some information—how much she +did not know. Perhaps she could goad him into betraying the source of +his knowledge.</p> + +<p>"I know you're not afraid of Talpers," remarked Lowell, after a pause, +"but at least give me the privilege of being afraid for you. I know Bill +Talpers better than you do."</p> + +<p>"What right have you to be afraid for me? I'm of age, and besides, I +have a protector—a guardian—at the ranch."</p> + +<p>Lowell was on the point of making some bitter reply about the +undesirability of any guardianship assumed by Willis Morgan, squaw man, +recluse, and recipient of common hatred and contempt. But he kept his +counsel, and remarked, pleasantly:</p> + +<p>"My rights are merely those of a neighbor—the right of one neighbor to +help another."</p> + +<p>"There are no rights of that sort where the other neighbor isn't asking +any help and doesn't desire it."</p> + +<p>"I'm not sure about your not needing it. Anyway, if you don't now, you +may later."</p> + +<p>The girl did not answer. The horses were standing close together, heads +drooping lazily. Warm breezes came fitfully from the winds' playground +below. The handkerchief at the girl's neck fluttered, and a strand of +her hair danced and glistened in the sunshine. The graceful lines of her +figure were brought out by her riding-suit. Lowell put his palm over the +gloved hand on her saddle pommel. Even so slight a touch thrilled him.</p> + +<p>"If a neighbor has no right to give advice," said Lowell, "let us assume +that my unwelcome offerings have come from a man who is deeply in love +with you. It's no great secret, anyway, as it seems to me that even the +meadow-larks have been singing about it ever since we started on this +ride."</p> + +<p>The girl buried her face in her hands. Lowell put his arm about her +waist, and she drooped toward him, but recovered herself with an effort. +Putting his arm away, she said:</p> + +<p>"You make matters harder and harder for me. Please forget what I have +said and what you have said, and don't come to see me any more."</p> + +<p>She spoke with a quiet intensity that amazed Lowell.</p> + +<p>"Not come to see you any more! Why such an extreme sentence?"</p> + +<p>"Because there is an evil spell on the Greek Letter Ranch. Everybody who +comes there is certain to be followed by trouble—deep trouble."</p> + +<p>The girl's agitation increased. There was terror in her face.</p> + +<p>"Look here!" began Lowell. "This thing is beyond all promises of +silence. I—"</p> + +<p>"Don't ask what I mean!" said the girl. "You might find it awkward. You +say you are in love with me?"</p> + +<p>"I repeat it a thousand times."</p> + +<p>"Well, you are the kind of man who will choose honor every time. I +realize that much. Suppose you found that your love for me was bringing +you in direct conflict with your duty?"</p> + +<p>"I know that such a thing is impossible," broke in Lowell.</p> + +<p>Helen smiled, bitterly.</p> + +<p>"It is so far from being impossible that I am asking you to forget what +you have said, and to forget me as well. There is so much of evil on the +Greek Letter Ranch that the very soil there is steeped in it. I am going +away, but I know its spell will follow me."</p> + +<p>"You are going?" queried Lowell. "When?"</p> + +<p>"When these men now charged with the murder are acquitted. They will be +acquitted, will they not?"</p> + +<p>The eager note in her question caught Lowell by surprise.</p> + +<p>"No man can tell," he replied. "It's all as inscrutable as that mountain +wall over there."</p> + +<p>Helen shaded her eyes with her gauntleted hand as she looked in the +direction indicated by Lowell. Black clouds were pouring in masses over +the mountain-range. The sunshine was being blotted out, as if by some +giant hand. The storm-clouds swept toward them as they turned the horses +and started back along the ridge. A huge shadow, which Helen +shudderingly likened to the sprawling figure of Talpers in the +lamplight, raced toward them over the plains.</p> + +<p>"There isn't a storm in all that blackness," Lowell assured her. "It's +all shadow and no substance. Perhaps your fears will turn out that way."</p> + +<p>The girl regarded him gravely.</p> + +<p>"I've tried to hope as much, but it's no use, especially when you've +felt the first actual buffetings of the storm."</p> + +<p>The approaching cloud shadow seemed startlingly solid. The girl urged +her horse into a gallop, and Lowell rode silently at her side. The +shadow overtook them. Angry winds seemed to clutch at them from various +angles, but no rain came from the cloud mass overhead. When they rode +into the ranch yard, the sun was shining again. They dismounted near the +barn, and Wong took the white horse. Lowell and the girl walked through +the yard to the front gate, the agent leading his horse. As they passed +near the porch there came through the open door that same chilling, +sarcastic voice which stirred all the ire in Lowell's nature.</p> + +<p>"Helen," the voice said, "that careless individual, Wong, must be +reprimanded. He has mislaid one of my choicest volumes. Perhaps it would +be better for you to attend to replacing the books on the shelves after +this."</p> + +<p>Every word was intended to humiliate, yet the voice was moderately +pitched. There was even a slight drawl to it.</p> + +<p>Lowell's face betrayed his anger as he glanced at the girl. He made a +gesture of impatience, but Helen motioned to him, in warning.</p> + +<p>"Some day you're going to let me take you away from this," he said +grimly, looking at her with an intensity of devotion which brought the +red to her cheeks. "Meantime, thanks for taking me out on that magic +ridge. I'll never forget it."</p> + +<p>"It will be better for you to forget everything," answered the girl.</p> + +<p>Lowell was about to make a reply, when the voice came once more, cutting +like a whiplash in a renewal of the complaint concerning the lost book. +The girl turned, with a good-bye gesture, and ran indoors. Lowell led +his horse outside the yard and rode toward Talpers's place, determined +to have a few definite words with the trader.</p> + +<p>When Lowell reached Talpers's, the usual knot of Indians was gathered on +the front porch, with the customary collection of cowpunchers and +ranchmen discussing matters inside the store.</p> + +<p>"Bill ain't been here all the afternoon," said Talpers's clerk in answer +to Lowell's question. "He sat around here for a while after you left +this morning, and then he saddled up and took a pack-horse and hit off +toward the reservation, but I don't know where he went or when he'll be +back."</p> + +<p>Lowell rode thoughtfully to the agency, trying in vain to bridge the gap +between Talpers's cryptic utterances bearing on the murder, and the not +less cryptic statements of Helen in the afternoon—an occupation which +kept him unprofitably employed until far into the night.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + + +<p>Bill Talpers's return to sobriety was considerably hastened by alarm +after the trader's words with Lowell. As long as matters were even +between Bill Talpers and the girl, the trader figured that he could at +least afford to let things rest. The letter in his possession was still +a potent weapon. He could at least prevent the girl from telling what +she seemed to know of the trader's connection with the murder. He had +figured that the letter would be the means of bringing him a most +engaging bride. It would have done so if he had not been such a fool as +to drink too much. Talpers usually was a canny drinker, but when a man +goes asking—or, in this case, demanding—a girl's hand in marriage, it +is not to be wondered at if he oversteps the limit a trifle in the +matter of fortifying himself with liquor. But in this case Bill realized +that he had gone beyond all reasonable bounds. That fall had been +disastrous in every way. She was clever and quick, that girl, or she +never would have been able to turn an incident like that to such good +advantage. Most girls would have sniveled in a corner, thought Bill, +until he had regained his senses, but she started right in to look for +that letter. He had been smart enough to leave the letter in the safe at +the store, but she had found plenty in that watch!</p> + +<p>Another thought buzzed disturbingly in Bill's head. How did she know +just how much money had been taken from Sargent's body? Also, how did +she know that the watch was Sargent's, seeing that it had no marks of +identification on it? If there had been so much as a scratch on the +thing, Talpers never would have worn it. She might have been making a +wild guess about the watch, but she certainly was not guessing about the +money. Her certainty in mentioning the amount had given Bill a chill of +terror from which he was slow in recovering. Another thing that was +causing him real agony of spirit was the prominence of Lowell in affairs +at the Greek Letter Ranch. It would be easy enough to hold the girl in +check with that letter. She would never dare tell the authorities how +much she knew about Talpers, as Bill could drag her into the case by +producing his precious documentary evidence. But the agent—how much was +he learning in the course of his persistent searching, and from what +angle was he going to strike? Would the girl provide him with +information which she might not dare give to others? Women were all +weaklings, thought Bill, unable to keep any sort of a secret from a +sympathetic male ear, especially when that ear belonged to as handsome a +young fellow as the Indian agent! Probably she would be telling the +agent everything on his next trip to the ranch. Bill had been watching, +but he had not seen the young upstart from the agency go past, and +neither had Bill's faithful clerk. But the visit might be made any day, +and Talpers's connection with the tragedy on the Dollar Sign road might +at almost any hour be falling into the possession of Lowell, whose +activity in running down bootleggers had long ago earned him Bill's +hatred.</p> + +<p>Something would have to be done, without delay, to get the girl where +she would not be making a confidant of Lowell or any one else. +Scowlingly Bill thought over one plan after another, and rejected each +as impractical. Finally, by a process of elimination, he settled on the +only course that seemed practical. A broad fist, thudding into a +leather-like palm, indicated that the Talpers mind had been made up. +With his dark features expressing grim resolve, Bill threw a burden of +considerable size on his best pack-animal. This operation he conducted +alone in the barn, rejecting his clerk's proffer of assistance. Then he +saddled another horse, and, without telling his clerk anything +concerning his prospective whereabouts or the length of his trip, +started off across the prairie. He often made such excursions, and his +clerk had learned not to ask questions. Diplomacy in such matters was +partly what the clerk was paid for. A good fellow to work for was Bill +Talpers if no one got too curiously inclined. One or two clerks had been +disciplined on account of inquisitiveness, and they would not be as +beautiful after the Talpers methods had been applied, but they had +gained vastly in experience. Some day he would do even more for this +young Indian agent. Bill's cracked lips were stretched in a grin of +satisfaction at the very thought.</p> + +<p>The trader traveled swiftly toward the reservation. He often boasted +that he got every ounce that was available in horseflesh. Traveling with +a pack-horse was little handicap to him. Horses instinctively feared +him. More than one he had driven to death without so much as touching +the straining animal with whip or spur. Nothing gave Bill such acute +satisfaction as the knowledge that he had roused fear in any creature.</p> + +<p>With the sweating pack-animal close at the heels of his saddle pony, +Talpers rode for hours across the plains. Seemingly he paid no attention +to the changes in the landscape, yet his keen eyes, buried deeply +beneath black brows, took in everything. He saw the cloud masses come +tumbling over the mountains, but, like Lowell, he knew that the drought +was not yet to be ended. The country became more broken, and the grade +so pronounced that the horses were compelled to slacken their pace. The +pleasant green hills gave place to imprisoning mesas, with red sides +that looked like battlements. Beyond these lay the foothills—so close +that they covered the final slopes of the mountains.</p> + +<p>It was a lonely country, innocent of fences. The cattle that ran here +were as wild as deer and almost as fleet as antelope. Twice a year the +Indians rounded up their range possessions, but many of these cattle had +escaped the far-flung circles of riders. They had become renegades and +had grown old and clever. At the sight of a human being they would +gallop away in the sage and greasewood.</p> + +<p>Once Talpers saw the gleam of a wagon-top which indicated the presence +of a wolf hunter in the employ of the leasers who were running cattle on +the reservations and who suffered much from the depredations of +predatory animals. By working carefully around a hill, the trader +continued on his way without having been seen.</p> + +<p>Passing the flanking line of mesas, Bill pushed his way up a watercourse +between two foothills. The going became rougher, and all semblance of a +trail was lost, yet the trader went on unhesitatingly. The slopes +leading to the creek became steeper and were covered with pine and +quaking aspen, instead of the bushy growths of the plains. The stream +foamed over rocks, and its noise drowned the sound of the horses' hoofs +as the animals scrambled over the occasional stretches of loose shale. +With the dexterity of the born trailsman, Talpers wormed his way along +the stream when it seemed as if further progress would be impossible. In +a tiny glade, with the mountain walls rising precipitously for hundreds +of feet, Talpers halted and gave three shrill whistles. An answer came +from the other end of the glade, and in a few minutes Talpers was +removing pack and saddle in Jim McFann's camp.</p> + +<p>Since his escape from jail the half-breed had been hiding in this +mountain fastness. Talpers had supplied him with "grub" and weapons. He +had moved camp once in a while for safety's sake, but had felt little +fear of capture. As a trailer McFann had few equals, and he knew every +swale in the prairie and every nook in the mountains on the reservation.</p> + +<p>Talpers brought out a bottle, which McFann seized eagerly.</p> + +<p>"There's plenty more in the pack," said the trader, "so drink all you +want. Don't offer me none, as I am kind o' taperin' off."</p> + +<p>"Did you see any Indian police on the way?" asked the half-breed.</p> + +<p>"No—nothin' but Wolfer Joe's wagon, 'way off in the hills. I guess the +police ain't lookin' for you very hard. That ain't the fault of the +agent, though," added Talpers meaningly. "He's promised he'll have you +back in Tom Redmond's hands in less'n a week."</p> + +<p>The half-breed scowled and muttered an oath as he took another drink. +Talpers had told the lie in order to rouse McFann's antagonism toward +Lowell, and he was pleased to see that his statement had been accepted +at face value.</p> + +<p>"But that ain't the worst for you, nor for me either," went on the +trader. "That girl at the Greek Letter Ranch knows that you and me took +the watch from the man on the Dollar Sign road."</p> + +<p>"How did she know that?" exclaimed McFann in amazement.</p> + +<p>"That's somethin' she won't tell, but she knows that you and me was +there, and that the story you told in court ain't straight. I'm +satisfied she ain't told any one else—not yet."</p> + +<p>"Do you think she will tell any one?"</p> + +<p>"I'm sure of it. You see, she sorter sprung this thing on me when I was +havin' a little argyment about her marryin' me. She got spiteful and +come at me with the statement that the watch I was wearin' belonged to +that feller Sargent."</p> + +<p>Bill did not add anything about the money. It was not going to do to let +the half-breed know he had been defrauded.</p> + +<p>McFann squatted by the fire, the bottle in his hand and his gaze on +Talpers's face.</p> + +<p>"She mentioned both of us bein' there," went on the trader. "She give +the details in a way that I'll admit took me off my feet. It's an +awkward matter—in fact, it's a hangin' matter—for both of us, if she +tells. You know how clost they was to lynchin' you, over there at White +Lodge, with nothin' so very strong against you. If that gang ever hears +about us and this watch of Sargent's, we'll be hung on the same tree."</p> + +<p>Talpers played heavily on the lynching, because he knew the fear of the +mob had become an obsession with McFann. He noticed the half-breed's +growing uneasiness, and played his big card.</p> + +<p>"I spent a long time thinkin' the hull thing over," said Talpers, "and +I've come to the conclusion that this girl is sure to tell the Indian +agent all she knows, and the best thing for us to do is to get her out +of the way before she puts the noose around our necks."</p> + +<p>"Why will she tell the Indian agent?"</p> + +<p>"Because he's callin' pretty steady at the ranch, and he's made her +think he's the only friend she's got around here. And as soon as he +finds out, we might as well pick out our own rope neckties, Jim. It's +goin' to take quick action to save us, but you're the one to do it."</p> + +<p>"What do you want me to do?" asked McFann suspiciously.</p> + +<p>"Well, you're the best trailer and as good a shot as there is in this +part of the country. All that's necessary is for you to drop around the +ranch and—well, sort of make that girl disappear."</p> + +<p>"How do you mean?"</p> + +<p>Talpers rose and came closer to McFann.</p> + +<p>"I mean kill her!" he said with an oath. "Nothin' else is goin' to do. +You can do it without leavin' a track. Willis Morgan or that Chinaman +never'll see you around. Nobody else but the agent ever stops at the +Greek Letter Ranch. It's the only safe way. If she ever tells, Jim, +you'll never come to trial. You'll be swingin' back and forth somewheres +to the music of the prairie breeze. You know the only kind of fruit that +grows on these cotton woods out here."</p> + +<p>Jim McFann had always been pliable in Talpers's hands. Talpers had +profited most by the bootlegging operations carried on by the pair, +though Jim had done most of the dangerous work. Whenever Jim needed +supplies, the trader furnished them. To be sure, he charged them off +heavily, so there was little cash left from the half-breed's bootlegging +operations. Talpers shrewdly figured that the less cash he gave Jim, the +more surely he could keep his hold on the half-breed. McFann had grown +used to his servitude. Talpers appeared to him in the guise of the only +friend he possessed among white and red.</p> + +<p>Jim rose slowly to his moccasined feet.</p> + +<p>"I guess you're right, Bill," he said. "I'll do what you say."</p> + +<p>The trader's eyes glowed with satisfaction. The desire for revenge had +come uppermost in his heart. The girl at the ranch had outwitted him in +some way which he could not understand. Twenty-four hours ago he had +confidently figured on numbering her among the choicest chattels in the +possession of William Talpers. But now he regarded her with a hatred +born of fear. The thought of what she could do to him, merely by +speaking a few careless words about that watch and money, drove all +other thoughts from Talpers's mind. Jim McFann could be made a deadly +and certain instrument for insuring the safety of the Talpers skin. One +shot from the half-breed's rifle, either through a cabin window or from +some sagebrush covert near the ranch, and the trader need have no +further fears about being connected with the Dollar Sign murder.</p> + +<p>"I thought you'd see it in the right light, Jim," approved Talpers. "It +won't be any trick at all to get her. She rides out a good deal on that +white horse."</p> + +<p>Jim McFann did not answer. He had begun preparations for his trip. +Swiftly and silently the half-breed saddled his horse, which had been +hidden in a near-by thicket. From the supply of liquor in Talpers's +pack, Jim took a bottle, which he was thrusting into his saddle pocket +when the trader snatched it away.</p> + +<p>"You've had enough, Jim," growled Talpers. "You do the work that's cut +out for you, and you can have all I've brought to camp. I'll be here +waitin' for you."</p> + +<p>McFann scowled.</p> + +<p>"All right," he said sullenly, "but it seems as if a man ought to have +lots for a job like this."</p> + +<p>"After it's all done," said Talpers soothingly, "you can have all the +booze you want, Jim. And one thing more," called the trader as McFann +rode away, "remember it ain't goin' to hurt either of us if you get a +chance to put the Indian agent away on this same little trip."</p> + +<p>Jim McFann waved an assenting sign as he disappeared in the trees, and +the trader went back to the camp-fire to await the half-breed's return. +He hoped McFann would find the agent at the Greek Letter Ranch and would +kill Lowell as well as the girl. But, if there did not happen to be any +such double stroke of luck in prospect, the removal of the Indian agent +could be attended to later on.</p> + +<p>When he reached the mesas beyond the foothills, the half-breed turned +away from the stream and struck off toward the left. He kept a sharp +lookout for Indian police as he traveled, but saw nothing to cause +apprehension. Night was fast coming on when he reached the ridge on +which Lowell and Helen had stood a few hours before. Avoiding the road, +the half-breed made his way to a gulch near the ranch, where he tied his +horse. Cautiously he approached the ranch-house. The kitchen door was +open and Wong was busy with the dishes. The other doors were shut and +shades were drawn in the windows. Making his way back to the gulch, the +half-breed rolled up in his blanket and slept till daybreak, when he +took up a vantage-point near the house and waited developments. Shortly +after breakfast Wong came out to the barn and saddled the white horse +for Helen. The half-breed noticed with satisfaction that the girl rode +directly toward the reservation instead of following the road that led +to the agency. Hastily securing his horse the half-breed skirted the +ranch and located the girl's trail on the prairie. Instead of following +it he ensconced himself comfortably in some aspens at the bottom of a +draw, confident that the girl would return by the same trail.</p> + +<p>If McFann had continued on Helen's trail he would have followed her to +an Indian ranch not far away. A tattered tepee or two snuggled against a +dilapidated cabin. The owner of the ranch was struggling with +tuberculosis. His wife was trying to run the place and to bring up +several children, whose condition had aroused the mother instinct in +Helen. Though she had found her first efforts regarded with suspicion, +Helen had persisted, until she had won the confidence of mother and +children. Her visits were frequent, and she had helped the family so +materially that she had astonished the field matron, an energetic woman +who covered enormous distances in the saddle in the fulfillment of +duties which would soon wear out a settlement worker.</p> + +<p>The half-breed smoked uneasily, his rifle across his knees. Two hours +passed, but he did not stir, so confident was he that Helen would return +by the way she had followed in departing from the ranch.</p> + +<p>McFann's patience was rewarded, and he tossed away his cigarette with a +sigh of satisfaction when Helen's voice came to him from the top of the +hill. She was singing a nonsense song from the nursery, and, astride +behind her saddle and clinging to her waist, was a wide-eyed Indian girl +of six years, enjoying both the ride and the singing.</p> + +<p>Here was a complication upon which the half-breed had not counted. In +fact, during his hours of waiting Jim had begun to look at matters in a +different light. It was necessary to get Helen away, where she could not +possibly tell what she knew, but why not hide her in the mountains? Or, +if stronger methods were necessary, let Talpers attend to them himself? +For the first time since he had come under Talpers's domination, Jim +McFann was beginning to weaken. As the girl came singing down the +hillside, Jim peered uneasily through the bushes. Talpers had shoved him +into a job that simply could not be carried out—at least not without +whiskey. If Bill had let him bring all he wanted to drink, perhaps +things could have been done as planned.</p> + +<p>Whatever was done would have to be accomplished quickly, as the white +horse, with its double burden, was getting close. Jim sighted once or +twice along his rifle barrel. Then he dropped the weapon into the hollow +of his arm, and, leading his horse, stepped in front of Helen.</p> + +<p>The parley was brief. McFann sent the youngster scurrying along the back +trail, after a few threats in Indian tongue, which were dire enough to +seal the child's lips in fright. Helen was startled at first when the +half-breed halted her, but her composure soon returned. She had no +weapon, nor would she have attempted to use one in any event, as she +knew the half-breed was famous for his quickness and cleverness with +firearms. Nor could anything be gained by attempting to ride him down in +the trail. She did not ask any questions, for she felt they would be +futile.</p> + +<p>The half-breed was surprised at the calmness with which matters were +being taken. With singular ease and grace—another gift from his Indian +forbears—Jim slid into his saddle, and, seizing the white horse by the +bridle, turned the animal around and started it up the trail beside him. +In a few minutes Jim had found his trail of the evening before, and was +working swiftly back toward the mountains. When Helen slyly dropped her +handkerchief, as an aid to any one who might follow, the half-breed +quietly turned back and, after picking it up, informed her that he would +kill her if she tried any more such tricks. Realizing the folly of any +further attempts to outwit the half-breed, Helen rode silently on. Not +once did McFann strike across a ridge. Imprisoning slopes seemed to be +shutting them in without surcease, and Helen looked in vain for any aid.</p> + +<p>As they approached the foothills, and the travel increased in +difficulty, McFann told Helen to ride close behind him. He glanced +around occasionally to see that she was obeying orders. The old white +horse struggled gamely after the half-breed's wiry animal, and McFann +was compelled to wait only once or twice. Meanwhile Helen had thought +over the situation from every possible angle, and had concluded to go +ahead and not make any effort to thwart the half-breed. She knew that +the reservation was more free from crime than the counties surrounding +it. She also knew that it would not be long before the agent was +informed of her disappearance, and that the Indian police—trailers who +were the half-breed's equal in threading the ways of the +wilderness—would soon be on McFann's tracks. After her first shock of +surprise she had little fear of McFann. The thought that disturbed her +most of all was—Talpers. She knew of the strange partnership of the +men. Likewise she felt that McFann would not have embarked upon any such +crime alone. The thought of Talpers recurred so steadily that the lithe +figure of the half-breed in front of her seemed to change into the +broad, almost misshapen form of the trader.</p> + +<p>The first real fear that had come to her since the strange journey began +surged over Helen when McFann led the way into the glade where he had +been camped, and she saw a dreaded and familiar figure stooped over a +small fire, engaged in frying bacon. But there was nothing of triumph in +Talpers's face as he straightened up and saw Helen. Amazement flitted +across the trader's features, succeeded by consternation.</p> + +<p>"Now you've done it and done it right!" exclaimed the trader, with a +shower of oaths directed at Jim McFann. "Didn't have the nerve to shoot +at a purty face like that, did you? Git her into that tent while you and +me set down and figger out what we're goin' to do!"</p> + +<p>The half-breed helped Helen dismount and told her to go to his tent, a +small, pyramid affair at one end of the glade. Jim fastened the flaps on +the outside and went back to the camp-fire, where Talpers was storming +up and down like a madman. Helen, seated on McFann's blanket roll, heard +their voices rising and falling, the half-breed apparently defending +himself and Talpers growing louder and more accusative. Finally, when +the trader's rage seemed to have spent itself somewhat, the tent flaps +were opened and Jim McFann thrust some food into Helen's hands. She ate +the bacon and biscuits, as the long ride had made her hungry. Then +Talpers roughly ordered her out of the tent. He and the half-breed had +been busy packing and saddling. They added the tent and its contents to +their packs. Telling Helen to mount the white horse once more, Talpers +took the lead, and, with the silent and sullen half-breed bringing up +the rear, the party started off along a trail much rougher than the one +that had been followed by McFann and the girl in the morning.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + + +<p>It was fortunate that Helen had accustomed herself to long rides, as +otherwise she could not have undergone the experiences of the next few +hours in the saddle. All semblance of a trail seemed to end a mile or so +beyond the camp. The ride became a succession of scrambles across +treacherous slides of shale, succeeded by plunges into apparently +impenetrable walls of underbrush and low-hanging trees. The general +course of the river was followed. At times they had climbed to such a +height that the stream was merely a white line beneath them, and its +voice could not be heard. Then they would descend and cross and recross +the stream. The wild plunges across the torrent became matters of +torture to Helen. The horses slipped on the boulders. Water dashed over +the girl's knees, and each ford became more difficult, as the stream +became more swollen, owing to the melting of near-by snowbanks. One of +the pack-horses fell and lay helplessly in the stream until it was +fairly dragged to its feet. The men cursed volubly as they worked over +the animal and readjusted the wet pack, which had slipped to one side.</p> + +<p>After an hour or two of travel the half-breed took Talpers's place in +the lead, the trader bringing up the rear behind Helen and the +pack-horses. Two bald mountain-peaks began to loom startlingly near. The +stream ran between the peaks, being fed by the snows on either slope. As +the altitude became more pronounced the horses struggled harder at their +work. The white horse was showing the stamina that was in him. Helen +urged him to his task, knowing the folly of attempting to thwart the +wishes of her captors. They passed a slope where a forest fire had swept +in years gone by. Wild raspberry bushes had grown in profusion among the +black, sentinel-like trunks of dead trees. The bushes tore her +riding-suit and scratched her hands, but she uttered no complaint.</p> + +<p>Under any other circumstances Helen would have found much in the ride to +overcome its discomforts. The majesty of the scenery impressed itself +upon her mind, troubled as she was. Silence wrapped the two great peaks +like a mantle. An eagle swung lazily in midair between the granite +spires. Here was another plane of existence where the machinations of +men seemed to matter little. Almost indifferent to her discomforts Helen +struggled on, mechanically keeping her place in line. The half-breed +looked back occasionally, and even went so far as to take her horse by +the bridle and help the animal up an unusually hard slope.</p> + +<p>When it became apparent that further progress was an impossibility +unless the pack-horses were abandoned, the half-breed turned aside, and, +after a final desperate scramble up the mountain-side, the party entered +a fairly open, level glade. Helen dismounted with the others.</p> + +<p>"We're goin' to camp here for a while," announced Talpers, after a short +whispered conference with the half-breed. "You might as well make +yourself as comfortable as you can, but remember one thing—you'll be +shot if you try to get away or if you make any signals."</p> + +<p>Helen leaned back against a tree-trunk, too weary to make answer, and +Talpers went to the assistance of McFann, who was taking off the packs +and saddles. The horses were staked out near at hand, where they could +get their fill of the luxuriant grass that carpeted the mountain-side +here. McFann brought water from a spring near at hand, and the trader +set out some food from one of the packs, though it was decided not to +build a fire to cook anything. Helen ate biscuits and bacon left from +the previous meal. While she was eating, McFann put up the little tent. +Then, after another conference with Talpers, the half-breed climbed a +rock which jutted out of the shoulder of the mountain not far from them. +His lithe figure was silhouetted against the reddening sky. Helen +wondered, as she looked up at him, if the rock had been used for +sentinel purposes in years gone by. Her reflections were broken in upon +by Talpers.</p> + +<p>"That tent is yours," said the trader, in a low voice. "But before you +turn in I've got a few words to say to you. You haven't seemed to be as +much afraid of me on this trip as you was the other night at your +cabin."</p> + +<p>"There's no reason why I should be," said Helen quietly. "You don't dare +harm me for several reasons."</p> + +<p>"What are they?" sneered Talpers.</p> + +<p>"Well, one reason is—Jim McFann. All I have to do to cause your +partnership to dissolve at once is to tell Jim that you found that money +on the man who was murdered and didn't divide."</p> + +<p>Talpers winced.</p> + +<p>"Furthermore, this business has practically made an outlaw of you. It +all depends on your treatment of me. I'm the collateral that may get you +back into the good graces of society."</p> + +<p>Talpers wiped the sweat beads off his forehead.</p> + +<p>"You don't want to be too sure of yourself," he growled, though with so +much lack of assurance that Helen was secretly delighted. "You want to +remember," went on the trader threateningly, "that any time we want to +put a bullet in you, we can make our getaway easy enough. The only thing +for you to do is to keep quiet and see that you mind orders."</p> + +<p>Talpers ended the interview hastily when McFann came down from the rock. +The men talked together, after shutting Helen in the tent and +reiterating that she would be watched and that the first attempt to +escape would be fatal. Helen flung herself down on the blankets and +watched the fading lights of evening as they were reflected on the +canvas. She could hear the low voices of Talpers and McFann, hardly +distinguishable from the slight noises made by the wind in the trees. +The moon cast the shadows of branches on the canvas, and the noise of +the stream, far below, came fitfully to Helen's ears. She was more at +ease in mind than at any other time since Jim McFann had confronted her +with his rifle over his arm. She felt that Talpers was the moving spirit +in her kidnaping. She did not know how near her knowledge of the +trader's implication in the Dollar Sign tragedy had brought her to +death. Nor did she know that Talpers's rage over Jim McFann's weakening +had been so great that the trader had nearly snatched up his rifle and +shot his partner dead when the half-breed brought Helen into camp.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, when Talpers had realized that Jim McFann had +failed in his mission of assassination, the trader had been consumed +with alternate rage and fear. A kidnaping had been the last thing in the +world in the trader's thoughts. Assassination, with some one else doing +the work, was much the better way. Running off with womenfolk could not +be made a profitable affair, but here was the girl thrown into his hands +by fate. It would not do to let her go. Perhaps a way out of the mess +could be thought over. McFann could be made to bear the brunt in some +way. Meantime the best thing to do was to get as far into the hills as +possible. McFann could outwit the Indian police. He had been doing it +right along. He had fooled them during long months of bootlegging. Since +his escape from jail the police had redoubled their efforts to capture +McFann, but he had gone right on fooling them. If worst came to worst, +McFann and he could make their getaway alone, first putting the girl +where she would never tell what she knew about them. Across the +mountains there was a little colony of law-breakers that had long been +after Talpers as a leader. He had helped them in a good many ways, these +outlaws, particularly in rustling cattle from the reservation herds. It +was Bill Talpers who had evolved the neat little plan of changing the ID +brand of the Interior Department to the "two-pole pumpkin" brand, which +was done merely by extending another semicircle to the left of the "I" +and connecting that letter and the "D" at top and bottom, thus making +two perpendicular lines in a flattened circle.</p> + +<p>The returns from his interest in the gang's rustling operations had been +far more than Bill had ever secured from his store. In fact, +storekeeping was played out. Bill never would have kept it up except for +the opportunity it gave him to find out what was going on. To be sure, +he should have played safe and kept away from such things as that affair +on the Dollar Sign road. But he could have come clear even there if it +had not been for the uncanny knowledge possessed by that girl. The +thought of what would happen if she took a notion to tell McFann how he +had been "double-crossed" by his partner gave Talpers something +approaching a chill. The half-breed was docile enough as long as he +thought he was being fairly dealt with. But once let him find out that +he had been unfairly treated, all the Indian in him would come to the +surface with a rush! Fortunately the girl was proving herself to be +close-mouthed. She had traveled for hours with the half-breed without +telling him of Talpers's perfidy. Now Bill would see to it that she got +no chance to talk with McFann. The half-breed was too tender-hearted +where women were concerned. That much had been proved when he had fallen +down in the matter of the work he had been sent out to do. If she had a +chance the girl might even persuade him to let her escape, which was not +going to do at all. If anybody was to be left holding the sack at the +end of the adventure, it would not be Bill Talpers!</p> + +<p>With various stratagems being brought to mind, only to be rejected one +after another, Talpers watched the tent until midnight, the half-breed +sleeping near at hand. Then Bill turned in while McFann kept watch. As +for Helen, she slept the sleep of exhaustion until wakened by the touch +of daylight on the canvas.</p> + +<p>With senses preternaturally sharpened, as they generally are during +one's first hours in the wilderness, Helen listened. She heard Talpers +stirring about among the horses. It was evident that he was alarmed +about something, as he was pulling the picket-pins and bringing the +animals closer to the center of the glade. McFann had been looking down +the valley from the sentinel rock. She did not hear him come into camp, +as the half-breed always moved silently through underbrush that would +betray the presence of any one less skilled in woodcraft. She heard his +monosyllabic answers to Talpers's questions. Then Bill himself pushed +his way through the underbrush and climbed the rock. When he returned to +the camp he came to the tent.</p> + +<p>"I don't mind tellin' you that Plenty Buffalo is out there on the trail, +with an Injun policeman or two. That young agent don't seem to have had +nerve enough to come along," said Talpers, producing a small rope. "I'll +have to tie your hands awhile, just to make sure you don't try gittin' +away. I'm goin' to tell 'em that at the first sign of rushin' the camp +you're goin' to be shot. What's more I'm goin' to mean what I tell 'em."</p> + +<p>Talpers tied Helen's hands behind her. He left the flaps of the tent +open as he picked up his rifle and returned to McFann, who was sitting +on a log, composedly enough, keeping watch of the other end of the glade +where the trail entered. Helen sank to her knees, with her back to the +rear of the tent, so she could command a better view. The tent had been +staked down securely around the edges, so there was no opportunity for +her to crawl under.</p> + +<p>Apparently the two men in the glade, as Helen saw them through the +inverted V of the open tent flaps, were most peacefully inclined. They +sat smoking and talking, and, from all outward appearances, might have +been two hunters talking over the day's prospects. Suddenly they sprang +to their feet, and, with rifles in readiness, looked toward the trail, +which was hidden from Helen's vision.</p> + +<p>"Don't come any nearer, Plenty Buffalo," called Talpers, in Indian +language. "If you try to rush the camp, the first thing we'll do is to +kill this girl. The only thing for you to do is to go back."</p> + +<p>Then followed a short colloquy, Helen being unable to hear Plenty +Buffalo's voice.</p> + +<p>Evidently he was well down the trail, hidden in the trees, and was +making no further effort to approach. The men sat down again, watching +the trail and evidently figuring out their plan of escape. There was no +means of scaling the mountain wall behind them. Horses could not +possibly climb that steep slope, covered with such a tangle of trees and +undergrowth, but it was possible to proceed farther along the upper edge +of the valley until finally timber-line was reached, after which the +party could drop over the divide into the happy little kingdom just off +the reservation where a capable man with the branding-iron was always +welcome and where the authorities never interfered.</p> + +<p>Helen listened for another call from Plenty Buffalo, but the minutes +dragged past and no summons came. The silence of the forest became +almost unbearable. The men sat uneasily, casting occasional glances back +at the tent, and making sure that Helen was remaining quiet. Finally +Plenty Buffalo called again. There was another brief parley and Talpers +renewed his threats. While the talk was going on, Helen heard a slight +noise behind her. Turning her head, she saw the point of a knife cutting +a long slit in the back of the tent. Then Fire Bear's dark face peered +in through the opening. The Indian's long brown arm reached forth and +the bonds at Helen's wrists were cut. The arm disappeared through the +slit in the canvas, beckoning as it did so. Helen backed slowly toward +the opening that had been made.</p> + +<p>The talk between Plenty Buffalo and Talpers was still going on. Helen +waited until both men had glanced around at her. Then, as they turned +their heads once more toward Plenty Buffalo's hiding-place, she half +leaped, half fell through the opening in the tent. A strong hand kept +her from falling and guided her swiftly through the underbrush back of +the tent. Her face was scratched by the bushes that swung back as the +half-naked Indian glided ahead of her, but, in almost miraculous +fashion, she found a traversable path opened. Torn and bleeding, she +flung herself behind a rock, just as a shout from the camp told that her +disappearance had been discovered. There was a crashing of pursuers +through the underbrush, but a gun roared a warning, almost in Helen's +ear.</p> + +<p>The shot was fired by Lowell, who, hatless and with torn clothing, had +followed Fire Bear within a short distance of the camp. Helen crouched +against the rock, while Lowell stood over her firing into the forest +tangle. Fire Bear stood nonchalantly beside Lowell. Helen noticed, +wonderingly, that there was not a scratch on the Indian's naked +shoulders, yet Lowell's clothes were torn, and blood dripped from his +palms where he had followed Fire Bear along the seemingly impassable way +back of the camp.</p> + +<p>One or two answering shots were fired, but evidently Talpers and his +companion were afraid of an attack by Plenty Buffalo, so no pursuit was +attempted.</p> + +<p>The Indian turned, and, motioning for Lowell and Helen to follow, +disappeared in the undergrowth along the trail which he and the agent +had made while Plenty Buffalo was attracting the attention of Talpers +and the half-breed. Helen tried to rise, but the sudden ending of the +mental strain proved unnerving. She leaned against the rock with her +eyes closed and her body limp. Lowell lifted her to her feet, almost +roughly. For a moment she stood with Lowell's arms about her and his +kisses on her face. Her whiteness alarmed him.</p> + +<p>"Tell me you haven't been harmed," he cried. "If you have—"</p> + +<p>"Just these scratches and a good riding-suit in tatters," she answered, +as she drew away from him with a reassuring smile.</p> + +<p>Lowell's brow cleared, and he laughed gleefully, as he picked up his +rifle.</p> + +<p>"Well, there's just one more hard scramble ahead," he replied, "and +perhaps some more tatters to add to what both of us have. I'd carry you, +but the best I can do is to help you over some of the more difficult +places. Fire Bear has started. Have you strength enough to try to +follow?"</p> + +<p>He led her along the trail taken by Fire Bear—a trail in name only. The +Indian had waited for them a few yards away. How much he had seen and +heard when Lowell held her in his arms Helen could only surmise, but the +thought sent the blood into her cheeks with a rush.</p> + +<p>It was as Lowell had said—another scramble. At times it seemed as if +she could not go on, but always at the right time Lowell gave the +necessary help that enabled her to surmount some seemingly impassable +obstacle. As for Fire Bear, he made his way over huge rocks and along +steep pitches of shale with the ease of a serpent. At last the way +became somewhat less difficult to traverse, and, when they came out on +the trail by the stream, Helen realized that the tax on her physical +resources was ended.</p> + +<p>A short distance down the trail they met Plenty Buffalo with two Indian +policemen. One of the police had been wounded in the arm by a shot from +Talpers. The trader and McFann had hurriedly packed and made their +escape, leaving the white horse, which Plenty Buffalo had brought for +Helen.</p> + +<p>After a hasty examination of the Indian's arm it was decided to hurry +back to the agency for aid.</p> + +<p>"I've sent out a call for more of the Indian police," said Lowell. +"They'll probably be there when we get back to the agency. We just +picked up what help we could find when we got word of your +disappearance."</p> + +<p>When Helen looked around for Fire Bear, the Indian had disappeared.</p> + +<p>"We never could have done anything without Fire Bear," said Lowell, as +he swung into the saddle preparatory to the homeward ride. "He is the +greatest trailer I ever saw. Probably he's gone back to his camp, now +that this interruption in his religious ceremonies is over."</p> + +<p>Plenty Buffalo led the way back to the agency with the wounded +policeman. Lowell had examined the man's injury and was satisfied that +it was only superficial. The policeman himself took matters with true +Indian philosophy, and galloped on with Plenty Buffalo, the most +unconcerned member of the party.</p> + +<p>Lowell rode with Helen, letting the others go on ahead after they had +reached the open country beyond the foothills. He explained the +circumstances of the rescue—how Wong had brought a note signed "Willis +Morgan," telling of Helen's disappearance. At the same time Fire Bear +had come to the agency with the news that one of his young men had seen +McFann and Helen riding toward the mountains. Fire Bear was convinced +that something was wrong and had lost no time in telling Lowell. With +Plenty Buffalo and one or two Indian policemen who happened to be at the +agency, a posse was hurriedly made up. Fire Bear took the trail and +followed it so swiftly and unerringly that the party was almost within +striking distance of the fugitives by night-fall. A conference had been +held, and it was decided to let Plenty Buffalo parley with Talpers and +McFann from the trail, while Fire Bear attempted the seemingly +impossible task of entering the camp from the side toward the mountain.</p> + +<p>Helen was silent during most of the ride to the agency. Lowell ascribed +her silence to a natural reaction from the physical and mental strain of +recent hours. After reaching the agency he saw that the wounded +policeman was properly taken care of. Then Lowell and Helen started for +the Greek Letter Ranch in the agent's car, leaving her horse to be +brought over by one of the agency employees.</p> + +<p>"Do you intend to go back and take up the chase for Talpers and McFann?" +asked Helen.</p> + +<p>"Of course! Just as soon as I can get more of the Indian police +together."</p> + +<p>"But they'll hardly be taken alive, will they?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not."</p> + +<p>"That means that blood will be shed on my account," declared Helen. +"I'll not have it! I don't want those men captured! What if I refuse to +testify against them?"</p> + +<p>Lowell looked at her in amazement. Then it came to him overwhelmingly +that here was the murder mystery stalking between them once more, like a +ghost. He recalled Talpers's broad hint that Helen knew something of the +case, and that if Bill Talpers were dragged into the Dollar Sign affair +the girl at the Greek Letter Ranch would be dragged in also.</p> + +<p>"There is no need of the outside world knowing anything about this," +went on Helen. "The Indian police do not report to any one but you, do +they?"</p> + +<p>"No. Their lips are sealed so far as their official duties are +concerned."</p> + +<p>"Fire Bear will have nothing to say?"</p> + +<p>"He has probably forgotten it by this time in his religious fervor."</p> + +<p>"Then I ask you to let these men go."</p> + +<p>"If you will not appear against them," said Lowell, "I can't see that +anything will be gained by bringing them in. But probably it would be a +good thing to exterminate them on the tenable ground that they are +general menaces to the welfare of society."</p> + +<p>The girl's troubled expression returned.</p> + +<p>"On one condition I will send word to Talpers that he may return," went +on Lowell. "That condition is that you rescind your order excluding me +from the Greek Letter Ranch. If Talpers comes back I've got to be +allowed to drop around to see that you are not spirited away."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + + +<p>Talpers was back in his store in two days. Lowell sent word that the +trader might return. At first Talpers was hesitant and suspicious. There +was a lurking fear in his mind that the agent had some trick in view, +but, as life took its accustomed course, Bill resumed his domineering +attitude about the store. A casual explanation that he had been buying +some cattle was enough to explain his absence.</p> + +<p>Bill's recent experiences had caused him to regard the agent with new +hatred, not unmixed with fear. The obvious thing for Lowell to have done +was to have rushed more men on the trail and captured Talpers and McFann +before they crossed the reservation line. It could have been done, with +Fire Bear doing the trailing. Even the half-breed admitted that much. +But, instead of carrying out such a programme, the agent had sent Fire +Bear and Plenty Buffalo with word that the trader might come back—that +no prosecution was intended.</p> + +<p>Clearly enough such an unusual proceeding indicated that the girl was +still afraid on account of the letter, and had persuaded the agent to +abandon the chase. There was the key to the whole situation—the letter! +Bill determined to guard it more closely than ever. He opened his safe +frequently to see that it was there.</p> + +<p>As a whole, then, things were not breaking so badly, Bill figured. To be +sure, it would have cleared things permanently if Jim McFann had done as +he had been told, instead of weakening in such unexpected and absurd +fashion. Bringing that girl into camp, as Jim had done, had given +Talpers the most unpleasant surprise of his life. He had come out of the +affair luckily. The letter was what had done it all. He would lie low +and keep an eye on affairs from now on. McFann would have no difficulty +in shifting for himself out in the sagebrush, now that he was alone. +Bill would see that he got grub and even a little whiskey occasionally, +but there would be no more assignments for him in which women were +concerned, for the half-breed had too tender a heart for his own good!</p> + +<p>The Indian agent stopped at Bill's store occasionally, on his way to and +from the Greek Letter Ranch. Their conversation ran mostly to trade and +minor affairs of life in general. Even the weather was fallen back upon +in case some one happened to be within earshot, which was usually the +case, as Bill's store was seldom empty. No one who heard them would +suspect that the men were watching, weighing, and fathoming each other +with all the nicety at individual command. Talpers was always wondering +just how much the Indian agent knew, and Lowell was saying to himself:</p> + +<p>"This scoundrel has some knowledge in his possession which vitally +affects the young woman I love. Also he is concerned, perhaps deeply, in +the murder on the Dollar Sign road. Yet he has fortified himself so well +in his villainy that he feels secure."</p> + +<p>For all his increased feeling of security, Talpers was wise enough to +let the bottle alone and also to do no boasting. Likewise he stuck +faithfully to his store—so faithfully that it became a matter of public +comment.</p> + +<p>"If Bill sticks much closer to this store he's goin' to fall into a +decline," said Andy Wolters, who had been restored to favor in the +circle of cowpunchers that lolled about Talpers's place. "He's gettin' a +reg'lar prison pallor now. He used to be hittin' the trail once in a +while, but nowadays he's hangin' around that post-office section as if +he expected a letter notifyin' him that a rich uncle had died."</p> + +<p>"Mebbe he's afraid of travelin' these parts since that feller was killed +on the Dollar Sign," suggested another cowboy. "Doggoned if I don't feel +a little shaky myself sometimes when I'm ridin' that road alone at +night. Looks like some of them Injuns ought to have been hung for that +murder, right off the reel, and then folks'd feel a lot easier in their +minds."</p> + +<p>The talk then would drift invariably to the subject of the murder and +the general folly of the court in allowing Fire Bear to go on the Indian +agent's recognizance. But Talpers, though he heard the chorus of +denunciation from the back of the store, and though he was frequently +called upon for an opinion, never could be drawn into the conversation. +He bullied his clerk as usual, and once in a while swept down, in a +storm of baseless anger, upon some unoffending Indian, just to show that +Bill Talpers was still a man to be feared, but for the most part he +waited silently, with the confidence of a man who holds a winning hand +at cards.</p> + +<p>The same days that saw Talpers's confidence returning were days of +dissatisfaction to Lowell. He felt that he was being constantly +thwarted. He would have preferred to give his entire attention to the +murder mystery, but details of reservation management crowded upon him +in a way that made avoidance impossible. Among his duties Lowell found +that he must act as judge and jury in many cases that came up. There +were domestic difficulties to be straightened out, and thieves and +brawlers to be sentenced. Likewise there was occasional flotsam, cast up +from the human sea outside the reservation, which required attention.</p> + +<p>One of those reminders of the outer world was brought in by an Indian +policeman. The stranger was a rough-looking individual, to all +appearances a harmless tramp, who had been picked up "hoofing it" across +the reservation.</p> + +<p>The Indian policeman explained, through the interpreter, that he had +found the wanderer near a sub-agency, several miles away—that he had +shown a disposition to fight, and had only been cowed by the prompt +presentation of a revolver at his head.</p> + +<p>"Why, you 're no tramp—you're a yeggman," said Lowell to the prisoner, +interrupting voluble protestations of innocence. "You're one of the +gentry that live off small post-offices and banks. I'll bet you've +stolen stamps enough in your career to keep the Post-Office Department +going six months. And you've given heart disease to no end of +stockholders in small banks—prosperous citizens who have had to make +good the losses caused by your safe-breaking operations. Am I bringing +an unjust indictment against you, pardner?"</p> + +<p>A flicker of a smile was discernible somewhere in the tangle of beard +that hid the lineaments of the prisoner's face.</p> + +<p>"If I inventoried the contents of this bundle," continued Lowell, "I'd +find a pretty complete outfit of the tools that keep the safe companies +working overtime on replacements, wouldn't I?"</p> + +<p>The prisoner nodded.</p> + +<p>"There's no use of my dodgin', judge," he said. "The tools are +there—all of 'em. But I'm through with the game. All I want now is +enough of a stake to get me back home to Omaha, where the family is. +That's why I was footin' it acrost this Injun country—takin' a short +cut to a railroad where I wouldn't be watched for."</p> + +<p>"I'll consider your case awhile," remarked Lowell after a moment's +thought. "Perhaps we can speed you on your way to Omaha and the family."</p> + +<p>The prisoner was taken back to the agency jail leaving his bundle on +Lowell's desk. About midnight Lowell took the bundle and, going to the +jail, roused the policeman who was on guard and was admitted to the +prisoner's cell.</p> + +<p>"Look here, Red," said Lowell. "Your name is Red, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Red Egan."</p> + +<p>"Well, Red Egan, did you ever hear of Jimmy Valentine?"</p> + +<p>The prisoner scratched his head while he puffed at a welcome cigarette.</p> + +<p>"No? Well, Red, this Jimmy Valentine was in the business you're +quitting, and he opened a safe in a good cause. I want you to do the +same for me. If you can do a neat job, with no noise, I'll see that you +get across the reservation all right, with stake enough to get you to +Omaha."</p> + +<p>"You're on, judge! I'd crack one more for a good scout like you any +day."</p> + +<p>Three quarters of an hour later Red Egan was working professionally upon +the safe in Bill Talpers's store. The door to Talpers's sleeping-room +was not far away, but it was closed, and the trader was a thorough +sleeper, so the cracksman might have been conducting operations a mile +distant, so far as interruption from Bill was concerned.</p> + +<p>As he worked, Red Egan told whispered stories to a companion—stories +which related to barriers burned, pried, and blown away.</p> + +<p>"I don't mind how close they sleep to their junk," observed Red, as he +rested momentarily from his labors. "Unless a man's got insomnier and +insists on makin' his bed on top of his safe, he ain't got a chance to +make his iron doors stay shut if one of the real good 'uns takes a +notion to make 'em fly apart. There she goes!" he added a moment later, +as the safe door swung open.</p> + +<p>"All right, Red," came the whispered reply, "but remember that I get +whatever money's in sight, just for appearances' sake, though it's +letters and such things I'm really after."</p> + +<p>"It goes as you say, boss, and I hope you get what you want. There goes +that inside door."</p> + +<p>In the light of a flash-lamp Lowell saw a letter and a roll of bills. He +took both, while Red Egan, his work done, packed up the kit of tools.</p> + +<p>Lowell had recognized Helen's handwriting on the envelope, and knew he +had found what he wanted.</p> + +<p>"You've earned that trip to Omaha, Red," said Lowell, after they had +gone back to their horses which had been standing in a cottonwood grove +near by. "When we get back to the agency I'll put you in my car and +drive you far enough by daybreak so that you can catch a train at noon."</p> + +<p>"You're a square guy, judge, but if that's the letter you've been +wantin' to get, why don't you read it? Or maybe you know what's in it +without readin' it."</p> + +<p>"No, I don't know what's in it, and I don't want to read it, Red."</p> + +<p>Red's amazed whistle cut through the night silence.</p> + +<p>"Well, if that ain't the limit! Havin' a safe-crackin' job done for a +letter that you ain't ever seen and don't want to see the inside of!"</p> + +<p>"It's all right, Red. Don't worry about it, because you've earned your +money twice over to-night. Don't look on your last job as a failure, by +any means."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>A few hours later the Indian agent, not looking like a man who had been +up all night, halted his car at Talpers's store, after he had received +an excited hail from Andy Wolters.</p> + +<p>"You're jest in time!" exclaimed Andy. "Bill Talpers's safe has been +cracked and Bill is jest now tryin' to figger the damage. He says he's +lost a roll of money and some other things."</p> + +<p>Lowell found Talpers going excitedly through the contents of his broken +safe. It was not the first time the trader had pawed over the papers. +Nor were the oaths that fell on Lowell's ears the first that the trader +had uttered since the discovery that he had been robbed as he slept.</p> + +<p>It was plain enough that Talpers was suffering from a deeper shock than +could come through any mere loss of money. Not even when Lowell +contrived to drop the roll of bills, where the trader's clerk picked it +up with a whoop of glee, did Talpers's expression change. His oaths were +those of a man distraught, and the contumely he heaped upon Sheriff Tom +Redmond moved that official to a spirited defense.</p> + +<p>"I can't see why you hold me responsible for a safe that you've been +keeping within earshot all these years," retorted Tom, in answer to +Talpers's sneers about the lack of protection afforded the county's +business men. "If you can't hear a yeggman working right next to your +sleeping-quarters, how do you expect me to hear him, 'way over to White +Lodge? I'll leave it to Lowell here if your complaint is reasonable. +I'll do the best I can to get this man, but it looks to me as if he's +made a clean getaway. What sort of papers was it you said you lost, +Bill?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't say."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, I'm asking you. Was they long or short, rolled or flat, or +tied with pink ribbon?"</p> + +<p>"Never mind!" roared Talpers. "You round up this burglar and let me go +through him. I'll get what's mine, all right."</p> + +<p>Redmond made a gesture of despair. A man who had been robbed and had +recovered his money, and was so keen after papers that he wouldn't or +couldn't describe, was past all fooling with. The sheriff rode off, +grumbling, without even questioning Lowell to ascertain if the Indian +police had seen any suspicious characters on the reservation.</p> + +<p>Bill Talpers's mental convolutions following the robbery reminded Lowell +of the writhing of a wounded snake. Bill's fear was that the letter +would be picked up and sent back to the girl at the Greek Letter Ranch. +Suspicion of a plot in the affair did not enter his head. To him it was +just a sinister stroke of misfortune—one of the chance buffets of fate. +One tramp burglar out of the many pursuing that vocation had happened +upon the Talpers establishment at a time when its proprietor was in an +unusually sound sleep. Bill gave himself over to thoughts of the various +forms of punishment he would inflict upon the wandering yeggman in case +a capture were effected—thoughts which came to naught, as Red Egan had +been given so generous a start toward his Omaha goal that he never was +headed.</p> + +<p>As the days went past and the letter was not discovered, Bill began to +gather hope. Perhaps the burglar, thinking the letter of no value, had +destroyed it, in natural disgust at finding that he had dropped the +money which undoubtedly was the real object of his safe-breaking.</p> + +<p>If Talpers had known what had really happened to the letter, all his +self-comfortings would have vanished. Lowell had lost no time in taking +the missive to Helen. He had found affairs at the Greek Letter Ranch +apparently unchanged. Wong was at work in the kitchen. Two Indians, who +had been hired to harvest the hay, which was the only crop on the ranch, +were busy in a near-by field. Helen, looking charming in a house dress +of blue, with white collar and cuffs, was feeding a tame magpie when +Lowell drove into the yard.</p> + +<p>"Moving picture entitled 'The Metamorphosis of Miss Tatters,'" said +Lowell, amusedly surveying her.</p> + +<p>"The scratches still survive, but the riding-suit will take a lot of +mending," said Helen, showing her scratched hands and wrists.</p> + +<p>"Well, if this very becoming costume has a pocket, here's something to +put in it," remarked Lowell, handing her the letter.</p> + +<p>Helen's smile was succeeded by a startled, anxious look, as she glanced +at the envelope and then at Lowell.</p> + +<p>"No need for worry," Lowell assured her. "Nobody has read that letter +since it passed out of the possession of our esteemed postmaster, Bill +Talpers, sometime after one o'clock this morning."</p> + +<p>"But how did he come to give it up?" asked Helen, her voice wavering.</p> + +<p>"He did not do so willingly. It might be said he did not give it up +knowingly. As a matter of fact, our friend Talpers had no idea he had +lost his precious possession until it had been gone several hours."</p> + +<p>"But how—"</p> + +<p>"'How' is a word to be flung at Red Egan, knight of the steel drill and +the nitro bottle and other what-nots of up-to-date burglary," said +Lowell. "Though I saw the thing done, I can't tell you how. I only hope +it clears matters for you."</p> + +<p>"It does in a way. I cannot tell you how grateful I am," said Helen, her +trembling hands tightly clutching the letter.</p> + +<p>"Only in a way? I am sorry it does not do more."</p> + +<p>"But it's a very important way, I assure you!" exclaimed Helen. "It +eliminates this man—this Talpers—as a personal menace. But when you +are so eager to get every thread of evidence, how is it that you can +give this letter to me, unread? You must feel sure it has some bearing +on the awful thing—the tragedy that took place back there on the hill."</p> + +<p>"That is where faith rises superior to a very human desire to look into +the details of mystery," said Lowell. "If I were a real detective, or +spy, as you characterized me, I would have read that letter at the first +opportunity. But I knew that my reading it would cause you grave +personal concern. I have faith in you to the extent that I believe you +would do nothing to bring injustice upon others. Consequently, from now +on I will proceed to forget that this letter ever existed."</p> + +<p>"You may regret that you have acted in this generous manner," said the +girl. "What if you find that all your faith has been misplaced—that I +am not worthy of the trust—"</p> + +<p>"Really, there is nothing to be gained by saying such things," +interposed Lowell. "As I told you, I am forgetting that the letter ever +existed."</p> + +<p>"Do you know," she said, "I wish this letter could have come back to me +from any one but you?"</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because, coming as it has, I am more or less constrained to act as +fairly as you believe I shall act."</p> + +<p>"You might give it back to Talpers and start in on any sort of a deal +you chose."</p> + +<p>"Impossible! For fear Talpers may get it, here is what I shall do to the +letter."</p> + +<p>Here Helen tore it in small pieces and tossed them high in the air, the +breeze carrying them about the yard like snow.</p> + +<p>"In which event," laughed Lowell, "it seems that I win, and my faith in +you is to be justified."</p> + +<p>"I wish I could assure you of as much," answered Helen sadly. "But if it +happens that your trust is not justified, I hope you will not think too +harshly of me."</p> + +<p>"Harshly!" exclaimed Lowell. "Harshly! Why, if you practiced revolver +shooting on me an hour before breakfast every morning, or if you used me +for a doormat here at the Greek Letter Ranch, I couldn't think anything +but lovingly of you."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" cried Helen, clapping her hands over her ears and running up the +porch steps, as Lowell turned to his automobile. "You've almost undone +all the good you've accomplished to-day."</p> + +<p>"Thanks for that word 'almost,'" laughed Lowell.</p> + +<p>"Then I'll make it 'quite,'" flung Helen, but her words were lost in the +shifting of gears as Lowell started back to the agency.</p> + +<p>That night Helen dreamed that Bill Talpers, on hands and knees, was +moving like a misshapen shadow about the yard in the moonlight picking +up the letter which she had torn to pieces.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + + +<p>Sheriff Tom Redmond sat in Lowell's office at the agency, staring grimly +across at the little park, where the down from the cottonwood trees +clung to the grass like snow. The sheriff had just brought himself to a +virtual admission that he had been in the wrong.</p> + +<p>"I was going to say," remarked Tom, "that, in case you catch Jim McFann, +perhaps the best thing would be for you to sort o' close-herd him at the +agency jail here until time for trial."</p> + +<p>Lowell looked at the sheriff inquiringly.</p> + +<p>"I'll admit that I've been sort of clamoring for you to let me bring a +big posse over here and round up McFann in a hurry. Well, I don't +believe that scheme would work."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad we agree on that point."</p> + +<p>"You've been taking the ground that unless we brought a lot of men over, +we couldn't do any better than the Injun police in the matter of +catching this half-breed. Also you've said that if we <i>did</i> bring a +small army of cattlemen, it would only be a lynching party, and Jim +McFann'd never live to reach the jail at White Lodge."</p> + +<p>"I don't think anything could stop a lynching."</p> + +<p>"Well, I believe you're right. The boys have been riding me, stronger +and stronger, to get up a posse and come over here. In fact, they got so +strong that I suspected they had something up their sleeves. When I sort +o' backed up on the proposition, a lot of them began pulling wires at +Washington, so's to make you get orders that'd let us come on the +reservation and get both of these men."</p> + +<p>"I know it," said Lowell, "but they've found they can't make any +headway, even with their own Congressmen, because Judge Garford's stand +is too well known. He's let everybody know that he's against anything +that may bring about a lynching. So far as the Department is concerned, +I've put matters squarely up to it and have been advised to use my own +judgment."</p> + +<p>"Well, I never seen people so wrought up, and I'm free to admit now that +if Jim McFann hadn't broke jail he'd have been lynched on the very day +that he made his getaway. The only question is—do you think you can get +him before the trial, and are you sure the Injun'll come in?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not sure of anything, of course," replied Lowell, "but I've staked +everything on Fire Bear making good his word. If he doesn't, I'm ready +to quit the country. McFann's a different proposition. He has been too +clever for the police, but I have rather hesitated about having Plenty +Buffalo risk the lives of his men, because I have had a feeling that +McFann might be reached in a different way. I'm sure he's been getting +supplies from the man who has been using him in bootlegging operations."</p> + +<p>"You mean Talpers?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. If McFann is mixed up in anything, from bootlegging to bigger +crimes, he is only a tool. He can be a dangerous tool—that's +admitted—but I'd like to gather in the fellow who does the planning."</p> + +<p>"By golly! I wish I had you working with me on this murder case," said +Redmond, in a burst of confidence. "I'll admit I never had anything +stump me the way this case has. I'm bringing up against a blank wall at +every turn."</p> + +<p>"Haven't you found out anything new about Sargent?"</p> + +<p>"Not a thing worth while. He lived alone—had lots of money that he made +by inventing mining machinery."</p> + +<p>"Any relatives?"</p> + +<p>"None that we can find out about."</p> + +<p>"Have you learned anything through his bank?"</p> + +<p>"He had plenty of money on deposit; that's all."</p> + +<p>"Did he have any lawyers?"</p> + +<p>"Not that we've heard from."</p> + +<p>"Does any one know why he came on this trip?"</p> + +<p>"No; but he was in the habit of making long jaunts alone through the +West."</p> + +<p>"What sort of a home did he have?"</p> + +<p>"A big house in the suburbs. Lived there alone with two servants. They +haven't been able to tell a thing about him that's worth a cuss."</p> + +<p>"Would anything about his home indicate what sort of a man he was?"</p> + +<p>"The detectives wrote something about his having a lot of Indian +things—Navajo blankets and such."</p> + +<p>"Indians may have been his hobby. Perhaps he intended to visit this +reservation."</p> + +<p>"If that was so, why should he drive through the agency at night and be +killed going away from the reservation? No, he was going somewhere in a +hurry or he wouldn't have traveled at night."</p> + +<p>"But automobile tourists sometimes travel that way."</p> + +<p>"Not in this part of the country. In the Southwest, perhaps, to avoid +the heat of the day."</p> + +<p>"Well, what do you think about it all, Tom?"</p> + +<p>"That this feller was a pilgrim, going somewhere in a hurry. He was held +up by some of your young bucks who were off the reservation and feeling +a little too full of life for their own good. A touch of bootleg whiskey +might have set them going. Mebbe that's where Jim McFann came in. They +might have killed the man when he resisted. The staking-out was probably +an afterthought—a piece of Injun or half-breed devilment."</p> + +<p>"How about the sawed-off shotgun? I doubt if there's one on the +reservation."</p> + +<p>"Probably that was Sargent's own weapon. He had traveled in the West a +good many years. Mebbe he had used sawed-off shotguns as an express +messenger or something of the sort in early days. It's a fact that there +ain't any handier weapon of <i>dee</i>fense than a sawed-off shotgun, no +matter what kind of a wheeled outfit you're traveling in."</p> + +<p>"It's all reasonable enough, Tom," said Lowell reflectively. "It may +work out just as you have figured, but frankly I don't believe the +Indians and McFann are in it quite as far as you think."</p> + +<p>"Well, if they didn't do it, who could have? You've been over the ground +more than any one else. Have you found anything to hang a whisper of +suspicion on?"</p> + +<p>Lowell shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Nothing to talk about, but there are some things, indefinite enough, +perhaps, that make me hesitate about believing the Indians to be +guilty."</p> + +<p>"How about McFann? He's got the nerve, all right."</p> + +<p>"Yes, McFann would kill if it came to a showdown. There's enough Indian +in him, too, to explain the staking-down."</p> + +<p>"He admits he was on the scene of the murder."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and his admission strengthens me in the belief that he's telling +the truth, or at least that he had no part in the actual killing. If he +were guilty, he'd deny being within miles of the spot."</p> + +<p>"Mebbe you're right," said the sheriff, rising and turning his hat in +his hand and methodically prodding new and geometrically perfect +indentations in its high crown, "but you've got a strong popular opinion +to buck. Most people believe them Injuns and the breed have a guilty +knowledge of the murder."</p> + +<p>"When you get twelve men in the jury box saying the same thing," replied +Lowell, "that's going to settle it. But until then I'm considering the +case open."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Jim McFann's camp was in the loneliest of many lonely draws in the +sage-gray uplands where the foothills and plains meet. It was not a camp +that would appeal to the luxury-loving. In fact, one might almost fall +over it in the brush before knowing that a camp was there. A "tarp" bed +was spread on the hard, sun-cracked soil. A saddle was near by. There +was a frying-pan or two at the edge of a dead fire. A pack-animal and +saddle horse stood disconsolately in the greasewood, getting what +slender grazing was available, but not being allowed to wander far. It +was the camp of one who "traveled light" and was ready to go at an +instant's notice.</p> + +<p>So well hidden was the half-breed that, in spite of explicit directions +that had been given by Bill Talpers, Andy Wolters had a difficult time +in finding the camp. Talpers had sent Andy as his emissary, bearing grub +and tobacco and a bottle of whiskey to the half-breed. Andy had turned +and twisted most of the morning in the monotony of sage. Song had died +upon his lips as the sun had beaten upon him with all its unclouded +vigor.</p> + +<p>Andy did not know it, but for an hour he had been under the scrutiny of +the half-breed, who had been quick to descry the horseman moving through +the brush. McFann had been expecting Talpers, and he was none too +pleased to find that the trader had sent the gossiping cowpuncher in his +stead. Andy, being one of those ingenuous souls who never can catch the +undercurrents of life, rattled on, all unconscious of the effect of +light words, lightly flung.</p> + +<p>"You dig the grub and other stuff out o' that pack," said Andy, "while I +hunt an inch or two of shade and cool my brow. When it comes to makin' a +success of hidin' out in the brush, you can beat one of them renegade +steers that we miss every round-up. I guess you ain't heard about the +robbery that's happened in our metropolis of Talpersville, have you?"</p> + +<p>The half-breed grunted a negative.</p> + +<p>"Of course not, seein' as you ain't gettin' the daily paper out here. +Well, an expert safe-buster rode Bill Talpers's iron treasure-chest to a +frazzle the other night. Took valuable papers that Bill's all fussed up +about, but dropped a wad of bills, big enough to choke one of them +prehistoric bronks that used to romp around in these hills."</p> + +<p>McFann looked up scowlingly from his task of estimating the amount of +grub that had been sent.</p> + +<p>"Seems to me," went on Andy, "that if I got back my money, I wouldn't +give a durn about papers—not unless they was papers that established my +rights as the long-lost heir of some feller with about twenty million +dollars. That roll had a thousand-dollar bill wrapped around the +outside."</p> + +<p>The half-breed straightened up.</p> + +<p>"How do you know there was a thousand-dollar bill in that roll?" he +demanded, with an intensity that surprised the cowboy.</p> + +<p>"Bill told me so himself. He had took a few snifters, and was feelin' +melancholy over them papers, and I tried to cheer him up by tellin' him +jest what I've told you, that as long as I had my roll back, I wouldn't +care about all the hen-tracks that spoiled nice white paper. He chirked +up a bit at that, and got confidential and told me about this +thousand-dollar bill. They say it ain't the only one he had. The story +is that he sprung one on an Injun the other day in payment for a bunch +o' steers. There must be lots more profit in prunes and shawls and the +other things that Bill handles than most people have been thinkin', with +thousand-dollar bills comin' so easy."</p> + +<p>The half-breed was listening intently now. He had ceased his work about +the camp, and was standing, with hands clenched and head thrust forward, +eyeing Andy so narrowly that the cowboy paused in his narrative.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter, Jim?" he asked; "Bill didn't take any of them +thousand-dollar things from you, did he?"</p> + +<p>"Mebbe not, and mebbe so," enigmatically answered the half-breed. "Go on +and tell me the rest."</p> + +<p>When he had completed his story of the robbery at Talpers's store, Andy +tilted his enormous sombrero over his eyes, and, leaning back in the +shade, fell asleep. The half-breed worked silently about the camp, +occasionally going to a near-by knoll and looking about for some sign of +life in the sagebrush. He made some biscuits and coffee and fried some +bacon, after which he touched Andy none too gently with his moccasined +foot and told the cowboy to sit up and eat something.</p> + +<p>After one or two ineffectual efforts to start conversation, the visitor +gave up in disgust. The meal was eaten in silence. Even the obtuse Andy +sensed that something was wrong, and made no effort to rouse the +half-breed, who ate grimly and immediately busied himself with the +dish-washing as soon as the meal was over. Andy soon took his departure, +the half-breed directing him to a route that would lessen the chances of +his discovery by the Indian police.</p> + +<p>After Andy had gone the half-breed turned his attention to the bottle +which had been sent by Talpers. He visited the knoll occasionally, but +nothing alive could be discerned in the great wastes of sage. When the +shadows deepened and the chill of evening came down from the high +altitudes of the near-by peaks, McFann staked out his ponies in better +grazing ground. Then he built a small camp-fire, and, sitting +cross-legged in the light, he smoked and drank, and meditated upon the +perfidy of Bill Talpers.</p> + +<p>McFann was astir at dawn, and there was determination in every move as +he brought in the horses and began to break camp.</p> + +<p>The half-breed owned a ranch which had come down to him from his Indian +mother. Shrewdly suspecting that the police had ceased watching the +ranch, Jim made his way homeward. His place was located in the +bottom-land along a small creek. There was a shack on it, but no attempt +at cultivation. As he looked the place over, Jim's thoughts became more +bitter than ever. If he had farmed this land, the way the agent wanted +him to, he could have been independent by now, but instead of that he +had listened to Talpers's blandishments and now had been thrown down by +his professed friend!</p> + +<p>Jim took off his pack and threw his camping equipment inside the shack. +Then he turned his pack-animal into the wild hay in the pasture he had +fenced off in the creek bottom. He had some other live stock roaming +around in the little valley—enough steers and horses to make a +beginning toward a comfortable independence, if he had only had sense +enough to start in that way. Also there was good soil on the upland. He +could run a ditch from the creek to the nearest mesa, where the land was +red and sandy and would raise anything. The reservation agriculturist +had been along and had shown him just how the trick could be done, but +Bill Talpers's bootlegging schemes looked a lot better then!</p> + +<p>The half-breed slammed his shack door shut and rode away with his greasy +hat-brim pulled well over his eyes. He paid little attention to the +demands he was making on horseflesh, and he rode openly across the +country. If the Indian police saw him, he could outdistance them. The +thing that he had set out to do could be done quickly. After that, +nothing mattered much.</p> + +<p>Skirting the ridge on which Helen and Lowell had stood, Jim made a +détour as he approached the reservation line and avoided the Greek +Letter Ranch. He swung into the road well above the ranch, and, +breasting the hill where the murder had taken place on the Dollar Sign, +he galloped down the slope toward Talpers's store.</p> + +<p>The trader was alone in his store when the half-breed entered. Talpers +had seen McFann coming, some distance down the road. Something in the +half-breed's bearing in the saddle, or perhaps it was some inner stir of +guilty fear, made Talpers half-draw his revolver. Then he thrust it back +into its holster, and, swinging around in his chair, awaited his +partner's arrival. He even attempted a jaunty greeting.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Jim," he called, as the half-breed's lithe figure swung in +through the outer doorway; "ain't you even a little afraid of the Injun +police?"</p> + +<p>McFann did not answer, but flung open the door into Bill's sanctum. It +was no unusual thing for the men to confer there, and two or three +Indians on the front porch did not even turn their heads to see what was +going on inside. Talpers's clerk was out and Andy Wolters had just +departed, after reporting to the trader that the half-breed had seemed +"plumb uneasy out there in the brush." Andy had not told Bill the cause +of McFann's uneasiness, but on that point the trader was soon to be +enlightened.</p> + +<p>"Bill," said the half-breed purringly, "I hear you've been having your +safe cracked."</p> + +<p>Something in the half-breed's voice made the trader wish he had not +shoved back that revolver. It would not do to reach for it now. McFann's +hands were empty, but he was lightning in getting them to his guns.</p> + +<p>The trader's lips seemed more than usually dry and cracked. His voice +wheezed at the first word, as he answered.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Jim, I was robbed," he said. Then he added, propitiatingly: "But +I've got a new safe. Ain't she a beauty?"</p> + +<p>"She sure is," replied McFann, though he did not take his eyes off +Talpers. "Got your name on, and everything. Let's open her up, and see +what a real safe looks like inside."</p> + +<p>Talpers turned without question and began fumbling at the combination. +His hands trembled, and once he dropped them at his side. As he did so +McFann's hands moved almost imperceptibly. Their movement was toward the +half-breed's hips, and Talpers brought his own hands quickly back to the +combination. The tumblers fell, and the trader swung the door open.</p> + +<p>"Purtier 'n a new pair of boots," approved the half-breed, as a brave +array of books and inner drawers came in view. "Now them inside boxes. +The one with the thousand-dollar bill in it."</p> + +<p>"Why, what's gittin' into you, Jim?" almost whined Talpers. "You know I +ain't got any thousand-dollar bill."</p> + +<p>"Don't lie to me," snapped the half-breed, a harsh note coming into his +voice. "You've made your talk about a thousand-dollar bill. I want to +see it—that's all."</p> + +<p>Slowly Talpers unlocked the inner strong box and took therefrom a roll +of money.</p> + +<p>"There it is," he said, handing it to McFann. A thousand-dollar bill was +on the outside of the roll.</p> + +<p>"I ain't going to ask where you got that," said McFann steadily, +"because you'd lie to me. But I know. You took it from that man on the +hill. You told me you'd jest found him there when I come on you prowling +around his body. You said you didn't take anything from him, and I was +fool enough to believe you. But you didn't get these thousand-dollar +bills anywhere else. You double-crossed me, and if things got too warm +for you, you was going to saw everything off on me. Easy enough when I +was hiding out there in the sagebrush, living on what you wanted to send +out to me. I've done all this bootlegging work for you, and I covered up +for you in court, about this murder, all because I thought you was on +the square. And all the time you had took your pickings from this man on +the hill and had fooled me into thinking you didn't find a thing on him. +Here's the money, Bill. I wouldn't take it away from you. Lock it in +your safe again—if you can!"</p> + +<p>The half-breed flung the roll of bills in Talpers's face. The trader, +made desperate by fear, flung himself toward McFann. If he could pinion +the half-breed's arms to his side, there could be but one outcome to the +struggle that had been launched. The trader's great weight and +grizzly-like strength would be too much for the wiry half-breed to +overcome. But McFann slipped easily away from Talpers's clutching hands. +The trader brought up against the mailing desk with a crash that shook +the entire building. The heat of combat warmed his chilled veins. +Courage returned to him with a rush. He roared oaths as he righted +himself and dragged his revolver from the holster on his hip.</p> + +<p>Before the trader's gun could be brought to a shooting level, paralysis +seemed to seize his arm. Fire seared his side and unbearable pain +radiated therefrom. Only the fighting man's instinct kept him on his +feet. His knees sagged and his arm drooped slowly, despite his desperate +endeavors to raise that blue-steel weapon to its target. He saw the +half-breed, smiling and defiant, not three paces away, but seemingly in +another world. There was a revolver in McFann's hand, and faint tendrils +of smoke came from the weapon.</p> + +<p>Grimly setting his jaws and with his lips parted in a mirthless grin, +Talpers crossed his left hand to his right. With both hands he tried to +raise the revolver, but it only sank lower. His knees gave way and he +slid to the floor, his back to his new safe and his swarthy skin showing +a pale yellow behind his sparse, curling black beard.</p> + +<p>"Put the money away, Bill, put it away, quick," said McFann's mocking +voice. "There it is, under your knee. You sold out your pardner for +it—now hide it in your new safe!"</p> + +<p>Talpers's cracked lips formed no reply, but his little black eyes glowed +balefully behind their dark, lowering brows.</p> + +<p>"You're good at shooting down harmless Indians, Bill," jeered McFann, +"but you're too slow in a real fight. Any word you want to send to the +Indian agent? I'm going to tell him I believe you did the murder on the +Dollar Sign road."</p> + +<p>A last flare of rage caused Talpers to straighten up. Then the paralysis +came again, stronger than before. The revolver slipped from the trader's +grasp, and his head sank forward until his chin rested on his broad +chest.</p> + +<p>McFann looked contemptuously at the great figure, helpless in death. +Then he lighted a cigarette, and, laughing at the terror of the Indians, +who had been peeping in the window at the last of the tragedy, the +half-breed walked out of the store, and, mounting his horse, rode to the +agency and gave himself up to Lowell.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + + +<p>Lowell consulted with Judge Garford and Sheriff Tom Redmond, and it was +decided to keep Jim McFann in jail at the agency until time for his +trial for complicity in the first murder on the Dollar Sign road.</p> + +<p>Sheriff Redmond admitted that, owing to the uncertainty of public +sentiment, he could not guarantee the half-breed's safety if McFann were +lodged in the county jail. Consequently the slayer of Bill Talpers +remained in jail at the agency, under a strong guard of Indian police, +supplemented by trustworthy deputies sent over by Redmond.</p> + +<p>The killing of Talpers was the excuse for another series of attacks on +Lowell by the White Lodge paper. Said the editor:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The murder of our esteemed neighbor, William Talpers, by James +McFann, a half-breed, is another evidence of the necessity of +opening the reservation to white settlement.</p> + +<p>This second murder on the Dollar Sign road is not a mystery. Its +perpetrator was seen at this bloody work. Furthermore, he is +understood to have coolly confessed his crime. But, like the first +murder, which is still shrouded in mystery, this was a crime which +found its inception on the Indian reservation. Are white residents +adjacent to the reservation to have their lives snuffed out at the +pleasure of Government wards and reservation offscourings in +general? Has not the time come when the broad acres of the Indian +reservation, which the redskins are doing little with, should be +thrown open to the plough of the white man?</p></div> + +<p>"'Plough of the white man' is good," cynically observed Ed Rogers, after +calling Lowell's attention to the article. "If those cattlemen ever get +the reservation opened, they'll keep the nesters out for the next forty +years, if they have to kill a homesteader for every hundred and sixty +acres. So far as Bill Talpers's killing is concerned, I can't see but +what it is looked upon as a good thing for the peace of the community."</p> + +<p>It seemed to be a fact that Jim McFann's act had appealed irresistibly +to a large element. Youthful cowpunchers rode for miles and waited about +the agency for a glimpse of the gun-fighter who had slain the +redoubtable Bill Talpers in such a manner. None of them could get near +the jail, but they stood in picturesque groups about the agency, +listening to the talk of Andy Wolters and others who had been on more or +less intimate terms with the principals in the affair.</p> + +<p>"And there was me a-snoozin' in that breed's camp the very day before he +done this shootin'," said Andy to an appreciative circle. "He must have +had this thing stewin' in his head at the time. It's a wonder he didn't +throw down on me, jest for a little target practice. But I guess he +figgered he didn't need no practice to get Bill Talpers, and judgin' +from the way things worked out, his figgerin' was right. Some artist +with the little smoke machine, that boy, 'cause Bill Talpers wasn't no +slouch at shootin'! I remember seein' Bill shoot the head off a +rattlesnake at the side of the road, jest casual-like, and when it come +to producin' the hardware he was some quick for a big man. He more than +met his match this time, old Bill did. And, by gosh! you can bet that +nobody after this ever sends me out to any dry camps in the brush to +take supplies to any gunman who may be hid out there. Next time I might +snooze and never wake up."</p> + +<p>All was not adulation for Jim McFann. Because of the Indian strain in +his blood a minor undercurrent of prejudice had set in against him, more +particularly among the white settlers and the cattlemen who were casting +covetous eyes on reservation lands. While McFann was not strictly a ward +of the Government, he had land on the reservation. His lot was cast with +the Indians, chiefly because he found few white men who would associate +with him on account of his Indian blood. Talpers was not loved, but the +killing of any white man by some one of Indian ancestry was something to +fan resentment without regard to facts. Bets were made that McFann would +not live to be tried on the second homicide charge against him, many +holding the opinion that he would be hanged, with Fire Bear, for the +first murder. Also wagers were freely made that Fire Bear would not be +produced in court by the Indian agent, and that it would be necessary to +send a force of officers to get the accused Indian.</p> + +<p>Lowell apparently paid no attention to the rumors that were flying +about. A mass of reservation detail had accumulated, and he worked hard +to get it out of the way before the trial. He had made changes in the +boarding-school system, and had established an experimental farm at the +agency. He had supervised the purchase of livestock for the improvement +of the tribal flocks and herds. In addition there had been the personal +demands that shower incessantly upon every Indian agent who is +interested in his work.</p> + +<p>Reports from the reservation agriculturists, whose work was to help the +Indians along farming lines, were not encouraging. Drought was +continuing without abatement.</p> + +<p>"The last rain fell the day before the murder on the Dollar Sign road," +said Rogers. "Remember how we splashed through mud the day we ran out +there and found that man staked down on the prairie?"</p> + +<p>"And now the Indians are saying that the continued drought is due to +Fire Bear's medicine," observed Lowell. "Even some of the more +conservative Indians believe there is no use trying to raise crops until +the charge against Fire Bear is dismissed and the evil spell is lifted."</p> + +<p>In spite of the details of reservation management that crowded upon him, +Lowell found time for occasional visits to the Greek Letter Ranch to see +Helen Ervin. He told her the details of the Talpers shooting, so far as +he knew them.</p> + +<p>"There isn't much that I can tell about the cause of the shooting," said +Lowell, in answer to one of her questions. "I could have had all the +details, but I cautioned Jim McFann to say nothing in advance of his +trial. But from what I have gathered here and there, Jim and Talpers +fell out over money matters. A thousand-dollar bill was found on the +floor under Talpers's body. It had evidently been taken from the safe, +and might have been what they fought over."</p> + +<p>Helen nodded in comprehension of the whole affair, though she did not +tell Lowell that he had made it clear to her. She guessed that in some +way Jim McFann had come into possession of the facts of his partner's +perfidy. She wondered how the half-breed had found out that Talpers had +taken money from the murdered man and had not divided. She had held that +knowledge over Talpers's head as a club. She could see that he feared +McFann, and she wondered if, in his last moments, Talpers had wrongfully +blamed her for giving the half-breed the information which turned him +into a slayer.</p> + +<p>"Anyway, it doesn't make much difference what the fight was over," +declared Lowell. "Talpers had been playing a double game for a long +time. He tried just once too often to cheat his partner—something +dangerous when that partner is a fiery-tempered half-breed."</p> + +<p>"Is this shooting of Talpers going to have any effect on McFann's trial +for the other murder?" asked Helen.</p> + +<p>"It may inflame popular sentiment against both men still +further—something that never seems to be difficult where Indians are +concerned."</p> + +<p>Lowell tried in vain to lead the talk away from the trial.</p> + +<p>"Look here," he exclaimed finally, "you're worrying yourself +unnecessarily over this! I don't believe you're getting much of any +sleep, and I'll bet Wong will testify that you are eating very little. +You mustn't let matters weigh on your mind so. Talpers is gone, and you +have the letter that was in his safe and that he used as a means of +worrying you. Your stepfather is getting better right along—so much so +that you can leave here at any time. Pretty soon you'll have this place +of tragedy off your mind and you'll forget all about the Indian +reservation and everything it contains. But until that time comes, I +prescribe an automobile ride for you every day. Some of the roads around +here will make it certain that you will be well shaken before the +prescription is taken."</p> + +<p>Lowell regretted his light words as soon as he had uttered them.</p> + +<p>"This trial is my whole life," declared the girl solemnly. "If those men +are convicted, there can never be another day of happiness for me!"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>On the morning set for the opening of the trial, Lowell left his +automobile in front of his residence while he ate breakfast. To all +appearances there was nothing unusual about this breakfast. It was +served at the customary time and in the customary way. Apparently the +young Indian agent was interested only in the meal and in some letters +which had been sent over from the office, but finally he looked up and +smiled at the uneasiness of his housekeeper, who had cast frequent +glances out of the window.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Mrs. Ruel?" asked Lowell.</p> + +<p>"The Indian—Fire Bear. Has he come?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's what's worrying you, is it? Well, don't let it do so any +more. He will be here all right."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ruel looked doubtful as she trotted to the kitchen. Returning, she +stood in the window, a steaming coffee-pot in her hands.</p> + +<p>"Tell me what you see, Sister Annie," said Lowell smilingly.</p> + +<p>"Nawthin' but the kids assemblin' for school. There's old Pete, the +blacksmith, purtendin' to be lookin' your machine over, when he's just +come to rubber the way I am, f'r that red divvle. They're afraid, most +of the agency folks, that Fire Bear won't show up. I wouldn't take an +Injun's word f'r annythin' myself—me that lost an uncle in the +Fetterman massacree. You're too good to 'em, Mister Lowell. You should +have yanked this Fire Bear here in handcuffs—him and McFann together."</p> + +<p>"Your coffee is fine—and I'll be obliged if you'll pour me some—but +your philosophy is that of the dark ages, Mrs. Ruel. Thanks. Now tell me +what traveler approaches on the king's highway."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ruel trotted to the window, with the coffee-pot still in her hands.</p> + +<p>"It's some one of them educated loafers that's always hangin' around the +trader's store. I c'n tell by the hang of the mail-order suit. No, it +ain't! He's climbin' off his pony, and now he's jumped into the back of +your automobile, and is settin' there, bold as brass, smokin' a +cigarette. It's Fire Bear himself!"</p> + +<p>"I thought so," observed Lowell. "Now another cup of coffee, please, and +a little more of that toast, and we'll be off to the trial."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ruel returned to the kitchen, declaring that it really didn't prove +anything in general, because no other agent could make them redskins do +the things that Mister Lowell hypnotized 'em into doin'.</p> + +<p>Lowell finished his breakfast and climbed into his automobile, after a +few words with Fire Bear. The young Indian had started the day before +from his camp in the rocks. He had traveled alone, and had not rested +until he reached the agency. Lowell knew there would be much dancing in +the Indian camp until the trial was over.</p> + +<p>Driving to the agency jail, Lowell had McFann brought out. The +half-breed, unmanacled and without a guard, sat beside Fire Bear in the +back seat. Lowell decided to take no policemen from the reservation. He +was certain that Fire Bear and McFann would not try to escape from him. +The presence of Indian policemen might serve only to fan the very +uncertain public sentiment into disastrous flames.</p> + +<p>White Lodge was crowded with cattlemen and homesteaders and their +families, who had come to attend the trial. A public holiday was made of +the occasion, and White Lodge had not seen such a crowd since the annual +bronco-busting carnival.</p> + +<p>As he drove through the streets, Lowell was conscious of a change in +public feeling. The prisoners in the automobile were eyed curiously, but +without hatred. In fact, Jim McFann's killing of Talpers, which had been +given all sorts of dramatic renditions at camp-fires and firesides, had +raised that worthy to the rank of hero in the eyes of the majority. Also +the coming of Fire Bear, as he had promised, sent up the Indian's stock. +As Lowell took his men to the court-room he saw bets paid over by men +who had wagered that Fire Bear would not keep his word and that he would +have to be brought to the court-room by force.</p> + +<p>The court-house yard could not hold the overflow of spectators from the +court-room. The crowd was orderly, though there was a tremendous craning +of necks when the prisoners were brought in, to see the man who had +killed so redoubtable a gunman as Bill Talpers. Getting a jury was +merely a matter of form, as no challenges were made. The trial opened +with Fire Bear on the stand.</p> + +<p>The young Indian added nothing to the testimony he had given at his +preliminary hearing. He told, briefly, how he and his followers had +found the body beside the Dollar Sign road. The prosecuting attorney was +quick to sense a difference in the way the Indian's story was received. +When he had first told it, disbelief was evident. Today it seemed to be +impressing crowd and jury as the truth.</p> + +<p>The same sentiment seemed to be even more pronounced when Jim McFann +took the stand, after Fire Bear's brief testimony was concluded without +cross-examination. Audience and jury sat erect. Word was passed out to +the crowd that the half-breed was testifying. In the court-room there +was such a stir that the bailiff was forced to rap for order.</p> + +<p>The prosecuting attorney, seeing the case slipping away from him, was +moved to frantic denunciations. He challenged McFann's every statement.</p> + +<p>"You claim that you had lost your lariat and were looking for it. Also +that you came upon this dead body, with your rope used to fasten the +murdered man to stakes that had been driven into the prairie?" sneered +the attorney.</p> + +<p>"Yes;" said McFann.</p> + +<p>"And you claim that you were frightened away by the arrival of Fire Bear +and his Indians before you had a chance to remove the rope?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; but I want to add something to that statement," said the +half-breed.</p> + +<p>"All right—what is it?"</p> + +<p>"There was another man by the body when I came there looking for my +rope."</p> + +<p>"Who was that man?"</p> + +<p>"Talpers."</p> + +<p>A thrill ran through the court-room as the half-breed went on and +described how he had found the trader stooping over the murdered man, +and how Talpers had shown him a watch which he had taken from the +victim, but claimed that was all the valuables that had been found. Also +he described how Talpers had prevailed upon him to keep the trader's +presence a secret, which McFann had done in his previous testimony.</p> + +<p>"Why do you come in with this story, at this late day?" asked the +attorney.</p> + +<p>"Because Talpers was lying to me all the time. He had taken money from +that man—some of it in thousand-dollar bills. I did not care for the +money. It was just that this man had lied to me, after I had done all +his bootlegging work. He was playing safe at my expense. If it had been +found that the dead man was robbed, he was ready to lay the blame on me. +When I heard of the money he had hidden, I knew the game he had played. +I walked in on him, and made him take the dead man's money from his +safe. I threw the money in his face and dared him to fight. When he +tried to shoot me, I killed him. It was better that he should die. I +don't care what you do with me, but how are you going to hang Fire Bear +or hang me for being near that body, <i>when Bill Talpers was there +first</i>?"</p> + +<p>Jim McFann's testimony remained unshaken. Cast doubt upon it as he +would, the prosecuting attorney saw that the half-breed's new testimony +had given an entirely new direction to the trial. He ceased trying to +stem the tide and let the case go to the jury.</p> + +<p>The crowd filed out, but waited around the court-house for the verdict. +The irrepressible cowpunchers, who had a habit of laying wagers on +anything and everything, made bets as to the number of minutes the jury +would be out.</p> + +<p>"Whichever way it goes, it'll be over in a hurry," said Tom Redmond to +Lowell, "but hanged if I don't believe your men are as good as free this +minute. Talpers's friends have been trying to stir up a lot of sentiment +against Jim McFann, but it has worked the other way. The hull county +seems to think right now that McFann done the right sort of a job, and +that Talpers was not only a bootlegger, but was not above murder, and +was the man who committed that crime on the Dollar Sign road. Of course, +if Talpers done it, Fire Bear couldn't have. Furthermore, this young +Injun has made an awful hit by givin' himself up for trial the way he +has. To tell you the truth, I didn't think he'd show up."</p> + +<p>Lowell escaped as soon as he could from the excited sheriff and sought +Helen Ervin, whom he had seen in the court-room.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry I couldn't come to get you, on account of having to bring in +the prisoners," said Lowell, "but I imagine this is the last ride to +White Lodge you will have to take. The jury is going to decide +quickly—or such is the general feeling."</p> + +<p>Lowell had hardly spoken when a shout from the crowd on the court-house +steps announced to the others that the jury had come in.</p> + +<p>Lowell and Helen found places in the court-room. Judge Garford had not +left his chambers. As soon as the crowd had settled down, the foreman +announced the verdict.</p> + +<p>"Not guilty!" was the word that was passed to those outside the +building. There was a slight ripple of applause in the court-room which +the bailiff's gavel checked. Lowell could not help but smile bitterly as +he thought of the different sentiment at the close of the preliminary +hearing, such a short time before. He wondered if the same thought had +come to Judge Garford. But if the aged jurist had made any comparisons, +they were not reflected in his benign features. A lifetime among scenes +of turbulence, and watching justice gain steady ascendancy over frontier +lawlessness, had made the judge indifferent to the manifestations of the +moment.</p> + +<p>"It's just as though we were a lot of jumping-jacks," thought Lowell, +"and while we're doing all sorts of crazy things, the judge is looking +far back behind the scenes studying the forces that are making us go. +And he must be satisfied with what he sees or our illogical actions +wouldn't worry him so little."</p> + +<p>Fire Bear and McFann took the verdict with customary calm. The Indian +was released from custody and took his place in Lowell's automobile. The +half-breed was remanded to jail for trial for the Talpers slaying. +Lowell, after saying good-bye to the half-breed, lost no time in +starting for the agency. On the way he caught up with Helen, who was +riding leisurely homeward. As he stopped the machine she reined up her +horse beside him and extended her hand in congratulation.</p> + +<p>"You're not the only one who is glad of the acquittal," she exclaimed. +"I am glad—oh, I cannot tell you how much!"</p> + +<p>Lowell noticed that her expression of girlishness had returned. The +shadow which had fallen upon her seemed to have been lifted +miraculously.</p> + +<p>"Wasn't it strange the way things turned out?" she went on. "A little +while ago every one seemed to believe these men were guilty, and now +there's not a one who doesn't seem to think that Talpers did it."</p> + +<p>"There's one who doesn't subscribe to the general belief," answered +Lowell.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>Lowell was conscious that she was watching him narrowly.</p> + +<p>"I mean that I don't believe Bill Talpers had anything to do with +murdering that man on the Dollar Sign road!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + + +<p>"There's one thing sure in all cases of crime: If people would only +depend more on Nature and less on themselves, they'd get results +sooner."</p> + +<p>Lowell and his chief clerk were finishing one of their regular evening +discussions of the crime which most people were forgetting, but which +still occupied the Indian agent's mind to the complete exclusion of all +reservation business.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" asked Rogers, from behind smoke clouds.</p> + +<p>"Just the fact that, if we can only find it, Nature has tagged every +crime in a way that makes it possible to get an answer."</p> + +<p>"But there are lots of crimes in which no manifestation of Nature is +possible."</p> + +<p>"Not a one. What are finger-prints but manifestations of Nature? And yet +for ages we couldn't see the sign that Nature hung out for us. No doubt +we're just as obtuse about a lot of things that will be just as simple +and just as plain when their meaning is finally driven home."</p> + +<p>"But Nature hasn't given a hint about that Dollar Sign road crime. Yet +it took place outdoors, right in Nature's haunts."</p> + +<p>"You simply mean that we haven't been able to comprehend Nature's +signals."</p> + +<p>"But you've been over the ground a dozen times, haven't you?"</p> + +<p>"Fifty times—but all that merely proves what I contend. If I go over +that ground one hundred times, and don't find anything, what does it +prove? Merely that I am ninety-nine times stupider than I should be. I +should get the answer the first time over."</p> + +<p>Rogers laughed.</p> + +<p>"I prefer the most comfortable theory. I've settled down in the popular +belief that Bill Talpers did the killing. Think how easy that makes it +for me—and the chances are that I'm right at that."</p> + +<p>"You are hopeless, Ed! But remember, if this thing goes unsolved it will +only be because we haven't progressed beyond the first-reader stage in +interpreting what Mother Nature has to teach us."</p> + +<p>For several days following the acquittal of Fire Bear and McFann, Lowell +had worked almost unceasingly in the hope of getting new evidence in the +case which nearly everybody else seemed willing to forget. A similar +persistency had marked Lowell's career as a newspaper reporter. He had +turned up several sensations when rival newspaper men had abandoned +certain cases as hopeless so far as new thrills were concerned.</p> + +<p>Lowell had not exaggerated when he told Rogers he had gone over the +scene of the murder fifty times. He had not gone into details with his +clerk. Rogers would have been surprised to know that his chief had even +blocked out the scene of the murder in squares like a checkerboard. Each +one of these squares had been examined, slowly and painfully. The net +result had been some loose change which undoubtedly had been dropped by +Talpers in robbing the murdered man; an eagle feather, probably dropped +from a <i>coup</i> stick which some one of Fire Bear's followers had borrowed +from an elder; a flint arrowhead of great antiquity, and a belt buckle +and some moccasin beads.</p> + +<p>Far from being discouraged at the unsuccessful outcome of his +checkerboarding plan, Lowell took his automobile, on the morning +following his talk with Rogers, and again visited the scene of the +crime.</p> + +<p>For six weeks the hill had been bathed daily in sunshine. The drought, +which the Indians had ascribed to evil spirits called down by Fire Bear, +had continued unbroken. The mud-holes in the road, through which Lowell +had plunged to the scene of the murder when he had first heard of the +crime, had been churned to dust. Lowell noticed that an old buffalo +wallow at the side of the road was still caked in irregular formations +which resembled the markings of alligator hide. The first hot winds +would cause these cakes of mud to disintegrate, but the weather had been +calm, and they had remained just as they had dried.</p> + +<p>As he glanced about him at the peaceful panorama, it occurred to the +agent that perhaps too much attention had been centered upon the exact +spot of the murder. Yet, it seemed reasonable enough to suppose, no +murderer would possibly lie in wait for a victim in such an open spot. +If the murder had been deliberately planned, as Lowell believed, and if +the victim's approach were known, there could have been no waiting here +on the part of the murderer.</p> + +<p>Getting into his automobile, Lowell drove carefully up the hill, +studying both sides of the road as he went. Several hundred yards from +the scene of the murder, he found a clump of giant sagebrush and +greasewood, close to the road. Lowell entered the clump and found that +from its eastern side he could command a good view of the Dollar Sign +road for miles. Here a man and horse might remain hidden until a +traveler, coming up the hill, was almost within hailing distance. The +brush had grown in a circle, leaving a considerable hollow which was +devoid of vegetation. Examining this hollow closely, Lowell paused +suddenly and uttered a low ejaculation. Then he walked slowly to his +automobile and drove in the direction of the Greek Letter Ranch.</p> + +<p>When he arrived at the ranch house Lowell was relieved to find that +Helen was not at home. Wong, who opened the door a scant six inches, +told him she had taken the white horse and gone for a ride.</p> + +<p>"Well, tell Mister Willis Morgan I want to see him," said Lowell.</p> + +<p>Wong was much alarmed. Mister Morgan could not be seen. The Chinese +combination of words for "impossible" was marshaled in behalf of Wong's +employer.</p> + +<p>Lowell, putting his shoulder against the Greek letter brand which was +burnt in the panel, pushed the door open and stepped into the room which +served as a library.</p> + +<p>"Now tell Mister Morgan I wish to see him, Wong," said the agent firmly.</p> + +<p>The door to the adjoining room opened, and Lowell faced the questioning +gaze of a gray-haired man who might have been anywhere from forty-five +to sixty. One hand was in the pocket of a velvet smoking-jacket, and the +other held a pipe. The man's eyes were dark and deeply set. They did not +seem to Lowell to be the contemplative eyes of the scholar, but rather +to belong to a man of decisive action—one whose interests might be in +building bridges or tunnels, but whose activities were always concerned +with material things. His face was lean and bronzed—the face of a man +who lived much in the outdoors. His nose was aquiline, and his lips, +though thin and firm, were not unkindly. In fact, here was a man who, in +the class-room, might be given to quips with his students, rather than +to sternness. Yet this was the man of whom it was said.... Lowell's face +grew stern as the long list of indictments against Willis Morgan, +recluse and "squaw professor," came to his mind.</p> + +<p>The gray-haired man sat down at the table, and Lowell, in response to a +wave of the hand that held the pipe, drew up opposite.</p> + +<p>"You and I have been living pretty close together a long time," said +Lowell bluntly, "and if we'd been a little more neighborly, this call +might not be so difficult in some ways."</p> + +<p>"My fault entirely." Again the hand waved—this time toward the +ceiling-high shelves of books. "Library slavery makes a man selfish, +I'll admit."</p> + +<p>The voice was cold and hard. It was such a voice that had extended a +mocking welcome to Helen Ervin when she had stood hesitatingly on the +threshold of the Greek Letter Ranch-house. Lowell sneered openly.</p> + +<p>"You haven't always been so tied up to your books that you couldn't get +out," he said. "I want to take you back to a little horseback ride which +you took just six weeks ago."</p> + +<p>"I don't remember such a trip."</p> + +<p>"You will remember it, as I particularize."</p> + +<p>"Very well. You are beginning to interest me."</p> + +<p>"You rode from here to the top of the hill on the Dollar Sign road. Do +you remember?"</p> + +<p>"What odds if I say yes or no? Go on. I want to hear the rest of this +story."</p> + +<p>"When you reached a clump of tall sage and grease wood, not far below +the crest of the hill, you entered it and remained hidden. You had a +considerable time to wait, but you were patient—very patient. You knew +the man you wanted to meet was somewhere on the road—coming toward you. +From the clump of bushes you commanded a view of the Dollar Sign road +for miles. As I say, it was long and tedious waiting. It had rained in +the night. The sun came out, strong and warm, and the atmosphere was +moist. Your horse, that old white horse which has been on the ranch so +many years, was impatiently fighting flies. Though you are not any +kinder to horseflesh than you are to human beings who come within your +blighting influence, you took the saddle off the animal. Perhaps the +horse had caught his foot in a stirrup as he kicked at a buzzing fly."</p> + +<p>The keen, strong features into which Lowell gazed were mask-like in +their impassiveness.</p> + +<p>"Soon you saw something approaching on the road over the prairie," went +on the agent. "It must be the automobile driven by the man you had come +to meet. You saddled quickly and rode out of the sagebrush. You met the +man in the automobile as he was climbing the hill. He stopped and you +talked with him. You had violent words, and then you shot him with a +sawed-off shotgun which you had carried for that purpose. You killed the +man, and then, to throw suspicion on others, conceived the idea of +staking him down to the prairie. It would look like an Indian trick. +Besides, you knew that there had been some trouble on the reservation +with Indians who were dancing and generally inclined to oppose +Government regulations. You had found a rope which had been dropped on +the road by the half-breed, Jim McFann. You took that rope from your +saddle and cut it in four pieces and tied the man's hands and wrists to +his own tent-stakes, which you found in his automobile.</p> + +<p>"Your plans worked out well. It was a lonely country and comparatively +early in the day. There was nobody to disturb you at your work. +Apparently you had thought of every detail. You had left a few tracks, +and these you obliterated carefully. You knew you would hardly be +suspected unless something led the world to your door. You had been a +recluse for years, hated by white men and feared by red. Few had seen +your face. You could retire to this lonely ranch and live your customary +life, with no fear of suffering for the crime you had committed. To be +sure, an Indian or two might be hanged, but a matter like that would +rest lightly on your conscience.</p> + +<p>"Apparently your plans were perfect, but you overlooked one small thing. +Most clever scoundrels do. You did not think that perhaps Nature might +lay a trap to catch you—a trap in the brush where you had been hidden. +Your horse rolled in the mud to rid himself of the pest of flies. You +were so intent on the approach of your victim that you did not notice +the animal. Yet there in the mud, and visible to-day, was made the +imprint of your horse's shoulder, <i>bearing the impression of the Greek +Letter brand</i>!"</p> + +<p>As Lowell finished, he rose slowly, his hands on the table and his gaze +on the unflinching face in front of him. The gray-haired man rose also.</p> + +<p>"I suppose," he said, in a voice from which all trace of harshness had +disappeared, "you have come to give me over to the authorities on +account of this crime."</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Very well. I committed the murder, much as you have explained it, but I +did not ride the white horse to the hill. Nor am I Willis Morgan. I am +Edward Sargent. Morgan was the man whom I killed and staked down on the +prairie!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + + +<p>Helen Ervin rode past the ranch door just as the gray-haired man made +his statement to Lowell.</p> + +<p>"You are Edward Sargent, the man who was supposed to have been +murdered?" repeated the Indian agent, in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Yes; but wait till Miss Ervin comes in. The situation may require a +little clearing, and she can help."</p> + +<p>Surprise and anxiety alternated in Helen's face as she looked in through +the open doorway and saw the men seated at the table. She paused a +moment, silhouetted in the door, the Greek letter on the panel standing +out with almost startling distinctness beside her. As she stood poised +on the threshold in her riding-suit, the ravages of her previous trip +having been repaired, she made Lowell think of a modernized +Diana—modernized as to clothes, but carrying, in her straight-limbed +grace, all the world-old spell of the outdoors.</p> + +<p>"Our young friend has just learned the truth, my dear," said the +gray-haired man. "He knows that I am Sargent, and that our stepfather, +Willis Morgan, is dead."</p> + +<p>Helen stepped quickly to Sargent's side. There was something suggesting +filial protection in her attitude. Sargent smiled up at her, +reassuringly.</p> + +<p>"Probably it is better," he said, "that the whole thing should be +known."</p> + +<p>"But in a few days we should have been gone," said Helen. "Why have all +our hopes been destroyed in this way at the last moment? Is this some of +your work," she added bitterly, addressing Lowell—"some of your work as +a spy?"</p> + +<p>Sargent spoke up quickly.</p> + +<p>"It was fate," he said. "I have felt from the first that I should not +have attempted to escape punishment for my deed. The young man has +simply done his duty. He worked with the sole idea of getting at the +truth—and it is always the truth that matters most. What difference can +it make who is hurt, so long as the truth is known?"</p> + +<p>"But how did it become known," asked Helen, "when everything seemed to +be so thoroughly in our favor? The innocent men who were suspected had +been released. The public was content to let the crime rest at the door +of Talpers—a man capable of any evil deed. What has happened to change +matters so suddenly?"</p> + +<p>"It was the old white horse that betrayed us," said Sargent, with a grim +smile. "It shows on what small threads our fates hang balanced. The +Greek letter brand still shows in the mud where the horse rolled on the +day of the murder on the Dollar Sign hill. When our young friend here +saw that bit of evidence, he came directly to the ranch and accused me +of knowledge of the crime, all the time thinking I was Willis Morgan."</p> + +<p>"Let me continue my work as a spy," broke in Lowell bitterly, "and ask +for a complete statement."</p> + +<p>"Willis Morgan was my twin brother," said Sargent. "As Willard Sargent +he had made a distinguished name for himself among the teachers of Greek +in this country. He was a professor at an early age, his bent toward +scholarship being opposite to mine, which was along the lines of +invention. My brother was a hard, cruel man, beneath a polished +exterior. Cynicism was as natural to him as breathing. He married a +young and beautiful woman, who had been married before, and who had a +little daughter—a mere baby, Willard's wife soon died, a victim of his +cynicism and studied cruelty. The future of this helpless stepdaughter +of my brother's became a matter of the most intimate concern to me. My +brother was mercenary to a marked degree. I had become successful in my +inventions of mining machinery. I was fast making a fortune. Willard +called upon me frequently for loans, which I never refused. In fact, I +had voluntarily advanced him thousands of dollars, from which I expected +no return. A mere brotherly feeling of gratitude would have been +sufficient repayment for me. But such a feeling my brother never had. +His only object was to get as much out of me as he could, and to sneer +at me, in his high-bred way, while making a victim of me.</p> + +<p>"His success in getting money from me led him into deep waters. He +victimized others, who threatened prosecution. Realizing that matters +could not go on as they were going, I told my brother that I would take +up the claims against him and give him one hundred thousand dollars, on +certain conditions. Those conditions were that he was to renounce all +claim to his little stepdaughter, and that I was to have sole care of +her. He was to go to some distant part of the country and change his +name and let the world forget that such a creature as Willard Sargent +ever existed.</p> + +<p>"My brother was forced to agree to the terms laid down. The university +trustees were threatening him with expulsion. He resigned and came out +here. He married an Indian woman, and, as I understand it, killed her by +the same cold-hearted, deliberately cruel treatment that had brought +about the death of his first wife.</p> + +<p>"Meantime Willard's stepdaughter, who was none other than Helen, was +brought up by a lifelong friend of mine, Miss Scovill, at her school for +girls in California. The loving care that she was given can best be told +by Helen. I did not wish the girl to know that she was dependent upon +her uncle for support. In fact, I did not want her to learn anything +which might lead to inquiries into her babyhood, and which would only +bring her sorrow when she learned of her mother's fate. My brother, +always clever in his rascalities, learned that Helen knew nothing of my +existence. He sent her a letter, when Miss Scovill was away, telling +Helen that he had been crippling himself financially to keep her in +school, and now he needed her at this ranch. Before Miss Scovill had +returned, Helen, acting on the impulse of the moment, had departed for +my brother's place. Miss Scovill was greatly alarmed, and sent me a +telegram. As soon as I received word, I started for my brother's ranch. +I happened to have started on an automobile tour at the time, and +figured that I could reach here as quickly by machine as by making +frequent changes from rail to stage.</p> + +<p>"When Helen arrived at the ranch, it can be imagined how the success of +his scheme delighted Willis Morgan, as my brother was known here. He +threatened her with the direst of evils, and declared he would drag her +beneath the level of the poorest squaw on the Indian reservation. +Fortunately she is a girl of spirit and determination. The Chinese +servant was willing to help her to escape. She would have fled at the +first opportunity, in spite of my brother's declaration that escape +would be impossible, but it happened that, during the course of his +boasting, her captor overstepped himself. He told her of my existence, +and that I had really been the one who had kept her in school. He had +managed to keep a thorough system of espionage in effect, so far as Miss +Scovill and myself were concerned. He had known when she left San +Francisco, and he also knew that I was coming, by automobile, to take +Helen from the ranch. He laughed as he told her of my coming. All the +ferocity of his nature blazed forth, and he told Helen that he intended +to kill me at sight, and would also kill her.</p> + +<p>"Desirous of warning me, even at risk of her own life, Helen mailed a +letter to me at Quaking-Asp Grove, hoping to catch me before I reached +that place. In this letter she warned me not to come to the ranch, as +she felt that tragedy impended. Talpers held up the letter and read it, +and thought to hold it as a club over Helen's head, showing that she +knew something of the murder.</p> + +<p>"I rode through Quaking-Asp Grove and White Lodge and the Indian agency +at night. I had a breakdown after going past Talpers's store—a tire to +replace. By the time I climbed the hill on the Dollar Sign road it was +well along in the morning. I saw a man coming toward me on a white +horse. It was my brother, Willard Sargent, or Willis Morgan. He looked +much like me. The years seemed to have dealt with us about alike. I +knew, as soon as I saw him, that he had come out to kill me. We talked a +few minutes. I had stopped the car at his demand, and he sat in the +saddle, close beside me. There is no need of going into the details of +our conversation. He was full of reproaches. His later life had been +more of a punishment for him than I had suspected. His voice was full of +venom as he threatened me. He told me that Helen was at the ranch, but I +would never see her. He had a sawed-off shotgun in his hand. I had no +weapon. I made a quick leap at him and threw him from his horse. The +shotgun fell in the road. I jumped for it just as he scrambled after it. +I wrested the weapon from him. He tried to draw a revolver that swung in +a holster at his hip. There was no chance for me to take that from him. +It was a case of his life or mine. I fired the shotgun, and the charge +tore away the lower part of his face.</p> + +<p>"Strangely enough, I had no regret at what I had done. It was not that I +had saved my own life—I had managed to intervene between Helen and a +fate worse than death. I weighed matters and acted with a coolness that +surprised me, even while I was carrying out the details that followed. +It occurred to me that, because of our close resemblance to each other, +it might be possible for me to pass myself off as my brother. I knew +that he had lived the life of a recluse here, and that few people knew +him by sight. We were dressed much alike, as I was traveling in khaki, +and he wore clothes of that material. I removed everything from his +pockets, and then I put my watch and checkbook and other papers in his +pockets. I even went so far as to put my wallet in his inner pocket, +containing bills of large denomination.</p> + +<p>"I had heard that there was some dissatisfaction among certain young +Indians on the reservation—that those Indians were dancing and making +trouble in general. It seemed to me that such a situation might be made +use of in some way. Why not drag my brother's body out on the prairie at +the side of the road and stake it down? Suspicion might be thrown on the +Indians. I had no sooner thought of the plan than I proceeded to carry +it out. I worked calmly and quickly. There was no living thing in sight +to cause alarm. I took a rawhide lariat, which I found attached to the +saddle on the old white horse, and used it to tie my brother's ankles +and wrists to tent-stakes which I took from my automobile.</p> + +<p>"After my work was done, I looked it over carefully, to see that I had +left nothing undone and had made no blunder in what I had accomplished. +I obliterated all tracks, as far as possible. Although it had rained the +night before, and there was mud in the old buffalo wallows and in the +depressions in the road, the prairie where I had staked the body was dry +and dusty.</p> + +<p>"After I had arranged everything to my satisfaction, I mounted the old +white horse and rode to the ranch, merely following the trail the horse +had made coming out. When I arrived here and made myself known to Helen, +you can imagine her joy, which soon was changed to consternation when +she found what had been done. But my plan of living here and letting the +world suppose that I was Willard Sargent, or Willis Morgan, seemed +feasible. Wong was our friend from the first. We knew we could depend on +his Oriental discretion. But we were not to escape lightly. Talpers's +attitude was a menace until, through a fortunate set of circumstances, +we managed to secure a compensating hold over him. Undoubtedly Talpers +had been first on the scene after the murder. He had robbed my brother's +body, and was caught in his ghoul-like act by his partner, Jim McFann. +The half-breed believed Talpers when the trader told him that a watch +was all he had found on the dead man. The later discovery that Talpers +had deceived him, and had really taken a large sum of money from the +body, led the half-breed to kill the trader.</p> + +<p>"I decided to await the outcome of the trial. It would have been +impossible for me to let Fire Bear or McFann go to prison, or perhaps to +the gallows, for my deed. If either one, or both, had been convicted, I +intended to make a confession. But matters seemed to work out well for +us. The accused men were freed, and it seemed to be the general opinion +that Talpers had committed the crime. Talpers was dead. There was no +occasion for me to confess. I had thoughts of going away, quietly, to +some place where I could begin life over again. Miss Scovill is in +possession of a will making Helen my heir. This will could have been +produced, and thus Helen would have been well provided for. I had kept +in seclusion here, and had even feigned illness, in order that none +might suspect me of being other than Willis Morgan. But if any one had +seen me I do not believe the deception would have been discovered, so +close is my resemblance to my brother. Always having been a passable +mimic, I imitated my brother's voice. It was a voice that had often +stirred me to wrath, because of its cold, cutting qualities. The first +time I imitated my brother's voice, Wong came in from the kitchen +looking frightened beyond measure. He thought the ghost of his old +employer had returned to the ranch.</p> + +<p>"But of what use is all such planning when destiny wills otherwise? A +trifling incident—the rolling of a horse in the mud—brought everything +about my ears. Yet I believe it is for the best. Nor do I believe your +discovery to have been a mere matter of chance. Probably you were led by +a higher force than mere devotion to duty. Truth must have loyal +servitors such as you if justice is to survive in this world. I am +heartily glad that you persisted in your search. I feel more at ease in +mind and body to-night than I have felt since the day of the tragedy. +Now if you will excuse me a moment, I will make preparations for giving +myself up to the authorities—perhaps to higher authorities than those +at White Lodge."</p> + +<p>Sargent stepped into the adjoining room as he finished talking. Helen +did not raise her head from the table. Something in Sargent's final +words roused Lowell's suspicion. He walked quickly into the room and +found Sargent taking a revolver from the drawer of a desk. Lowell +wrested the weapon from his grasp.</p> + +<p>"That's the last thing in the world you should do," said the Indian +agent, in a low voice. "There isn't a jury that will convict you. If +it's expiation you seek, do you think that cowardly sort of expiation is +going to bring anything but new unhappiness to <i>her</i> out there?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Sargent. "I give you my word this will not be attempted +again."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Space meeting space—plains and sky welded into harmonies of blue and +gray. Cloud shadows racing across billowy uplands, and sagebrush nodding +in a breeze crisp and electric as only a breeze from our upper Western +plateau can be. Distant mountains, with their allurements enhanced by +the filmiest of purple veils. Bird song and the chattering of prairie +dogs from the foreground merely intensifying the great, echoless silence +of the plains.</p> + +<p>Lowell and Helen from a ridge—<i>their</i> ridge it was now!—watched the +changes of the panorama. They had dismounted, and their horses were +standing near at hand, reins trailing, and manes rising and falling with +the undulations of the breeze. It was a month after Sargent's confession +and his surrender as the slayer of the recluse of the Greek Letter +Ranch. As Lowell had prophesied, Sargent's acquittal had been prompt. +His story was corroborated by brief testimony from Lowell and Helen. +Citizens crowded about him, after the jury had brought in its verdict of +"Not guilty," and one of the first to congratulate him was Jim McFann, +who had been acquitted when he came up for trial for slaying Talpers. +The half-breed told Sargent of Talpers's plan to kill Helen.</p> + +<p>"I'm just telling you," said the half-breed, "to ease your mind in case +you're feeling any responsibility for Talpers's death."</p> + +<p>Soon after his acquittal Sargent departed for California, where he +married Miss Scovill—the outcome of an early romance. Helen was soon to +leave to join her foster parents, and she and Lowell had come for a last +ride.</p> + +<p>"I cannot realize the glorious truth of it all—that I am to come soon +and claim you and bring you back here as my wife," said Lowell. "Say it +all over again for me."</p> + +<p>He was standing with both arms about her and with her face uptilted to +his. No doubt other men and women had stood thus on this glacier-wrought +promontory—lovers from cave and tepee.</p> + +<p>"It is all true," Helen answered, "but I must admit that the +responsibilities of being an Indian agent's wife seem alarming. The +thought of there being so much to do among these people makes me afraid +that I shall not be able to meet the responsibilities."</p> + +<p>"You'll be bothered every day with Indians—men, women, and babies. +You'll hear the thumping of their moccasined feet every hour of the day. +They'll overrun your front porch and seek you out in the sacred +precincts of your kitchen, mostly about things that are totally +inconsequential."</p> + +<p>"But think of the work in its larger aspects—the good that there is to +be done."</p> + +<p>Lowell smiled at her approvingly.</p> + +<p>"That's the way you have to keep thinking all the time. You have to look +beyond the mass of detail in the foreground—past all the minor +annoyances and the red tape and the seeming ingratitude. You've got to +figure that you're there to supply the needed human note—to let these +people understand that this Government of ours is not a mere machine +with the motive power at Washington. You've got to feel that you've been +sent here to make up for the indifference of the outside world—that the +kiddies out in those ramshackle cabins and cold tepees are not going to +be lonely, and suffer and die, if you can help it. You've got to feel +that it's your help that's going to save the feeble and sick—sometimes +from their own superstitions. There's no reason why we can't in time get +a hospital here for Indians, like Fire Bear, who have tuberculosis. +We're going to save Fire Bear, and we can save others. And then there +are the school-children, with lonely hours that can be lightened, and +with work to be found for them in the big world after they have learned +the white man's tasks. But there are going to be heartaches and +disillusionments for a woman. A man can grit his teeth and smash through +some way, unless he sinks back into absolute indifference as a good many +Indian agents do. But a woman—well, dear, I dread to think of your +embarking on a task which is at once so alluring and so endless and +thankless."</p> + +<p>Helen put her hand on his lips.</p> + +<p>"With you helping me, no task can seem thankless."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, this is our kingdom of work," said Lowell, with a sweep of +his sombrero which included the vast reservation which smiled so +inscrutably at them. "There's every human need to be met out there in +all that bigness. We'll face it together—and we'll win!"</p> + +<p>They rode back leisurely along the ridge and took the trail that led to +the ranch. The house was closed, as Wong was at the agency, ready to +leave for the Sargents' place in California. The old white horse, which +Helen rode, tried to turn in at the ranch gate.</p> + +<p>"The poor old fellow doesn't understand that his new home is at the +agency," said Helen. "He is the only one that wants to return to this +place of horrors."</p> + +<p>"The leasers will be here soon," replied Lowell. "They are going to put +up buildings and make a new place all told. The Greek letter on the door +will be gone, but, no matter what changes are made, I have no doubt that +people will continue to know it as Mystery Ranch."</p> + + +<h4>THE END</h4> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mystery Ranch, by Arthur Chapman + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYSTERY RANCH *** + +***** This file should be named 30989-h.htm or 30989-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/9/8/30989/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Mystery Ranch + +Author: Arthur Chapman + +Release Date: January 16, 2010 [EBook #30989] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYSTERY RANCH *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + MYSTERY RANCH + + BY ARTHUR CHAPMAN + + AUTHOR OF "OUT WHERE THE WEST BEGINS," AND "CACTUS CENTER" + + +BOSTON AND NEW YORK +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY +The Riverside Press Cambridge +1921 + +COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO. + +COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY ARTHUR CHAPMAN + +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +There was a swift padding of moccasined feet through the hall leading to +the Indian agent's office. + +Ordinarily Walter Lowell would not have looked up from his desk. He +recognized the footfalls of Plenty Buffalo, his chief of Indian police, +but this time there was an absence of the customary leisureliness in the +official's stride. The agent's eyes were questioning Plenty Buffalo +before the police chief had more than entered the doorway. + +The Indian, a broad-shouldered, powerfully built man in a blue uniform, +stopped at the agent's desk and saluted. Lowell knew better than to ask +him a question at the outset. News speeds best without urging when an +Indian tells it. The clerk who acted as interpreter dropped his papers +and moved nearer, listening intently as Plenty Buffalo spoke rapidly in +his tribal tongue. + +"A man has been murdered on the road just off the reservation," +announced the interpreter. + +Still the agent did not speak. + +"I just found him," went on the police chief to the clerk, who +interpreted rapidly. "You'd better come and look things over." + +"How do you know he was murdered?" asked the agent, reaching for his +desk telephone. + +"He was shot." + +"But couldn't he have shot himself?" + +"No. He's staked down." + +Lowell straightened up suddenly, a tingle of apprehension running +through him. Staked down--and on the edge of the Indian reservation! +Matters were being brought close home. + +"Is there anything to tell who he is?" + +"I didn't look around much," said Plenty Buffalo. "There's an auto in +the road. That's what I saw first." + +"Where is the body?" + +"A few yards from the auto, on the prairie." + +The agent called the sheriff's office at White Lodge, the adjoining +county seat. The sheriff was out, but Lowell left the necessary +information as to the location of the automobile and the body. Then he +put on his hat, and, gathering up his gloves, motioned to Plenty Buffalo +and the interpreter to follow him to his automobile which was standing +in front of the agency office. Plenty Buffalo's pony was left at the +hitching-rack, to recover from the hard run it had just been given. The +wooden-handled quirt at the saddle had not been spared by the Indian. + +Flooded with June sunshine the agency had never looked more attractive, +from the white man's standpoint. The main street was wide, with a +parkway in the center, shaded with cottonwoods. The school buildings, +dormitories, dining-hall, auditorium, and several of the employees' +residences faced this street. The agent's house nestled among trees and +shrubbery on the most attractive corner. The sidewalks were wide, and +made of cement. There was a good water system, as the faithfully +irrigated lawns testified. Arc lights swung from the street +intersections, and there were incandescents in every house. A sewer +system had just been completed. Indian boys and girls were looking after +gardens in vacant lots. There were experimental ranches surrounding the +agency. In the stables and enclosures were pure-bred cattle and sheep, +the nucleus of tribal flocks and herds of better standards. + +In less than four years Walter Lowell had made the agency a model of its +kind. He had done much to interest even the older Indians in +agriculture. The school-children, owing to a more liberal educational +system, had lost the customary look of apathy. The agent's work had been +commended in annual reports from Washington. The agency had been +featured in newspaper and magazine articles, and yet Lowell had felt +that he was far from accomplishing anything permanent. Ancient customs +and superstitions had to be reckoned with. Smouldering fires +occasionally broke out in most alarming fashion. Only recently there had +been a serious impairment of reservation morale, owing to the +spectacular rise of a young Indian named Fire Bear, who had gathered +many followers, and who, with his cohorts, had proceeded to dance and +"make medicine" to the exclusion of all other employment. Fire Bear's +defection had set many rumors afloat. Timid settlers near the +reservation had expressed fear of a general uprising, which fear had +been fanned by the threats and boastings sent broadcast by some of Fire +Bear's more reckless followers. + +Lowell was frankly worried as he sped away from the agency with Plenty +Buffalo and the interpreter. Every crime, large or small, which occurred +near the reservation, and which did not carry its own solution, was laid +to Indians. Here was something which pointed directly to Indian +handiwork, and Lowell in imagination could hear a great outcry going up. + +Plenty Buffalo gave little more information as the car swayed along the +road that led off the reservation. + +"He says he was off the reservation trailing Jim McFann," remarked the +interpreter. "He thought Jim was going along the road to Talpers's +store, but Plenty Buffalo was mistaken. He did not find Jim, but what he +did find was this man who had been killed." + +"Jim McFann isn't a bad fellow at heart, but this bootlegging and +trailing around with Bill Talpers will get him in trouble yet," replied +the agent. "He's pretty clever, or Plenty Buffalo's men would have +caught him long before this." + +They were approaching Talpers's store as the agent spoke. The store was +a barn-like building, with a row of poplars at the north, and a big +cottonwood in front. A few houses were clustered about. Bill Talpers, +store-keeper and postmaster, looked out of the door as the automobile +went past. Generally there were Indians sitting in front of the store, +but to-day there were none. Plenty Buffalo volunteered the information +that there had been a "big sing" on a distant part of the reservation +which had attracted most of the residents from this neighborhood. +Talpers was seen running out to his horse, which stood in front of the +store. + +"He'll be along pretty soon," said the agent. "He knows there's +something unusual going on." + +The road over which the party was traveling was sometimes called the +Dollar Sign, for the reason that it wound across the reservation line +like a letter S. After leaving White Lodge, which was off the +reservation, any traveler on the road crossed the line and soon went +through the agency. Then there was a curve which took him across the +line again to Talpers's, after which a reverse curve swept back into the +Indians' domain. All of which was the cause of no little trouble to the +agent and the Indian police, for bootleggers found it easy to operate +from White Lodge or Talpers's and drop back again across the line to +safety. + +Another ten miles, on the sweep of the road toward the reservation, and +the automobile was sighted. The body was found, as Plenty Buffalo had +described it. The man had been murdered--that much was plain enough. + +"Buckshot, from a sawed-off shotgun probably," said the agent, +shuddering. + +Whoever had fired the shot had done his work with deadly accuracy. Part +of the man's face had been carried away. He had been well along in +years, as his gray hair indicated, but his frame was sturdy. He was +dressed in khaki--a garb much affected by transcontinental automobile +tourists. The car which he had been driving was big and expensive. + +Other details were forgotten for the moment in the fact that the man had +been staked to the prairie. Ropes had been attached to his hands and +feet. These ropes were fastened to tent-stakes driven into the prairie. + +"The man had been camping along the route," said the agent, "and whoever +did this shooting probably used the victim's own tent-stakes." + +This opinion was confirmed after a momentary examination of the tonneau +of the car, which disclosed a tent, duffle-bag, and other camping +equipment. + +"Look around the prairie and see if you can find any of this man's +belongings scattered about," said Lowell. + +"Plenty Buffalo wants to know if you noticed all the pony tracks," said +the interpreter. + +"Yes," replied Lowell bitterly. "I couldn't very well help seeing them. +What does Plenty Buffalo think about them?" + +"They're Indian pony tracks--no doubt about that," said the interpreter, +"but there is no telling just when they were made." + +"I see. It might have been at the time of the murder, or afterward." + +Lowell looked closely at the pony tracks, which were thick about the +automobile and the body. Plainly there had been a considerable body of +horsemen on the scene. Plenty Buffalo, skilled in trailing, had not +hesitated to announce that the tracks were those of Indian ponies. If +more evidence were needed, there were the imprints of moccasined feet in +the dust. + +Lowell surveyed the scene while Plenty Buffalo and the interpreter +searched the prairie for more clues. The agent did not want to disturb +the body nor search the automobile until the arrival of the sheriff, as +the murder had happened outside of Government jurisdiction, and the +local authorities were jealous of their rights. The murder had been done +close to the brow of a low hill. The gently rolling prairie stretched to +a creek on one side, and to interminable distance on the other. There +was a carpet of green grass in both directions, dotted with clumps of +sagebrush. It had rained a few days before--the last rain of many, it +chanced--and there were damp spots in the road in places and the grass +and the sage were fresh in color. Meadow-larks were trilling, and the +whole scene was one of peace--provided the beholder could blot out the +memory of the tenantless clay stretched out upon clay. + +In a few minutes Sheriff Tom Redmond and a deputy arrived in an +automobile from White Lodge. They were followed by Bill Talpers, in the +saddle. + +Redmond was a tall, square-shouldered cattleman, who still clung to the +rough garb and high-heeled boots of the cowpuncher, though he seldom +used any means of travel but the automobile. Western winds, heated by +fiery Western suns, had burned his face to the color of saddle-leather. +His eyebrows were shaggy and light-colored, and Nature's bleaching +elements had reduced a straw-colored mustache to a discouraging +nondescript tone. + +"Looks like an Injun job, Lowell, don't it?" asked Redmond, as his sharp +eyes took in the situation in darting glances. + +"Isn't it a little early to come to that conclusion?" queried the agent. + +"There ain't no other conclusion to come to," broke in Talpers, who had +joined the group in an inspection of the scene. "Look at them pony +tracks--all Injun." + +Talpers was broad--almost squat of figure. His complexion was brick red. +He had a thin, curling black beard and mustache. He was one of the men +to whom alkali is a constant poison, and his lips were always cracked +and bleeding. His voice was husky and disagreeable, his small eyes +bespoke the brute in him, and yet he was not without certain qualities +of leadership which seemed to appeal particularly to the Indians. His +store was headquarters for the rough and idle element of the +reservation. Also it was the center of considerable white trade, for it +was the only store for miles in either direction, and in addition was +the general post-office. + +Knowing of Talpers's friendliness for the rebellious element among the +Indians, Lowell looked at the trader in surprise. + +"You didn't see any Indians doing this, did you, Talpers?" he asked. + +The trader hastened to qualify his remark, as it would not do to have +the word get out among the Indians that he had attempted to throw the +blame on them. + +"No--I ain't exactly sayin' that Injuns done it," said the trader, "but +I ain't ever seen more signs pointin' in one direction." + +"Well, don't let signs get you so far off the right trail that you can't +get back again," replied the agent, turning to help Tom Redmond and his +deputy in the work of establishing the identity of the slain man. + +It was work that did not take long. Papers were found in the pockets +indicating that the victim was Edward B. Sargent, of St. Louis. In the +automobile was found clothing bearing St. Louis trademarks. + +"Judging from the balance in this checkbook," said the sheriff, "he was +a man who didn't have to worry about financial affairs. Probably this is +only a checking account, for running expenses, but there's thirty +thousand to his credit." + +"He's probably some tourist on his way to the coast," observed the +deputy, "and he thought he'd make a detour and see an Injun reservation. +Somebody saw a good chance for a holdup, but he showed fight and got +killed." + +"Nobody reported such a machine as going through the agency," offered +Lowell. "The car is big enough and showy enough to attract attention +anywhere." + +"I didn't see him go past my place," said Talpers. "And if my clerk'd +seen him he'd have said somethin' about it." + +"Well, he was killed sometime yesterday--that's sure," remarked the +sheriff. "He might have come through early in the morning and nobody saw +him, or he might have hit White Lodge and the agency and Talpers's late +at night and camped here along the Dollar Sign until morning and been +killed when he started on. The thing of it is that this is as far as he +got, and we've got to find the ones that's responsible. This kind of a +killing is jest going to make the White Lodge Chamber of Commerce get up +on its hind legs and howl. There's bound to be speeches telling how, +just when we've about convinced the East that we've shook off our wild +Western ways, here comes a murder that's wilder'n anything that's been +pulled off since the trapper days." + +"Accordin' to my way of thinkin'," said Talpers, "that man wasn't +tortured after he was staked down. Any one who knows anything about +Injun character knows that when they pegged a victim out that way, they +intended for him to furnish some amusement, such as having splinters +stuck into him and bein' set afire by the squaws." + +"They probably thought they seen some one coming," said the sheriff, +"and shot him after they got him tied down, and then made a quick +getaway." + +"That man was shot before he was tied down," interposed Lowell quietly. + +"What makes you think that?" Redmond said quickly. + +"There are no powder marks on his face. And any one shot at such close +range, by some one standing over him, would have had his head blown +away." + +Redmond assented, grudgingly. + +"What does Plenty Buffalo think about it all?" he asked. + +Lowell called the police chief and the interpreter. Plenty Buffalo +declared that he was puzzled. He was not prepared to make any statement +at all as yet. He might have something later on. + +"Very well," said the agent, motioning to Plenty Buffalo to go on with +the close investigations he had been silently carrying on. "We may get +something of value from him when he has finished looking. But there's no +use coaxing him to talk now." + +"I s'pose not," rejoined Redmond sneeringly. "What's more, I s'pose he +can't even see them Injun pony tracks around the body." + +"He called my attention to them as soon as we arrived here," said +Lowell. "But as far as that goes he didn't need to. Those things are as +evident as the bald fact that the man has been killed." + +"Well, that's about the only clue there is, as far as I can figger out," +remarked the sheriff testily, "and that points straight and clean to +some of your wards on the reservation." + +"Count on me for any help," replied Lowell crisply. "All I'm interested +in, of course, is seeing the guilty brought out into the light." + +Turning away and ending a controversy, which he knew would be fruitless, +Lowell made another searching personal examination of the scene. He +examined the stakes, having in mind the possibility of finger-prints. +But no tell-tale mark had been left behind. The stakes were too rough to +admit the possibility of any finger-prints that might be microscopically +detected. The road and prairie surrounding the automobile were examined, +but nothing save pony tracks, numerous and indiscriminately mingled, +rewarded his efforts. + +"Them Injuns jest milled around this machine and the body of that +hombrey," said Talpers. "There must have been twenty-five of 'em in the +bunch, anyway, ain't I right, Plenty Buffalo?" added the trader, +repeating his remark in the Indian's tribal tongue, in which the white +man was expert. + +"Heap Injun here," agreed Plenty Buffalo, not averse to showing off a +large part of his limited English vocabulary. + +"That trouble-maker, Fire Bear, is the only one who travels much with a +gang, ain't he?" demanded Redmond. + +"Yes," assented the agent. "He has had from fifty to one hundred young +Indians making medicine with him on Wolf Mountain. Rest assured that +Fire Bear and every one with him will have to give an account of +himself." + +"That's the talk!" exclaimed Redmond, pulling at his mustache. "I ain't +afraid of your not shooting straight in this thing, Mr. Lowell, but +you've got to admit that you've stuck up for Injuns the way no other +agent has ever stuck up for 'em before, and natchelly--" + +"Naturally you thought I might even cover up murder for them," added +Lowell good-naturedly. "Well, get that idea out of your head. But also +get it out of your head that I'm going to see any Indian or Indians +railroaded for a crime that possibly he or they didn't commit." + +"All right!" snapped the sheriff, instantly as belligerent and +suspicious as ever. "But this thing is going to be worked out on the +evidence, and right now the evidence--" + +"Which is all circumstantial." + +"Yes, circumstantial it may be, but it's mighty strong against some of +your people over that there line, and it's going to be followed up." + +Lowell shrugged his shoulders, knowing the futility of further argument +with the sheriff, who was representative of the considerable element +that always looked upon Indians as "red devils" and that would never +admit that any good existed in race or individual. + +The agent assisted in removing the body of the murdered man to the big +automobile that had been standing in the road, a silent witness to the +crime. Lowell drove the machine to White Lodge, at the request of the +sheriff, and sent telegrams which might establish the dead man's +identity beyond all doubt. + +Meantime the news of the murder was not long in making its devious way +about the sparsely settled countryside. Most of the population of White +Lodge, and ranchers from remote districts, visited the scene. One +fortunate individual, who had arrived before the body had been removed, +interested various groups by stretching himself out on the prairie on +the exact spot where the slain man had been found. + +"Here he laid, jest like this," the actor would conclude, "right out +here in the bunch grass and prickly pear, with his hands and feet tied +to them tent-stakes, and pony tracks and moccasin tracks all mixed +around in the dust jest as if a hull tribe had been millin' here. If a +lot of Injuns don't swing for this, then there's no use of callin' this +a white man's country any more." + +The flames of resentment needed no fanning, as Lowell found. The agent +had not concluded his work with the sheriff at White Lodge before he +heard thinly veiled threats directed at all Indians and their friends. +He paid no attention to the comments, but drove back to the agency, +successfully masking the grave concern he felt. In the evening, his +chief clerk, Ed Rogers, found Lowell reading a magazine. + +"The talk is that you'll have to get Fire Bear for this murder," said +Rogers. Then the chief clerk added, bluntly: "I thought sure you'd be +working on this case." + +Lowell smiled at the clerk's astonishment. + +"There's nothing more that requires my attention just now," he said. "If +Fire Bear is wanted, we can always get him. That's one thing that +simplifies all such matters, where Indians are concerned. An Indian +can't lose himself in a crowd, like a white man. Furthermore, he never +thinks of leaving the reservation." + +Here the young agent rose and yawned. + +"Anyway," he remarked, "it isn't our move right now. Until it is, I +prefer to think of pleasanter things." + +But the agent's thoughts were not on any of the pleasant things +contained in the magazine he had flung into a corner. They were dwelling +most consistently upon a pleasing journey he had enjoyed, a few days +before, with a young woman whom he had taken from the agency to Mystery +Ranch. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +Helen Ervin's life in a private school for girls at San Francisco had +been uneventful until her graduation. She had been in the school for ten +years. Before that, she had vague recollections of a school that was not +so well conducted. In fact, almost her entire recollection was of +teachers, school chums, and women who had been hired as companions and +tutors. Some one had paid much money for her upbringing--that much Helen +Ervin knew. The mystery of her caretaking was known, of course, by Miss +Scovill, head of the Scovill School, but it had never been disclosed. It +had become such an ancient mystery that Helen told herself she had lost +all interest in it. Miss Scovill was kind and motherly, and would answer +any other questions. She had taken personal charge of the girl, who +lived at the Scovill home during vacations as well as throughout the +school year. + +"Some day it will all be explained to you," Miss Scovill had said, "but +for the present you are simply to learn all you can and continue to be +just as nice as you have been. And meantime rest assured that somebody +is vitally interested in your welfare and happiness." + +The illuminating letter came a few days after graduation. The girls had +all gone home and school was closed. Helen was alone in the Scovill +home. Miss Scovill had gone away for a few days, on business. + +The letter bore a postmark with a strange, Indian-sounding name: "White +Lodge." It was in a man's handwriting--evidently a man who had written +much. The signature, which was first to be glanced at by the girl, read: +"From your affectionate stepfather, Willis Morgan." The letter was as +follows: + + No doubt you will be surprised at getting this letter from one + whose existence you have not suspected. I had thought to let you + remain in darkness concerning me. For years I have been pleased to + pay your expenses in school--glad in the thought that you were + getting the best care and education that could be purchased. But my + affairs have taken a bad turn. I am, to put it vulgarly, cramped + financially. Moreover, the loneliness in my heart has become fairly + overmastering. I can steel myself against it no longer. I want you + with me in my declining years. I cannot leave here. I have become + greatly attached to this part of the country, and have no doubt + that you will be, also. Sylvan scenes, with a dash of human + savagery in the foreground, form the best relief for a too-extended + assimilation of books. It has been like balm to me, and will prove + so to you. + + Briefly, I want you to come, and at once. A check to cover expenses + is enclosed. Your school years are ended, and a life of quiet, amid + scenes of aboriginal romance, awaits you here. Selfishly, perhaps, + I appeal to your gratitude, if the prospect I have held out does + not prove enticing of itself. If what I have done for you in all + these years entitles me to any return, I ask you not to delay the + payment. By coming now, you can wipe the slate clean of any + indebtedness. + +Then followed directions about reaching the ranch--the Greek Letter +Ranch, the writer called it--and a final appeal to her sense of +gratitude. + +When Helen finished reading the letter, her heart was suffused with pity +for this lonely man who had come thus strangely and unexpectedly into +her life. Her good impulses had always prompted her strongly. Miss +Scovill was away, so Helen left her a note of explanation, telling +everything in detail. "I know, dear foster mother," wrote the girl, +"that you are going to rejoice with me, now that I have found my +stepfather. I'll be looking forward to the time when you can visit us at +the Greek Letter Ranch." + +Making ready for the journey took only a short time. In a few hours +Helen was on her way, little knowing that Miss Scovill, on her return, +was frantically sending out telegrams which indicated anything but a +peaceful acceptance of conditions. One of these telegrams, sent to an +address which Helen would not have recognized, read: + + The dove has been lured to the serpent's nest. Take what action you + deem best, but quickly. + +Helen enjoyed her trip through California and then eastward through the +Northwest country to the end of the spur which pointed toward the +reservation. From the railroad's end she went to White Lodge by stage. +From White Lodge she was told she had better take a private conveyance +to her destination. She hired a rig of a livery-stable keeper, who said +he could not possibly take her beyond the Indian agency. + +"Mebbe some one there'll take you the rest of the way," said the +liveryman; and, accepting his hopeful view of the situation, the girl +consented to go on in such indefinite fashion. + +Thus it happened that a slender, white-clad young woman, with a suitcase +at her feet, stood on the agency office porch, undergoing the steady +scrutiny of four or five blanketed Indian matrons when Walter Lowell +came back from lunch. In a few words Helen had explained matters, and +Lowell picked up her suitcase, and, after ascertaining that she had had +no lunch, escorted her up the street to the dining-hall. + +"We have a little lunch club of employees, and guests often sit in with +us," said the agent cordially. "After you eat, and have rested up a bit, +I'll see that you are driven over to the--to the Greek Letter Ranch." + +As a matter of fact, Lowell had to think several times before he could +get the Greek Letter Ranch placed in his mind. He had fallen into the +habit--in common with others in the neighborhood--of calling it Mystery +Ranch. Also Willis Morgan's name was mentioned so seldom that the +agent's mental gymnastics were long sustained and almost painfully +apparent before he had matters righted. + +"Rogers," said Lowell to his chief clerk, on getting back to the agency +office, "how many years has Willis Morgan been in this part of the +country?" + +"Willis Morgan," echoed Rogers, scratching his head. "Oh, I know now! +You mean the 'squaw professor.' He hasn't been called Morgan since he +married that squaw who died five years go. There was talk that he used +to be a college professor, which is right, I guess, from the number of +books he reads. But when he married an Indian folks just called him the +'squaw prof.' He's been out here twelve or fifteen years, I guess. Let's +see--he got those Indian lands through his wife when Jones was agent. He +must have moved off the reservation when Arbuckle was agent, just before +you came on." + +"Did he always use a Greek letter brand on his cattle?" + +"Always. He never ran many cattle. I guess he hasn't got any at all now. +But what he did have he always insisted on having branded with that +pitchfork brand, as the cowpunchers call it." + +"I know--it's the letter Psi." + +"Well, Si, or whatever other nickname it is, even the toughest-hearted +old cowmen used to kick on having to put such a big brand on critters. +That big pitchfork on flanks or shoulders must have spoiled many a hide +for Morgan, but he always insisted on having it slapped on." + +"Have the Indians always got along with him pretty well?" + +"Yes, because they're afraid of him and leave him alone. It ain't +physical fear, but something deeper, like being afraid of a snake, I +guess. You see he knows so damn much, he's uncanny. It's the power of +mind over matter. Seems funny to think of him having the biggest Indians +buffaloed, but he's done it, and he's buffaloed the white folks, too. He +gave it out that he wanted to be let alone, and, by jimminy, he's been +let alone! I'll bet there aren't four people in the county who have seen +his face in as many years." + +"Did he have any children?" + +"No. His wife was a pretty little Indian woman. He just married her to +show his defiance of society, I guess. Anyway, he must have killed her +by inches. If he had the other Indians scared, you can imagine how he +must have terrorized her. Yet I'll bet he never raised his voice above +an ordinary conversational tone." + +Lowell frowned as he looked out across the agency street. + +"Why, what's come up about Morgan?" asked Rogers. + +"Oh, not such a lot," replied the agent. "It's only that there's a girl +here--his stepdaughter, it seems--and she's going to make her home with +him." + +"Good Lord!" ejaculated the chief clerk. + +"She's over at the club table now having lunch," went on Lowell. "I'm +going to drive her over to the ranch. She seems to think this stepfather +of hers is all kinds of a nice fellow, and I can't tell her that she'd +better take her little suitcase and go right back where she came from. +Besides, who knows that she may be right and we've been misjudging +Morgan all these years?" + +"Well, if Willis Morgan's been misjudged, then I'm really an angel all +ready to sprout wings," observed the clerk. "But maybe he's braced up, +or, if he hasn't, this stepdaughter has tackled the job of reforming +him. If she does it, it'll be the supreme test of what woman can do +along that line." + +"What business have bachelors such as you and I to be talking about any +reformations wrought by woman?" asked Lowell smilingly. + +"Not much," agreed Rogers. "Outside of the school-teachers and other +agency employees I haven't seen a dozen white women since I went to +Denver three years ago. And you--why, you haven't been away from here +except on one trip to Washington in the last four years." + +Each man looked out of the window, absorbed in his own dreams. Lowell +had forsaken an active career to take up the routine of an Indian +agent's life. After leaving college he had done some newspaper work, +which he abandoned because a position as land investigator for a +corporation with oil interests in view had given him a chance to travel +in the West. There had been a chance journey across an Indian +reservation, with a sojourn at an agency. Lowell had decided that his +work had been spread before him. By persistent personal effort and the +use of some political influence, he secured an appointment as Indian +agent. The monetary reward was small, but he had not regretted his +choice. Only there were memories such as this girl brought to +him--memories of college days when there were certain other girls in +white dresses, and when there was music far removed from weird Indian +chants, and the thud-thud of moccasins was not always in his ears.... + +Lowell rose hastily. + +"They must be through eating over there," he said. "But I positively +hate to start the trip that will land the girl at that ranch." + +The agent drove his car over to the dining-hall. When Helen came out, +the agency blacksmith was carrying her suitcase, and the matron, Mrs. +Ryers, had her arm about the girl's waist, for friends are quickly made +in the West's lonely places. School-teachers and other agency employees +chorused good-bye as the automobile was driven away. + +The girl was flushed with pleasure, and there were tears in her eyes. + +"I don't blame you for liking to live on an Indian reservation," she +said, "amid such cordial people." + +"Well, it isn't so bad, though, of course, we're in a backwater here," +said Lowell. "An Indian reservation gives you a queer feeling that way. +The tides of civilization are racing all around, but here the progress +is painfully slow." + +"Tell me more about it, please," pleaded the girl. "This lovely +place--surely the Indians like it." + +"Some of them do, perhaps," said Lowell. "But they haven't been trained +to this sort of thing. A lodge out there on the prairie, with game to be +hunted and horses to be ridden--that would suit the most advanced of +them better than settled life anywhere. But, of course, all that is +impossible, and the thing is to reconcile them to the inevitable things +they have to face. And even reconciling white people to the inevitable +is no easy job." + +"No, it's harder, really, than teaching these poor Indians, I suppose," +agreed the girl. "But don't you find lots to recompense you?" + +Lowell stole a look at her, and then he slowed the car's pace +considerably. There was no use hurrying to the ranch with such a +charming companion aboard. The fresh June breeze had loosened a strand +or two of her brown hair. The bright, strong sunshine merely emphasized +the youthful perfection of her complexion. She had walked with a certain +buoyancy of carriage which Lowell ascribed to athletics. Her eyes were +brown, and rather serious of expression, but her smile was quick and +natural--the sort of a smile that brings one in return, so Lowell +concluded in his fragmentary process of cataloguing. Her youth was the +splendid thing about her to-day. To-morrow her strong, resourceful +womanhood might be still more splendid. Lowell surrendered himself +completely to the enjoyment of the drive, and likewise he slowed down +the car another notch. + +"Of course, just getting out of school, I haven't learned so much about +the inevitableness of life," said the girl, harking back to Lowell's +remark concerning the Indians, "but I'm beginning to sense the +responsibilities now. I've just learned that it was my stepfather who +kept me in that delightful school so many years, and now it's time for +repayment." + +"Repayment seems to be exacted for everything in life," said Lowell +automatically, though he was too much astonished at the girl's remark to +tell whether his reply had been intelligible. Was it possible the "squaw +professor" had been misjudged all these years, and was living a life of +sacrifice in order that this girl might have every opportunity? Lowell +had not recovered from the astounding idea before they reached Talpers's +place. He stopped the automobile in front of the store, and the trader +came out. + +"Mr. Talpers, meet Miss Ervin, daughter of our neighbor, Mr. Morgan," +said the agent. "Miss Ervin will probably be coming over here after her +mail, and you might as well meet her now." + +Talpers bobbed his head, but not enough to break the stare he had bent +upon the girl, who flushed under his scrutiny. As a matter of fact, the +trader had been too taken aback at the thought of a woman--and a young +and pretty woman--being related to the owner of Mystery Ranch to do more +than mumble a greeting. Then the vividness of the girl's beauty had +slowly worked upon him, rendering his speechlessness absolute. + +"I don't like Mr. Talpers as well as I do some of your Indians," said +the girl, as they rolled away from the store, leaving the trader on the +platform, still staring. + +"Well, I don't mind confiding in you, as I've confided in Bill himself, +that Mr. Talpers is something over ninety per cent undesirable. He is +one of the thorns that grow expressly for the purpose of sticking in the +side of Uncle Sam. He's cunning and dangerous, and constantly lowers the +reservation morale, but he's over the line and I can't do a thing with +him unless I get him red-handed. But he's postmaster and the only trader +near here, and you'll have to know him, so I thought I'd bring out the +Talpers exhibit early." + +Helen laughed, and forgot her momentary displeasure as the insistent +appeal of the landscape crowded everything else from her mind. The white +road lay like a carelessly flung thread on the billowing plateau land. +The air was crisp with the magic of the upper altitudes. Gray clumps of +sagebrush stood forth like little islands in the sea of grass. A winding +line of willows told where a small stream lay hidden. The shadows of +late afternoon were filling distant hollows with purple. Remote +mountains broke the horizon in a serrated line. Prairie flowers scented +the snow-cooled breeze. + +They paused on the top of a hill, where, a few days later, a tragedy was +to be enacted. The agent said nothing, letting the panorama tell its own +story. + +"Oh, it's almost overwhelming," said Helen finally, with a sigh. +"Sometimes it all seems so intimate, and personally friendly, and then +those meadow-larks stop singing for a moment, and the sun brings out the +bigness of everything--and you feel afraid, or at least I do." + +Lowell smiled understandingly. + +"It works on strong men the same way," he said. "That's why there are no +Indian tramps, I guess. No Indian ever went 'on his own' in this big +country. The tribes people always clung together. The white trappers +came and tried life alone, but lots of them went queer as a penalty. The +cowpunchers flocked together and got along all right, but many a +sheep-herder who has tried it alone has had to be taken in charge by his +folks. Human companionship out in all those big spaces is just as +necessary as bacon, flour, and salt." + +The girl sighed wistfully. + +"Of course, I've had lots of companionship at school," she said. "Is +there any one besides my stepfather on his ranch? There must be, I +imagine." + +"There's a Chinese cook, I believe--Wong," replied Lowell. "But you are +going to find lots to interest you. Besides, if you will let me--" + +"Yes, I'll let you drive over real often," laughed the girl, as Lowell +hesitated. "I'll be delighted, and I know father will be, also." + +Lowell wanted to turn the car around and head it away from the hated +ranch which was now so close at hand. His heart sank, and he became +silent as they dropped into the valley and approached the watercourse, +near which Willis Morgan's cabin stood. + +"Here's the place," he said briefly, as he turned into a travesty of a +front yard and halted beside a small cabin, built of logs and containing +not more than three or four rooms. + +The girl looked at Lowell in surprise. Something in the grim set of his +jaw told her the truth. Pride came instantly to her rescue, and in a +steady voice she made some comment on the quaintness of the +surroundings. + +There was no welcome--not even the barking of a dog. Lowell took the +suitcase from the car, and, with the girl standing at his side, knocked +at the heavy pine door, which opened slowly. An Oriental face peered +forth. In the background Lowell could see the shadowy figure of Willis +Morgan. The man's pale face and gray hair looked blurred in the +half-light of the cabin. He did not step to the door, but his voice +came, cold and cutting. + +"Bring in the suitcase, Wong," said Morgan. "Welcome to this humble +abode, stepdaughter o' mine. I had hardly dared hope you would take such +a plunge into the primitive." + +The girl was trying to voice her gratitude to Lowell when Morgan's hand +was thrust forth and grasped hers and fairly pulled her into the +doorway. The door closed, and Lowell turned back to his automobile, with +anger and pity struggling within him for adequate expression. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Walter Lowell tore the wrapper of his copy of the "White Lodge Weekly +Star" when the agency mail was put on his desk a few days after the +murder on the Dollar Sign road. + +"I'm betting Editor Jay Travers cuts into the vitriol supply for our +benefit in this issue of his household journal," remarked the agent to +his chief clerk. + +"He won't overlook the chance," replied Rogers. "Here's where he earns a +little of the money the stockmen have been putting into his newspaper +during the last few years." + +"Yes, here it is: 'Crime Points to Indians. Automobile Tourist Killed +Near Reservation. Staked Down, Probably by Redskins. Wave of Horror +Sweeping the County--Dancing should be Stopped--Policy of Coddling +Indians--White Settlers not Safe.' Oh, take it and read it in detail!" +And Lowell tossed the paper to Rogers. + +"And right here, where you'd look for it first thing--right at the top +of the editorial column--is a regular old-fashioned English leader, +calling on the Government to throw open the reservation to grazing," +said Rogers. + +"The London 'Times' could thunder no more strongly in proportion. The +grateful cowmen should throw at least another five thousand into ye +editor's coffers. But, after all, what does it matter? A dozen +newspapers couldn't make the case look any blacker for the Indians. If +some hot-headed white man doesn't read this and take a shot at the first +Indian he meets, no great harm will be done." + +The inquest over the slain man had been duly held at White Lodge. The +coroner's jury found that the murder had been done "by a person or +persons unknown." The telegrams which Lowell had sent had brought back +the information that Edward B. Sargent was a retired inventor of mining +machinery--that he was prosperous, and lived alone. His servants said he +had departed in an automobile five days before. He had left no word as +to his destination, but had drawn some money from the bank--sufficient +to cover expenses on an extended trip. His servants said he was in the +habit of taking such trips alone. Generally he went to the Rocky +Mountains in his automobile every summer. He was accustomed to life in +the open and generally carried a camping outfit. His description tallied +with that which had been sent. He had left definite instructions with a +trust company about the disposal of his fortune, and about his burial, +in case of his death. Would the county authorities at White Lodge please +forward remains without delay? + +While the inquiry was in progress, Walter Lowell spent much of his time +at White Lodge, and caught the brunt of the bitter feeling against the +Indians. It seemed as if at least three out of four residents of the +county had mentally tried and convicted Fire Bear and his companions. + +"And if there is one out of the four that hasn't told me his opinion," +said Lowell to the sheriff, "it's because he hasn't been able to get to +town." + +Sheriff Tom Redmond, though evidently firm in his opinion that Indians +were responsible for the crime, was not as outspoken in his remarks as +he had been at the scene of the murder. The county attorney, Charley +Dryenforth, a young lawyer who had been much interested in the progress +of the Indians, had counseled less assumption on the sheriff's part. + +"Whoever did this," said the young attorney, "is going to be found, +either here in this county or on the Indian reservation. It wasn't any +chance job--the work of a fly-by-night tramp or yeggman. The Dollar Sign +is too far off the main road to admit of that theory. It's a home job, +and the truth will come out sooner or later, just as Lowell says, and +the only sensible thing is to work with the agent and not against +him--at least until he gives some just cause for complaint." + +Like the Indian agent, the attorney had a complete understanding of the +prejudices in the case. There is always pressure about any Indian +reservation. White men look across the line at unfenced acres, and +complain bitterly against a policy that gives so much land to so few +individuals. There are constant appeals to Congressmen. New treaties, +which disregard old covenants as scraps of paper, are constantly being +introduced. Leasing laws are being made and remade and fought over. The +Indian agent is the local buffer between contending forces. But, used as +he was to unfounded complaint and criticism, Walter Lowell was hardly +prepared for the bitterness that descended upon him at White Lodge after +the crime on the Dollar Sign. Men with whom he had hunted and fished, +cattlemen whom he had helped on the round-up, and storekeepers whose +trade he had swelled to considerable degree, attempted to engage in +argument tinged with acrimony. Lowell attempted to answer a few of them +at first, but saw how futile it all was, and took refuge in silence. He +waited until there was nothing more for him to do at White Lodge, and +then he went back to the agency to complete the job of forgetting an +incredible number of small personal injuries.... There was the girl at +Willis Morgan's ranch. Surely she would be outside of all these +wave-like circles of distrust and rancor. He intended to have gone to +see her within a day or two after he had taken her over to Morgan's, but +something insistent had come up at the agency, and then had come the +murder. Well, he would go over right away. He took his hat and gloves +and started for the automobile, when the telephone rang. + +"It's Sheriff Tom Redmond," said Rogers. "He's coming over to see you +about going out after Fire Bear. An indictment's been found, and he's +bringing a warrant charging Fire Bear with murder." + + * * * * * + +Bill Talpers sat behind the letter cage that marked off Uncle Sam's +corner of his store, and paid no attention to the waiting Indian outside +who wanted a high-crowned hat, but who knew better than to ask for it. + +Being postmaster had brought no end of problems to Bill. This time it +was a problem that was not displeasing, though Mr. Talpers was not quite +sure as yet how it should be followed out. The problem was contained in +a letter which Postmaster Bill held in his hand. The letter was open, +though it was not addressed to the man who had read it a dozen times and +who was still considering its import. + +Lovingly, Bill once more looked at the address on the envelope. It was +in a feminine hand and read: + + MR. EDWARD B. SARGENT. + +The town that figured on the envelope was Quaking-Asp Grove, which was +beyond White Lodge, on the main transcontinental highway. Slowly Bill +took from the envelope a note which read: + + _Dear Uncle and Benefactor_: + + I have learned all. Do not come to the ranch for me, as you have + planned. Evil impends. In fact I feel that he means to do you harm. + I plead with you, do not come. It is the only way you can avert + certain tragedy. I am sending this by Wong, as I am watched + closely, though he pretends to be looking out only for my welfare. + I can escape in some way. I am not afraid--only for you. Again I + plead with you not to come. You will be going into a deathtrap. + + HELEN + +Wong, the factotum from the Greek Letter Ranch, had brought the letter +and had duly stamped it and dropped it in the box for outgoing mail, +three days before the murder on the Dollar Sign road. Wong had all the +appearance of a man frightened and in a hurry. Talpers sought to detain +him, but the Chinese hurried back to his old white horse and climbed +clumsily into the saddle. + +"It's a long time sence I've seen that old white hoss with the big +pitchfork brand on his shoulder," said Talpers. "You ain't ridin' up +here for supplies as often as you used to, Wong. Must be gettin' all +your stuff by mail-order route. Well, I ain't sore about it, so wait +awhile and have a little smoke and talk." + +But Wong had shaken his head and departed as rapidly in the direction of +the ranch as his limited riding ability would permit. + +The letter that Wong had mailed had not gone to its addressed +destination. Talpers had opened it and read it, out of idle curiosity, +intending to seal the flap again and remail it if it proved to be +nothing out of the ordinary. But there were hints of interesting things +in the letter, and Bill kept it a day or so for re-reading. Then he kept +it for another day because he had stuck it in his pocket and all but +forgotten about it. Afterward came the murder, with the name of Sargent +figuring, and Bill kept the letter for various reasons, one of which was +that he did not know what else to do with it. + +"It's too late for that feller to git it now, any ways," was Bill's +comfortable philosophy. "And if I'd go and mail it now, some fool +inspector might make it cost me my job as postmaster. Besides, it may +come useful in my business--who knows?" + +The usefulness of the letter, from Bill's standpoint, began to be +apparent the day after the murder, when Helen Ervin rode up to the store +on the white horse which Wong had graced. The girl rode well. She was +hatless and dressed in a neat riding-suit--the conventional attire of +her classmates who had gone in for riding-lessons. Her riding-clothes +were the first thing she had packed, on leaving San Francisco, as the +very word "ranch" had suggested delightful excursions in the saddle. + +Two or three Indians sat stolidly on the porch as Helen rode up. She had +learned that the old horse was not given to running away. He might roll, +to rid himself of the flies, but he was not even likely to do that with +the saddle on, so Helen did not trouble to tie him to the rack. She let +the reins drop to the ground and walked past the Indians into the store, +where Bill Talpers was watching her greedily from behind his +postmaster's desk. + +"You are postmaster here, Mr. Talpers, aren't you?" asked Helen, with a +slight acknowledgment of the trader's greeting. + +Bill admitted that Uncle Sam had so honored him. + +"I'm looking for a letter that was mailed here by Wong, and should be +back from Quaking-Asp Grove by this time. It had a return address on it, +and I understand the person to whom it was sent did not receive it." + +Talpers leaned forward mysteriously and fixed his animal-like gaze on +Helen. + +"I know why he didn't git it," said Bill. "He didn't git it because he +was murdered." + +Helen turned white, and her riding-whip ceased its tattoo on her boot. +She grasped at the edge of the counter for support, and Bill smiled +triumphantly. He had played a big card and won, and now he was going to +let this girl know who was master. + +"There ain't no use of your feelin' cut up," he went on. "If you and me +jest understand each other right, there ain't no reason why any one else +should know about that letter." + +"You held it up and it never reached Quaking-Asp Grove!" exclaimed +Helen. "You're the real murderer. I can have you put in prison for +tampering with the mails." + +The last shot did not make Bill blink. He had been looking for it. + +"Ye-es, you might have me put in prison. I admit that," he said, +stroking his sparse black beard, "but you ain't goin' to, because I'd +feel in duty bound to say that I jest held up the letter in the +interests of justice, and turn the hull thing over to the authorities. +Old Fussbudget Tom Redmond is jest achin' to make an arrest in this +case. He wants to throw the hull Injun reservation in jail, but he'd +jest as soon switch to a white person, if confronted with the proper +evidence. Now this here letter"--and here Bill took the missive from his +pocket--"looks to me like air-tight, iron-bound, copper-riveted sort of +testimony that says its own say. Tom couldn't help but act on it, and +act quick." + +Helen looked about despairingly. The Indians sat like statues on the +porch. They had not even turned their heads to observe what was going on +inside the store. The old white horse was switching and stamping and +shuddering in his constant and futile battle against flies. Beyond the +road was silence and prairie. + +Turning toward the trader, Helen thought to start in on a plea for +mercy, but one look into Talpers's face made her change her mind. Anger +set her heart beating tumultuously. She snatched at the letter in the +trader's hand, but Bill merely caught her wrist in his big fingers. +Swinging the riding-whip with all her strength, she struck Talpers +across the face again and again, but he only laughed, and finally +wrenched the whip away from her and threw it out in the middle of the +floor. Then he released her wrist. + +"You've got lots o' spunk," said Bill, coming out from behind the +counter, "but that ain't goin' to git you anywheres in pertic'ler in a +case like this. You'd better set down on that stool and think things +over and act more human." + +Helen realized the truth of Talpers's words. Anger was not going to get +her anywhere. The black events of recent hours had brought out +resourcefulness which she never suspected herself of having. Fortunately +Miss Scovill had been the sort to teach her something of the realities +of life. The Scovill School for Girls might have had a larger +fashionable patronage if it had turned out more graduates of the +clinging-vine type of femininity instead of putting independence of +thought and action as among the first requisites. + +"That letter doesn't amount to so much as you think," said Helen; "and, +anyway, suppose I swear on the stand that I never wrote it?" + +"You ain't the kind to swear to a lie," replied Bill, and Helen flushed. +"Besides, it's in your writin', and your name's there, and your Chinaman +brought it here. You can't git around them things." + +"Suppose I tell my stepfather and he comes here and takes the letter +away from you?" + +Talpers sneered. + +"He couldn't git that letter away from me, onless we put it up as a +prize in a Greek-slingin' contest. Besides, he's too ornery to help out +even his own kin. Why, I ain't one tenth as bad as that stepfather of +yourn. He just talked poison into the ears of that Injun wife of his +until she died. I guess mebbe by your looks you didn't know he had an +Injun wife, but he did. Since she died--killed by inches--he's had that +Chinaman doin' the work around the ranch-house. I guess he can't make a +dent on the Chinese disposition, or he'd have had Wong dead before this. +If you stay there any time at all, he'll have you in an insane asylum or +the grave. That's jest the nature of the beast." + +Talpers was waxing eloquent, because it had come to him that his one +great mission in life was to protect this fine-looking girl from the +cruelty of her stepfather. An inexplicable feeling crept into his +heart--the first kindly feeling he had ever known. + +"It's a dum shame you didn't have any real friends like me to warn you +off before you hit that ranch," went on Bill. "That young agent who +drove you over ought to have told you, but all he can think of is +protectin' Injuns. Now with me it's different. I like Injuns all right, +but white folks comes first--especially folks that I'm interested in. +Now you and me--" + +Helen picked up her riding-whip. + +"I can't hear any more to-day," she said. + +Talpers followed her through the door and out on the porch. + +"All right," he remarked propitiatingly. "This letter'll keep, but mebbe +not very long." + +In spite of her protests, he turned the horse around for her, and held +her stirrup while she mounted. His solicitousness alarmed her more than +positive enmity on his part. + +"By gosh! you're some fine-lookin' girl," he said admiringly, his gaze +sweeping over her neatly clad figure. "There ain't ever been a +ridin'-rig like that in these parts. I sure get sick of seein' these +squaws bobbin' along on their ponies. There's lots of women around here +that can ride, but I never knowed before that the clothes counted so +much. Now you and me--" + +Helen struck the white horse with her whip. As if by accident, the lash +whistled close to Bill Talpers's face, making him give back a step in +surprise. As the girl rode away, Talpers looked after her, grinning. + +"Some spirited girl," he remarked. "And I sure like spirit. But mebbe +this letter I've got'll keep her tamed down a little. Hey, you +Bear-in-the-Cloud and Red Star and Crane--you educated sons o' guns +settin' around here as if you didn't know a word of English--there ain't +any spirits fermentin' on tap to-day, not a drop. It's gettin' scarce +and the price is goin' higher. Clear out and wait till Jim McFann comes +in to-morrow. He may be able to find somethin' that'll cheer you up!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Sheriff Tom Redmond was a veteran of many ancient cattle trails. He had +traveled as many times from Texas to the Dodge City and Abilene points +of shipment as some of our travelers to-day have journeyed across the +Atlantic--and he thought just as little about it. More than once he had +made the trifling journey from the Rio Grande to Montana, before the +inventive individual who supplied fences with teeth had made such +excursions impossible. Sheriff Tom had seen many war-bonneted Indians +looming through the dust of trail herds. Of the better side of the +Indian he knew little, nor cared to learn. But at one time or another he +had had trouble with Apache, Comanche, Kiowa, Ute, Pawnee, Arapahoe, +Cheyenne, and Sioux. He could tell just how many steers each tribe had +cost his employers, and how many horses were still charged off against +Indians in general. + +"I admit some small prejudice," said Sheriff Tom in the course of one of +his numerous arguments with Walter Lowell. "When I see old Crane hanging +around Bill Talpers's store, he looks to me jest like the cussed +Comanche that rose right out of nowheres and scared me gray-headed when +I was riding along all peaceful-like on the Picketwire. And that's the +way it goes. Every Injun I see, big or little, resembles some redskin I +had trouble with, back in early days. The only thing I can think of 'em +doing is shaking buffalo robes and running off live stock--not raising +steers to sell. I admit I'm behind the procession. I ain't ready yet to +take my theology or my false teeth from an Injun preacher or dentist." + +Lowell preferred Sheriff Tom's outspokenness to other forms of +opposition and criticism which were harder to meet. + +"Some day," he said to the sheriff, "you'll fall in line, but meantime +if you can get rid of a pest like Bill Talpers for me, you'll do more +for the Indians than they could get out of all the new leases that might +be written." + +"I've been working on Bill Talpers now for ten years and I ain't been +able to git him to stick foot in a trap," was the sheriff's reply. "But +I think he's getting to a point where he's all vain-like over the +cunning he's shown, and he'll cash himself in, hoss and beaver, when he +ain't expecting to." + +When the sheriff arrived at the agency, with the warrant for Fire Bear +in his pocket, he found a string of saddle and pack animals tied in +front of the office, under charge of two of the best cowmen on the +reservation, White Man Walks and Many Coups. + +"I'll have your car put in with mine, Tom," said Lowell, who was dressed +in cowpuncher attire, even to leather _chaparejos_. "I know you're +always prepared for riding. There's a saddle horse out there for you. +We've some grub and a tent and plenty of bedding, as we may be out +several days and find some rough going." + +"I judge it ain't going to be any moonlight excursion on the Hudson, +then, bringing in this Injun," observed Redmond. + +Lowell motioned to the sheriff to step into the private office. + +"Affairs are a little complicated," said the agent, closing the door. +"Plenty Buffalo has turned up something that makes it look as if Jim +McFann may know something about the murder." + +"What's Plenty Buffalo found?" + +"He discovered a track made by a broken shoe in that conglomeration of +hoof marks at the scene of the murder." + +"Why didn't he say so at the time?" + +"Because he wasn't sure that it pointed to Jim McFann. But he'd been +trailing McFann for bootlegging and was pretty sure Jim was riding a +horse with a broken shoe. He got hold of an Indian we can trust--an +Indian who stands pretty well with McFann--and had him hunt till he +found Jim." + +"Where was he?" + +"McFann was hiding away up in the big hills. What made him light out +there no one knows. That looked bad on the face of it. Then this Indian +scout of ours, when he happened in on Jim's camp, found that McFann was +riding a horse with a broken shoe." + +"Looks as if we ought to bring in the half-breed, don't it?" + +"Wait a minute. The broken shoe isn't all. Those pieces of rope that +were used to tie that man to the stakes--they were cut from a rawhide +lariat." + +"And Jim McFann uses that kind?" + +"Yes." + +"Do you know where McFann is hanging out?" + +"He may have moved camp, but we can find him." + +The sheriff frowned. Matters were getting more complicated than he had +thought possible. From the first he had entertained only one idea +concerning the murder--that Fire Bear had done the work, or that some of +the reckless spirits under the rebellious youth had slain in a moment of +bravado. + +"Well, it may be that McFann and Fire Bear's crowd had throwed in +together and was all mixed up in the killing," remarked the sheriff. "A +John Doe warrant ought to be enough to get everybody we want." + +"We can get anybody that's wanted," said Lowell, "but you must remember +one thing--you're dealing with people who are not used to legal +procedure and who may resent wholesale arrests." + +"You'll take plenty of Injun police along, I suppose." + +"No--I'm not even going to take Plenty Buffalo. The whole police force +and all the deputies you might be able to swear in in a week couldn't +bring in Fire Bear if he gave the signal to the young fellows around +him. We're going alone, except for those two Indians out there, who will +just look after camp affairs for us." + +"I dunno but you're right," observed Redmond after a pause, during which +he keenly scrutinized the young agent's face. "Anyway, I ain't going to +let it be said that you've got more nerve than I have. Let the lead hoss +go where he chooses--I'll follow the bell." + +"Another thing," said Lowell. "You're on an Indian reservation. These +Indians have been looking to me for advice and other things in the last +four years. If it comes to a point where decisive action has to be +taken--" + +"You're the one to take it," interrupted the sheriff. "From now on it's +your funeral. I don't care what methods you use, so long as I git Fire +Bear, and mebbe this half-breed, behind the bars for a hearing down at +White Lodge." + +The men walked out of the office, and the sheriff was given his mount. +The Indians swung the pack-horses into line, and the men settled +themselves in their saddles as they began the long, plodding journey to +the blue hills in the heart of the reservation. + + * * * * * + +The lodges of Fire Bear and his followers were placed in a circle, in a +grove somber enough for Druidical sacrifice. White cliffs stretched high +above the camp, with pine-trees growing at all angles from the +interstices of rock. At the foot of the cliffs, and on the green slope +that stretched far below to the forest of lodgepole pines, stood many +conical, tent-like formations of rock. They were even whiter than the +canvas tepees which were grouped in front of them. At any time of the +day these formations were uncanny. In time of morning or evening shadow +the effect upon the imagination was intensified. The strange outcropping +was repeated nowhere else. It jutted forth, white and mysterious--a +monstrous tenting-ground left over from the Stone Age. As if to deepen +the effect of the weird stage setting, Nature contrived that all the +winds which blew here should blow mournfully. The lighter breezes +stirred vague whisperings in the pine-trees. The heavy winds wrought +weird noises which echoed from the cliffs. + +Lowell had looked upon the Camp of the Stone Tepees once before. There +had been a chase for a cattle thief. It was thought he had hidden +somewhere in the vicinity of the white semicircle, but he had not been +found there, because no man in fear of pursuit could dwell more than a +night in so ghostly a place of solitude. + +It had been late evening when Lowell had first seen the Camp of the +Stone Tepees. He remembered the half-expectant way in which he had +paused, thinking to see a white-clad priest emerge from one of the +shadowy stone tents and place a human victim upon one of the sacrificial +tablets in the open glade. It was early morning when Lowell looked on +the scene a second time. He and the sheriff had made a daylight start, +leaving the Indians to follow with the pack-horses. It was a long climb +up the slopes, among the pines, from the plains below. The trail, for +the greater part of the way, had followed a stream which was none too +easy fording at the best, and which regularly rose several inches every +afternoon owing to the daily melting of late snows in the mountain +heights. It was necessary to cross and recross the stream many times. +Occasionally the horses floundered over smooth rocks and were nearly +carried away. All four men were wet to the waist. Redmond, with memories +of countless wider and more treacherous fords crowding upon him, merely +jested at each new buffeting in the stream. The Indians were concerned +only lest some pack-animal should fall in midstream. Lowell, a good +horseman and tireless mountaineer, counted physical discomfort as +nothing when such vistas of delight were being opened up. + +The giant horseshoe in the cliffs was in semi-darkness when they came in +sight of it. Lowell was in the lead, and he turned his horse and +motioned to the sheriff to remain hidden in the trees that skirted the +glade. The voice of a solitary Indian was flung back and forth in the +curve of the cliffs. His back was toward the white men. If he heard +them, he made no sign. He was wrapped in a blanket, from shoulders to +heels, and was in the midst of a long incantation, flung at the beetling +walls with their foot fringe of stone tents. The tepees of the Indians +were hardly distinguishable from those which Nature had pitched on this +world-old camping-ground. No sound came from the tents of the Indians. +Probably the "big medicine" of the Indian was being listened to, but +those who heard made no sign. + +"It's Fire Bear," said Lowell, as the voice went on and the echoes +fluttered back from the cliffs. + +"He's sure making big medicine," remarked the sheriff. "They've picked +one grand place for a camp. By the Lord! it even sort of gave me the +shivers when I first looked at it. What'll we do?" + +"Wait till he gets through," cautioned Lowell. "They'd come buzzing out +of those tents like hornets if we broke in now, in all probability." + +The sheriff's face hardened. + +"Jest the same, that sort of thing ought to be stopped--all of it," he +said. + +"Do you stop every fellow that mounts a soap box, or, what's more +likely, stands up on a street corner in an automobile and makes a +Socialist speech?" + +"No--but that's different." + +"Why is it? An Indian reservation is just like a little nation. It has +its steady-goers, and it has its share of the shiftless, and also it has +an occasional Socialist, and once in a while a rip-snorting Anarchist. +Fire Bear doesn't know just what he is yet. He's made some pretty big +medicine and made some prophecies that have come true and have gained +him a lot of followers, but I can't see that it's up to me to stop him. +Not that I have any cause to love that Indian over there in that +blanket. He's been the cause of a lot of trouble. He's young and +arrogant. In a big city he would be a gang-leader. The police and the +courts would find him a problem--and he's just as much, or perhaps more, +of a problem out here in the wilds than he would be in town." + +The sheriff made no reply, but watched Fire Bear narrowly. Soon the +Indian ended his incantations, and the tents of his followers began +opening and blanketed figures came forth. Lowell and the sheriff stepped +out into the glade and walked toward the camp. The Indians grouped +themselves about Fire Bear. There was something of defiance in their +attitude, but the white men walked on unconcernedly, and, without any +preliminaries, Lowell told Fire Bear the object of their errand. + +"You're suspected of murdering that white man on the Dollar Sign road," +said Lowell. "You and these young fellows with you were around there. +Now you're wanted, to go to White Lodge and tell the court just what you +know about things." + +Fire Bear was one of the best-educated of the younger generation of +Indians. He had carried off honors at an Eastern school, both in his +studies and athletics. But his haunts had been the traders' stores when +he returned to the reservation. Then he became possessed of the idea +that he was a medicine man. Fervor burned in his veins and fired his +speech. The young fellows who had idled with him became his zealots. He +began making prophecies which mysteriously worked out. He had prophesied +a flood, and one came, sweeping away many lodges. When he and his +followers were out of food, he had prophesied that plenty would come to +them that day. It so happened that lightning that morning struck the +trace chain on a load of wood that was being hauled down the +mountain-side by a white leaser. The four oxen drawing the load were +killed, and the white man gave the beef to the Indians, on condition +that they would remove the hides for him. This had sent Fire Bear's +stock soaring and had gained many recruits for his camp--even some of +the older Indians joining. + +Lowell had treated Fire Bear leniently--too leniently most of the white +men near the reservation had considered. With the Indians' religious +ceremonials had gone the usual dancing. An inspector from Washington had +sent in a recommendation that the dancing be stopped at once. Lowell had +received several broad hints, following the inspector's letter, but he +was waiting an imperative order before stopping the dancing, because he +knew that any high-handed interference just then would undo an +incalculable amount of his painstaking work with the Indians. He had +figured that he could work personally with Fire Bear after the young +medicine man's first ardor in his new calling had somewhat cooled. Then +had come the murder, with everything pointing to the implication of the +young Indian, and with consequent action forced on the agent. + +A threatening circle surrounded the white men in Fire Bear's camp. + +"Why didn't you bring the Indian police to arrest me?" asked the young +Indian leader. + +"Because I thought you'd see things in their right light and come," said +Lowell. + +Fire Bear thought a moment. + +"Well, because you did not bring the police, I will go with you," he +said. + +"You don't have to tell us anything that might be used against you," +said the sheriff. + +Fire Bear smiled bitterly. + +"I've studied white man's law," he said. + +Redmond rubbed his head in bewilderment. Such words, coming from a +blanketed Indian, in such primitive surroundings, passed his +comprehension. Yet Lowell thought, as he smiled at the sheriff's +amazement, that it merely emphasized the queer jumble of old and new on +every reservation. + +"I'll ask you to wait for me out there in the trees," said Fire Bear. + +Redmond hesitated, but the agent turned at once and walked away, and the +sheriff finally followed. Fire Bear exhorted his followers a few +moments, and then disappeared in his tent. Soon he came out, dressed in +the "store clothes" of the ordinary Indian. He joined Redmond and the +agent at the edge of the glade, and they made their way toward the +creek, no one venturing to follow from the camp. At the bottom of the +slope they found the Indian helpers with the horses. + +"Fire Bear," said Lowell, as they paused before starting out, "there's +one thing more I want of you. Help us to find Jim McFann. He's as deep +or deeper in this thing than you are." + +"I know he is," replied Fire Bear, "but it wasn't for me to say so. I'll +help find him for you." + +They had to fight to get Jim McFann. They found the half-breed cooking +some bacon over a tiny fire, at the head of a gulch that was just made +for human concealment. If it had not been for the good offices of Fire +Bear on the trail, they might have hunted a week for their man. McFann +had moved camp several times since Plenty Buffalo had located him. Each +time he had covered his tracks with surpassing care. + +Lowell, according to prearranged plan, had walked in upon McFann, with +Redmond covering the half-breed, ready to shoot in case a weapon was +drawn. But McFann merely made a headlong dive for Lowell's legs, and +there was a rough-and-tumble fight about the camp-fire which was settled +only when the agent managed to get a lock on his wiry opponent which +pinned McFann's back to the ground. + +"You wouldn't fight that hard if you thought you was being yanked up for +a little bootlegging, Jim," mused Tom Redmond, pulling his long +mustache. "You know what we've come after you for, don't you?" + +McFann threshed about in another futile attempt to escape, and cursed +his captors with gifts of expletive which came from two races. + +"It's on account of that tenderfoot that was found on the Dollar Sign," +growled Jim, "but Fire Bear and his gang can't tell any more on me than +I can on them." + +"That's the way to get at the truth," chuckled the sheriff triumphantly. +"I guess by the time you fellers are through with each other we'll know +who shot that man and staked him down." + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +On the day following the incarceration of Fire Bear and Jim McFann, +Lowell rode over to the scene of the murder on the Dollar Sign road. + +It seemed to the agent as if a fresh start from the very beginning would +do more than anything else to put him on the trail of a solution of the +mystery. + +Lowell was not inclined to accept Redmond's comfortable theory that +either Fire Bear or Jim McFann was guilty--or that both were equally +deep in the crime. Nor did he assume that these men were not guilty. It +was merely that there were some aspects of the case which did not seem +to him entirely convincing. Circumstantial evidence pointed strongly to +Fire Bear and the half-breed, and this evidence might prove all that was +necessary to fasten the crime upon the prisoners. In fact Redmond was so +confident that he prophesied a confession from one or both of the men +before the time arrived for their hearing in court. + +As Lowell approached Talpers's store, the trader came out and hailed +him. + +"I hear Redmond's arrested Fire Bear and Jim McFann," said Talpers. + +"Yes." + +"Well, as far as public opinion goes, I s'pose Tom has hit the nail on +the head," observed Bill. "There's some talk right now about lynchin' +the prisoners. Folks wouldn't talk that way unless the arrest was pretty +popular." + +"That's Tom Redmond's lookout. He will have to guard against a +lynching." + +Talpers stroked his beard and smiled reflectively. Evidently he had +something on his mind. His attitude was that of a man concealing +something of the greatest importance. + +"There's one thing sure," went on Bill. "Jim McFann ain't any more +guilty of a hand in that murder than if he wasn't within a thousand +miles of the Dollar Sign when the thing happened." + +"That will have to be proved in court." + +"Well, as far as McFann's concerned I know Redmond's barkin' up the +wrong tree." + +"How do you know it?" + +Talpers made a deprecating motion. + +"Of course I don't know it absolutely. It's jest what I feel, from bein' +as well acquainted with Jim as I am." + +"Yes, you and Jim are tolerably close to each other--everybody knows +that." + +Talpers shot a suspicious glance at the agent, and then he reassumed his +mysterious grin. + +"Where you goin' now?" he asked. + +"Just up on the hill." + +"I've been back there a couple of times," sneered Bill, "but I couldn't +find no notes dropped by the murderer." + +"Well, there's just one thing that's plain enough now, Talpers," said +Lowell grimly, as he released his brakes. "While Jim McFann is in jail a +lot of Indians are going to be thirsty, and your receipts for whiskey +are not going to be so big." + +Talpers scowled angrily and stepped toward the agent. Lowell sat calmly +in the car, watching him unconcernedly. Then Talpers suddenly turned and +walked toward the store, and the agent started his motor and glided +away. + +Bill's ugly scowl did not fade as he stalked into his store. Lowell's +last shot about the bootlegging had gone home. Talpers had had more +opposition from Lowell than from any other Indian agent since the trader +had established his store on the reservation line. In fact the young +agent had made whiskey-dealing so dangerous that Talpers was getting +worried. Lowell had brought the Indian police to a state of efficiency +never before obtained. Bootlegging had become correspondingly difficult. +Jim McFann had complained several times about being too close to +capture. Now he was arrested on another charge, and, as Lowell had said, +Talpers's most profitable line of business was certain to suffer. As +Bill walked back to his store he wondered how much Lowell actually knew, +and how much had been shrewd guesswork. The young agent had a certain +inscrutable air about him, for all his youth, which was most disturbing. + +Talpers had not dared come out too openly for McFann's release. He +offered bail bonds, which were refused. He had managed to get a few +minutes' talk with McFann, but Redmond insisted on being present, and +all the trader could do was to assure the half-breed that everything +possible would be done to secure his release. + +Bill's disturbed condition of mind vanished only when he reached into +his pocket and drew out the letter which indicated that the girl at +Mystery Ranch knew something about the tragedy which was setting not +only the county but the whole State aflame. Here was a trump card which +might be played in several different ways. The thing to do was to hold +it, and to keep his counsel until the right time came. He thanked the +good fortune that had put him in possession of the postmastership--an +office which few men were shrewd enough to use to their own good +advantage! Any common postmaster, who couldn't use his brains, would +have let that letter go right through, but that wasn't Bill Talpers's +way! He read the letter over again, slowly, as he had done a dozen times +before. Written in a pretty hand it was--handwriting befitting a dum +fine-lookin' girl like that! Bill's features softened into something +resembling a smile. He put the letter back in his pocket, and his +expression was almost beatific as he turned to wait on an Indian woman +who had come in search of a new shawl. + +Talpers's attitude, which had been at once cynical and mysterious, was +the cause of some speculation on Lowell's part as the agent drove away +from the trader's store. Something had happened to put so much of +triumph in Talpers's face and speech, but Lowell was not able to figure +out just what that something could be. He resolved to keep a closer eye +than customary on the doings of the trader, but soon all thoughts of +everything save those concerned directly with the murder were banished +from his mind when he reached the scene of the tragedy. + +Getting out of his automobile, Lowell went over the ground carefully. +The grass and even some of the sage had been trampled down by the +curious crowds that had flocked to the scene. An hour's careful search +revealed nothing, and Lowell walked back to his car, shaking his head. +Apparently the surroundings were more inscrutable than ever. The rolling +hills were beginning to lose their green tint, under a hot sun, +unrelieved by rain. The last rain of the season had fallen a day or so +before the murder. Lowell remembered the little pools he had splashed +through on the road, and the scattered "wallows" of mud that had +remained on the prairie. Such places were now all dry and caked. A few +meadow-larks were still singing, but even their notes would be silenced +in the long, hot days that were to come. But the distant mountains, and +the little stream in the bottom of the valley, looked cool and inviting. +Ordinarily Lowell would have turned his machine toward the line of +willows and tried an hour or so of fly-fishing, as there were plenty of +trout in the stream, but to-day he kept on along the road over which he +had taken Helen Ervin to her stepfather's ranch. + +As Lowell drove up in front of Willis Morgan's ranch-house, he noticed a +change for the better in the appearance of the place. Wong had been +doing some work on the fence, but had discreetly vanished when Lowell +came in sight. The yard had been cleared of rubbish and a thick growth +of weeds had been cut down. + +Lowell marveled that a Chinese should be doing such work as repairing a +fence, and wondered if the girl had wrought all the changes about the +place or if it had been done under Morgan's direction. + +As if in answer, Helen Ervin came into the yard with a rake in her hand. +She gave a little cry of pleasure at seeing Lowell. + +"I'd have been over before, as I promised," said Lowell, "and in fact I +had actually started when I had to make a long trip to a distant part of +the reservation." + +"I suppose it was in connection with this murder," she said. + +"Yes." + +"Tell me about it. What bearing did your trip have on it?" + +Lowell was surprised at the intensity of her question. + +"Well, you see," he said, "I had to bring in a couple of men who are +suspected of committing the crime. But, frankly, I thought that in this +quiet place you had not so much as heard of the murder." + +The girl smiled, but there was no mirth in her eyes. + +"Of course it isn't as if one had newsboys shouting at the door," she +replied, "but we couldn't escape hearing of it, even here. Tell me, who +are these men you have arrested?" + +"An Indian and a half-breed. Their tracks were found at the scene of the +murder." + +"But that evidence is so slight! Surely they cannot--they may not be +guilty." + +"If not, they will have to clear themselves at the trial." + +"Will they--will they be hanged if found guilty?" + +"They may be lynched before the trial. There is talk of it now." + +Helen made a despairing gesture. + +"Don't let anything of that sort happen!" she cried. "Use all your +influence. Get the men out of the country if you can. But don't let +innocent men be slain." + +Lowell attempted to divert her mind to other things. He spoke of the +changed appearance of the ranch. + +"Your coming has made a great difference here," he said. "This doesn't +look like the place where I left you not many days ago." + +Helen closed her eyes involuntarily, as if to blot out some vision in +her memory. + +"That terrible night!" she exclaimed. "I--" + +She paused, and Lowell looked at her in surprise and alarm. + +"What is it?" he asked. "Is there anything wrong--anything I can do to +help you?" + +"No," she said. "Truly there is not, now. But there was. It was only the +recollection of my coming here that made me act so queerly." + +"Look here," said Lowell bluntly, "is that stepfather of yours treating +you all right? To put it frankly, he hasn't a very good reputation +around here. I've often regretted not telling you more when I brought +you over here. But you know how people feel about minding their own +affairs. It's a foolish sort of reserve that keeps us quiet when we feel +that we should speak." + +"No, I'm treated all right," said the girl. "It was just homesickness +for my school, I guess, that worked on me when I first came here. But I +can't get over the recollection of that night you brought me to this +place. Everything seemed so chilling and desolate--and dead! And then +those few days that followed!" + +She buried her face in her hands a moment, and then said, quietly: + +"Did you know that my stepfather had married an Indian woman?" + +"Yes. Do you mean that you didn't know?" + +"No, I didn't know." + +"What a fool I was for not telling you these things!" exclaimed Lowell. +"I might have saved you a lot of humiliation." + +"You could have saved me more than humiliation. He told me all about +her--the Indian woman. He laughed when he told me. He said he was going +to kill me as he had killed her--by inches." + +Lowell grew cold with horror. + +"But this is criminal!" he declared. "Let me take you away from this +place at once. I'll find some place where you can go--back to my +mother's home in the East." + +"No, it's all right now. I'm in no danger, and I can't leave this place. +In fact I don't want to," said the girl, putting her hand on Lowell's +arm. + +"Do you mean to tell me that he treated you so fiendishly during the +first few days, and then suddenly changed and became the most +considerate of relatives?" + +"I tell you I am being treated all right now. I merely told you what +happened at first--part of the cruel things he said--because I couldn't +keep it all to myself any longer. Besides, that Indian woman--poor +little thing!--is on my mind all the time." + +"Then you won't come away?" + +"No--he needs me." + +"Well, this beats anything I ever heard of--" began Lowell. Then he +stopped after a glance at her face. She was deathly pale. Her eyes were +unnaturally bright, and her hands trembled. It seemed to him that the +school-girl he had brought to the ranch a few days before had become a +woman through some great mental trial. + +"Come and see, or hear, for yourself," said Helen. + +Wonderingly, Lowell stepped into the ranch-house kitchen. Helen pointed +to the living-room. + +Through the partly open door, Lowell caught a glimpse of an aristocratic +face, surmounted by gray hair. A white hand drummed on the arm of a +library chair which contained pillows and blankets. From the room there +came a voice that brought to Lowell a sharp and disagreeable memory of +the cutting voice he had heard in false welcome to Helen Ervin a few +days before. Only now there was querulous insistence in the voice--the +insistence of the sick person who calls upon some one who has proved +unfailing in the performance of the tasks of the sick-room. + +Helen stepped inside the room and closed the door. Lowell heard her +talking soothingly to the sick man, and then she came out. + +"You have seen for yourself," she said. + +Lowell nodded, and they stepped out into the yard once more. + +"I'll leave matters to your own judgment," said Lowell, "only I'm asking +two things of you. One is to let me know if things go wrong, and the +other isn't quite so important, but it will please me a lot. It's just +to go riding with me right now." + +Helen smilingly assented. Once more she was the girl he had brought over +from the agency. She ran indoors and spoke a few words to Wong, and came +out putting on her hat. + +They drove for miles toward the heart of the Indian reservation. The +road had changed to narrow, parallel ribbons, with grass between. +Cattle, some of which belonged to the Indians and some to white leasers, +were grazing in the distance. Occasionally they could see an Indian +habitation--generally a log cabin, with its ugliness emphasized by the +grace of a flanking tepee. Everything relating to human affairs seemed +dwarfed in such immensity. The voices of Indian herdsmen, calling to +each other, were reduced to faint murmurs. The very sound of the motor +seemed blanketed. + +Lowell and the girl traveled for miles in silence. He shrewdly suspected +that the infinite peace of the landscape would prove the best tonic for +her overwrought mind. His theory proved correct. The girl leaned back in +the seat, and, taking off her hat, enjoyed to the utmost the rush of the +breeze and the swift changes in the great panorama. + +"It isn't any wonder that the Indians fought hard for this country, is +it?" asked Lowell. "It's all too big for one's comprehension at first, +especially when you've come from brick walls and mere strips of sky, but +after you've become used to it you can never forget it." + +"I'd like to keep right on going to those blue mountains," said the +girl. "It's wonderful, but a bit appalling, to a tenderfoot such as I +am. I think we'd better go back." + +Lowell drove in a circuitous route instead of taking the back trail. +Just after they had swung once more into the road near the ranch, they +met a horseman who proved to be Bill Talpers. The trader reined his +horse to the side of the road and motioned to Lowell to stop. Bill's +grin was bestowed upon the girl, who uttered a little exclamation of +dismay when she established the identity of the horseman. + +"I jest wanted to ask if you found anything up there," said Bill, +jerking his thumb toward the road over which he had just ridden. It was +quite plain that Talpers had been drinking. + +"Maybe I did, and maybe not, Bill," answered Lowell disgustedly. +"Anyway, what about it?" + +"Jest this," observed Bill, talking to Lowell, but keeping his gaze upon +Helen. "Sometimes you can find letters where you don't expect the guilty +parties to leave 'em. Mebbe you ain't lookin' in the right place for +evidence. How-de-do, Miss Ervin? I'm goin' to drop in at the ranch and +see you and your stepfather some day. I ain't been very neighborly so +far, but it's because business has prevented." + +Lowell started the car, and as they darted away he looked in +astonishment at the girl. Her pallor showed that once more she was under +great mental strain. It came to Lowell in a flash that Bill's arrogance +sprang from something deeper than mere conceit or drunkenness. +Undoubtedly he had set out deliberately to terrorize the girl, and had +succeeded. Lowell waited for some remark from Helen, but none came. He +kept back the questions that were on the tip of his tongue. Aside from a +few banalities, they exchanged no words until Lowell helped her from the +car at the ranch. + +"I want to tell you," said Lowell, "that I appreciate such confidence as +you have reposed in me. I won't urge you to tell more but I'm going to +be around in the offing, and, if things don't go right, and especially +if Bill Talpers--" + +There was so much terror in the girl's eyes that Lowell's assurances +came to a lame ending. She turned and ran into the house, after a +fluttering word of thanks for the ride, and Lowell, more puzzled than +ever, drove thoughtfully away. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +White Lodge was a town founded on excitement. Counting its numerous +shootings and consequent lynchings, and proportioning them to its +population, White Lodge had experienced more thrills than the largest of +Eastern cities. Some ribald verse-writer, seizing upon White Lodge's +weakness as a theme, had once written: + + We can put the card deck by us, + We can give up whiskey straight; + Though we ain't exactly pious, + We can fill the parson's plate; + We can close the gamblin' places, + We can save our hard-earned coin, + BUT we want a man for breakfast + In the mor-r-rnin'. + +But of course such lines were written in early days, and for newspaper +consumption in a rival town. White Lodge had grown distinctly away from +its wildness. It had formed a Chamber of Commerce which entered bravely +upon its mission as a lodestone for the attraction of Eastern capital. +But the lure of adventurous days still remained in the atmosphere. Men +who were assembled for the purpose of seeing what could be done about +getting a horseshoe-nail factory for White Lodge wound up the session by +talking about the days of the cattle and sheep war. All of which was +natural, and would have taken place in any town with White Lodge's +background of stirring tradition. + +Until the murder on the Dollar Sign road there had been little but +tradition for White Lodge to feed on. The sheriff's job had come to be +looked upon as a sinecure. But now all was changed. Not only White +Lodge, but the whole countryside, had something live to discuss. Even +old Ed Halsey, who had not been down from his cabin in the mountains for +at least five years, ambled in on his ancient saddle horse to get the +latest in mass theory. + +So far as theorizing was concerned, opinion in White Lodge ran all one +way. The men who had been arrested were guilty, so the local newspaper +assumed, echoing side-walk conversation. The only questions were: Just +how was the crime committed, and how deeply was each man implicated? +Also, were there any confederates? Some of the older cattlemen, who had +been shut out of leases on the reservation, were even heard to hint that +in their opinion the whole tribe might have had a hand in the killing. +Anyway, Fire Bear's cohorts should be rounded up and imprisoned without +delay. + +Lowell was not surprised to find that he had been drawn into the vortex +of unfriendliness. More articles and editorials appeared in the "White +Lodge Weekly Star," putting the general blame for the tragedy upon the +policy of "coddling" the Indians. + +"The whole thing," wound up one editorial, "is the best kind of an +argument for throwing open the reservation to white settlement." + +"That is the heart of the matter as it stands," said Lowell, pointing +out the editorial to his chief clerk. "This murder is to be made the +excuse for a big drive on Congress to have the reservation thrown open." + +"Yes," observed Rogers, "the big cattlemen have been itching for another +chance since their last bill was defeated in Congress. They remind me of +the detective concern that never sleeps, only they might better get in a +few honest, healthy snores than waste their time the way they have +lately." + +Lowell paid no attention to editorial criticism, but it was not easy to +avoid hearing some of the personal comment that was passed when he +visited White Lodge. In fact he found it necessary to come to blows with +one cowpuncher, who had evidently been stationed near Lowell's +automobile to "get the goat" of the young Indian agent. The encounter +had been short and decisive. The cowboy, who was the hero of many fistic +engagements, passed some comment which had been elaborately thought out +at the camp-fire, and which, it was figured by his collaborators, "would +make anything human fight or quit." + +"That big cowpuncher from Sartwell's outfit sure got the agent's goat +all right," said Sheriff Tom Redmond, in front of whose office the +affair happened. "That is to say, he got the goat coming head-on, horns +down and hoofs striking fire. That young feller was under the +cowpuncher's arms in jest one twenty-eighth of a second, and there was +only two sounds that fell on the naked ear--one being the smack when +Lowell hit and the other the crash when the cowpuncher lit. If that rash +feller'd taken the trouble to send me a little note of inquiry in +advance, I could have told him to steer clear of a man who tied into a +desperate man the way that young agent tied into Jim McFann out there on +the reservation. But no public or private warnings are going to be +necessary now. From this time on, young Lowell's going to have more +berth-room than a wildcat." + +Such matters as cold nods from former friends were disregarded by +Lowell. He had been through lesser affairs which had brought him under +criticism. In fact he knew that a certain measure of such injustice +would be the portion of any man who accepted the post of agent. He went +his way, doing what he could to insure a fair trial for both men, and at +the same time not overlooking anything that might shed new light on a +case which most of the residents of White Lodge seemed to consider as +closed, all but the punishment to be meted out to the prisoners. + +The hearing was to be held in the little court-room presided over by +Judge Garford, who had been a figure at Vigilante trials in early days +and who was a unique personification of kindliness and firmness. Both +prisoners had refused counsel, nor had any confession materialized, as +Tom Redmond had prophesied. McFann had spent most of his time cursing +all who had been concerned in his arrest. Talpers had called on him +again, and had whispered mysteriously through the bars: + +"Don't worry, Jim. If it comes to a showdown, I'll be there with +evidence that'll clear you flyin'." + +As a matter of fact, Talpers intended to play a double game. He would +let matters drift, and see if McFann did not get off in the ordinary +course of events. Meantime the trader would use his precious possession, +the letter written by Helen Ervin, to terrify the girl. In case the girl +proved defiant, why, then it would be time to produce the letter as a +law-abiding citizen should, and demand that the searchlight of justice +be turned on the author of a missive apparently so directly concerned +with the murder. If it so happened that the letter in his hands proved +to be a successful weapon, and if Bill Talpers were accepted as a +suitor, he would let the matter drop, so far as the authorities were +concerned--and Jim McFann could drop with it. If the half-breed were to +be sacrificed when a few words from Bill Talpers might save him, so much +the worse for Jim McFann! The affairs of Bill Talpers were to be +considered first of all, and there was no need of being too solicitous +over the welfare of any mere cat's-paw like the half-breed. + +If Jim McFann had known what was passing in the mind of the trader, he +would have torn his way out of jail with his bare hands and slain his +partner in bootlegging. But the half-breed took Talpers's fair words at +face value and faced his prospects with a trifle more of equanimity. + +Fire Bear continued to view matters with true Indian composure. He had +made no protestations of innocence, and had told Lowell there was +nothing he wanted except to get the hearing over with as quickly as +possible. The young Indian, to Lowell's shrewd eye, did not seem well. +His actions were feverish and his eyes unnaturally bright. At Lowell's +request, an agency doctor was brought and examined Fire Bear. His report +to Lowell was the one sinister word: "Tuberculosis!" + +When the men were brought into the court-room a miscellaneous crowd had +assembled. Cowpunchers from many miles away had ridden in to hear what +the Indian and "breed" had to say for themselves. The crowd even +extended through the open doors into the hallway. Late comers, who could +not get so much as standing room, draped themselves upon the stairs and +about the porch and made eager inquiry as to the progress of affairs. + +Helen Ervin rode in to attend the hearing, in response to an inner +appeal against which she had struggled vainly. She met Lowell as she +dismounted from the old white horse in front of the court-house. Lowell +had called two or three times at the ranch, following their ride across +the reservation. He had not gone into the house, but had merely stopped +to get her assurance that everything was going well and that the sick +man was steadily progressing toward convalescence. + +"Why didn't you tell me you were coming over?" asked Lowell. "I would +have brought you in my machine. As it is, I must insist on taking you +back. I'll have Plenty Buffalo lead your pony back to the ranch when he +returns to the agency." + +"I couldn't help coming," said Helen. "I have a feeling that innocent +men are going to suffer a great injustice. Tell me, do you think they +have a chance of going free?" + +"They may be held for trial," said Lowell. "No one knows what will be +brought up either for or against them in the meantime." + +"But they should not spend so much as a day in jail," insisted Helen. +"They--" + +Here she paused and looked over Lowell's shoulder, her expression +changing to alarm. The agent turned and beheld Bill Talpers near them, +his gaze fixed on the girl. Talpers turned away as Lowell escorted Helen +upstairs to the court-room, where he secured a seat for her. + +As the prisoners were brought in Helen recognized the unfriendliness of +the general attitude of White Lodge toward them. Hostility was expressed +in cold stares and whispered comment. + +The men afforded a contrasting picture. Fire Bear's features were pure +Indian. His nose was aquiline, his cheek-bones high, and his eyes black +and piercing, the intensity of their gaze being emphasized by the fever +which was beginning to consume him. His expression was martial. In his +football days the "fighting face" of the Indian star had often appeared +on sporting pages. He surveyed the crowd in the court-room with calm +indifference, and seldom glanced at the gray-bearded, benign-looking +judge. + +Jim McFann, on the contrary, seldom took his eyes from the judge's face. +Jim was not so tall as Fire Bear, but was of wiry, athletic build. His +cheek-bones were as high as those of the Indian, but his skin was +lighter in color, and his hair had a tendency to curl. His sinewy hands +were clenched on his knees, and his moccasined feet crossed and +uncrossed themselves as the hearing progressed. + +Each man testified briefly in his own behalf, and each, in Helen's +opinion, told a convincing story. Both admitted having been on the scene +of the crime. Jim McFann was there first. The half-breed testified that +he had been looking for a rawhide lariat which he thought he had dropped +from his saddle somewhere along the Dollar Sign road the day before. He +had noticed an automobile standing in the road, and had discovered the +body staked down on the prairie. In answer to a question, McFann +admitted that the rope which had been cut in short lengths and used to +tie the murdered man to the stakes had been the lariat for which he had +been searching. He was alarmed at this discovery, and was about to +remove the rope from the victim's ankles and wrists, when he had +descried a body of horsemen approaching. He had thought the horsemen +might be Indian police, and had jumped on his horse and ridden away, +making his way through a near-by gulch and out on the prairie without +being detected. + +"Why were you so afraid of the Indian police?" was asked. + +The half-breed hesitated a moment, and then said: + +"Bootlegging." + +There was a laugh in the court-room at this--a sharp, mirthless laugh +which was checked by the insistent sound of the bailiff's gavel. + +Jim McFann sank back in his chair, livid with rage. In his eyes was the +look of the snarling wild animal--the same look that had flashed there +when he sprang at Lowell in his camp. He motioned that he had nothing +more to say. + +Fire Bear's testimony was as brief. He said that he and a company of his +young men--perhaps thirty or forty--all mounted on ponies, had taken a +long ride from the camp where they had been making medicine. The trip +was in connection with the medicine that was being made. Fire Bear and +his young men had ridden by a circuitous route, and had left the +reservation at the Greek Letter Ranch on the same morning that McFann +had found the slain man's body. They had intended riding along the +Dollar Sign road, past Talpers's and the agency, and back to their camp. +But on the big hill between Talpers's and the Greek Letter Ranch they +had found the automobile standing in the road, and a few minutes later +had found the body, just as McFann had described it. They had not seen +any trace of McFann, but had noticed the tracks of a man and pony about +the automobile and the body. The Indians had held a quick consultation, +and, on the advice of Fire Bear, had quit the scene suddenly. It was the +murder of a white man, off the reservation. It was a case for white men +to settle. If the Indians were found there, they might get in trouble. +They had galloped across the prairie to their camp, by the most direct +way, and had not gone on to Talpers's nor to the agency. + +Helen expected both men to be freed at once. To her dismay, the judge +announced that both would be held for trial, without bail, following +perfunctory statements from Plenty Buffalo, Walter Lowell, and Sheriff +Tom Redmond, relating to later events in the tragedy. As in a dream +Helen saw some of the spectators starting to leave and Redmond's deputy +beckon to his prisoners, when Walter Lowell rose and asked permission to +address the court in behalf of the Government's ward, Fire Bear. + +Lowell, in a few words, explained that further imprisonment probably +would be fatal to Fire Bear. He produced the certificate of the agency +physician, showing that the prisoner had contracted tuberculosis. + +"If Fire Bear will give me his word of honor that he will not try to +escape," said the agent, "I will guarantee his appearance on the day set +for his trial." + +A murmur ran through the court-room, quickly hushed by the insistent +gavel. + +Lowell had been reasonably sure of his ground before he spoke. The +venerable judge had always been interested in the work at the agency, +and was a close student of Indian tradition and history. The request had +come as a surprise, but the court hesitated only a moment, and then +announced that, if the Government's agent on the reservation would be +responsible for the delivery of the prisoner for trial, the defendant, +Fire Bear, would be delivered to said agent's care. The other defendant, +being in good health and not being a ward of the Government, would have +to stand committed to jail for trial. + +Fire Bear accepted the news with outward indifference. Jim McFann, with +his hands tightly clenched and the big veins on his forehead testifying +to the rage that burned within him, was led away between Redmond and his +deputy. There was a shuffling of feet and clinking of spurs as men rose +from their seats. A buzz came from the crowd, as distinctly hostile as a +rattler's whirr. Words were not distinguishable, but the sentiment could +not have been any more distinctly indicated if the crowd had shouted in +unison. + +Judge Garford rose and looked in a fatherly way upon the crowd. At a +motion from him the bailiff rapped for attention. The judge stroked his +white beard and said softly: + +"Friends, there is some danger that excitement may run away with this +community. The arm of the law is long, and I want to say that it will be +reached out, without fear or favor, to gather in any who may attempt in +any way to interfere with the administration of justice." + +To Helen it seemed as if the old, heroic West had spoken through this +fearless giant of other days. There was no mistaking the meaning that +ran through that quietly worded message. It brought the crowd up with a +thrill of apprehension, followed by honest shame. There was even a +ripple of applause. The crowd started once more to file out, but in +different mood. Some of the more impetuous, who had rushed downstairs +before the judge had spoken, were hustled away from the agent's +automobile, around which they had grouped themselves threateningly. + +"The judge means business," one old-timer said in an awe-stricken voice. +"That's the way he looked and talked when he headed the Vigilantes' +court. He'll do what he says if he has to hang a dozen men." + +When Lowell and Helen came out to the automobile, followed by Fire Bear, +the court-house square was almost deserted. Fire Bear climbed into the +back seat, at Lowell's direction. He was without manacles. Helen +occupied the seat beside the driver. As they drove away, she caught a +glimpse of Judge Garford coming down the court-house steps. He was +engaged in telling some bit of pioneer reminiscence--something broadly +pleasant. His face was smiling and his blue eyes were twinkling. He +looked almost as any grandparent might have looked going to join a +favorite grandchild at a park bench. Yet here was a man who had torn +aside the veil and permitted one glimpse at the old, inspiring West. + +Helen turned and looked at him again, as, in an earlier era, she would +have looked at Lincoln. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +The stage station at White Lodge was a temporary center of public +interest every afternoon at three o'clock when Charley Hicks drove the +passenger bus in from Quaking-Asp Grove. After a due inspection of the +passengers the crowd always shifted immediately to the post-office to +await the distribution of mail. + +A well-dressed, refined-looking woman of middle age was among the +passengers on the second day after the hearing of Fire Bear and Jim +McFann. She had little or nothing to say on the trip--perhaps for the +reason that speech would have been difficult on account of the +monopolizing of the conversation by the other passengers. These included +two women from White Lodge, one rancher from Antelope Mesa, and two +drummers who were going to call on White Lodge merchants. The +conversation was unusually brisk and ran almost exclusively on the +murder. + +Judge Garford's action in releasing Fire Bear on the agent's promise to +produce the prisoner in court was the cause of considerable criticism. +The two women, the ranchman, and one of the drummers had voted that too +much leniency was shown. The other drummer appealed to the stage-driver +to support his contention that the court's action was novel, but +entirely just. + +"Well, all I can say is," remarked the driver, "that if that Injun shows +up for trial, as per his agreement, without havin' to be sent for, it's +goin' to be a hard lesson for the white race to swaller. You can imagine +how much court'd be held if all white suspects was to be let go on their +word that they'd show up for trial. Detectives 'd be chasin' fugitives +all over the universe. If that Injun shows up, I'll carry the hull +reservation anywheres, without tickets, if they'll promise to pay me at +the end of the trip." + +The driver noticed that the quiet lady in the back seat, though taking +no part in the conversation, seemed to be a keenly interested listener. +No part of the discussion of the murder escaped her, but she asked no +questions. On alighting at White Lodge, she asked the driver where she +could get a conveyance to take her to Willis Morgan's ranch. + +The driver looked at her in such astonishment that she repeated her +question. + +"I'd 'a' plum forgot there was such a man in this part of the country," +said Charley, "if it hadn't 'a' been that sometime before this here +murder I carried a young woman--a stepdaughter of his'n--and she asked +me the same question. I don't believe you can hire any one to take you +out there, but I'll bet I can get you took by the same young feller that +took this girl to the ranch. He's the Indian agent, and I seen him in +his car when we turned this last corner." + +Followed by his passenger the driver hurried back to the corner and +hailed Walter Lowell, who was just preparing to return to the agency. + +On having matters explained, Lowell expressed his willingness to carry +the lady passenger over to the ranch. Her suitcase was put in the +automobile, and soon they were on the outskirts of White Lodge. + +"I ought to explain," said the agent's passenger, "that my name is +Scovill--Miss Sarah Scovill--and Mr. Morgan's stepdaughter has been in +my school for years." + +"I know," said Lowell. "I've heard her talk about your school, and I'm +glad you're going out to see her. She needs you." + +Miss Scovill looked quickly at Lowell. She was one of those women whose +beauty is only accentuated by gray hair. Her brow and eyes were +serene--those of a dreamer. Her mouth and chin were delicately modeled, +but firm. Their firmness explained, perhaps, why she was executive head +of a school instead of merely a teacher. Not all her philosophy had been +won from books. She had traveled and observed much of life at first +hand. That was why she could keep her counsel--why she had kept it +during all the talk on the stage, even though that talk had vitally +interested her. She showed the effects of her long, hard trip, but would +not hear of stopping at the agency for supper. + +"If you don't mind--if it is not altogether too much trouble to put you +to--I must go on," she said. "I assure you it's very important, and it +concerns Helen Ervin, and I assume that you are her friend." + +Lowell hastened his pace. It all meant that it would be long past the +supper hour when he returned to the agency, but there was an appeal in +Miss Scovill's eyes and voice which was not to be resisted. Anyway, he +was not going to offer material resistance to something which was +concerned with the well being of Helen Ervin. + +They sped through the agency, past Talpers's store, and climbed the big +hill just as the purples fell into their accustomed places in the +hollows of the plain. As they bowled past the scene of the tragedy, +Lowell pointed it out, with only a brief word. His passenger gave a +little gasp of pain and horror. He thought it was nothing more than +might ordinarily be expected under such circumstances, but, on looking +at Miss Scovill, he was surprised to see her leaning back against the +seat, almost fainting. + +"By George!" said Lowell contritely, "I shouldn't have mentioned it to +you." + +He slowed down the car, but Miss Scovill sat upright and recovered her +mental poise, though with evident effort. + +"I'm glad you did mention it," she said, looking back as if fascinated. +"Only, you see, I'd been hearing about the murder most of the day in the +stage, and then this place is so big and wide and lonely! Please don't +think I'm foolish." + +"It's all because you're from the city and haven't proportioned things +as yet," said Lowell. "Now all this loneliness seems kindly, to me. It's +only crowds that seem cruel. I often envy trappers dying alone in such +places. Also I can understand why the Indians wanted nothing better in +death than to have their bodies hoisted high atop of a hill, with +nothing to disturb." + +As they rounded the top of the hill and the road came up behind them +like an inverted curtain, Miss Scovill gave one last backward look. +Lowell saw that she was weeping quietly, but unrestrainedly. He drove on +in silence until he pulled the automobile up in front of the Morgan +ranch. + +"You'll find Miss Ervin here," said Lowell, stepping out of the car. +"This is the Greek Letter Ranch." + +If the prospect brought any new shock to Miss Scovill, she gave no +indication of the fact. She answered Lowell steadily enough when he +asked her when he should call for her on her return trip. + +"My return trip will be right now," she said. "I've thought it all +out--just what I'm to do, with your help. Please don't take my suitcase +from the car. Just turn the car around, and be ready to take us back +to-night--I mean Helen and myself. I intend to bring her right out and +take her away from this place." + +Wonderingly Lowell turned the car as she directed. Miss Scovill knocked +at the ranch-house door. It was opened by Wong, and Miss Scovill stepped +inside. The door closed again. Lowell rolled a cigarette and smoked it, +and then rolled another. He was about to step out of the car and knock +at the ranch-house door when Helen and Miss Scovill came out, each with +an arm about the other's waist. + +Miss Scovill's face looked whiter than ever in the moonlight. + +"Something has happened," she said--"something that makes it impossible +for me to go back--for Helen to go back with me to-night. If you can +come and get me in the morning, I'll go back alone." + +Lowell's amazement knew no bounds. Miss Scovill had made this long +journey from San Francisco to get Helen--evidently to wrest her at once +away from this ranch of mystery--and now she was going back alone, +leaving the girl among the very influences she had intended to combat. + +"Please, Mr. Lowell, do as she says," interposed Helen, whose demeanor +was grave, but whose joy at this meeting with her teacher and foster +mother shone in her eyes. + +"Yes, yes--you'll have our thanks all through your life if you will take +me back to-morrow and say nothing of what you have seen or heard," said +Miss Scovill. + +Lowell handed Miss Scovill's suitcase to the silent Wong, who had +slipped out behind the women. + +"I'm only too glad to be of service to you in any way," he said. "I'll +be here in the morning early enough so you can catch the stage out of +White Lodge." + +Much smoking on the way home did not clear up the mystery for Lowell. +Nor did sitting up and weighing the matter long after his usual bedtime +bring him any nearer to answering the questions: Why did Miss Scovill +come here determined to take Helen Ervin back to San Francisco with her? +Why did Miss Scovill change her mind so completely after arriving at +Morgan's ranch? Also why did said Miss Scovill betray such unusual +agitation on passing the scene of the murder on the Dollar Sign road--a +murder that she had been hearing discussed from all angles during the +day? + +This last question was intensified the next morning, when, with Helen in +the back seat with Miss Scovill, Lowell drove back to White Lodge. When +they passed the scene of the murder, Lowell took pains to notice that +Miss Scovill betrayed no signs of mental strain. Yet only a few hours +before she had been completely unnerved at passing by this same spot. + +The women talked little on the trip to White Lodge. What talk there was +between them was on school matters--mostly reminiscences of Helen's +school-days. Lowell could not help thinking that they feared to talk of +present matters--that something was weighing them down and crushing them +into silence. But they parted calmly enough at White Lodge. After the +stage had gone with Miss Scovill, Helen slipped into the seat beside +Lowell and chatted somewhat as she had done during their first journey +over the road. + +As for Lowell, he dismissed for the moment all thoughts of tragedy and +mystery from his mind, and gave himself up to the enjoyment of the ride. +They stopped at the agency, and Helen called on some of the friends she +had made on her first journey through. Lowell showed her about the +grounds, and she took keen interest in all that had been done to improve +the condition of the Indians. + +"Of course the main object is to induce the Indian to work," said +Lowell. "The agency is simply an experimental plant to show him the +right methods. It was hard for the white man to leave the comfortable +life of the savage and take up work. The trouble is that we're expecting +the Indian to acquire in a generation the very things it took us ages to +accept. That's why I haven't been in too great a hurry to shut down on +dances and religious ceremonies. The Indian has had to assimilate too +much, as it is. It seems to me that if he makes progress slowly that is +about all that can be expected of him." + +"It seems to me that saving the Indian from extermination, as all this +work is helping to do, is among the greatest things in the world," said +Helen. "The sad thing to me is that these people seem so remote from all +help. The world forgets so easily what it can't see." + +"Yes, there are no newspapers out here to get up Christmas charity +drives, and there are few volunteer settlement workers to be called on +for help at any time. And there are no charity balls for the Indian. It +isn't that he wants charity so much as understanding." + +"Understanding often comes quickest through charity," interposed Helen. +"It seems to me that no one could ask a better life-work than to help +these people." + +"There's more to them than the world has been willing to concede," +declared Lowell. "I never have subscribed to Parkman's theory that the +Indian's mind moves in a beaten track and that his soul is dormant. The +more I work among them the more respect I have for their capabilities." + +Further talk of Indian affairs consumed the remainder of the trip. +Lowell was an enthusiast in his work, though he seldom talked of it, +preferring to let results speak for themselves. But he had found a ready +and sympathetic listener. Furthermore, he wished to take the girl's mind +from the matters that evidently were proving such a weight. He succeeded +so well that not until they reached the ranch did her troubled +expression return. + +"Tell me," said Lowell, as he helped her from the automobile, "is he--is +Morgan better, and is he treating you all right?" + +"Yes, to both questions," said she. Then, after a moment's hesitation, +she added: "Come in. Perhaps it will be possible for you to see him." + +Lowell stepped into the room that served as Morgan's study. One wall was +lined with books, Greek predominating. Helen knocked at the door of the +adjoining room, and there came the clear, sharp, cynical voice that had +aroused all the antagonism in Lowell's nature on his first visit. + +"Come in, come in!" called the voice, as cold as ice crystals. + +Helen entered, and closed the door. The voice could be heard, in +different modulations, but always with profound cynicism as its basis. + +Lowell, with a gesture of rage, stepped to the library table. He picked +up a volume of Shakespeare's tragedies, and noticed that all references +to killing and to bloodshed in general had been blotted out. Passage +after passage was blackened with heavy lines in lead pencil. In +astonishment, Lowell picked up another volume and found that the same +thing had been done. Then the door opened and he heard the cutting voice +say: + +"Tell the interesting young agent that I am indisposed. I have never had +a social caller within my doors here, and I do not wish to start now." + +Helen came out and closed the door. + +"You heard?" she asked. + +"Yes," replied Lowell. "It's all right. I'm only sorry if my coming has +caused you any additional pain or embarrassment. I won't ask you again +what keeps you in an atmosphere like this, but any time you want to +leave, command me on the instant." + +"Please don't get our talk back where it was before," pleaded Helen, as +they stepped out on the porch and Lowell said good-bye. "I've enjoyed +the ride and the talk to-day because it all took me away from myself and +from this place of horrors. But I can't leave here permanently, no +matter how much I might desire it." + +"It's all going to be just as you say," Lowell replied. "Some day I'll +see through it all, perhaps, but right now I'm not trying very hard, +because some way I feel that you don't want me to." + +She shook hands with him gratefully, and Lowell drove slowly back to the +agency, not forgetting his customary stop at the scene of the murder--a +stop that proved fruitless as usual. + +When he entered the agency office, Lowell was greeted with an excited +hail from Ed Rogers. + +"Here's news!" exclaimed the chief clerk. "Tom Redmond has telephoned +over that Jim McFann has broken jail." + +"How did he get away?" + +"Jim had been hearing all this talk about lynching. It had been coming +to him, bit by bit, in the jail, probably passed on by the other +prisoners, and it got him all worked up. It seems that the jailer's kid, +a boy about sixteen years old, had been in the habit of bringing Jim's +meals. Also the kid had a habit of carrying Dad's keys around, just to +show off. Instead of grabbing his soup, Jim grabbed the kid by the +throat. Then he made the boy unlock the cell door and Jim slipped out, +gagged the kid, and walked out of the jail. He jumped on a cowboy's pony +in front of the jail, and was gone half an hour before the kid, who had +been locked in Jim's cell, managed to attract attention. Tom Redmond +wants you to get out the Indian police, because he's satisfied Jim has +skipped to the reservation and is hiding somewhere in the hills." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +"That there girl down at the Greek Letter Ranch is the best-lookin' girl +in these parts. I was goin' to slick up and drop around to see her, but +this here Injun agent got in ahead of me. A man with nothin' but a +cowpony don't stand a show against a feller with an auto when it comes +to callin' on girls these days." + +The nasal, drawling voice of Andy Wolters, cowpuncher for one of the big +leasing outfits on the Indian reservation, came to the ears of Bill +Talpers as the trader sat behind his post-office box screen, scowling +out upon a sunshiny world. + +A chorus of laughter from other cowpunchers greeted the frank +declaration of Mr. Wolters. + +"Agent or no agent, you wouldn't stand a show with that girl," chimed in +one of the punchers. "The squaw professor'd run you through the +barb-wire fence so fast that you'd leave hide and clothes stickin' to +it. Willis Morgan ain't ever had a visitor on his place sence he run the +Greek Letter brand on his first steer." + +"Well, he ain't got any more steers left. That old white horse is all +the stock I see of his--anyways, it's all that's carryin' that pitchfork +brand." + +"You know what they say about how old Morgan got that pitchfork brand, +don't you?--how he was huntin' through the brand book one night, turnin' +the pages over and cussin' because nothin' seemed to suit his fancy, +when all of a sudden there was a bright light and a strong smell of +sulphur, and the devil himself was right there at Morgan's side. 'Use +this for a brand,' says the devil, and there was the mark of his +pitchfork burnt on Morgan's front door, right where you'll see it to-day +if you ever want to go clost enough." + +"Anyway, git that out of your head about Morgan's ranch never havin' any +visitors," said another cowboy. "This here Injun agent's auto runs down +there reg'lar. Must be that he's a kind of a Trilby and has got old +Morgan hypnotized." + +"Aw, you mean a Svengali." + +"I bet you these spurs against a package of smokin' tobacco I know what +I mean," stoutly asserted the cowpuncher whose literary knowledge had +been called in question, and then the talk ran along the familiar +argumentative channels that had no interest for Bill Talpers. + +The trader looked back into the shadowy depths of his store. Besides the +cowboys there were several Indians leaning against the counters or +sitting lazily on boxes and barrels. Shelves and counters were piled +with a colorful miscellany of goods calculated to appeal to primitive +tastes. There were bright blankets and shawls, the latter greedily eyed +by every Indian woman who came into the store. There were farming +implements and boots and groceries and harness. In the corner where Bill +Talpers sat was the most interesting collection of all. This corner was +called the pawnshop. Here Bill paid cash for silver rings and bracelets, +and for turquoise and other semi-precious stones either mounted or in +the rough. Here he dickered for finely beaded moccasins and hat-bands +and other articles for which he found a profitable market in the East. +Here watches were put up for redemption, disappearing after they had +hung their allotted time. + +Traders on the reservation were not permitted to have such corners in +their stores, but Bill, being over the line, drove such bargains as he +pleased and took such security as he wished. + +As Bill looked over his oft-appraised stock, it seemed to have lost much +of its one-time charm. Storekeeping for a bunch of Indians and +cowpunchers was no business for a smart, self-respecting man to be in--a +man who had ambitions to be somebody in a busier world. The thing to do +was to sell out and clear out--after he had married that girl at +Morgan's ranch. He had been too lenient with that girl, anyway. Here he +held the whip-hand over her and had never used it. He had been waiting +from day to day, gloating over his opportunities, and this Indian agent +had been calling on her and maybe was getting her confidence. + +Maybe it had gone so far that the girl had told Lowell about the letter +she had mailed and that Bill had held up. Something akin to a chill +moved along Bill's spinal column at the thought. But of course such a +thing could not be. The girl couldn't afford to talk about anything like +that letter, which was certain to drag her into the murder. + +Bill looked at the letter again and then tucked it back in the safe. +That was the best place to keep it. It might get lost out of his pocket +and then there'd be the very devil to pay. He knew it all by heart, +anyway. It was enough to give him what he wanted--this girl for a wife. +She simply couldn't resist, with that letter held over her by a +determined man like Bill Talpers. After he had married her, he'd sell +out this pile of junk and let somebody else haggle with the Injuns and +cowpunchers. Bill Talpers'd go where he could wear good clothes every +day, and his purty wife'd hold up her head with the best of them! He'd +go over and state his case that very night. He'd lay down the law right, +so this girl at Morgan's 'd know who her next boss was going to be. If +Willis Morgan tried to interfere, Bill Talpers 'd crush him just the way +he'd crushed many a rattler! + +As a preliminary to his courting trip, Bill took a drink from a bottle +that he kept handy in his corner. Then he walked out to his +sleeping-quarters in the rear of the store and "slicked up a bit," +during which process he took several drinks from another bottle which +was stowed conveniently there. + +Leaving his store in charge of his clerk, Bill rode over the Dollar Sign +highway toward Morgan's ranch. The trader was dressed in black. A white +shirt and white collar fairly hurt the eye, being in such sharp contrast +with Bill's dark skin and darker beard. A black hat, wide of brim and +carefully creased, replaced the nondescript felt affair which Bill +usually wore. He donned the best pair of new boots that he could select +from his stock. They hurt his feet so that he swung first one and then +the other from the stirrups to get relief. There was none to tell Bill +that his broad, powerful frame looked better in its everyday +habiliments, and he would not have believed, even if he had been told. +He had created a sensation as he had creaked through the store after his +dressing-up operations had been completed, and he intended to repeat the +thrill when he burst upon the vision of the girl at Morgan's. + + * * * * * + +Wong had cleared away the supper dishes at the Greek Letter Ranch, and +had silently taken his way to the little bunkhouse which formed his +sleeping-quarters. + +In the library a lamp glowed. A gray-haired man sat at the table, bowed +in thought. A girl, sitting across from him, was writing. Outside was +the silence of the prairie night, broken by an occasional bird call near +by. + +"It is all so lonely here, I wonder how you can stand it," said the man. +There was deep concern in his voice. All sharpness had gone from it. + +"It is all different, of course, from the country in which I have been +living, and it _is_ lonely, but I could get used to it soon if it were +not for this pall--" + +Here the girl rose and went to the open window. She leaned on the sill +and looked out. + +The man's gaze followed her. She was even more attractive than usual, in +a house dress of light color, her arms bare to the elbows, and her pale, +expressive face limned against the black background of the night. + +"I know what you would say," replied the man. "It would be bearable +here--in fact, it might be enjoyable were it not for the black shadow +upon us. Rather it is a shadow which is blood-red instead of black." + +His voice rose, and excitement glowed in his deep-set, clear gray eyes. +His face lost its pallor, and his well-shaped, yet strong hands clutched +nervously at the arms of his chair. + +The girl turned toward him soothingly, when both paused and listened. + +"It is some Indian going by," said the man, as hoof-beats became +distinct. + +"The Indians don't ride this late. Besides, no Indian would stop here." + +The man stepped to an adjoining room. As he disappeared, there came the +sound of footfalls on the porch and Bill Talpers's heavy knock made the +front door panels shake. + +The girl hesitated a moment, and then opened the door. The trader walked +in without invitation, his new boots squeaking noisily. If he had +expected any exhibition of fear on the part of the girl, Talpers was +mistaken. She looked at him calmly, and Bill shifted uneasily from one +foot to another as he took off his hat. + +"I thought I'd drop in for a little social call, seein' as you ain't +called on me sence our talk about that letter," said Bill, seating +himself at the table. + +"It was what I might have expected," replied the girl. + +"That's fine," said Bill amiably. "I'm tickled to know that you expected +me." + +"Yes, knowing what a coward you are, I thought you would come." + +Talpers flushed angrily, and then grinned, until his alkali-cracked lips +glistened in the lamplight. + +"That's the spirit!" he exclaimed. "I never seen a more spunky woman, +and that's the kind I like. But there ain't many humans that can call me +a coward. I guess you don't know how many notches I've got on the handle +of this forty-five, do you?" he asked, touching the gun that swung in a +holster at his hip under his coat. "Well, there's three notches on +there, and that don't count an Injun I got in a fair fight. I don't +count any _coups_ unless they're on white folks." + +"I'm not interested in your record of bloodshed." The girl's voice was +low, but it stung Bill to anger. + +"Yes, you are," he retorted. "You're goin' to be mighty proud of your +husband's record. You'll be glad to be known as the wife of Bill +Talpers, who never backed down from no man. That's what I come over here +for, to have you say that you'll marry me. If you don't say it, I'll +have to give that letter over to the authorities at White Lodge. It sure +would be a reg'lar bombshell in the case right now." + +The trader's squat figure, in his black suit, against the white +background made by the lamp, made the girl think of a huge, grotesque +blot of ink. His broad, hairy hand rested on the table. She noticed the +strong, thick fingers, devoid of flexibility, yet evidently of terrific +strength. + +"Now you and me," went on Talpers, "could get quietly married, and I +could sell this store of mine for a good figger, and I'd be willin' to +move anywheres you want--San Francisco, or Los Angeles, or San Diego, or +anywheres. And I could burn up that letter, and there needn't nobody +know that the wife of Bill Talpers was mixed up in the murder that is +turnin' this here State upside down. Furthermore, jest to show you that +Bill Talpers is a square sort, I won't ever ask you myself jest how deep +and how wide you're in this murder, nor why you wrote that letter, nor +what it was all about. Ain't that fair enough?" + +The girl laughed. + +"It's too fair," she said. "I can't believe you'd hold to such a +bargain." + +"You try me and see," urged Bill. "All you've got to do is to say you'll +marry me." + +"Well, I'll never say it." + +"Yes, you will," huskily declared Bill, putting his hat on the table. +"You'll say it right here, to-night. Your stepfather's sick, I hear. If +he was feelin' his best he wouldn't be more'n a feather in my way--not +more'n that Chinaman of yours. I've got to have your word to-night, or, +by cripes, that letter goes to White Lodge!" + +The girl was alarmed. She was colorless as marble, but her eyes were +defiant. Talpers advanced toward her threateningly, and she retreated +toward the door which opened into the other room. Bill swung her aside +and placed himself squarely in front of the door, his arms outspread. + +"No hide and seek goes," he said. "You stay in this room till you give +me the right answer." + +The girl ran toward the door opening into the kitchen. Talpers ran after +her, clumsily but swiftly. The girl saw that she was going to be +overtaken before reaching the door, and dodged to one side. The trader +missed his grasp for her, and pitched forward, the force of his fall +shaking the cabin. He struck his head against a corner of the table, and +lay unconscious, spread out in a broad helplessness that made the girl +think once more of spilled ink. + +The white-haired man stood in the doorway to the other room. He held a +revolver, with which he covered Talpers, but the trader did not move. +The white-haired man deftly removed Talpers's revolver from its holster +and put it on the table. Then he searched the trader's pockets. + +"I'm glad I didn't have to shoot this swine," he said to the girl. +"Another second and it would have been necessary. The letter isn't here, +but you can frighten him with these trinkets--his own revolver and this +watch which evidently he took from the murdered man on the hill. You +know what else of Edward Sargent's belongings were taken." + +The girl nodded. + +"He will recover soon," went on the gray-haired man. "You will be in no +further danger. He will be glad to go when he sees what evidence you +have against him." + +The white-haired man had taken a watch from one of Talpers's pockets. He +put the timepiece on the table beside the trader's revolver. Then the +door to the adjoining room closed again, and the girl was alone with the +trader waiting for him to recover consciousness. + +Soon Bill Talpers sat up. His hand went to his head and came away +covered with blood. The world was rocking, and the girl at the table +looked like half a dozen shapes in one. + +"This is your own revolver pointed at you, Mr. Talpers," she said, "but +this watch on the table, by which you will leave this house in three +minutes, is not yours. It belonged once to Edward B. Sargent, and you +are the man who took it." + +Talpers tried to answer, but could not at once. + +"You not only took this watch," said the girl slowly, "but you took +money from that murdered man." + +"It's all a lie," growled Bill at last. + +"Wait till you hear the details. You took twenty-eight hundred dollars +in large bills, and three hundred dollars in smaller bills." + +Talpers looked at the girl in mingled terror and amazement. Guilt was in +his face, and his fears made him forget his aching head. + +"You kept this money and did not let your half-breed partner in crime +know you had found it," went on the girl. "Also you kept the watch, and, +as it had no mark of identification, you concluded you could safely wear +it." + +Talpers struggled dizzily to his feet. + +"It's all lies," he repeated. "I didn't kill that man." + +"You might find it hard to convince a jury that you did not, with such +evidence against you." + +The trader looked at the watch as if he intended to make a dash to +recover it, but the girl kept him steadily covered with his own +revolver. Muttering curses, and swaying uncertainly on his feet, Talpers +seized his hat and rushed from the house. He could be heard fumbling +with the reins at the gate, and then the sound of hoofs came in +diminuendo as he rode away. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +In his capacity of Indian agent Walter Lowell often had occasion to scan +the business deals of his more progressive wards. He was at once banker +and confidant of most of the Indians who were getting ahead in +agriculture and stock-raising. He did not seek such a position, nor did +he discourage it. Though it cost him much extra time and work, he +advised the Indians whenever requested. + +One of the reservation's most prosperous stock-raisers, who had been +given permission to sell off some of his cattle, came to Lowell with a +thousand-dollar bill, asking if it were genuine. + +"It's all right," said Lowell, "but where did you get it?" + +The Indian said he had received it from Bill Talpers in the sale of some +livestock. Lowell handed it back without comment, but soon afterward +found occasion to call on Bill Talpers at the trader's store. + +Bill had been a frequent and impartial visitor to the bottles that were +tucked away at both ends of his store. His hands and voice were shaky. +His hat was perched well forward on his head, covering a patch of +court-plaster which his clerk had put over a scalp wound, following a +painful process of hair-cutting. Bill had just been through the process +of "bouncing" Andy Wolters, who remained outside, expressing wonder and +indignation to all who called. + +"All I did was ask Bill where his favorite gun was gone," quoth Andy in +his nasal voice, as Lowell drove up to the store platform. "I never seen +Bill without that gun before in my life. I jest started to kid him a +little by askin' him who took it away from him, when he fired up and +throwed me out of the store." + +Lowell stepped inside the store. + +"Bill," said Lowell, as the trader rose from his chair behind the screen +of letter-boxes, "I want you to help me out in an important matter." + +Bill's surprise showed in his swollen face. + +"It's this," went on Lowell. "If any of the Indians bring anything here +to pawn outside of the usual run of turquoise jewelry and spurs, I want +you to let me know. Also, if they offer any big bills in payment for +goods--say anything like a thousand-dollar bill--just give me the high +sign, will you? It may afford a clue in this murder case." + +Talpers darted a look of suspicion at the agent. Lowell's face was +serene. He was leaning confidentially across the counter, and his eyes +met Bill's in a look that made the trader turn away. + +"You know," said Lowell, "it's quite possible that money and valuables +were taken from Sargent's body. To be sure, they found his checkbook and +papers, but they wouldn't be of use to anyone else. A man of Sargent's +wealth must have had considerable ready cash with him, and yet none was +found. He would hardly be likely to start out on a long trip across +country without a watch, and yet nothing of the sort was discovered. +That's why I thought that if any Indians came in here with large amounts +of money, or if they tried to pawn valuables which might have belonged +to a man in Sargent's position, you could help clear up matters." + +Hatred and suspicion were mingled in Talpers's look. The trader had +spent most of his hours, since his return from Morgan's ranch, cursing +the folly that had led him into wearing Sargent's watch. And now came +this young Indian agent, with talk about thousand-dollar bills. There +was another mistake Bill had made. He should have taken those bills far +away and had them exchanged for money of smaller denomination. But he +had been hard-pressed for cash, and suspicion seemed to point in such +convincing fashion toward Fire Bear and the other Indians that it did +not seem possible that it could be shifted elsewhere. Yet all his +confidence had been shaken when Helen Ervin had calmly and correctly +recounted to him the exact things that he had taken from that body on +the hill. Probably she had been talking to the agent and had told him +all she knew. + +"I know what you're drivin' at," snarled Bill, his rage getting the +better of his judgment. "You've been talkin' to that girl at Morgan's +ranch, and she's been tellin' you all she thinks she knows. But she'd +better go slow with all her talk about valuables and thousand-dollar +bills. She forgets that she's as deep in this thing as anybody and I've +got the document to prove it." + +The surprise in the Indian agent's face was too genuine to be mistaken. +Talpers realized that he had been betrayed into overshooting his mark. +The agent had been engaged in a little game of bluff, and Talpers had +fallen into his trap. + +"All this is mighty interesting to me, Bill," said Lowell, regaining his +composure. "I just dropped in here, hoping for a little general +cooperation on your part, and here I find that you know a lot more than +anybody imagined." + +"You ain't got anything on me," growled Bill, "and if you go spillin' +any remarks around here, it's your death-warrant sure." + +Lowell did not take his elbow from the counter. His leaning position +brought out the breadth of his shoulders and emphasized the athletic +lines of his figure. He did not seem ruffled at Bill's open threat. He +regarded Talpers with a steady look which increased Bill's rage and +fear. + +"The trouble with you is that you're so dead set on protectin' them +Injuns of yours," said the trader, "that you're around tryin' to throw +suspicion on innocent white folks. The hull county knows that Fire Bear +done that murder, and if you hadn't got him on to the reservation the +jail'd been busted into and he'd been lynched as he ought to have been." + +Bill waited for an answer, but none came. The young agent's steady, +thoughtful scrutiny was not broken. + +"You've coddled them Injuns ever sence you've been on the job," went on +Bill, casting aside discretion, "and now you're encouragin' them in +downright murder. Here this young cuss, Fire Bear, is traipsin' around +as he pleases, on nothin' more than his word that he'll appear for +trial. But when Jim McFann busts out of jail, you rush out the hull +Injun police force to run him down. And now here you are around, off the +reservation, tryin' to saddle suspicion on your betters. It ain't right, +I claim. Self-respectin' white men ought to have more protection around +here." + +Talpers's voice had taken on something of a whine, and Lowell +straightened up in disgust. + +"Bill," he said, "you aren't as much of a man as I gave you credit for +being, and what's more you've been in some crooked game, just as sure as +thousand-dollar bills have four figures on them." + +Paying no attention to the imprecations which Talpers hurled after him, +the agent went back to his automobile and turned toward the agency. He +had intended going on to the Greek Letter Ranch, but Talpers's words had +caused him to make a change in his plans. At the agency he brought out a +saddle horse, and, following a trail across the undulating hills on the +reservation, reached the wagon-road below the ranch, without arousing +Talpers's suspicion. + +As he tied his pony at the gate, Lowell noticed further improvement in +the general appearance of the ranch. + +"Somebody more than Wong has been doing this heavy work," he said to +Helen, who had come out to greet him. "It must be that Morgan--your +stepfather is well enough to help. Anyway, the ranch looks better every +time I come." + +"Yes, he is helping some," said Helen uneasily. "But I'm getting to be a +first-rate ranch-woman. I had no idea it was so much fun running a place +like this." + +"I came over to see if you couldn't take time enough off for a little +horseback ride," said Lowell. "This is a country for the saddle, after +all. I still get more enjoyment from a good horseback ride than from a +dozen automobile trips. I'll saddle up the old white horse while you get +ready." + +Helen ran indoors, and Lowell went to the barn and proceeded to saddle +the white horse that bore the Greek Letter brand. The smiling Wong came +out to cast an approving eye over the work. + +"This old fly-fighter's a pretty good horse for one of his age, isn't +he, Wong?" said Lowell, giving a last shake to the saddle, after the +cinch had been tightened. + +In shattered English Wong went into ecstasies over the white horse. Then +he said, suddenly and mysteriously: + +"You know Talpels?" + +"You mean Bill Talpers?" asked Lowell. "What about him?" + +Once more the dominant tongue of the Occident staggered beneath Wong's +assault, as the cook described, partly in pantomime, the manner of Bill +Talpers's downfall the night before. + +"Do you mean to say that Talpers was over here last night and that here +is where he got that scalp-wound?" demanded Lowell. + +Wong grinned assent, and then vanished, after making a sign calling for +secrecy on Lowell's part, as Helen arrived, ready for the ride. + +Lowell was a good horseman, and the saddle had become Helen's chief +means of recreation. In fact riding seemed to bring to her the only +contentment she had known since she had come to the Greek Letter Ranch. +She had overcome her first fear of the Indians. All her rides that were +taken alone were toward the reservation, as she had studiously avoided +going near Talpers's place. Also she did not like to ride past the hill +on the Dollar Sign road, with its hints of unsolved mystery. But she had +quickly grown to love the broad, free Indian reservation, with its +limitless miles of unfenced hills. She liked to turn off the road and +gallop across the trackless ways, sometimes frightening rabbits and +coyotes from the sagebrush. Several times she had startled antelope, and +once her horse had shied at a rattlesnake coiled in the sunshine. The +Indians she had learned to look upon as children. She had visited the +cabins and lodges of some of those who lived near the ranch, and was not +long in winning the esteem of the women who were finding the middle +ground, between the simplicity of savage life and the complexities of +civilization, something too much for mastery. + +Lowell and Helen galloped in silence for miles along the road they had +followed in the automobile not many days before. At the crest of a high +ridge, Helen turned at right angles, and Lowell followed. + +"There's a view over here I had appropriated for myself, but I'm willing +to share it with you, seeing that this is your own particular +reservation and you ought to know about everything it contains," said +Helen. + +The ridge dipped and then rose again, higher than before. The plains +fell away on both sides--infinite miles of undulations. Straight ahead +loomed the high blue wall of the mountains. They walked their horses, +and finally stopped them altogether. The chattering of a few prairie +dogs only served to intensify the great, mysterious silence. + +"Sometimes the stillness seems to roll in on you here like a tide," said +Helen. "I can positively feel it coming up these great slopes and +blanketing everything. It seems to me that this ridge must have been +used by Indian watchers in years gone by. I can imagine a scout standing +here sending up smoke signals. And those little white puffs of clouds up +there are the signals he sent into the sky." + +"I think you belong in this country," Lowell answered smilingly. + +"I'm sure I do. You remember when I first saw these plains and hills I +told you the bigness frightened me a little when the sun brought it all +out in detail. Well, it doesn't any more. Just to be unfettered in mind, +and to live and breathe as part of all this vastness, would be ideal." + +"That's where you're in danger of going to the other extreme," the agent +replied. "You'll remember that I told you human companionship is as +necessary as bacon and flour and salt in this country. You're more +dependent on the people about you here, even if your nearest neighbor is +five or ten miles away, than you would be in any apartment building in a +big city. You might live and die there, and no one would be the wiser. +Also you might get along tolerably well, while living alone. But you +can't do it out here and keep a normal mental grip on life." + +"My, what a lecture!" laughed the girl, though there was no merriment in +her voice. "But it hardly applies to me, for the reason that I always +depend upon my neighbors in the ordinary affairs of life. I'm sure I +love to be sociable to my Indian neighbors, and even to their agent. +Haven't I ridden away out here just to be sociable to you?" + +"No dodging! I promised I wouldn't say anything more about the matters +that have been disturbing you so, but that promise was contingent on +your playing fair with me. I understand Bill Talpers has been causing +you some annoyance, and you haven't said a word to me about it." + +Helen flashed a startled glance at Lowell. He was impassive as her +questioning eyes searched his face. Amazement and concern alternated in +her features. Then she took refuge in a blaze of anger. + +"I don't know how you found out about Talpers!" she cried. "It is true +that he did cause a--a little annoyance, but that is all gone and +forgotten. But I am not going to forget your impertinence quite so +easily." + +"My what?" + +"Your impertinence?" + +The girl was trembling with anger, or apprehension, and tapped her boot +nervously with her quirt as she spoke. + +"You've been lecturing me about various things," she went on, "and now +you bring up Talpers as a sort of bugaboo to frighten me." + +"You don't know Bill Talpers. If he has any sort of hold on you or on +Willis Morgan, he'll try to break you both. He is as innocent of +scruples as a lobo wolf." + +"What hold could he possibly have on me--on us?" + +She looked at Lowell defiantly as she asked the question, but he thought +he detected a note of concern in her voice. + +"I didn't say he had any hold. I merely pointed out that if he were +given any opportunity he'd make life miserable for both of you." + +Lowell did not add that Talpers, in a fit of rage and suspicion, +augmented by strong drink, had hinted that Helen knew something of the +murder. He had been inclined to believe that Talpers had merely been +"fighting wild" when he made the veiled accusation--that the trader, +being very evidently only partly recovered from a bout with his pet +bottles, had made the first counter-assertion that had come into his +head in the hope of provoking Lowell into a quarrel. But there was a +quality of terror in the girl's voice which struck Lowell with chilling +force. Something in his look must have caught Helen's attention, for her +nervousness increased. + +"You have no right to pillory me so," she said rapidly. "You have been +perfectly impossible right along--that is, ever since this crime +happened. You've been spying here and there--" + +"Spying!" + +"Yes, downright spying! You've been putting suspicion where it doesn't +belong. Why, everybody believes the Indians did it--everybody but you. +Probably some Indians did it who never have been suspected and never +will be--not the Indians who are under suspicion now." + +"That's just about what another party was telling me not long ago--that +I was coddling the Indians and trying to fasten suspicion where it +didn't rightfully belong." + +"Who else told you that?" + +"No less a person than Bill Talpers." + +"There you go again, bringing in that cave man. Why do you keep talking +to me about Talpers? I'm not afraid of him." + +Most girls would have been on the verge of hysteria, Lowell thought, +but, while Helen was plainly under a nervous strain, her self-command +returned. The agent was in possession of some information--how much she +did not know. Perhaps she could goad him into betraying the source of +his knowledge. + +"I know you're not afraid of Talpers," remarked Lowell, after a pause, +"but at least give me the privilege of being afraid for you. I know Bill +Talpers better than you do." + +"What right have you to be afraid for me? I'm of age, and besides, I +have a protector--a guardian--at the ranch." + +Lowell was on the point of making some bitter reply about the +undesirability of any guardianship assumed by Willis Morgan, squaw man, +recluse, and recipient of common hatred and contempt. But he kept his +counsel, and remarked, pleasantly: + +"My rights are merely those of a neighbor--the right of one neighbor to +help another." + +"There are no rights of that sort where the other neighbor isn't asking +any help and doesn't desire it." + +"I'm not sure about your not needing it. Anyway, if you don't now, you +may later." + +The girl did not answer. The horses were standing close together, heads +drooping lazily. Warm breezes came fitfully from the winds' playground +below. The handkerchief at the girl's neck fluttered, and a strand of +her hair danced and glistened in the sunshine. The graceful lines of her +figure were brought out by her riding-suit. Lowell put his palm over the +gloved hand on her saddle pommel. Even so slight a touch thrilled him. + +"If a neighbor has no right to give advice," said Lowell, "let us assume +that my unwelcome offerings have come from a man who is deeply in love +with you. It's no great secret, anyway, as it seems to me that even the +meadow-larks have been singing about it ever since we started on this +ride." + +The girl buried her face in her hands. Lowell put his arm about her +waist, and she drooped toward him, but recovered herself with an effort. +Putting his arm away, she said: + +"You make matters harder and harder for me. Please forget what I have +said and what you have said, and don't come to see me any more." + +She spoke with a quiet intensity that amazed Lowell. + +"Not come to see you any more! Why such an extreme sentence?" + +"Because there is an evil spell on the Greek Letter Ranch. Everybody who +comes there is certain to be followed by trouble--deep trouble." + +The girl's agitation increased. There was terror in her face. + +"Look here!" began Lowell. "This thing is beyond all promises of +silence. I--" + +"Don't ask what I mean!" said the girl. "You might find it awkward. You +say you are in love with me?" + +"I repeat it a thousand times." + +"Well, you are the kind of man who will choose honor every time. I +realize that much. Suppose you found that your love for me was bringing +you in direct conflict with your duty?" + +"I know that such a thing is impossible," broke in Lowell. + +Helen smiled, bitterly. + +"It is so far from being impossible that I am asking you to forget what +you have said, and to forget me as well. There is so much of evil on the +Greek Letter Ranch that the very soil there is steeped in it. I am going +away, but I know its spell will follow me." + +"You are going?" queried Lowell. "When?" + +"When these men now charged with the murder are acquitted. They will be +acquitted, will they not?" + +The eager note in her question caught Lowell by surprise. + +"No man can tell," he replied. "It's all as inscrutable as that mountain +wall over there." + +Helen shaded her eyes with her gauntleted hand as she looked in the +direction indicated by Lowell. Black clouds were pouring in masses over +the mountain-range. The sunshine was being blotted out, as if by some +giant hand. The storm-clouds swept toward them as they turned the horses +and started back along the ridge. A huge shadow, which Helen +shudderingly likened to the sprawling figure of Talpers in the +lamplight, raced toward them over the plains. + +"There isn't a storm in all that blackness," Lowell assured her. "It's +all shadow and no substance. Perhaps your fears will turn out that way." + +The girl regarded him gravely. + +"I've tried to hope as much, but it's no use, especially when you've +felt the first actual buffetings of the storm." + +The approaching cloud shadow seemed startlingly solid. The girl urged +her horse into a gallop, and Lowell rode silently at her side. The +shadow overtook them. Angry winds seemed to clutch at them from various +angles, but no rain came from the cloud mass overhead. When they rode +into the ranch yard, the sun was shining again. They dismounted near the +barn, and Wong took the white horse. Lowell and the girl walked through +the yard to the front gate, the agent leading his horse. As they passed +near the porch there came through the open door that same chilling, +sarcastic voice which stirred all the ire in Lowell's nature. + +"Helen," the voice said, "that careless individual, Wong, must be +reprimanded. He has mislaid one of my choicest volumes. Perhaps it would +be better for you to attend to replacing the books on the shelves after +this." + +Every word was intended to humiliate, yet the voice was moderately +pitched. There was even a slight drawl to it. + +Lowell's face betrayed his anger as he glanced at the girl. He made a +gesture of impatience, but Helen motioned to him, in warning. + +"Some day you're going to let me take you away from this," he said +grimly, looking at her with an intensity of devotion which brought the +red to her cheeks. "Meantime, thanks for taking me out on that magic +ridge. I'll never forget it." + +"It will be better for you to forget everything," answered the girl. + +Lowell was about to make a reply, when the voice came once more, cutting +like a whiplash in a renewal of the complaint concerning the lost book. +The girl turned, with a good-bye gesture, and ran indoors. Lowell led +his horse outside the yard and rode toward Talpers's place, determined +to have a few definite words with the trader. + +When Lowell reached Talpers's, the usual knot of Indians was gathered on +the front porch, with the customary collection of cowpunchers and +ranchmen discussing matters inside the store. + +"Bill ain't been here all the afternoon," said Talpers's clerk in answer +to Lowell's question. "He sat around here for a while after you left +this morning, and then he saddled up and took a pack-horse and hit off +toward the reservation, but I don't know where he went or when he'll be +back." + +Lowell rode thoughtfully to the agency, trying in vain to bridge the gap +between Talpers's cryptic utterances bearing on the murder, and the not +less cryptic statements of Helen in the afternoon--an occupation which +kept him unprofitably employed until far into the night. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +Bill Talpers's return to sobriety was considerably hastened by alarm +after the trader's words with Lowell. As long as matters were even +between Bill Talpers and the girl, the trader figured that he could at +least afford to let things rest. The letter in his possession was still +a potent weapon. He could at least prevent the girl from telling what +she seemed to know of the trader's connection with the murder. He had +figured that the letter would be the means of bringing him a most +engaging bride. It would have done so if he had not been such a fool as +to drink too much. Talpers usually was a canny drinker, but when a man +goes asking--or, in this case, demanding--a girl's hand in marriage, it +is not to be wondered at if he oversteps the limit a trifle in the +matter of fortifying himself with liquor. But in this case Bill realized +that he had gone beyond all reasonable bounds. That fall had been +disastrous in every way. She was clever and quick, that girl, or she +never would have been able to turn an incident like that to such good +advantage. Most girls would have sniveled in a corner, thought Bill, +until he had regained his senses, but she started right in to look for +that letter. He had been smart enough to leave the letter in the safe at +the store, but she had found plenty in that watch! + +Another thought buzzed disturbingly in Bill's head. How did she know +just how much money had been taken from Sargent's body? Also, how did +she know that the watch was Sargent's, seeing that it had no marks of +identification on it? If there had been so much as a scratch on the +thing, Talpers never would have worn it. She might have been making a +wild guess about the watch, but she certainly was not guessing about the +money. Her certainty in mentioning the amount had given Bill a chill of +terror from which he was slow in recovering. Another thing that was +causing him real agony of spirit was the prominence of Lowell in affairs +at the Greek Letter Ranch. It would be easy enough to hold the girl in +check with that letter. She would never dare tell the authorities how +much she knew about Talpers, as Bill could drag her into the case by +producing his precious documentary evidence. But the agent--how much was +he learning in the course of his persistent searching, and from what +angle was he going to strike? Would the girl provide him with +information which she might not dare give to others? Women were all +weaklings, thought Bill, unable to keep any sort of a secret from a +sympathetic male ear, especially when that ear belonged to as handsome a +young fellow as the Indian agent! Probably she would be telling the +agent everything on his next trip to the ranch. Bill had been watching, +but he had not seen the young upstart from the agency go past, and +neither had Bill's faithful clerk. But the visit might be made any day, +and Talpers's connection with the tragedy on the Dollar Sign road might +at almost any hour be falling into the possession of Lowell, whose +activity in running down bootleggers had long ago earned him Bill's +hatred. + +Something would have to be done, without delay, to get the girl where +she would not be making a confidant of Lowell or any one else. +Scowlingly Bill thought over one plan after another, and rejected each +as impractical. Finally, by a process of elimination, he settled on the +only course that seemed practical. A broad fist, thudding into a +leather-like palm, indicated that the Talpers mind had been made up. +With his dark features expressing grim resolve, Bill threw a burden of +considerable size on his best pack-animal. This operation he conducted +alone in the barn, rejecting his clerk's proffer of assistance. Then he +saddled another horse, and, without telling his clerk anything +concerning his prospective whereabouts or the length of his trip, +started off across the prairie. He often made such excursions, and his +clerk had learned not to ask questions. Diplomacy in such matters was +partly what the clerk was paid for. A good fellow to work for was Bill +Talpers if no one got too curiously inclined. One or two clerks had been +disciplined on account of inquisitiveness, and they would not be as +beautiful after the Talpers methods had been applied, but they had +gained vastly in experience. Some day he would do even more for this +young Indian agent. Bill's cracked lips were stretched in a grin of +satisfaction at the very thought. + +The trader traveled swiftly toward the reservation. He often boasted +that he got every ounce that was available in horseflesh. Traveling with +a pack-horse was little handicap to him. Horses instinctively feared +him. More than one he had driven to death without so much as touching +the straining animal with whip or spur. Nothing gave Bill such acute +satisfaction as the knowledge that he had roused fear in any creature. + +With the sweating pack-animal close at the heels of his saddle pony, +Talpers rode for hours across the plains. Seemingly he paid no attention +to the changes in the landscape, yet his keen eyes, buried deeply +beneath black brows, took in everything. He saw the cloud masses come +tumbling over the mountains, but, like Lowell, he knew that the drought +was not yet to be ended. The country became more broken, and the grade +so pronounced that the horses were compelled to slacken their pace. The +pleasant green hills gave place to imprisoning mesas, with red sides +that looked like battlements. Beyond these lay the foothills--so close +that they covered the final slopes of the mountains. + +It was a lonely country, innocent of fences. The cattle that ran here +were as wild as deer and almost as fleet as antelope. Twice a year the +Indians rounded up their range possessions, but many of these cattle had +escaped the far-flung circles of riders. They had become renegades and +had grown old and clever. At the sight of a human being they would +gallop away in the sage and greasewood. + +Once Talpers saw the gleam of a wagon-top which indicated the presence +of a wolf hunter in the employ of the leasers who were running cattle on +the reservations and who suffered much from the depredations of +predatory animals. By working carefully around a hill, the trader +continued on his way without having been seen. + +Passing the flanking line of mesas, Bill pushed his way up a watercourse +between two foothills. The going became rougher, and all semblance of a +trail was lost, yet the trader went on unhesitatingly. The slopes +leading to the creek became steeper and were covered with pine and +quaking aspen, instead of the bushy growths of the plains. The stream +foamed over rocks, and its noise drowned the sound of the horses' hoofs +as the animals scrambled over the occasional stretches of loose shale. +With the dexterity of the born trailsman, Talpers wormed his way along +the stream when it seemed as if further progress would be impossible. In +a tiny glade, with the mountain walls rising precipitously for hundreds +of feet, Talpers halted and gave three shrill whistles. An answer came +from the other end of the glade, and in a few minutes Talpers was +removing pack and saddle in Jim McFann's camp. + +Since his escape from jail the half-breed had been hiding in this +mountain fastness. Talpers had supplied him with "grub" and weapons. He +had moved camp once in a while for safety's sake, but had felt little +fear of capture. As a trailer McFann had few equals, and he knew every +swale in the prairie and every nook in the mountains on the reservation. + +Talpers brought out a bottle, which McFann seized eagerly. + +"There's plenty more in the pack," said the trader, "so drink all you +want. Don't offer me none, as I am kind o' taperin' off." + +"Did you see any Indian police on the way?" asked the half-breed. + +"No--nothin' but Wolfer Joe's wagon, 'way off in the hills. I guess the +police ain't lookin' for you very hard. That ain't the fault of the +agent, though," added Talpers meaningly. "He's promised he'll have you +back in Tom Redmond's hands in less'n a week." + +The half-breed scowled and muttered an oath as he took another drink. +Talpers had told the lie in order to rouse McFann's antagonism toward +Lowell, and he was pleased to see that his statement had been accepted +at face value. + +"But that ain't the worst for you, nor for me either," went on the +trader. "That girl at the Greek Letter Ranch knows that you and me took +the watch from the man on the Dollar Sign road." + +"How did she know that?" exclaimed McFann in amazement. + +"That's somethin' she won't tell, but she knows that you and me was +there, and that the story you told in court ain't straight. I'm +satisfied she ain't told any one else--not yet." + +"Do you think she will tell any one?" + +"I'm sure of it. You see, she sorter sprung this thing on me when I was +havin' a little argyment about her marryin' me. She got spiteful and +come at me with the statement that the watch I was wearin' belonged to +that feller Sargent." + +Bill did not add anything about the money. It was not going to do to let +the half-breed know he had been defrauded. + +McFann squatted by the fire, the bottle in his hand and his gaze on +Talpers's face. + +"She mentioned both of us bein' there," went on the trader. "She give +the details in a way that I'll admit took me off my feet. It's an +awkward matter--in fact, it's a hangin' matter--for both of us, if she +tells. You know how clost they was to lynchin' you, over there at White +Lodge, with nothin' so very strong against you. If that gang ever hears +about us and this watch of Sargent's, we'll be hung on the same tree." + +Talpers played heavily on the lynching, because he knew the fear of the +mob had become an obsession with McFann. He noticed the half-breed's +growing uneasiness, and played his big card. + +"I spent a long time thinkin' the hull thing over," said Talpers, "and +I've come to the conclusion that this girl is sure to tell the Indian +agent all she knows, and the best thing for us to do is to get her out +of the way before she puts the noose around our necks." + +"Why will she tell the Indian agent?" + +"Because he's callin' pretty steady at the ranch, and he's made her +think he's the only friend she's got around here. And as soon as he +finds out, we might as well pick out our own rope neckties, Jim. It's +goin' to take quick action to save us, but you're the one to do it." + +"What do you want me to do?" asked McFann suspiciously. + +"Well, you're the best trailer and as good a shot as there is in this +part of the country. All that's necessary is for you to drop around the +ranch and--well, sort of make that girl disappear." + +"How do you mean?" + +Talpers rose and came closer to McFann. + +"I mean kill her!" he said with an oath. "Nothin' else is goin' to do. +You can do it without leavin' a track. Willis Morgan or that Chinaman +never'll see you around. Nobody else but the agent ever stops at the +Greek Letter Ranch. It's the only safe way. If she ever tells, Jim, +you'll never come to trial. You'll be swingin' back and forth somewheres +to the music of the prairie breeze. You know the only kind of fruit that +grows on these cotton woods out here." + +Jim McFann had always been pliable in Talpers's hands. Talpers had +profited most by the bootlegging operations carried on by the pair, +though Jim had done most of the dangerous work. Whenever Jim needed +supplies, the trader furnished them. To be sure, he charged them off +heavily, so there was little cash left from the half-breed's bootlegging +operations. Talpers shrewdly figured that the less cash he gave Jim, the +more surely he could keep his hold on the half-breed. McFann had grown +used to his servitude. Talpers appeared to him in the guise of the only +friend he possessed among white and red. + +Jim rose slowly to his moccasined feet. + +"I guess you're right, Bill," he said. "I'll do what you say." + +The trader's eyes glowed with satisfaction. The desire for revenge had +come uppermost in his heart. The girl at the ranch had outwitted him in +some way which he could not understand. Twenty-four hours ago he had +confidently figured on numbering her among the choicest chattels in the +possession of William Talpers. But now he regarded her with a hatred +born of fear. The thought of what she could do to him, merely by +speaking a few careless words about that watch and money, drove all +other thoughts from Talpers's mind. Jim McFann could be made a deadly +and certain instrument for insuring the safety of the Talpers skin. One +shot from the half-breed's rifle, either through a cabin window or from +some sagebrush covert near the ranch, and the trader need have no +further fears about being connected with the Dollar Sign murder. + +"I thought you'd see it in the right light, Jim," approved Talpers. "It +won't be any trick at all to get her. She rides out a good deal on that +white horse." + +Jim McFann did not answer. He had begun preparations for his trip. +Swiftly and silently the half-breed saddled his horse, which had been +hidden in a near-by thicket. From the supply of liquor in Talpers's +pack, Jim took a bottle, which he was thrusting into his saddle pocket +when the trader snatched it away. + +"You've had enough, Jim," growled Talpers. "You do the work that's cut +out for you, and you can have all I've brought to camp. I'll be here +waitin' for you." + +McFann scowled. + +"All right," he said sullenly, "but it seems as if a man ought to have +lots for a job like this." + +"After it's all done," said Talpers soothingly, "you can have all the +booze you want, Jim. And one thing more," called the trader as McFann +rode away, "remember it ain't goin' to hurt either of us if you get a +chance to put the Indian agent away on this same little trip." + +Jim McFann waved an assenting sign as he disappeared in the trees, and +the trader went back to the camp-fire to await the half-breed's return. +He hoped McFann would find the agent at the Greek Letter Ranch and would +kill Lowell as well as the girl. But, if there did not happen to be any +such double stroke of luck in prospect, the removal of the Indian agent +could be attended to later on. + +When he reached the mesas beyond the foothills, the half-breed turned +away from the stream and struck off toward the left. He kept a sharp +lookout for Indian police as he traveled, but saw nothing to cause +apprehension. Night was fast coming on when he reached the ridge on +which Lowell and Helen had stood a few hours before. Avoiding the road, +the half-breed made his way to a gulch near the ranch, where he tied his +horse. Cautiously he approached the ranch-house. The kitchen door was +open and Wong was busy with the dishes. The other doors were shut and +shades were drawn in the windows. Making his way back to the gulch, the +half-breed rolled up in his blanket and slept till daybreak, when he +took up a vantage-point near the house and waited developments. Shortly +after breakfast Wong came out to the barn and saddled the white horse +for Helen. The half-breed noticed with satisfaction that the girl rode +directly toward the reservation instead of following the road that led +to the agency. Hastily securing his horse the half-breed skirted the +ranch and located the girl's trail on the prairie. Instead of following +it he ensconced himself comfortably in some aspens at the bottom of a +draw, confident that the girl would return by the same trail. + +If McFann had continued on Helen's trail he would have followed her to +an Indian ranch not far away. A tattered tepee or two snuggled against a +dilapidated cabin. The owner of the ranch was struggling with +tuberculosis. His wife was trying to run the place and to bring up +several children, whose condition had aroused the mother instinct in +Helen. Though she had found her first efforts regarded with suspicion, +Helen had persisted, until she had won the confidence of mother and +children. Her visits were frequent, and she had helped the family so +materially that she had astonished the field matron, an energetic woman +who covered enormous distances in the saddle in the fulfillment of +duties which would soon wear out a settlement worker. + +The half-breed smoked uneasily, his rifle across his knees. Two hours +passed, but he did not stir, so confident was he that Helen would return +by the way she had followed in departing from the ranch. + +McFann's patience was rewarded, and he tossed away his cigarette with a +sigh of satisfaction when Helen's voice came to him from the top of the +hill. She was singing a nonsense song from the nursery, and, astride +behind her saddle and clinging to her waist, was a wide-eyed Indian girl +of six years, enjoying both the ride and the singing. + +Here was a complication upon which the half-breed had not counted. In +fact, during his hours of waiting Jim had begun to look at matters in a +different light. It was necessary to get Helen away, where she could not +possibly tell what she knew, but why not hide her in the mountains? Or, +if stronger methods were necessary, let Talpers attend to them himself? +For the first time since he had come under Talpers's domination, Jim +McFann was beginning to weaken. As the girl came singing down the +hillside, Jim peered uneasily through the bushes. Talpers had shoved him +into a job that simply could not be carried out--at least not without +whiskey. If Bill had let him bring all he wanted to drink, perhaps +things could have been done as planned. + +Whatever was done would have to be accomplished quickly, as the white +horse, with its double burden, was getting close. Jim sighted once or +twice along his rifle barrel. Then he dropped the weapon into the hollow +of his arm, and, leading his horse, stepped in front of Helen. + +The parley was brief. McFann sent the youngster scurrying along the back +trail, after a few threats in Indian tongue, which were dire enough to +seal the child's lips in fright. Helen was startled at first when the +half-breed halted her, but her composure soon returned. She had no +weapon, nor would she have attempted to use one in any event, as she +knew the half-breed was famous for his quickness and cleverness with +firearms. Nor could anything be gained by attempting to ride him down in +the trail. She did not ask any questions, for she felt they would be +futile. + +The half-breed was surprised at the calmness with which matters were +being taken. With singular ease and grace--another gift from his Indian +forbears--Jim slid into his saddle, and, seizing the white horse by the +bridle, turned the animal around and started it up the trail beside him. +In a few minutes Jim had found his trail of the evening before, and was +working swiftly back toward the mountains. When Helen slyly dropped her +handkerchief, as an aid to any one who might follow, the half-breed +quietly turned back and, after picking it up, informed her that he would +kill her if she tried any more such tricks. Realizing the folly of any +further attempts to outwit the half-breed, Helen rode silently on. Not +once did McFann strike across a ridge. Imprisoning slopes seemed to be +shutting them in without surcease, and Helen looked in vain for any aid. + +As they approached the foothills, and the travel increased in +difficulty, McFann told Helen to ride close behind him. He glanced +around occasionally to see that she was obeying orders. The old white +horse struggled gamely after the half-breed's wiry animal, and McFann +was compelled to wait only once or twice. Meanwhile Helen had thought +over the situation from every possible angle, and had concluded to go +ahead and not make any effort to thwart the half-breed. She knew that +the reservation was more free from crime than the counties surrounding +it. She also knew that it would not be long before the agent was +informed of her disappearance, and that the Indian police--trailers who +were the half-breed's equal in threading the ways of the +wilderness--would soon be on McFann's tracks. After her first shock of +surprise she had little fear of McFann. The thought that disturbed her +most of all was--Talpers. She knew of the strange partnership of the +men. Likewise she felt that McFann would not have embarked upon any such +crime alone. The thought of Talpers recurred so steadily that the lithe +figure of the half-breed in front of her seemed to change into the +broad, almost misshapen form of the trader. + +The first real fear that had come to her since the strange journey began +surged over Helen when McFann led the way into the glade where he had +been camped, and she saw a dreaded and familiar figure stooped over a +small fire, engaged in frying bacon. But there was nothing of triumph in +Talpers's face as he straightened up and saw Helen. Amazement flitted +across the trader's features, succeeded by consternation. + +"Now you've done it and done it right!" exclaimed the trader, with a +shower of oaths directed at Jim McFann. "Didn't have the nerve to shoot +at a purty face like that, did you? Git her into that tent while you and +me set down and figger out what we're goin' to do!" + +The half-breed helped Helen dismount and told her to go to his tent, a +small, pyramid affair at one end of the glade. Jim fastened the flaps on +the outside and went back to the camp-fire, where Talpers was storming +up and down like a madman. Helen, seated on McFann's blanket roll, heard +their voices rising and falling, the half-breed apparently defending +himself and Talpers growing louder and more accusative. Finally, when +the trader's rage seemed to have spent itself somewhat, the tent flaps +were opened and Jim McFann thrust some food into Helen's hands. She ate +the bacon and biscuits, as the long ride had made her hungry. Then +Talpers roughly ordered her out of the tent. He and the half-breed had +been busy packing and saddling. They added the tent and its contents to +their packs. Telling Helen to mount the white horse once more, Talpers +took the lead, and, with the silent and sullen half-breed bringing up +the rear, the party started off along a trail much rougher than the one +that had been followed by McFann and the girl in the morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +It was fortunate that Helen had accustomed herself to long rides, as +otherwise she could not have undergone the experiences of the next few +hours in the saddle. All semblance of a trail seemed to end a mile or so +beyond the camp. The ride became a succession of scrambles across +treacherous slides of shale, succeeded by plunges into apparently +impenetrable walls of underbrush and low-hanging trees. The general +course of the river was followed. At times they had climbed to such a +height that the stream was merely a white line beneath them, and its +voice could not be heard. Then they would descend and cross and recross +the stream. The wild plunges across the torrent became matters of +torture to Helen. The horses slipped on the boulders. Water dashed over +the girl's knees, and each ford became more difficult, as the stream +became more swollen, owing to the melting of near-by snowbanks. One of +the pack-horses fell and lay helplessly in the stream until it was +fairly dragged to its feet. The men cursed volubly as they worked over +the animal and readjusted the wet pack, which had slipped to one side. + +After an hour or two of travel the half-breed took Talpers's place in +the lead, the trader bringing up the rear behind Helen and the +pack-horses. Two bald mountain-peaks began to loom startlingly near. The +stream ran between the peaks, being fed by the snows on either slope. As +the altitude became more pronounced the horses struggled harder at their +work. The white horse was showing the stamina that was in him. Helen +urged him to his task, knowing the folly of attempting to thwart the +wishes of her captors. They passed a slope where a forest fire had swept +in years gone by. Wild raspberry bushes had grown in profusion among the +black, sentinel-like trunks of dead trees. The bushes tore her +riding-suit and scratched her hands, but she uttered no complaint. + +Under any other circumstances Helen would have found much in the ride to +overcome its discomforts. The majesty of the scenery impressed itself +upon her mind, troubled as she was. Silence wrapped the two great peaks +like a mantle. An eagle swung lazily in midair between the granite +spires. Here was another plane of existence where the machinations of +men seemed to matter little. Almost indifferent to her discomforts Helen +struggled on, mechanically keeping her place in line. The half-breed +looked back occasionally, and even went so far as to take her horse by +the bridle and help the animal up an unusually hard slope. + +When it became apparent that further progress was an impossibility +unless the pack-horses were abandoned, the half-breed turned aside, and, +after a final desperate scramble up the mountain-side, the party entered +a fairly open, level glade. Helen dismounted with the others. + +"We're goin' to camp here for a while," announced Talpers, after a short +whispered conference with the half-breed. "You might as well make +yourself as comfortable as you can, but remember one thing--you'll be +shot if you try to get away or if you make any signals." + +Helen leaned back against a tree-trunk, too weary to make answer, and +Talpers went to the assistance of McFann, who was taking off the packs +and saddles. The horses were staked out near at hand, where they could +get their fill of the luxuriant grass that carpeted the mountain-side +here. McFann brought water from a spring near at hand, and the trader +set out some food from one of the packs, though it was decided not to +build a fire to cook anything. Helen ate biscuits and bacon left from +the previous meal. While she was eating, McFann put up the little tent. +Then, after another conference with Talpers, the half-breed climbed a +rock which jutted out of the shoulder of the mountain not far from them. +His lithe figure was silhouetted against the reddening sky. Helen +wondered, as she looked up at him, if the rock had been used for +sentinel purposes in years gone by. Her reflections were broken in upon +by Talpers. + +"That tent is yours," said the trader, in a low voice. "But before you +turn in I've got a few words to say to you. You haven't seemed to be as +much afraid of me on this trip as you was the other night at your +cabin." + +"There's no reason why I should be," said Helen quietly. "You don't dare +harm me for several reasons." + +"What are they?" sneered Talpers. + +"Well, one reason is--Jim McFann. All I have to do to cause your +partnership to dissolve at once is to tell Jim that you found that money +on the man who was murdered and didn't divide." + +Talpers winced. + +"Furthermore, this business has practically made an outlaw of you. It +all depends on your treatment of me. I'm the collateral that may get you +back into the good graces of society." + +Talpers wiped the sweat beads off his forehead. + +"You don't want to be too sure of yourself," he growled, though with so +much lack of assurance that Helen was secretly delighted. "You want to +remember," went on the trader threateningly, "that any time we want to +put a bullet in you, we can make our getaway easy enough. The only thing +for you to do is to keep quiet and see that you mind orders." + +Talpers ended the interview hastily when McFann came down from the rock. +The men talked together, after shutting Helen in the tent and +reiterating that she would be watched and that the first attempt to +escape would be fatal. Helen flung herself down on the blankets and +watched the fading lights of evening as they were reflected on the +canvas. She could hear the low voices of Talpers and McFann, hardly +distinguishable from the slight noises made by the wind in the trees. +The moon cast the shadows of branches on the canvas, and the noise of +the stream, far below, came fitfully to Helen's ears. She was more at +ease in mind than at any other time since Jim McFann had confronted her +with his rifle over his arm. She felt that Talpers was the moving spirit +in her kidnaping. She did not know how near her knowledge of the +trader's implication in the Dollar Sign tragedy had brought her to +death. Nor did she know that Talpers's rage over Jim McFann's weakening +had been so great that the trader had nearly snatched up his rifle and +shot his partner dead when the half-breed brought Helen into camp. + +As a matter of fact, when Talpers had realized that Jim McFann had +failed in his mission of assassination, the trader had been consumed +with alternate rage and fear. A kidnaping had been the last thing in the +world in the trader's thoughts. Assassination, with some one else doing +the work, was much the better way. Running off with womenfolk could not +be made a profitable affair, but here was the girl thrown into his hands +by fate. It would not do to let her go. Perhaps a way out of the mess +could be thought over. McFann could be made to bear the brunt in some +way. Meantime the best thing to do was to get as far into the hills as +possible. McFann could outwit the Indian police. He had been doing it +right along. He had fooled them during long months of bootlegging. Since +his escape from jail the police had redoubled their efforts to capture +McFann, but he had gone right on fooling them. If worst came to worst, +McFann and he could make their getaway alone, first putting the girl +where she would never tell what she knew about them. Across the +mountains there was a little colony of law-breakers that had long been +after Talpers as a leader. He had helped them in a good many ways, these +outlaws, particularly in rustling cattle from the reservation herds. It +was Bill Talpers who had evolved the neat little plan of changing the ID +brand of the Interior Department to the "two-pole pumpkin" brand, which +was done merely by extending another semicircle to the left of the "I" +and connecting that letter and the "D" at top and bottom, thus making +two perpendicular lines in a flattened circle. + +The returns from his interest in the gang's rustling operations had been +far more than Bill had ever secured from his store. In fact, +storekeeping was played out. Bill never would have kept it up except for +the opportunity it gave him to find out what was going on. To be sure, +he should have played safe and kept away from such things as that affair +on the Dollar Sign road. But he could have come clear even there if it +had not been for the uncanny knowledge possessed by that girl. The +thought of what would happen if she took a notion to tell McFann how he +had been "double-crossed" by his partner gave Talpers something +approaching a chill. The half-breed was docile enough as long as he +thought he was being fairly dealt with. But once let him find out that +he had been unfairly treated, all the Indian in him would come to the +surface with a rush! Fortunately the girl was proving herself to be +close-mouthed. She had traveled for hours with the half-breed without +telling him of Talpers's perfidy. Now Bill would see to it that she got +no chance to talk with McFann. The half-breed was too tender-hearted +where women were concerned. That much had been proved when he had fallen +down in the matter of the work he had been sent out to do. If she had a +chance the girl might even persuade him to let her escape, which was not +going to do at all. If anybody was to be left holding the sack at the +end of the adventure, it would not be Bill Talpers! + +With various stratagems being brought to mind, only to be rejected one +after another, Talpers watched the tent until midnight, the half-breed +sleeping near at hand. Then Bill turned in while McFann kept watch. As +for Helen, she slept the sleep of exhaustion until wakened by the touch +of daylight on the canvas. + +With senses preternaturally sharpened, as they generally are during +one's first hours in the wilderness, Helen listened. She heard Talpers +stirring about among the horses. It was evident that he was alarmed +about something, as he was pulling the picket-pins and bringing the +animals closer to the center of the glade. McFann had been looking down +the valley from the sentinel rock. She did not hear him come into camp, +as the half-breed always moved silently through underbrush that would +betray the presence of any one less skilled in woodcraft. She heard his +monosyllabic answers to Talpers's questions. Then Bill himself pushed +his way through the underbrush and climbed the rock. When he returned to +the camp he came to the tent. + +"I don't mind tellin' you that Plenty Buffalo is out there on the trail, +with an Injun policeman or two. That young agent don't seem to have had +nerve enough to come along," said Talpers, producing a small rope. "I'll +have to tie your hands awhile, just to make sure you don't try gittin' +away. I'm goin' to tell 'em that at the first sign of rushin' the camp +you're goin' to be shot. What's more I'm goin' to mean what I tell 'em." + +Talpers tied Helen's hands behind her. He left the flaps of the tent +open as he picked up his rifle and returned to McFann, who was sitting +on a log, composedly enough, keeping watch of the other end of the glade +where the trail entered. Helen sank to her knees, with her back to the +rear of the tent, so she could command a better view. The tent had been +staked down securely around the edges, so there was no opportunity for +her to crawl under. + +Apparently the two men in the glade, as Helen saw them through the +inverted V of the open tent flaps, were most peacefully inclined. They +sat smoking and talking, and, from all outward appearances, might have +been two hunters talking over the day's prospects. Suddenly they sprang +to their feet, and, with rifles in readiness, looked toward the trail, +which was hidden from Helen's vision. + +"Don't come any nearer, Plenty Buffalo," called Talpers, in Indian +language. "If you try to rush the camp, the first thing we'll do is to +kill this girl. The only thing for you to do is to go back." + +Then followed a short colloquy, Helen being unable to hear Plenty +Buffalo's voice. + +Evidently he was well down the trail, hidden in the trees, and was +making no further effort to approach. The men sat down again, watching +the trail and evidently figuring out their plan of escape. There was no +means of scaling the mountain wall behind them. Horses could not +possibly climb that steep slope, covered with such a tangle of trees and +undergrowth, but it was possible to proceed farther along the upper edge +of the valley until finally timber-line was reached, after which the +party could drop over the divide into the happy little kingdom just off +the reservation where a capable man with the branding-iron was always +welcome and where the authorities never interfered. + +Helen listened for another call from Plenty Buffalo, but the minutes +dragged past and no summons came. The silence of the forest became +almost unbearable. The men sat uneasily, casting occasional glances back +at the tent, and making sure that Helen was remaining quiet. Finally +Plenty Buffalo called again. There was another brief parley and Talpers +renewed his threats. While the talk was going on, Helen heard a slight +noise behind her. Turning her head, she saw the point of a knife cutting +a long slit in the back of the tent. Then Fire Bear's dark face peered +in through the opening. The Indian's long brown arm reached forth and +the bonds at Helen's wrists were cut. The arm disappeared through the +slit in the canvas, beckoning as it did so. Helen backed slowly toward +the opening that had been made. + +The talk between Plenty Buffalo and Talpers was still going on. Helen +waited until both men had glanced around at her. Then, as they turned +their heads once more toward Plenty Buffalo's hiding-place, she half +leaped, half fell through the opening in the tent. A strong hand kept +her from falling and guided her swiftly through the underbrush back of +the tent. Her face was scratched by the bushes that swung back as the +half-naked Indian glided ahead of her, but, in almost miraculous +fashion, she found a traversable path opened. Torn and bleeding, she +flung herself behind a rock, just as a shout from the camp told that her +disappearance had been discovered. There was a crashing of pursuers +through the underbrush, but a gun roared a warning, almost in Helen's +ear. + +The shot was fired by Lowell, who, hatless and with torn clothing, had +followed Fire Bear within a short distance of the camp. Helen crouched +against the rock, while Lowell stood over her firing into the forest +tangle. Fire Bear stood nonchalantly beside Lowell. Helen noticed, +wonderingly, that there was not a scratch on the Indian's naked +shoulders, yet Lowell's clothes were torn, and blood dripped from his +palms where he had followed Fire Bear along the seemingly impassable way +back of the camp. + +One or two answering shots were fired, but evidently Talpers and his +companion were afraid of an attack by Plenty Buffalo, so no pursuit was +attempted. + +The Indian turned, and, motioning for Lowell and Helen to follow, +disappeared in the undergrowth along the trail which he and the agent +had made while Plenty Buffalo was attracting the attention of Talpers +and the half-breed. Helen tried to rise, but the sudden ending of the +mental strain proved unnerving. She leaned against the rock with her +eyes closed and her body limp. Lowell lifted her to her feet, almost +roughly. For a moment she stood with Lowell's arms about her and his +kisses on her face. Her whiteness alarmed him. + +"Tell me you haven't been harmed," he cried. "If you have--" + +"Just these scratches and a good riding-suit in tatters," she answered, +as she drew away from him with a reassuring smile. + +Lowell's brow cleared, and he laughed gleefully, as he picked up his +rifle. + +"Well, there's just one more hard scramble ahead," he replied, "and +perhaps some more tatters to add to what both of us have. I'd carry you, +but the best I can do is to help you over some of the more difficult +places. Fire Bear has started. Have you strength enough to try to +follow?" + +He led her along the trail taken by Fire Bear--a trail in name only. The +Indian had waited for them a few yards away. How much he had seen and +heard when Lowell held her in his arms Helen could only surmise, but the +thought sent the blood into her cheeks with a rush. + +It was as Lowell had said--another scramble. At times it seemed as if +she could not go on, but always at the right time Lowell gave the +necessary help that enabled her to surmount some seemingly impassable +obstacle. As for Fire Bear, he made his way over huge rocks and along +steep pitches of shale with the ease of a serpent. At last the way +became somewhat less difficult to traverse, and, when they came out on +the trail by the stream, Helen realized that the tax on her physical +resources was ended. + +A short distance down the trail they met Plenty Buffalo with two Indian +policemen. One of the police had been wounded in the arm by a shot from +Talpers. The trader and McFann had hurriedly packed and made their +escape, leaving the white horse, which Plenty Buffalo had brought for +Helen. + +After a hasty examination of the Indian's arm it was decided to hurry +back to the agency for aid. + +"I've sent out a call for more of the Indian police," said Lowell. +"They'll probably be there when we get back to the agency. We just +picked up what help we could find when we got word of your +disappearance." + +When Helen looked around for Fire Bear, the Indian had disappeared. + +"We never could have done anything without Fire Bear," said Lowell, as +he swung into the saddle preparatory to the homeward ride. "He is the +greatest trailer I ever saw. Probably he's gone back to his camp, now +that this interruption in his religious ceremonies is over." + +Plenty Buffalo led the way back to the agency with the wounded +policeman. Lowell had examined the man's injury and was satisfied that +it was only superficial. The policeman himself took matters with true +Indian philosophy, and galloped on with Plenty Buffalo, the most +unconcerned member of the party. + +Lowell rode with Helen, letting the others go on ahead after they had +reached the open country beyond the foothills. He explained the +circumstances of the rescue--how Wong had brought a note signed "Willis +Morgan," telling of Helen's disappearance. At the same time Fire Bear +had come to the agency with the news that one of his young men had seen +McFann and Helen riding toward the mountains. Fire Bear was convinced +that something was wrong and had lost no time in telling Lowell. With +Plenty Buffalo and one or two Indian policemen who happened to be at the +agency, a posse was hurriedly made up. Fire Bear took the trail and +followed it so swiftly and unerringly that the party was almost within +striking distance of the fugitives by night-fall. A conference had been +held, and it was decided to let Plenty Buffalo parley with Talpers and +McFann from the trail, while Fire Bear attempted the seemingly +impossible task of entering the camp from the side toward the mountain. + +Helen was silent during most of the ride to the agency. Lowell ascribed +her silence to a natural reaction from the physical and mental strain of +recent hours. After reaching the agency he saw that the wounded +policeman was properly taken care of. Then Lowell and Helen started for +the Greek Letter Ranch in the agent's car, leaving her horse to be +brought over by one of the agency employees. + +"Do you intend to go back and take up the chase for Talpers and McFann?" +asked Helen. + +"Of course! Just as soon as I can get more of the Indian police +together." + +"But they'll hardly be taken alive, will they?" + +"Perhaps not." + +"That means that blood will be shed on my account," declared Helen. +"I'll not have it! I don't want those men captured! What if I refuse to +testify against them?" + +Lowell looked at her in amazement. Then it came to him overwhelmingly +that here was the murder mystery stalking between them once more, like a +ghost. He recalled Talpers's broad hint that Helen knew something of the +case, and that if Bill Talpers were dragged into the Dollar Sign affair +the girl at the Greek Letter Ranch would be dragged in also. + +"There is no need of the outside world knowing anything about this," +went on Helen. "The Indian police do not report to any one but you, do +they?" + +"No. Their lips are sealed so far as their official duties are +concerned." + +"Fire Bear will have nothing to say?" + +"He has probably forgotten it by this time in his religious fervor." + +"Then I ask you to let these men go." + +"If you will not appear against them," said Lowell, "I can't see that +anything will be gained by bringing them in. But probably it would be a +good thing to exterminate them on the tenable ground that they are +general menaces to the welfare of society." + +The girl's troubled expression returned. + +"On one condition I will send word to Talpers that he may return," went +on Lowell. "That condition is that you rescind your order excluding me +from the Greek Letter Ranch. If Talpers comes back I've got to be +allowed to drop around to see that you are not spirited away." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +Talpers was back in his store in two days. Lowell sent word that the +trader might return. At first Talpers was hesitant and suspicious. There +was a lurking fear in his mind that the agent had some trick in view, +but, as life took its accustomed course, Bill resumed his domineering +attitude about the store. A casual explanation that he had been buying +some cattle was enough to explain his absence. + +Bill's recent experiences had caused him to regard the agent with new +hatred, not unmixed with fear. The obvious thing for Lowell to have done +was to have rushed more men on the trail and captured Talpers and McFann +before they crossed the reservation line. It could have been done, with +Fire Bear doing the trailing. Even the half-breed admitted that much. +But, instead of carrying out such a programme, the agent had sent Fire +Bear and Plenty Buffalo with word that the trader might come back--that +no prosecution was intended. + +Clearly enough such an unusual proceeding indicated that the girl was +still afraid on account of the letter, and had persuaded the agent to +abandon the chase. There was the key to the whole situation--the letter! +Bill determined to guard it more closely than ever. He opened his safe +frequently to see that it was there. + +As a whole, then, things were not breaking so badly, Bill figured. To be +sure, it would have cleared things permanently if Jim McFann had done as +he had been told, instead of weakening in such unexpected and absurd +fashion. Bringing that girl into camp, as Jim had done, had given +Talpers the most unpleasant surprise of his life. He had come out of the +affair luckily. The letter was what had done it all. He would lie low +and keep an eye on affairs from now on. McFann would have no difficulty +in shifting for himself out in the sagebrush, now that he was alone. +Bill would see that he got grub and even a little whiskey occasionally, +but there would be no more assignments for him in which women were +concerned, for the half-breed had too tender a heart for his own good! + +The Indian agent stopped at Bill's store occasionally, on his way to and +from the Greek Letter Ranch. Their conversation ran mostly to trade and +minor affairs of life in general. Even the weather was fallen back upon +in case some one happened to be within earshot, which was usually the +case, as Bill's store was seldom empty. No one who heard them would +suspect that the men were watching, weighing, and fathoming each other +with all the nicety at individual command. Talpers was always wondering +just how much the Indian agent knew, and Lowell was saying to himself: + +"This scoundrel has some knowledge in his possession which vitally +affects the young woman I love. Also he is concerned, perhaps deeply, in +the murder on the Dollar Sign road. Yet he has fortified himself so well +in his villainy that he feels secure." + +For all his increased feeling of security, Talpers was wise enough to +let the bottle alone and also to do no boasting. Likewise he stuck +faithfully to his store--so faithfully that it became a matter of public +comment. + +"If Bill sticks much closer to this store he's goin' to fall into a +decline," said Andy Wolters, who had been restored to favor in the +circle of cowpunchers that lolled about Talpers's place. "He's gettin' a +reg'lar prison pallor now. He used to be hittin' the trail once in a +while, but nowadays he's hangin' around that post-office section as if +he expected a letter notifyin' him that a rich uncle had died." + +"Mebbe he's afraid of travelin' these parts since that feller was killed +on the Dollar Sign," suggested another cowboy. "Doggoned if I don't feel +a little shaky myself sometimes when I'm ridin' that road alone at +night. Looks like some of them Injuns ought to have been hung for that +murder, right off the reel, and then folks'd feel a lot easier in their +minds." + +The talk then would drift invariably to the subject of the murder and +the general folly of the court in allowing Fire Bear to go on the Indian +agent's recognizance. But Talpers, though he heard the chorus of +denunciation from the back of the store, and though he was frequently +called upon for an opinion, never could be drawn into the conversation. +He bullied his clerk as usual, and once in a while swept down, in a +storm of baseless anger, upon some unoffending Indian, just to show that +Bill Talpers was still a man to be feared, but for the most part he +waited silently, with the confidence of a man who holds a winning hand +at cards. + +The same days that saw Talpers's confidence returning were days of +dissatisfaction to Lowell. He felt that he was being constantly +thwarted. He would have preferred to give his entire attention to the +murder mystery, but details of reservation management crowded upon him +in a way that made avoidance impossible. Among his duties Lowell found +that he must act as judge and jury in many cases that came up. There +were domestic difficulties to be straightened out, and thieves and +brawlers to be sentenced. Likewise there was occasional flotsam, cast up +from the human sea outside the reservation, which required attention. + +One of those reminders of the outer world was brought in by an Indian +policeman. The stranger was a rough-looking individual, to all +appearances a harmless tramp, who had been picked up "hoofing it" across +the reservation. + +The Indian policeman explained, through the interpreter, that he had +found the wanderer near a sub-agency, several miles away--that he had +shown a disposition to fight, and had only been cowed by the prompt +presentation of a revolver at his head. + +"Why, you 're no tramp--you're a yeggman," said Lowell to the prisoner, +interrupting voluble protestations of innocence. "You're one of the +gentry that live off small post-offices and banks. I'll bet you've +stolen stamps enough in your career to keep the Post-Office Department +going six months. And you've given heart disease to no end of +stockholders in small banks--prosperous citizens who have had to make +good the losses caused by your safe-breaking operations. Am I bringing +an unjust indictment against you, pardner?" + +A flicker of a smile was discernible somewhere in the tangle of beard +that hid the lineaments of the prisoner's face. + +"If I inventoried the contents of this bundle," continued Lowell, "I'd +find a pretty complete outfit of the tools that keep the safe companies +working overtime on replacements, wouldn't I?" + +The prisoner nodded. + +"There's no use of my dodgin', judge," he said. "The tools are +there--all of 'em. But I'm through with the game. All I want now is +enough of a stake to get me back home to Omaha, where the family is. +That's why I was footin' it acrost this Injun country--takin' a short +cut to a railroad where I wouldn't be watched for." + +"I'll consider your case awhile," remarked Lowell after a moment's +thought. "Perhaps we can speed you on your way to Omaha and the family." + +The prisoner was taken back to the agency jail leaving his bundle on +Lowell's desk. About midnight Lowell took the bundle and, going to the +jail, roused the policeman who was on guard and was admitted to the +prisoner's cell. + +"Look here, Red," said Lowell. "Your name is Red, isn't it?" + +"Red Egan." + +"Well, Red Egan, did you ever hear of Jimmy Valentine?" + +The prisoner scratched his head while he puffed at a welcome cigarette. + +"No? Well, Red, this Jimmy Valentine was in the business you're +quitting, and he opened a safe in a good cause. I want you to do the +same for me. If you can do a neat job, with no noise, I'll see that you +get across the reservation all right, with stake enough to get you to +Omaha." + +"You're on, judge! I'd crack one more for a good scout like you any +day." + +Three quarters of an hour later Red Egan was working professionally upon +the safe in Bill Talpers's store. The door to Talpers's sleeping-room +was not far away, but it was closed, and the trader was a thorough +sleeper, so the cracksman might have been conducting operations a mile +distant, so far as interruption from Bill was concerned. + +As he worked, Red Egan told whispered stories to a companion--stories +which related to barriers burned, pried, and blown away. + +"I don't mind how close they sleep to their junk," observed Red, as he +rested momentarily from his labors. "Unless a man's got insomnier and +insists on makin' his bed on top of his safe, he ain't got a chance to +make his iron doors stay shut if one of the real good 'uns takes a +notion to make 'em fly apart. There she goes!" he added a moment later, +as the safe door swung open. + +"All right, Red," came the whispered reply, "but remember that I get +whatever money's in sight, just for appearances' sake, though it's +letters and such things I'm really after." + +"It goes as you say, boss, and I hope you get what you want. There goes +that inside door." + +In the light of a flash-lamp Lowell saw a letter and a roll of bills. He +took both, while Red Egan, his work done, packed up the kit of tools. + +Lowell had recognized Helen's handwriting on the envelope, and knew he +had found what he wanted. + +"You've earned that trip to Omaha, Red," said Lowell, after they had +gone back to their horses which had been standing in a cottonwood grove +near by. "When we get back to the agency I'll put you in my car and +drive you far enough by daybreak so that you can catch a train at noon." + +"You're a square guy, judge, but if that's the letter you've been +wantin' to get, why don't you read it? Or maybe you know what's in it +without readin' it." + +"No, I don't know what's in it, and I don't want to read it, Red." + +Red's amazed whistle cut through the night silence. + +"Well, if that ain't the limit! Havin' a safe-crackin' job done for a +letter that you ain't ever seen and don't want to see the inside of!" + +"It's all right, Red. Don't worry about it, because you've earned your +money twice over to-night. Don't look on your last job as a failure, by +any means." + + * * * * * + +A few hours later the Indian agent, not looking like a man who had been +up all night, halted his car at Talpers's store, after he had received +an excited hail from Andy Wolters. + +"You're jest in time!" exclaimed Andy. "Bill Talpers's safe has been +cracked and Bill is jest now tryin' to figger the damage. He says he's +lost a roll of money and some other things." + +Lowell found Talpers going excitedly through the contents of his broken +safe. It was not the first time the trader had pawed over the papers. +Nor were the oaths that fell on Lowell's ears the first that the trader +had uttered since the discovery that he had been robbed as he slept. + +It was plain enough that Talpers was suffering from a deeper shock than +could come through any mere loss of money. Not even when Lowell +contrived to drop the roll of bills, where the trader's clerk picked it +up with a whoop of glee, did Talpers's expression change. His oaths were +those of a man distraught, and the contumely he heaped upon Sheriff Tom +Redmond moved that official to a spirited defense. + +"I can't see why you hold me responsible for a safe that you've been +keeping within earshot all these years," retorted Tom, in answer to +Talpers's sneers about the lack of protection afforded the county's +business men. "If you can't hear a yeggman working right next to your +sleeping-quarters, how do you expect me to hear him, 'way over to White +Lodge? I'll leave it to Lowell here if your complaint is reasonable. +I'll do the best I can to get this man, but it looks to me as if he's +made a clean getaway. What sort of papers was it you said you lost, +Bill?" + +"I didn't say." + +"Well, then, I'm asking you. Was they long or short, rolled or flat, or +tied with pink ribbon?" + +"Never mind!" roared Talpers. "You round up this burglar and let me go +through him. I'll get what's mine, all right." + +Redmond made a gesture of despair. A man who had been robbed and had +recovered his money, and was so keen after papers that he wouldn't or +couldn't describe, was past all fooling with. The sheriff rode off, +grumbling, without even questioning Lowell to ascertain if the Indian +police had seen any suspicious characters on the reservation. + +Bill Talpers's mental convolutions following the robbery reminded Lowell +of the writhing of a wounded snake. Bill's fear was that the letter +would be picked up and sent back to the girl at the Greek Letter Ranch. +Suspicion of a plot in the affair did not enter his head. To him it was +just a sinister stroke of misfortune--one of the chance buffets of fate. +One tramp burglar out of the many pursuing that vocation had happened +upon the Talpers establishment at a time when its proprietor was in an +unusually sound sleep. Bill gave himself over to thoughts of the various +forms of punishment he would inflict upon the wandering yeggman in case +a capture were effected--thoughts which came to naught, as Red Egan had +been given so generous a start toward his Omaha goal that he never was +headed. + +As the days went past and the letter was not discovered, Bill began to +gather hope. Perhaps the burglar, thinking the letter of no value, had +destroyed it, in natural disgust at finding that he had dropped the +money which undoubtedly was the real object of his safe-breaking. + +If Talpers had known what had really happened to the letter, all his +self-comfortings would have vanished. Lowell had lost no time in taking +the missive to Helen. He had found affairs at the Greek Letter Ranch +apparently unchanged. Wong was at work in the kitchen. Two Indians, who +had been hired to harvest the hay, which was the only crop on the ranch, +were busy in a near-by field. Helen, looking charming in a house dress +of blue, with white collar and cuffs, was feeding a tame magpie when +Lowell drove into the yard. + +"Moving picture entitled 'The Metamorphosis of Miss Tatters,'" said +Lowell, amusedly surveying her. + +"The scratches still survive, but the riding-suit will take a lot of +mending," said Helen, showing her scratched hands and wrists. + +"Well, if this very becoming costume has a pocket, here's something to +put in it," remarked Lowell, handing her the letter. + +Helen's smile was succeeded by a startled, anxious look, as she glanced +at the envelope and then at Lowell. + +"No need for worry," Lowell assured her. "Nobody has read that letter +since it passed out of the possession of our esteemed postmaster, Bill +Talpers, sometime after one o'clock this morning." + +"But how did he come to give it up?" asked Helen, her voice wavering. + +"He did not do so willingly. It might be said he did not give it up +knowingly. As a matter of fact, our friend Talpers had no idea he had +lost his precious possession until it had been gone several hours." + +"But how--" + +"'How' is a word to be flung at Red Egan, knight of the steel drill and +the nitro bottle and other what-nots of up-to-date burglary," said +Lowell. "Though I saw the thing done, I can't tell you how. I only hope +it clears matters for you." + +"It does in a way. I cannot tell you how grateful I am," said Helen, her +trembling hands tightly clutching the letter. + +"Only in a way? I am sorry it does not do more." + +"But it's a very important way, I assure you!" exclaimed Helen. "It +eliminates this man--this Talpers--as a personal menace. But when you +are so eager to get every thread of evidence, how is it that you can +give this letter to me, unread? You must feel sure it has some bearing +on the awful thing--the tragedy that took place back there on the hill." + +"That is where faith rises superior to a very human desire to look into +the details of mystery," said Lowell. "If I were a real detective, or +spy, as you characterized me, I would have read that letter at the first +opportunity. But I knew that my reading it would cause you grave +personal concern. I have faith in you to the extent that I believe you +would do nothing to bring injustice upon others. Consequently, from now +on I will proceed to forget that this letter ever existed." + +"You may regret that you have acted in this generous manner," said the +girl. "What if you find that all your faith has been misplaced--that I +am not worthy of the trust--" + +"Really, there is nothing to be gained by saying such things," +interposed Lowell. "As I told you, I am forgetting that the letter ever +existed." + +"Do you know," she said, "I wish this letter could have come back to me +from any one but you?" + +"Why?" + +"Because, coming as it has, I am more or less constrained to act as +fairly as you believe I shall act." + +"You might give it back to Talpers and start in on any sort of a deal +you chose." + +"Impossible! For fear Talpers may get it, here is what I shall do to the +letter." + +Here Helen tore it in small pieces and tossed them high in the air, the +breeze carrying them about the yard like snow. + +"In which event," laughed Lowell, "it seems that I win, and my faith in +you is to be justified." + +"I wish I could assure you of as much," answered Helen sadly. "But if it +happens that your trust is not justified, I hope you will not think too +harshly of me." + +"Harshly!" exclaimed Lowell. "Harshly! Why, if you practiced revolver +shooting on me an hour before breakfast every morning, or if you used me +for a doormat here at the Greek Letter Ranch, I couldn't think anything +but lovingly of you." + +"Oh!" cried Helen, clapping her hands over her ears and running up the +porch steps, as Lowell turned to his automobile. "You've almost undone +all the good you've accomplished to-day." + +"Thanks for that word 'almost,'" laughed Lowell. + +"Then I'll make it 'quite,'" flung Helen, but her words were lost in the +shifting of gears as Lowell started back to the agency. + +That night Helen dreamed that Bill Talpers, on hands and knees, was +moving like a misshapen shadow about the yard in the moonlight picking +up the letter which she had torn to pieces. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +Sheriff Tom Redmond sat in Lowell's office at the agency, staring grimly +across at the little park, where the down from the cottonwood trees +clung to the grass like snow. The sheriff had just brought himself to a +virtual admission that he had been in the wrong. + +"I was going to say," remarked Tom, "that, in case you catch Jim McFann, +perhaps the best thing would be for you to sort o' close-herd him at the +agency jail here until time for trial." + +Lowell looked at the sheriff inquiringly. + +"I'll admit that I've been sort of clamoring for you to let me bring a +big posse over here and round up McFann in a hurry. Well, I don't +believe that scheme would work." + +"I'm glad we agree on that point." + +"You've been taking the ground that unless we brought a lot of men over, +we couldn't do any better than the Injun police in the matter of +catching this half-breed. Also you've said that if we _did_ bring a +small army of cattlemen, it would only be a lynching party, and Jim +McFann'd never live to reach the jail at White Lodge." + +"I don't think anything could stop a lynching." + +"Well, I believe you're right. The boys have been riding me, stronger +and stronger, to get up a posse and come over here. In fact, they got so +strong that I suspected they had something up their sleeves. When I sort +o' backed up on the proposition, a lot of them began pulling wires at +Washington, so's to make you get orders that'd let us come on the +reservation and get both of these men." + +"I know it," said Lowell, "but they've found they can't make any +headway, even with their own Congressmen, because Judge Garford's stand +is too well known. He's let everybody know that he's against anything +that may bring about a lynching. So far as the Department is concerned, +I've put matters squarely up to it and have been advised to use my own +judgment." + +"Well, I never seen people so wrought up, and I'm free to admit now that +if Jim McFann hadn't broke jail he'd have been lynched on the very day +that he made his getaway. The only question is--do you think you can get +him before the trial, and are you sure the Injun'll come in?" + +"I'm not sure of anything, of course," replied Lowell, "but I've staked +everything on Fire Bear making good his word. If he doesn't, I'm ready +to quit the country. McFann's a different proposition. He has been too +clever for the police, but I have rather hesitated about having Plenty +Buffalo risk the lives of his men, because I have had a feeling that +McFann might be reached in a different way. I'm sure he's been getting +supplies from the man who has been using him in bootlegging operations." + +"You mean Talpers?" + +"Yes. If McFann is mixed up in anything, from bootlegging to bigger +crimes, he is only a tool. He can be a dangerous tool--that's +admitted--but I'd like to gather in the fellow who does the planning." + +"By golly! I wish I had you working with me on this murder case," said +Redmond, in a burst of confidence. "I'll admit I never had anything +stump me the way this case has. I'm bringing up against a blank wall at +every turn." + +"Haven't you found out anything new about Sargent?" + +"Not a thing worth while. He lived alone--had lots of money that he made +by inventing mining machinery." + +"Any relatives?" + +"None that we can find out about." + +"Have you learned anything through his bank?" + +"He had plenty of money on deposit; that's all." + +"Did he have any lawyers?" + +"Not that we've heard from." + +"Does any one know why he came on this trip?" + +"No; but he was in the habit of making long jaunts alone through the +West." + +"What sort of a home did he have?" + +"A big house in the suburbs. Lived there alone with two servants. They +haven't been able to tell a thing about him that's worth a cuss." + +"Would anything about his home indicate what sort of a man he was?" + +"The detectives wrote something about his having a lot of Indian +things--Navajo blankets and such." + +"Indians may have been his hobby. Perhaps he intended to visit this +reservation." + +"If that was so, why should he drive through the agency at night and be +killed going away from the reservation? No, he was going somewhere in a +hurry or he wouldn't have traveled at night." + +"But automobile tourists sometimes travel that way." + +"Not in this part of the country. In the Southwest, perhaps, to avoid +the heat of the day." + +"Well, what do you think about it all, Tom?" + +"That this feller was a pilgrim, going somewhere in a hurry. He was held +up by some of your young bucks who were off the reservation and feeling +a little too full of life for their own good. A touch of bootleg whiskey +might have set them going. Mebbe that's where Jim McFann came in. They +might have killed the man when he resisted. The staking-out was probably +an afterthought--a piece of Injun or half-breed devilment." + +"How about the sawed-off shotgun? I doubt if there's one on the +reservation." + +"Probably that was Sargent's own weapon. He had traveled in the West a +good many years. Mebbe he had used sawed-off shotguns as an express +messenger or something of the sort in early days. It's a fact that there +ain't any handier weapon of _dee_fense than a sawed-off shotgun, no +matter what kind of a wheeled outfit you're traveling in." + +"It's all reasonable enough, Tom," said Lowell reflectively. "It may +work out just as you have figured, but frankly I don't believe the +Indians and McFann are in it quite as far as you think." + +"Well, if they didn't do it, who could have? You've been over the ground +more than any one else. Have you found anything to hang a whisper of +suspicion on?" + +Lowell shook his head. + +"Nothing to talk about, but there are some things, indefinite enough, +perhaps, that make me hesitate about believing the Indians to be +guilty." + +"How about McFann? He's got the nerve, all right." + +"Yes, McFann would kill if it came to a showdown. There's enough Indian +in him, too, to explain the staking-down." + +"He admits he was on the scene of the murder." + +"Yes, and his admission strengthens me in the belief that he's telling +the truth, or at least that he had no part in the actual killing. If he +were guilty, he'd deny being within miles of the spot." + +"Mebbe you're right," said the sheriff, rising and turning his hat in +his hand and methodically prodding new and geometrically perfect +indentations in its high crown, "but you've got a strong popular opinion +to buck. Most people believe them Injuns and the breed have a guilty +knowledge of the murder." + +"When you get twelve men in the jury box saying the same thing," replied +Lowell, "that's going to settle it. But until then I'm considering the +case open." + + * * * * * + +Jim McFann's camp was in the loneliest of many lonely draws in the +sage-gray uplands where the foothills and plains meet. It was not a camp +that would appeal to the luxury-loving. In fact, one might almost fall +over it in the brush before knowing that a camp was there. A "tarp" bed +was spread on the hard, sun-cracked soil. A saddle was near by. There +was a frying-pan or two at the edge of a dead fire. A pack-animal and +saddle horse stood disconsolately in the greasewood, getting what +slender grazing was available, but not being allowed to wander far. It +was the camp of one who "traveled light" and was ready to go at an +instant's notice. + +So well hidden was the half-breed that, in spite of explicit directions +that had been given by Bill Talpers, Andy Wolters had a difficult time +in finding the camp. Talpers had sent Andy as his emissary, bearing grub +and tobacco and a bottle of whiskey to the half-breed. Andy had turned +and twisted most of the morning in the monotony of sage. Song had died +upon his lips as the sun had beaten upon him with all its unclouded +vigor. + +Andy did not know it, but for an hour he had been under the scrutiny of +the half-breed, who had been quick to descry the horseman moving through +the brush. McFann had been expecting Talpers, and he was none too +pleased to find that the trader had sent the gossiping cowpuncher in his +stead. Andy, being one of those ingenuous souls who never can catch the +undercurrents of life, rattled on, all unconscious of the effect of +light words, lightly flung. + +"You dig the grub and other stuff out o' that pack," said Andy, "while I +hunt an inch or two of shade and cool my brow. When it comes to makin' a +success of hidin' out in the brush, you can beat one of them renegade +steers that we miss every round-up. I guess you ain't heard about the +robbery that's happened in our metropolis of Talpersville, have you?" + +The half-breed grunted a negative. + +"Of course not, seein' as you ain't gettin' the daily paper out here. +Well, an expert safe-buster rode Bill Talpers's iron treasure-chest to a +frazzle the other night. Took valuable papers that Bill's all fussed up +about, but dropped a wad of bills, big enough to choke one of them +prehistoric bronks that used to romp around in these hills." + +McFann looked up scowlingly from his task of estimating the amount of +grub that had been sent. + +"Seems to me," went on Andy, "that if I got back my money, I wouldn't +give a durn about papers--not unless they was papers that established my +rights as the long-lost heir of some feller with about twenty million +dollars. That roll had a thousand-dollar bill wrapped around the +outside." + +The half-breed straightened up. + +"How do you know there was a thousand-dollar bill in that roll?" he +demanded, with an intensity that surprised the cowboy. + +"Bill told me so himself. He had took a few snifters, and was feelin' +melancholy over them papers, and I tried to cheer him up by tellin' him +jest what I've told you, that as long as I had my roll back, I wouldn't +care about all the hen-tracks that spoiled nice white paper. He chirked +up a bit at that, and got confidential and told me about this +thousand-dollar bill. They say it ain't the only one he had. The story +is that he sprung one on an Injun the other day in payment for a bunch +o' steers. There must be lots more profit in prunes and shawls and the +other things that Bill handles than most people have been thinkin', with +thousand-dollar bills comin' so easy." + +The half-breed was listening intently now. He had ceased his work about +the camp, and was standing, with hands clenched and head thrust forward, +eyeing Andy so narrowly that the cowboy paused in his narrative. + +"What's the matter, Jim?" he asked; "Bill didn't take any of them +thousand-dollar things from you, did he?" + +"Mebbe not, and mebbe so," enigmatically answered the half-breed. "Go on +and tell me the rest." + +When he had completed his story of the robbery at Talpers's store, Andy +tilted his enormous sombrero over his eyes, and, leaning back in the +shade, fell asleep. The half-breed worked silently about the camp, +occasionally going to a near-by knoll and looking about for some sign of +life in the sagebrush. He made some biscuits and coffee and fried some +bacon, after which he touched Andy none too gently with his moccasined +foot and told the cowboy to sit up and eat something. + +After one or two ineffectual efforts to start conversation, the visitor +gave up in disgust. The meal was eaten in silence. Even the obtuse Andy +sensed that something was wrong, and made no effort to rouse the +half-breed, who ate grimly and immediately busied himself with the +dish-washing as soon as the meal was over. Andy soon took his departure, +the half-breed directing him to a route that would lessen the chances of +his discovery by the Indian police. + +After Andy had gone the half-breed turned his attention to the bottle +which had been sent by Talpers. He visited the knoll occasionally, but +nothing alive could be discerned in the great wastes of sage. When the +shadows deepened and the chill of evening came down from the high +altitudes of the near-by peaks, McFann staked out his ponies in better +grazing ground. Then he built a small camp-fire, and, sitting +cross-legged in the light, he smoked and drank, and meditated upon the +perfidy of Bill Talpers. + +McFann was astir at dawn, and there was determination in every move as +he brought in the horses and began to break camp. + +The half-breed owned a ranch which had come down to him from his Indian +mother. Shrewdly suspecting that the police had ceased watching the +ranch, Jim made his way homeward. His place was located in the +bottom-land along a small creek. There was a shack on it, but no attempt +at cultivation. As he looked the place over, Jim's thoughts became more +bitter than ever. If he had farmed this land, the way the agent wanted +him to, he could have been independent by now, but instead of that he +had listened to Talpers's blandishments and now had been thrown down by +his professed friend! + +Jim took off his pack and threw his camping equipment inside the shack. +Then he turned his pack-animal into the wild hay in the pasture he had +fenced off in the creek bottom. He had some other live stock roaming +around in the little valley--enough steers and horses to make a +beginning toward a comfortable independence, if he had only had sense +enough to start in that way. Also there was good soil on the upland. He +could run a ditch from the creek to the nearest mesa, where the land was +red and sandy and would raise anything. The reservation agriculturist +had been along and had shown him just how the trick could be done, but +Bill Talpers's bootlegging schemes looked a lot better then! + +The half-breed slammed his shack door shut and rode away with his greasy +hat-brim pulled well over his eyes. He paid little attention to the +demands he was making on horseflesh, and he rode openly across the +country. If the Indian police saw him, he could outdistance them. The +thing that he had set out to do could be done quickly. After that, +nothing mattered much. + +Skirting the ridge on which Helen and Lowell had stood, Jim made a +detour as he approached the reservation line and avoided the Greek +Letter Ranch. He swung into the road well above the ranch, and, +breasting the hill where the murder had taken place on the Dollar Sign, +he galloped down the slope toward Talpers's store. + +The trader was alone in his store when the half-breed entered. Talpers +had seen McFann coming, some distance down the road. Something in the +half-breed's bearing in the saddle, or perhaps it was some inner stir of +guilty fear, made Talpers half-draw his revolver. Then he thrust it back +into its holster, and, swinging around in his chair, awaited his +partner's arrival. He even attempted a jaunty greeting. + +"Hello, Jim," he called, as the half-breed's lithe figure swung in +through the outer doorway; "ain't you even a little afraid of the Injun +police?" + +McFann did not answer, but flung open the door into Bill's sanctum. It +was no unusual thing for the men to confer there, and two or three +Indians on the front porch did not even turn their heads to see what was +going on inside. Talpers's clerk was out and Andy Wolters had just +departed, after reporting to the trader that the half-breed had seemed +"plumb uneasy out there in the brush." Andy had not told Bill the cause +of McFann's uneasiness, but on that point the trader was soon to be +enlightened. + +"Bill," said the half-breed purringly, "I hear you've been having your +safe cracked." + +Something in the half-breed's voice made the trader wish he had not +shoved back that revolver. It would not do to reach for it now. McFann's +hands were empty, but he was lightning in getting them to his guns. + +The trader's lips seemed more than usually dry and cracked. His voice +wheezed at the first word, as he answered. + +"Yes, Jim, I was robbed," he said. Then he added, propitiatingly: "But +I've got a new safe. Ain't she a beauty?" + +"She sure is," replied McFann, though he did not take his eyes off +Talpers. "Got your name on, and everything. Let's open her up, and see +what a real safe looks like inside." + +Talpers turned without question and began fumbling at the combination. +His hands trembled, and once he dropped them at his side. As he did so +McFann's hands moved almost imperceptibly. Their movement was toward the +half-breed's hips, and Talpers brought his own hands quickly back to the +combination. The tumblers fell, and the trader swung the door open. + +"Purtier 'n a new pair of boots," approved the half-breed, as a brave +array of books and inner drawers came in view. "Now them inside boxes. +The one with the thousand-dollar bill in it." + +"Why, what's gittin' into you, Jim?" almost whined Talpers. "You know I +ain't got any thousand-dollar bill." + +"Don't lie to me," snapped the half-breed, a harsh note coming into his +voice. "You've made your talk about a thousand-dollar bill. I want to +see it--that's all." + +Slowly Talpers unlocked the inner strong box and took therefrom a roll +of money. + +"There it is," he said, handing it to McFann. A thousand-dollar bill was +on the outside of the roll. + +"I ain't going to ask where you got that," said McFann steadily, +"because you'd lie to me. But I know. You took it from that man on the +hill. You told me you'd jest found him there when I come on you prowling +around his body. You said you didn't take anything from him, and I was +fool enough to believe you. But you didn't get these thousand-dollar +bills anywhere else. You double-crossed me, and if things got too warm +for you, you was going to saw everything off on me. Easy enough when I +was hiding out there in the sagebrush, living on what you wanted to send +out to me. I've done all this bootlegging work for you, and I covered up +for you in court, about this murder, all because I thought you was on +the square. And all the time you had took your pickings from this man on +the hill and had fooled me into thinking you didn't find a thing on him. +Here's the money, Bill. I wouldn't take it away from you. Lock it in +your safe again--if you can!" + +The half-breed flung the roll of bills in Talpers's face. The trader, +made desperate by fear, flung himself toward McFann. If he could pinion +the half-breed's arms to his side, there could be but one outcome to the +struggle that had been launched. The trader's great weight and +grizzly-like strength would be too much for the wiry half-breed to +overcome. But McFann slipped easily away from Talpers's clutching hands. +The trader brought up against the mailing desk with a crash that shook +the entire building. The heat of combat warmed his chilled veins. +Courage returned to him with a rush. He roared oaths as he righted +himself and dragged his revolver from the holster on his hip. + +Before the trader's gun could be brought to a shooting level, paralysis +seemed to seize his arm. Fire seared his side and unbearable pain +radiated therefrom. Only the fighting man's instinct kept him on his +feet. His knees sagged and his arm drooped slowly, despite his desperate +endeavors to raise that blue-steel weapon to its target. He saw the +half-breed, smiling and defiant, not three paces away, but seemingly in +another world. There was a revolver in McFann's hand, and faint tendrils +of smoke came from the weapon. + +Grimly setting his jaws and with his lips parted in a mirthless grin, +Talpers crossed his left hand to his right. With both hands he tried to +raise the revolver, but it only sank lower. His knees gave way and he +slid to the floor, his back to his new safe and his swarthy skin showing +a pale yellow behind his sparse, curling black beard. + +"Put the money away, Bill, put it away, quick," said McFann's mocking +voice. "There it is, under your knee. You sold out your pardner for +it--now hide it in your new safe!" + +Talpers's cracked lips formed no reply, but his little black eyes glowed +balefully behind their dark, lowering brows. + +"You're good at shooting down harmless Indians, Bill," jeered McFann, +"but you're too slow in a real fight. Any word you want to send to the +Indian agent? I'm going to tell him I believe you did the murder on the +Dollar Sign road." + +A last flare of rage caused Talpers to straighten up. Then the paralysis +came again, stronger than before. The revolver slipped from the trader's +grasp, and his head sank forward until his chin rested on his broad +chest. + +McFann looked contemptuously at the great figure, helpless in death. +Then he lighted a cigarette, and, laughing at the terror of the Indians, +who had been peeping in the window at the last of the tragedy, the +half-breed walked out of the store, and, mounting his horse, rode to the +agency and gave himself up to Lowell. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +Lowell consulted with Judge Garford and Sheriff Tom Redmond, and it was +decided to keep Jim McFann in jail at the agency until time for his +trial for complicity in the first murder on the Dollar Sign road. + +Sheriff Redmond admitted that, owing to the uncertainty of public +sentiment, he could not guarantee the half-breed's safety if McFann were +lodged in the county jail. Consequently the slayer of Bill Talpers +remained in jail at the agency, under a strong guard of Indian police, +supplemented by trustworthy deputies sent over by Redmond. + +The killing of Talpers was the excuse for another series of attacks on +Lowell by the White Lodge paper. Said the editor: + + The murder of our esteemed neighbor, William Talpers, by James + McFann, a half-breed, is another evidence of the necessity of + opening the reservation to white settlement. + + This second murder on the Dollar Sign road is not a mystery. Its + perpetrator was seen at this bloody work. Furthermore, he is + understood to have coolly confessed his crime. But, like the first + murder, which is still shrouded in mystery, this was a crime which + found its inception on the Indian reservation. Are white residents + adjacent to the reservation to have their lives snuffed out at the + pleasure of Government wards and reservation offscourings in + general? Has not the time come when the broad acres of the Indian + reservation, which the redskins are doing little with, should be + thrown open to the plough of the white man? + +"'Plough of the white man' is good," cynically observed Ed Rogers, after +calling Lowell's attention to the article. "If those cattlemen ever get +the reservation opened, they'll keep the nesters out for the next forty +years, if they have to kill a homesteader for every hundred and sixty +acres. So far as Bill Talpers's killing is concerned, I can't see but +what it is looked upon as a good thing for the peace of the community." + +It seemed to be a fact that Jim McFann's act had appealed irresistibly +to a large element. Youthful cowpunchers rode for miles and waited about +the agency for a glimpse of the gun-fighter who had slain the +redoubtable Bill Talpers in such a manner. None of them could get near +the jail, but they stood in picturesque groups about the agency, +listening to the talk of Andy Wolters and others who had been on more or +less intimate terms with the principals in the affair. + +"And there was me a-snoozin' in that breed's camp the very day before he +done this shootin'," said Andy to an appreciative circle. "He must have +had this thing stewin' in his head at the time. It's a wonder he didn't +throw down on me, jest for a little target practice. But I guess he +figgered he didn't need no practice to get Bill Talpers, and judgin' +from the way things worked out, his figgerin' was right. Some artist +with the little smoke machine, that boy, 'cause Bill Talpers wasn't no +slouch at shootin'! I remember seein' Bill shoot the head off a +rattlesnake at the side of the road, jest casual-like, and when it come +to producin' the hardware he was some quick for a big man. He more than +met his match this time, old Bill did. And, by gosh! you can bet that +nobody after this ever sends me out to any dry camps in the brush to +take supplies to any gunman who may be hid out there. Next time I might +snooze and never wake up." + +All was not adulation for Jim McFann. Because of the Indian strain in +his blood a minor undercurrent of prejudice had set in against him, more +particularly among the white settlers and the cattlemen who were casting +covetous eyes on reservation lands. While McFann was not strictly a ward +of the Government, he had land on the reservation. His lot was cast with +the Indians, chiefly because he found few white men who would associate +with him on account of his Indian blood. Talpers was not loved, but the +killing of any white man by some one of Indian ancestry was something to +fan resentment without regard to facts. Bets were made that McFann would +not live to be tried on the second homicide charge against him, many +holding the opinion that he would be hanged, with Fire Bear, for the +first murder. Also wagers were freely made that Fire Bear would not be +produced in court by the Indian agent, and that it would be necessary to +send a force of officers to get the accused Indian. + +Lowell apparently paid no attention to the rumors that were flying +about. A mass of reservation detail had accumulated, and he worked hard +to get it out of the way before the trial. He had made changes in the +boarding-school system, and had established an experimental farm at the +agency. He had supervised the purchase of livestock for the improvement +of the tribal flocks and herds. In addition there had been the personal +demands that shower incessantly upon every Indian agent who is +interested in his work. + +Reports from the reservation agriculturists, whose work was to help the +Indians along farming lines, were not encouraging. Drought was +continuing without abatement. + +"The last rain fell the day before the murder on the Dollar Sign road," +said Rogers. "Remember how we splashed through mud the day we ran out +there and found that man staked down on the prairie?" + +"And now the Indians are saying that the continued drought is due to +Fire Bear's medicine," observed Lowell. "Even some of the more +conservative Indians believe there is no use trying to raise crops until +the charge against Fire Bear is dismissed and the evil spell is lifted." + +In spite of the details of reservation management that crowded upon him, +Lowell found time for occasional visits to the Greek Letter Ranch to see +Helen Ervin. He told her the details of the Talpers shooting, so far as +he knew them. + +"There isn't much that I can tell about the cause of the shooting," said +Lowell, in answer to one of her questions. "I could have had all the +details, but I cautioned Jim McFann to say nothing in advance of his +trial. But from what I have gathered here and there, Jim and Talpers +fell out over money matters. A thousand-dollar bill was found on the +floor under Talpers's body. It had evidently been taken from the safe, +and might have been what they fought over." + +Helen nodded in comprehension of the whole affair, though she did not +tell Lowell that he had made it clear to her. She guessed that in some +way Jim McFann had come into possession of the facts of his partner's +perfidy. She wondered how the half-breed had found out that Talpers had +taken money from the murdered man and had not divided. She had held that +knowledge over Talpers's head as a club. She could see that he feared +McFann, and she wondered if, in his last moments, Talpers had wrongfully +blamed her for giving the half-breed the information which turned him +into a slayer. + +"Anyway, it doesn't make much difference what the fight was over," +declared Lowell. "Talpers had been playing a double game for a long +time. He tried just once too often to cheat his partner--something +dangerous when that partner is a fiery-tempered half-breed." + +"Is this shooting of Talpers going to have any effect on McFann's trial +for the other murder?" asked Helen. + +"It may inflame popular sentiment against both men still +further--something that never seems to be difficult where Indians are +concerned." + +Lowell tried in vain to lead the talk away from the trial. + +"Look here," he exclaimed finally, "you're worrying yourself +unnecessarily over this! I don't believe you're getting much of any +sleep, and I'll bet Wong will testify that you are eating very little. +You mustn't let matters weigh on your mind so. Talpers is gone, and you +have the letter that was in his safe and that he used as a means of +worrying you. Your stepfather is getting better right along--so much so +that you can leave here at any time. Pretty soon you'll have this place +of tragedy off your mind and you'll forget all about the Indian +reservation and everything it contains. But until that time comes, I +prescribe an automobile ride for you every day. Some of the roads around +here will make it certain that you will be well shaken before the +prescription is taken." + +Lowell regretted his light words as soon as he had uttered them. + +"This trial is my whole life," declared the girl solemnly. "If those men +are convicted, there can never be another day of happiness for me!" + + * * * * * + +On the morning set for the opening of the trial, Lowell left his +automobile in front of his residence while he ate breakfast. To all +appearances there was nothing unusual about this breakfast. It was +served at the customary time and in the customary way. Apparently the +young Indian agent was interested only in the meal and in some letters +which had been sent over from the office, but finally he looked up and +smiled at the uneasiness of his housekeeper, who had cast frequent +glances out of the window. + +"What is it, Mrs. Ruel?" asked Lowell. + +"The Indian--Fire Bear. Has he come?" + +"Oh, that's what's worrying you, is it? Well, don't let it do so any +more. He will be here all right." + +Mrs. Ruel looked doubtful as she trotted to the kitchen. Returning, she +stood in the window, a steaming coffee-pot in her hands. + +"Tell me what you see, Sister Annie," said Lowell smilingly. + +"Nawthin' but the kids assemblin' for school. There's old Pete, the +blacksmith, purtendin' to be lookin' your machine over, when he's just +come to rubber the way I am, f'r that red divvle. They're afraid, most +of the agency folks, that Fire Bear won't show up. I wouldn't take an +Injun's word f'r annythin' myself--me that lost an uncle in the +Fetterman massacree. You're too good to 'em, Mister Lowell. You should +have yanked this Fire Bear here in handcuffs--him and McFann together." + +"Your coffee is fine--and I'll be obliged if you'll pour me some--but +your philosophy is that of the dark ages, Mrs. Ruel. Thanks. Now tell me +what traveler approaches on the king's highway." + +Mrs. Ruel trotted to the window, with the coffee-pot still in her hands. + +"It's some one of them educated loafers that's always hangin' around the +trader's store. I c'n tell by the hang of the mail-order suit. No, it +ain't! He's climbin' off his pony, and now he's jumped into the back of +your automobile, and is settin' there, bold as brass, smokin' a +cigarette. It's Fire Bear himself!" + +"I thought so," observed Lowell. "Now another cup of coffee, please, and +a little more of that toast, and we'll be off to the trial." + +Mrs. Ruel returned to the kitchen, declaring that it really didn't prove +anything in general, because no other agent could make them redskins do +the things that Mister Lowell hypnotized 'em into doin'. + +Lowell finished his breakfast and climbed into his automobile, after a +few words with Fire Bear. The young Indian had started the day before +from his camp in the rocks. He had traveled alone, and had not rested +until he reached the agency. Lowell knew there would be much dancing in +the Indian camp until the trial was over. + +Driving to the agency jail, Lowell had McFann brought out. The +half-breed, unmanacled and without a guard, sat beside Fire Bear in the +back seat. Lowell decided to take no policemen from the reservation. He +was certain that Fire Bear and McFann would not try to escape from him. +The presence of Indian policemen might serve only to fan the very +uncertain public sentiment into disastrous flames. + +White Lodge was crowded with cattlemen and homesteaders and their +families, who had come to attend the trial. A public holiday was made of +the occasion, and White Lodge had not seen such a crowd since the annual +bronco-busting carnival. + +As he drove through the streets, Lowell was conscious of a change in +public feeling. The prisoners in the automobile were eyed curiously, but +without hatred. In fact, Jim McFann's killing of Talpers, which had been +given all sorts of dramatic renditions at camp-fires and firesides, had +raised that worthy to the rank of hero in the eyes of the majority. Also +the coming of Fire Bear, as he had promised, sent up the Indian's stock. +As Lowell took his men to the court-room he saw bets paid over by men +who had wagered that Fire Bear would not keep his word and that he would +have to be brought to the court-room by force. + +The court-house yard could not hold the overflow of spectators from the +court-room. The crowd was orderly, though there was a tremendous craning +of necks when the prisoners were brought in, to see the man who had +killed so redoubtable a gunman as Bill Talpers. Getting a jury was +merely a matter of form, as no challenges were made. The trial opened +with Fire Bear on the stand. + +The young Indian added nothing to the testimony he had given at his +preliminary hearing. He told, briefly, how he and his followers had +found the body beside the Dollar Sign road. The prosecuting attorney was +quick to sense a difference in the way the Indian's story was received. +When he had first told it, disbelief was evident. Today it seemed to be +impressing crowd and jury as the truth. + +The same sentiment seemed to be even more pronounced when Jim McFann +took the stand, after Fire Bear's brief testimony was concluded without +cross-examination. Audience and jury sat erect. Word was passed out to +the crowd that the half-breed was testifying. In the court-room there +was such a stir that the bailiff was forced to rap for order. + +The prosecuting attorney, seeing the case slipping away from him, was +moved to frantic denunciations. He challenged McFann's every statement. + +"You claim that you had lost your lariat and were looking for it. Also +that you came upon this dead body, with your rope used to fasten the +murdered man to stakes that had been driven into the prairie?" sneered +the attorney. + +"Yes;" said McFann. + +"And you claim that you were frightened away by the arrival of Fire Bear +and his Indians before you had a chance to remove the rope?" + +"Yes; but I want to add something to that statement," said the +half-breed. + +"All right--what is it?" + +"There was another man by the body when I came there looking for my +rope." + +"Who was that man?" + +"Talpers." + +A thrill ran through the court-room as the half-breed went on and +described how he had found the trader stooping over the murdered man, +and how Talpers had shown him a watch which he had taken from the +victim, but claimed that was all the valuables that had been found. Also +he described how Talpers had prevailed upon him to keep the trader's +presence a secret, which McFann had done in his previous testimony. + +"Why do you come in with this story, at this late day?" asked the +attorney. + +"Because Talpers was lying to me all the time. He had taken money from +that man--some of it in thousand-dollar bills. I did not care for the +money. It was just that this man had lied to me, after I had done all +his bootlegging work. He was playing safe at my expense. If it had been +found that the dead man was robbed, he was ready to lay the blame on me. +When I heard of the money he had hidden, I knew the game he had played. +I walked in on him, and made him take the dead man's money from his +safe. I threw the money in his face and dared him to fight. When he +tried to shoot me, I killed him. It was better that he should die. I +don't care what you do with me, but how are you going to hang Fire Bear +or hang me for being near that body, _when Bill Talpers was there +first_?" + +Jim McFann's testimony remained unshaken. Cast doubt upon it as he +would, the prosecuting attorney saw that the half-breed's new testimony +had given an entirely new direction to the trial. He ceased trying to +stem the tide and let the case go to the jury. + +The crowd filed out, but waited around the court-house for the verdict. +The irrepressible cowpunchers, who had a habit of laying wagers on +anything and everything, made bets as to the number of minutes the jury +would be out. + +"Whichever way it goes, it'll be over in a hurry," said Tom Redmond to +Lowell, "but hanged if I don't believe your men are as good as free this +minute. Talpers's friends have been trying to stir up a lot of sentiment +against Jim McFann, but it has worked the other way. The hull county +seems to think right now that McFann done the right sort of a job, and +that Talpers was not only a bootlegger, but was not above murder, and +was the man who committed that crime on the Dollar Sign road. Of course, +if Talpers done it, Fire Bear couldn't have. Furthermore, this young +Injun has made an awful hit by givin' himself up for trial the way he +has. To tell you the truth, I didn't think he'd show up." + +Lowell escaped as soon as he could from the excited sheriff and sought +Helen Ervin, whom he had seen in the court-room. + +"I'm sorry I couldn't come to get you, on account of having to bring in +the prisoners," said Lowell, "but I imagine this is the last ride to +White Lodge you will have to take. The jury is going to decide +quickly--or such is the general feeling." + +Lowell had hardly spoken when a shout from the crowd on the court-house +steps announced to the others that the jury had come in. + +Lowell and Helen found places in the court-room. Judge Garford had not +left his chambers. As soon as the crowd had settled down, the foreman +announced the verdict. + +"Not guilty!" was the word that was passed to those outside the +building. There was a slight ripple of applause in the court-room which +the bailiff's gavel checked. Lowell could not help but smile bitterly as +he thought of the different sentiment at the close of the preliminary +hearing, such a short time before. He wondered if the same thought had +come to Judge Garford. But if the aged jurist had made any comparisons, +they were not reflected in his benign features. A lifetime among scenes +of turbulence, and watching justice gain steady ascendancy over frontier +lawlessness, had made the judge indifferent to the manifestations of the +moment. + +"It's just as though we were a lot of jumping-jacks," thought Lowell, +"and while we're doing all sorts of crazy things, the judge is looking +far back behind the scenes studying the forces that are making us go. +And he must be satisfied with what he sees or our illogical actions +wouldn't worry him so little." + +Fire Bear and McFann took the verdict with customary calm. The Indian +was released from custody and took his place in Lowell's automobile. The +half-breed was remanded to jail for trial for the Talpers slaying. +Lowell, after saying good-bye to the half-breed, lost no time in +starting for the agency. On the way he caught up with Helen, who was +riding leisurely homeward. As he stopped the machine she reined up her +horse beside him and extended her hand in congratulation. + +"You're not the only one who is glad of the acquittal," she exclaimed. +"I am glad--oh, I cannot tell you how much!" + +Lowell noticed that her expression of girlishness had returned. The +shadow which had fallen upon her seemed to have been lifted +miraculously. + +"Wasn't it strange the way things turned out?" she went on. "A little +while ago every one seemed to believe these men were guilty, and now +there's not a one who doesn't seem to think that Talpers did it." + +"There's one who doesn't subscribe to the general belief," answered +Lowell. + +"What do you mean?" + +Lowell was conscious that she was watching him narrowly. + +"I mean that I don't believe Bill Talpers had anything to do with +murdering that man on the Dollar Sign road!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +"There's one thing sure in all cases of crime: If people would only +depend more on Nature and less on themselves, they'd get results +sooner." + +Lowell and his chief clerk were finishing one of their regular evening +discussions of the crime which most people were forgetting, but which +still occupied the Indian agent's mind to the complete exclusion of all +reservation business. + +"What do you mean?" asked Rogers, from behind smoke clouds. + +"Just the fact that, if we can only find it, Nature has tagged every +crime in a way that makes it possible to get an answer." + +"But there are lots of crimes in which no manifestation of Nature is +possible." + +"Not a one. What are finger-prints but manifestations of Nature? And yet +for ages we couldn't see the sign that Nature hung out for us. No doubt +we're just as obtuse about a lot of things that will be just as simple +and just as plain when their meaning is finally driven home." + +"But Nature hasn't given a hint about that Dollar Sign road crime. Yet +it took place outdoors, right in Nature's haunts." + +"You simply mean that we haven't been able to comprehend Nature's +signals." + +"But you've been over the ground a dozen times, haven't you?" + +"Fifty times--but all that merely proves what I contend. If I go over +that ground one hundred times, and don't find anything, what does it +prove? Merely that I am ninety-nine times stupider than I should be. I +should get the answer the first time over." + +Rogers laughed. + +"I prefer the most comfortable theory. I've settled down in the popular +belief that Bill Talpers did the killing. Think how easy that makes it +for me--and the chances are that I'm right at that." + +"You are hopeless, Ed! But remember, if this thing goes unsolved it will +only be because we haven't progressed beyond the first-reader stage in +interpreting what Mother Nature has to teach us." + +For several days following the acquittal of Fire Bear and McFann, Lowell +had worked almost unceasingly in the hope of getting new evidence in the +case which nearly everybody else seemed willing to forget. A similar +persistency had marked Lowell's career as a newspaper reporter. He had +turned up several sensations when rival newspaper men had abandoned +certain cases as hopeless so far as new thrills were concerned. + +Lowell had not exaggerated when he told Rogers he had gone over the +scene of the murder fifty times. He had not gone into details with his +clerk. Rogers would have been surprised to know that his chief had even +blocked out the scene of the murder in squares like a checkerboard. Each +one of these squares had been examined, slowly and painfully. The net +result had been some loose change which undoubtedly had been dropped by +Talpers in robbing the murdered man; an eagle feather, probably dropped +from a _coup_ stick which some one of Fire Bear's followers had borrowed +from an elder; a flint arrowhead of great antiquity, and a belt buckle +and some moccasin beads. + +Far from being discouraged at the unsuccessful outcome of his +checkerboarding plan, Lowell took his automobile, on the morning +following his talk with Rogers, and again visited the scene of the +crime. + +For six weeks the hill had been bathed daily in sunshine. The drought, +which the Indians had ascribed to evil spirits called down by Fire Bear, +had continued unbroken. The mud-holes in the road, through which Lowell +had plunged to the scene of the murder when he had first heard of the +crime, had been churned to dust. Lowell noticed that an old buffalo +wallow at the side of the road was still caked in irregular formations +which resembled the markings of alligator hide. The first hot winds +would cause these cakes of mud to disintegrate, but the weather had been +calm, and they had remained just as they had dried. + +As he glanced about him at the peaceful panorama, it occurred to the +agent that perhaps too much attention had been centered upon the exact +spot of the murder. Yet, it seemed reasonable enough to suppose, no +murderer would possibly lie in wait for a victim in such an open spot. +If the murder had been deliberately planned, as Lowell believed, and if +the victim's approach were known, there could have been no waiting here +on the part of the murderer. + +Getting into his automobile, Lowell drove carefully up the hill, +studying both sides of the road as he went. Several hundred yards from +the scene of the murder, he found a clump of giant sagebrush and +greasewood, close to the road. Lowell entered the clump and found that +from its eastern side he could command a good view of the Dollar Sign +road for miles. Here a man and horse might remain hidden until a +traveler, coming up the hill, was almost within hailing distance. The +brush had grown in a circle, leaving a considerable hollow which was +devoid of vegetation. Examining this hollow closely, Lowell paused +suddenly and uttered a low ejaculation. Then he walked slowly to his +automobile and drove in the direction of the Greek Letter Ranch. + +When he arrived at the ranch house Lowell was relieved to find that +Helen was not at home. Wong, who opened the door a scant six inches, +told him she had taken the white horse and gone for a ride. + +"Well, tell Mister Willis Morgan I want to see him," said Lowell. + +Wong was much alarmed. Mister Morgan could not be seen. The Chinese +combination of words for "impossible" was marshaled in behalf of Wong's +employer. + +Lowell, putting his shoulder against the Greek letter brand which was +burnt in the panel, pushed the door open and stepped into the room which +served as a library. + +"Now tell Mister Morgan I wish to see him, Wong," said the agent firmly. + +The door to the adjoining room opened, and Lowell faced the questioning +gaze of a gray-haired man who might have been anywhere from forty-five +to sixty. One hand was in the pocket of a velvet smoking-jacket, and the +other held a pipe. The man's eyes were dark and deeply set. They did not +seem to Lowell to be the contemplative eyes of the scholar, but rather +to belong to a man of decisive action--one whose interests might be in +building bridges or tunnels, but whose activities were always concerned +with material things. His face was lean and bronzed--the face of a man +who lived much in the outdoors. His nose was aquiline, and his lips, +though thin and firm, were not unkindly. In fact, here was a man who, in +the class-room, might be given to quips with his students, rather than +to sternness. Yet this was the man of whom it was said.... Lowell's face +grew stern as the long list of indictments against Willis Morgan, +recluse and "squaw professor," came to his mind. + +The gray-haired man sat down at the table, and Lowell, in response to a +wave of the hand that held the pipe, drew up opposite. + +"You and I have been living pretty close together a long time," said +Lowell bluntly, "and if we'd been a little more neighborly, this call +might not be so difficult in some ways." + +"My fault entirely." Again the hand waved--this time toward the +ceiling-high shelves of books. "Library slavery makes a man selfish, +I'll admit." + +The voice was cold and hard. It was such a voice that had extended a +mocking welcome to Helen Ervin when she had stood hesitatingly on the +threshold of the Greek Letter Ranch-house. Lowell sneered openly. + +"You haven't always been so tied up to your books that you couldn't get +out," he said. "I want to take you back to a little horseback ride which +you took just six weeks ago." + +"I don't remember such a trip." + +"You will remember it, as I particularize." + +"Very well. You are beginning to interest me." + +"You rode from here to the top of the hill on the Dollar Sign road. Do +you remember?" + +"What odds if I say yes or no? Go on. I want to hear the rest of this +story." + +"When you reached a clump of tall sage and grease wood, not far below +the crest of the hill, you entered it and remained hidden. You had a +considerable time to wait, but you were patient--very patient. You knew +the man you wanted to meet was somewhere on the road--coming toward you. +From the clump of bushes you commanded a view of the Dollar Sign road +for miles. As I say, it was long and tedious waiting. It had rained in +the night. The sun came out, strong and warm, and the atmosphere was +moist. Your horse, that old white horse which has been on the ranch so +many years, was impatiently fighting flies. Though you are not any +kinder to horseflesh than you are to human beings who come within your +blighting influence, you took the saddle off the animal. Perhaps the +horse had caught his foot in a stirrup as he kicked at a buzzing fly." + +The keen, strong features into which Lowell gazed were mask-like in +their impassiveness. + +"Soon you saw something approaching on the road over the prairie," went +on the agent. "It must be the automobile driven by the man you had come +to meet. You saddled quickly and rode out of the sagebrush. You met the +man in the automobile as he was climbing the hill. He stopped and you +talked with him. You had violent words, and then you shot him with a +sawed-off shotgun which you had carried for that purpose. You killed the +man, and then, to throw suspicion on others, conceived the idea of +staking him down to the prairie. It would look like an Indian trick. +Besides, you knew that there had been some trouble on the reservation +with Indians who were dancing and generally inclined to oppose +Government regulations. You had found a rope which had been dropped on +the road by the half-breed, Jim McFann. You took that rope from your +saddle and cut it in four pieces and tied the man's hands and wrists to +his own tent-stakes, which you found in his automobile. + +"Your plans worked out well. It was a lonely country and comparatively +early in the day. There was nobody to disturb you at your work. +Apparently you had thought of every detail. You had left a few tracks, +and these you obliterated carefully. You knew you would hardly be +suspected unless something led the world to your door. You had been a +recluse for years, hated by white men and feared by red. Few had seen +your face. You could retire to this lonely ranch and live your customary +life, with no fear of suffering for the crime you had committed. To be +sure, an Indian or two might be hanged, but a matter like that would +rest lightly on your conscience. + +"Apparently your plans were perfect, but you overlooked one small thing. +Most clever scoundrels do. You did not think that perhaps Nature might +lay a trap to catch you--a trap in the brush where you had been hidden. +Your horse rolled in the mud to rid himself of the pest of flies. You +were so intent on the approach of your victim that you did not notice +the animal. Yet there in the mud, and visible to-day, was made the +imprint of your horse's shoulder, _bearing the impression of the Greek +Letter brand_!" + +As Lowell finished, he rose slowly, his hands on the table and his gaze +on the unflinching face in front of him. The gray-haired man rose also. + +"I suppose," he said, in a voice from which all trace of harshness had +disappeared, "you have come to give me over to the authorities on +account of this crime." + +"Yes." + +"Very well. I committed the murder, much as you have explained it, but I +did not ride the white horse to the hill. Nor am I Willis Morgan. I am +Edward Sargent. Morgan was the man whom I killed and staked down on the +prairie!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +Helen Ervin rode past the ranch door just as the gray-haired man made +his statement to Lowell. + +"You are Edward Sargent, the man who was supposed to have been +murdered?" repeated the Indian agent, in astonishment. + +"Yes; but wait till Miss Ervin comes in. The situation may require a +little clearing, and she can help." + +Surprise and anxiety alternated in Helen's face as she looked in through +the open doorway and saw the men seated at the table. She paused a +moment, silhouetted in the door, the Greek letter on the panel standing +out with almost startling distinctness beside her. As she stood poised +on the threshold in her riding-suit, the ravages of her previous trip +having been repaired, she made Lowell think of a modernized +Diana--modernized as to clothes, but carrying, in her straight-limbed +grace, all the world-old spell of the outdoors. + +"Our young friend has just learned the truth, my dear," said the +gray-haired man. "He knows that I am Sargent, and that our stepfather, +Willis Morgan, is dead." + +Helen stepped quickly to Sargent's side. There was something suggesting +filial protection in her attitude. Sargent smiled up at her, +reassuringly. + +"Probably it is better," he said, "that the whole thing should be +known." + +"But in a few days we should have been gone," said Helen. "Why have all +our hopes been destroyed in this way at the last moment? Is this some of +your work," she added bitterly, addressing Lowell--"some of your work as +a spy?" + +Sargent spoke up quickly. + +"It was fate," he said. "I have felt from the first that I should not +have attempted to escape punishment for my deed. The young man has +simply done his duty. He worked with the sole idea of getting at the +truth--and it is always the truth that matters most. What difference can +it make who is hurt, so long as the truth is known?" + +"But how did it become known," asked Helen, "when everything seemed to +be so thoroughly in our favor? The innocent men who were suspected had +been released. The public was content to let the crime rest at the door +of Talpers--a man capable of any evil deed. What has happened to change +matters so suddenly?" + +"It was the old white horse that betrayed us," said Sargent, with a grim +smile. "It shows on what small threads our fates hang balanced. The +Greek letter brand still shows in the mud where the horse rolled on the +day of the murder on the Dollar Sign hill. When our young friend here +saw that bit of evidence, he came directly to the ranch and accused me +of knowledge of the crime, all the time thinking I was Willis Morgan." + +"Let me continue my work as a spy," broke in Lowell bitterly, "and ask +for a complete statement." + +"Willis Morgan was my twin brother," said Sargent. "As Willard Sargent +he had made a distinguished name for himself among the teachers of Greek +in this country. He was a professor at an early age, his bent toward +scholarship being opposite to mine, which was along the lines of +invention. My brother was a hard, cruel man, beneath a polished +exterior. Cynicism was as natural to him as breathing. He married a +young and beautiful woman, who had been married before, and who had a +little daughter--a mere baby, Willard's wife soon died, a victim of his +cynicism and studied cruelty. The future of this helpless stepdaughter +of my brother's became a matter of the most intimate concern to me. My +brother was mercenary to a marked degree. I had become successful in my +inventions of mining machinery. I was fast making a fortune. Willard +called upon me frequently for loans, which I never refused. In fact, I +had voluntarily advanced him thousands of dollars, from which I expected +no return. A mere brotherly feeling of gratitude would have been +sufficient repayment for me. But such a feeling my brother never had. +His only object was to get as much out of me as he could, and to sneer +at me, in his high-bred way, while making a victim of me. + +"His success in getting money from me led him into deep waters. He +victimized others, who threatened prosecution. Realizing that matters +could not go on as they were going, I told my brother that I would take +up the claims against him and give him one hundred thousand dollars, on +certain conditions. Those conditions were that he was to renounce all +claim to his little stepdaughter, and that I was to have sole care of +her. He was to go to some distant part of the country and change his +name and let the world forget that such a creature as Willard Sargent +ever existed. + +"My brother was forced to agree to the terms laid down. The university +trustees were threatening him with expulsion. He resigned and came out +here. He married an Indian woman, and, as I understand it, killed her by +the same cold-hearted, deliberately cruel treatment that had brought +about the death of his first wife. + +"Meantime Willard's stepdaughter, who was none other than Helen, was +brought up by a lifelong friend of mine, Miss Scovill, at her school for +girls in California. The loving care that she was given can best be told +by Helen. I did not wish the girl to know that she was dependent upon +her uncle for support. In fact, I did not want her to learn anything +which might lead to inquiries into her babyhood, and which would only +bring her sorrow when she learned of her mother's fate. My brother, +always clever in his rascalities, learned that Helen knew nothing of my +existence. He sent her a letter, when Miss Scovill was away, telling +Helen that he had been crippling himself financially to keep her in +school, and now he needed her at this ranch. Before Miss Scovill had +returned, Helen, acting on the impulse of the moment, had departed for +my brother's place. Miss Scovill was greatly alarmed, and sent me a +telegram. As soon as I received word, I started for my brother's ranch. +I happened to have started on an automobile tour at the time, and +figured that I could reach here as quickly by machine as by making +frequent changes from rail to stage. + +"When Helen arrived at the ranch, it can be imagined how the success of +his scheme delighted Willis Morgan, as my brother was known here. He +threatened her with the direst of evils, and declared he would drag her +beneath the level of the poorest squaw on the Indian reservation. +Fortunately she is a girl of spirit and determination. The Chinese +servant was willing to help her to escape. She would have fled at the +first opportunity, in spite of my brother's declaration that escape +would be impossible, but it happened that, during the course of his +boasting, her captor overstepped himself. He told her of my existence, +and that I had really been the one who had kept her in school. He had +managed to keep a thorough system of espionage in effect, so far as Miss +Scovill and myself were concerned. He had known when she left San +Francisco, and he also knew that I was coming, by automobile, to take +Helen from the ranch. He laughed as he told her of my coming. All the +ferocity of his nature blazed forth, and he told Helen that he intended +to kill me at sight, and would also kill her. + +"Desirous of warning me, even at risk of her own life, Helen mailed a +letter to me at Quaking-Asp Grove, hoping to catch me before I reached +that place. In this letter she warned me not to come to the ranch, as +she felt that tragedy impended. Talpers held up the letter and read it, +and thought to hold it as a club over Helen's head, showing that she +knew something of the murder. + +"I rode through Quaking-Asp Grove and White Lodge and the Indian agency +at night. I had a breakdown after going past Talpers's store--a tire to +replace. By the time I climbed the hill on the Dollar Sign road it was +well along in the morning. I saw a man coming toward me on a white +horse. It was my brother, Willard Sargent, or Willis Morgan. He looked +much like me. The years seemed to have dealt with us about alike. I +knew, as soon as I saw him, that he had come out to kill me. We talked a +few minutes. I had stopped the car at his demand, and he sat in the +saddle, close beside me. There is no need of going into the details of +our conversation. He was full of reproaches. His later life had been +more of a punishment for him than I had suspected. His voice was full of +venom as he threatened me. He told me that Helen was at the ranch, but I +would never see her. He had a sawed-off shotgun in his hand. I had no +weapon. I made a quick leap at him and threw him from his horse. The +shotgun fell in the road. I jumped for it just as he scrambled after it. +I wrested the weapon from him. He tried to draw a revolver that swung in +a holster at his hip. There was no chance for me to take that from him. +It was a case of his life or mine. I fired the shotgun, and the charge +tore away the lower part of his face. + +"Strangely enough, I had no regret at what I had done. It was not that I +had saved my own life--I had managed to intervene between Helen and a +fate worse than death. I weighed matters and acted with a coolness that +surprised me, even while I was carrying out the details that followed. +It occurred to me that, because of our close resemblance to each other, +it might be possible for me to pass myself off as my brother. I knew +that he had lived the life of a recluse here, and that few people knew +him by sight. We were dressed much alike, as I was traveling in khaki, +and he wore clothes of that material. I removed everything from his +pockets, and then I put my watch and checkbook and other papers in his +pockets. I even went so far as to put my wallet in his inner pocket, +containing bills of large denomination. + +"I had heard that there was some dissatisfaction among certain young +Indians on the reservation--that those Indians were dancing and making +trouble in general. It seemed to me that such a situation might be made +use of in some way. Why not drag my brother's body out on the prairie at +the side of the road and stake it down? Suspicion might be thrown on the +Indians. I had no sooner thought of the plan than I proceeded to carry +it out. I worked calmly and quickly. There was no living thing in sight +to cause alarm. I took a rawhide lariat, which I found attached to the +saddle on the old white horse, and used it to tie my brother's ankles +and wrists to tent-stakes which I took from my automobile. + +"After my work was done, I looked it over carefully, to see that I had +left nothing undone and had made no blunder in what I had accomplished. +I obliterated all tracks, as far as possible. Although it had rained the +night before, and there was mud in the old buffalo wallows and in the +depressions in the road, the prairie where I had staked the body was dry +and dusty. + +"After I had arranged everything to my satisfaction, I mounted the old +white horse and rode to the ranch, merely following the trail the horse +had made coming out. When I arrived here and made myself known to Helen, +you can imagine her joy, which soon was changed to consternation when +she found what had been done. But my plan of living here and letting the +world suppose that I was Willard Sargent, or Willis Morgan, seemed +feasible. Wong was our friend from the first. We knew we could depend on +his Oriental discretion. But we were not to escape lightly. Talpers's +attitude was a menace until, through a fortunate set of circumstances, +we managed to secure a compensating hold over him. Undoubtedly Talpers +had been first on the scene after the murder. He had robbed my brother's +body, and was caught in his ghoul-like act by his partner, Jim McFann. +The half-breed believed Talpers when the trader told him that a watch +was all he had found on the dead man. The later discovery that Talpers +had deceived him, and had really taken a large sum of money from the +body, led the half-breed to kill the trader. + +"I decided to await the outcome of the trial. It would have been +impossible for me to let Fire Bear or McFann go to prison, or perhaps to +the gallows, for my deed. If either one, or both, had been convicted, I +intended to make a confession. But matters seemed to work out well for +us. The accused men were freed, and it seemed to be the general opinion +that Talpers had committed the crime. Talpers was dead. There was no +occasion for me to confess. I had thoughts of going away, quietly, to +some place where I could begin life over again. Miss Scovill is in +possession of a will making Helen my heir. This will could have been +produced, and thus Helen would have been well provided for. I had kept +in seclusion here, and had even feigned illness, in order that none +might suspect me of being other than Willis Morgan. But if any one had +seen me I do not believe the deception would have been discovered, so +close is my resemblance to my brother. Always having been a passable +mimic, I imitated my brother's voice. It was a voice that had often +stirred me to wrath, because of its cold, cutting qualities. The first +time I imitated my brother's voice, Wong came in from the kitchen +looking frightened beyond measure. He thought the ghost of his old +employer had returned to the ranch. + +"But of what use is all such planning when destiny wills otherwise? A +trifling incident--the rolling of a horse in the mud--brought everything +about my ears. Yet I believe it is for the best. Nor do I believe your +discovery to have been a mere matter of chance. Probably you were led by +a higher force than mere devotion to duty. Truth must have loyal +servitors such as you if justice is to survive in this world. I am +heartily glad that you persisted in your search. I feel more at ease in +mind and body to-night than I have felt since the day of the tragedy. +Now if you will excuse me a moment, I will make preparations for giving +myself up to the authorities--perhaps to higher authorities than those +at White Lodge." + +Sargent stepped into the adjoining room as he finished talking. Helen +did not raise her head from the table. Something in Sargent's final +words roused Lowell's suspicion. He walked quickly into the room and +found Sargent taking a revolver from the drawer of a desk. Lowell +wrested the weapon from his grasp. + +"That's the last thing in the world you should do," said the Indian +agent, in a low voice. "There isn't a jury that will convict you. If +it's expiation you seek, do you think that cowardly sort of expiation is +going to bring anything but new unhappiness to _her_ out there?" + +"No," said Sargent. "I give you my word this will not be attempted +again." + + * * * * * + +Space meeting space--plains and sky welded into harmonies of blue and +gray. Cloud shadows racing across billowy uplands, and sagebrush nodding +in a breeze crisp and electric as only a breeze from our upper Western +plateau can be. Distant mountains, with their allurements enhanced by +the filmiest of purple veils. Bird song and the chattering of prairie +dogs from the foreground merely intensifying the great, echoless silence +of the plains. + +Lowell and Helen from a ridge--_their_ ridge it was now!--watched the +changes of the panorama. They had dismounted, and their horses were +standing near at hand, reins trailing, and manes rising and falling with +the undulations of the breeze. It was a month after Sargent's confession +and his surrender as the slayer of the recluse of the Greek Letter +Ranch. As Lowell had prophesied, Sargent's acquittal had been prompt. +His story was corroborated by brief testimony from Lowell and Helen. +Citizens crowded about him, after the jury had brought in its verdict of +"Not guilty," and one of the first to congratulate him was Jim McFann, +who had been acquitted when he came up for trial for slaying Talpers. +The half-breed told Sargent of Talpers's plan to kill Helen. + +"I'm just telling you," said the half-breed, "to ease your mind in case +you're feeling any responsibility for Talpers's death." + +Soon after his acquittal Sargent departed for California, where he +married Miss Scovill--the outcome of an early romance. Helen was soon to +leave to join her foster parents, and she and Lowell had come for a last +ride. + +"I cannot realize the glorious truth of it all--that I am to come soon +and claim you and bring you back here as my wife," said Lowell. "Say it +all over again for me." + +He was standing with both arms about her and with her face uptilted to +his. No doubt other men and women had stood thus on this glacier-wrought +promontory--lovers from cave and tepee. + +"It is all true," Helen answered, "but I must admit that the +responsibilities of being an Indian agent's wife seem alarming. The +thought of there being so much to do among these people makes me afraid +that I shall not be able to meet the responsibilities." + +"You'll be bothered every day with Indians--men, women, and babies. +You'll hear the thumping of their moccasined feet every hour of the day. +They'll overrun your front porch and seek you out in the sacred +precincts of your kitchen, mostly about things that are totally +inconsequential." + +"But think of the work in its larger aspects--the good that there is to +be done." + +Lowell smiled at her approvingly. + +"That's the way you have to keep thinking all the time. You have to look +beyond the mass of detail in the foreground--past all the minor +annoyances and the red tape and the seeming ingratitude. You've got to +figure that you're there to supply the needed human note--to let these +people understand that this Government of ours is not a mere machine +with the motive power at Washington. You've got to feel that you've been +sent here to make up for the indifference of the outside world--that the +kiddies out in those ramshackle cabins and cold tepees are not going to +be lonely, and suffer and die, if you can help it. You've got to feel +that it's your help that's going to save the feeble and sick--sometimes +from their own superstitions. There's no reason why we can't in time get +a hospital here for Indians, like Fire Bear, who have tuberculosis. +We're going to save Fire Bear, and we can save others. And then there +are the school-children, with lonely hours that can be lightened, and +with work to be found for them in the big world after they have learned +the white man's tasks. But there are going to be heartaches and +disillusionments for a woman. A man can grit his teeth and smash through +some way, unless he sinks back into absolute indifference as a good many +Indian agents do. But a woman--well, dear, I dread to think of your +embarking on a task which is at once so alluring and so endless and +thankless." + +Helen put her hand on his lips. + +"With you helping me, no task can seem thankless." + +"Well, then, this is our kingdom of work," said Lowell, with a sweep of +his sombrero which included the vast reservation which smiled so +inscrutably at them. "There's every human need to be met out there in +all that bigness. We'll face it together--and we'll win!" + +They rode back leisurely along the ridge and took the trail that led to +the ranch. The house was closed, as Wong was at the agency, ready to +leave for the Sargents' place in California. The old white horse, which +Helen rode, tried to turn in at the ranch gate. + +"The poor old fellow doesn't understand that his new home is at the +agency," said Helen. "He is the only one that wants to return to this +place of horrors." + +"The leasers will be here soon," replied Lowell. "They are going to put +up buildings and make a new place all told. The Greek letter on the door +will be gone, but, no matter what changes are made, I have no doubt that +people will continue to know it as Mystery Ranch." + + +THE END + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mystery Ranch, by Arthur Chapman + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYSTERY RANCH *** + +***** This file should be named 30989.txt or 30989.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/9/8/30989/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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