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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/36170-8.txt b/36170-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b17b6fd --- /dev/null +++ b/36170-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12339 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Son of his Father, by Ridgwell Cullum + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Son of his Father + +Author: Ridgwell Cullum + +Illustrator: Douglas Duer + +Release Date: May 30, 2011 [EBook #36170] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SON OF HIS FATHER *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: With Eyes Wide and Staring She Looked About Her] + + + + + +THE SON OF HIS FATHER + + +BY + +RIDGWELL CULLUM + + +AUTHOR OF + +"THE MEN WHO WROUGHT," "THE WAY OF THE STRONG," "THE NIGHT-RIDERS," +"THE WATCHERS OF THE PLAINS," ETC. + + + +Illustrations by + +DOUGLAS DUER + + + +PHILADELPHIA + +GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY + +PUBLISHERS + + + + +Copyright, 1915, by + +George W. Jacobs & Company + +_Published March, 1917_ + + +All rights reserved + +_Printed in U. S. A._ + + + + +TO + +G. RALPH HALL-CAINE + +WHOSE SYMPATHY WITH MY WORK HAS NEVER + +FAILED TO CHEER ME THROUGHOUT + +OUR LONG AND VALUED + +FRIENDSHIP + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAP. + + I Unrepentant + II In Chastened Mood + III Gordon Arrives + IV Gordon Lands at Snake's Fall + V A Letter Home + VI Gordon Prospects Snake's Fall + VII "Miss Hazel" + VIII At Buffalo Point + IX The First Check + X Gordon Makes His Bid for Fortune + XI Hazel Mallinsbee's Campaign + XII Thinking Hard + XIII Slosson Snatches at Opportunity + XIV The Reward of Victory + XV In Council + XVI Something Doing + XVII The Code Book + XVIII Ways that are Dark + XIX James Carbhoy Arrives + XX The Boom in Earnest + XXI A Trifle + XXII On the Trail + XXIII In New York + XXIV Preparing for the Finale + XXV The Rescue + XXVI Cashing In + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +With eyes wide and staring she looked about her . . . _Frontispiece_ + +Hazel was waiting for that sign + +He drew her gently towards his father + + + + +CHAPTER I + +UNREPENTANT + +"To wine, women and gambling, at the age of twenty-four--one hundred +thousand dollars. That's your bill, my boy, and--I've got to pay it." + +James Carbhoy leaned back smiling, his half-humorous eyes squarely +challenging his son, who was lounging in a luxurious morocco chair at +the other side of the desk. + +As the moments passed without producing any reply, he reached towards +the cabinet at his elbow and helped himself to a large cigar. Without +any scruple he tore the end off it with his strong teeth and struck a +match. + +"Well?" + +Gordon Carbhoy cleared his throat and looked serious. In spite of his +father's easy, smiling manner he knew that a crisis in his affairs had +been reached. He understood the iron will lying behind the pleasant +steel-gray eyes of his parent. It was a will that flinched at nothing, +a will that had carved for its owner a great fortune in America's most +strenuous financial arena, the railroad world. He also knew the only +way in which to meet his father's challenge with any hope of success. +Above everything else the millionaire demanded courage and +manhood--manhood as he understood it--from those whom he regarded well. + +"I'm waiting." + +Gordon stirred. The millionaire carefully lit his cigar. + +"Put that way it--sounds rotten, Dad, doesn't it?" Gordon's mobile +lips twisted humorously, and he also reached towards the cigar cabinet. + +But the older man intercepted him. He held out a box of lesser cigars. + +"Try one of these, Gordon. One of the others would add two dollars to +your bill. These are half the price." + +The two men smiled into each other's eyes. A great devotion lay +between them. But their regard was not likely to interfere with the +business in hand. + +Gordon helped himself. Then he rose from his chair. He moved across +the handsome room, towering enormously. His six feet three inches were +well matched by a great pair of athletic shoulders. His handsome face +bore no traces of the fast living implied by the enormous total of his +debts. The wholesome tan of outdoor sports left him a fine specimen of +the more brilliant youth of America. Then, too, in his humorous blue +eyes lay an extra dash of recklessness, which was probably due to his +superlative physical advantages. He came back to his chair and propped +his vast body on the back of it. His father was watching him +affectionately. + +"Dad," he exclaimed, "I'm--sorry." + +The other shook his head. + +"Don't say that. It's not true. I'd hate it to be true--anyway." + +Gordon's face lit. + +"You're--going to pay it?" + +"Sure. I'm not going to have our name stink in our home city. Sure +I'm going to pay it. But----" + +"But--what?" + +"So are you." + +The faint ticking of the bracket clock on the wall suddenly became like +the blows of a hammer. + +"I--I don't think I----" + +Young Gordon broke off. His merry eyes had suddenly become troubled. +The crisis was becoming acute. + +For some moments the millionaire smoked on luxuriously. Then he +removed his cigar and cleared his throat. + +"I'm not going to shout. That's not my way," he said in his easy, +deliberate fashion. "Guess folks have got to be young, and the younger +they're young--why, the better. I was young, and--got over it. You're +going to get over it. I figure to help you that way. This is not the +first bill you've handed me, but--but it's going to be the last. Guess +your baby clothes can be packed right up. Maybe they'll be all the +better for it when you hand 'em on to--your kiddie." + +The trouble had passed out of the younger man's eyes. They were filled +with the humor inspired by his father's manner of dealing with the +affair in hand. + +"That's all right," he said. "I seem to get that clear enough." + +"I'm glad." The millionaire twisted the cigar into the corner of his +mouth. "We can pass right on to--other things. You've been one of my +secretaries for three years, and it don't seem to me the work's worried +you a lot. Still, I put you in early thinking you'd get interested in +the source of the dollars you were handing out in bunches. Maybe it +wasn't the best way of doing it. Still, I had to try it. You see, +it's a great organization I control--though you may not know it. I +control more millions than you could count on your fingers and toes, +and they've cost me some mental sweat gathering 'em together. Some day +you've got to sit in this chair and talk over this 'phone, and when you +do you'll be--a man. You see, I don't fancy my pile being invested in +cut flowers and automobiles for lady friends. I don't seem to have +heard that thousand-dollar parties to boys who can't smoke a five-cent +cigar right, and girls who're just out for a good time anyway, are +liable to bring you interest on the capital invested, except in the way +of contempt. And five-thousand dollar apartments are calculated to +rival the luxury of Rome before its fall. Big play at 'draw' and +'auction' are two diseases not provided for amongst the cures in patent +med'cine advertisements, and as for the older vintages in wines, +they're only permissible in folks who've quit worrying to scratch +dollars together. None of these things seem to me good business, and +in a man at the outset of his career some of 'em are--immoral. You've +had your preliminary run, and I'll admit you've shown a fine turn of +speed. But it smacks too much of the race-track, and seems to me quite +unsuited to the hard highroad of big finance you're destined to travel. + +"Just one moment," he went on, as, with flushing cheeks and half-angry +eyes, his son was about to break in. "You haven't got the point of +this talk yet. This bill you've handed me don't figure as largely in +it as you might guess. I've thought about things these months. I +don't blame you a thing. I'm not kicking. The fact you've got to grab +and get your hind teeth into is that there comes a time when two can't +spend one fortune with any degree of amicability. It's a sort of +proposition like two dogs and a bone. Now from a canine point of view +that bone certainly belongs to one of those dogs. No two dogs ever +stole a bone together. Consequently, the situation ends in a scrap, +and it isn't always a cert. that the right thief gets the bone. How it +would work out between us I'm not prepared to guess, but, as 'scrap' +don't belong to the vocabulary between us, we'll handle the matter in +another way. Seeing the fortune--at present--belongs to me, I'll do +the spending in--my own way. My way is mighty simple, too, as far as +you're concerned. I'm going to stake you all you need, so you can get +out and find a bone you can worry on _your own_. That's how you're +going to pay this bill. You're going to get busy quitting play. We +are, and always have been, and always will be, just two great big +friends, and I'd like you to remember that when I say that the life +you're living is all right for a boy, but in a man it leads to dirty +ditches that aren't easy climbing out of, and--you can't do clean work +with dirty hands. When you've shown me you're capable of collecting a +bone for your own worrying--why, you can come right back here, and I'll +be pleased and proud to hand over the reins of this organization, and +I'll be mighty content to sit around in one of the back seats and get +busy with the applause. Now you talk." + +Gordon began without a moment's hesitation. Something of his heat had +passed, but it still remained near the surface. + +"Quite time I did," he cried almost sharply. "Look here, father, I +don't think you meant all you said the way your talk conveyed it. To +me the most important of your talk is the implied immorality of my mode +of life. Then the inconsistent fashion in which you point my way +towards--big finance." + +His eyes lit again. They had suddenly become dangerously bright. + +"Here, we're not going to quarrel, nor get angry," he went on, +gathering heat of manner even in his denial. "We're too great friends +for that, and you've always been too good a sportsman to me, but--but +I'm not going to sit and listen to you or anybody else accusing me of +immorality without kicking with all my strength!" + +He brought one great fist down on the desk with a bang that set the +ink-wells and other objects dancing perilously. + +"I'm not angry with you. I couldn't get angry with you," he proceeded, +with a suppressed excitement that added to his father's smile; "but I +tell you right here I'll not stand for it from you or anybody. My only +crime is spending your money, which you have always encouraged me to +do. From my university days to now my whole leisure has been given up +to athletics. A man can't live immorally and win the contests I have +won. I don't need to name them. Boxing, sculling, running, baseball, +swimming. You know that. Any sane man knows that. The money I've +spent has been spent in the ordinary course of the life to which you +have brought me up. You have always impressed on me the great position +you occupy and the necessity for keeping my end up. That's all I have +to say about my debts, but I have something to say on the subject of +the inconsistency with which you censure immorality in the same breath +as you demand my immediate plunge into the mire of big finance." + +He paused for a moment. Then, as abruptly as it had arisen, his heat +died down, and gave place to the ready humor of his real nature. + +"Gee, I want to laugh!" He sprang from his seat and began to pace the +floor, talking as he moved. His father watched him with twinkling, +affectionate eyes. "Immorality? Psha! Was there ever anything more +immoral than modern finance? You imply I have learned nothing of your +organization in the three years I've been one of your secretaries. +Dad," he warned, "I've learned enough to have a profound contempt for +the methods of big corporations in this country, or anywhere else. +It's all graft--graft of one sort or another. Do you need me to tell +_you_ of it? No, I don't think so. Twenty-five millions wouldn't +cover the fortune you've made. I know that well enough. How has it +been made? Here, I'll just give you one instance of the machinations +of a big corporation. How did you gain control of the Union Grayling +and Ukataw Railroad? Psha! What's the use? You know. You hammered +it, hammered it to nothing. You got your own people into it, and sat +back while they ran it nearly into bankruptcy under your orders. Then +you bought. Bought it right up, and--sent it ahead. Immoral? It +makes me sweat to think of the people who must have lost fortunes in +that scoop. Immoral? Why, I tell you, Dad, any man can make a pile if +he sticks to the old saw: 'Don't butt up against the law--just dodge +it.' It's only difficult for the fellow who remembers his +Sunday-school days. So far, Dad, I've avoided immorality. I'm waiting +till I start on big finance to become its victim. That's my talk. Now +you do some." + +His father nodded. Then he said dryly, "This carpet cost me five +hundred dollars, that chair fifty. Try the chair." + +Gordon laughed at the imperturbable smile on his father's face, but he +flung his great body into the chair. + +James Carbhoy deliberately knocked the ash from his cigar. It was many +years since he had received such a straight talk from any man. Some of +it had stung--stung sharply, but the justice or injustice of it he set +aside. His whole mind and heart were upon other matters. He took no +umbrage. He swept all personal feeling aside and regarded the boy whom +he idolized. + +"We've both made some talk," he observed, "but I think the last word's +with me. I don't seem to be sure which of us has put up the bluff. +Maybe we both have. Anyway, right here and now I'm going to call your +hand. I offered you a stake. You say it's easy to make a pile. Can +you make a pile?" + +Gordon shrugged. + +"Why, yes. If I follow your wish and embark on--big finance. +And--forget my Sunday school." + +The millionaire gathered up the sheaf of loose accounts on the desk and +held them up. His smile was grim and challenging. + +"One hundred thousand dollars these bills represent. The cashier will +hand you a check for that amount. Say, you've shown your ability to +spend that amount; can you show your ability to make it?" + +For a moment the boy's blue eyes avoided the half-ironical smile of his +father's. Then suddenly they returned the steady gaze, and a flush +spread swiftly over his handsome face. Something of his father's +purpose was dawning upon him. He began to realize that the man who had +made those many millions was far too clever for him when it came to +debate. He squared his shoulders obstinately and took up the +challenge. There was no other course for him. But even as he accepted +it his heart sank at the prospect. + +"Certainly," he cried. "Certainly--with a stake to start me." + +His father nodded. + +"Sure. That goes," he said. + +Then he laid the papers on the desk, and his whole manner underwent a +further change. His eyes seemed to harden with the light of battle. +There was an ironical skepticism in them. Even there was a shadow of +contempt. For the moment it seemed as if he had forgotten that the man +before him was his son, and regarded him merely as some rival financier +seeking to beat him in a deal. + +"I'll hand you one hundred thousand dollars. That's your stake. This +is the way you'll pay those bills. You'll leave this city in +twenty-four hours. You can go where you choose, do what you choose. +But you must return here in twelve months' time with exactly double +that sum. I make no conditions as to how you make the money. That's +right up to you. I shall ask no questions, and blame you for no +process you adopt, however much I disapprove. Then, to show you how +certain I am you can't do it--why, if you make good, there's a +half-share partnership in my organization waiting right here for you." + +"A half-share partnership?" Gordon repeated incredulously. "You +said--a half-share?" + +"That's precisely what I said." + +All of a sudden the younger man flung back his head and laughed aloud. + +"Why, Dad, I stand to win right along the line--anyway," he exclaimed. + +The older man's eyes softened. + +"Maybe it's just how you look at it." + +The change in his father's manner was quite lost upon Gordon. He only +saw his enormous advantage in this one-sided bargain. + +"Say, Dad, was there ever such a father as I've got?" he cried +exuberantly. "Never, never! But you're not going to monopolize all +the sportsmanship. I can play the game, too. I don't need one hundred +thousand dollars on this game. I don't need twelve months to do it in. +I'm not going to cut twelve months out of our lives together. Six is +all I need. Six months, and five thousand dollars' stake. That's what +I need. Give me that, and I'll be back with one hundred and five +thousand dollars in six months' time. I haven't a notion where I'm +going or what I'm going to do. All I know is you've put it up to me to +make good, and I'm going to. I'll get that money if--if I have to rob +a bank." + +The boy's recklessness was too much for the gravity of the financier. +He sat back and laughed. He flung his half-smoked cigar away, and in a +moment father and son had joined in a duel of loud-voiced mirth. + +Presently, however, their laughter died out. The millionaire sprang to +his feet. His eyes were shining with delight. + +"I don't care a darn how you do it, boy," he cried. "As you say, it's +up to you. You see, I've got over my Sunday-school days, as you so +delicately reminded me. That's by the way. But there's more in this +than maybe you get right. You're going to learn that no graft can turn +five thousand dollars into one hundred thousand in six months without a +mighty fine commercial brain behind it. It's that brain I'm looking +for in my son. Now get along and see your mother and sister. You've +only got twenty-four hours' grace. Leave these bills to me. You're +making a bid for the greatest fortune ever staked in a wager, and +things like that don't stand for any delay. Get out, Gordon, boy; get +out and--make good." + +He held one powerful hand out across the desk, and Gordon promptly +seized and wrung it. + +"Good-by, Dad, and--God bless you." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +IN CHASTENED MOOD + +Of course, the whole thing was ridiculous. Gordon knew that. No one +could know it better. The more he thought about it the more surely he +was certain of it. He told himself that he, personally, had behaved +like a first-class madman over the whole affair. How on earth was he +to make one hundred thousand dollars in six months? It couldn't be +done. That was all. It simply couldn't be done. What power of +mischief had driven him to charge his highly respectable father with +graft? It was a rotten thing to do anyway. And it served him right +that it had come back on him by pointing the way to the present +impossible situation. + +He was perfectly disgusted with himself. + +But after a while he began to chuckle. The thing was not without an +atmosphere of humor--of a sort. No doubt his friends would have seen a +tremendous humor in the idea of his making one hundred thousand dollars +under any conditions. + +One hundred thousand dollars! What a tremendous sum it sounded viewed +from the standpoint of his having to make it. He had never considered +it a vast sum before. But now it seemed to grow and grow every time he +thought of it. Then he laughed. What stupid things "noughts" were. +They meant so much just now, and, in reality, they mean nothing at all. + +Oh, dear. The whole thing was a terrible trouble. It was worse. It +was a tragedy. But--he mustn't give his friends the laugh on him. +That would be the last straw. No. The whole thing should remain a +secret between his father and himself. He almost broke into a sweat as +he suddenly remembered the Press. What wouldn't the Press do with the +story. The son and heir of James Carbhoy, the well-known +multi-millionaire, leaving home to show the world how to make one +hundred thousand dollars in record time! A stupendous farce. Then the +swarm of reporters buzzing about him like a cloud of flies in summer +time. The prospect was too depressing. Think of the columns in the +Press, especially the cheaper Press. They would haunt him from New +York to--Timbuctoo! + +It couldn't be done. He felt certain that in such circumstances +suicide would be justifiable. Thoughts such as these swept on through +his disturbed brain as he sped up Broadway on his way to say good-by to +his mother and sister. He had been lucky in finding his father's +high-powered automobile standing outside the palatial entrance of the +towering Carbhoy Building. Nor had he the least scruple in +commandeering it. + +His visit to the east side of Central Park was in the nature of a +whirlwind. He had no desire to be questioned, and he knew his young +sister, Gracie, too well to give her a chance in that direction. Their +friends were wont to say that, for one so young--she was only +thirteen--she was all wit and intellect. He felt that that was because +she was his father's daughter. For himself he was positive she was all +precocity and impertinence. And he told himself he was quite +unprejudiced. + +As for his mother, she was one of those gentle Southern women who +declare that no woman has the right to question the doings of the male +members of her household, and, in spite of the luxury with which she +was surrounded, and which she never failed to feel the burden of--she +was originally a small farmer's daughter--still yearned for that homely +meal of her youth, "supper"--a collation of coffee, cakes, preserves +and cold meats. + +Experience warned him that he must give her no inkling of the real +facts. She would be too terribly shocked at the revelation. + +So, for an hour or more, in the little family circle, in his mother's +splendid boudoir, he talked of everything but his own affairs. Nor was +it until he was in the act of taking his leave that he warned them both +that he was leaving the city for six months. He felt it was a cowardly +thing to do, but, having fired his bombshell in their midst, he fled +precipitately before its stunning effect had time to pass away. + +Off he sped, the automobile urged to a dangerous speed, and it was with +a great sense of relief that he finally reached his own apartment on +Riverside Drive. + +Letting himself in, he found his man, Harding, waiting for him. + +"Mrs. Carbhoy has been ringing you up, sir," he said in the level tones +of a well-trained servant. "She wants to speak to you, sir--most +important." + +Gordon hardened his heart. + +"Disconnect the 'phone then," he said sharply, and flung himself into a +great settle which stood in the domed hall. + +"Very good, sir." + +The man was moving away. + +"If my mother or sister should come here, I'm out. Send word down to +the office that there's no one in." + +The valet's face was quite expressionless. Gordon Carbhoy had his own +way of dealing with his affairs. Harding understood this. He was also +devoted to his master. + +"Yes, sir." + +He vanished out of the hall. + +Left alone a great change came over Gordon. The old buoyancy and humor +seemed suddenly to fall from him. For once his eyes were perfectly, +almost painfully serious. He stared about him, searching the +remoteness of his surroundings, his eyes and thoughts dwelling on the +luxury of the apartment he had occupied for the last three years. It +was a two-floored masterpiece of builder's ingenuity. It was to be his +home no longer. + +That splendid domed hall had been the scene of many innocent revels. +Yes, in spite of the accusation of immorality, his parties had been +innocent enough. He had entertained the boys and girls of his +acquaintance royally, but--innocently. Well, that was all done with. +It was just a memory. The future was his concern. + +The future. And that depended on his own exertions. For a moment the +seriousness of his mood lifted. Surely his own exertions as a business +man was a broken reed to---- What about failure? What was to +follow--failure? He hadn't thought of it, and his father hadn't spoken +of it. + +Suddenly the cloud settled again, and a sort of panic swept over him. +Did his father intend to--kick him out? It almost looked like it. And +yet---- Had he intended this stake as his last? What a perfect fool +he had been to refuse the hundred thousand dollars. Then, in a moment, +his panic passed. He was glad he had done so--anyway. + +He selected a cigar from his case and sniffed at it. He remembered his +father's. His handsome blue eyes were twinkling. His own cigars cost +half a dollar more than his father's, and the fact amused him. He cut +the end carefully and lit it. Then he leaned back on the cushions and +resigned himself to the reflection that these things, too, must go with +the rest. They, too, must become a mere memory. + +"Harding!" he called. + +The man appeared almost magically. + +"Harding, have you ever smoked a--five-cent cigar?" he inquired +thoughtfully. + +The valet cleared his throat. + +"I'm sorry to say, sir, I haven't." + +"Sorry?" Gordon's eyes were smiling. + +"A mere figure of speech, sir." + +"Ah--I see. They must be--painful." + +"Very, I should think, sir. But, beg pardon, sir, I believe in +some--ahem--low places, they sell two for five cents!" + +"Two? I--I wonder if the sanitary authorities know about it." + +Gordon smiled into the serious face of his devoted henchman. Then he +went on rapidly-- + +"What baggage do you suggest for a six months' trip?" + +"Europe, sir?" + +"No." + +"South, sir?" + +"I--haven't made up my mind." + +"General then, sir. That'll need more. There's the three large +trunks. The steamer trunk. Four suit cases. Will you need your polo +kit, sir, and your----?" + +Gordon shook his head. + +"Guess your focus needs adjusting. Now, suppose you were getting a man +ready for a six months' trip--a man who smoked those two-for-five +cigars. What would you give him?" + +Harding's eyelids flickered. He sighed. + +"It would be difficult, sir. I shouldn't give him clean +under-garments, sir. I should suggest the oldest suit I could find. +You see, sir, it would be waste to give him a good suit. The axles of +those box cars are so greasy. I'm not sure about a toothbrush." + +"Your focus is adjusting itself." + +"Yes, sir, thank you, sir." + +"And the five-cent-cigar man?" + +Harding's verdict came promptly. + +"A hand bag with one good suit and ablutionary utensils, sir. Also +strong, warm under-garments, and a thick overcoat. One spare pair of +boots. You see, sir, he could carry that himself." + +"Good," cried Gordon delightedly. "You prepare for that +five-cent-cigar man. Now I want some food. Better ring down to the +restaurant." + +"Yes, sir. An oyster cocktail? Squab on toast, or a little pheasant? +What about sweets, sir, and what wine will you take?" + +"Great gods no, man! Nothing like that. Think of your five-cent-cigar +man. What would he have? Why, sandwiches. You know, nice thick ones, +mostly bread. No. Wait a bit. I know. A club sandwich. Two club +sandwiches, and a bottle of domestic lager. Two things I +hate--eternally. We must equip ourselves, Harding. We must mortify +the flesh. We must readjust our focus, and outrage all our more +delicate susceptibilities. We must reduce ourselves to the +requirements of the five-cent-cigar man, and turn a happy, smiling +world into a dark and drear struggle for existence. See to it, good +Harding, see to it." + +The man withdrew, puzzled. Used as he was to Gordon's vagaries, the +thought of his master dining off two hideous club sandwiches and a +bottle of _domestic_ lager made his staunch stomach positively turn. + +His perfect training, however, permitted of no verbal protest. And he +waited on the diner with as much care for punctilio as though a formal +banquet were in progress. Then came another violent shock to his +feelings. Gordon leaned back in his chair with a sigh of amused +contentment. + +"Do you think you could get me a--five-cent cigar, Harding?" he +demanded. "Say, I enjoyed that food. That unique combination of +chicken, hot bacon and--and something pickly--why, it's great. And as +for _domestic_ lager--it's got wine beaten a mile. Guess I'm mighty +anxious to explore a--five-cent cigar." + +Harding cleared his throat. + +"I'll do my best, sir. It may be difficult, but I'll do my best. I'll +consult the clerk downstairs. He smokes very bad cigars, sir." + +"Good. You get busy. I'll be around in my den." + +"Yes, sir," Harding hesitated. Then with an unusual diffidence, +"Coffee, sir? A little of the '48 brandy, sir?" + +Gordon stared. + +"Can I believe my ears? Spoil a dinner like that with--'48 brandy? +I'm astonished, Harding. That focus, man; that five-cent-cigar focus!" + +Gordon hurried off into his den with a laugh. Harding gazed after him +with puzzled, respectful eyes. + +Once in the privacy of his den, half office, half library, and wholly a +room of comfort, Gordon forgot his laugh. His mind was quite made up, +and he knew that a long evening's work lay before him. + +He picked up the receiver of his private 'phone to his father's office +and sat down at the desk. + +"Hello! Hello! Ah! That you, Harker? Splendid. Guess I'm glad I +caught you. Working late, eh? Sure. It's the way in er--big finance. +Yes. Got to lie awake at nights to do the other feller. Say. No. +Oh, no, that's not what I rang you up for. It's about--finance. Ha, +ha! It's a check for me. Did the governor leave me one? Good. Five +thousand dollars, isn't it? Well, say, don't place it to my credit. +Get cash for it to-morrow, and send it along to---- Let me see. Yes, +I know. You send along a bright clerk with it. He can meet me at the +Pennsylvania Depot to-morrow, at noon--sharp. Yes. In the +waiting-room. Get that? Good. So long." + +"That's that," he muttered, as he replaced the receiver. "Now for +Charlie Spiers." + +He turned to the ordinary 'phone, picked up the receiver, gave the +operator the number, and waited. + +"Hello! Hello, hello, hello! That you, Charlie? Bully. I wasn't +sure getting you. Guess my luck's right in. How are you? Goo---- +No, better not come around to-night. Fact is, I'm up to my back teeth +packing and things. I've got to be away awhile. Business--important." +He laughed. "Don't get funny. It's not play. No. Eh? What's that? +A lady? Quit it. If there's a thing I can't stand just about now it's +a suggestion of immorality. I mean that. The word 'immoral' 's about +enough to set me chasing Broadway barking and foaming at the mouth. I +said I'm going away on business, and it's so important that not even my +mother knows where I'm going. Yes. Ah, I'm glad you feel that way. +It's serious. Now, listen to me; it's up to you to do me a kindness. +I'm going to write the mater now and again. But I can't mail direct, +or she'll know where I am, see? Well, I can send her mail under cover +to you, and you can mail it on to her. Get me? Now, that way, you'll +know just where I am. That's so. Well, you've got to swear right +along over the wire you won't tell a soul. Not the governor, or the +mater, or Gracie, or--or anybody. No, I don't need you to cuss like a +railroader about it. Just swear properly. That's it. That's fine. +On your soul and honor. Fine. I'm glad you added the 'honor' racket, +it makes things plumb sure. Oh, yes, your soul's all right in its way. +But---- Good-by, boy. I'll see you six months from to-day. No. Too +busy. So long." + +Gordon hung up the receiver and turned back to his desk with a sigh. +He opened a drawer and took out his check-book, and gave himself up to +a few minutes of figures. There was not a great deal of money to his +credit at the bank, but it was sufficient for his purposes. He wrote +and signed three checks. Then he tore the remaining blanks up and +flung them into the waste-basket. + +After that he turned his attention to a systematic examination of his +papers. It was a long, and not uninteresting process, but one that +took a vast amount of patience. He tore up letter after letter, +photographs, bills, every sort of document which a bachelor seems +always to accumulate when troubled by the disease of youth. + +In the midst of his labors he came across his father's private code for +cable and telegraph. It brought back to him the memory of his position +as one of his father's secretaries. He smiled as he glanced through +it. It must be sent back to the office. He would hand it to the clerk +who brought him his money in the morning. So he placed it carefully in +the inside pocket of his coat and continued his labors. + +Half an hour later Harding appeared. + +"Beg pardon, sir," he said. "I had some difficulty, but"--he held up +an oily-looking cigar with a flaming label about its middle, between +his finger and thumb--"I succeeded in obtaining one. I had to take +three surface cars, and finally had to go to Fourth Avenue. It was a +lower place than I expected, sir, seeing that it was a five-cent cigar." + +"That means it cost me twenty cents, Harding--unless you were able to +transfer." + +Gordon eyed the man's expressionless face quizzically. + +"I'm sorry, sir. But I forgot about the transfer tickets." + +Gordon sighed with pretended regret. + +"I'm sure guessing it's--bad finance. We ought to do better." + +"I could have saved the fares if I'd taken your car, sir," said +Harding, with a flicker of the eyelids. + +"Splendid, gasoline at thirteen cents, and the price of tires going up." + +Gordon drummed on the desk with his fingers and became thoughtful. He +had a painful duty yet to perform. + +"Harding," he said at last, with a genuine sigh, his eyes painfully +serious. "We've got to go different ways. You've--got to quit." + +The valet's face never moved a muscle. + +"Yes, sir." + +"Right away." + +"Yes, sir." + +Then the man cleared his throat, and laid the oily-looking cigar on the +desk. + +"I trust, sir, I've given satisfaction?" + +"Satisfaction?" Gordon's tone expressed the most cordial appreciation. +"Satisfaction don't express it. I couldn't have kept up the farce of +existence without you. You are the best fellow in the world. Guess +it's I who haven't given satisfaction." + +"Yes, sir." + +"Oh--you agree?" + +"Yes, sir. That is, no, sir." + +Harding passed one thin hand across his forehead, and the movement was +one of perplexity. It was the only gesture he permitted himself as any +expression of feeling. + +"I'm going away for six months--as a five-cent-cigar man," Gordon went +on, disguising his regret under a smile of humor. "I'm going away +on--business." + +"Yes, sir." The respectful agreement came in a monotonous tone. + +"So you'll--just have to quit. That's all." + +"Yes, sir." + +"Ye-es." + +"You will--need a man when you come back, sir?" The eagerness was +unmistakable to Gordon. + +"I--hope so." + +Harding's face brightened. + +"I will accept temporary employment then, sir. Thank you, sir." + +Gordon wondered. Then he cleared his throat, and held out two of the +checks he had written. + +"Here's two months' wages," he said. "One is your due. Guess the +other's the same, only--it's a present. Now, get this. You'll need to +see everything cleared right out of this shanty, and stored at the +Manhattan deposit. When that's done, get right along and report things +to my father, and hand him your accounts for settlement. All my cigars +and cigarettes and wine and things, why, I guess you can have for a +present. It don't seem reasonable to me condemning you to five-cent +cigars and domestic lager. Now pack me one grip, as you said. I'll +wear the suit I've got on. Mind, I need a grip I can tote +myself--full." + +"Very good, sir. Thank you, sir. Anything else, sir?" + +"Why, yes." Gordon was smiling again. "Hand this check in at the bank +when it opens to-morrow, and get me cash for it, and bring it right +along. That's all, except you'd better get me another disgusting +sandwich, and another bottle of tragedy beer for my supper. There's +nothing else." + +With a resolute air Gordon turned back to his work, as, with an obvious +sigh of regret, Harding silently withdrew. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +GORDON ARRIVES + +Gordon Carbhoy sat hunched up in his seat. His great shoulders, so +square and broad, seemed to fill up far more space than he was entitled +to. His cheerful face showed no signs of the impatience and +irritability he was really enduring. A seraphic contentment alone +shone in his clear blue eyes. He was a picture of the youthful +conviction that life was in reality a very pleasant thing, and that +there did not exist a single cloud upon the delicately tinted horizon +of his own particular portion of it. + +In spite of this outward seeming, however, he was by no means easy. +Every now and again he would stand up and ease the tightness of his +trousers about his knees. He felt dirty, too, dirty and untidy, +notwithstanding the fact that he had washed himself, and brushed his +hair, many times in the cramped compartment of the train devoted to +that purpose. Then he would fling himself into his corner again and +give his attention to the monotonously level landscape beyond the +window and strive to forget the stale odor so peculiar to all railroad +cars, especially in summer time. + +These were movements and efforts he had made a hundred times since +leaving the great terminal in New York. He had slept in his corner. +He had eaten cheaply in the dining-car. He had smoked one of the +delicious cigars, from the box which the faithful Harding had secreted +in his grip, in the smoker ahead. He had read every line in the +magazines he had provided himself with, even to the advertisements. + +The time hung heavily, drearily. The train grumbled, and shook, and +jolted its ponderous way on across the vast American continent. It was +all very tedious. + +Then the endless stream of thought, often fantastic, always +unconvincing, always leading up to those ridiculous cyphers +representing one hundred thousand dollars. If only they were numerals. +Nice, odd numerals. He was a firm believer in the luck of odd numbers. +But no. It was always "noughts." Most disgusting "noughts." + +He yawned for about the thousandth time on his two days' journey, and +wondered hopelessly how many more times he would yawn before he reached +the Pacific. + +Hello! The conductor was coming through again. Going to tear off more +ticket, Gordon supposed. That tearing off was most interesting. He +wondered if the ticket would last out till he reached Seattle. He +supposed so. + +Seattle! The Yukon! The Yukon certainly suggested fortune, the making +of a rapid fortune. But how? One hundred thousand dollars! There it +was again. + +His eyes were following the movements of the rubicund conductor. The +man looked enormously self-satisfied, and was certainly bursting with +authority and adipose tissue. He wondered if he couldn't annoy him +some way. It would be good to annoy some one. He closed his smiling +eyes and feigned sleep. + +The vast bulk of blue uniform and brass buttons bore down upon him. It +reached his "pew," dropped into the seat opposite, and tweaked him by +the coat sleeve. + +Gordon opened his eyes with a pretended start. + +"Where are we?" he demanded irritably. + +"Som'eres between the devil an' the deep sea, I guess," grinned the +man. "Your--ticket." + +Gordon began to fumble slowly through his pockets. He knew precisely +where his ticket was, but he searched carefully and deliberately in +every other possible place. The man waited, breathing heavily. He +displayed not the slightest sign of the annoyance desired. At last +Gordon turned out the inside pocket of his coat. The first thing he +discovered amongst its contents was his father's private code book, and +the annoyance was in his eyes rather than in those of the conductor. +His resolve to return it had been entirely forgotten. + +He forthwith produced his ticket. + +"The devil's behind us, I s'pose," said Gordon. "Anyway, we're told +it's the right place for him. I'll be glad when we reach the sea." + +The conductor examined the ticket, while Gordon returned the code book +to his pocket. + +"Ah, Seattle," the brassbound official murmured. Then he looked into +the now smiling face before him. "You ain't for Snake's Fall?" + +"Guess I shouldn't have paid for a ticket to Seattle if I were," Gordon +retorted with some sarcasm. + +"That's so," observed the official, quite undisturbed. "I knew one guy +was for Seattle. I was kind o' wondering 'bout him. Se-attle," he +murmured reflectively. + +"On the coast. A seaport. Puget Sound," said Gordon objectionably. + +"A low down sailor town on the side of a hill, wher' if you ain't +climbin' up you're mostly fallin' down. Wher' it rains nigh six months +o' the year, an' parboils you the rest. Wher' every bum going to or +coming from the Yukon gets thoroughly soused and plays the fool +gener'ly." + +The man's retort was as pointedly objectionable as Gordon's had been, +and the challenge of it stirred the latter's sense of humor. + +"Guess I'm one of the bums 'going to,'" he said cheerfully. The man's +fat-surrounded eyes ceased to grin. + +"Startin' fer the Yukon in--July? Never heard of it," he said, with a +shake of the head. "It's as ridiculous as startin' fer hell in summer +time. You'll make Alaska when she freezes up, and sit around till she +opens next spring. Say----" + +"You mean I'll get hung up for--ten months?" cried Gordon aghast. + +"Jest depends on your business." + +"Yes, of course." + +Gordon's heart sank as the man grunted up from his seat, and handed him +back his mutilated ticket. He watched him pass on down the car and +finally vanish through the doorway of the parlor-car beyond. Then his +eyes came back to his surroundings. He stared at the heads of his +fellow travelers dotting the tops of the seats about him. Then his +eyes dropped to his grip on the opposite seat lying under his overcoat, +and again, later, they turned reflectively towards the window. Ten +months. Ten months, and he only had six before him in which to +accomplish his purpose. Was there ever a more perfect imbecile? Was +there ever such a fool trick? + +A smile of chagrin grew in his eyes as he remembered how he had arrived +at the Pennsylvania Depot, and had studied the list of places to which +he could go, seeking to find in the names an inspiration for the +accomplishment of his purpose. There had been so many that his amazed +head had been set whirling. There he had stood, wondering and gawking +like some foolish country "Rube," without one single idea beyond the +fact that he must go somewhere and make one hundred thousand dollars in +six months' time. + +Then had come that one illuminating flash. He saw the name in great +capital letters in an advertisement. "The Yukon." Of course. It was +the one and only place in the world for quick fortunes, and forthwith +he had booked his passage to Seattle. + +Nor was he likely to forget his immense satisfaction when he heard +Harding's respectful "Yes, sir," in response to his information. Now +he certainly was convinced that he was own brother to the finest bred +jackass in the whole wide world. However, there was nothing to be done +but go on to Seattle. He had paid for his ticket, and, Providence +willing, to Seattle he would go. + +But Providence had its own ideas upon the matter. Furthermore, +Providence began at once to set its own machinery working in his +behalf. It was the same Providence that looks after drunken men and +imbeciles. Half an hour later it impelled him to gather up his traps +and pass forward into the smoker, accompanied by one of his own big, +expensive cigars. + +He pushed his way into the car through the narrow door of +communication. A haze of tobacco smoke blurred his view, but at once +he became aware of a single, melancholy, benevolent eye gazing steadily +at him. + +It was an amiable eye and withal shrewd. Also it was surrounded by a +shaggy dark brow. This had a fellow, too, but the eye belonging to the +fellow was concealed beneath what was intended to be a flesh-tinted +cover, secured in place by elastic round its owner's head. + +The surrounding face was rugged and weather tanned. And it finished +with a mop of iron-gray hair at one end, and an aggressively tufted +chin beard at the other. But the thrusting whisker could not disguise +the general strength of the face. + +Below this was a spread of large body clad in a store suit of some +pretensions, but of ill fit, and a heavy gold watchchain and a large +diamond pin in the neckwear suggested opulence. Furthermore, One Eye +suggested the prime of middle life, and robust health and satisfaction. + +There was only one other occupant of the car. He was two or three +seats away, across the aisle. He promptly claimed Gordon's attention. +He was amusing himself by shooting "crap" on a baize-covered +traveling-table. Both men were smoking hard, and, by the density of +the atmosphere, and the aroma, the newcomer estimated that they, unlike +himself, were not five-cent-cigar men. + +He paused at the dice thrower's seat and watched the proceedings. The +man appeared not to notice his approach at all, and continued to labor +on with his pastime, carrying on a muttered address to the obdurate +"bones." + +"Come 'sev,'" he muttered again and again, as he flung the dice on the +table with a flick of the fingers. + +But the "seven" would not come up, and at last he raised a pair of keen +black eyes to Gordon's face. + +"Cussed things, them durned bones," he said briefly, and went on with +his play. + +Gordon smiled. + +"It's like most things. It's luck that tells." + +The player grinned down at the dice and nodded agreement, while he +continued his muttered demands. Gordon flung his traps into another +seat, and sat himself down opposite the man. Crap dice never failed to +fascinate him. + +The melancholy benevolence of One Eye remained fixed upon the pair. + +The seven refused to come up, and finally the player desisted. + +"Sort of workin' calculations," he explained, with an amiable grin. +"An' they don't calc worth a cent. As you say, the hull blamed thing +is chance. Sevens, or any other old things 'll just come up when they +darned please, and neither me nor any other feller can make 'em +come--playin' straight." + +The man bared his gold-filled teeth in another amiable grin. And +Gordon fell. + +His unsuspicious mind was quite unable to appreciate the obvious cut of +the man. The rather flashy style of his clothes. The keen, quick, +black eyes. The disarming ingenuousness of his manner and speech. +These things meant nothing to him. The men he knew were as ready to +win or lose a few hundred dollars on the turn of a card as they were to +drink a cocktail. The thought of sharp practice in gambling was +something which never entered their heads. + +He drew out a dollar bill and laid it on the table. The sight of it +across the aisle made One Eye blink. But the black-eyed stranger +promptly covered it, and picked up the dice. He shook them in the palm +of his hand and spun them on the baize, clipping his fingers sharply. + +"Come 'sev,'" he muttered. + +The miracle of it. The seven came up and he swept in the two dollars. +In a moment he had replaced them with a five-dollar bill. Gordon +responded. + +"I'll take two dollars of that," he said, and staked his money. + +The man spun the dice, and a five came up. Then it was Gordon's turn +to talk to the dice, calling on them for a seven each time the man +threw. The play became absorbing, and One Eye, from across the aisle, +craned forward. The seven came up before the five, and Gordon won, and +the dice passed. + +The game proceeded, and the luck alternated. Then Gordon began to win. +He won consistently for awhile, and nearly twenty dollars had passed +from the stranger's pocket to his. + +It was an interesting study in psychology. Gordon was utterly without +suspicion, and full of boyish enthusiasm. His blue eyes were full of +excited interest. He followed each throw, and talked the jargon of the +game like any gambler. All his boredom with the journey was gone. His +quest was thrust into the background. Nothing troubled him in the +least. The joy of the rolling dice was on him, and he laughed and +jested as the wayward "bones" defied or acquiesced to his requirements. + +The stranger was far more subtle. For a big powerful man he possessed +absurdly delicate hands. He handled the dice with an expert touch, +which Gordon utterly lacked. He talked to the dice as they fell in a +manner quite devoid of enthusiasm, and as though muttering a formula +from mere habit. He grumbled at his losses, and remained silent in +victory, and all the while he smoked, and smoked, and watched his +opponent with furtive eyes. + +One Eye watched the game from the corner without a sign. + +A stranger, on his way through the car, paused to watch the game. +Presently he passed on, and then returned with another man. + +After awhile Gordon's luck began to wane. His twenty dollars dropped +to fifteen. Then to ten. Then to five. The stranger threw a run of +"sevens." Then the dice passed. But Gordon lost them again, and +presently the five dollars he was still winning passed out of his hands. + +From that moment luck deserted him entirely. The stranger threw a +succession of wins. Gordon increased his stakes to five-dollar bills. +Now and again he pulled in a win, but always, it seemed, to lose two +successive throws immediately afterwards. There were times when it +seemed impossible to wrest the dice from his opponent. Whenever he +held them himself he lost them almost immediately. + +"Seventy-five dollars, that makes," he said, after one such loss. +"They're going your way, sure." + +"It's the luck of things," replied the stranger laconically. + +One Eye across the aisle smiled to himself, and abandoned his craning. + +Gordon plunged. He doubled his bets with the abandon of youth and +inexperience. And the stranger never failed to tempt him that way when +they were his dice. He always laid more stake than he believed his +opponent would accept. + +The hundred dollars was reached and passed in Gordon's losses. Still +the game went on. He passed the hundred and fifty--and then Providence +stepped in. + +By this time a number of onlookers had gathered in the car. The place +was full of smoke. They were standing in the aisle. They were sitting +on the arms of the seats of the two players. One or two were leaning +over the backs of the seats. + +Suddenly the speeding train jolted heavily over some rough points. It +swayed for a moment with a sort of deep-sea roll. The onlooker seated +on the arm of the stranger's seat was jerked from his balance and +sprawled on the player. In his efforts to save himself he grabbed at +the table, which promptly toppled. The gambler made a lunge to save +it, and, in the confusion of the moment, a second pair of crap dice, +identical with the pair Gordon was about to shoot, rolled out of his +hand. + +Just for an instant there was a breathless pause as Gordon pounced on +them. Then one word escaped him, and his face went deathly white as he +glared furiously at the man across the table. + +"Loaded!" + +One Eye again craned forward. But now the patch was entirely removed +from his second eye. + +The next part of Providence's little game was played without a single +word. One great fist shot out from Gordon's direction, and its impact +with its object sounded dull and sodden. The gambler's head jolted +backwards, and he felt as though his neck had been broken. Then the +baize-covered table was projected across the car by Gordon's other +great hand, while the spectators fled in the direction of the doorways, +and pushed and scrambled their ways through. + +Then ensued a wild scene. The animal was stirred to offense with a +sublime abandon. + +One Eye remained in his corner, his eyes alight with an appreciation +hardly to have been expected, contemplating humorously the tangle of +humanity as it moved, with lightning rapidity, all over the car. Once, +as the battle swayed in his direction, he even moved his traps under +the seat, lest their bulk should incommode the combatants. + +For a moment, at the outset, the two men appeared to be a fair match. +But the impression swiftly passed. The youth, the superb training, the +skill of Gordon became like the sledge-hammer pounding of superior +gunnery in warfare. He hit when and where he pleased, and warded the +wilder blows of his opponent with almost unconcern. But the narrowness +of the aisle and the presence of the seats saved the gambler, and both +men staggered and bumped about in a way that deprived Gordon of much of +the result of his advantage. + +The train began to slow up. One Eye glanced apprehensively out of the +window. He gathered up his belongings, and picked up the litter of +money scattered on the floor. + +Then he sat watching the fight--and his opportunity. + +The men had closed. Regardless of all, they fought with a fury and +abandon as cordial as it now became unscientific. The gambler, +clinging to his opponent, strove to ward off the blows which fell upon +his features like a hailstorm. Gordon, with superlative ferocity, was +bent on leaving them unrecognizable. It was a bloody onslaught, but no +more bloody than Gordon intended it to be. He was stirred now, a young +lion, fighting for the only finish that would satisfy him. + +One Eye's opportunity came. He made a run for the door as the train +pulled up with a jolt. + +But the fight went on. The stopping of the train conveyed nothing to +the fighting men. Neither saw nor cared that one of the doors was +suddenly flung open. Neither saw the rush of men in uniform. The +invasion of their ring by the train crew meant nothing to them. + +Then something happened. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +GORDON LANDS AT SNAKE'S FALL + +Gordon sat up and rubbed his eyes. Then one blood-stained hand went up +to his head, and its fingers passed through his ruffled hair. It +smoothed its way down one cheek, and finally dropped to the ground on +which he was sitting. + +Where was he? + +Suddenly he became aware of the metal track in front of him, +and--remembered. He glanced down the track. Far in the distance he +could see the speeding train. Then his eyes came back to his immediate +surroundings, and discovered that he was sitting on the boarded footway +of a small country railroad depot. + +How did he get there? How on earth did he get there? + +As no answer to his mute inquiry was forthcoming he explored further. +He discovered that his grip and overcoat were beside him, also his hat. +And some distance away a number of loungers were idly watching him, +with a smile of profound amusement on every face. + +The latter discovery filled him with a swiftly rising resentment, and, +grabbing his hat and thrusting it on his head, he leaped to his feet. +He had no intention of permitting amusement at his expense. + +"I guess you sure had some good time," said a deep, musical voice at +his elbow. + +Gordon swung about and stood confronting the man, One Eye, whom he had +seen in the train. For a moment he had it in mind to make some +furiously resentful retort. But the man's appearance held his +curiosity and diverted his purpose. The patch had been removed from +his second eye, which now beamed upon him in company with its fellow. + +"Guess these are yours," the man went on, thrusting a roll of bills out +towards him. "That 'sharp' dropped his wad during the scrap. I hated +to think a grafting train boss was goin' to collect it. You see, I +guessed how that scrap would end." + +"Are they mine?" Gordon was not quite sure he wasn't dreaming. + +"Mostly." + +The stranger's reply was full of dry humor. Suddenly Gordon's eyes lit. + +"Where is that 'sharp'? I haven't done with----" + +The stranger pointed after the train. + +"You'll need to hustle some." + +The anger died out of Gordon's eyes and he began to laugh. With some +diffidence he accepted the money. + +"Say, it's--mighty decent of you," he cried cordially. Then, for want +of better means of expression, "Mighty decent." + +The two men stood steadily regarding each other. Tall and broad as +Gordon was, the stranger was no less. But he added to his stature the +massiveness of additional years. + +Gordon's feelings were under perfect control now. His eyes began to +brighten with their native humor. He was longing to solve the mystery +of that eye-shade which had disappeared from his companion's face, but +was constrained to check his curiosity. + +"You said you guessed how the scrap would end?" he said. "There's a +sort of blank in my--memory. I mean about the finish." + +The big stranger began to rumble in his throat. To Gordon the sound +was comforting in its wholesome enjoyment. + +"It don't need a heap of guessing when a train 'sharp,' who's got the +conductor grafted from his brassbound cap to the soles of his rotten +feet, gets into a scrap how things are going to end. I'd sort of hoped +you'd 'out' him before the crew come along. Guess you'd have done it +if there'd been more room. That's the worst of scrappin' in a railroad +car," he added regretfully. "That train boss got along with his crew +and threw you out--on your head. They kept the 'sharp' aboard, being +well grafted, and figgered to hold up your baggage. I guessed +diff'rently. That all your baggage?" he inquired anxiously. + +Gordon gazed down at the grip and coat. + +"That's all," he said. Then he impulsively threw out a hand, and the +stranger took it. "It's decent--mighty decent of you." Again his +buoyant laugh rang out. "Say, I surely do seem to have had some good +time." + +The twinkling eyes of the stranger nearly closed up in a cordial grin. + +"Seems to me you're fixed here till to-morrow, anyway. There ain't any +sort of train west till then. You best come along over to the hotel. +They call it 'hotel' hereabouts. I'm goin' that way." + +Gordon agreed, gathered up his property, and fell in beside his +companion. + +They moved across the track, and as they went he caught some impression +of the ragged little prairie town at which he had so inadvertently +arrived. There seemed to him to be but a single, unpaved street, +consisting of virgin prairie beaten bare and hard by local traffic. +This was lined on one side by a fringe of wooden houses of every size +and condition, with gaps here and there for roads, yet to be made, +turning out of it. These houses were mostly of a commercial nature. +Back of this he vaguely understood there to be a sparse dotting of +other houses, but their purpose and arrangement remained a mystery to +him. Still farther afield he beheld the green eminence of foothills, +and still farther on, away in the distance, the snowy ramparts of the +Rocky Mountains. The town seemed to occupy only one side of the +track--the south side. The depot was beyond it, on the other. + +They picked their way across the track and debouched upon the Main +Street, the name of which Gordon discovered painted in indifferent +characters upon a disreputable signboard. Then they turned westwards +in the direction of an isolated building rather larger than anything +else in the village. + +After awhile, as his companion made no further effort at conversation, +Gordon's interest and curiosity refused to permit the continued silence. + +"What State are we in?" he inquired. + +"Montana." + +Gordon glanced quickly at his companion. + +"What place is this?" + +"Snake's Fall." + +The announcement set Gordon laughing. + +"What's amiss with Snake's Fall?" inquired the other sharply. + +"Why, nothing. I was just thinking. You see, the conductor told me +'most everybody was making for Snake's Fall on the train. I'm sorry +that 'sharp' wasn't. Say----" + +"What?" + +Gordon laughed again. + +"I remember you in the smoker, only--you seemed to have a--a patch over +your left eye." + +"Sure." + +"Now you haven't got it?" + +"No." + +"I'm not curious, only----" + +The stranger's eyes lit ironically. + +"Sure you ain't. That's the hotel. Peter McSwain's. He's the boss. +He's a friend of mine, an' I guess he'll fix you right for the night." + +The snub was decided but gentle. The man's deep, musical voice +contained no suggestion of displeasure. However, he had made the other +feel that he had been guilty of unpardonable rudeness. + +He was reduced to silence for the rest of the journey to the hotel, and +gave himself up to consideration of this new position in which he now +found himself. The one great fact that stood out in his mind was that +he had gained another day on the wrong side of his ledger, and, however +wrong he had been in his first attempt at fortune, his course had been +hopelessly diverted into a still more impossible channel. The +absurdity of the situation inclined him to amusement, but the knowledge +of the real seriousness of it held him troubled. + +As they neared the hotel his curiosity further made itself felt. The +place was an ordinary frame building with a veranda. It was square and +squat, like a box. It was two-storied, with windows, five in all, and +a center doorway. These were dotted on the face of it like raisins in +a pudding. Its original paint was undoubtedly white, but that seemed +to have long since succumbed to the influence of the weather, and now +suggested a hopeless hue which was anything but inspiriting. + +Leaning against the door-casing, in his shirt-sleeves, was a smallish, +florid man with ruddy hair. His waistcoat was almost as cheerful as +his face, and, judging by the sound of his voice as he talked to a +number of men lounging on the veranda, the latter quite matched the +pattern of his violently checked trousers. + +"That's Peter," remarked One Eye, the name, failing a better, Gordon +still thought of his companion by. "He's a bright boy, is Peter," he +added, chuckling. + +"The proprietor of the--hotel?" said Gordon, interested. + +"Sure." + +Then a hail reached them from the veranda. + +"Got back, Silas?" cried the loud-voiced hotel-keeper. + +"Just what you say yourself," retorted Silas amiably. "Seems to me I +bought a ticket and just got off the train. Still, ther' ain't nothing +certain in this world except--graft." + +"That's so," laughed the other. "Still, ther' ain't much of a shadow +'bout you, so we'll take it as real. Who's your friend?" + +The hotel-keeper eyed Gordon with a view to trade. The man called +Silas laughed and turned to Gordon. + +"Guess I didn't get your name. Mine's Mallinsbee--Silas Mallinsbee. +I'm a rancher, way out ther' in the foothills." + +Gordon thought for a moment. Then he decided to use two of his given +names in preference to his father's. + +"Mine's Gordon Van Henslaer. Glad to meet you." + +"Van Henslaer?" Mallinsbee's eyes twinkled. "Guess the first and last +letters on your grip are spare. Kind of belong back east. How-do?" +Then, without waiting for a reply, he turned to McSwain and the men on +the veranda who were interestedly surveying Gordon. "This is Mister +Gordon Van Henslaer from New York. Thought he'd like to break his +journey west and get a look around Snake's Fall." + +Gordon laughed. + +"I was persuaded at the last minute," he added. "Can you let me have a +room?" + +McSwain became active. + +"Sure. Guess we're pretty busy these times, with the town gettin' +ready to boom. But I guess I ken fix any friend of Silas Mallinsbee. +Ther's a room they calculated makin' into a bathroom back of the house, +but some slick Alec figured the boys of Snake's Fall were prejudiced, +so cut it out. It's small, but we got a bed fixed ther', an' you ken +clean yourself at the trough out back. Come right along in." + +Gordon was half inclined to protest, but Mallinsbee's voice came +opportunely-- + +"I told you Peter 'ud fix you right. I've slept in that room myself, +and you'll find it elegant sleepin', if you don't get a nightmare and +get jumping around. We'll go right in." + +Gordon's protest died on his lips. Mr. Mallinsbee had a persuasion all +his own. There was a humorous geniality about him that was quite +irresistible to the younger man, nor could he forget the manner in +which he had helped him after the debacle on the train. He felt that +it would have been churlish to refuse his good offices. + +They passed into the building. The office was plainly furnished. A +few Windsor chairs, a table, an empty stove, a few nigger pictures on +the walls, and a large register for guests' names. This was the whole +scheme. + +Gordon flung down his grip. + +"Well, I'm thankful to be off that train, anyway," he said. "Sign +here, eh?" as Peter threw the book towards him. "Say," he added, +glancing at the list of names above his, "you sure are busy." + +Peter grinned complacently, while Mallinsbee looked on. + +"You've hit this city at the psychological moment in its history, sir," +he declared expansively. "You've hit it, sir, when, if I ken be +allowed to use the expression, the snow's gone an' all the earth's jest +bustin' with new life. You've hit it, sir, when fortunes are just +going to start right into full growth with all the impetus of virgin +soil. Snake's Fall, sir, is about to become the greatest proposition +in the Western States, as a sure thing for soaking dollars into it. +And here, sir, standing right at your elbow, is the courage, enterprise +and intellect that's made it that way. Mr. Silas Mallinsbee is the +father of this city, sir; he's more--he's the creator of it. And, sir, +I congratulate you on the friendship of such a man, a friendship, sir, +in which I have the honor to share." + +He grabbed a filthy piece of blotting-paper and dabbed it cheerfully +over Gordon's name in the book, while the latter smiled at the monument +of enterprise himself. + +"I was quite unaware----" he began. But Mallinsbee cut him short. + +"Peter's a good feller," he declared, "but some seven sorts of a galoot +once told him he ought to go into Congress, and he's been talking ever +since. Ther's jest one thing 'll stop Peter talking, and that's +orderin' a drink. Which I'm doin' right now. Peter, you'll jest hand +us two cocktails. Your specials. And take what you like yourself." + +Peter accepted the order with alacrity. His admiration of and +friendship for Mallinsbee could not be doubted for a moment. And +somehow Gordon felt it was a good sign. He returned in a few moments +with the cocktails, and a glass of rye whiskey for himself. + +"I know a better play than my special cocktails," he said, a huge wink +distorting most of his ginger-hued features. "They're all right for +customers, but I ain't no use fer picklin' my liver. How?" + +"Here's to the extermination of all 'sharps,'" said Mallinsbee in his +deep, rolling voice, and with a meaning glance in Gordon's direction. + +Gordon nodded. + +"And here's to the confusion of graft and grafters." + +All three drank and set their glasses down. + +"Graft?" said Mallinsbee thoughtfully. Then he shrugged his massive +shoulders and laughed. "It's not a heap of use blaming grafters for +their graft. They can't help it, any more than you can help scrappin' +when a feller hits your wad on the crook. Graft--why, I just hate to +think of the ways of graft. But you can't get through life without it; +anyway, not life on this earth. I used to think graft a specialty of +this country, but guess I was wrong. I'd localized. It don't belong +to any one country more than another. It belongs to life; to our human +civilization. It's the time limit of life causes the trouble. Nature +makes it a cinch we've all got to be rounded up in the get-rich-quick +corral. We start life foolish. Then for a while we get a sight more +foolish. Then for a few mousy years we take on quite a nice bunch of +sense. After that we start getting foolish again, and then the time +limit comes right down on the backs of our necks like an ax. Well, I +guess those years of sense are so mighty few we've got to get rich +quick against the time we start on the foolish racket again, and graft, +of one sort or another, is the short cut necessary. + +"You see, there's every sort of graft. All through life we're looking +around for something we ain't got. Did you ever see a kid around his +parents? Graft; it's all graft. No kiddy ever acted right because he +fancied that way. He's lookin' ahead fer something he's needing, and +his pop or his momma are the folks to pass it along to him. Did you +ever know a kid take his physic without the promise of candy, or the +certainty it would come his way? That's graft. Say, ain't the gal you +fancy the biggest graft of all? You don't get nowhere with her without +graft. She'll eat up everything you can hand her, from automobiles and +jewels down to five-cent candy. Then when you've started getting old +and sick and foolish again, having grafted a pile out of life yourself, +don't every grafter you ever knew come around an' hand you cures and +listen to your senile wisdom just as though they thought you the +greatest proposition ever and hated to see you sick? That's graft. +You've got a pile and they're needin' it." + +The twinkle in the big man's eyes while he was talking found a joyous +response in Gordon's. The tongue in the cheek of this native of +Snake's Fall pleased him mightily. But the wide-eyed sunset of Peter +McSwain's features was one of sober earnestness and admiration. + +"Gee!" he cried, with prodigious appreciation. "He orter write a book!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A LETTER HOME + +The bathroom proved to be a veritable rabbit hutch, though clean. But +Gordon was astonished to find how far the old life had fallen away +behind him. The bareness of the room did not disturb him in the least, +and, after a wash in the trough at the back of the hotel, and having +dried himself on a towel that may have seen cleaner days, and refused +to be inveigled by the attraction of an unclean comb, securely tied to +a defective mirror in the passage to the back door, he came back to his +bedroom with an added appreciation for its questionable luxury. + +Mallinsbee had ridden off on a great chestnut horse, nor, until Gordon +saw him in the saddle, was he definitely able to classify him in his +mind. Big as the amiable stranger was, he sat in the saddle as though +he had been born in it, and he handled his horse as only a cattle man +can. + +At supper-time he had an opportunity of studying something of his +fellow guests in the house. They were a mixed gathering, but every +table in the dining-room was full to overflowing. Certainly McSwain +was justified in his claim to a rush of business. + +It was quickly obvious to Gordon that these people were by no means +natives of the place. The majority were undoubtedly business men. +Shrewd, keen men of the speculative type, judging from the babel of +talk going on about him. As far as he could make out the whole +interest of the place was land. Land--always land--and again land. + +In view of Mallinsbee's friendship Peter McSwain had requested him to +sit beside him at his especial table. And he forthwith began to +question his host. + +"Seems to be a big talk of land going on," he said, as he ate his +macaroni soup. + +Peter gulped violently at a long tube of macaroni and nearly choked. + +"Sure," he said, his eyes wide with an expression the meaning of which +Gordon was never quite certain about. It might have meant mere +astonishment, but it also suggested resentment. "Sure it's land. What +else, unless it's coal, would they talk in Snake's Fall? Every blamed +feller you see settin' around in this room is what Silas Mallinsbee +calls a ground shark. Which means," he added, with a grin, "they're +out to buy or steal land around Snake's Fall. We guess they prefer +stealing. The place is bung full with 'em." + +Gordon's interest deepened. + +"But why, if you'll forgive me, around--Snake's Fall?" + +"Young man," said Peter severely, "you're new to the place, and that's +your excuse for such ignorance." He pushed his half-finished soup +aside and adopted an impressive pose with both elbows on the table, his +hands together, and one finger describing acrobatic gyrations to point +his words. The manner of it fascinated his hearer. "Let me tell you, +sir, that Snake's Fall is the new coalfield of this great country. +Sir," he added, with great dramatic effect, "Snake's Fall is capable of +supplying the coal of the _world_! There's hundreds of billions of +tons of high-grade coal underlying these silly-lookin' hummocks they +call the foothills. All this land around Snake's Fall was Silas +Mallinsbee's ranch, and he found the coal. That's why I said Silas +Mallinsbee was the father of Snake's Fall. He sold this land to a +great coal corporation, and bought land away further up in the hills, +where he still runs his ranch. He's a great man with a pile of +dollars. And he's clever, too. He's kep' for himself all the land +either side of the railroad, except this town. And that's why all +these land pirates, or ground sharks, are around. The railroad ain't +declared their land yet, and everybody's waiting to jump in. The +coal's five miles west of here, and the railroad has got to say if +they'll keep the depot where it is, or build a new one further along, +right on the coal seams. That's the play we're all watching. We want +to buy right. We want to buy for the boom. These guys here are out to +get in on the ground floor, and see prices go sky high--when they've +bought. There'll be some dandy piles made in this play--and lost." + +By the time he had finished Gordon was agog with excitement. It had +stirred as the man began to talk, without his fully understanding the +meaning of it. Then, as he proceeded, it grew, and with its growth +came enlightenment. Vaguely he saw the hand of Providence in the +affairs of the last few days. + +He had planned his own little matters, or rather he had drifted into +them, and then the gods of fortune had taken a hand. And the way of +it. He began to smile. A strangely impish mood must have stirred +them. His journey. His discovery of the absurdity of his own plans in +the nick of time. His visit to the smoker. His play with a "sharp." +His fight, and his sudden and uncalculated arrival at Snake's Fall. +Here he was, quite without the least intention of his own, landed into +the only sort of place in which it could be reasonably hoped he might +pick up a fortune quickly. He wondered how he was likely to fare in +competition with these ground sharks about him. And the thought made +him begin to laugh. + +McSwain eyed him doubtfully. + +"Amusin', ain't it?" he said, without appreciation. + +Gordon shook his head. + +"If you only knew--it is." + +Peter went on with his food for a few moments in silence. + +"I s'pose the boom will come big when it does start?" hazarded Gordon +presently. + +"Big? Say, you ain't got a grip on things yet. Snake's Fall could +supply the whole--not half--world with high-grade stove coal. Does +that tell you anything? No? Wal, it jest means that when the railroad +says the word, hundred-dollar plots 'll fetch a thousand dollars in a +week, and maybe ten thousand in a month or less. I tell you right here +that in six months from the time the railroad talks there'll be fifty +thousand speculators right here, and we'll most of us rake in our +piles. We only got to jump in at the start, maybe a bit before, and +the game's right in our hands. Get me? I tell you, sir, this is +bigger than the first Kootenay rush and nigh as big as the Cobalt boom +in Canada." + +Gordon was impressed. + +"And to think I came here by accident." + +"Accident?" + +"You see, I was persuaded--against my will." + +His eyes were twinkling. + +"Ah, Mallinsbee persuaded you--being a friend of his." + +"No. As a matter of fact I think it was the train conductor who +persuaded me." + +"He's a wise guy, then." + +"Ye-es. I don't guess I'll see him again. I surely owe him something +for what he did." + +Peter nodded seriously as he gazed at the humorous eyes of his +companion. + +"He's given you the chance of--a lifetime, sir. And that's a thing +ther' ain't many in this country yearning to do." + +After that the meal progressed in silence until the pie was handed +round. + +Gordon was thinking hard. He was wondering, in view of what he had +heard, what he ought to do. Land. What did he know about land? How +could he measure his wits against the wits of such land speculators as +he saw about him? He studied the faces of some of the clamorous crowd +in the dining-room. They were a strangely mixed lot. There were +undoubtedly men of substance among them, but equally surely the +majority were adventurers looking to step into the arena of the coming +boom and wrest a slice of fortune by hook, or, more probably, by crook. +What did he know? What could he do? And his mind went back to the +sharp on the train, and the way he had fallen to the man's snare. +Again he wanted to laugh. He had counted the bills which Mallinsbee +had handed him, in the privacy of his bathroom. He only remembered to +have lost about two hundred dollars to the gambler. The dollars handed +to him amounted to well over three hundred. The miracle of it all. He +had nearly killed the gambler, and, instead of losing, he had made over +a hundred dollars on the deal. The miracle of it! + +"Do you believe in miracles?" he laughed abruptly. + +Peter glanced up from his plate suspiciously. Then he promptly joined +in the other's amusement. He always remembered that this newcomer was +a friend of Silas Mallinsbee. + +"Meracles?" he said reflectively. "I can't say I always did. But one +or two things have made some difference that way. Takin' one extra +drink saved my life once. The takin' of that drink wasn't jest a +meracle," he added dryly. "It was more of a habit them days. Still, +it was a meracle in a way. Me an' my brother wer' on a bust. We were +feeling that good we was handin' out our pasts in lumps to each other, +same as if we was strangers, and wasn't raised around the same cabbige +patch. Wal, he'd borrowed an automobile and left the saloon to wind it +up, and get things fixed. While he was gone the boys handed me another +cocktail. Then the bartender slung one at me, an' I hadn't no more +sense than to buy another one myself. Then some damn fool thought rye +was the best mix for drinkin' on top o' cocktails, an' so they put me +to bed. Guess I never see my brother get back from that joy ride." He +sighed. "I allow they had to bury a lot of that automobile with him, +he was so mussed up. Sort o' meracle, you'd say? Then there was +another time. Guess it was my wife. She was one o' them females who +make you feel you want to associate with tame earthworms. Sort o' +female who never knew what a sick headache was, an' sang hymns of a +Sunday evening, and played a harmonium when she was feelin' in sperits. +Sort o' female who couldn't help smellin' out when you was lyin' to +her, an' gener'ly told you of it. A good woman though, an' don't yer +fergit it. Wal, I got sick once an' when I got right again she guessed +it was up to 'em to insure myself in her favor. Guess I'd just paid my +first premium when she goes an' takes colic an' dies. I did all I +knew. I give her ginger, an' hot-water bags, an' poultices. It didn't +make no sort o' difference. She died. I ain't paid no premiums since. +Sort o' meracle that," he added, with a satisfied smile. "Then there's +this coal. I hadn't started this hotel six months when Mallinsbee gets +busy an' makes his deal with the corporation. You ain't goin' to make +a pile out of a bum country hotel without a--meracle." + +The man's gravity was impressive, and Gordon strove for sympathy. + +"Yes," he declared, with smiling emphasis. "There are such things as +miracles. One has happened this day--and here. My arrival here was +certainly a miracle. A peculiarly earthy miracle, but, nevertheless, +a--miracle. Say, I'll have to write some in the office. See you +again." + +Gordon pushed back his chair and hurried away through the crowded room +towards the office. But here again was a crowd. Here again was +"land"--always "land." And in desperation he betook himself to his +bathroom. He felt he must write to his mother. He felt that on this +his arrival in Snake's Fall he could do no less than reassure her of +his well-being. + + +Mrs. James Carbhoy sighed contentedly as she raised her eyes from the +last of a number of sheets of paper in her lap. Her husband turned +from his contemplation of the scorching streets, and the parched +foliage of the wide expanse of trees beyond the window. + +"Well?" he inquired. "Where is the boy?" + +There was the faintest touch of anxiety in his inquiry, but his face +was perfectly controlled, and the humor in his eyes was quite unchanged. + +Mrs. Carbhoy sighed again. + +"I don't know. He doesn't say. Nor does he give the slightest clew." +She examined the envelope of the letter. "It was mailed here in New +York. It's a rambling sort of letter. I hope he is all right. This +hot weather is---- Do you think he----" + +Her husband laughed. + +"I guess he's all right. You see I don't fancy he wants us to know +where he is. That's come through some friend, I'd say. Just read it +out." + +Gordon's mother leaned back in her chair again. She was more than +ready to read her beloved boy's letter again, in spite of her +misgivings. Besides, there was a hope in her thoughts that she had +missed some clew as to his whereabouts which her clear-sighted husband +might detect. + + +"DEAREST MUM: + +"Destinations are mighty curious things which have a way of making up +their minds as to whom they are terminals for, regardless of the +individual. Most of us think the matter of destination is in our own +hands. We make up our minds to go to the North Pole; well, if we get +there it's because no other terminal on the way has made up its mind to +claim us. I've surely arrived at my destination, a place I wasn't +going to, nor had heard of, nor dreamed of--even when I had nightmare. +I guess this place must have said to itself, 'Hello, here's Gordon +Carbhoy on the train; he's every sort of fool, he don't know if it's +Palm Sunday or Candlemas, he hasn't got more sense than an old hen with +kittens, let's divert him where we think he ought to go.' So I arrived +here quite suddenly this afternoon and, in consequence, have wasted +some fifty odd dollars of passage money. It's a good beginning, and +one the old Dad 'll surely appreciate. + +"Talking of the old Dad, I'd like you to tell him from me that I don't +think graft is confined to--big finance. This is a discovery he's +likely to be interested in. Also, since he's largely interested in +railroads, though not from a traveling point of view, I would point out +that much might be done to improve accommodation. The aisles are too +narrow and the corners of the seats are too sharp. Furthermore, the +best money-making scheme I can think of at the moment is a billet as a +conductor of a transcontinental express. + +"However, these things are just first impressions. + +"There are other impressions I won't discuss here. They relate to +arrival platforms of depots. When a fellow gets out on his own in the +world, there are many things with which he comes into contact liable to +strike him forcibly. Those are the things in life calculated to teach +him much that may be useful to him afterwards. I have already come +into contact with such things, and though they are liable to leave an +impression of soreness generally, their lessons are quite sound. + +"On the whole, in spite of having lost fifty odd dollars on my railroad +ticket, my first two or three days' adventures have left me with a +margin of profit such as I could not reasonably have expected. I +mention this to show you, presuming that the Dad has told you the +object of my going, that my eye is definitely focused on the primary +purpose of my ramblings. + +"I am keeping my eyes well open and one or two of my observations might +be of interest to you. + +"I have discovered that the luxurious bath is not actually necessary to +life, and, from a hygienic point of view, there's no real drawback to +the kind of soap vulgarly known as 'hoss.' Furthermore, the filtration +of water for ablutionary purposes is quite unnecessary. All it needs +is to be of a consistency that'll percolate through a fish net. +Moreover, judging from observations only, I have discovered that a comb +and brush, if securely chained up, can be used on any number of heads +without damaging results. + +"Observation cannot be considered complete without its being turned +upon one's fellow-creatures. I have already come into contact with +some very interesting specimens of my kind. Without worrying you with +details I have found some of them really worth while. Generalizing, +I'd like to say right here that man seems to be a creature of curious +habits--many of which are bad. I don't say this with malice. On the +contrary, I say it with appreciation. And, too, I never realized what +a general hobby amongst men the collecting of dollars was. It must be +all the more interesting that, as a collection, it never seems +completed. I'd like to remark that view points change quickly under +given circumstances, and I am now bitten with the desire to become a +collector. + +"Furthermore, my focus had readjusted itself already. For instance, I +feel no repulsion at the manners displayed in the dining-room of a +small country 'hotel.' I feel sure that the man who eats with his +mouth open and snores at the same time is quite justified, if he +happens to be bigger and stronger than the man who hears and sees him. +I also feel that a man is only within his rights in having two or even +three helpings of every dish in a hotel run on the American plan, +unless the limit to a man's capacity is definitely estimated on the +printed tariff. Another observation came my way. Honesty seems to be +a matter of variable quality. A nice ethical problem is suggested by +the following incident. A man robs his victim; a righteously indignant +onlooker sees the transaction, and his honesty-loving nature rebels. +He forthwith robs the robber and hands the proceeds of his robbery to +the original victim. This seems to me to open up a road to discussion +which I'm sure the Dad and I would enjoy--though not at this distance. + +"I have already learned that there are plenty of great men in the world +whose existence I had never suspected. I have a feeling that local +celebrities have a greater glory than national heroes. George +Washington never told a lie, it is true, and his birthday forms an +adequate excuse for a certain stimulation in the enjoyments of a +people. But he never discovered a paying field for speculation by the +dollar chasers. Until a man does that he can have no understanding of +real glory. + +"I hope you and Gracie are well. I think it would be advisable to +check Gracie's appetite for candy. I am already realizing that luxury +can be overdone. She might turn her attention to peanuts, which I +observe is a popular pastime amongst the people with whom I have come +into contact. I would suggest to the old Dad that five-cent cigars +have merits in spite of rumor to the contrary. I feel, too, that the +dollar ninety-five he would thus save on his smoke might, in time, +become a valuable asset. + +"Your loving son, + "GORDON." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +GORDON PROSPECTS SNAKE'S FALL + +It was a blazing day. The dust of the prairie street smothered boots +and trouser-legs with a fine gray powder which even rose high enough to +get into the throats of pedestrians, and drive them headlong to the +nearest place where they could hope to quench a raging thirst. + +There was no shelter from the sun, unless it were to be found upon the +verandas with which many of the Snake's Fall houses were fronted. +Gordon's face was rapidly blistering as he idly wandered through the +town. Great streams of perspiration coursed from beneath his soft felt +hat. His double collar felt sticky, and suggested imminent collapse. +To all of which discomforts were now added a swarm of flies buzzing +about his moist face with a distracting persistence which tried even +his patience. + +Gordon was abroad fairly early. He was abroad for several reasons. He +possessed a haunting dread of the rapid passing of time. He had slept +healthily, if not altogether comfortably. Nor had he yet made up his +mind whether the floor of his room would not be preferable to his bed +for the passing of future nights. The floor was smooth, there were no +hummocks on it. Then, too, the sorely tried and thoroughly slack +bed-springs would be avoided, and the horrible groans of a protesting +frame would remain silent. It was a matter to be given consideration +before the day ended, and, being really of a very thorough nature, he +decided to consider it after supper. + +He had lain awake for a long time that first night under the shelter of +Peter McSwain's hospitable roof, and in the interim of dodging the +flock hummocks he had closely considered his future movements. + +He argued, if things were as he had been told they were in Snake's +Fall, he did not see how he could do better than throw his lot in with +the crowd of "ground sharks" awaiting the boom. Having convinced +himself in this direction, he felt that at the very earliest +opportunity he must reassure himself of Peter McSwain's veracity. He +felt that no member of the get-rich-quick brigade could dare to ignore +the claims of a great coal discovery about to boom. Besides, the whole +thing had been pitched into his lap; or rather it was he who had been +pitched. Nor did the roughness of the method of his arrival detract +from the chances spreading out before his astonished eyes. + +Now he was searching the place for those signs which were to tell him +of the accuracy of his information. Nor was it long before he realized +that such a search on his part was scarcely likely to prove productive. +His knowledge of coal had never been more intimate than the payment of +certain fuel bills presented to him at intervals in the past by the +faithful Harding. While as for indications of a boom--well, he had +heard that a boom came along, everybody robbed everybody else, and in +the end a number of widows and orphans found themselves deprived of +their savings, and a considerable body of attorneys had increased their +year's income out of all proportion to their just deserts. He felt his +weakness keenly. However, he persisted. He felt the only thing was to +attack the problem with an open mind. He did so, and it quickly became +filled with a humorous interest that had nothing to do with his purpose. + +Surveying his surroundings, he thought that never in his life had he +even imagined such a quaint collection of habitations. The long, +straight street, running parallel to the railroad track suggested a row +of jagged, giant teeth. Each building was set in its own section of +jawbone, distinct from its nearest neighbor. Then they reared their +heads and terminated in a pointed fang or a flat, clean-cut edge of +high boarding. Sometimes they possessed a mere sloping roof, like a +well-worn tooth, and, here and there, a half-wrecked building, with its +roof fallen in, stood out like a severely decayed molar. + +Most of the stores--and he counted a dozen or more--suggested a +considerable trade. In this direction he noted a hardware store +particularly. A drug store, too, with an ice-cream soda fountain, +seemed to be in high favor, as also did several dry-goods stores, +judging by the number of females in attendance. But the small candy +stores were abandoned to the swarming flies. + +The people were interesting. There certainly was a considerable number +about, in spite of the heat. They, anyway the men, all looked hot like +himself, but seemed to be surcharged with an energy that appeared to +him somewhat artificial. They hurried unnecessarily. They paused and +spoke quickly, and passed on. Here and there they fell into groups, +and their boisterous laughter suggested the inevitable funny story or +risque tale. There were a great number of vehicles rattling +about--buggies, buckboards, democrat wagons--while several times he was +passed by speeding saddle-horses which smothered him in the dust raised +by their unshod hoofs. + +At last he came to the end of the street, and turned to retrace his +steps. It was all too interesting to be readily abandoned on this his +first day beyond the conventions of life as his father's son. + +Just outside a large livery barn he came to an abrupt halt, and stood +stupidly staring at the entrance of the largest dry-goods store in the +street. The whole thing had caught and held him in a moment. He +seemed to remember having seen something of the sort in a moving +picture once; perhaps it was years ago. But in real life--never. + +A great chestnut saddle-horse had dashed up to the tying-post outside +the store. It had reined up with a jerk, and its rider had flung out +of the saddle with the careless abandon he had read about or seen in +the pictures. Hooking the reins over a peg, the rider hurried towards +the store. It was then Gordon obtained a full view. + +In a moment the flies were forgotten and the heat of the day meant +nothing to him. What a vision was revealed! The coiled masses of +auburn hair, the magnificent hazel eyes and the delightful sun-tanned +oval of the face, the trim figure and perfect carriage, the costume! +The long habit coat and loose riding-breeches terminated in the +daintiest of tan riding-boots and silver spurs. Splendid! What a +picture for his admiring eyes! A picture of grace, and health, and +beauty. + +But the vision was gone in a moment. The girl had passed into the +store, and it was only left to the enthusiastic spectator to turn to +the magnificent chestnut horse she had so unconcernedly left waiting +for her. + +Almost immediately, however, his attention was diverted into another +direction. A dark, sallow-faced man had promptly taken up his position +at the entrance of the store, and stood gazing in after the vanished +figure of the girl. + +For some absurd reason Gordon took an intense dislike to the man. He +looked unhealthy, and he hated that look in a man. Besides, the +impertinence of standing there spying upon a lady who was doubtless +simply bent on an ordinary shopping expedition. It was most +exasperating. All unconsciously he straightened his great figure and +squared his shoulders. It would not have required much to have made +him go and ask the man what he meant by it. + +He was rapidly working himself up into a superlative rage, when the +girl in the fawn riding-costume reappeared. A delightful smile broke +over his good-looking face, but only to be promptly swallowed up in a +scowl. The girl had paused, and was speaking to the anæmic creature +whose presence he felt to be an outrage. + +He noted her smile. What a delightful smile! Yes, he could distinctly +make out two dimples beyond the corners of her pretty mouth. His +dislike of the favored man merged into a regret for himself. + +Hello! The smile had gone from the girl's face. Her beautiful hazel +eyes were sparkling with resentment. The man was looking angry, too. +Gordon rubbed his hands. Then he began to grin like a revengeful and +malicious schoolboy. The girl had moved on to her horse, and in doing +so it almost looked as if she had deliberately pushed past the +white-livered creature attempting to detain her. + +She leaped into the saddle and swung the horse about almost on its +haunches. The next moment she was lost in a cloud of dust as she raced +down the street. + +"Mighty fine horsemanship that," said a voice, as Gordon gazed +open-mouthed after the girlish vision. "A smart gal, too, eh?" + +Gordon turned. A small man was sitting at the open doors of the livery +barn upon an upturned box. He was leaning forward lazily, with his +elbows on his knees and his hands clutching his forearms. His towzled, +straw-colored hair stuck out under the brim of his prairie hat, and a +chew of tobacco bulged one thin, leathery cheek. His trousers were +fastened about his waist with a strap, and his only upper garment was a +dirty cotton shirt which disclosed an expanse of mahogany-colored chest +below the neck. + +"Smart gal?" retorted Gordon enthusiastically. "That don't say a +thing. She might have stepped right out of the pages of a book." Then +he added, as an afterthought, "And it would have to be a mighty good +book, too." + +"Sure," nodded the other in agreement. + +"Who is she?" + +The man grinned and spat. + +"Why, that's Miss Hazel. Every feller in this city knows Miss Hazel. +If you need eddication you want to see her astride of an unbroken colt. +Ther' never was a cowpuncher a circumstance aside o' her. She's the +dandiest horseman out." + +"I'd say you're right, all right." + +"Right? Guess ther' ain't no argument. Hosses is my trade. I was +born an' raised with 'em. It don't take me guessin' twice 'bout a +horseman. I got forty first-class hosses right here in this barn, an' +I got a bunch runnin' on old Mallinsbee's grazin'. Y'see, a livery +barn is a mighty busy place when a city starts to think o' booming. +All them rigs an' buggies you see chasin' around are hired right here," +he finished up proudly. + +Gordon became interested. He felt the man was talking because he +wanted to talk. He was talking out of the prevailing excitement which +seemed to actuate everybody on the subject of the coming boom. He +encouraged him. + +"I'd say a livery barn should be a mighty fine speculation under these +conditions," he said, while the keen gray eyes of the barn proprietor +quietly sized him up. "There ought to be a pile hanging to it." + +"Ye-es." + +The man's demur roused the other's curiosity. + +"Not?" he inquired. + +"'Tain't that. Ther's dollars to it, but--they don't come in bunches. +Y'see, I'm out after a wad--quick. We all are. When the railroad +talks we'll know where we are. But it's best to be in before. See? +Oh, I guess the barn's all right. 'Tain't that. Say, I'd hand you +this barn right here, every plug an' every rig I got, if you could jest +answer me one question--right." + +"And the question?" Gordon smiled. + +"Wher' is the bloomin' depot to be? Here, or yonder to the west at +Buffalo Point? Answer that right, an' you can have this caboose a +present." + +The little man sighed, and Gordon began to understand the strain of +waiting for these people looking for a big pile quick. He shook his +head. + +"I'm beginning to think I'd like to know myself. Say, I s'pose you +figure this is a great place to make money? I s'pose you fancy it's a +sure thing?" + +The man unfolded his arms and waved one hand in a comprehensive gesture. + +"Do you need to ask me that?" he inquired, almost scornfully. "What +does them big coal seams tell you? Can you doubt? Hev' you got two +eyes to your head which don't convey no meaning to your brain? Them +coal seams could stoke hell till kingdom come, an' shares 'ud still be +at a premium. That's the backbone. Wal, we ain't got shares in that +corporation, but the quickest road to the pile o' dollars we're +yearning for is in town plots. An'," he added regretfully, "every day +brings in more sharps, an' every new sharp makes it harder. It's that +blamed railroad we're waiting for, an' that railroad needs to graft its +way in before it'll talk." + +"Graft? Graft again," laughed Gordon. + +"Why, cert'nly." The livery man opened his eyes in astonishment. +"Folks don't do nothin' for nix that I ever heard. Specially +railroads. That depot 'll be built where their interests lie, an' +we'll have to go on guessin' till they get things fixed." + +"I see." + +"Which says you ain't blind." + +"No, I don't think I'm blind exactly. It's just--lack of experience. +I must get a peek at those seams. Mallinsbee's the man who'll know +about things as soon as anybody, I s'pose. He owns all the land along +the railroad, doesn't he?" + +The man rubbed his hands and grinned. + +"Sure. He'll know, an' through him us as he's let in on the ground +floor. Say, he's a heap of a good feller--an' bright. Y'see, him an' +us, some of us fellers who been here right along before the coal was +found, are good friends. There's some of us got stakes down Buffalo +Point way as well as up here. See? O' course, our pile lies Buffalo +Point way, an' we're hopin' he'll fix the railroad corporation that +way. If he does, gee! he's the feller we're gamblin' on." + +Gordon's interest had become almost feverish as he listened. He was +gathering the corroboration he needed with an ease he had never +anticipated. + +"I suppose one hundred thousand dollars would be nothing to make +if--things go right?" + +"If things go our way, I'd say a hundred thousand wouldn't be a +circumstance," cried the man enthusiastically. "I'd make that out of a +few hundred dollars without a worry--if things went right. But it +ain't the way of things to go right when you figger up." + +"No, I s'pose it's a matter of chance. The chance comes, and you've +just got to grab it right and hold it." + +"Sure. Chance! If chance hits you, why, don't go to hit back. Jest +hug it--same as you would your best gal." + +Gordon laughed and peered into the shadowy interior of the barn. + +"Guess that's good talk," he said, "and I'm going to listen. I've got +right hold of that chance, and I'm hugging it. Seems to me I'll need +to get out and get a peek at Silas Mallinsbee's coal. Can you hire me +a rig?" + +"I got a dandy top buggy an' team," cried the man, now alert and ready +for business. "Ten dollars to supper-time. How?" + +Gordon nodded, and the man vanished within the barn. + +Left alone, he reflected on the rapidity of the movement of events. He +had had a luck that he surely could not have anticipated. Why, under +the influence of the prevailing enthusiasm of the place, he seemed to +feel that the whole thing was too utterly simple. He wondered what his +father would have said had he been there. It would be a glorious coup +to return home with that one hundred thousand dollars well before the +expiry of his time limit. + +From the dark interior of the barn came the sounds of horses' hoofs +clattering on the boarded floor. + +Presently his thoughts drifted from the important matters in hand to a +far less consequent matter. It was not in his nature to be long +enamored of the hunt for fortune, no matter what the consequences +attached to it. + +He began to think of the vision in fawn-colored riding-costume. So her +name was Hazel. Hazel--what? he wondered. A pretty name, and well +suited to her. Hazel. Those eyes, and the gorgeous masses of her +hair! He sighed. For a moment he thought of inquiring of the livery +man her other name. Then he smilingly shook his head and decided to +let that remain a secret for the present. It added to the romance of +the thing. Of one thing he was certain: he must contrive to see her +again, and get to know her. Fortune or no fortune, if his father were +to cut him off with the proverbial shilling as a spendthrift and +waster, if he never saw a partnership in the greatest financial +corporation in the United States, that girl could not be allowed to +flash into his life like a ray of spring sunshine, and pass out of it +again because he hadn't the snap to get to know her. + +He had known so many women in his own set at home. He had admired, he +had flirted harmlessly enough, he had shed presents and given parties, +but somehow he felt that amongst all those society beauties there had +not been one comparable to this wild rose of the foothills. + +"Say, it's a bright team an' 'll need handlin'," said the doubtful +voice of the livery man. + +"Don't worry," returned Gordon, shocked into the affairs of the moment +by the anxious voice. + +"Good." The man sounded relieved. + +"Which is the best way?" + +"Why, chase the trail straight away west. You can't miss it. I'll +take that ten dollars." + +Gordon paid and climbed into the buggy. The next moment the vehicle +rolled out of the barn. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +"MISS HAZEL" + +Gordon was in no mood to take things easily. Something of the +atmosphere of the place had already got into his blood. His was +similar to the mood of those whom he had seen hurrying unnecessarily in +the town. Those whom he had seen exchanging hurried words and passing +on. + +Although he lived in the age of automobiles and aeroplanes, nothing of +his education had been forgotten by his father. He was a perfect whip +with a four-in-hand, and now, as he handled a "bright" team of livery +horses, it was child's play to him. He bustled his horses until he had +left the ragamuffin town behind him, then he settled down to a steady, +round gait, and gave himself up to the prospect of the contemplation of +those scenes of industry which he shortly hoped to discover. + +Within ten minutes of leaving the town he discovered the first signs. +Men and horses appeared in the distance upon the hills. At one point +he discerned a traction engine hauling a string of laden wagons. It +was the first breaking up of the monotonous green of the low hills. +And it promptly suggested that, in the hidden hollows, he would +probably discover far more energetic signs of the work of the coal +corporation, which doubtless must have already begun in real earnest. + +Things were becoming interesting. He wondered how much work had been +done. There was no sign of the coal itself yet. He remembered to have +visited coal mines once, and then everything had been black and gloomy. +Vast heaps of slack had been piled everywhere, and the pit heads had +been surmounted by hauling machinery. There had been great black +wastes dotted by houses and streets, which seemed to have taken to +themselves something of the hue of the deposits which had brought them +into existence. Even the men and women, and particularly the children, +had been living advertisements for the great industry which supported +them. Here, as yet, there were no such signs. However, doubtless +further on there would---- + +All in a moment his thoughts of coal were broken off, and all his +interest vanished like a puff of that coal's smoke in a gale. Coal no +longer meant anything to him. He didn't care if the whole wide world +starved for coal for all eternity. A chestnut horse was on the trail +ahead, and a figure was stooping beside it examining its nearside +forefoot. The figure was clad in a _fawn-colored riding-costume_. + +The electric current of his feelings communicated itself to his team +through the whip as its conductor. The team reared and plunged, then, +under his strong hands, they bowled merrily along the dusty trail at a +great though well-controlled speed towards the distant figures. + + +The girl dropped the horse's hoof and straightened herself abruptly. +She turned with a quick movement, and gazed back over the trail, her +eyes alert and questioning. Her wide prairie hat was thrust slightly +from her forehead, and a coil of abundant auburn hair was displayed +beneath its brim. Her finely penciled eyebrows were drawn together in +an unmistakable question, and her pretty eyes were obviously +speculative. + +She waited while the buggy drew nearer. She recognized the team as +from Mike Callahan's barn, but the occupant of the vehicle was a +stranger to her. + +The latter fact drew her attention more closely. For a moment she had +hoped that it was someone she knew. She needed someone she knew just +now. Anyway, a stranger was always interesting, even though he could +not afford her the assistance she just now happened to need. + +She descried a boyish, eager face on the top of a pair of wonderful +shoulders. But that which made a strong appeal to her was the manner +in which he was handling his horses. There was nothing here of the +slovenly prairie teamster. The stranger, whoever he was, was a master +behind a good team of horses. She delighted in a horseman, whether he +were in the driving-seat or the saddle. + +But all of a sudden she became aware that her regard had been observed, +and, with a little smile twinkling in the depths of her hazel eyes, she +picked up her horse's forefoot again, and once more probed with her +gauntleted finger for the cause of the desperate lameness with which he +had been suddenly attacked. + +She heard the buggy come up. She was aware that the team had swung out +to avoid collision. Then a cheery voice greeted her ears with its +pleasant and welcome inquiry-- + +"You seem to be in a fix. Can I help any?" + +Before the girl looked round she was aware that the teamster had +alighted. Then when she finally released her hold of the injured hoof, +and stood up, she found herself confronted by Gordon's smiling blue +eyes, as he stood bare-headed before her. + +Somehow or other a smiling response was unavoidable. + +"That's real kind of you," she said, "but I don't guess you can. You +see, poor Sunset's dead lame with a flint in his frog, and--and I just +can't get the fool thing out." + +Gordon endeavored to look serious. But the trouble was incomparable in +his mind with the delightful charm of this girl, in her divided +riding-suit. However, his effort to conceal his admiration was not +without some success. + +"I don't guess we can stand for any old thing like an impertinent +flint," he said impulsively. "Sunset must be relieved. Sunset must be +put out of pain. I'm not just a veterinary surgeon, but I'm a +specialist on the particular flint which happens to annoy you. Just +grab these lines while I have a look." + +The frank unconventionality of the man was wholly pleasing, and the +girl found herself obeying him without question. + +"It's the nearside," she explained. + +Then she remained silent, watching the assured manner in which the +stranger set about his work. He picked up the hoof and examined it +closely. Then he drew out a folding button-hook from a trouser pocket. +Then, for a few moments, she watched his deft manipulation of it. + +Presently he stood up holding a long, thin, sharp splinter of flint +between finger and thumb. + +"Say," he remarked, as he returned the buttonhook to his pocket, while +his eyes shone merrily, "I believe if some bright geologist were to set +out chasing these flints to their lair, I've a notion he'd pull up +in--in--well, aspirate a certain measure in cloth and I'd guess you get +the answer right away. It's paved with 'em. That's my secret belief. +I could write a treatise on 'em. I've discovered every breed and every +species. I tell you if you want to study these rocks right, you need +to run an automobile, and find yourself in a hurry, having forgotten to +carry spare tires. Ugh!" He flung the stone away from him and turned +again to the horse. + +Still watching him, the girl saw him deliberately tear off a piece of +his handkerchief, and, with the point of his pocket-knife, stuff it +into the jagged gash in poor Sunset's frog. + +"That'll keep out some of Snake's Fall," he observed, returning the +rest of his handkerchief to his pocket. "We'll take it out when we get +him home." Then he deliberately turned to his team and tied Sunset +alongside. After that, in the most practical manner, he moved the +wheels of the buggy apart. "Jump right in. Guess you know the way, so +you can show it me. You see, I'm a stranger. Say, it's an awful thing +to be a stranger. Life's rotten being a stranger." + +The girl was gazing at him with wide, wondering eyes that were half +inclined to resentment. She was not accustomed to being ordered about +in this cavalier fashion. She had no intention of being incontinently +swept off her feet. + +"Thanks," she said, with an assumption of hauteur. "If you'll untie +Sunset I'll ride home." + +"Ride home? Say, you're joking. Why, you can't ride Sunset with that +gash in his frog. Say, you couldn't be so cruel. Think of the poor +fellow silently suffering. Think of the mute anguish he would endure +at each step. It--it would be a crime, an outrage, a--a----" He broke +off, his eyes twinkling merrily. + +The girl wanted to be annoyed. She told herself she was annoyed, but +she nevertheless began to laugh, and Gordon knew he was to have his way. + +"I really couldn't think of accepting your---- Besides, you weren't +going to Buffalo Point. You know you weren't." + +"Do I?" Gordon's eyes were blankly inquiring. "Now how on earth do I +know where I was going? Say, I guess it's true I had in my mind a +vision of the glinting summer sun, tinting the coal heaps with its +wonderful, golden, ripening rays--though I guess it would be some work +ripening stove coal--but as to my ever getting there--well, that just +depended on the trail I happened to take. As I said, I'm a stranger. +And I may as well admit right here that I've a hobby getting mussed up +with wrong trails." + +The girl's laughter dispelled her last effort at dignity. + +"I knew you were a stranger. You see, I get to know everybody here--by +sight." + +Gordon made a gesture of annoyance. + +"There," he exclaimed in self-disgust, "I ought to have thought of that +before. How on earth could I expect you to ride in a stranger's buggy, +with said stranger on the business end of the lines? Then the hills +are so near. Why, you might be spirited off goodness knows where, and +your loving relatives never, never hear of you no more, and---- Say, +we can easily fix that though. My name's--Van Henslaer. Gordon Van +Henslaer from New York. Now if you tell me--what's the matter?" + +A merry peal of laughter had greeted his announcement, and Gordon +looked on in pretended amazement, waiting for her mirth to subside. + +"Oh dear, oh dear," the girl cried at last. "I might have known. Say, +of course I ought to have known. You came here yesterday on the +train--by mistake. You----" + +"That's so. I'd booked through to Seattle, but--some interfering pack +of fools guessed I'd made a--mistake," + +The girl nodded. Her pretty eyes were still dancing with merriment. + +"Father came by the same train, and told me of someone who got mixed up +in--in a fight, and they threw----" + +"Don't say another word," Gordon cried hurriedly. "I'm--I'm the man. +And your father is----?" + +"Mallinsbee--Silas Mallinsbee!" + +"Then you are Hazel Mallinsbee." + +"How do you know my first name?" + +"Why, I saw you in town, and the livery man told me you were 'Miss +Hazel.' Say, this is bully. Now we aren't strangers, and you can ride +in my buggy without any question. Jump right in, and I'll drive +you--where is it?" + +Hazel Mallinsbee obeyed without further demur. She sprang into the +vehicle, and Gordon promptly followed. The next moment they were +moving on at a steady, sober pace. + +"It's Buffalo Point," the girl directed. "It's only four miles. Then +you can go on and enjoy your beautiful pathetic picture of the coal +workings. But you won't have much time if we travel at this gait," she +added slyly. + +Gordon shook his head. + +"It's Sunset," he said. "We must consider his poor foot." + +There was laughter in Hazel's eyes as she sighed. + +"Poor Sunset. Perhaps--you're right." + +"Without a doubt," Gordon laughed. "He might get blood poisoning, or +cancer, or dyspepsia, or something if we bustled him." + +Hazel pointed a branching trail to the north. + +"That's the trail," she said. "Father's at home. He'll be real glad +to see you. Say, you know father ought to know better--at his age. +He--he just loves a scrap. He was telling me about you, and saying how +you 'hammered'--that's the word he used--the 'sharp.' He was most +upset that the train crew spoiled the finish. You know father's a +great scallywag. I don't believe he thinks he's a day over twenty. +It's--it's dreadful--with a grown-up daughter. He's--just a great big +boy for all his gray hair. You should just see him out on the range. +He's got all the youngsters left standing. It must be grand to grow +old like he does." + +Gordon listened to the girl's rich tones, and the enthusiasm lying +behind her words, and somehow the whole situation seemed unreal. Here +he was driving one of the most perfectly delightful girls he had ever +met to her home, within twenty-four hours of his absurd arrival in a +still more absurd town. Nor was she any mere country girl. Her whole +style spoke of an education obtained at one of the great schools in the +East. Her costume might have been tailored on Fifth Avenue, New York. +Yet here she was living the life of the wonderful sunlit prairie, the +daughter of an obscure rancher in the foothills of the Rockies. + +"Say, your father is just a bully feller," he agreed quickly. "He +didn't know me from--a grasshopper, but he did me all sorts of a good +service. It don't matter what it was. But it was one of those things +which between men count a whole heap." + +The girl's enthusiasm waxed. + +"Father's just as good as--as he's clever. But," she added tenderly, +"he's a great scallywag. Oh dear, he'll never grow up." A few minutes +later she pointed quickly ahead with one gauntleted hand. + +"That's Buffalo Point," she said. "There where that house is. That's +our house, and beyond it, half a mile, you can see the telegraph poles +of the railroad track." + +Gordon gazed ahead. They still had a good mile to go. The lonely +house fixed his attention. + +"Say, isn't there a village?" he inquired. "Buffalo Point?" + +The girl shook her head. + +"No. Just that little frame house of ours. Father had it built as--a +sort of office. You see, we're both working hard on his land scheme. +You see, it's--it's our hobby, the same as losing trails is yours." + +Gordon laughed. + +"That's plumb spoiled my day. I'd forgotten the land business. Now +it's all come over me like a chill, like the drip of an ice wagon down +the back of my neck. I s'pose there'll always be land around, and +we've always got to have coal. It seems a pity, doesn't it. Say, +there hasn't been a soul I've met in twenty-four hours, but they've +been crazy on--on town sites. They're most ridiculous things, town +sites. Four pegs and four imaginary lines, a deal of grass with a +substrata of crawly things. And for that men would scrap, and cheat, +and rob, and--and graft. It's--a wonder." + +Hazel Mallinsbee checked her inclination to laugh again. Her eyes were +gazing ahead at the little frame house, and they grew wistfully serious. + +"It isn't the land," she said simply. "The scrap, and cheat, and rob, +and graft, are right. But it's the fight for fortune. Fortune?" she +smiled. "Fortune means everything to a modern man. To some women, +too, but not quite in the way it does to a man. You see, in olden days +competition took a different form. I don't know if, in spite of what +folks say about the savagery of old times, they weren't more honest and +wholesome than they are now. However, nature's got to compete for +something. Human nature's got to beat someone. Life is just one +incessant rivalry. Well, in old times it took the form of bloodshed +and war, when men counted with pride the tally of their victories. Now +we point with pride to our civilization, and gaze back in pity upon our +benighted forefathers. Instead of bloodshed, killing, fighting, +massacring and all the old bad habits of those who came before us, we +point our civilization by lying, cheating, robbing and grafting." + +Gordon smiled. + +"Put that way it sounds as though the old folks were first-class saints +compared with us. There's a deal of honesty when two fellers get right +up on their hind legs and start in to mush each other's faces to a +pulp. But it isn't just the same when you creep up while the other +feller isn't wise and push the muzzle of a gun into his middle and +riddle his stomach till it's like a piece of gruyère cheese." + +Hazel shook her head. Her eyes were still smiling, but Gordon detected +something of the serious thought behind them. He vainly endeavored to +sober his mood in sympathy. + +"Guess it's the refinement of competition due to the claims of our much +proclaimed culture and civilization. I think civilization is a--a +dreadful mockery. To call it a whitewash would be a libel on a +perfectly innocent, wholesome, sanitary process. That's how I always +feel when I stop to think. But--but," her eyes began to dance with a +joyous enthusiasm, "I don't often think--not that way. Say, I just +love the battle, I mean the modern battle for fortune. It's--it's +almost the champagne of life. I know only one thing to beat it." + +Gordon had forgotten the team he was driving, and let them amble +leisurely on towards the house, now so rapidly approaching. + +"What's--the real champagne?" he inquired. + +The girl turned and gazed at him with wide eyes. + +"Why," she cried. "Life--just life itself. What else? Say, think of +the moment your eyes open to the splendid sunlight of day. Think of +the moment you realize you are living--living--living, after a long, +delicious night's sleep. Think of all the perfect moments awaiting you +before night falls, and you seek your bed again. It is just the very +essence of perfect joy." + +"It's better after breakfast, and you've had time to get around some." + +The ardor of the girl's mood received a sudden douche. Just for a +moment a gleam of displeasure shadowed her eyes. Then a twinkling +smile grew, and the clouds dispersed. + +"Isn't that just a man? Where's your enthusiasm? Where's your joy of +life? Where's your romance, and--and spirit of hope?" + +A great pretense of reproach lay in her rapid questions. + +"Oh, they're all somewhere lying around, I guess," returned Gordon +simply. "Those things are all right, sure. But--but it's a mighty +tough proposition worrying that way on--on an empty stomach. It seems +to me that's just one of life's mistakes. There ought to be a law in +Congress that a feller isn't allowed to--to think till he's had his +morning coffee. The same law might provide for the fellow who fancies +himself a sort of canary and starts right in to sing before he's had +his bath. I'd have him sent to the electric chair. That sort of +fellow never has a voice worth two cents, and he most generally has a +repertoire of songs about as bright as Solomon's, and a mighty deal +older. Sure, Miss Mallinsbee, I haven't a word to say against life in +a general way, but it's about as wayward as a spoilt kid, and needs as +much coaxing." + +Hazel Mallinsbee watched the play of the man's features while he +talked. She knew he meant little or nothing of what he said. The +fine, clear eyes, the smiling simplicity and atmosphere of virile youth +about him, all denied the sentiments he was giving vent to. She nodded +as he finished. + +"At first I thought you meant all--that," she said lightly. "But now I +know you're just talking for talking's sake." Then, before he could +reply, she pointed excitedly at the house, now less than a hundred +yards away. "Why, there's father, standing right there on the +veranda!" she exclaimed. + +Gordon looked ahead. The old man was waving one great hand to his +daughter. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +AT BUFFALO POINT + +To Gordon's mind Hazel Mallinsbee attached far greater importance to +her father's presence on the veranda than the incident warranted. It +did not seem to him that there was the least necessity for his being +there at all. Truth to tell, the matter appeared to him to be a +perfect nuisance. He had rather liked Silas Mallinsbee when he had met +him under somewhat distressing circumstances in the town. Now he felt +a positive dislike for him. His strong, keen, benevolent face made no +appeal to his sympathies now whatsoever. + +Besides, it did not seem right that any man who claimed parentage of +such a delightful daughter as the girl at his side should slouch about +in a pair of old trousers tucked into top-boots and secured about his +waist by a narrow strap. And it seemed positively indecent that he +should display no other upper garment than a cotton shirt of such a +doubtful hue that it was impossible to be sure of its sanitary +condition. + +However, he allowed none of these feelings betrayal, and replied +appropriately to Hazel's excited announcement. He was glad, later, he +had exercised such control, for their arrival at the house was the +immediate precursor of an invitation to share their midday meal, which +had already been placed on the table by the silent, inscrutable +Hip-Lee, the Chinese cook and general servitor in this temporary abode. + +The horses had been housed and fed in the temporary stable at the back +of the house, and a committee of three had sat upon Sunset's injury and +prescribed for and treated it. Now they were indoors, ready for the +homely meal set out for them. + +Hip-Lee moved softly about setting an additional place at the table for +the visitor. Silas Mallinsbee was lounging in the doorway, looking out +across the veranda. Hazel was superintending Hip-Lee's efforts. +Gordon was endeavoring to solve the problem of the rapid and unexpected +happenings which had befallen him since his arrival, and at the same +time carry on a conversation with the rumbling-voiced originator of +Snake's Fall boom. + +"At one time I guessed I'd bumped right into the hands of the +Philistines," he said. "That's when I was--er arriving. Since then a +Samaritan got busy my way and dumps me right down in the heart of the +Promised Land, which just now seems to be flowing with milk and honey. +I set out to view the dull black mountains of industry, and instead I +arrive at the sparkling plains of delightful ease. Mr. Mallinsbee, you +certainly have contrived to put me under enormous obligation." + +Gordon's eyes were pleasantly following the movements of the girl's +graceful figure about the plain but neat parlor. "I suppose all +offices in the West are not like this, because----" + +Mallinsbee rumbled a pleasant laugh. + +"Office?" he said, without turning. "That's jest how Hazel calls it. +Guess she's got notions since she finished off her education at Boston. +She's got around with a heap of 'em, includin' that suit she's wearin'. +Y'see, she's my foreman hoss-breaker, and reckons skirts and things +are--played out. Office? Why, it's just a shack. Some time you must +get around out an' see the ranch house. It's some place," he added +with simple pride. + +Hazel went up to her father and pretended to threaten him by the neck. + +"See, Daddy, you can just quit telling about my notions to--folks. +Anyway"--she turned her back to Gordon--"I appeal to you, Mr. Van +Henslaer, isn't an office a place where folks transact big deals and +make fortunes?" + +"That's how folks reckon when they rent them," said Gordon. "Of +course, I've known folks to sleep in 'em. Others use 'em as a sort of +club smoking lounge. Then they've been known to serve some men as a +shelter from--home. I used to have an office." + +Silas Mallinsbee turned from his contemplation of the horizon. He was +interested, and his shrewd eyes displayed the fact. + +Hazel clapped her hands. + +"And what did you use it for?" she demanded quizzically. + +"I--oh, I--let's see. Well, mostly an address from which to have word +sent to folks I didn't want to see that--I was out. I used to find it +useful that way." + +Mallinsbee's chuckle amused Gordon, but Hazel assumed an air of +judicial severity. + +"A spirit not to be encouraged." Then, at the sound of her father's +chuckle, "My daddy, you are as bad as he. Now food's ready, so please +sit in. We can talk easier around a table than when people are +dreaming somewhere in the distance on the horizon, or walking about a +room that isn't bigger than the bare size to sit in. Anyway, Mr. Van +Henslaer, this office is for business. I won't have it disparaged by +my daddy, or--or anyone else. It serves a great purpose so far as +we're concerned." Then she added slyly, "You see, we're in the throes +of the great excitement of making a huge pile, for the sheer love of +making it. Aren't we, Daddy, dear?" + +Silas Mallinsbee looked up from the food he was eating with the air of +a man who only eats as a matter of sheer necessity. + +"Say, Mr. Van Henslaer," he said in his deep tones, "I've been a +rancher all my life. Cattle, to me, are just about the only things in +the world worth while, 'cept horses. I've never had a care or thought +outside 'em, till one day I got busy worrying what was under the ground +instead of keeping to the things I understood above the ground. Y'see, +the trouble was two things," he went on, smiling tenderly in his +daughter's direction. "One was I'd fed the ranch stoves with surface +coal that you could find almost anywheres on my land, and the other was +the fates just handed me the picture of a daughter who caught the +dangerous disease of 'notions' way down east at school in Boston. +Since she's come along back to us I've had coal, coal, coal all chasin' +through my head, an' playing baseball with every blamed common-sense +idea that ever was there before. Wal, to tell things quick, I made a +mighty big pile out of that coal just to please her. We didn't need +it, but she guessed it was up to me to do this. But that didn't finish +it. This gal here couldn't rest at that. She guessed that pile was +made and done with. She needs to get busy in another direction. Well, +she gets to work, and has all my land on the railroads staked out into +a township, and reckons it's a game worth playing. The other was too +dead easy. This time she reckons to measure her brains and energy +against a railroad! She reckons to show that we can match, and beat, +any card they can play. That's the reason of this office." + +Hazel laughed and raised an admonishing finger at the smiling face and +twinkling eyes of her father. + +"What did I tell you, Mr. Van Henslaer?" she cried. "Didn't I say he +was just a scallywag? Oh, my great, big daddy, I'm dreadfully, +dreadfully ashamed and disappointed in you. I'm going to give you +away. I am, surely. There, there, Mr. Van Henslaer, sits the wicked +plotter and schemer. Look at him. A big, burly ruffian that ought to +know better. Look at him," she went on, pointing a dramatic finger at +him. "And he isn't even ashamed. He's laughing. Now listen to me. +I'm going to tell you my version. He's a rancher all right, all right. +He's been satisfied with that all his life, and prosperity's never +turned him down. Then one day he found coal, and did nothing. We just +used to talk of it, that was all. Then another day along comes a +friend, a very, very old friend and neighbor, whom he's often helped. +He came along and got my daddy to sell him a certain patch of +grazing--just to help him out, he said. He was a poor man, and my +big-hearted daddy sold it him at a rock-bottom price to make it easy +for him. Three months later they were mining coal on it--anthracite +coal. That fellow made a nice pile out of it. He'd bluffed my daddy, +and my daddy takes a bluff from no man. Well, say, he just nearly went +crazy being bested that way, and he said to me--these were his words: +'Come on, my gal, you and me are just goin' to show folks what we're +made of. If there's money in my land we're going to make all we need +before anyone gets home on us. I'm goin' to show 'em I'm a match for +the best sharks our country can produce--and that's some goin'.' There +sits the money-spinner. There! Look at him; he's self-confessed. I'm +just his clerk, or decoy, or--or any old thing he needs to help him in +his wicked, wicked schemes!" + +Mallinsbee sat chuckling at his daughter's charge, and Gordon, watching +him, laughed in chorus. + +"I'm kind of sorry, Mr. Mallinsbee, to have had to listen to such a +tale," he said at last, with pretended seriousness, "but I guess you're +charged, tried, convicted and sentenced. Seeing there's just two of +you, it's up to me to give the verdict Guilty!" he declared. "Have you +any reason to show why sentence should not be passed upon you? No? +Very well, then. I sentence you to make that pile, without fail, in a +given time. Say six months. Failing which you'll have the +satisfaction of knowing that you have assisted in the ruin of an +innocent life." + +In the midst of the lightness of the moment Gordon had suddenly taken a +resolve. It was one of those quick, impulsive resolves which were +entirely characteristic of him. There was nothing quite clear in his +mind as to any reason in his decision. He was caught in the enthusiasm +of his admiration of the fair oval face of his hostess, whose +unconventional camaraderie so appealed to his wholesome nature; he was +caught by the radiance of her sunny smile, by the laughing depths of +her perfect hazel eyes. Nor was the manner of the man, her father, +without effect upon his responsive, simple nature. + +But his sentence on Silas Mallinsbee had caught and held both father's +and daughter's attention, and excited their curiosity. + +"Why six months?" smiled Hazel. + +"Say, it's sure some time limit," growled Mallinsbee. + +Gordon assumed an air of judicial severity. + +"Is the court to be questioned upon its powers?" he demanded. "There +is a law of 'contempt,'" he added warningly. + +But his warning was without effect. + +"And the innocent's ruin?" demanded Hazel. + +The answer came without a moment's hesitation. + +"Mine," said Gordon. And his audience, now with serious eyes, waited +for him to go on. + +Hip-Lee had brought in the sweet, and vanished again in his silent +fashion. Then Gordon raised his eyes from his plate and glanced at his +host. They wandered across to and lingered for a moment on the strong +young face of the girl. Then they came back to his plate, and he +sighed. + +"Say, if there's one thing hurts me it's to hear everybody telling a +yarn, and my not having one to throw back at 'em," he said, smiling +down at the simple baked custard and fruit he was devouring. "Just now +I'm not hurt a thing, however, so that remark don't apply. You see, my +yarn's just as simple and easy as both of yours, and I can tell it in a +sentence. My father's sent me out in the world with a stake of my own +naming to make one hundred thousand dollars in six months!" + +He was surprised to witness, the dramatic effect of his announcement. +Hazel's astonishment was serious and frankly without disguise. But her +father's was less marked by outward expression. It was only obvious +from the complete lack of the smile which had been in his shrewd eyes a +moment before. + +"One hundred thousand dollars in six months!" Hazel exclaimed. She had +narrowly escaped scalding herself with the coffee Hip-Lee had just +served. She set her cup down hastily. + +"Guess your father's takin' a big chance," said Mallinsbee thoughtfully. + +But their serious astonishment was too great a strain for Gordon. He +began to laugh. + +"It's my belief life's too serious to be taken seriously, so the chance +he's taken don't worry me as, maybe, it ought," he said. "You see, my +father's a good sportsman, and he sees most things the way every real +sportsman sees 'em--where his son's concerned. Morally I owe him one +hundred thousand dollars. I say morally. Well, I guess we talked +together some. I--well, maybe I made a big talk, like fellows of my +age and experience are liable to make to a fellow of my father's age +and experience. Then I sort of got a shock, as sometimes fellows of my +age making a big talk do. In about half a minute I found a new meaning +for the word 'bluff.' I thought I'd got its meaning right before that. +I thought I could teach my father all there was to know about bluff. +You see, I'd forgotten he'd lived thirty-three more years than I had. +Bluff? Why, I'd never heard of it as he knew it. The result is I've +got to make one hundred thousand dollars in six months or forfeit my +legitimate future." Then he added with the gayest, most buoyant laugh, +"Say, it's a terrible thing to think of. It's dead serious. It's as +serious as an inter-university ball game." + +The lurking smile had returned to Mallinsbee's eyes, and Hazel frankly +joined in Gordon's laugh. + +"And you've come to Snake's Fall to--to make it?" she cried. + +"I can't just say that," returned Gordon. + +"No." Mallinsbee shook his head, and the two men exchanged meaning +glances. Then the old man went on with his food and spoke between the +mouthfuls. "You had an office?" + +"Sure. You see, I was my father's secretary." + +"Secretary?" Mallinsbee looked up quickly. + +Gordon nodded. + +"That's what he called me. I drew the salary--and my allowance. It +was an elegant office--what little I remember of it." + +The old man's regard was very nearly a broad laugh. + +"Say, you made a talk about an 'innocent's' life gettin' all mussed up?" + +Gordon nodded with profound seriousness. + +"Sure," he replied. "Mine. I don't guess you'll deny my innocence." +Mallinsbee shook his head. "Good," Gordon went on; "that makes it +easy. If you don't make good I lose my chance. I'm going to put my +stake in your town plots." + +The rancher regarded him steadily for some moments. Then-- + +"Say, what's your stake?" he inquired abruptly. + +Gordon had nothing to hide. There was, it seemed to him, a fatal +magnetism about these people. The girl's eyes were upon him, full of +amused delight at the story he had told; while her father seemed to be +driving towards some definite goal. + +"Five thousand dollars. That and a few hundred dollars I had to my +credit at the bank. It don't sound much," he added apologetically, +"but perhaps it isn't quite impossible." + +"I don't guess there's a thing impossible in this world for the feller +who's got to make good," said Mallinsbee. "You see, you've got to make +good, and it don't matter a heap if your stake's five hundred or five +thousand. Say, talk's just about the biggest thing in life, but it's +made up of hot air, an' too much hot air's mighty oppressive. So I'll +just get to the end of what I've to say as sudden as I can. I guess my +gal's right, I'm just crazy to beat the 'sharps' on this land scoop, +and I'm going to do it if I get brain fever. Now it's quite a +proposition. I've got to play the railroad and all these ground +sharks, and see I get the juice while they only get the pie-crust. I'm +needing a--we'll call him a secretary. Hazel is all sorts of a bright +help, but she ain't a man. I need a feller who can swear and scrap if +need be, and one who can scratch around with a pen in odd moments. +This thing is a big fight, and the man who's got the biggest heart and +best wind's going to win through. My wind's sound, and I ain't heard +of any heart trouble in my family. Now you ken come in in town plots +so that when the boom comes they'll net you that one hundred thousand +dollars. You don't need to part with that stake--yet. The deal shall +be on paper, and the cash settlement shall come at the finish. +Meanwhile, if need be, for six months you'll put in every moment you've +got on the work of organizing this boom. Maybe we'll need to scrap +plenty. But I don't guess that'll come amiss your way. We'll hand +this shanty over for quarters for you, and we'll share it as an office. +This ain't philanthropy; it's business. The man who's got no more +sense than to call a bluff to make one hundred thousand dollars in six +months is the man for me. He'll make it or he won't. And, anyway, +he's going to make things busy for six months. You ain't a 'sharp' +now--or I wouldn't hand you this talk. But I'm guessin' you'll be +mighty near one before we're through. We've got to graft, and graft +plenty, which is a play that ain't without attractions to a real bright +feller. You see, money's got a heap of evil lyin' around its +root--well, the root of things is gener'ly the most attractive. Guess +I've used a deal of hot air in makin' this proposition, but you won't +need to use as much in your answer--when you've slept over it. Say, if +food's through we'll get busy, Hazel." + + +Mrs. James Carbhoy was in bed when she received her morning's mail. +Perhaps she and her millionaire husband were unusually old-fashioned in +their domestic life. Anyway, James Carbhoy's presence in the great +bedstead beside her was made obvious by the heavy breathing which, in a +less wealthy man, might have been called snoring, and the mountainous +ridge of bedclothes which covered his monumental bulk. + +A querulous voice disturbed his dreams. He heard it from afar off, and +it merged with the scenes he was dwelling upon. A panic followed. He +had made a terrible discovery. It was his wife, and not the president +of a rival railroad, who was stealing the metals of a new track he was +constructing as fast as he could lay them. + +He awoke in a cold sweat. He thought he was lying in the cutting +beside the track. His wife had vanished. He rubbed his eyes. No, she +hadn't. There she was, sitting up in bed with a sheaf of papers in her +hand. He felt relieved. + +Now her plaint penetrated to his waking consciousness. + +"For goodness' sake, James," she cried, "quit snoring and wake up. I +wish you'd pay attention when I'm speaking. I'm all worried to death." + +The multi-millionaire yawned distressingly. + +"Most folks are worried in the morning. I'm worried, too. Go to +sleep. You'll feel better after a while." + +"It's nothing to do with the morning," complained his wife. +"It's--it's a letter from Gordon. The poor boy writes such queer +letters. It's all through you being so hard on him. You never did +have any feeling for--for anybody. I'm sure he's suffering. He never +talked this way before. Maybe he don't get enough to eat; he don't say +where he is either. Perhaps he's just nowhere in particular. You'd +better ring up an inquiry bureau----" + +"For goodness' sake read the letter," growled the drowsy man. "You're +making as much fuss as a hen with bald chicks." + +Mrs. Carbhoy withered her husband with a glance that fell only upon the +back of his great head. But she had her way. She meant him to share +in her anxiety through the text of the, to her, incomprehensible +letter. She read slowly and deliberately, and in a voice calculated to +rivet any wandering attention. + + +"DEAREST MUM: + +"There's folks who say that no man knows the real meaning of luck, good +or bad, till he takes to himself a wife. This may be right. My +argument is, it's only partially so. There may be considerable luck +about matrimony. For instance, if any fool man came along and married +our Gracie he'd be taking quite a chance. Her native indolence and +peevishness suggest possibilities. Her tongue is vitriolic in one so +young, as I have frequently had reason to observe. This would +certainly be a case where the man would learn the real meaning of luck. +But there wouldn't be a question. His luck would be out--plumb out. +Jonah would have been a mascot beside him. + +"This is by the way. + +"I argue luck can be appreciated fully through channels less worrying. +When luck gets busy around its coming is kind of subtle. It's sudden, +too; kind of butts in unnoticed, sometimes painfully, and generally +without shouting. Maybe it happens with a bump or a jar. Personally +I'm betting on the 'bump' play. A bump of that nature got busy my way +when I arrived here. I now have a full appreciation of luck. Quite as +full an appreciation as the man would who married our Gracie. But in +my case I guess it's good luck. This isn't going to tell you all +that's in my mind, but, seeing I haven't fallen for fiction yet, I +guess I won't try to be more explicit. Luck, in my present position, +means the coming responsibility of success. You might hand this on to +the old Dad. + +"Talking of the old Dad, it seems to me that, for a delicate digestion, +baked custard and fruit have advantages over ice-cream as a sweet. +This again is by the way. + +"In my last letter I gave you a few first impressions on arrival at my +destination. Now, if you'll permit, I'll add what I might call the +maturer reflections of a mind wide awake to life as it really is, and +to the inner meaning of those things which are so carefully hidden from +one brought up in luxury, as I have been. One of the 'dead snips' this +way is that cleverness and wisdom are often confused by the ignorant. +Cleverness don't mean wisdom, and--vice versa. For instance, loafing +idly down a main street six inches deep in a dust that would shame a +blizzard when the wind blows, with a blazing sun scorching the marrow +of the spine till it's ready to be spread out on toast, escorted by an +army of disgusting flies moving in massed formation, and not knowing +better than to drive your soul to perdition through the channel of +extreme bad language, don't suggest cleverness. Yet there may surely +be a deal of wisdom in it if it only keeps you from doing something a +heap more foolish. Maybe this don't sound altogether bright, but +there's quite a deal in it. Think it out. Another thought is that +learning's quite a sound proposition. For instance, a superficial +knowledge of geology may come mighty handy at unexpected moments. A +knowledge of this served me at a critical moment only to-day. So you +see an intimate acquaintance with sharp flints, collected--the +acquaintance, not the flints--during my time as the possessor of an +automobile, which the Dad provided me with and for the upkeep of which +he so kindly paid, has likely had more influence upon my future life +than the best talk ever handed out by a Fifth Avenue preacher ever +would have done. I have no thought of being irreverent. I am merely +handing you a fact. People say that missed opportunities always make +you hate to think of them in after life. For my part, I've generally +figured this to be the philosophic hot air of a man who's getting old +and hates to see youth around him, or else the chin mush of some fool +man who's never had any opportunities, talking through the roof of his +head. I kind of see it different now. You gave me the opportunity of +studying all the beauties of the world seen through an artist's life. +I guessed at the time that would be waste of precious moments that +might be spent chasing athletics. It's only to-day I've got wise to +what a heap I've lost in twenty-four years. Colors just seemed to me +messy mixtures only fit to spoil paper and canvas with. Well, to-day +I've hit on something in the way of color that's just about set me +crazy to see it all the time. It's a sort of yellowy, greeny brown. +That don't sound as merry as it might, but to me it talks plenty. It's +just the dandiest color ever. I discovered it out on a 'long, lone +trail'--that's how folks talk in books--where the surroundings weren't +any improvement on just plain grass. Say, Mum, I guess that color is +great. It gets a grip on you so you don't seem to care if a local +freight train comes along and dissects your vitals, and chews them up +ready for making a delicatessen sausage. When I die I'll just have to +have my shroud dyed that color, and my coffin fixed that way, too. + +"This isn't so much of a passing thought as the others. Guess some +folks might figure it to be a disease. Maybe the old Dad would. Well, +I shan't kick any if I die of it. + +"Talking of Art, I'm just beginning to get a notion that curves are +wonderful, wonderful things. These days of mechanical appliances I've +always regarded drawing such things by hand as positively ridiculous. +I don't think that way now. If I could only draw the wonderful curves +I have in mind now, why, I guess I'd go right on drawing them till the +birds roosted in my beard and my bones were right for a tame ancestral +skeleton. + +"The daylight of knowledge is sort of creeping in. + +"I've learned that frame houses have got Fifth Avenue mansions beat a +mile, and the smell of a Chinee can become a dollar-and-a-half scent +sachet in given circumstances. I've learned that real sportsmanship +isn't confined to athletics by any means, and a lame chestnut horse can +be a most friendly creature. I've discovered that one man of purpose +isn't more than fifty per cent. of two, when both are yearning one way. +I'm learning that life's a mighty pleasant journey if you let it alone +and don't worry things. It's no use kicking to put the world to +rights. It's going to give you a whole heap of worry, and, anyway, the +world's liable to retaliate. Also I'd like to add that, though I guess +I'm gathering wisdom, I don't reckon I've got it all by quite a piece. + +"Having given you all the news I can think of I guess I'll close. + +"Your affectionate son, + "GORDON. + +"P.S.--My remarks about Gracie are merely the privileged reflections of +a brother. When she grows up I dare say she'll be quite a bully girl. +It takes time to get sense. + +"G." + + +"I don't understand it, anyway," sighed Gordon's mother, as she laid +the letter aside. "You'll have to get him back to home, James. He's +suffering. We'll send out an inquiry----" + +She broke off, glancing across at the mass of humanity so peacefully +snoring at the far side of the bed, and, after a brief angry moment, +resigned herself to the reflection that men, even millionaires, were +perfectly ridiculous and selfish creatures who had no right whatever to +burden a poor woman's life with the responsibility of children. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE FIRST CHECK + +It was characteristic of Gordon to act unhesitatingly once a decision +was arrived at. The consideration of Silas Mallinsbee's generous offer +was the work of just as many seconds as it took the rancher to make it +in. Though, verbally, it was left for a decision the next day, Gordon +had no doubts in his mind whatever as to the nature of that decision. + +When he returned to McSwain's sheltering roof, when another meal had +been devoured in the evening, when the soup-like contents of the +wash-trough had been stirred in the doubtful effort of cleansing +himself, when the busy flies had gone to join the birds in their +evening roost, he betook himself to his private bathroom, and sat +himself upon his questionable bed and gave himself up to reflection, +endeavoring to apply some of the wisdom he believed himself to have +already acquired. + +But the application was without useful effect. + +He began by an attempt to review the situation from a purely financial +standpoint, and in this endeavor he stretched out his great muscular +limbs along his bed, and propped his broad back against the wall with a +dogged do-or-die look upon his honest face. + +At once a mental picture of Hazel Mallinsbee obscured the problem. He +dwelt on it for some profoundly pleasant moments, and then resolutely +thrust it aside. + +Next he started by frankly admitting that Mallinsbee's offer left him a +certain winner all along the line--if things went right. Good. If +things went wrong--but they couldn't go wrong with those wonderful +yellowy brown eyes of Hazel's smiling encouragement upon him. The +thought was absurd. + +Again for some time his problem was obscured. But after a few minutes +he set his teeth and attacked it afresh. + +Of course, if things did go wrong he was done--absolutely finished. +His six months would have expired, his stake would have melted into +thin air. His whole future---- But he would have spent six months at +Hazel's side, working upon something that was obviously very dear to +her brave and loyal heart. What more could a man desire? + +He felt his great muscles thrill with a mighty sense of restrained +effort. Was there any thought in the world so inspiring as that which +had the support of the most wonderful creature he had ever met for its +inspiration? He thought not. His pulses stirred at the bare idea of +being Hazel Mallinsbee's companion all those weeks and months. Of +course it would mean nothing to her. She was far too clever, and--and +altogether brainy to give him a second thought. But he felt he could +help her. He felt that to go back home with the knowledge that he--he +had been one of the prime factors in her achieving the hope of her life +would not be without compensations. Compensations? He wondered what +form such compensations took. They certainly would need to be +considerable for the loss of such a companionship. + +He thought of the vision he had seen upon the trail. The beautifully +rounded figure. The graceful movements, so obviously natural. Then +those eyes, and---- + +He smiled and abandoned all further attempt to consider seriously the +offer he had received. What was the use? His good fortune was +certainly running in a strong tide. To attempt to steer a course was +to fly in the face of his own luck. No, he would swim with it, let it +take him whither it might. Meanwhile, Hazel had promised to meet him +on the morrow, and show him the great coal seam, after which he was to +interview her father, and have supper at the--office. Forthwith he +hastily retired to his nightly game of hide-and-seek amongst the +hummocks of flock in his disreputable bed, that the long hours of night +might the more speedily merge into a golden to-morrow. + + +The next day Gordon, at an early hour, spent something over fifty +dollars on a pair of ready-made riding-breeches and boots. For once in +his life he felt that the faithful Harding had been found wanting. +Somehow, in arriving at this conclusion, he had forgotten the episode +of the five-cent-cigar man. Anyhow, the purchase had to be made, since +it was necessary to ride out to the coal seams. + +It was during the time spent on these matters an incident occurred +which caused him some irritation. He saw in the distance, as he was +making his way to the principal store, the pale-faced, sickly-looking +creature who had accosted Hazel the day before. The sight of the man +put him into a bad temper at once, and he forthwith gave the +storekeeper all the unnecessary trouble he could put him to. + +Then, on returning to his hotel, he discovered the man in the office +talking to Peter McSwain. His swift temper left him utterly without +shame, and he stood and stared at the object of his dislike, taking him +in from head to foot with profoundly contemptuous eyes. + +Somehow his inspection made him feel glad he disliked the man. He was +a broad-chested person with aggressively cut clothes. His black hair +was obviously greased, and his general cast of features suggested his +Hebrew origin. Gordon had no grudge against him on this latter score. +It was not that. It was the narrow, shifty eyes, the hateful way in +which he smoked his cigar, with its flaming band about its middle. It +was the loud coarse laugh and general air of impertinent arrogance that +set his back bristling. And this--this had spoken to Hazel Mallinsbee +only the day before. + +He deposited his parcels in his bathroom, and returned to the office to +find McSwain by himself. He had no hesitation in satisfying his +curiosity. + +"Say," he demanded, in a crisp tone. "Who was that rotten-looking +'sharp' you were yarning to when I came in?" + +Peter's amiable expression underwent the most trifling change. + +"Guess I lost ten thousand dollars talkin' that way once," he said, +smelling cautiously at one of his own cigars. + +Gordon promptly snapped back. + +"Maybe I've lost more than that. But it don't cut any ice. Who was +he?" + +Peter smiled as he lit his cigar. + +"David Slosson. Guess he's chief robber for the railroad company. +You've seen him. Are you scared any? Say, we've been waitin' to hear +him talk two days now. I guess you could hand us a bunch of emperors, +an' kings, an' princes, an' dust over 'em a sprinkling of presidents, +but I don't reckon you'd stir a pulse among us like the coming of that +man did to this city. That feller's right here to put the railroad in +on this land scoop. When he's fixed 'em the way he wants we'll hear +from the railroad." + +Gordon's eyes were thoughtful. + +"Chief grafter, eh? He surely looks it." + +"Some of 'em do," agreed Peter. "It's my belief the best of 'em don't, +though," he added reflectively. "Yet he surely ought to be right. +Railroads don't usual graft with anything but the best. He was talkin' +pretty, too." + +"Pretty? More than he looked," snorted Gordon. Then he began to +laugh. "Say, you and I are pretty well agreed about miracles. I sort +of feel it'll have to be one of them miracles if the time don't come +when I knock seventeen sorts of stuffing out of that man. I feel it +coming on like a disease. You know, creeping through my bones, and +getting to the tips of my fingers. I'd like to spoil his store suit in +the mud, and beautify his features with your 'hoss' soap, and drown 'em +in--well, what's in your washing-trough." + +Peter's smile was cordial enough at the forcefulness of his young +guest. He had not forgotten that Gordon was a friend of Mallinsbee. + +"I wouldn't play that way till we see how he's buying," he said +cautiously. + +"Play?" Gordon laughed and shook his head. "Well, perhaps you're +right. It certainly will be some play." + +After midday dinner Gordon set out on one of Mike Callahan's horses to +keep his appointment with Hazel Mallinsbee. All his ill-humor of the +morning was forgotten, and he looked forward with unalloyed pleasure to +his afternoon, which was to culminate in his entering into his +agreement with her father. + +Hazel was waiting for him on the veranda of the office. Her horse, a +fine brown mare, was standing ready saddled. Gordon noted the absence +of Sunset, and understood, but he noted also that her smile of welcome +was lacking something of the joyous spirit she had displayed the night +before. + +"Sunset off duty?" he inquired, as he came up and leaped out of the +saddle to assist her. + +Hazel scorned his assistance. She was in the saddle almost before he +was aware of her intention. + +"Sunset's father's," she said. "The Lady Jane is my saddle horse. +She's the most outrageous jade on the ranch. That's why I like her. +Every moment I'm in the saddle she's trying to get the bit between her +teeth. If she succeeded she'd run till she dropped." Then, with a +deliberate effort, she seemed to thrust some shadow from her mind as +they set off at a brisk canter. "You know, father's just dying to show +you the ranch. He's quite quaint and boyish. He takes likes and +dislikes in the twinkle of an eye, and before all things in his life +comes his wonderful ranch. I'll tell you a secret, Mr. Van Henslaer. +The day you--arrived, after he'd told me just how you had arrived, he +said, 'I'd like to get that boy working around this lay out. I like +the look of him. He don't know a lot, but he can do things.' He's +certainly taken one of his wonderful, impulsive fancies to you. He's +very shrewd, too." + +Gordon laughed. + +"Now I wonder how I ought to take that. I'm all sorts of a fool, but I +can hit hard. That's about his opinion of me, eh?" + +Hazel's eyes were slyly watching him. She shook her head. + +"That's not it," she smiled back. "You don't know my daddy. He might +say that, but there's a whole lot of other thoughts stumbling around in +his funny old head. If he wants you he thinks you can do more than hit +hard." + +The humor of it all got hold of Gordon. + +"Good," he cried, with one of his whole-hearted laughs. "Now I'll let +you into a secret. This is a great secret. One of those secrets a +feller generally hangs on tight to because he's half ashamed of it. I +can do more than hit hard!" + +Then he became serious, and it was the girl's turn to find amusement. + +"You see, I've been raised in a bit of a hothouse. Maybe it's more of +a wind shelter, though. You know, where the rough winds of modern life +can't get through the crevices and buffet you. That's why I fell for +that sharp on the train. That's why I bumped head first into Snake's +Fall. That's why your daddy thinks I don't know a lot. But I tell you +right here I've got to make that hundred thousand dollars in six +months, and I'm going to do it by hook or crook, if there's half a +smell of a chance. I've no scruples whatsoever. I just _must_ make +it, or--or I'll never face my father ever again. Do you get me? +Whatever you have at stake in this land proposition, it's just nothing +to what I have. And you'll know what I mean when I say it's just the +youthful pride and foolish egoism of twenty-four years. Say, do you +know what it means to a kid when he's dared to do some fool trick that +may cost his life? Well, that's my position, but I've done the daring +for myself. My mood about this thing is the sort of mood in which, if +I couldn't get that money any other way, I'd willingly hold up a +bullion train." + +The girl nodded. For a moment she made no attempt to answer him. She +was gazing out ahead at a point where signs of busy life had made +themselves apparent. Something of the shadow that had been in her eyes +at their meeting had returned. Gordon was watching them, and a quick +concern troubled him. + +"Say," he observed anxiously. "You're--worried. I saw it when I came +up." + +The girl endeavored to pass his inquiry off lightly. + +"Worried?" she shook her head. "The anxieties of the business are on +my poor daddy's shoulders, and will soon be on yours. They're not on +mine." + +But Gordon was not easily put off. He edged his horse closer to her +side. + +"But you _are_ worried," he declared doggedly. Then he added more +lightly, "I'll take a chance on it. It's--a man. And he's got a sort +of whitewash face, and black, shoe-shined hair. He's got a nose you'd +hate to run up against with any vital part. As for his clothes, +well--a blind man would hate to see 'em." + +The girl turned sharply. + +"What makes you think that way?" + +Gordon smiled triumphantly. + +"Guess I've been trying to impress you with the fact that +foolishness--like beauty--is only skin deep. The former applies to me. +The latter--well, I guess I must have just read about--that." + +"If you're not careful you'll convince me," Hazel laughed. + +"That's one of the things I'm yearning to do." + +"You're talking of David Slosson," she challenged him. + +Gordon nodded. + +"The railroad's--chief grafter." + +"And a hateful creature." + +"Who's started right away to--annoy you--from the time he got around +Snake's Fall." + +A great surprise was looking back into Gordon's eyes. + +"You're guessing. You can't know that," Hazel said, with decision. + +"Maybe. Say,"--Gordon's eyes were half serious, half smiling--"a girl +don't push her way past a man when he's talking to her if--he isn't +annoying her." + +"Then you saw him stop me on Main Street yesterday?" + +"Sure." Then, after a pause, Gordon went on, "Say, tell me. We're to +be fellow conspirators." + +Just for one moment Hazel Mallinsbee looked him straight in the eyes. +She was thinking, thinking swiftly. Nor were her thoughts unpleasant. +For one thing she had realized that which Gordon had wished her to +realize--that he was no fool. She was seeing that something in him +which doubtless her father had been quick to discover. She was +thinking, too, of his direct, almost dogged manner of driving home to +the purpose he had in view, and she told herself she liked it. Then, +too, all unconsciously, she was thinking of the open, ingenuous, +smiling face of his. The handsome blue eyes which were certainly his +chief attraction in looks, although his other features were sound +enough. She decided at once that for all these things she liked him +and trusted him. Therefore she admitted her worries. + +"Yes," she said, "it's David Slosson--and your description of him is +too good. He's been here two days. He came here the day before you. +He came out to see father directly he arrived, but, as you know, father +was away. I had to see him. And it wasn't pleasant. Maybe you can +guess his attitude. I don't like to talk of it. He took me for some +silly country girl, I s'pose. Anyway I got rid of him. Then he saw me +yesterday." Suddenly her face flushed, and an angry sparkle shone in +her eyes. "His sort ought to be raw-hided," she declared vehemently. +Then, after a pause, in which she choked her anger back, "We got a note +from him this morning to say he'd be along this afternoon. Father's +going to see him. And I was scared to death you wouldn't get along in +time. That's why I was waiting ready for you, and hustled you off +without seeing father. I was scared the man would get around before we +were away. I haven't said a word to my daddy. You see he'd kill him," +she finished up, with a whimsical little smile. + +Gordon was gazing out ahead at the great coal workings they were now +approaching. But though he beheld a small village of buildings, and an +astonishing activity of human beings and machinery, for the time, at +least, they had no interest for him. + +"I knew I was up against that man directly I saw him peeking into that +store after you," he said deliberately. "Miss Mallinsbee, I'm going to +ask you all sorts of a big favor. We three are going to work together +for six months. Well, any time you feel worried any by that feller, +don't go to your daddy, just come right along to me. I guess it would +puzzle more than your daddy to kill him after I've done with him. I +don't guess it's the time to talk a lot about this thing now. I don't +sort of fancy big talk that way, anyhow. All I ask you is to let me +know, and to be allowed to keep my own eyes on him." + +Hazel shook her head. + +"I don't think I can promise you anything like that," she said +seriously. "But I--thank you all the same. You see, out here a girl's +got to take her own chances, and I'm not altogether helpless that way." +Then she definitely changed the subject and pointed ahead. "There, +what do you think of it?" + +"Think of it? Why, he's a low down skunk!" cried Gordon fiercely, +unable any longer to restrain his feelings. + +"I wasn't speaking of him. It!" the girl laughed. "The coalpits." + +"Oh!" There was no responsive laugh from Gordon. Then he added with +angry pretense of enjoyment, "Fine!" + +For nearly two hours they wandered round the embryonic coal village, +examining everything in detail, and not without a keen interest. The +place, hidden away amongst the higher foothills, was a perfect hive of +industry. Great masses of machinery were lying about everywhere, +waiting their turn for the attention of the engineers. Wooden +buildings were in the course of construction everywhere. A small army +of miners and their wives and children had already taken up their +abode, and the men were at work with the engineers in the preparatory +borings already in full operation. + +Even to Gordon's unpracticed eye there was little doubt of the accuracy +of the information he had received relating to Snake's Fall. Here +there was everything required to provoke the boom he had been warned +of. Here was an evidence that the boom would be a genuine one built on +the solid basis of great and lasting commercial interest. Long before +they started on their return journey he congratulated himself heartily +upon the accident which had brought him into the midst of such an +enterprise, and thanked his stars for the further chance which had +brought him into contact with the train "sharp," and so with Silas +Mallinsbee. + +It was getting on towards the time for the Mallinsbees' evening meal +when the little frame house once more came within view. There was a +decided charm in its isolation. On all sides were the undulations of +grass which denoted the first steps towards the foothills. There was a +wonderful radiance of summer sheen upon the green world about them, and +the brightness of it all, and the pleasantness, set Gordon thinking of +the pity that all too soon it would be broken up almost entirely by +those black and gloomy signs of man's industry when the resources of +the old world have to be tapped. + +However, he was content enough with the moment. The sky was blue and +radiant, the earth was all so green, and the wide, wide world opened +out before him in whatever direction he chose to gaze. While beside +him, sitting her mare with that confident seat of a perfect horsewoman, +was the most beautiful girl in all the world, a girl in whose +companionship he was to spend the next six months. The gods of Fortune +were very, very good to him, and he smiled as the vision of his +sportsman father flashed through his mind. + +But his moments of pleasant reflection were abruptly cut short. + +Hazel had suddenly raised one pointing arm, and a note of concern was +in her voice. + +"Look," she cried. "Something's--upset my daddy." + +Gordon looked in the direction of the house. + +Silas Mallinsbee was pacing the veranda at a gait that left no doubt in +his mind. It was the agitated walk of a man disturbed. + +"What's the matter?" demanded Gordon, with some concern. + +"It looks like--David Slosson," said Hazel, in a hard voice. + +They rode up in silence, and the girl was the first to reach the ground. + +"Daddy----" she began eagerly. + +But her father cut her short. The flesh-tinted patch, which Gordon had +almost forgotten, which he used to cover his left eye with, was thrust +up absurdly upon his forehead. His heavy brows were drawn together in +an angry frown. His tufty chin beard was aggressively thrust, his two +great hands were stuck in the waist of his trousers, which gave him +further an air of truculence. + +"Say," he cried, his deep, rolling voice now raised to a pitch of +thunder, "it's taken me fifty-six years to come up with what I've been +chasing all my life. Say, I've spent years an' years huntin' around to +find something meaner than a rattlesnake. Guess I come up with him +to-day." + +"David Slosson," cried Hazel, her eyes wide with her anger. + +Her father waved her aside as she came towards him. + +"No, don't you butt in. I've got to let off hot air, or--or--I'll +bust." + +He paced off down the little veranda, and came back again. Then he +stood still, and suddenly brought one great fist down with terrific +force into his other palm. + +"Gee, but it's tough. Say, you ever tried to hold a slimy eel?" he +cried, glaring fiercely into Gordon's questioning eyes. "No? It's a +heap of a dirty and unsatisfact'ry job, but it ain't as dirty as +dealing with Mr. David Slosson, nor half as unsatisfact'ry. You can +stamp your heel on it, and crush it into the ground. With David +Slosson you just got to talk pretty and fence while you know he's got +you beat all along the line, an' all the time you're just needin' to +kill him all to death. Of all the white-livered bums. Say, if only +the good God would push him right into these two hands an' say squeeze +him. Say----" He held out his two clenched fists as though he were +wringing out a sponge. + +Gordon raked his hair with one hand. + +"Do you need to worry that way, Mr. Mallinsbee? I owe him some myself." + +The old man glared for some moments. Then a subtle smile crept into +his eyes. Hazel saw it, and seized the opportunity. + +"Let's get right inside and have food. You can tell us then, Daddy. +You see, Mr. Van Henslaer's one of our confederates now. He's come +along to tell you so." + + +It was with some difficulty that Hazel contrived to pacify her father, +but at last she succeeded in persuading him to partake of the pleasant +meal provided by Hip-Lee. + +Gordon was glad when at last they all sat down. The appetizing smell +of coffee, the delicious plates of cold meats, the glass dishes of +preserves, and steaming hot scones, all these things appealed to the +accumulated appetite consequent upon his ride. + +"Now tell us all about it," Hazel demanded, when the meal was well +under way. + +Old Mallinsbee, still with the absurd eye-shade upon his forehead, had +recovered his humor, and he poured out his story in characteristic +fashion. + +"Wall," he said, "maybe I was hot when you come up. He'd been gone +best part of an hour. During that time I'd been sort of bankin' the +furnaces. Gordon Van Henslaer, my boy, I hate meanness worse 'n any +devil hated holy water. Ther's all sorts of meanness in this world, +and ther' ain't no other word to describe it. Killing can be just +every sort of thing from justifiable homicide down to stringin' up some +black scallywag by the neck for doin' the same things white folks do +an' get off with a caution. The feller that steals ain't always to +blame. As often as not we need to blame the general community. Lyin's +mostly a disease, an' when it ain't I guess it's a sort of aggravated +form of commercial enterprise, or the budding of a great newspaper +faculty. You can find excuse, or other name, fer most every crime of +human nature--'cept meanness. David Slosson is just the chief ancestor +of all meanness, an' when I say that, why--it's some talk. He's here +to put the railroad in on the land scoop, and, in that respect, I guess +he's all I could have expected. We were making elegant talk. Or, I +guess, he was mostly. He said his chiefs had sent him up to see how +the general public could best be served by his road with regard to this +coal boom, and I told him I was dead sure that railroads never failed +in their service of the public. I pointed out I had always observed it. + +"That talk of mine seemed to open up the road for things, and I handed +him a good cigar and pushed a highball his way. Then he made a big +music of railroads in general, and talked so pious that it set me +yearnin' for my bed. Then I got wide awake. Say, I ain't done a heap +in chapel goin' recently, but I've sort of got hazy recollections of +sitting around dozing, while the preacher doped a lot of elegant hot +air about things which kind of upset your notions of life generally. +Then I seem to recollect getting a sack pushed into my face, and I got +visions of the terrible scare of its coming, and the kind of nervous +chase for that quarter that I could have sworn I'd set ready in my +pocket for such an emergency. That's how I felt--nervous. He was +talkin' prices of plots. + +"Wal, I got easy after awhile, and we fixed things elegant. The +railroad was to get a dandy bunch of plots at bedrock prices, if they +built the depot right here at Buffalo Point. And that feller was quick +to see that I was out for the interests of the public, and to make +things easy for the railroad. So he talked pretty. Then--then he +hooked me a 'right.' He asked me plumb out how he stood. I was ready +for him. I said that nothing would suit me better than he should come +in the same way with the railroad." He shook his head regretfully. +"That man hadn't the conscience of a louse. He was yearning for twenty +town plots, in best positions, five of 'em being corner plots, in the +commercial area for--nix! I was feeling as amiable as a she wild-cat, +and I told him there was nothing doing that way. He said he'd hoped +better from my public-spirited remarks. I assured him my public spirit +hadn't changed a cent. He said he was sure it hadn't, and was +astonished what a strong public spirit was shown around the whole of +Snake's Fall. He said that the old town was just the same as Buffalo +Point. They were most anxious to help the railroad out, too. Which, +seeing the depot--the old depot--was already standing there, made it a +cinch for the railroad. They were dead anxious to save the railroad +trouble and expense. I pushed another highball at him, but he guessed +he hadn't a thirst any more, and one cigar was all he ever smoked in an +afternoon. Then he oozed off, and I was glad. I guess homicide has +its drawbacks." + +"High 'graft,'" said Gordon. + +"Maybe it's 'high,'" said Mallinsbee, with a smile in which there was +no mirth. "Guess I wouldn't spell it that way myself. There's just +one thing certain: if my side of the game has to go plumb to hell David +Slosson don't get his graft the way _he_ wants it. And that's what you +and me are up against." + +"And we'll beat him." + +"We got to." + +"You and----" + +"You," cried Mallinsbee, thrusting out a hand towards him across the +table. + +The two men gripped. Gordon had joined the conspirators. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +GORDON MAKES HIS BID FOR FORTUNE + +Gordon's new address was Buffalo Point, and, entering upon his duties, +he felt like some Napoleon of finance about to embark upon a +market-breaking scheme in which the brilliancy of his manipulations +were to shine forth for the illumination of the pages of history, yet +to be written. + +That was how he felt. Those were the feelings of the moment. Later +the burden of his responsibilities obscured the Napoleonic image, and +raised up in his mind a thought as to the wisdom of butting one's head +against a brick wall. + +However, for the time at least the joy of responsibility was +considerable, and the greater joy of the companionship and trust of his +new friends was something which inspired him to great efforts. + +He studied the affairs of Buffalo Point with a care for detail and an +assiduity which quickly became the surprise and delight of Silas +Mallinsbee. He went over every foot of the new township as laid out by +a well-known firm of town planners from New York under Mallinsbee's +orders and under State supervision. He spent one entire day in +studying the drawn plans, and, finally, having committed all the +details to memory, he felt himself equipped to devote his whole +attention to the cajoling of the railroad which was the sum and +substance of their combined efforts. + +In the first week of his occupation he learned many things which had +been obscure. He took the story of Mallinsbee's operations and +examined it closely, discovering in the process that he possessed a +faculty for clear reasoning altogether surprising. Furthermore, he +discovered that Mallinsbee, though possibly unpracticed in the work of +a big financial undertaking, yet possessed all, and more, of the +shrewdness he had vaguely suspected. + +One of the first efforts of the old man had been to secure the interest +of many of the chief traders in the old township of Snake's Fall. Also +that of the Bude and Sideley Coal Company. This had been done very +simply but effectively. After having marked off the town sites he +required for himself he had then offered, and sold, to pretty well +every landowner in Snake's Fall a certain allotment of sites at a +merely nominal fee. This, as the man himself declared in the course of +his story, left Snake's Fall pretty well "not carin' a whoop which way +the old cat jumped." The "cat" in this instance being the railroad. + +In this way direct and active opposition from the landholders of +Snake's Fall was minimized. As he explained, it was "graft," but he +felt that it was justifiable. This left him with the good will of the +citizens and free to act on broader lines. Then he began to pull all +the wires he could command with the coal people, who regarded him in +the friendliest spirit. However, there was difficulty here, though the +difficulty was not insurmountable. Their engineers were at work +already on the plans to be put into almost immediate operation for the +construction of a private track to link up the coalfields with Snake's +Fall. With them it was a question of time. They could not afford +delay, and the exploitation of the new township would mean delay for +them, although they admitted they would be relieved of a great expense +from its proximity to their workings. + +Mallinsbee, after stupendous efforts, and careful negotiations of the +right kind, finally effected a compromise. He was given three months, +of which already one week had elapsed, in which to obtain the definite +assurance that the railroad would accept Buffalo Point as the new city. +In the meantime the coal people's construction would be held up, and +they would assist him with all the influence they could command in +persuading the railroad. This concession was not unaided by +considerable graft, and the graft took the form of an agreement that +Mallinsbee, out of his own pocket, would construct them a coal depot +and yards in conjunction with the railroad, and hand them the titles of +the land necessary for it. + +He had just returned from the east, where he had been in consultation +with the Bude and Sideley people, and with whom he had ratified this +agreement, and, at the same time, the railroad had been induced to move +in the matter. All along he had triumphed through the agency of graft, +and the crowning point of his triumph had been demonstrated in the +arrival at Snake's Fall of Mr. David Slosson. + +Gordon's first impressions of all these things was that Silas +Mallinsbee had contrived with considerable skill, and that all was more +or less plain sailing. All that remained was to go on, with the +grafting hand thrust ready into the pocket for all eventualities, and +he found himself smiling at the thought of his father, and how surely +his own theories of financial undertakings were working out. + +That was his first impression. But it only lasted until he became +aware of those subtleties of human nature lying behind human effort and +intention. He had reckoned without David Slosson, and, more than all, +he had reckoned without Silas Mallinsbee himself. + +During that first week of his new work David Slosson had called at the +office twice. Once he had encountered only Gordon, and Hazel had +arrived during the visit. The second time he had had another interview +with Silas Mallinsbee. It was immediately after that interview that +Gordon gained some appreciation of the point where human psychology +stepped into the arena of commercial competition. + +The revelation came in Silas Mallinsbee's own statement of the result +of that interview. + +"Gordon, my boy," he said. He had quickly abandoned the use of +Gordon's formal address. "If that feller gets around here too frequent +with his blackmail, I'm going to kill him." + +Then he thrust the patch over his left eye high up on to his forehead, +and Gordon realized the angry light shining in the man's eyes. With +one eye covered his face had almost been expressionless. His evident +surprise at this realization did not fail to attract the rancher's +attention. + +His angry eyes softened to a smile of amusement. + +"You're wonderin' 'bout that patch?" he went on. "Wal, when I get up +against a feller who's brighter than I am in a deal, I don't figure to +take chances. Ever played 'draw' with a one-eyed man? No? Wal, I +did--once. An' I ain't recovered from all he taught me yet. He taught +me that two eyes can just about give away double as much as one. +Which, in financial dealings, is quite a piece. I guess that patch has +saved me quite a few dollars in its time. An' it makes me kind of sore +to think I didn't meet that one-eyed 'sharp' earlier in life." + +Gordon nodded as he folded up the plan of the town lying on his desk. + +"You were using it on--Mr. David Slosson. Say, is he smart, or is he +just a--crook?" + +Mallinsbee rose from his chair and moved cumbersomely over to the +doorway, and stood with his back turned, gazing out. + +"I ain't fixed him that way--yet. He's sure a crook, anyway. That's a +cinch. 'Bout the other we'll know later. Say, I'm open to graft +anybody on this thing--reasonably. It's part of the game. It's more. +It's the game itself. But I don't submit to blackmail." + +"There doesn't seem much difference," said Gordon, drawing some +letter-paper towards him, and preparing to write. + +The other remained where he was, moodily gazing out at the hills where +his beloved ranch lay. + +"You'd think not--but there is," Mallinsbee went on. "You graft an +organization when you're needin' something from them which they ain't +under obligation to themselves to do. That's buying and selling, and, +as things go, there ain't much kick coming. But when you've done that, +and their favor's fixed right, it's blackmail if their servants come +along and refuse to carry out their work if you don't pay _their_ +price. This feller Slosson is a servant of the railroad. I'm ready to +graft all they need. He's out for blackmail. That feller wants to be +paid something for nothing. He don't do a thing for us. He's got to +do the work I'm paying the railroad for. See? Say, Gordon, boy, +happen what likes I won't do it. That feller don't make one cent out +of me. I'm on the buck, an' I don't care a curse." + +Mallinsbee had turned about to deliver his irrevocable decision, and, +as Gordon met the man's serious, obstinate expression, he realized +something of the psychology lying behind a big financial transaction. + +If Slosson had been a man of reasonable grafting disposition, if he had +been a pleasant, amiable personality, if he had been a--man, if Silas +Mallinsbee had been used to affairs such as his father dealt +in--well--. But it was useless to speculate further. He only saw a +troublous situation growing up for him to contend with. + +"We've got to get him playing our game," he hazarded. + +"That we'll never do. We're playing a straight bid for a win. He +couldn't play a straight bid for anything." + +"No." There was a great cordiality in Gordon's negative. + +"It's us who've got to play him--someways." + +"It's some proposition," mused Gordon. + +"It surely is. There's ways." Mallinsbee laughed shortly. "Maybe +I'll hand him over to Hazel." Then he gave another short laugh. +"Guess the ranch 'll interest him some--too." + +Gordon's eyes lit apprehensively. + +"I wouldn't do that," he said almost sharply. + +Mallinsbee faced about. + +"Why not? Hazel's a bright girl. She's as wise as any two men. A +crook don't worry her a thing." + +"I guess all that's right enough. But--she's a girl, and--I don't seem +to feel it's fair to her." + +Mallinsbee remained silent for some moments. Gordon watched the broad +back of the great, lolling figure in the doorway with an alarm he would +not have displayed had he been facing him. Then the sound of +clattering hoofs outside broke up the silence and the old man turned. + +"Here she is," he cried, with a shadowy smile. "Guess she can speak +for herself." + +Gordon could have cursed the luck that had brought the girl there at +that moment. He understood the depth of her devotion to her father and +his enterprise. Nothing could have been less opportune. + +But, in a moment, his annoyance became lost in his delight at the sound +of her cheery greeting. + +"Hello, Daddy," he heard her call out. + +Gordon remained where he was, waiting to feast his eyes upon the fresh +beauty of this girl, who occupied so large a portion of his thoughts. + +Her father stood aside to allow her to pass in, and Gordon had his +reward in her radiant smile. + +"How's our junior partner?" she cried gayly. + +"Feeling just about ready to turn the office into a twelve-foot ring +and--hurt somebody," the junior partner retorted quickly. + +Hazel pulled a long face. + +"Is it that way?" she demanded, and turned back to her father. Then +she added playfully: "What's ruffled the atmosphere of our--dovecote?" + +The old man began to chuckle. + +"Dovecote?" he said. "Guess armed fortress comes nearer describing +this lay out. Anyway the temper of its occupants," he added, his +twinkling eyes on the determined features of his protégé. "Guess I'll +get goin' out to the ranch while you two scrap things out. Seems to me +I need to get the cobwebs of David Slosson out of my head." + +He took his departure without haste, but with the obvious intention of +avoiding any further discussion of David Slosson for the present. And +Gordon was not sorry for his going. He felt that at all costs his +suggestion that Hazel should take her place in the ring with this man +Slosson was not to be thought of. + +But he was reckoning without Hazel herself. He was calculating with +all a man's--a young man's--assurance that this girl would regard his +opinions in the light he regarded them himself. + +Hazel sat herself upon the edge of his desk, and flicked the rawhide +quirt against the leg of her top boot. Her prairie hat was thrust back +from her forehead, and her pretty tanned face was turned in a smiling +inquiry upon Gordon. + +"What is it?" she asked, with that new alertness the man had come to +regard as a part of her nature, second only to her delightful +camaraderie. + +He smiled back into her merry eyes. + +"I'm wondering why two men bent on a joint purpose can't see the same +thing in the same light." + +"Which means you and my daddy have already started an argument which +I'll have to settle." + +Gordon laughed. + +"Guess you'll settle it, though--there's no need." + +"Why not? If you can't agree?" + +"We do agree." + +"Then where's the argument?" + +"There isn't one." + +Hazel began to laugh. + +"Why did you say there was?" + +"I didn't. It was you who said that." + +Hazel's smile had died away. + +"It's Slosson, of course," she said decidedly. And Gordon began to +wish she were not so clearsighted, nor so direct in her challenges. + +"Oh, he's a constant thorn," he said evasively. + +"Has he been here to-day?" + +Gordon nodded. + +"And the result?" + +"Your father is--obdurate. Says he won't submit to blackmail." + +"Has Slosson abated his terms?" + +"I don't think so." + +Hazel rose quickly from her seat on the desk. She walked slowly across +the room and propped herself in the doorway, in precisely the same +position as her father had occupied. Gordon's eyes watched her every +movement. He knew she was considering deeply, and intuition warned him +that the result of her consideration might easily conflict with that +which he had in his mind. But he was not prepared for the announcement +which came a moment later. + +She came back to the desk quickly, and took up her old place on it. +Her pretty lips were firmly set, and she gazed soberly and +unflinchingly down into Gordon's apprehensive blue eyes. + +"I shall have to deal with David Slosson," she said quietly. Then, +with a light, expressive shrug: "It won't be pleasant--not by quite a +lot. But--it's got to be done, and done quickly. Father won't give +way, so--he must." + +But, in a moment, Gordon's protest came with all the enthusiasm of his +impulsive nature. To think of this beautiful child having to defile +herself by cajoling a creature like this Slosson moved him to a pitch +of distraction. Whatever else he did not know, he knew the meaning of +expression when men gaze at women. And he had not forgotten his first +morning in Snake's Fall. + +"Miss Mallinsbee," he cried, his big body leaning forward in his +earnestness, and all his feelings displayed in his ingenuous face, "I'd +rather let this thing go plumb smash than that you should be brought +into contact with that filthy scum again. Say, you're too young, and +good, to understand such creatures. I know----" + +Hazel was smiling whimsically down into his anxious eyes. + +"And you're so old and wise you can see plumb through him," she cried. +Then with an exact reproduction of his manner, she leaned forward so +that their faces were within a foot of each other. "You two Solomons +can't deal with him worth two cents. My daddy's too obstinate, and +you--are too prejudiced. He's got to be dealt with, and I'm going to +do it. In a case like this a girl's wiser than any two men." + +"That's--just how your father argued," cried Gordon, in exasperation. +And the next moment he could have bitten off his tongue. + +Hazel clapped her hands. + +"So that was the argument," she cried delightedly. "My daddy in his +wisdom thought of me, and you--you being just a big, big chivalrous boy +with notions, couldn't see the same way." + +Then she sat up, and her eyes grew very serious. That which lay behind +them was completely hidden from her companion, as she intended it to be. + +Had it been possible for him to have read her approval of himself in +her attitude, he now made it beyond question by the sudden wave of heat +which swept through his heart. + +"I tell you, you've no right to sacrifice yourself," he cried hotly. +"Nor has your father----" + +"No right? Sacrifice?" Hazel's eyes opened wide, and in their +beautiful depths a sparkle of resentment shone. "Who says that?" she +demanded. Then in a moment her merry thought banished the clouds of +her displeasure. She began to tease. "Why shouldn't I do this? Say, +you've roused my curiosity. What's the danger? I--I just love danger. +What is the danger I'm running?" + +But Gordon's sense of humor was unequal to her teasing on such a +subject. He remained sulkily silent. + +"I'm waiting," Hazel urged slyly. + +Gordon cleared his throat. He glanced up at her a little helplessly. +Their eyes met, and somehow he caught the infection of her lurking +smile. + +He was forced to laugh in spite of himself. + +"If--if you don't know, it's not for me to say," he cried at last, with +a shrug. "But I tell you, right here, if you were my sister you +wouldn't go near Slosson, if I had to--to chain you up." + +"But I'm not your sister," retorted Hazel, with her dazzling smile. +"And, if I were, I shouldn't be a sister of yours if I didn't." Then +she laughed at herself. "Say, isn't that real bright?" Then with a +great pretense at severity she flourished an admonitory finger at him. +"Gordon Van Henslaer," she said solemnly, "you're just as obstinate as +my daddy, but you haven't got his wisdom." Her pretense passed and she +became suddenly very earnest. "This thing is just all the world to my +daddy," she said, "and I can help him. Wouldn't you help him if you +had such a dear, quaint old daddy as I have? I'm sure you would. What +does it matter to me what I may have to put up with if I can help him +out? True, it doesn't matter a thing. Insults? Why, I'll just deal +with them as they come along." Then her mood lightened. "Say, we're +just two real good friends, Mr. Van Henslaer, aren't we? Friends. +It's got a bully sound. That's just how my daddy and I've been ever +since my poor momma died years and years ago. Heigho!" she sighed. +"And now I've got another friend, and that's you. Say, we're always +going to be friends, too, because you're going to understand that +this--this thing is business, and business isn't play. My daddy wants +to make good, and I'm going to do all I know. And," she added slyly, +"that's quite a lot. Do you know, in this thing I'm dead honest when +I'm dealing with honest folk, and I'm a 'sharp' when I'm dealing with +'sharps'? By that I just mean I'm not scared of a thing. Certainly of +nothing Mr. David Slosson can do. My daddy can trust me, and he's +known me all my life. You've only known me a week, but you can trust +me too. I'm out to help things along, so just let's forget this--this +talk." + +Gordon's admiration for the girl was so obvious that no words of his +were necessary to illuminate it, but he shook his head seriously as she +finished speaking. + +"I just can't help it, Miss Mallinsbee," he said, a little desperately. +"If anything happened to you I'd never forgive myself. What do you +mean to do?" + +Hazel smiled at his manner. Her smile was confident, but it was also +an expression of her regard for him. She had no intention of modifying +her decision, but she liked him for his dogged protest. + +"You just leave that to me," she cried buoyantly. "I haven't an idea +in my silly head--yet. All I can say is, David Slosson is to be +encouraged. He's to be flattered. I'm going to make him smile real +prettily with that mealy face of his. Guess I'll have to take him out +rides--but I'll promise you it won't be my fault if he don't break his +wicked neck." + +Gordon was forced to join in the girl's infectious laugh, but it was +without enjoyment. To think of this man riding at Hazel's side, +basking in her smiles, enjoying her company just when and where he +pleased. The thought was maddening. And it set his fingers tingling +and itching to possess themselves of his throat and squeeze the life +out of him. + +"And how long's this to go on for?" he asked sulkily, in spite of his +laugh. + +Hazel's eyes opened wide. + +"Why--until he weakens, and we get things fixed." + +"And if he beats your game?" + +"He'll hate himself first, and then we'll have to reorganize our plans." + +"Then I guess I'll get busy on the other plans." + +"I shall be beaten?" + +Gordon glanced away towards the window. His eyes had become reflective. + +"It's the only thing I can see," he said slowly. "He'll finish by +insulting you. I know his kind. He'll insult you, sure. And I--well, +I shall just as surely pretty near kill him. And then we'll need +other--plans." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +HAZEL MALLINSBEE'S CAMPAIGN + +The seductive mystery of the hills was beyond all words. A wonderful +outlook of wide valleys, bounded in almost every direction by the vast +incline of wood-clad hills, opened out a world that seemed to terminate +abruptly everywhere, yet to go on and on in an endless series of great +green valleys and mountain streams. Darkling wood-belts crept up the +great hillsides, deep in mysterious shadows, stirring imagination, and +carrying it back to all those haunting dreams of early childhood. For +the most part these were all untrodden by human foot, and so their +mystery deepened. Then above, often penetrating into the low-lying +clouds, the crowning glory of alabaster peaks whose snowy sheen dazed +the wondering eyes raised towards them. + +In the valleys below, the green, the wonderful green, bright and +delicate, and quite unfaded by the scorching sun of the prairie away +beyond. Pastures beyond the dreams of all animal imagination in their +humid richness. Water, too, and low, broken scrubs and woodland +bluffs--one vast panorama of verdant beauty, such as only the eye of an +artist or the heart of a ranchman could appreciate. + +It was the setting of Silas Mallinsbee's ranch, that ranch which was +more to him than all the world, except his motherless daughter. Gordon +had seen it all as he rode out to spend the week-end on a ranch horse, +placed by Mallinsbee at his disposal. He had marveled then at the +delights spread out before his eyes. Now, on the Sunday morning, while +he awaited breakfast, he wondered still more as he examined, even more +closely, that wealth of natural splendor spread out for his delight. + +He was lounging on the deep sun-sheltered veranda which faced the +south. The ranch house was perched high up on the southern slope of +one of the lesser hills. Above him the gentle morning breeze sighed in +the rustling tree-tops of a great crowning woodland. Below him, and +all around him, were the widespreading buildings and corrals of a great +ranching enterprise. It seemed incredible to him that within twenty +miles of him, away to the east, there could exist so mundane and sordid +an undertaking as the Bude and Sideley Coal Company, and the vicious +chorus of ground sharks which haunted Snake's Fall. He felt as though +he were gazing out upon some enchanted valley of dreamland, where the +soft breezes and glinting sunlight possessed a magic to rest the +teeming energy of modern highly tuned brain and nerves. + +Its seductiveness lulled him to a profound meditation, and into his +dreaming stole the figure of the mistress of these miles of perfect +beauty. Now he had some understanding of that fascinating buoyancy of +spirit, the simple devotion with which she contemplated the life that +claimed her. How could it be otherwise? Here was nature in all its +wonders of simplicity, shedding upon the life sheltering at its bosom +an equal simplicity, an equal strength, an equal singleness of mind +with which it was itself endowed. He felt that if he, too, had been +brought up in such surroundings no city flesh-pots could ever have +offered him any fascination. He, too, must have felt that this--this +alone was the real life of man. + +The play of the dancing sunlight through the distant trees held his +gaze. He forgot to smoke, he forgot everything except the beauty about +him, the stirring ranch life below him, and the girl whose fascination +was daily possessing a greater and greater hold upon him. + +Then, quite gently, something else subtly merged itself with the +pleasant tide of his meditations. It was the deep note of a voice +which came from close beside him in a rolling bass that afforded no jar. + +"A picture that's mighty hard to beat," it said. + +Gordon nodded without turning. + +"Sure." + +"Kind of holds you till you wonder why folks ever build cities and +things." + +"Sure." + +"There ain't a muck hole in miles and miles around that you could fall +into, and not come out of with a clean conscience an' a wholesome mind. +Kind of different to a city." + +Gordon stirred. He turned and looked into Silas Mallinsbee's smiling +eyes. + +"It's--all yours?" he inquired. + +"For miles an' miles around. I got nigh a hundred miles of grazing in +these hills--and nobody else don't seem to want it. Makes you wonder." + +Gordon laughed. + +"Say, set a spade into the ground and find a marketable mineral and +tell somebody. Then see." + +Mallinsbee chewed an unlit cigar, and his chin beard twisted absurdly. + +"That's it," he said slowly. "There's nothing to these hills as they +are, except to a cattleman, I guess. Cattle don't suit the modern man. +Your profitable crop's a three years' waiting, and that don't mean a +thing to folk nowadays, except a dead loss of time on the round-up of +dollars. They don't figure that once you're good and going that three +years' crop comes around once every year. So they miss a deal." + +"Yes, they'd reckon it slow, I guess," Gordon agreed. "But," he went +on with enthusiasm, "the life of it. The air." He took a deep breath +of the sparkling mountain atmosphere. "It's champagne. The champagne +of life. Say, it's good to be alive in such a place. And you," he +gazed inquiringly into the man's strong face, "you began it from--the +beginning?" + +"I built the first ranch house with my own hands. My old wife an' I +built up this ranch and ran it. And now it's rich and big--she's gone. +She never saw it win out. Hazel's took her place, and it's been for +her to see it grow to what it is. She helped me ship my first single +year's crop of twenty thousand beeves to the market ten years ago. She +was a small kiddie then, and she cried her pretty eyes out when I told +her they were going to the slaughter yards of Chicago. You see, she'd +known most of 'em as calves." + +"The work of it must be enormous," meditated Gordon, after a pause in +which he had pictured that small child weeping over her lost calves. + +"So," rumbled Mallinsbee. "We're used to it. I run thirty boys all +the year round, and more at round-up. Guess if I was missing Hazel +wouldn't be at a loss to carry on. She's a great ranchman. She knows +it all." + +"Wonderful," Gordon cried in admiration. "It's staggering to think of +a girl like that handling this great concern." + +"There's two foremen, though. They've been with us years," said the +other simply. + +But Gordon's wonder remained no less, and Mallinsbee went on-- + +"After breakfast we'll take a gun and get up into those woods yonder. +Maybe we'll put up a jack rabbit, or a blacktail deer. Anyway, I guess +there's always a bunch of prairie chicken around." + +"Fine," cried Gordon, all his sporting instincts banishing every other +thought. "Which----" + +But Hazel's voice interrupted him, summoning them both to breakfast. + +"Come along, folks," she cried, "or the coffee 'll be cold." + +The men hurried into the house. Gordon felt that there was nothing and +no power on earth that could keep him from his breakfast in that +delicious mountain air, with Hazel for his hostess. + +The meal was all he anticipated. Simple, ample, wholesome country +fare, with the accompaniment of perfect cooking. He ate with an +appetite that set Hazel's merry eyes dancing, and her tongue +accompanying them with an equally merry banter. And all the time Silas +Mallinsbee looked on, and smiled, and rumbled an occasional remark. + +After breakfast the two men set out with their guns. + +"We're sure making Sunday service," said Hazel's father, glancing into +the breech of his favorite gun. + +Gordon concurred. + +"Up in the woods there," he laughed. + +"With a congregation of fur and feather," laughed Hazel. + +"Which is as wholesome as petticoats an' swallowtails," said her +father, "an' a good deal more healthy fer our bodies." + +"But what about your souls?" inquired Hazel slyly. + +"Souls?" Her father snapped the breech closed. "A soul's like a good +sailin' ship. If she's driving on a lee shore it's through bad +seamanship and the winds of heaven, and you can't save it anyway. If +she ain't driving on a lee shore--well, I don't guess she needs saving." + +"It's a great big scallywag," came through the open doorway after them, +as they departed. The tenderness and affection in the manner of the +girl's parting words made Gordon feel that his great host had some +compensation for the absence of that mother who had blessed him with +such a pledge of their love. + + +The two men were returning with their bag. It was not extensive, but +it was select. A small blacktail was lying across Mallinsbee's broad +shoulders. Gordon was carrying a large jack-rabbit, and several brace +of prairie chicken. The younger man was enthusiastic over their sport. + +"Talk to me of a city! Why, I could do this twice a day and every day, +till I was blind and silly, and deaf and dumb. I sort of feel life +don't begin to tell you things till you get out in the open, at the +right end of a gun. Makes you feel sorry for the fellows chasing +dollars in a city." + +They were approaching the limits of a woodland bluff, from the edge of +which the ranch would be in view. + +"Guess that's how I've always felt--till little Hazel got without a +mother," replied Mallinsbee. "After that--well, I just guess I needed +other things to fill up spare thoughts." + +Gordon's enthusiasm promptly lessened out of sympathy. Something of +the loneliness of the ranch life--when one of the partners was +taken--now occurred to him. + +"Yes," he said earnestly, "the right woman's just the whole of a man's +world. I guess there are circumstances when--this sun don't shine so +bright. When a man feels something of the vastness and solitude of +these hills, when their mystery sort of gets hold of him. I can get +that--sure." + +"Yep. It's just about then when a bit of coal makes all the +difference," Mallinsbee smiled. "I wouldn't just call coal the gayest +thing in life. But it's got its uses. When the summer's past, why, I +guess the stoves of winter need banking." + +Gordon nodded his understanding. + +"But your daughter is just crazy on this life," he suggested. + +The old man's smile had passed. + +"Sure." Then he sighed. "She's been my partner ever since, sort of +junior partner. But sometime she 'll be--going." Then his slow smile +crept back into his eyes. "Then it'll be winter all the time. Then +it'll have to be coal, an' again coal--right along." + +They emerged from the woods, and instinctively Gordon gazed across at +the distant ranch. In a moment he was standing stock still staring +across the valley. And swiftly there leaped into his eyes a dangerous +light. Mallinsbee halted, too. He shaded his eyes, and an ominous +cloud settled upon his heavy brows. + +"Some one driven out," he muttered, examining narrowly a team and buggy +standing at the veranda. + +Gordon emitted a sound that was like a laugh, but had no mirth in it. + +"It's a man, and he's talking to Miss Mallinsbee on the veranda. It +don't take me guessing his identity. That suit's fixed right on my +mind." + +"David Slosson," muttered Mallinsbee, and he hurried on at an increased +pace. + + +It was after the midday dinner which David Slosson had shared with them. + +When her father and Gordon arrived, and before objection could be +offered by anybody, Hazel asked her uninvited guest to stay to dinner. +David Slosson, without the least hesitation, accepted the invitation. +In this manner all opposition from her father was discounted, all +display of either man's displeasure avoided. She contrived, with +subtle feminine wit, to twist the situation to the ends she had in +view. She disliked the visitor intensely. The part she had decided to +play troubled her, but she meant to carry it through whatever it cost +her, and she felt that an opportunity like the present was not to be +missed. + +Her father accepted the cue he was offered, but Gordon was obsessed +with murderous thoughts which certainly Hazel read, even in the smile +with which he greeted the man he had decided was to be his enemy. + +To Gordon, David Slosson was even more detestable socially than in +business. Here his obvious vulgarity and commonness had no opportunity +of disguise. He displayed it in the very explanation of his visit. + +"Say," he cried, "Snake's Fall is just the bummest location this side +of the Sahara on a Sunday. I was lyin' around the hotel with a grouch +on I couldn't have scotched with a dozen highballs. I was hatin' +myself that bad I got right up an' hired a team and drove along out +here on the off-chance of hitting up against some one interestin'." +Then he added, with a glance at Hazel, which Gordon would willingly +have slain him for: "Guess I hit." + +This was on the veranda. But later, throughout the meal, his offenses, +in Gordon's eyes, mounted up and up, till the tally nearly reached the +breaking strain. + +The man put himself at his ease to his own satisfaction from the start. +He addressed all his talk either to Hazel or to her father, and, by +ignoring Gordon almost entirely, displayed the fact that antagonism was +mutual. + +He criticised everything he saw about him, from the simple furnishing +of the room in which they were dining, and the food they were partaking +of, and its cooking, even to the riding-costume Hazel was wearing. He +lost no opportunity of comparing unfavorably the life on the ranch, the +life, as he put it, to which her father condemned Hazel, with the life +of the cities he knew and had lived in. He passed from one rudeness to +another under the firm conviction that he was making an impression upon +this flower of the plains. The men mattered nothing to him. As far as +Mallinsbee was concerned, he felt he held him in the palm of his hand. + +Never in his life had Gordon undergone such an ordeal as that meal, +which he had so looked forward to, in the pleasant company of father +and daughter. Never had he known before the real meaning of +self-restraint. More than all it was made harder by the fact that he +felt Hazel was aware of something of his feelings. And the certainty +that her father understood was made plain by the amused twinkle of his +eyes when they were turned in his direction. + +Then came the _dénouement_. It was at the finish of the meal that +Hazel launched her bombshell. Slosson, in a long, coarse disquisition +upon ranching, had been displaying his most perfect ignorance and +conceit. He finished up with the definite statement that ranching was +done, "busted." He knew. He had seen. There was nothing in it. Only +in grain or mixed farming. He had had wide experience on the prairie, +and you couldn't teach him a thing. + +"You must let me show you how fallible is your opinion," said Hazel, +with more politeness of language than intent. There was a subtle +sparkle in her eyes which Gordon was rejoiced to detect. "Let me see," +she went on, "it's light till nearly nine o'clock. You see, I mustn't +keep you driving on the prairie after dark for fear of losing +yourself." She laughed. "Now, I'll lend you a saddle horse--if you +can ride," she went on demurely, "and we'll ride round the range till +supper. That'll leave you ample time to get back to Snake's Fall +without losing yourself in the dark." + +Gordon wanted to laugh, but forced himself to refrain. Mallinsbee +audibly chuckled. David Slosson looked sharply at Hazel with his +narrow black eyes, and his face went scarlet. Then he forced a +boisterous laugh. + +"Say, that's a bet, Miss Hazel," he cried familiarly. "If you can lose +me out on the prairie you're welcome, and when it comes to the saddle, +why, I guess I can ride anything with hair on." + +"Better let him have my plug, Sunset," suggested Mallinsbee gutturally. + +But Hazel's eyes opened wide. She shook her head. + +"I wouldn't insult a man of Mr. Slosson's experience by offering him a +cushy old thing like Sunset," she expostulated. Then she turned to +Slosson. "Sunset's a rocking-horse," she explained. "Now, there's a +dandy three-year-old I've just finished breaking in the barn. He's a +lifey boy. Wouldn't you rather have him?" she inquired wickedly. + +Slosson's inclination was obvious. He would have preferred Sunset. +But he couldn't take a bluff from a prairie girl, he told himself. +Forthwith he promptly demanded the three-year-old, and his demand +elicited the first genuine smile Gordon had been able to muster since +he had become aware of Slosson's presence on the ranch. + +Within half an hour one of the ranch hands brought the two horses to +the veranda. Hazel's mare, keen-eyed, alert and full of life, was a +picture for the eye of a horseman. The other horse, shy and wild-eyed, +was a picture also, but a picture of quite a different type. + +Hazel glanced keenly round the saddle of the youngster. Then she +approached Slosson, who was stroking his black mustache pensively on +the veranda, and looked up at him with her sweetest smile. + +"Shall I get on him first?" she inquired. "Maybe he'll cat jump some. +He's pretty lifey. I'd hate him to pitch you." + +But to his credit it must be said that Slosson possessed the courage of +his bluff. With a half-angry gesture he left the veranda and took the +horse from the grinning, bechapped ranchman. He knew now that he was +being "jollied." + +"Guess you can't scare me that way, Miss Hazel," he cried, but there +was no mirth in the harsh laugh that accompanied his words. + +He was in the saddle in a trice, and, almost as quickly, he was very +nearly out of it. That cat jump had come on the instant. + +"Stick to him," Hazel cried. + +And David Slosson did his best. He caught hold of the horn of the +saddle, his heels went into the horse's sides, and, in two seconds, his +attitude was much that of a shipwrecked mariner trying to balance on a +barrel in a stormy sea. But he stuck to the saddle, although so nearly +wrecked, and though the terrified horse gave a pretty display of +bucking, it could not shed its unwelcome burden. So, in a few moments, +it abandoned its attempt. + +Then David Slosson sat up in triumph, and his vanity shone forth upon +his pale face in a beaming smile. + +"He's some horseman," rumbled Mallinsbee, loud enough for Slosson to +hear as the horses went off. + +"Quite," returned Gordon, in a still louder voice. "If there's one +thing I like to see it's a fine exhibition of horsemanship." + +Then as the horses started at a headlong gallop down towards the +valley, the two men left behind turned to each other with a laugh. + +"He called Hazel's bluff," said the girl's father, with a wry thrust of +his chin beard. + +"Which makes it all the more pleasant to think of the time when my turn +comes," said Gordon sharply. + + +David Slosson was more than pleased with himself. He was so delighted +that, by a miraculous effort, he had stuck to his horse, that his +vanity completely ran away with him. He would show this girl and her +mossback father. They wanted to "jolly" him. Well, let them keep +trying. + +Once the horses had started he gave his its head, and set it at a hard +gallop. He turned in the saddle with a challenge to his companion. + +"Let's have a run for it," he cried. + +The girl laughed back at him. + +"Where you go I'll follow," she cried. + +Her words were well calculated. The light of vainglory was in the +man's eyes, and he hammered his heels into his horse's flanks till it +was racing headlong. But Hazel's mare was at his shoulder, striding +along with perfect confidence and controlled under hands equally +perfect. + +"We'll go along this valley and I'll show you our next year's crop of +beeves," cried Hazel, later. "They're away yonder, beyond that +southern hill, guess we'll find half of them around there. You said +ranching was played out, I think." + +"Right ho," cried the man, with a sneering laugh. "Guess you'll need +to convince me. Say, this is some hoss." + +"Useful," admitted Hazel, watching with distressed eyes the man's +lumbering seat in the saddle. + +They rode on for some moments in silence. Then Hazel eased her hand +upon the Lady Jane, and drew up on the youngster like a shot from a gun. + +"We'll have to get across this stream," she declared, indicating the +six-foot stream along which they were riding. "There's a cattle bridge +lower down which you'd better take. There it is, away on. Guess you +can see it from here." + +"What are you goin' to do?" asked the man sharply. He was expecting +another bluff, and was in the right mood to call it, since his success +with the first. + +But Hazel had calculated things to a nicety. She owed this man a good +deal already for herself. She owed him more for his impertinent +ignoring of Gordon, and also for his disparagement of the ranch life +she loved. + +Without a word she swung her mare sharply to the left. A dozen +strides, a gazelle-like lifting of the round, brown body, and the Lady +Jane was on the opposite bank of the stream. + +Before David Slosson was aware of her purpose, and its accomplishment, +his racing horse, still uneducated of mouth, had carried him thirty or +forty yards beyond the spot where Hazel had jumped the stream. At +length, however, he contrived to pull the youngster up. + +He smiled as he saw the girl on the other side of the stream. He +remembered her suggestion of the bridge, and he shut his teeth with a +snap. The stream was narrower here, so he had an advantage which, he +believed, she had miscalculated. He took his horse back some distance +and galloped at the stream. Hazel sat watching him with a smile, just +beyond where he should land. His horse shuffled its feet as it came up +to the bank. Then it lifted. Slosson clung to the horn of the saddle. +Then the horse landed, stumbled, fell, hurling its rider headlong in a +perfect quagmire of swamp. + +Slosson gathered himself up, a mass of mud and pretty well wet through. +Hazel was out of the saddle in a moment and offering him assistance +with every expression of concern. She came to the edge of the swamp +and reached out her quirt. The man ignored it. He ignored her, and +scrambled to dry ground without assistance. + +"I told you to take the bridge," Hazel cried shamelessly. "You knew +you were on a young horse. Oh dear, dear! What a terrible muss you're +in. My, but my daddy will be angry with me for--for letting this +happen." + +Her apparently genuine concern slightly mollified the man. + +"I thought you were putting up another bluff at me, Miss Hazel," he +said, still angrily. "Say, you best quit bluffing me. I don't take +'em from anybody." + +"Bluff? Why, Mr. Slosson, I couldn't bluff you. I--I warned you. +Same as I did about the cat-jumping your horse put up. Say, this is +just dreadful. We'll have to get right back, and get you dried out and +cleaned. I guess that horse is too young for a--city man. I ought to +have given you Sunset. He'd have jumped that stream a mile--if you +wanted him to. Say--there, I'll have to round up your horse, he's +making for home." + +In a moment Hazel was in the saddle again, and the man alternately +watched her and scraped the thick mud off his clothes. + +He was decidedly angry. His pride was outraged. But even these things +began to pass as he noted the ease and skill with which she rounded up +the runaway horse. She was doing all she could to help him out, and +the fact helped to further mollify him. After all, she _had_ warned +him to take the bridge. Perhaps he had been too ready to see a bluff +in what she had suggested. After all, why should she attempt to bluff +him? He remembered how powerful he was to affect her father's +interests, and took comfort from it. + +She came back with the horse and dismounted. + +"Say," she cried, in dismay, "that dandy suit of yours. It's all +mussed to death. I'm real sorry, Mr. Slosson. My word, won't my daddy +be angry." + +The man began to smile under the girl's evident distress, and, his +temper recovered, his peculiar nature promptly reasserted itself. + +"Say, Miss Hazel--oh, hang the 'miss.' You owe me something for this, +you do, an' I don't let folks owe me things long." + +"Owe?" Hazel's face was blankly astonished. + +"Sure." The man eyed her in an unmistakable fashion. + +Suddenly the girl began to laugh. She pointed at him. + +"Guess we'll need to get you home and cleaned down some before we talk +of anything else I owe. That surely is something I owe you. Here, you +get up into the saddle. I'll hold your horse, he's a bit scared. +We'll talk of debts as we ride back." + +But Slosson was in no mood to be denied just now. Although his anger +had abated, he felt that Hazel was not to go free of penalty. He came +to her as though about to take the reins from her hand, but, instead, +he thrust out an arm to seize her by the waist. + +Then it was that a curious thing happened. The young horse suddenly +jumped backwards, dragging the girl with it out of the man's reach. It +had responded to the swift flick of Hazel's quirt, and left the man +without understanding, and his amorous intentions quite unsatisfied. +The next moment the girl was in her own saddle and laughing down at him. + +"I forgot," she cried, "you'd just hate to have your horse held by +a--girl. You best hurry into the saddle, or you'll contract lung +trouble in all that wet." + +Slosson cursed softly. But he knew that she was beyond his reach in +the saddle. A tacit admission that, at least here, on the ranch, she +dominated the situation. + +"And I've never been able to show you those beeves, and convince you +about ranching," Hazel sighed regretfully later on, as they rode back +towards the ranch. But her sigh was sham and her heart was full of +laughter. + +She was thinking of the delight she would witness in Gordon's eyes, +when he beheld the much besmirched suit of this man, to whom he had +taken such a dislike. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THINKING HARD + +The days slipped by with great rapidity. They passed far too rapidly +for Gordon. The expectation of Silas Mallinsbee that David Slosson +would eventually listen to reason, and accept terms for himself similar +to those agreeable to him on behalf of the railroad, showed no sign of +maturing. The firmness of his front in no way seemed to affect the +grafting agent, and from day to day, although the rancher and his +assistant waited patiently for a definite _dénouement_, nothing +occurred to hold out promise one way or another. Mallinsbee said very +little, but he watched events with wide-open eyes, and not altogether +without hope that the man would be brought to reason. His eyes were on +Hazel, smiling appreciation, for Hazel was at work using every art of +which she was capable to frustrate any opposition to her father's +plans, and to help on, as she described it, the "good work." + +"I'm a 'sharper' in this, Mr. Van Henslaer," she declared, in face of +one of Gordon's frequent protests. "I'm no better than David Slosson. +And I--I want you to understand that. I think your ideas of chivalry +are just too sweet, but I want you to look with my eyes. We're a bunch +of most ordinary folk who want to win out. If you and my daddy thought +by burying him, dead or alive, you could beat his hand, why, I guess it +would take an express locomotive to stop you. Well, I'm out to try and +put him out of harm's way in my own fashion. If I can't do it, why, +he'll find I'm not the dandy prairie flower he's figuring I am just +now. That's all. So meanwhile get on with any old plans you can find +up your sleeve. By hook or _crook_ we've _got_ to make good." + +By this expression of the girl's extraordinary determination doubtless +Gordon should have been silenced. But he was not silenced, nor +anything like it. The truth was he was in love--wildly, passionately, +jealously in love. It nearly drove him to distraction to watch the way +in which, almost daily, this man Slosson drove out to see Hazel and +take her out for buggy rides or horse riding. Not only that, he and +her father were practically ignored by the man. They were just so much +furniture in the office, and when by any chance the agent did deign to +notice them there was generally something offensive in his manner of +address. + +Worst of all, as the outcome of Hazel's campaign there were no signs +that matters were one whit advanced towards the successful completion +of their project, and the days had already grown into weeks. All +Gordon could do was to busy himself with formulating wild and +impossible schemes for beating this creature. And a hundred and one +strenuous possibilities occurred to him, all of which, however, offered +no suggestion of bending the man, only of breaking him. The sum and +substance of all his efforts was a deadly yearning to kill David +Slosson, kill him so dead as to spoil forever his chances of +resurrection. + +This was much the position when, nearly three weeks later, in response +to a peremptory note from Slosson in the morning, Silas Mallinsbee +decided that Gordon should deal with him on a business visit in the +afternoon. + +Oh yes, Gordon would interview him. Gordon would deal with him. +Gordon would love it above all things. Was he given a free hand? + +But Mallinsbee smiled into the fiery eyes of the young giant and shook +his head, while Hazel looked on at the brewing storm with inscrutable +eyes of amusement. + +"There's no free hand for anybody in this thing, Gordon, boy," said +Mallinsbee slowly. "And I don't guess there's any crematoriums or +undertakers' corporation around Snake's Fall. Anyway, Hip-Lee wouldn't +do a thing if you asked him to bury a white man." + +"White man?" snorted Gordon furiously. + +"Remember you're--fighting for my daddy as well as yourself, Mr. Van +Henslaer," said Hazel earnestly. + +Gordon sighed. + +"I'll remember," he said. And his two friends knew that the matter was +safe in his hands. + +Left alone in his office, Gordon endured an unpleasant hour after his +dinner. It was not the thoughts of his coming interview that disturbed +him. It was Hazel. It was of her he was always thinking, when not +actually engaged upon any duty. Every day made his thoughts harder to +bear. + +For awhile he sat before his desk, leaning back in his chair, gazing +blankly at the wooden wall opposite him. She was always the same to +him; his worst fits of temper seemed to make no difference. She only +smiled and humored or chided him as though he were some big, wayward +child. Then the next moment she would ride off with this vermin +Slosson, full of merry sallies and smiling graciousness, whom, he knew, +if she had any right feeling at all, she must loathe and despise. +Well, if she did loathe him, she had a curious way of showing it. + +He thrust his chair back with an angry movement, and walked off into +the bedroom opening out of the office. He looked in. The neatness of +it, the scent of fresh air pouring in through its open window, meant +nothing to him. He saw none of the work of the guiding hand which, in +preparing it, had provided for his comfort. Hip-Lee kept it clean and +made his bed, the same as he cooked his food. It did not occur to +Gordon to whom Hip-Lee was responsible. + +There were pictures on the walls, and it never occurred to Gordon that +these had been taken from Hazel's own bedroom at the ranch--for his +enjoyment. Nor was he aware that the shaving-glass and table had been +specially purchased by Hazel for his comfort. There were a dozen and +one little comforts, none of which he realized had been added to the +room since it had been set aside for his use. + +He flung himself upon the bed, all regardless of the lace pillow-sham +which had once had a place on Hazel's own bed. He was in that frame of +mind when he only wanted to get through the hours before Hazel's sunny +presence again returned to the office. He was angry with her. He was +ready to think, did think, the hardest thoughts of her; but he longed, +stupidly, foolishly longed for her return, although he knew that, with +her return, fresh evidence of Slosson's attentions to her and of her +acceptance of them would be forthcoming. + +He was only allowed another ten minutes in which to enjoy his moody +misery. At the end of that time he heard the rattle of wheels beyond +the veranda, and sprang from his couch with the battle light shining in +his eyes. + +But disappointment awaited him. It was not Slosson who presented +himself. It was the altogether cheerful face of Peter McSwain which +appeared at the doorway. + +"Say," he cried. Then he paused and glanced rapidly round the room. +"Ain't Mallinsbee around?" he demanded eagerly. + +Gordon shook his head. + +"Business?" he inquired. "If it's business I'm right here to attend to +it." + +Peter hesitated. + +"I s'pose you'd call it business," he said, after a considering pause, +during which he took careful stock of Mallinsbee's representative. +Then he went on, with a suggestion of doubt in his tone, "You deal with +his business--confidential?" + +Gordon smiled in spite of his recent bitterness. He moved over to his +desk and sat down, at the same time indicating the chair opposite him. +As soon as McSwain had taken his seat Gordon leaned forward, gazing +straight into the man's always hot-looking face. + +"See here, Mr. McSwain, we're at a deadlock for the moment, as maybe +you know. Later it'll straighten itself out. I can speak plainly to +you, because you're a friend of Mr. Mallinsbee, and you're interested +with us in this deal. I'm here to represent Mr. Mallinsbee in +everything, even to dealing with the railroad people, so anything +you've got to say, why, just go ahead. For practical purposes you are +talking to Mr. Mallinsbee." + +The disturbed Peter sighed his relief. + +"I'm glad, because what I've got to say won't keep. If you folks don't +get a cinch on that dago-lookin' Slosson feller the game's up. He's +askin' options up at Snake's. He's not buyin' the land yet, just +lookin' for options. Maybe you know I got two plots on Main Street, +besides my hotel. Well, he's made a bid for options on 'em for two +months. He says other folks are goin' to accept his offer. There's +Mike Callahan, the livery man. Slosson's been gettin' at him, too. +Mike come along and told me, and asked what he should do. I guessed +I'd run out and see Mallinsbee. If ther' ain't anything doin' here at +Buffalo, why, it's up to us to accept." + +The man mopped his forehead with a gorgeous handkerchief. His eyes +were troubled and anxious. He felt he would rather have dealt with +Mallinsbee. This youngster didn't look smart enough to deal with the +situation. + +Gordon was tapping the desk with a penholder. He was thinking very +hard. He knew that the definite movement had come at last, and that it +was adverse to their interests. This was the reply to Mallinsbee's +resolve. For the moment the matter seemed overwhelming. There seemed +to be no counter-move for them to make. Then quite suddenly he +detected a sign of weakness in it. + +"Say," he demanded at last, "why does the man want options? I take it +options are to safeguard him _in case_ he wants to buy. This thing +looks better than I thought. He's guessing he may quarrel with us. +He's thinking maybe we won't come to terms. He's worrying that the +news of that will get around, and that, in consequence, up will go +prices in Snake's. That'll mean the railroad 'll have to pay through +the nose, and he'll get into trouble if they have to buy up there. You +see, the bedrock of this layout is--this place has to boom anyway, and +they've got to get in either here or at Snake's." + +Peter rubbed his hands. His opinion of Gordon began to undergo +revision. + +"Then what are we to do?" The anxiety in his eyes was lessening. + +Gordon sprang from his seat, and brought one hand down on his desk with +a slam. + +"Do? Why, let him go to hell. Refuse him any option," he cried +fiercely. "Here, I'll tell you what you do. And do it right away. +How do you stand with the folks up there?" + +"Good. They mostly listen when I talk," said Peter, with some pride. + +"Fine!" cried Gordon. "We'll roast him some. See here, I know you're +holding with us. I know Mike is, and several others. Your interests +are far and away bigger here than in Snake's. So you'll get busy right +away. You'll get all the boys together who've got interests here. +Tell 'em we've fallen out over the railroad deal with Slosson. Tell +'em to get the town together, and then let 'em explain about this +rupture. I'll guarantee the rupture's complete. Make 'em refuse all +options and boost their prices for definite sale, and threaten to raise +'em sky-high unless the railroad make a quick deal. Put a fancy figure +on your land at which he _daren't_ buy. You get that? Now I'll show +you how we'll stand. He's _got to come in on this place then_. He'll +have to buy at our price, because--_the railroad must get in_. You +must play the town folks who've got land there, but none here, to force +the prices up on the strength of our quarrel with the railroad, and +I'll guarantee that quarrel's complete this afternoon. Well?" + +The last vestige of Peter's worry had disappeared. His eyes shone +admiringly as he gazed at the smiling face of the man who had conceived +so unscrupulous a scheme. He nodded. + +"The railroad's got to get in," he agreed. "If they can't get in here +they've got to there. Offer him boom prices there, and if he +closes--which he _daren't_--we make our bits, anyway. If he don't, +then he's got to buy here _on your terms_, and--the depot comes here, +and the boom with it. Say, it's bright. An' you'll guarantee that +scrap up?" + +"Sure." + +Peter sprang to his feet. + +"That's Mallinsbee's--word?" + +"Absolutely." + +The man's hot face became suddenly hotter, and his eyes shone. + +"I'll get right back and we'll hold a meetin' to-night. Say, we've got +to fool those who ain't got interests here--they ain't more than fifty +per cent.--and then we'll send prices sky-high. You can bet on it, Mr. +Van Henslaer, sir. All it's up to you to do is to turn him down and +drive him our way. We'll drive him back to you. It's elegant." + +Gordon gave a final promise as they shook hands when Peter had mounted +his buggy. Then the hotel proprietor drove off in high glee. + +Gordon went back to his office without any sensation of satisfaction. +He had committed Mallinsbee to a definite policy that might easily fall +foul of that individual's ideas. But he had committed him, and meant +to carry the thing through against all opposition. + +The cue had been too obvious for him to neglect. It was Slosson who +had made a false move. He was temporizing, instead of acting on a +fighting policy, and it was pretty obvious to him that his temporizing +was due to his growing regard for Hazel. The man was mad to ask for +options. He was a fool--a perfect idiot. No, the opportunity had been +too good to miss. If Slosson had shown weakness, he did not intend to +do so. Then, as he sat down and further probed the situation, a real +genuine sensation of satisfaction did occur. There would no longer be +any necessity for Hazel to attempt to play the man. + +All in a moment he saw the whole thing, and a wild delight and +excitement surged through him. He was in the heart of a youngster's +paradise once more. The sun streaming in through the window was one +great blaze of heavenly light. The world was fair and joyous, and, for +himself, he was living in a palace of delight. + +It was in such mood that he heard the approach of David Slosson. + +The agent entered the office with all the arrogance of a detestable +victor. His first words set Gordon's spine bristling, although his +welcoming smile was amiability itself. + +Slosson glanced round the room, and, discovering only Gordon, flung +himself into Mallinsbee's chair and delivered himself of his orders. + +"Say, you best have your darned Chinaman take my horse around back an' +feed him hay. Where's Mallinsbee?" + +Gordon assumed an almost deferential air, but ignored the order for the +horse's care. + +"I'm sorry, but Mr. Mallinsbee won't be around this afternoon. He's +going up in the hills on a shoot," he lied shamelessly. "Maybe for a +week or two. Maybe only days." + +"What in thunder? Say, was he here this morning? I sent word I was +coming along." + +Slosson's black eyes had narrowed angrily, and his pasty features were +shaded with the pink of rising temper. + +Gordon's eyes expressed simple surprise. + +"Sure, he was here. Your note got along 'bout eleven. He guessed he +couldn't stop around for you. You see, a few caribou have been seen +within twenty miles of the ranch. They don't wait around for business +appointments." + +Slosson brought one fist down on the arm of his chair, and in a burst +of anger almost shouted at the deferential Gordon. + +"Caribou?" he exploded. "What in thunder is he chasin' caribou for +when there's things to be settled once and for all that won't keep? +Caribou? The man's crazy. Does he think I'm going to wait around +while he gets chasin'--caribou?" + +Gordon maintained a perfect equanimity, but he wanted to laugh badly. +He felt he could afford to laugh. + +"There's no need to 'wait around,'" he deferred blandly. "I am here to +act for Mr. Mallinsbee--absolutely. The entire affairs of the township +are in my hands, and I have his definite instructions how to proceed. +If you have any proposition to make I am prepared to deal with it." + +For all his apparent deference a note had crept into Gordon's tone +which caught the suspicious ears of the railroad agent. He peered +sharply into the blue eyes of the man across the desk. + +"You have absolute power to deal in Mallinsbee's interest?" he +questioned harshly. + +"In _Mr._ Mallinsbee's interests," assented Gordon. + +"Wal, what's his proposition?" The man's mustached upper lip was +slightly lifted and he showed his teeth. + +"Precisely what it was when he first explained it to you." + +The deference had gone out of Gordon's voice. Then, after the briefest +of smiling pauses, he added-- + +"That is in so far as the railroad is concerned. For your own personal +consideration his offer of sites to you remains the same as regards +price, but the selection of position will be made by--us." + +Gordon was enjoying himself enormously. He had taken the law into his +own hands, and intended to put things through in his own way. He +expected an outburst, but none was forthcoming. David Slosson was +beginning to understand. He was taking the measure of this man. He +was taking other measures--the measure of the whole situation. Of a +sudden he realized that he was being told, in his own pet phraseology, +to--go to hell. He had consigned many people in that direction during +his life, but somehow his own consignment was quite a different matter, +especially through the present channel. + +He pulled himself up in his chair and squared his shoulders truculently. + +"I guess Mallinsbee knows what this means--for him?" he inquired +sharply, but coldly. + +"I fancy _Mr._ Mallinsbee does." + +"Now, see here, Mister--I ferget your name," Slosson cried, with sudden +heat. "I'm not the man to be played around with. If this is your +_Mister_ Mallinsbee's final offer, it just means that the railroad +can't do business with him. Which means also that his whole wild-cat +land scheme falls flat, and is so much waste ground, only fit for +grazing his rotten cattle on. I'm not here to mince words----" + +"No," concurred Gordon in a steady, cold tone. + +"I said I'm not here to mince words. If I can't get my original terms +there's nothing doing, and I'll even promise, seeing we're alone, to +get right out of my way to sew up this concern, lock, stock and barrel." + +"That seems to be the obvious thing to do from your point of view--if +you can," said Gordon calmly. "Seeing that _Mr._ Mallinsbee is nearly +as rich as a railroad corporation, there may be difficulties. Anyway, +threats aren't business talk, and generally display weakness. So, if +you've no business to talk, if you don't feel like coming in on our +terms--why, that's the door, and I guess your horse is still waiting +for that hay you seemed to think just now he needed." + +Gordon picked up a pen and proceeded deliberately to start writing a +letter. He felt that David Slosson had something to digest, and needed +time. All he feared now was that Mallinsbee or Hazel might come in +before he rid the place of this precious representative of the railroad. + +After a few moments he glanced up from his letter. + +"Still here?" he remarked, with upraised brows. + +In a moment Slosson started from the brown study into which he had +fallen and leaped to his feet. His narrow black eyes were blazing. +His pasty features were ghastly with fury, and Gordon, gazing up at +him, found himself wondering how it came that the hot summer sun of the +prairie was powerless to change its hue. + +The agent thrust out one clenched fist threateningly, and fairly +shouted at the man behind the desk-- + +"I'll make you all pay for this--Mallinsbee as well as you. You think +you can play me--me! You think you can play the railroad I represent! +I'll show you just what your bluff is worth. You, a miserable crowd of +land pirates! I tell you your land isn't worth grazing price without +our depot. And I promise you I'll break the whole concern----" + +"Meanwhile," said Gordon, deliberately rising from his seat and moving +round his desk, "try that doorway, before I--break you. There it is." +He pointed. "Hustle!" + +There comes a moment when the wildest temper reaches its limits. And +even the most furious will pause at the brick wall of possible physical +violence. David Slosson had spat out all his venom, or as much of it +as seemed politic. The threatening attitude of Gordon, his monumental +size and obvious strength, his cold determination, all convinced him +that further debate was useless. So he drew back at the "brick wall" +and negotiated the doorway as quickly as possible. + +Two minutes later Gordon sighed in a great relief, and passed a hand +across his perspiring forehead. Slosson had passed out of view as +Mallinsbee, on the back of the great Sunset, appeared on the horizon. + +"That was a close call," he muttered. "Two minutes more and the old +man might have spoiled the whole scheme." + +Silas Mallinsbee's personality seemed to crowd the little office when, +five minutes later, he entered to find Gordon busy at his desk writing +a letter home to his mother. + +Gordon displayed no sign of his recent encounter when he looked up. +His ingenuous face was smiling, and his blue eyes were full of an +obvious satisfaction. Mallinsbee read the signs and rumbled out an +inquiry. + +"Slosson been around?" + +Gordon nodded. + +"Sure." + +"Fixed anything?" + +"Quite a--lot." + +"You're lookin' kind of--happy?" + +"Guess that's more than--Slosson was." + +Mallinsbee's eyes became quite serious. + +"I told Hazel just now I'd get along back. You see, I kind of +remembered you just weren't sweet on Slosson, and guessed after all I'd +best be around when he came. Hazel thought it might be as well, too. +Specially as she didn't want to sit around and find no Slosson turn up. +So----" + +Gordon was on his feet in an instant. All his smile had vanished. A +look of real alarm had taken its place. + +"She was waiting for that skunk? Where?" he demanded in a tone that +suddenly filled the father with genuine alarm. + +"He was to go on to the coalpits after he was through here, and she was +to meet him there an' ride over to the young horse corrals where they +been breaking. She was to let him see the boys doin' a bit o' broncho +bustin'. What's----" + +"The coalpits? That's the way he took. Say, for God's sake stay right +here--and let me use Sunset. I----" + +But Gordon did not wait to finish what he had to say. He was out of +the house and had leaped into the saddle before Mallinsbee could +attempt to protest. The next moment he was galloping straight across +country in the direction of the Bude and Sideley's Coal Company's +workings. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +SLOSSON SNATCHES AT OPPORTUNITY + +Gordon had taken David Slosson's measure perfectly, notwithstanding his +own comparative inexperience of the world. Apart from the agent's +business methods, he had seen through the man himself with regard to +Hazel. Hence, now his most serious alarm. The memory of those +lascivious eyes gazing after Hazel in the Main Street of Snake's Fall, +on his first day in the town, had never left him, and though he had +listened to Hazel's positive assurance of her own safety in dealing +with the man a subtle fear had continually haunted him. This was quite +apart from his own jealous feelings. It was utterly unprejudiced by +them. He knew that sooner or later, unless a miracle happened, Hazel +would become the victim of insult. Deep down in his heart, somewhere, +far underneath his passionate jealousy, he knew that Hazel was only +encouraging Slosson that she might help on their common ends, but he +had always doubted her cleverness to carry such a matter through +successfully. To his mind there could only be one end to it all, and +that end--insult. + +Now the thing was almost a certainty. With Slosson in his present mood +anything might happen. So he pressed Sunset to a rattling gallop. If +Slosson insulted her----? But he was not in the mood to think--only to +act. + +That his fears were well enough founded was pretty obvious. David +Slosson, as he hurried away from Mallinsbee's office, knew that he had +played the game of his own advantage and--lost. This sort of thing had +not often happened, and on those rare occasions on which it had +happened he had so contrived that those who had caused him a reverse +paid fairly dearly in the end. He was one of those men who believed +that if a man only squeezed hard enough blood could be contrived from a +stone. Against every successful offensive of the enemy there was +nearly always a way of "getting back." + +That he could "get back" on the commercial side of the present affair +he possessed not the smallest doubt. He would "recommend" to his +company that the present depot at Snake's Fall, with certain +enlargements, and the private line to be built by the Bude and Sideley +Coal people, were all that was sufficient to serve the public, and, +through his judicious purchase of sites in the old township, a far more +profitable enterprise for them than the new township could offer. +Personally, he would have to sacrifice his own interests. But since +Mallinsbee and his cub of an office boy would be badly "stung," the +matter would not be without satisfaction to his revengeful nature. +Then there was that other matter--and he moistened his thin lips as he +contemplated it. + +In spite of all Gordon's lack of faith in Hazel's efforts, they had not +been without effect. Slosson had been flattered. His vanity had seen +conquest in Hazel's readiness to accept his company. It had been +obvious to him from the first that the manner in which he had displayed +his "nerve" before her at the ranch pleased her more than a little. +After all, she was a mere country girl--a "rube" girl. + +Nor was it likely that she would be difficult now. She was pretty, +pretty as a picture. Her figure appealed to his sensual nature. She +didn't know a thing--outside her ranch. Well, he could teach her. +Especially now. Oh, yes, it was all very opportune. He would teach +her all he knew. He laughed. He would teach her for--her father's +sake. And--yes, for the sake of that young cub of a man that had +ordered him out of the office. + +What was his name--"Van Henslaer"? Yes, that was it. A "square-head," +he supposed. The country was full of these American-speaking German +"square-heads." Then quite suddenly he began to laugh. For the first +time since he came to Snake's Fall the thought occurred to him that +possibly this fellow was in love with Hazel himself. He had been so +busy prosecuting his own attentions to her himself that he had never +considered the possibility of another man being in the running. The +thought inspired an even more pleasant sensation. It threw a new light +upon Van Henslaer's attitude. Well, there was not much doubt as to who +was the favored man. The fellow's very attitude suggested his failure. + +Slosson felt he was going to reap better than had seemed at first. He +would ruin Mallinsbee's schemes and satisfy his company at a slight +personal loss to himself. He would complete his triumph over the +individual in Mallinsbee's office. First of all, through Mallinsbee's +failure in the land scheme, by robbing him of a position, and secondly, +through robbing him of all chance of success with the girl. It was not +too bad a retort. He would have made it harsher if he could, but, for +a start, it would have to do. Later, of course, since he would see a +great deal of Snake's Fall and his power in the place would increase, +he would extend operations against his enemies. + +Hazel must be his--his entirely. To that he had made up his mind. She +was much too desirable to be "running loose," he told himself. +Marriage was out of the question, unless he wished to commit bigamy; a +pleasantry at which he laughed silently. Anyway, if it were possible, +it would not have suited him. Marriage would have robbed him of the +right to break up her father's land scheme. No, marriage was---- +Well, he was married--to his lasting regret. + +Hazel was very attractive; very. He could quite understand a man +making a fool of himself over her. He had once made a fool of himself, +and in consequence marriage was very cheap from his point of view. He +regarded women now as lawful prey. And apart from Hazel's +attractiveness, which was very, very seductive, it would be a pretty +piece of getting back on her father and that other. He laughed again. +It was quaint. The prettier a woman the greater the fool she was. + +So he rode on towards the coalpits. + +His narrow eyes were alert, watching the horizon on every side. He was +looking for that fawn-colored figure on its brown mare. His thoughts +were full of it now. The rest was all thrust into the background, +leaving full play to his desires, which were fast overwhelming all +caution. It would have been impossible to overwhelm his sense of +decency. + +Suddenly it occurred to him that it was ridiculous that he should go on +to the coalpits. His eagerness was swaying him. His mad longing for +the girl swept everything before it. Why should he not cut across to +the westward and intercept her on the way from the ranch? She must +come that way, and--he could not possibly miss her. + +He looked at his watch. It wanted half an hour to their appointment. +Why, he would be at the pits in ten minutes, which would leave him a +full twenty minutes of waiting. + +In his mood of the moment it was a thought quite impossible. So he +swung his horse westwards, with his eyes even more watchful for the +approach of the figure he was seeking. + +Perhaps Hazel was late. Perhaps Slosson was traveling faster than he +knew. Anyway, he was already in the shadow of the bigger hills when he +discovered the speeding brown mare with its dainty burden. Hazel +discovered him almost at the same instant, and reined in her horse to +let him come up. In a moment or two his roughly familiar greeting +jarred her ears. + +"Hello!" he cried. "There never was a woman who could keep time worth +a cent. I guessed you'd strayed some, so I got along quick." + +He had reined up facing her on the cattle track, and his sensual eyes +covertly surveyed her from head to foot. + +"Why, you haven't been near the pits," protested Hazel, avoiding his +gaze. "You've come across country. Anyway, it's not time yet." She +pulled off a gauntlet and held up her wrist for him to look at the +watch upon it. + +He reached out, caught her hand, and drew it towards him on the +pretense of looking at the watch. His eyes were shining dangerously as +he did so. Just for an instant Hazel was taken unawares. Then her +pretty eyes suddenly lost their smile, and she drew her hand sharply +away. + +Slosson looked up. + +"Your watch is wrong," he declared, with a grin intended to be +facetious, but which scarcely disguised the feelings lying behind it. + +Hazel was smiling again. She shook her head. + +"It isn't," she denied. "But come on, or we'll miss the fun. I've got +a youngster there in the corrals, never been saddled or man-handled. +I'm going to ride him for your edification when the boys are through +with the others. It's a mark of my favor which you must duly +appreciate." + +She led the way back towards the hills at a steady canter. + +"Say, you've got nerve," cried Slosson, in genuine admiration. "Never +been saddled?" + +"Or man-handled," returned Hazel, determined he should lose nothing of +her contemplated adventure. "He was rounded up this morning at my +orders out of a bunch of three-year-old prairie-bred colts. You'll +surely see some real bucking--not cat-jumping," she added mischievously. + +"Say, you can't forget that play," cried the man, with some pride. +"I'd have got on that hoss if he'd bucked to kingdom-come. I don't +take any bluff from a girl." + +"I s'pose girls aren't of much account with you? They're just silly +things with no sense or--or anything. Some men are like that." + +A warm glow swept through the man's veins. + +"I allow it just depends on the girl." + +"Maybe you don't reckon I've got sense?" + +Slosson gazed at her with a meaning smile. + +"I've seen signs," he observed playfully. + +"Thanks. You've surely got keen eyes. Black eyes are mostly keen. +Say, I wonder how much sense they reckon they've seen in me?" + +"Well, I should say they've seen that you reckon David Slosson makes a +tolerable companion to ride around with. Which is some sense." + +Hazel turned, and her pretty eyes looked straight into his. A man of +less vanity might have questioned the first glance of them. But +Slosson only saw the following smile. + +"Just tolerable," she cried, in a fashion which could not give offense. +Then she abruptly changed the subject. "Get through your business +at--the office?" she inquired casually. + +Slosson's eyes hardened. In a moment the memory of Gordon swept +through his brain in a tide of swift, hot anger. + +"There's nothing doing," he said harshly. + +Hazel turned. A quick alarm was shining in her eyes, and the man +interpreted it exactly. Caution was abruptly cast to the winds. + +"Say, Hazel," he cried hotly, "I'm going to tell you something. Your +father's a--a fool. Oh, I don't mean it just that way. I mean he's a +fool to set that boy running things for him. He's plumb killed your +golden goose. We've broken off negotiations. That's all. The +railroad don't need Buffalo Point." + +"But what's Gordon done?" the girl cried, for the moment off her guard. +"Father gave him instructions. You had an offer to make, and it was to +be considered--duly." + +"What's Gordon done?" The man's eyes were hot with fury. "So that's +it--'Gordon.' He's 'Gordon,' eh?" All in a moment venom surged to the +surface. The man's unwholesome features went ghastly in his rage. "He +turned me--me out of the office. He told me to go to hell. Say, that +pup has flung your father's whole darned concern right on to the rocks. +So it's 'Gordon,' eh? To everybody else he's 'Van Henslaer,' but to +you he's 'Gordon.' That's why he's on to me, I guessed as much. Well, +say, you've about mussed up things between you. My back's right up, +and I'm cursed if the railroad 'll move for the benefit of those +interested in Buffalo Point." + +Hazel had heard enough. More than enough. Her temper had risen too. + +"Look here, Mr. Slosson. I don't pretend to mistake your inference. +Gordon is just a good friend of mine," she declared hotly. "But I've +no doubt that whatever he did was justified. If we're going on any +farther together you're going to apologize right here and now for what +you've said about Gordon." + +She reined up her mare so sharply that the startled creature was flung +upon her haunches, and the man's livery horse went on some yards +farther before it was pulled up. But Slosson came back at once and +ranged alongside. They were already in the bigger hills, and one +shaggy crag, overshadowing them, shut out the dazzling gleam of the +westering sun. + +"There's going to be the need of a heap of apology around," cried +Slosson, but something of his anger was melting before the girl's +flashing eyes. Then, too, the moment was the opportunity he had been +seeking. "See here, Hazel----" + +"Don't you dare to call me 'Hazel,'" the girl flung out at him hotly. +"You will apologize here and now." + +There was no mistaking her determination, and the man watched her with +furtive eyes. He pretended to consider deeply before he replied. At a +gesture of impatience from the girl he finally flung out one arm. + +"See here," he cried, "maybe I oughtn't to have said that, and I guess +I apologize. But--you see, I was sort of mad when you talked that way +about this--'Gordon.'" His teeth clipped over the word. "You see, +Hazel," he insinuated again, "we've had a real good time together, and +you made it so plain I'm not--indifferent to you that it just stung me +bad to hear you speak of--'Gordon.' I'm crazy about you, I am sure. +I'm so crazy I can't sleep at nights. I'm so crazy that I'd let the +railroad folk go hang just for you--if you just asked me. I'd even +forget all that feller said, and would pool in on Buffalo Point the way +your father needs--if you asked me." + +He waited. He had thrown every effort of persuasion he was capable of +into his words and manner, and Hazel was deceived. She did not observe +the furtive eyes watching her. She was only aware of the almost +genuine manner of his pleading. + +"If I asked you?" she said thoughtfully. Then she looked up quickly, +her eyes half smiling. "Of course I ask you." + +In a moment the man pressed nearer. + +"And you'll play the game?" he asked almost breathlessly. + +All in a moment a subtle fear of him swept through the girl. +Instinctively her hand tightened its grip on the heavy quirt swinging +from her wrist. + +"What do you mean?" she demanded in a low tone. + +The man's eyes were shining with the meaning lying behind his words. +There should have been no necessity to ask that question. + +Quite suddenly he reached farther out and seized her about the waist +with one hand, while with the other he caught her reins to check her +mare. The next moment he had crushed her to him and his flushed face +was close to hers. + +"There's only one game," he cried hoarsely. "And----" + +But he got no further. Like a flash of lightning Hazel's quirt slashed +furiously at him. The blow was wild and missed its object. It fell on +his horse's head and neck. Again it was raised, and again it fell on +the horse and on her mare. The horse plunged aside and her own mare +started forward. The next moment both riders were on the ground, +struggling violently. + + +Sunset plowed along over the prairie. True enough, he was the +rocking-horse Hazel had declared him to be. But she might have added +that he was the speediest horse ever foaled on her father's range. + +Gordon was in no mood to spare him. But, press him as he might, he +seemed incapable of sounding the full depths of his resources. + +Had Gordon only taken the course of the impatient Slosson he would have +arrived in time to have prevented the catastrophe. But as it was he +made the coalpits, and, finding no trace of either Hazel or the agent, +with prompt decision he headed at once for the southern corrals. It +was some time before he discovered the tracks he sought, and was +beginning to think that in some extraordinary fashion he had missed +them altogether. The thought stirred his jealousy, and--but he put all +doubt from his mind, and further bustled the long-suffering Sunset. +Then came the moment when he first saw the hoof-prints in the sand of +the cattle track. In a moment his thoughts cleared and his old fears +urged him on. + +He was right now, he knew. The hills about him were growing in height +and ruggedness. The corrals were only a few miles on, and Sunset was +racing down the track as if he were aware of the threatening danger to +the girl whom he had so often carried on his back. But even if he were +he was utterly unprepared for the furious thrashing of his present +rider's heels which came as they were approaching one great shaggy hill +to the south of them, in answer to a thin, high-pitched shrill for +"Help!" + +Gordon heard and understood. He had been right, after all, and a +terrible panic and fury assailed him. Sunset was racing now, with his +barrel low to the ground. Then as they came into the shadow of the +hill the faithful creature felt the bit in his mouth jar suddenly and +painfully, and he nearly sank on to his haunches. + +Gordon was out of the saddle and rushing headlong like some +rage-maddened bull. + + +Something had happened, and Hazel, in a partial daze, scarcely +understood quite what it was. All she knew was that she was no longer +struggling desperately in the arms of a man, with his hideous face +thrust towards hers with obvious intention. She had fought as she had +never dreamed of having to fight in all her life, and in her extremity +she had shrilled again and again for "Help!" which, had she thought, +she would have known was miles from the lonely spot where she was +struggling. Then had happened that something she could not understand. +She only knew that she was no longer struggling, and that hideous, +coarse, passion-lit face had vanished from before her terrified eyes. + +She had heard a voice, a familiar voice, hoarse with passion. The +words it had uttered were the foulest blasphemy, such words as only a +man uses when in the heat of battle and his desire is to kill. Then +had passed that nightmare face from before her eyes. + +After some moments her mental faculties became less uncertain, and with +their clearing she became aware of a confusion of sounds. She heard +the sound of blows and the incessant shuffling of feet through the tall +prairie grass. She looked about her. + +All in a minute she was on her feet, her eyes wide and staring with an +expression half of terror, half of the wildest excitement. A fight was +going on--a fight in which six feet three of science was arrayed +against lesser stature but equal strength and a blend of animal fury +which yearned to kill. + +David Slosson came at his hated adversary in lunging rushes and with +all his weight and muscle, hoping to clinch and reduce the battle to +the less scientific condition of a "rough-and-tumble" as it is known +only in America. Once he could achieve a definite clinch he knew that +the advantage would lie with him. He knew the game of "chew and gouge" +as few men knew it. He had learned it in his earlier days of lumber +camps. + +But Gordon had steadied himself from his first mad rush. It was the +sight of Hazel in this man's clutches that had roused the desire for +murder in his hot blood. Now it was different. Now it was a fight, a +fight such as he could enjoy; and such were his feelings that he was +determined it should be a fight to a finish, even if that finish should +mean a killing. + +He had no difficulty in punishing. His opponent's arms came at him +wildly, while his own leads and counters struck home with smashes of a +staggering nature. Twice he got in an upper-cut which set his man +reeling, and in each case he smashed home his left immediately with all +the force of his great shoulders. But David Slosson was tough. He +seemed to thrive on punishment, and he came again and again. + +Gordon was in his element. His physical condition had never been more +perfect, and, provided that clinch was prevented, nothing on earth +could save his man. The blood was already streaming from Slosson's +cheek, and an ugly split disfigured his lower lip. + +Now he came in with his head down--a favorite bull rush of the +"rough-and-tumble." Gordon saw it coming and waited. He side-stepped, +and smashed a terrific blow behind the left ear. The man stumbled, but +saved himself. With an inarticulate attempt at an oath he was at the +boxer again. Another rush, but it checked half-way, and a violent kick +was aimed at Gordon's middle. It missed its mark, but caught him on +the side of the knee. The pain of the blow for a moment robbed the +younger man of his caution. He responded with a smashing left and +right. They both landed, but in the rush his loose coat was caught and +held as the agent fell. + +Slosson clung to the coat as a terrier will cling to a stick. In spite +of the rain of blows battering his head he held on. It was the first +hold he needed. The second came a moment later. His other arm crooked +about Gordon's right knee. The next moment they were on the ground in +the throes of a wild, demoniacal "rough-and-tumble." + +The science of the boxer could serve Gordon no longer. He knew it. He +knew also that the fight was more than leveled up. The struggle had +degenerated into an inhuman aim for those vital parts which would leave +the victim blind or maimed for life. + +By the luck of Providence he fell uppermost. His hands being free and +his strength at its greatest, also possessing nothing of the degraded +mind of the rough-and-tumble fighter, he went for his opponent's +throat, and got his grip just as he felt the other's teeth clip, in a +savage snap, at his right ear. It was a happy miss, or he knew he +would have spent the rest of his life with only one ear, and possibly +part of the other. + +But there were other things to avoid. He crushed the man's head upon +the ground, while his great hands tightened their grip upon his throat. +But Slosson's hands were not idle. They struggled up, and Gordon felt +that they were groping for his throat. His own pressure increased. + +"Squeal, you swine!" he roared. "Squeal, or I'll choke the life out of +you!" + +The man was unable to squeal under the terrible throat-hold. His +breath was coming in gasps. All of a sudden those groping hands made a +lunge at Gordon's eyes. One finger even struck his left eye with +intent to gouge it out. Gordon threw back his head, but dared not +release his hold. His only other defense was an instinctive one. He +opened his mouth and made a wolfish snap at the hand that had sought to +blind him. He bit three of its fingers to the bone. There was a cry +from the man under his hands, and the straining body beneath him ceased +to struggle. + +Gordon released his hold and stood up. He aimed one violent kick of +disgust at the man's ribs and turned away. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE REWARD OF VICTORY + +Gordon breathed hard. He wiped the dust from his perspiring face, as a +man almost unconsciously will do after a great exertion. His eyes, +however, remained on his defeated adversary. Presently he moved away a +little uncertainly. A moment later, equally uncertainly, he picked up +his soft felt hat. Then, his gaze still steadily fixed on the object +of his concern, he all unconsciously smoothed his ruffled hair and +replaced his hat upon his head. + +Hazel, too, was tensely regarding the deathly silent figure of David +Slosson. A subtle fear was clutching at her heart. So still. He was +so very still. + +Gordon's breathing became normal, but his eyes remained absurdly grave. +He approached the prostrate man. But before he reached his side he +paused abruptly and breathed a deep sigh of relief--and began to laugh. + +"Right!" he cried. Nor was he addressing any one in particular. + +Hazel heard his exclamation, and the clutching fear at her heart +relaxed its grip. She understood that Gordon, too, had shared her +dread. + +Now she shifted her regard to the victor. Her eyes were full of a +deep, unspeakable feeling. Gordon was looking in another direction, +so, for the moment, she had nothing to conceal. + +The man's attention was upon the horses. A strange diffidence made him +reluctant to follow his impulse and approach Hazel. He had no pride in +his victory. Only regret for the exhibition he had made before her. +Sunset and Slosson's horse were grazing amicably together within twenty +yards of the trail. The fight had disturbed them not one whit. The +Lady Jane had moved off farther, and, in proud isolation, ignored +everybody and everything concerned with the indecent exhibition. + +Gordon secured the livery horse to a bush, and rode off on Sunset to +collect the Lady Jane. When he returned the defeated man was stirring. + +One glance told Gordon all he cared to know, and he passed over to +where Hazel was still standing, and in silence and quite unsmilingly he +held the Lady Jane for her to mount. + +Hazel avoided his eyes, but not from any coldness. She feared lest he +should witness that which now, with all her might, she desired to +conceal. Her feelings were stirred almost beyond her control. This +man had come to her rescue--he had rescued her--by that great +chivalrous manhood that was his. And somehow she felt that she might +have known that he would do so. + +Gordon was looking at David Slosson, who was already sitting up. Once +Hazel was in the saddle he moved nearer to the disfigured agent. + +"If you're looking for any more," he said coldly, "you can find it. +But don't you ever come near Buffalo Point again or Mallinsbee's ranch. +If you do--I'll kill you!" + +David Slosson made no reply. But his eyes followed the two figures as +they rode off, full of a bitter hatred that boded ill for their futures +should chance come his way. + +For some time the speeding horses galloped on, their riders remaining +silent. A strange awkwardness had arisen between them. There was so +much to say, so much to explain. Neither of them knew how to begin, or +where. So they were nearing home when finally it was Gordon whose +sense of humor first came to the rescue. They had drawn their horses +down to a walk to give them a breath. + +Gordon turned in his saddle. His blue eyes were absurdly smiling. + +"Well?" he observed interrogatively. + +The childlike blandness of his expression was all Hazel needed to help +her throw off the painful restraint that was fast overwhelming her. +Again he had saved her, but this time it was from tears. + +"Well?" she smiled back at him through the watery signs of unshed tears. + +"I guess Sunset 'll hate this trail worse than anything around Buffalo +Point," Gordon said, with a great effort at ease. "He got a flogging +I'll swear he never merited." + +"Dear old Sunset," said the girl softly. "And--and he can go." + +"Go? Why, he's an express train. Say, the Twentieth Century, Limited, +isn't a circumstance to him." + +Gordon's laugh sounded good in Hazel's ears, and the last sign of tears +was banished. It had been touch and go. She had wanted to laugh and +to scream during the fight. Afterwards she had wanted only to weep. +Now she just felt glad she was riding beside a man whom she regarded as +something in the nature of a hero. + +"I sort of feel I owe him an apology," Gordon went on doubtfully. +"Same as I owe you one. I--I'm afraid I made a--a disgusting +exhibition of myself. I--I wish I hadn't nearly bitten off that cur's +fingers. It's--awful. It--was that or lose my eyesight." + +Hazel had nothing to say. A shiver passed over her, but it was caused +by the thought that the man beside her might have been left blinded. + +"You see, that was 'rough and tough,'" Gordon went on, feeling that he +must explain. "It's not human. It's worse than the beasts of the +fields. I--I'm ashamed. But I had to save my eyes. I thought I'd +killed him." + +"I'm glad you didn't," Hazel said in a low voice. Then she added +quickly, "But not for his sake." + +Gordon nodded. + +"He deserved anything." + +Suddenly Hazel turned a pair of shining eyes upon him. + +"Oh, I wish I were a man!" she cried. "Deserved? Oh, he deserved +everything; but so did I. I'll never do it again. Never, never, +never! You warned me. You knew. And it was only you who saved me +from the result of my folly. I--I thought I was smart enough to deal +with him. I--I thought I was clever." She laughed bitterly. "I +thought, because I run our ranch and can do things that few girls can +that way, I could beat a man like that. Say, Mr. Van Henslaer, +I'm--just what he took me for--a silly country girl. Oh, I feel so mad +with myself, and if it hadn't been for you I don't know what would have +happened. Oh, if I could only have fought like you. It--it was +wonderful. And--I brought it all on you by my folly." + +There was a strange mixture of emotion in the girl's swift flow of +words. There was a bitter feeling of self-contempt, a vain and +helpless regret; but in all she said, in her shining eyes and warmth of +manner, there was a scarcely concealed delight in her rescuer's great +manhood, courage and devotion. If Gordon beheld it, it is doubtful if +he read it aright. For himself, a great joy that he had been of +service in her protection pervaded him. Just now, for him, all life +centered round Hazel Mallinsbee and her well-being. + +"You brought nothing on," he said, his eyes smiling tenderly round at +her. "He's a disease that would overtake any girl." Then he began to +laugh, with the intention of dispelling all her regrets. "Say, he's +just one of life's experiences, and experience is generally unpleasant. +See how much he's taught us both. You've learned that a feller who can +wear a suit that sets all sense of good taste squirming most generally +has a mind to match it. I've learned that no honesty of methods, +whether in scrapping or anything else, is a match for the unscrupulous +methods of a low-down mind. Guess we'll both pigeon-hole those facts +and try not to forget 'em. But say--there's worse worrying," he added, +with an absurdly happy laugh. + +"Worse?" + +"Only worse because it hasn't happened yet--like the other things have. +You see, the worst always lies in those things we don't know." + +"You're thinking of the Buffalo Point scheme?" + +"Partly." + +"Partly?" + +"Did he tell you anything?" + +Hazel nodded. + +"He said you'd--turned him out of the office." + +"That all?" Gordon was chuckling. + +"He said you'd told him to go to----" Hazel's eyes were smiling. + +"Just so. I did," returned Gordon. "That's the trouble now. I've got +to face your father. I've hit on a plan to beat this feller. I've got +the help of Peter McSwain and some of the boys at Snake's. I'd a +notion we'd pull the thing off, so I just took it into my own +hands--and your father don't know of it. I'm worrying how he'll feel. +You see, if I fail, why, I've busted the whole contract. And now this +thing. Say, what's going to happen next?" As he put his final +question his smiling face looked ludicrously serene. + +Hazel had entirely recovered from her recent experiences. She laughed +outright. More and more this man appealed to her. His calm, reckless +courage was a wonderful thing in her eyes. Their whole schemes might +be jeopardized by that afternoon's work, but he had acted without +thought of consequence, without thought of anybody or anything beyond +the fact that he yearned to beat this man Slosson, and would spare +nothing to do so. What was this wild scheme he had suddenly conceived, +almost the first moment he was left in sole control? + +She tried to look serious. + +"Can you tell it me now?" she asked. + +"I could, of course, but----" + +"You'd rather wait to see father about it." + +"I don't know," said Gordon, with a wry twist of the lips and a shrug. +"Say, did you ever feel a perfect, idiotic fool? No, of course you +never have, because you couldn't be one. I feel that way. Guess it's +a sort of reaction. I just know I've busted everything. The whole of +our scheme is on the rocks, through me, and, for the life of me, +somehow I--I don't care. I've hit up that cur so he won't want his +med'cine again for years, and it was good, because it was for you. So +I don't just care two cents about anything. Say, I'm learning I'm +alive, same as you talked about the first day I met you, and it's you +are teaching me. But the champagne of life isn't just Life. Guess +Life is just a cheap claret. You're the champagne of my life. That +being so, I guess I'm a drunkard for champagne." + +Hazel was held serious by some feeling that also kept her silent. +Somehow she could no longer face those shining, smiling, ingenuous blue +eyes. She wanted to, because she felt they were the most beautiful in +the whole world, and she longed to go on gazing into them forever and +ever. But something forced her to deny herself, and she kept hers +straight ahead. + +Gordon went on. + +"Say, I haven't said anything wrong, have I?" he cried, fearful of her +displeasure. "You see, I can't put things as they run through my head. +That's one of the queer things about a feller. You know, I've got a +whole heap of beautiful language running around in my head, and when I +try to turn it loose it comes out all mussed up and wrong. Guess +you've never been like that. That's where girls are so clever. D'you +know, if you were to ask me just to pass the salt at supper it would +sound to me like the taste of ice-cream?" + +Hazel looked round at the earnest face with a swift sidelong glance. +Then her laughter would no longer be denied. + +"Would it?" she cried. + +"Say, don't laugh at a feller. I'm in great trouble," Gordon went on +quickly. + +"Trouble?" + +"Sure. Wouldn't you be if you'd bust up a man's scheme the same as I +have, and if the only person in the world whose opinion you cared for +can't help but think you all sorts of a fool?" + +Hazel's smile had become very, very tender. + +"Who thinks you a--fool?" + +"Anybody with sense." + +"Then I'm afraid I've got no sense." + +Gordon found himself looking into the girl's serious eyes. + +"You--don't think me--a--fool?" he cried incredulously. + +Hazel had no longer any inclination to laugh. A great emotion suddenly +surged through her heart, and her pretty oval face was set flushing. + +"When a woman owes a man what I owe you, if he were the greatest fool +in the world to others, to that woman he becomes all that is great and +fine, and--and--oh, just everything she can think good of him. But +you--you are not a fool, or anything approaching it. I don't care what +you have done in our affairs--for me, whatever it is, it is right. +I'll tell you something more. I am certain that if my daddy wins +through it will be your doing." + +Gordon had nothing to say. He was dumbfounded. Hazel, in her +generosity, was the woman he had always dreamed of since that first day +he had seen her, which seemed so far back and long ago. He had nothing +to say, because there was just one thought in his mind, and that +thought was, then and there to take her in his arms and release her for +no man, not even her---- + +Hazel was pointing along the trail. + +"Why, there is my daddy coming along--on foot. I've never--known him +to walk a prairie trail ever before, I wonder what's ailing him." + +And then Gordon had to laugh. + + +They were back in the office. By every conceivable process Silas +Mallinsbee had sought to discover what had happened. But Hazel would +tell him nothing, and Gordon followed her lead. + +The old man was disturbed. He was on the verge of anger with both of +them. Then Hazel lifted the safety valve as she remounted her mare, +preparatory to a hasty retreat homewards. + +"I'll get back to home, Daddy," she said, in a tone lacking all her +usual enthusiasm. "Mr. Van Henslaer has a lot to tell you about +things, and when I am not here he'll be able to tell you all that +happened--out there." + +Gordon again took his cue. + +"Yes, I've a heap to tell you," he said, without any display of +enjoyment. + +The men passed into the office as Hazel took her departure. Her +farewell wave of the hand and its accompanying smile for once were not +for her father. Even in the midst of his mixed feelings that obvious +farewell to Gordon made the old rancher feel a breath of the winter he +had once spoken of, nipping the rims of his ears. + +And his mind settled upon the thought of banking the furnaces +with--coal. + +He took his seat in the big chair he always used and lit a cigar. +Gordon went at once to his desk and sat down. He leaned forward with +hands clasped, and looked squarely into the strong face before him. + +"It's bad talk," he said briefly. + +"So I guessed." + +Then, after a few moments of silence, Gordon recounted the story of the +events of the afternoon right up to Mallinsbee's arrival at the office. + +The rancher listened without comment, but with obvious impatience. +This was not what he wanted to hear first. But Gordon had his own way +of doing things. + +"You see, I took a big chance on the spur of the moment," he finished +up. "I just didn't dare to think. The idea took right hold of me. +And even now, when I tell it you in cold blood, I seem to feel it was +one of those inspirations that don't need to be passed by. In the +ordinary way I believe it would succeed. Slosson would have been +driven into our plans. But--but now there's worse to come." + +"So I guessed." + +Mallinsbee's answer was sharp and dry. + +"And it's the most important of your talk," he added a moment later. +"What happened--out there?" + +Gordon's eyes took on a far-away expression as he gazed out of the +window. + +"I nearly killed David Slosson," he said simply. Then he added, "I +knew I'd have to do it before I'd finished." + +His gaze came back to Mallinsbee's face. A fierce anger had made his +blue eyes stern and cold. Then he told the rancher of his finding +Hazel struggling furiously in the man's arms, and of her piteous cry +for help, and all that followed. + +While he was still talking the girl's father had leaped from his seat +and began pacing the little room like a caged wild beast. His cigar +was forgotten, and every now and then he paused abruptly as Gordon made +some definite point. His eyes were darkly furious, his nostrils +quivered, his great hands clenched at his sides, and in the end, when +the story was told, he stood towering before the desk with a pair of +murderous eyes shining down upon the younger man. + +"God in heaven!" he cried furiously; "and he's still alive?" + +Then he turned away abruptly. A revolver-belt was hanging on the wall, +and he moved towards it. But Gordon was on his feet in a moment. + +"That gun's mine, and--you can't have it!" + +Gordon was standing in front of the weapon, facing the furious eyes of +the father. + +"Stand aside! I'm--going to kill him--now." + +But Gordon made no movement. + +"No," he said, with a stony calmness. + +It was a painful moment. It was a moment full of threat and intense +crisis. One false move on Gordon's part, and the maddened father's +fury would be turned on him. + +The younger man forced a smile to his eyes. + +"You once said I could scrap, Mr. Mallinsbee. I promise you I scrapped +as I never did before. That man hasn't one whole feature in his face, +and if the hangman's rope had been drawn tight around his neck it +couldn't have done very much more damage than my fingers did. I tell +you he's has his med'cine good and plenty. There's no need for +more--that way. But we're going to hurt him. We're going to hurt him +more by outing him from this deal of ours than ever by killing him. +We're going to stand at nothing now to--'out' him. Let's get our minds +fixed that way. If one plan don't succeed--another must." + +Standing there eye to eye Gordon won his way. He saw with satisfaction +the fire in the old man's eyes slowly die down. Then he watched him +reluctantly return to his chair. + +It was not until the rancher had struck a match and relit his cigar +that Gordon ventured to return to his desk. + +"You're right, boy," Mallinsbee said at last. "You're right--and +you've done right. If the whole scheme busts we--can't help it. +But--but we'll out that--cur." + + +The hall porter at the Carbhoy Building was perturbed. He was more +than perturbed. He was ruffled out of his blatant superiority and +dignity, and reduced to a condition when he could not state, with any +degree of accuracy, whether the Statue of Liberty was a symbol of +Freedom or a mere piece of cheap decoration for New York Harbor. + +The precincts of the beautiful colored marble entrance hall over which +he presided had been invaded, against all rules, by a woman who +obviously had no business there. Moreover, he had been powerless to +stay the invasion. Also he had been forced to submit out of a sheer +sense of politeness to the sex, a politeness it was not his habit to +display even towards his wife. Furthermore, like the veriest +underling, instead of the autocrat he really was, he had been +ordered--_ordered_--to announce the lady's arrival to Mr. James +Carbhoy, and forthwith conduct her to that holy of holies, which no +other female, except the cleaner, had ever been permitted to enter. It +was Mrs. James Carbhoy who had caused the deplorable upheaval. + +But Mrs. James Carbhoy was in no mood to parley with any hall porter, +however gorgeous his livery. She was in no mood to parley even with +her husband. She was disturbed out of her customary condition of +passive acquiescence. She was heartbroken, too, and ready to weep +against any manly chest with which her head came into contact. It is +doubtful, even, if a Fifth Avenue policeman's chest would have been +safe from her attentions in that direction. And surely distress must +certainly be overwhelming that would not shrink from such support. + +James Carbhoy detected the signs the moment his door was opened, and +his wife tripped over the fringe of the splendid Turkey carpet and +precipitated herself into the great morocco arm-chair nearest to her, +waving a bunch of letter-paper violently in his direction. + +"I've been to the Inquiry Bureau, and had a man detailed right away to +go and find the boy," she burst out at once. Then all her mother's +anxiety merged into an attack upon the man who silently rose from his +desk and closed the door she had left open. "I don't know what to say +to you, James," she went on. "I can't just think why I'm sitting right +here in the presence of such a monster. Here you've driven our boy +from the house. Maybe you've driven him to his death, or even worse, +and I can't even get you to make an attempt to discover if he's alive +or--or dead. This letter came this morning," she went on, holding the +pages aloft, lest he should escape their reproach. "And if he hasn't +gone and married some hussy there, out in some uncivilized region, I +don't know a thing. S'pose he's married a half-breed or--or a squaw," +she cried, her eyes rolling in horror at the bare idea. "It--it'll be +your fault--your doing. You're just a cruel monster, and if it wasn't +for our Gracie's sake I'd--I'd get a divorce. You--you ought to be +ashamed, James Carbhoy. You ought--ought to be in--in prison, instead +of sitting there grinning like some fool image." + +The millionaire leaned back in his chair wearily. + +"Oh, read the letter, Mary. You make me tired." + +"Tired? Letter, you call it," cried the excited woman. "I tell you +it's--it's a lot of gibberish that no sane son of ours ever wrote. Oh! +you're as bad as those men at the bureau. I made them read it, +and--and they said he was a--bright boy. Bright, indeed! You listen +to this and you can judge for yourself--if you've any sense at all." + + +"DEAREST MUM: + +"I haven't written you in weeks, which should tell you that I am quite +up to the average in my sense of filial duty. It should also tell you +that I _hope_ I am prospering both in health and in worldly matters. I +say 'hope' because nothing much seems certain in this world except the +perfidy of human nature. It has been said that disappointment is +responsible for all the hope in the world, but I'd like to say right +here that that's just a sort of weak play on words which don't do +justice to the meanest intelligence. I am full of hope and haven't yet +been disappointed. Not even in my conviction that human nature has +some good points, but bad points predominate, which makes you feel +you'd, generally speaking, like to kick it plenty. + +"While I'm on the subject of human nature it would be wrong not to +discriminate between male and female human nature. Male can be +dismissed under one plain heading: 'Self'--a heading which embraces +every unpleasant feature in life, from extreme moral rectitude, with +its various branches of self-complacency, down to chewing tobacco, to +me a symbol of all that is criminally filthy in life. Female human +nature comes under a similar heading, only, in a woman's case, 'Self' +is a combination of the two personalities, male and female. You see, +'Self,' in female human nature, is not a complete proposition in +itself. Before it becomes complete there must be a man in the case, +even if he be a disgrace to his sex. I will explain. You couldn't +entertain any feeling or purpose without the old Dad coming into your +focus. But with man it's different. The only reason a woman comes +into his life at all is so that he can kick her out of it if she don't +do just as he says and wants. I guess this sounds better to me writing +from here than maybe it will to you in your parlor in New York. But +it's easier to say things when you feel yourself shorn of the +artificialities of life. + +"This is merely preliminary, leading up to two pieces of news I have to +hand to you. The first is, I have discovered that woman is the +greatest proposition inspired by a creative Providence for the delight +of man, but in business, unless specially trained, she's liable to fall +even below the surface scum which includes the lesser grade of biped +called 'man.' The second is that man, generally, is a pretty +disgusting brute, and I allow he deserves all he gets in life, even to +lynching. Understand I am speaking generally, as a looker-on, whose +eyes are no longer blinded by the glamour of wealth in a big city and +the comforts of a luxurious home. + +"I feel I've got to say right here that to me, apart from the foregoing +observations, woman is just the most wonderful thing in all this +wonderful world. Her perfections and graces are just sublime; her +understanding of man is so sympathetic that it don't seem to me she'd +need more than two guesses to locate how many dollars he'd got in his +pocket or the quality of the brain oozing out under his hat. + +"I guess her eyes are just the dandiest things ever. Furthermore, when +they happen to be hazel, they got a knack of boring holes right through +you, and chasing around and finding the smallest spark of decency that +may happen to be lying hidden in the general muck of a man's moral +makeup. They do more than that. I'd say there never was a man in this +world who, under such circumstances, happens to become aware of some +such spark, but wants to start right in and fan it into a big bonfire +to burn up the refuse under which it's been so long secreted. That's +how he's bound to feel--anyway, at first. + +"A woman's just every sort of thing a man needs around him. It don't +seem a matter for worry if the sun-spots became a complete rash and its +old light went out altogether. That feller would still see those +wonderful eyes shining out of the darkness, giving him all the light he +needed in which to play foolish and think himself all sorts of a man. + +"Guess when he'd worked overtime that way and sleep set him dreaming +he'd make pictures he couldn't paint in a year. There'd be every sort +of peaceful delight in 'em. There'd be lambs, and children without +clothes, and birds and flowers. And the lambs would bleat, and the +children sing, and the birds flutter, and the flowers smell, and all +the world would be full of joy. Then he'd wake up. Maybe it would be +different then. You see, a man awake figures his woman needs to look +like the statue of Venus, be bursting with the virtues of a first-class +saint, and possess the economical inspiration of a Chinee cook. + +"In pursuance of these discoveries of mine I feel that maybe I've got a +wrong focus of our Gracie. Maybe when she gets sense, and sort of +finds herself floating around in the divine beauties of womanhood, some +escaped crank may chase along and figure she possesses some of the +wonderful charms I've been talking about. Personally I wish our Gracie +well, and am hoping for the best. Still, I feel whatever trouble she +has getting a husband I don't guess it'll end there--the trouble, I +mean. + +"To come to my second discovery, it has afforded me some pleasant +moments, as well as considerable disgust and anger. It may seem +difficult to associate these emotions without confusion. But were you +to fully understand the situation you would realize that they could be +associated in one harmonious whole. With anger coming first, you find +yourself in a frenzied state of elation, capable of achieving anything, +from murder down to robbing the dead. It is a splendid feeling, and +saves one from the rust of good-natured ineptitude. Then come the +pleasant moments, which may find themselves in extreme exertion and the +general exercise of muscles, and even, in some cases--brains. Disgust +is the necessary mental attitude under reaction. This is how my +discovery affected me. But I fancy the object through which I made my +second discovery was probably affected otherwise. I can't just say +offhand. Maybe I'll learn later, and be able to tell you. + +"There is not a day passes but what I make discoveries of a more or +less interesting nature. For instance, I've learned that there's +nothing like three people hating one person to make for a bond of +friendship between them. I'd say it's far more binding than marriage +vows at the altar. This comes under the heading of 'more' interesting. +Under the 'less' comes such things as--the only time that impulsive +action justifies itself is when you're sure of winning out. I have +given myself two examples of impulsive action only to-day. The one in +which I have won out seems to have ruined the chances of the other. +This is a confusion that doesn't seem to justify anything. Still, a +philosopher might be able to disentangle it. + +"I should be glad if you would give the old Dad my best love, and tell +him that the figures representing one hundred thousand dollars grow in +size with the advancing weeks. Nor can I tell how big they will appear +by the end of six months. If they grow in my view at the present rate, +by the end of six months it seems to me I'll need to walk around +looking through the wrong end of a telescope so as to get a place for +my feet anywhere on this continent. However, as 'disappointment' has +not yet appeared to create 'hope,' it is obvious that 'conviction' +remains. + +"I regret that time does not permit me to write more, so I will close. +Any further news I have to give you I will embody in another letter. + +"Your loving son, + "GORDON. + +"P.S.--I have been thinking a great deal about Gracie lately, she being +of the female sex. Of course, I could not compare her with a real +woman, but I feel, with a little judicious broadening of her mind, say +by travel or setting her out to earn her living, she might develop in +the right direction. It is a thought worth pondering. Such a process +might even have good results. + +"G." + + +Mrs. James Carbhoy's angry and disgusted eyes were raised from her +reading to confront her husband's amused smile. + +"Well?" she demanded. "Is it sunstroke, or--or----?" + +"That inquiry agent was a smart feller," the millionaire interrupted. +"Gordon surely is a--bright boy." + +Mrs. Carbhoy's indignation leaped. And with its leap came another. +She fairly bounced out of the chair she had occupied and hurled herself +at the mahogany door of the office. + +"James Carbhoy, I shall see to this matter myself. I always knew you +were merely a money machine. Now I know you have neither heart nor +sense." + +She flung open the door. Again she tripped over the fringe of the +carpet, and, with a smothered ejaculation, flew headlong in the +direction of the hall porter's stately presence. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +IN COUNCIL + +There come days in a man's life which are not easily forgotten. Some +poignant incident indelibly fixes them upon memory, and they become +landmarks in his career. The next day became one of such in Gordon's +life. + +It was just a little extraordinary, too, that memory should have +selected this particular day in preference to the preceding one. The +first of the two should undoubtedly have been the more significant, for +it partook of a nature which appealed directly to those innermost hopes +and yearnings of a youthful heart. Surely, before all things in life, +Nature claims to itself the passionate yearning of the sexes as +paramount. Gordon had fought for the woman he loved, and basked in her +smiles of approval at his victory. Was not this sufficient to make it +a day of days? The psychological fact remained, the indelible memory +of the next day was planted on the mysterious photographic plates of +his mental camera in preference. + +It was a day of wild excitement. It was a day of hopes raised to a +fevered pitch, and then hurled headlong to a bottomless abyss of +despair. It was a day of passionate feeling and bitter memories. A +day of hopeless looking forward and of depression. Then, as a last and +final twist of the whirligig of emotion, it resolved itself into one +great burst of enthusiasm and hope. + +It started in at the earliest hour. Hip-Lee was preparing breakfast, +and Gordon was still dressing. A note was brought from Peter McSwain. +Gordon opened it, and the first emotions of an eventful day began to +take definite shape. + +The note informed him that McSwain had been faithful to his promise. +He, assisted by Mike Callahan of the livery barn, had worked +strenuously. The results had been splendid amongst all the principal +landholders in Snake's Fall and Buffalo Point. Prices this morning +were "skied" prohibitively. + +The holders saw their advantage. Even if the railroad bought in +Snake's Fall they would be "on velvet." They agreed that it was the +first sound move made. They agreed that it was good to "jolly" a +railroad. The men who did not hold in Buffalo only held insignificant +property in Snake's Fall, which would be useless to the railroad. But +should the railroad buy there, even these would be benefited. + +Gordon began to feel that palpitating excitement in the stomach +indicative of a disturbed nervous system. Things were stirring. He +examined the situation from the view point of yesterday's encounter. +With these people working in with him, the future certainty began to +look brighter than when he had retired to bed over-night. + +Mallinsbee came along after breakfast, and Gordon showed him McSwain's +message. + +The rancher read it over twice. Then his opinion came in deep, +rumbling notes. + +"That's sure what you needed," he said, with a shrewd, twinkling smile. +"But I don't guess the shoutin's begun." + +"No?" + +Gordon eyed him uneasily. He had felt rather pleased. + +"We can't shout till Slosson talks," the rancher went on. "That talk +of Peter's is still only our side of the play." + +"Yes." + +Gordon was at his desk. + +Then a diversion was created by the advent of a fat stranger with a +large expanse of highly colored waistcoat, and a watchguard to match. + +He wanted to talk "sites," and spent half an hour doing so. When he +had gone Mallinsbee offered an explanation which had passed Gordon's +inexperience by. + +"That feller's worried," he observed. "He's got wind there's something +doing, and is scared to death the speculators are to be shut out. He's +going back to report to the boys. Maybe we'll hear from Peter +again--later. I wonder what Slosson's thinking?" + +Gordon smiled. + +"I doubt if he can think yet," he said. "I allow he was upset +yesterday. I'd give a dollar to see him when he starts to try and buy." + +"You're feeling sure." + +Mallinsbee's doubt was pretty evident. + +"Sure? I'm sure of nothing about Slosson except his particular dislike +of me, and, through me, of you." + +"Just so. And when a man hates the way he hates you, if he's bright +he'll try to make things hum." + +"He's bright all right," allowed Gordon. + +A further diversion was created. Two men arrived in a buckboard, and +Mallinsbee's explanation was verified. They were looking for +information. It was said the railroad was to boycott Buffalo Point. +It was said, even, that they had bought in Snake's Fall. Was this so? +And, anyway, what was the meaning of the rise in prices at that end? + +"Why, say," finished up one of the men, "when I was talking to Mason, +the dry goods man, this morning, he told me there wasn't a speculator +around who'd money enough to buy his spare holdings in Snake's. And +when I asked him the figger he said he needed ten thousand dollars for +two side street plots and twenty thousand for two avenue fronts. He's +crazy, sure." + +Mallinsbee shook his head. + +"Not crazy. Just bright." + +When the man had departed, and Mallinsbee had removed the patch from +his eye, he smiled over at Gordon. + +"Peter's surely done his work," he said. + +Gordon warmed with enthusiasm. If those were the prices ruling Mr. +Slosson would have no option but to be squeezed between the two +interests. Whatever his personal feelings, he must make good with his +company. No agent, unless he were quite crazy, would dare face such +prices for his principals. + +"I don't see that Slosson's a leg to stand on," he cried, his +enthusiasm bubbling. "We've just got to sit around and wait." + +Mallinsbee agreed. + +"Sure. Sit around and wait," he said, with that baffling smile of his. + +Gordon shrugged, and bent over some figures he had been working on. +Presently he looked up. + +"How's Miss Hazel this morning?" he inquired casually. He had wanted +to speak of her before, but the memory of her father's anger yesterday +had restrained him. Now he felt he was safe. + +"Just sore over things," said the old man, with a sobering of the eyes. +"I talked to her some last night. She guesses she owes you a heap, but +it ain't nothing to what I owe you." + +Gordon flushed. Then he laughed and shook his head. + +"No man or woman owes me a thing who gives me the chance of a scrap," +he said. + +The old man smiled. + +"No," he agreed. "With a name like 'Van Henslaer'--you ain't Irish?" + +"Descendant of the old early Dutch." + +"Ah. They were scrappers, too." + +Gordon nodded and went on with his figures. So the morning passed. It +was a waiting for developments which both men knew would not long be +delayed. Mallinsbee was unemotional, but Gordon was all on wires drawn +to great tension. The subtle warnings from Mallinsbee not to be too +optimistic had left him in a state of doubt. And an impatience took +hold of him which he found hard to restrain. + +The two men shared their midday meal. Mallinsbee wanted to get back to +the ranch, but neither felt such a course to be policy yet. Besides, +now that the crisis had arrived, Gordon was anxious to have his +superior's approval for his next move. He had taken a chance +yesterday. Now he wanted to make no mistake. + +The _dénouement_ came within half an hour of Hip-Lee's clearing of the +table. It came with the sound of galloping hoofs, with the rush of a +horseman up to the veranda. + +The two men inside the office looked at each other, and Gordon rose and +dashed at the window. + +"It's McSwain," he said, and returned to the haven of his seat behind +his desk. His announcement had been cool enough, but his heart was +hammering against his ribs. + +"Then I guess things are going queer," said the rancher pessimistically. + +Gordon was about to reply when the door was abruptly thrust open, and +the hot face and hotter eyes of Peter appeared in the doorway. + +"Well?" + +For the life of him Gordon could not have withheld that sharp, nervous +inquiry. + +McSwain came right into the room and drew the door closed after him. +Quite suddenly his eyes began to smile in that fashion which so +expresses chagrin. He flung his hat on Gordon's desk and sat himself +on the corner of it. Then he deliberately drew a long breath. + +"I'm as worried as a cat goin' to have kittens," he said. "That feller +Slosson's beat us. Maybe he's stark, starin' crazy, maybe he ain't. +Anyways he came right along to me this morning with a face like chewed +up dogs' meat, with a limp on him that 'ud ha' made the fortune of a +tramp, and a mitt all doped up with a dry goods store o' cotton-batten, +and asked me the price of my holdings in Snake's. I guessed I wasn't +selling my hotel lot, but I'd two Main Street frontages that were worth +ten thousand dollars each, and a few other bits going at the waste +ground price of five thousand each." + +"Well?" + +This time it was Mallinsbee's inquiry. + +"He closed the deal for his company, and planted the deposit." + +"He closed the deal?" cried Gordon thickly, all his dreams of the +future tumbling about his ears. + +"Why, yes." McSwain regarded the younger man's hopelessly staring eyes +for one brief moment. Then he went on: "I was only the first. This +was after dinner. Say, in half an hour he's put his company in at +Snake's to the tune of nearly a quarter million dollars. He's mad. +They'll fire him. They'll repudiate the whole outfit. I tell you he +never squealed at any old price. He's beat our play here. But how do +we stand up there? A crazy man comes along and makes deals which no +corporation in the world would stand for. There ain't a site in +Snake's worth more'n a hundred dollars to a railroad who's got to boom +a place. Well, if his corporation turns him down, how do we stand? +Are they goin' to pay? No, sir; not on your life." + +"They'll have to stand it," said Mallinsbee. + +"They'll try and fight it," retorted Peter hotly. + +"And you can't graft the courts like a railroad can," put in Gordon +quickly. + +"They'll have to stand it," repeated Mallinsbee doggedly. "An' I'll +tell you how. Maybe Slosson's crazy. Maybe he's crazy to beat us, an' +I allow he's not without reason for doin' it--now. But it would cost +the railroad a big pile to shift that depot here. It would have been +better for them in the end. You see, they'd have got their holdings in +the township here for pretty well nix, and so they wouldn't have felt +the cost of the depot. The city would have paid that, as well as other +old profits. Anyway, the capital would have had to be laid out. In +Snake's they are laying out capital in their holdings only. They'll +get it back all right, all right--and profits. Slosson's relying on +making up their leeway for them in the boom. He's takin' that chance, +because he's crazy to beat--us." + +"And he's done it," said Gordon sharply. + +"Yep. He's done it," muttered McSwain regretfully. + +"He surely has," agreed Mallinsbee, without emotion. + +Gordon was the only one of the trio who appeared to be depressed. +McSwain had the consolation of getting his profit in Snake's Fall. The +only sense in which he was a loser was that his holdings in Buffalo +Point were larger than in the other place. Therefore he was able to +regard the matter more calmly, in the light of the fortunes of war. +Mallinsbee, who had staked all his hopes on Buffalo Point, seemed +utterly unaffected. + +A few minutes later McSwain hurried away for the purpose of watching +further developments, promising to return in the evening and report. +Neither he nor Gordon felt that there was the least hope whatever. +Mallinsbee offered no opinion. + +When Peter had ridden off, and the two men were left alone, Gordon, +weighed down with his failure, began to give expression to his feelings. + +He looked over at the strong face of his benefactor, and took his +courage in both hands. + +"Mr. Mallinsbee," he said diffidently, "I want to tell you something of +what I feel at the way things have gone through--my failure. I----" + +Mallinsbee had thrust his fingers into his waistcoat pocket, and now +drew forth a cigar. + +"Say, have a smoke, boy," he said, in his blunt, kindly fashion. +"That's a dollar an' a half smoke," he went on, "an' I brought two of +'em over from the ranch to celebrate on. Guess we best celebrate right +now." + +It was a doleful smile which looked back at the rancher as Gordon +accepted the proffered cigar. + +"But I----" + +"Say, don't bite the end off," interrupted Mallinsbee. "Here's a +piercer." + +"Thanks. But you must let----" + +"I'll be mighty glad to have a light," the other went on hastily. + +Gordon was thus forced to silence, and Mallinsbee continued. + +"Say, boy," he said, as he settled himself comfortably to enjoy his +expensive cigar, "a business life is just the only thing better than +ranching, I'm beginning to guess. You got to figure on things this +way: ranching you got so many hands around, so much grazin', so many +cattle. Your only enemy is disease. So many head of cows will produce +so many calves, and Nature does the rest. That's ranching in a kind of +outline which sort of reduces it to a question of figures which it +wouldn't need a trick reckoner to work out. Now business is diff'rent. +Ther's always the other feller, and you 'most always feel he's brighter +than you. But he ain't. He's just figurin' the same way at his end of +the deal. So, you see, the real principles of commerce aren't +dependent on the things you got and Nature, same as ranching. Your +assets ain't worth the paper they're written on--till you've got your +man where you want him. Now, to do that you got to ferget you ever +were born honest. You've just got one object in life, and that is to +get the other feller where you want him. It don't matter how you do +it, short of murder. If you succeed, folks'll shout an' say what a +bright boy you are. If you fail they'll say you're a mutt. The whole +thing's a play there ain't no rules to except those the p'lice handle, +and even they don't count when your assets are plenty. You'll hear +folks shouting at revival meetings, an' psalm-smitin' around their city +churches. You'll hear them brag honesty an' righteousness till you +feel you're a worse sinner than ever was found in the Bible. You'll +have 'em come an' look you in the eye and swear to truth, and every +other old play invented to allay suspicions. And all the time it's a +great big bluff for them to get you where _they_ want you. An' that's +why the game's worth playing--even when you're beat. If business was +dead straight; if you could stake your all on a man's word; if ther' +weren't a man who would take graft; if you didn't know the other feller +was yearning to handle your wad--why, the game wouldn't be a +circumstance to ranching." + +"That sounds pretty cynical," protested Gordon. He, too, was smoking, +but the failure of his scheme left him unsmiling. + +"It's the truth. We were trying to get Slosson where we wanted him. +He's doing the same by us. So far he seems to monopolize most of the +advantage. The question remaining to us now--and it's the only one of +interest from our end of the line--is: Will the President of the Union +Grayling and Ukataw Railroad do as I think he will--back his agent's +play? Will he stand for his crazy buying? Will he fall for Slosson's +game to get us where he wants us? I believe he will, but we can't be +dead certain. Our only chance is to try and make it so he won't--even +if the Snake's boys lose their stuff up there." + +Gordon was sitting up. His cigar was removed from the corner of his +mouth and held poised over an ash-tray. There was a sharp look of +inquiry in his eyes. + +"What's the President of the Union Grayling and Ukataw Railroad got to +do with it?" he demanded quickly. + +The rancher raised his heavy brows. + +"This is a branch of his road, I guess." + +"A--a branch?" Gordon's breath was coming rapidly. + +"Sure. You see, it's a branch linking up with the Southern Trunk +route. It runs into the Grayling line where it enters the Rockies. +That's how you make the coast this way." + +"And this--is part of the Union Grayling system?" Gordon persisted, +his blue eyes getting bigger and bigger with excitement. + +"Sure," nodded Mallinsbee, watching him closely. + +Then the explosion came. Gordon could contain himself no longer. He +flung his newly lit dollar-and-a-half cigar on the floor with all the +force of pent feelings and leaped to his feet. + +"Great Scott!" he cried. "The President of that road is my father!" + +"Eh?" Then, without another sign, Mallinsbee pointed reproachfully at +the fallen cigar. "It cost a dollar an' a ha'f, boy." + +But Gordon was beside himself with excitement. A great flash of light +and hope was shining through his recent mental darkness. It didn't +matter to him at that moment if the cigar had cost a thousand dollars. + +"But--but don't you understand?" he almost yelled. "The President of +the Union Grayling and Ukataw is my--father." + +"James Carbhoy." + +"Yes, yes. My name's Gordon Van Henslaer Carbhoy." + +Then quite suddenly Gordon sat down and began to laugh. Then he +stooped and picked up his cigar. He was still laughing, while he +carefully wiped the dust from the cigar's moistened end. + +"James Carbhoy's your--father?" + +Mallinsbee was no longer disturbed at the waste of the cigar. All his +attention was fixed on that laughing face in front of him. + +Gordon nodded delightedly, while he once more thrust his cigar into the +corner of his mouth. + +"You're thinkin' something?" + +Mallinsbee was becoming infected by the other's manner. + +"Sure I am." Gordon nodded. "I'm thinking a heap. Say, the fight has +shifted its battle-ground. It's only just going to begin. Gee, if I'd +only thought of it before! The Union Grayling and Ukataw! It's fate. +Say, it isn't Slosson any longer. It's son and father. I've got to +scrap the old dad. Gee! It's colossal. Say, can you beat it? I've +got to make my little pile out of my old dad. And--he sent me out to +make it and show him what I could do." + +"But how? I don't just see----" + +"How? How?" + +Gordon's laughing eyes sobered. He suddenly realized that he had only +considered the humorous side of the position. His brain began to work +at express speed. How was he to turn this thing to account? How? +Yes--how? + +Mallinsbee watched him for many silent minutes. And during those +minutes scheme after scheme, each one more wild than its predecessor, +flashed through Gordon's brain. None of them suggested any sane +possibility. He knew he was up against one of the most brilliant +financiers of the country, who, in a matter like this, would regard his +own son simply as "the other feller." He must trick him. But how? +How? + +For a long time, in spite of his excited delight, Gordon saw no glamour +of a hope of dealing successfully with his father. Then all in a flash +he remembered something. He remembered he still had his father's +private code book with him. He remembered Slosson. If Slosson could +only be--silenced. + +In a moment he was on his feet again. + +"I've got it!" he cried exultantly. "I've got it, Mr. Mallinsbee! You +said that it didn't matter, short of murder, how we got the other +feller where we needed him. Will you come in on the wildest, most +crazy scheme you ever heard of? We can beat the game, and we'll take +money for nothing. We can make my dad build the depot right here and +scrap Snake's Fall. We can make him--and without any murder. Will you +come in?" + +"In what?" demanded a girlish voice from the veranda doorway. + +Gordon swung round, and Mallinsbee turned his smiling, twinkling eyes +upon his daughter, who had arrived all unnoticed. + +"It's a scheme he's got to beat his father, gal," laughed Mallinsbee in +a deep-throated chuckle. + +"His father?" Hazel turned her smiling, inquiring eyes upon the man +who had rescued her yesterday. + +"Yes, James Carbhoy," said her father, "the President of this railroad." + +Hazel's eyes widened, and their smile died out. + +"Your father--the--millionaire--James Carbhoy?" she said. And her note +of regret must have been plain to anybody less excited than Gordon. + +But Gordon was beyond all observation of such subtle inflections. He +was obsessed with his wild scheme. He started forward. Walking past +Hazel, he closed and locked the door. Then with alert eyes he glanced +at the window. It was open. He shut it and secured it. Then he set a +chair for Hazel close beside her father, and finally brought his own +chair round and sat himself down facing them. + +"Listen to me, and I'll tell you," he grinned, his whole body throbbing +with a joyous humor. "We're going to get the other feller where we +need him, and that other feller is my--dear--old--Dad!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +SOMETHING DOING + +During the next two or three days the entire atmosphere of Snake's Fall +underwent a significant change. All doubt had been set at rest. The +whole problem of the future boom was solved, and David Slosson received +as much homage in the conversation of the general run of the citizens +as though he were the victorious general in a military campaign. The +lesser people, who would receive the most benefit from the coming boom, +regarded him with wide-eyed wonder at the stupendous nature of the +wildly exaggerated reports of his dealings in land. They saw in him a +Napoleon of finance, and remembered that their concerns were vastly +more valuable through his operations. + +Men of maturer business instincts withheld their judgment and contented +themselves with a rather dazed wonder. Others, those who had actually +and already profited by his preliminary deals, chuckled softly to +themselves, rubbed their hands gently, pocketed his paper and deposit +money, and wrote him down "plumb crazy." But even so, there was a +sober watchfulness as to the next movements in the approaching boom. +Those who were the farthest seeing kept an eye wide open on Buffalo +Point. So far as they could see it was not possible for the Buffalo +Point interests to go under without a "kick." When would that "kick" +come, and where would it be delivered? + +As for David Slosson, after his first effort, which had been the +deciding factor in the future of Snake's Fall, he remained +unapproachable. He was living at Peter McSwain's hotel, and occupied a +bedroom and parlor, which latter served him as an office. Here he +remained more or less invisible, possibly while his disfigured features +underwent the process of mending, possibly nursing his wrath and +plotting developments against the object of it. There was even another +possible explanation. Maybe the plunge into the land market he had +taken needed a great concentration of effort to completely manipulate +it. Whatever it was, very little of the railroad company's agent was +seen after his first setting defiant foot into the arena of affairs. + +McSwain was more than interested. The hotel-keeper seemed to have +become obsessed with the idea that David Slosson was the only creature +worth regarding on the face of the earth. This was after he, Peter, +had spent the evening of that memorable first day of real movement, in +the company of Silas Mallinsbee and Gordon, out at the office at +Buffalo Point. + +Peter McSwain had always been an attentive landlord in his business, +now he had suddenly become even more so, especially to David Slosson. +There was not a single requirement that the agent could conceive, but +Peter was on hand to supply it. He was more or less at his elbow the +whole time. + +Then, too, Mike Callahan became a frequenter of the hotel, and even +boarded there. Furthermore, a wonderful friendliness between him and +Peter sprang up, which was so marked that the townspeople saw in it a +combination of forces possibly foreshadowing the inauguration of a +great hotel enterprise under their joint control. This also was after +that first evening, when Mike Callahan had also formed one of the party +at the office at Buffalo Point. + +Another point of interest, had it been noticeable by the more curious +and interested of the frequenters of the hotel, was, that at any time +that Peter McSwain found it necessary to absent himself from the hotel, +Mike was always found in his place superintending the running of the +establishment. + +However, these small details were merely an added puff of wind to the +breath of general excitement prevailing. The one thought in the place +seemed to be of those preparations necessary for the boom. Already +certain contracts, long since prepared for such a happening, were put +into operation. A number of buildings were started, or prepared to +start. The news had been sent broadcast by interested citizens, and a +fresh influx of people began and heavy orders from the various traders +were placed with the wholesalers in the East. + +David Slosson in his quarters was made aware of these things, but +somehow they raised small enough enthusiasm in him. Truth to tell, he +was far too deeply concerned with the subtleties of his own affairs. +His course of action had not been the wild plunge which Peter McSwain +had suggested. On the contrary, such was his venomous nature that he +had pitted his own abilities and fortune against the Buffalo Point +interests in a carefully calculated scheme. + +For years he had been engaged in every corner of the United States and +Canada in such work as he was now doing. In the process of such work, +by methods of unscrupulous grafting and blackmail he had contrived a +fortune of no inconsiderable amount. So that now he was no ordinary +agent. He was a "representative" of the interests he worked for. In +his case the distinction was a nice one. + +As the result of his encounter with Gordon he had resolved upon the +crushing defeat of his adversaries by hurling the entire weight of his +personal fortune into the scale. True enough he had bought without +regard to price. He bought all he could in the best positions, and +even in the quarters which would not meet with the railroad's approval. +So his purchases had to be far greater, both in extent and price, than +in the ordinary way he would have made at Buffalo Point. + +Having thus bought, and thrown his own money into the affair, this was +his plan of dealing with the matter. First, he knew this boom was +based on sound foundations. The future was assured by the vast +coal-fields just opening up. The Bude and Sideley Coal Company was +only the first. There would be others, many of them. With the +railroad depot at Snake's Fall, the whole of the outlying positions of +the city would boom with the rest. _Any land round it would be of +enormous value_. So he purchased in every direction. He bought at +"skied" prices from the big holders, so that the railroad should be +satisfied as to positions, and he bought largely in the outlying parts +of the city where no "skied" prices could rule. Then he pooled the +price which he knew the railroad would pay, with his own fortune to pay +the whole bill, put the railroad in _on the best sites at their own +price_, and held the balance of his purchases for himself. + +It was his only means of justifying to his principals his declining to +accept Buffalo Point's terms, and though it meant locking up his +available capital in Snake's Fall, he knew, in the end, he would recoup +himself with added fortune, and have wrecked those who had rejected his +blackmail, and added to their audacity by personal assault. It pleased +him to think that Hazel Mallinsbee would also be made to suffer for +what he considered her outrageous treatment of himself. + +His method was certainly Napoleonic, and for its very audacity it +should succeed. As he reviewed his position he could find no +appreciable flaws. If the coal were there the place must boom, +and--_he knew the coal was there_. + +So he was satisfied. + +Five days after making his first deal, those deals which had inspired +so much derision, his whole operations were completed. He was feeling +contented. It had been a strenuous time, and had demanded every ounce +of energy and commercial acumen he possessed to complete the work. He +knew that his whole future was at stake, but he also knew that he held +the four aces which would be the finally deciding factors in the game. +He felt free at last to notify the President of the Union Grayling and +Ukataw Railroad of his transactions, and was confident of that shrewd +financier's approval and felicitations. Nor were the latter the least +desirable in his estimation. + +He had already dined in his parlor, as had been his custom since his +encounter with Gordon. But now he intended to move abroad. He felt +himself to be the arbiter of the fate of these "rubes," as he +characterized the citizens of Snake's Fall, and he did not see the +necessity for denying himself the adulation such a position entitled +him to. + +With a self-satisfied feeling he picked up a long code message he had +written out and thrust it in his pocket. Then, carefully putting away +all other private papers into his dressing-case, and locking it, he +sauntered leisurely out of his room. + +He intended to give himself his first breathing space for five days, +and he lounged downstairs to the hotel office. + +Sure enough, the first person he encountered was Peter McSwain. The +man looked hot, but then he always looked hot. His smile of welcome +was almost servile, and David Slosson felt pleased at the sign. + +The consequence was, his manner promptly became something more than +autocratic. There was a domineering note in his voice, and a cool +insolence in his regard of his host. Peter remained quite undisturbed. +His mind went back to the scene in the office at Buffalo Point on the +eventful first evening, and an even greater servility beamed out of his +hot eyes. + +"Yes, sir," he cried, in answer to Slosson's inquiry as to the +movements in the town. "Movements? Why, I'd sure say you've set this +place jumping as though you'd opened up an earthquake under it. I tell +you frankly, Mr. Slosson, sir, we been waitin' days and days with our +eyes on you for a lead. I don't guess it means a thing to a gentleman +like you, but if you'd been a sort o' cock angel right down from the +clouds on an aeroplane you couldn't ha' been blessed more'n the folks +right here have been blessin' your name these last days, since you +outed that bum outfit down at Buffalo Point." + +"They're a pretty rotten crowd," agreed Slosson, well enough pleased. +"Though I say it, it takes a man of experience to handle a crowd like +that. They're sheer blackmailers, but I don't stand for a thing like +that. You see, our play is to serve the public right. Well, seeing +Snake's Fall is a straight proposition I guess I had to treat 'em +right. I figure I put a heap of dollars in the way of Snake's Fall. +You won't do so bad yourself?" + +Peter smiled amiably. + +"I can't kick." + +"Kick?" Slosson's eyes widened. "Guess you ought to get right on your +knees, and thank--me." Then he laughed. "Say, maybe you'll start +putting up a--real hotel." + +His contempt was marked as he let his glance wander over his simple and +primitive surroundings. Peter took no sort of umbrage. + +"Well, that was how I was figurin'. Y'see I got to be first in that +line. Since you downed Mallinsbee's crowd of crooks, why, it's going +to make things easy. Say, you don't figure to sink dollars that way +yourself? Maybe you could get right in on the ground floor." + +His cordial tone pleased the agent, but he pretended to consider the +matter too small for his participation. + +"I'd need a big holding," he laughed. "I ain't time for one-hossed +shows. Still, I thank you for the offer. Guess the Mallinsbee crowd +are kicking 'emselves to death. What?" + +Peter nodded impressively, and drew closer in his confidence. + +"Kickin'? That don't describe it. They deserve it, too. They kep' us +dancing around guessin' with their patch of grazin'. Say, this town +owes you a big heap, an' I'm glad. There's one thing owin' a real +smart gent like you, Mr. Slosson, sir, an' quite another owin' a crowd +of crooks like Mallinsbee's. This town ain't likely to forget. +There's things like testimonials around, sir," he added, winking +significantly, "and when a city's making a big pile through a man, +testimonials are like to take on a mighty handsome shape." + +Slosson grinned. + +"I shouldn't discourage 'em," he said pleasantly. "The folks 'll see +where they are in a few days. Here." He pulled out his long cypher +message from his pocket, and held it out towards Peter triumphantly. +"You can read it if you like. You won't be able to get its meaning, +but I'll tell you what it is. It's to tell my company to go right +ahead. They're in. That means that Snake's Fall is made, sir, +completely and finally made, and the Mallinsbee ground sharks are plumb +down and out. And I'm glad to say I've been the means of fixing things +that way for you." + +Peter took the message. He took it rather quickly--almost too quickly. +He read it. The words were so much gibberish to him, and it was far +too long to remember. But with a quick effort he took in the one word +of address, and the first six words of the message. + +Then he handed it back. + +"Do you need that sent off, sir?" he inquired easily, but his heart was +beating quickly. + +Slosson shook his head. + +"Guess I'll send it myself. I'm going across to the depot right now." +He folded up the paper. "That's the sentence on the Buffalo Point +crooks, and its execution will follow--quick." + +"An' serve 'em darned right," cried Peter sharply. "I ain't time for +crooks like them. You're right, sir. Don't take chances. See that +sent off yourself, sir. I'm real glad you come along here. There'll +be fortunes lying around in your track, an' then there's always +them--testimonials. Say, you'll just excuse me, sir, but there's some +all-fired 'rubes' shoutin' for drinks in the bar. I----" + +Slosson laughed. + +"Yes, you get right on. The boys have money to burn in this city now. +They'll have more later. I'll get going." + +He moved off and passed through the crowded office, and out of the +hotel, while Peter dashed swiftly into his private office. He went +straight to his desk and wrote on paper all he could remember of the +code message. Then he stood up and swore softly to himself. + +For some moments he let himself go at the expense of the man he had +just been talking to. Then he became calmer, and his face grew +thoughtful. Then, after awhile, a smile grew in his hot eyes, and he +murmured audibly-- + +"I wonder. Steve Mason's a good boy, an' he don't draw a big pile +slamming the keys of his instruments over there. I wonder." + +After that he left the office and hurried out to the veranda, and stood +watching, in the evening light, for the figure of David Slosson leaving +the telegraph operator's office. + + +Gordon and Hazel Mallinsbee were riding amongst the hills. Gordon was +on Sunset, and Hazel's brown mare was reveling in the joy of a fresh +morning gallop through her native valleys and woodlands. + +Ever since the memorable day when he discovered that Slosson was his +father's agent, Gordon had lived in a state of almost feverish delight. +At his instigation they had closed up the office at Buffalo Point, to +give color to their defeat by the agent. At his instigation they had +arranged many other more or less significant matters. But it had been +Mallinsbee's own suggestion that Gordon should take up his abode at the +ranch instead of sharing the hospitality of Mike Callahan's livery barn +in Snake's Fall. + +It was a glorious summer day and the mountain breezes came down the +hillsides with that refreshing cool belonging to the heights above. +The joy of living was thrilling both of them as they rode, and their +horses, too, seemed to have caught the infection. But there was +something more than the mere joy of life and health actuating them now. +There was an excitement such as neither could have experienced during +those long, dull hours which, during the past weeks, had been spent in +the now closed office at Buffalo Point. + +They raced along down a wide green valley lined upon either side by +wood-clad slopes of hills, which mounted up towards the blue for +several hundreds of feet. Ahead of them shone the white ramparts of +the mountain range. They scintillated in the sunlight, a shimmering +wall of snow and ice many thousands of feet high. Before them lay +miles and miles of broken hills, rising higher and higher as they +approached the ultimate barrier of the Rockies themselves. + +The riders were in a perfect maze of valleys, and woods, and mountain +streams, and hills; a maze from which it seemed well-nigh impossible to +disentangle themselves. Yet, with her trained eyes, and wonderful +inborn knowledge of hill-craft, Hazel piloted their course without +hesitation, without question. The whole region was an open book to her +in the summer time. For miles and miles through that broken land she +knew every headland, every shadowy wood, every green valley and +gurgling stream. As she often told Gordon, it was her world--her home +and her world, it belonged to her. + +"But I should lose myself in five minutes," Gordon protested, as they +swung out of the valley and into a narrow cutting between two +sheer-faced cliffs, overgrown with scrub and small bush, which left +hardly any room for their horses along the banks of a trickling brook +which divided them. + +"Surely you would," Hazel, who was now in the lead, called back over +her shoulder. "And I guess I should just as soon lose my way in your +wonderful New York. You follow right along, and I'll promise to bring +you home by supper." Then, with laughing anxiety, "But for goodness' +sake don't lose our lunch out of your saddle bags. We'll be starving +after another hour of this." + +The warning startled Gordon into an apprehensive survey of his saddle +bags. They were quite secure, however, and he followed closely on the +mare's heels. + +Quickly it became apparent that they were traveling a well-worn cattle +path overgrown by the low scrub. It was difficult, but Hazel followed +it unfalteringly. Half a mile up this narrow, the great facets of the +hills on either side began to close in on them, and still further ahead +Gordon discovered that they almost met overhead, the narrowest possible +crack alone dividing them. + +He was wondering in which direction lay their way out of such a +hopeless cul-de-sac when he saw Hazel suddenly bend her body low over +her mare's neck, and, at the same moment, she called back a warning to +him. + +"'Ware overhead rocks!" she cried. + +Gordon instantly followed her example, and kept close behind her as she +entered a passage which was practically a tunnel. Now their +difficulties were increased tenfold. The tunnel, in spite of the +narrow split in its roof, was almost dark. The low bush completely hid +the track and the little tumbling creek beside the path had deepened to +a six-foot cut bank. + +Gordon became troubled. But it was not for himself so much as for +Hazel. His horse, Sunset, was steady as a rock, but the brown mare +ahead was as timid as a kitten. He glanced anxiously at the figure of +the girl. The journey seemed not to trouble her one bit. Her mare, +too, considering her timidity, was wonderfully steady. No doubt it was +the result of perfect confidence in the clever little creature on her +back, he thought. His gaze passed still further ahead. He was looking +for the termination of this mysterious winding tunnel. But twenty +yards was the limit of his vision and, so far, no end was in sight. + +Suddenly Hazel's merry laugh came echoing back to him. + +"Say, isn't this a great place?" she cried. "It's like one of those +enchanted lands you read of in fairy books." Then she added a further +warning. "Keep low. We're nearly through." + +The horses scrambled on in the semi-darkness. But for Gordon the +enchantment of the place was passing, and he was glad to know they were +nearly through. + +A few minutes later he saw Hazel begin to straighten herself up in the +saddle. He followed her example with some caution and considerable +relief. The roof was becoming higher, so, too, was the light +increasing. Gordon breathed a sigh. + +"I don't know about the lunch," he said. "I've bumped the walls for +some considerable time. Is there much more of it?" + +But before Hazel's reply could reach him his inquiry was answered by +the cavern itself. All in an instant they rounded a bend and a +dazzling beam of sunlight banished the darkness and nearly blinded him. +Two minutes later he pushed his way through a dense screen of willows, +and emerged upon the bank of a beautiful, serene lake of absolutely +transparent, sunlit water. + +"Behold the spring which is the source of that little stream," cried +Hazel, indicating the lake spread out before them. "Isn't it a +fairy-book picture? Look round you. Oh, say, I just love it to death." + +Gordon gazed about him in wonder. The lake was quite small, but its +setting was as beautiful as any artist could have painted it. All +around it, on two-thirds of its circumference, a hundred different +shades of green illumined the wonderful tangled vegetation. He looked +for the place from which they had emerged. It was completely hidden. +Gone, vanished as if by magic. All that remained were the great hills +at the back and the wooded banks of the lake at their feet. + +He looked down at the water. Clear, clear; it was clear as crystal. +Then he turned towards the sun, and something of the wonder of it all +thrilled him. A sea, a calm, unruffled sea of the greenest grass he +had ever beheld stretched out before him. Or was it a broad river of +grass? Yes, it was a wide river, perhaps two miles wide, with great +mountainous banks on either side. To him they seemed to be standing at +its source, and its flow carried his gaze away on towards the west, +where, above all, miles and miles away, shone the white peaks of the +mountains. + +The banks of this superb valley were deeply wooded from the base to the +soaring summits. Only were the hues of the foliage varied. Right at +the foot the green was bright, but less bright than the tall sweet +grass. While higher, the dark foliage of pine woods rose somberly on +stately towering blackened trunks. + +At last Gordon turned back to the girl, who had sat watching the intent +expression of his face. + +"Tell me," he said, and he made a comprehensive gesture with one hand. + +Hazel was waiting only for that sign. + +[Illustration: Hazel Was Waiting for That Sign] + +"Where we stand now we are twenty miles from the ranch," she said. +"The only other outlet to this valley is twenty miles further on to the +west. If you could not find our secret passage again, you would have +to travel sixty miles through the most amazing country to get back +home." + +"Sixty miles back?" Gordon muttered. + +"Sure," returned Hazel. Then she laughed. "Even then, unless you'd +been pretty well born in these hills you'd never find the way." + +Gordon nodded, and glanced in the direction whence they had come. +There was not a sign of the tunnel to be seen. The foliage screen +looked impenetrable. He began to smile. + +"And your cattle station?" he questioned. + +"Come on." + +Hazel turned her mare away, and set off at a brisk canter. She +followed the line of the hills at the edge of the wide plain of sweet +grass. + +Gordon followed her, marveling at the place, but more still at his +guide. A quarter of an hour's gallop under the shade of the most +amazingly beautiful woods he ever remembered to have seen, brought them +to a clearing, in the midst of which stood a smallish frame house. It +was more or less surrounded by a number of large, heavy-timbered +corrals. The whole place was perfectly hidden by the screen of woods +from view of the valley beyond. + +Hazel leaped out of the saddle and passed hurriedly into the house. +Next minute she returned with two picket ropes. + +"We'll picket them both while we eat and get a peek around the place. +We aren't yearning for a twenty-mile tramp back." + +Gordon agreed. He remained silent while they off-saddled and secured +their horses beyond the woods on the open grass. He was thinking hard. +He was reviewing the purpose which had brought them to this wonderful +outworld hiding-place. Nor were his thoughts wholly free from doubts +and qualms. + +At length the work was done. Their saddle blankets were laid out to +dry in the sun, and the saddle bags were emptied of the ample lunch +Hazel had carefully provided. + +The girl was entirely mistress of the situation. Gordon felt his +helplessness out here in the secret heart of nature. + +"Shall we eat first or----?" Hazel broke off questioningly. + +"Can't we look around the house while the kettle boils?" inquired +Gordon, looking up from the fire he had kindled after some difficulty. +He was kneeling on the bare, dusty ground which had been trodden by the +hoofs of thousands of cattle in the past. + +The girl nodded. Her delight in being this man's cicerone was +superlative. This was different from the days she had spent with David +Slosson. + +"Sure. Come on," she cried. "And there's a well out back where we can +fill the kettle." + +They hurried off to the well, and, between them, rather like two +children, they filled the kettle. Then they returned and placed it on +the fire, and again approached the house. + +It was a squat, roomy structure of the ordinary frame type, but it was +in perfect preservation even to its paint, and Hazel pointed this out +as they approached. + +"You see this was my daddy's first home," she said. "It's where I was +born." She drew a deep, happy sigh. "I seem to remember every stick +of it. And my daddy, why, he just loves it, too. That's why, though +we don't use it now, he has it painted every year, and kept clean. You +see, when my daddy built this for my momma he hadn't a pile of dollars. +It was just all he could afford, and he didn't ever guess he'd have a +great deal to spend on a home. We lived here years, and our cattle +grazed out in the valley beyond. I used to spend my whole time on the +back of a small broncho mare, chasing up and down the hills and woods. +And that's how I found that tunnel we came through. My, but I do love +this little place!" + +"It's great," agreed Gordon warmly. "I'd call it a--a poet's home." + +The girl flung open the front door and led the way in. Instantly +Gordon had the surprise of his life. It was furnished. Completely and +comfortably furnished. What was more, the furniture, though old, was +in perfect repair, and the room looked as though it had been recently +occupied. + +"When you said 'disused,'" Gordon exclaimed, "I--I--thought it would be +empty." + +The girl smiled a little sadly. + +"No," she said. "We couldn't forsake it. It would be like forgetting +my poor momma. No. The furniture and things are just as we used them +when she was with us." + +She passed from the parlor to the bedrooms, and the lean-to kitchen and +washhouse. Everything was in perfect order, except for a slight dust +which had gathered. + +"You see, Hip-Lee and one of the choremen and I can fix it up in a day +ready for occupation. That's how my daddy likes to have it. My daddy +loved our lovely momma. I don't guess he'll ever get over losing her." +Then she looked up, and her shadow of sadness had gone. "Come along," +she cried. "You've seen it all. So we'll just shut it up again, and +get back to our camp. I'm guessing that kettle'll be boiled dry." + +But the kettle was only just on the boil, and the girl made the tea +while Gordon set out the food and plates. Then, when all was ready, +they sat down to their _tête-à-tête_ picnic with all the enjoyment of +two children, but with that between them which seemed to fill the whole +air of the valley with an intoxicating sense of happiness and delight. + +"And what about that other place--that log and adobe shack you told me +of?" demanded Gordon, taking his tea-cup from the girl's hand. + +Hazel laughed. + +"That's a dandy shack, full of ants and crawly things, and its roof +leaks water. It's up on a hill where the wind just blows pneumonia +through it. If I showed it you I sort of reckon you'd be scared to use +it for--for anything." + +Gordon joined in her laugh. + +"I guess it'll be the real thing for my job. Say, don't you sort of +feel like a criminal? I do." He laughed again as he passed the plate +of cut meats to his companion. + +"Criminals?" laughed Hazel buoyantly. "Why, I just feel as if you and +my daddy and I were all hanging by the neck on the highest peak of the +Rockies. Say, you're sure--sure of things?" + +"I guess there's nothing sure in this world, except that no saint was +ever a financial genius. Sure? Say, how can we be sure till we've +fixed things the way we want 'em? But I tell you we've got to make +good. I won't believe we can fail. We mustn't fail. If only Peter +can get hold of Slosson's messages. Only one will do. If he can do +that, and it's what I expect, why--the whole thing becomes just a +practical joke, only not so harmful." + +Gordon attacked his food with a healthy appetite, and the girl watched +him happily. + +"It's the cleverest thing ever," she cried, "and--and I can't think how +you thought of it, and, having thought of it--dared to attempt to carry +it out." + +Gordon smiled. + +"I'm not clever, but--I did think of it, didn't I? And as to carrying +it out, why, I guess we're the same as the others. We're 'sharps.' +We're land pirates. We're ground sharks." + +Hazel set her cup down. + +"But you are clever. I didn't mean it that way." + +"You're the first person ever told me." + +"Am I?" Hazel blushed. Nor did she know why. Gordon, watching her, +sat entranced. + +"Sure. Most everybody reckons I'm just a--a bit of an athlete--that's +all. My sister Gracie never gets tired of telling me what an +all-sorts-of-fool I am." + +"How old is your--Gracie?" + +"Thirteen." + +"That makes a diff'rence." + +"Oh, she doesn't get it all her own way," laughed Gordon. "I hide her +chocolates. That makes her mad. She's a passion for candy. But the +old dad is a bully feller. He's all sorts of a sportsman, and he +guesses that the best day in his life will be the one in which he finds +I'm not a fool." + +Hazel gurgled merrily. + +"That'll come along soon." + +Gordon nodded. + +"Gee! It makes me laugh to think of it. But say," he went on, a +moment later, "I'm glad you don't think me a fool. I'm just longing +for----" But he broke off and abruptly rose from the ground. Their +meal was finished. "Do we wash things or do we just pack 'em up?" + +"Oh, we'll pack 'em," said Hazel, rising hastily. A sort of nervous +hurry was in her movement. "We won't rob the choreman and Hip-Lee of +their rights. Say, you bring up the horses, and I'll pack. We can +water them at the lake as we pass out--the horses, I mean." + +A few minutes later Gordon returned with the horses. + +As he rounded the bend in the now overgrown track, which had once +formed the main approach to the little ranch, and caught sight of the +graceful fawn-clad figure moving about, he stood for a moment to feast +his eyes upon the picture the girl made. She was all he had ever +dreamed of in life. There was nothing of the delicate exotic here, +none of the graceful gowning of a city, concealing an unhealthy body +reduced almost to infirmity by the unwholesome night life of modern +social demands. She was just a living example of the grace with which +Nature so readily endows those who obey her wonderful, helpful laws. +The perfect contours, the elasticity of gait, the clear, keen, +beautiful eyes, and the pretty tanning under the shade of her +wide-brimmed hat. + +The beating of the man's heart quickened. All his feelings rose, and +set him longing to tell her all that was in his heart. He wanted then +and there to become her champion for all time. A great passionate wave +set the warm blood of youth surging to his head. He felt that she +belonged to him, and him alone. Had he not fought for her as those +warriors of old would have done? Yes, somehow he felt that she was +his, but, with a strange cowardice, he feared to put his fate to the +test through words which could never express half of all he felt. He +longed and feared, and he told himself---- + +But Hazel was looking in his direction. She saw him standing there, +and peremptorily summoned him to her presence. + +"For goodness' sake," she cried. "Dreaming when there's work to be +done. Bring them right along, or we'll never get started. There's all +twenty miles before supper." + +Gordon hurried forward, and as he came up he made his excuses. + +"I had to look," he said apologetically. "You see it isn't every day a +feller gets a chance to see a real picture--like I've seen. Say, these +hills, I guess, can hand all that Nature can paint that way, but you +need a human life in it to make a picture real to just an ordinary +man's eyes. I--had to look." + +But Hazel seemed to have become suddenly aware of something of that +which lay behind his words, and she hastily, and with flushed cheeks, +turned to the work of saddling her horse. Gordon attempted to help, +but she laughingly declined any aid. She pointed at the saddle bags on +his saddle. + +"They're packed," she said. "Say, I'll show you how to refold your +blanket. This way." + +Gordon spent some delicious moments struggling with his blanket under +the girl's superintendence, and his regret was all too genuine when, at +last, it was placed on Sunset's back with the saddle on the top of it. +As for the mare, she was saddled and bitted in the time it took him to +cinch Sunset up. By the time he had adjusted the bit Hazel was in the +saddle, gazing down at his efforts with merry, laughing eyes. + +"It does seem queer," she said. "Here are you, big and strong, and +capable of most anything. Yet it puzzles you around a saddle--which is +so simple." + +Gordon climbed into his saddle at last, and smiled round at her. + +"I'm learning more than I ever guessed I'd learn when I left New York. +I've learned a heap of things, and you've taught me most of them. +Sometime I'll have to tell you all you've taught me, and then--and +then, why, I guess maybe you'll wonder." He laughed as they moved off. +But somehow Hazel kept her eyes averted. + +"Now for the enchanted tunnel again," he cried, in a less serious mood. +"More enchantment, more delight! And then--then to the serious +criminal work we have on hand. Criminal. It sounds splendid. It +sounds exciting. We're conspirators of the deepest dye." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE CODE BOOK + +It seemed as though Peter McSwain never did anything without +perspiring. He perspired now with the simple effort of thought. But +it was a considerable effort and a considerable thought. He crowded +more of the latter into five minutes, he assured himself, than a +bankrupt Wall Street man could have done on the eve of settling day. +The object of his thought was the telegraph operator and the subject of +it the interesting thesis of bribery. Then, too, there were the side +issues, which included David Slosson, a telegraph message, and two men +waiting at the other end of things for the result of his share in the +proceedings. + +He made no attempt at pleasant conversation with the row of guests +lounging with feet skywards on the shady veranda. For the time at +least the affairs of his hotel were quite secondary. It seemed to him +just now that these men were the misfortunes of a commercial interest. +They were the things that kept him living concealed beneath an exterior +of polite attention which he detested. He had never had a chance of +being his real self until this moment. There was work of a delicate +nature to be performed, work which was to prove his ability in those +finer channels where individuality would count and genuine cleverness +must be displayed. A lot was depending upon his capacity. + +This feeling inspired him, and the dew on his forehead became a moist +and shallow lake that was already overflowing its banks. At the end of +five minutes, after having seen David Slosson leave the telegraph +office and move off down the Main Street, this lake became a streaming +torrent as he left the veranda and passed round to the back of the +hotel. + +This retrograde movement was a part of his deeply laid plans. He had +no object in visiting either his barn or his kitchens. The Chinese +cook possessed no interest for him at the moment, and as for the hens +and the team of horses, and his lame choreman who tended them, they had +never been farther from his thoughts. + +He appeared interested, however, and mopped his forehead several times +as he surveyed the scene with attentive eye. Then he passed on without +a word. Now his route became circuitous. He walked a hundred yards +away from the town, and appeared to be contemplating the open country +with weighty thoughts in his mind. Then he turned away and moved in +another direction, towards the railroad track. Again he paused with +measuring eye. Then he crossed the track and strode off in a fresh +direction. This time he was moving northwards away from the depot and +telegraph office. Those who now chanced to observe him lost all +interest in his movements, and for the time his perspiring face was +forgotten. By the time he came within view of the hotel veranda again +his very existence had been forgotten in the midst of the busy talk of +his guests. And so he was enabled to reach the telegraph office from +the farther side without arousing comment. + +He casually opened the door and found himself standing before the +barrier of the paper-littered office. The operator was at his +instrument table ticking out a message in that alert, concentrated +manner peculiar to all telegraphists. The man glanced round at his +visitor and continued his work without a sign of recognition, and the +hotel-keeper propped himself on the counter and drew a cigar from his +vest pocket. + +By the time he had lit it satisfactorily the ticking of the instrument +ceased, and a sigh of relief warned him that Steve Mason was free. He +glanced across at the table with his hot eyes and a shadowy smile. + +"Busy these times, Steve," he said genially. "The old days when we had +time to sit around in this office and yarn are as far back as the +flood. Say, you ain't got paralysis of the arm yet? Maybe you work +'em both. Hev a smoke?" + +Steve smiled wearily. + +"Don't you never take on operatin', Peter," he said, accepting the +proffered smoke. "Thanks. What's this? One of those 'multiflavums' +of yours you keep for drummers?" + +Peter shook his head. + +"My own smokes. They match the times. We're all making fortunes." + +"Are we?" + +"Well--ain't we?" + +"None of it's come my way," said Steve, lighting his cigar. "But +that's always the way. We get shunted to a bum town like this on a +branch, and they pay us salary according. If the city makes a break +and gets busy and we're nearly crazy with overwork they don't boost us +up. Overwork don't mean overpay, nor overtime. They ain't raised me a +dollar. I'm going to get right on the buck if things keep up. I tell +you I've eaten three meals in this office to-day, with my hand on the +key, and I--I'm just sick to death. I don't take or send again this +night." + +"Guess you'll be able to make a break when you sell your holdings," +McSwain went on sympathetically. He raised the barrier and stepped +into the office, and sat himself in a chair he had often occupied in +the unruffled days before the coal. + +Steve laughed and sat himself on the corner of his instrument table. + +"I ain't got no holding. You can't buy land on a hundred dollars a +month. No, sir. What with the Chinee laundry and my boarding-house, I +guess I need to smoke your 'multiflavums' and drink your worst rye. +Why, I ain't got a balance over to buy an ice-cream-soda in winter." + +"You sure are badly staked," murmured Peter. + +They smoked in silence for some moments. The atmosphere of the little +office was opening the pores of Peter's skin again. + +"Say," he went on presently, mopping his brow carefully, "I made quite +a stake out of that agent feller, Slosson. Somewheres around ten +thousand dollars. Quite a piece of money, eh? I ain't sure he's a +fool or a pretty wise guy." + +"He's the railroad man," said Steve significantly. + +"Yes. That don't make him out a fool, does it?" + +"I'd smile." + +"So'd I--if I knew more. I'd give a hundred dollars to see what's to +happen in the next week or so. I've got a big stake here, if the +railroad don't shift the depot. Slosson says they won't. Says he's +bought all he needs right here for his company. I take it he's helped +himself, too. Still, I'd like to know. The boys back at the hotel are +fallin' right over 'emselves to get in. They reckon this place is a +cinch--since Slosson's bought. I'd like to be sure." + +Steve laughed. He read through his friend's purpose now. The visit +was not, as he told himself, for nothing. Peter was looking for +information which it would be a serious offense for him to give--if he +possessed any, which he didn't. + +"Guess there's nothing doing, Peter," he said slyly. + +"What d'you mean?" The hotel-keeper's eyes were hotter than ever. But +there was no resentment in them. + +"Why, I just don't know a thing what Slosson's doing. And if I did I +couldn't tell you. It would be a criminal offense. Slosson ain't sent +a word over the line since he started to buy metal until to-night, and +the message I've just sent for him is in code, so, as far as I'm +concerned, it's so much Greek. I don't know who it's to, even. That's +why I guess there's nothing doing." + +"No--I s'pose not. I s'pose codes can be read, though? There's +experts who worry out any old code. Guess it's mighty interestin'. If +Slosson's sendin' in code I guess he's got something in it he don't +need folks to know. That makes it more worrying." + +Peter heaved a great sigh of longing. The other shook his head. + +"You've got to find the key to 'em," he said. + +"Yep--a Bible, or some queer old book. Maybe the 'History of the +United States.' Say, I'd hate to chase up the 'History of the United +States' looking for a key. Maybe it would be interestin', though. +Say----" + +"You couldn't do it in a month of years," laughed Steve, humoring his +friend. "What would it be worth to you to be able to read his code?" + +"Oh, maybe I'd make fifty thousand dollars." + +"Whew! That's some money." + +"Sure. I'd like to try. Say, boy, I'll hand you five hundred dollars +to let me take a copy of that message. All you need do is just leave +it on your table there for five minutes and lock the outer door. Then +just pass right into the other room till the five minutes is up. I'll +hand you the bills right here an' now. I'd like to figure on that +message. Is it a bet?" + +Steve shook his head. He was scared. He knew the consequences of +discovery to himself too well. It was penitentiary. It was the +equivalent of tapping wires. But Peter was unfolding a big roll of +bills, and the temptation of handling that money was very great. + +"You just need to copy the message out? That all?" + +"Just that. No more." + +"You won't need to disfigure my record?" + +"Sure not." Peter grinned. He was sweating, profusely. He felt he +was on a hot scent and likely to make a kill. + +"Only to make a _copy_. It's a big bunch of money for just a copy," +Steve demurred suspiciously. + +Peter laughed. + +"Say, boy, we're old friends. I ain't out to do you a hurt. All I +need is to try and worry out that code and know things. If I was sure +of being able to read it, why, this five hundred would be five +thousand, and worth it all to me, every cent of it. If I can't read +that code, then I'll just hand you back my copy, and no harm's done. +See? I tell you I wouldn't hurt you for more than the money I hope to +make. Is it a bet?" + +Steve passed out through the barrier and turned the key in the door. +Then he came back. + +"I'll take that money." + +"Good." + +Peter paid it over, and then watched the other as he took the original +message which Slosson had written off a file and laid it on the table +beside a blank form. + +"Say, be as sharp as you can over it," Steve said urgently. Then he +passed into the inner room and closed the door. + + +The interior of Mike Callahan's livery barn was typical of a small +prairie town. Rows of horse-stalls ran down either side of it, from +one end to the other. At the far end sliding doors opened out upon an +enclosure, round which were the sheds sheltering a widely varied +collection of rigs and buggies. Also here there was further +accommodation for horses. Just inside the main barn, to the left, the +American Irishman had two small rooms. The one at the front, with its +window on Main Street, was his office. Behind this, dependent for +light upon a window at the side of the building, was a harness-room +crowded with saddles and harness of every description, also a bunk on +which Mike usually slept when he kept the barn open at night. + +It was late at night now, about midnight on the day following Peter +McSwain's momentous effort with Steve Mason. Four men were gathered +together in profound council in Mike's harness-room. The atmosphere of +the place was poisonous. A horse blanket obscured the window, and the +door was shut and locked, although the barn itself was closed for the +night, and there was small enough chance of intrusion. Still, every +precaution had been taken to avoid any such contingency. + +A single guttering candle stuck in the neck of a black bottle illumined +the intent faces of the men. Gordon was sitting at a small table with +a sheet of paper in front of him and a small morocco-bound book beside +it. Silas Mallinsbee and Peter McSwain were sitting upon Mike +Callahan's emergency bunk, while the owner of it contented himself with +an upturned bucket near the door. Cigar-smoke clouded the room and +left the atmosphere choking, but all of them seemed quite impervious to +its inconvenience. + +For awhile there was no other sound than the rustle of the leaves of +Gordon's book and the scratching of the indifferent pen he had borrowed +from Mike. Then, after what seemed interminable minutes, he looked up +from his task with a transparent smile. + +"It's all right," he said in a low, thrilling tone. "I guess we've got +the game in our hands. He's used the governor's code." + +"You can read it?" demanded Peter quickly, leaning forward with a +stiff, tense motion. + +"Is it what we guessed?" inquired Mike, with a sigh of relief. + +Mallinsbee alone offered no comment. + +Gordon nodded in answer to each inquiry. He was reading what he had +written over to himself. + +Then he turned sharply to Peter. + +"For goodness' sake give me a cigar. I need something to keep me from +shouting." + +His tone, and the expression of his eyes were full of excitement. + +"It's the greatest luck ever," he went on, while Peter produced a cigar +and passed it across to him. "This feller's in direct communication +with the governor. You see, this code is the private one. I had it as +the dad's secretary. The manager had it, and, of course, my father. +No one else. So it's just about certain this thing was an important +matter for Slosson to be allowed to use it. Now I'd never heard of +this Slosson before, so that it's also evident he's one of my father's +secret agents. A matter which further proves the affair's importance." + +He lit his cigar and puffed at it leisurely as he contemplated his +paper with even greater satisfaction. + +"This is addressed direct to the old man, which--makes our work doubly +easy," he went on. "Also the nature of the message helps us. If it +had been to our manager it would have been more difficult to work out +my plans." + +He raised the paper so that the candlelight fell full upon it. + +"This is the transcript. 'Occipud, New York'--that's my father," he +added in parenthesis. + +"'Have bought in Snake's Fall, working on instructions. Buffalo Point +crowd out for a heavy graft. Utterly unscrupulous lot, offering +impossible deal. Have turned them down on grounds provided for in your +instructions. Snake's Fall everything you require. Would suggest you +come up here incognito, if possibly convenient. There are other +propositions in coal worth a deep consideration. Coal deposits here +the greatest in the country. Must come an enormous boom. Will send +word later on this matter. Am sending letter covering operations. I +think it will be urgent that you visit this place shortly in interests +of boom as well as the coal.--SLOSSON.'" + +Gordon looked round at the faces of his companions in silent triumph. +And in each case he encountered a keen expectancy. As yet his fellow +conspirators were rather in the dark. The significance of that +transcript was not yet sufficiently clear. + +"What comes next?" inquired Mallinsbee in his calm, direct fashion. + +The others simply waited for enlightenment. + +Gordon chuckled softly. + +"Now we know we can get at Slosson's messages and my father's messages +to him, and, having the code book, by a miracle of good luck, in my +possession, the rest is easy. First, Peter must get a copy of my +father's reply to this. Meanwhile I shall send an urgent message to my +father in Slosson's name to _come up here at once_. The answer to that +must never reach Slosson. Get me, Peter? You've got that boy Steve +where you need him. You must hold him there and pay his price. I'll +promise him he'll come to no harm. When my father finds out things +I'll guarantee to pacify him. This way we'll get my father here, I'll +promise you. And when he does get here the fun 'll begin--as we have +arranged. That clear? Mike's got his work marked out. You yours, +Peter. Mr. Mallinsbee and I will do the rest. Peter, you did a great +act laying hands on this message. It was worth double the price. The +whole game is now in our hands." + +Gordon folded up the paper and placed it inside the code book, which he +carefully returned to his pocket. + +Mike rubbed his hands. + +"Say, it's sure a great play," he said gleefully. + +"And seein' you're his son the risk don't amount to pea-shucks," nodded +the perspiring hotel proprietor. + +"You can be quite easy on that score," laughed Gordon. "I can promise +you this: it won't be the old dad's fault, when this is over, if you +don't find yourselves gathered around a mighty convivial board +somewhere in New York--at his expense. You know my father as a pretty +bright financier. I don't guess you know him as the sportsman I do." + +Mallinsbee suddenly bestirred himself and removed his cigar. + +"I kind o' wish he weren't your father, Gordon, boy," he said bluntly. +"It sort of seems tough to me." + +Gordon's eyes shot a whimsical smile across at Hazel's father. + +"I'd hate to have any other, Mr. Mallinsbee," he said. "Maybe I know +how you're feeling about it. But I tell you right here, if my father +knew I had this opportunity and didn't take it, he'd turn his face to +the wall and never own me as his son again. You're reckoning that for +a son to do his father down sort of puts that son on a level with David +Slosson or any other low down tough. Maybe it does. But I just think +my father the bulliest feller on earth, and I love him mighty hard. I +love him so well that I'd hate to give him a moment's pain. I tell you +frankly that it would pain him if I didn't take this opportunity. It +would pain him far more than anything we intend to do to him--when we +get him here." + +He rose from his seat and his good-natured smile swept over the faces +of his companions. + +"How do you say, gentlemen? Our work's done for to-night. Are we for +bed?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +WAYS THAT ARE DARK + +The people of Snake's Fall were in the throes of that artificial +excitement which ever accompanies the prospect of immediate and flowing +wealth in a community which has been feverishly striving with a +negative result. + +Nor was this excitement a healthy or agreeable wave of emotion. It was +aggressive and vulgar. It was hectoring and full of a blatant +self-advertisement. Men who had never done better for themselves than +a third-rate hotel, or who had never used anything more luxurious than +a street car for locomotion in their ordinary daily life, now talked +largely of Plaza hotels and automobiles, of real estate corners and +bank balances. They sought by every subterfuge to exercise the +dominance of their own personalities in the affairs of the place, only +that they might the further enhance their individual advantage. +Schemes for building and trading were in everybody's minds, and money, +so long held tight under the pressure of doubt, now began to flow in +one incessant stream towards the coffers of the already established +traders. + +Every boom city is more or less alike, and Snake's Fall was no +variation to the rule. Gambling commenced in deadly earnest, and the +sharpers, with the eye of the vulture for carrion, descended upon the +place. How word had reached them would have been impossible to tell. +Then came the accompaniment of loose houses, and every other evil which +seems to settle upon such places like a pestilential cloud. + +To Gordon, looking on and waiting, it was all a matter of the keenest +interest, not untinged with a certain wholesome-minded disgust, and +when he sometimes spoke of it in the little family circle at the ranch, +or to the worldly-wise Mike Callahan in his barn, his talk was never +without a hint of real regret. + +"It makes a feller feel kind of squeamish watching these folks," he +observed to Mike, as they sat smoking in the latter's harness-room one +afternoon. "You see, if I didn't know the whole game was lying in the +palm of my hand I'd just simply sicken at the sordidness of it. We +can't feel that way, though. We're worse than them. They're just dead +in earnest to beat the game by the accepted rules of it, which don't +debar general crookedness. We're out to win by sheer piracy. Makes +you laugh, doesn't it? Makes it a good play." + +Mike was older, and had been brought up in a hard school. + +"Feelin's don't count one way or the other, I guess," he replied +contemptuously. "When it comes to takin' the dollars out of the other +feller's pocket I'm allus ready and willin'. You can allus help him +out after you beat him. Private charity after the deal is a sort of +liqueur after a good dinner." + +"Charity?" Gordon laughed. + +"Well, maybe you got another name for it," retorted Mike indifferently. + +"Several," laughed Gordon. "Rob a man and give him something back +needs another name." + +"They call it 'charity' in the newspapers when them philanthropists +hand back part of the wad they've collected from a deluded +public--anyway. It don't seem different to me." Mike's tone was +sharply argumentative. + +"It isn't different," agreed Gordon. "They're both a salve to +conscience. The only thing is that public charity of the latter nature +has the advantage of personal advertisement. I'm learning things, +Mike. I'm learning that the moment you get groping for dollars, you've +just tied up into a sack all the goodness and virtue handed out to you +by the Creator and--drowned it." + +Though Gordon was never able to carry any sort of conviction on these +matters with Mike, his occasional regrets found a cordial sympathy in +Hazel Mallinsbee. She watched him very closely during the days of +waiting for the maturity of his schemes. She knew the impulse which +had inspired him. She understood it thoroughly. It was humor, and she +liked him all the better for it. She realized to the full all the +depth of love Gordon possessed for his father, an affection which was +not one whit the less for the fact that to all intents and purposes his +object was the highway robbery of that parent. + +It was something of a paradox, but one which she perfectly understood. +She felt that it was a case of two strong personalities opposed to each +other in friendly rivalry. Gordon had propounded his beliefs to a man +of great capacity whose convictions were opposed. Opportunity had +served the younger man, who now intended to drive his point home +ruthlessly, with a deep, kindly humor lying behind his every act. She +could imagine, though she had never seen James Carbhoy, these two men, +big and strong and kindly, sitting opposite each other, smoking +luxuriously when it was all over, discussing the whole situation in the +friendliest possible spirit. + +Her father offered little comment. Curiously enough, this man, who had +so much at stake, deep in his heart did not approve of the whole thing. +It was not that he possessed ordinary scruples. Had the conspiracy +been opposed to anybody but Gordon's father he would have been heart +and soul in the affair. He would have reveled in the daring of the +trick which Gordon intended to carry out. As it was, he was +old-fashioned enough to see some sort of heinous ingratitude and +offense in the fact of a son pitted piratically against his father. + +However, he, like his daughter, watched closely for every sign this son +of his father gave. But while Hazel watched with sympathy and real +understanding, he saw only with the searching eyes of the observer who +is seeking the manner of man with whom he is dealing. + +Once only, during the days of waiting and comparative inaction, he gave +vent to his disapproval, and even then his manner was purely that of +regret. + +They were sitting together in the evening sunlight on the veranda of +the ranch. + +"Gordon, boy," he said in his deep, rumbling voice, after a long, +thoughtful pause; "if I had a son, which I guess I haven't, it would +hurt like sin to think he'd act towards me same as you're doing to your +father." + +His remark did not bring forth an immediate reply. When, however, it +finally came, accompanied as it was by twinkling, mischievous blue +eyes, and a smile of infinite amusement, Hazel, who was standing in the +doorway of the house, fully understood, although it left her father +unconvinced. + +"If you were my father, I guess you wouldn't hate it a--little bit," +Gordon said cheerfully. Then his eyes wandered in Hazel's direction, +and presently came back again to her father's face. "Maybe I'll live +many a long year yet, and if I do I can tell you right here that +perhaps there'll only be one greater moment in my life, than the moment +in which we win out on this scheme. I just want you to remember, all +through, that I love my old dad with all that's in me. Same as Hazel +loves you." + +From that moment Gordon heard no further protest throughout all the +preparations that had to be made. Silas Mallinsbee cheerfully +acquiesced in all that was demanded of him. Furthermore, he tacitly +acknowledged Gordon's absolute leadership. + +Under that leadership much had to be done of a subtle, secret nature. +The impression had to be created that the Buffalo Point interests had +completely abandoned the game. It was an anxious time--anxious and +watchful. David Slosson was kept under close surveillance by the four +conspirators, and, to this end, Gordon and Silas Mallinsbee spent most +of their time in Snake's Fall, which further added to the impression +that their interests had been abandoned. + +Having succeeded in bribing Steve Mason, the telegraph operator, in the +first place, Peter McSwain further bought him body and soul over to +their interests. Mallinsbee's purse was wide open for all such +contingencies, and Steve was left with the comfortable feeling that, +whatever happened, he had made sufficient money to throw up his job +before any crash came, and clear out to safety with a capital he could +never have honestly made out of his work. + +Thus Gordon had been enabled at last to dispatch his urgent code +message to his father, purporting as it did to come from David Slosson. +It was an irresistible demand for the Union Grayling and Ukataw +Railroad President's immediate presence in Snake's Fall. It had been +made as strong as David Slosson would have dared to make it. Nor, when +the answer to it arrived, would it ever reach the agent. Nothing was +forgotten. Every detail had been prepared for with a forethought +almost incredible in a man of Gordon's temperament and experience. + + +It was late evening the second day after the dispatching of Gordon's +urgent message. He had not long returned home to the ranch with +Hazel's father from a day amidst the excitement reigning in Snake's +Fall. Hazel was in the house clearing away supper and generally +superintending her domestic affairs. Silas Mallinsbee was round at the +corrals in consultation with his ranch foreman. Gordon was alone on +the veranda smoking and gazing thoughtfully out at the wonderful ruddy +sunset. + +For him there was none of the peace which prevailed over the scene that +spread out before him. How could there be? Every moment of the two +days which had intervened since the dispatching of his message had been +fraught with tense, nervous doubt. Every plan he had made depended on +the answer to that message, and he felt that the time-limit for the +answer's arrival had been reached. It must come now within a few +hours. He felt that he must get it to-morrow morning or never. And +when it came what--what then? Would it be the reply he desired, or an +uncompromising negative? He felt that the whole thing depended upon +the relations between his father and his agent. He was inclined to +think, from the very nature of the work his father had intrusted to +Slosson, that those relations were of the greatest confidence. He +hoped it was so, but he could not be absolutely sure. Therefore the +strain of waiting was hard to bear. + +While his busy thoughts teemed through his brain, and his +unappreciative gaze roamed over the purpling of the distant hills, his +ears, rendered unusually acute in the deep evening calm, suddenly +caught the faint, distant rumble of a vehicle moving over the trail. + +His quick eyes turned alertly. There was only one trail, and that was +the road to Snake's Fall. The alertness of his eyes communicated +itself to his body. He moved off the veranda and gazed down the trail, +of which he now obtained a clear view. A team and buggy were +approaching at a rapid rate, and, even at that distance, he fancied he +recognized it as the one of Mike Callahan's which he had himself driven. + +A wave of excitement swept over him. Could it be that----? + +He went back to the veranda. The impulse to summon Mallinsbee was hard +to resist. But he forced himself to calmness. + +Five minutes later Mike Callahan drove up, and his team stood drooping +and sweating. + +"Say," he cried, in aggrieved fashion, "it jest set me whoopin' mad +when that wire-tappin' operator fell into my barn with his blamed +message, twenty minutes after you an' Mallinsbee had left. Look at the +time of it. It had buzzed over the wire ha'f an hour before you went." +Then he began to grin, and a keen light shone in his Irish eyes. "But +when I see who it was from I guessed I'd need to get busy. 'Tain't in +your fancy code. It's jest as plain as my face. Read it. The game's +up to us. Guess it's our move next." + +But Gordon was paying no attention to the Irishman. He was reading the +brief message which at last set all his doubts at rest. + + +"Arrive Snake's Fall noon seventeenth." + + +It was addressed to Slosson, but there was no signature. + +"That's to-morrow." Gordon's eyes lit. Then a shadow of doubt crossed +his smiling face. "It's dead safe Steve hasn't sent a copy to Slosson?" + +Mike grinned. + +"Steve don't draw his wad till--we're sure." + +"No." + +At that moment Mallinsbee appeared round the angle of the building. +Gordon's face was wreathed in smiles as he turned to him. + +"We get to work--to-night," he said. + +Mallinsbee nodded, without a sign of the other's excitement. + +"So I guessed when I see Mike's team. Peter wise?" + +"Yep." The Irishman's spirits had risen to a great pitch. "I put him +wise." + +"Splendid. He's got everything ready?" + +Gordon was thinking rapidly. + +"Better send your team round to the barn," said Mallinsbee, with that +thoughtful care he had for all animals. "Then come inside and get some +supper." + +Mike prepared to drive round to the barn. + +"I see the rack in his yard," he grinned. + +"Good." + +Then Gordon laughed. The last care had been banished. Now it was +action. Now? Ah, now he was perfectly happy. + + +The night was intensely still. The last revelers in Snake's Fall had +betaken themselves to their drunken slumbers. The only lights +remaining were the glow of a small cluster of red lamps just outside +the town at the eastern end of it, and the peeping lights behind the +curtained windows of the houses to which these belonged. There was no +need to question the nature of these houses. In the West they are to +be found on the fringe of every young town that offers the prospect of +prosperity. + +There was a single light burning in the hall of McSwain's hotel. This +was as usual, and would burn all night. For the rest, the house was in +darkness. The last guest had retired to rest a full hour or more. + +The stillness was profound. The very profundity of it was only +increased by the occasional long-drawn dole of the prairie coyote, +foraging somewhere out in the distance for its benighted prey. + +The shadowed outbuildings behind the hotel remained for a long time as +quiet as the rest of the world. The horses in the barn were sleeping +peacefully. The fowls and turkeys and geese which populated the yard +in daylight were as profoundly steeped with sleep as the rest of the +feathered world. Even the two aged husky dogs, set there on the +presumption of keeping guard, were composed for the night. + +But after awhile sounds began to emanate from the dark barn. With the +first sound a dog-chain rattled, and immediately a low voice spoke. +After that the dog-chain remained still. Next came the sound of hoofs +on the hard sand floor of the barn. They were hasty, but swiftly +passing. The last sound was heard as two horses emerged upon the open, +each led by a shadowy figure quite unrecognizable in the velvety +darkness of the starlit night. + +The horses moved across towards the vague outline of a large hayrack +which stood mounted in the running gear of a dismantled wagon, and the +figures leading them began at once to hook them up in place. While +this was happening two other figures were loading the rack with hay +from the corral near by, in which stood a half-cut haystack. Their +work seemed to be more intricate than the usual process of loading a +hayrack. There seemed to be a sort of wide and long cage in the bottom +of the rack, and the hay needed careful placing to leave the interior +of this free, while yet surrounding it completely and rendering it +absolutely obscured. + +In less than half an hour the work was completed, and the four men +gathered together and conversed in low voices. + +After this a fresh movement took place. The group broke up, and each +moved off as though to carry out affairs already agreed upon. One man +mounted the rack and took up his position for driving the team. +Another stood near the rear of the wagon and remained waiting, whilst +the other two moved towards the hotel. + +These latter parted as they neared the building. One of them entered +it through the back door, and as he came within the radiance of the +solitary oil-lamp it became apparent that his face was completely +masked. He moved stealthily forward, listening for any unwelcome +sound, mounted the staircase, and was immediately swallowed up by the +darkness of the corridor above. + +Meanwhile his companion had taken another route. He had moved along +the building to the left of the back door. His objective was the iron +fire-escape which went up to the gallery outside the upper windows. + +He found it almost at the end of the building, and began the ascent. +In a few moments he was at the top, and, moving along the narrow iron +gallery, he counted the windows as he passed them. At the fifth window +he paused and examined it. The blind inside was withdrawn, and he ran +over in his mind the various details which had been given him. He knew +that the latch inside had been carefully removed. + +He tried the window cautiously. It moved easily to his pressure, and a +smile stole over his masked features when he remembered that ample +grease had been placed in its slipway. It was good to think that these +contingencies had been so carefully provided for. + +The window was sufficiently open. The process had been entirely +soundless, but he bent down and listened intently. Far away, somewhere +inside, he could hear the sound of deep breathing. He made his next +move quickly and stealthily. One leg was raised and thrust through the +opening, and, bending his great body nearly double, he made his way +into the room beyond. + +Pausing for a few moments to assure himself that the sleeper in the +adjoining room had not been disturbed, he next made his way towards the +door, aided by the light of a silent sulphur match. He quickly +withdrew the bolt, and was immediately joined by the man who had +entered the hotel through the back door. + +Now he turned his attention to the room itself. Yes, everything was as +he had been told. It was a largish room, and a small archway, hung +with heavy curtains, divided it from another. The portion he had +entered was furnished as a parlor, and beyond the curtains was the +bedroom. Signing to his companion to remain where he was, he moved +swiftly and silently to the heavy drawn curtains. For a second he +listened to the breathing beyond; then he parted them and vanished +within. + + +David Slosson awoke out of a heavy sleep with a sudden nightmarish +start. He thought some one was calling him, shouting his name aloud in +a terrified voice. + +But now he was wide awake in the pitch-dark room: no sound broke the +silence. He was on his back, and he made to turn over on to his side. +Instantly something cold and hard encountered his cheek and a +whispering voice broke the silence. + +"One word and you're a dead man!" said the voice. "Just keep quite +still and don't speak, and you won't come to any harm." + +David Slosson was no fool, nor was he a coward, but, amongst his other +many experiences on the fringe of civilization, he had learned the +power of a gun held right. He knew that his cheek had encountered the +cold muzzle of a gun. Shocked and startled and helpless as he was, he +remained perfectly still and silent, awaiting developments. + +They came swiftly. The curtains parted and a man, completely masked +and clad in the ordinary prairie kit of the West, and bearing a lighted +lamp in his hand, entered the room. His first assailant, holding the +gun only inches from his head, Slosson could not properly discern. Out +of the corners of his eyes he was aware that his face was masked like +that of the other, but that was all. + +The newcomer set the lamp down on a table and advanced to the other +side of the bed. Instantly he produced a strap, enwrapped in the folds +of a thick towel. + +Slosson realized what was about to happen, and contemplated resistance. + +As though his thoughts had been read the man with the gun spoke again-- + +"Only one sound an' I'll blow your brains to glory. Ther' ain't no +help around that you ken get in time. So don't worry any." + +The threat of the gun was irresistible, and Slosson yielded. + +The second man forced the strap gag into his mouth and buckled it +tightly behind his victim's head. This done, the agent's hands were +lashed fast with a rope. Then the gun was withdrawn and the wretched +agent was assisted into his clothes, after the pockets had been +searched for weapons. + +In a quarter of an hour the whole transaction was completed, and, with +hands securely fastened behind his back and the gag in his mouth fixed +cruelly firmly, David Slosson stood ready to follow his captors. + +During all that time he had used his eyes and all his intelligence to +discover the identity of his assailants, but without avail. Even their +great size afforded him no enlightenment, with their entire faces +hidden under the enveloping masks. + +In silence the light was extinguished. In silence they left the room +and proceeded down the stairs. In silence they came to the waiting +hayrack outside. Here Slosson beheld the other two masked figures, one +on the wagon, and the other waiting at the rear of it. But he was +given no further chance of observation. His captors seized him bodily +and lifted him into the cage beneath the hay, while one of the men got +in with him and now secured his feet. + +After that more hay was thrown into the vehicle, till it looked like an +ordinary farmer's rack, and then the horses started off, and the +prisoner knew that, for some inexplicable reason, he had been kidnaped. + + +Mrs. Carbhoy had been concerned all day. When she was concerned about +anything her temper generally gave way to a condition which her +youthful daughter was pleased to describe as "gritty." Whether it +really described her mother's mood or not mattered little. It +certainly expressed Gracie's understanding of it. + +To-day nothing the child did was right. She had called her physical +culture instructress a "cat" that morning, only because she had been +afraid to enter into a more drastic physical argument with her. For +that her "gritty" mother had deprived her of candy for the day. She +had refused to do anything right at her subsequent dancing lesson, in +consequence, and for that she had had her week's pocket-money stopped. +Then at lunch she had willfully broken the peace by upsetting a glass +of ice-water upon the glass-covered table, and incidentally had broken +the glass. For this she was confined to her school-room for the rest +of the day, and was only allowed to appear before her disturbed mother +at her nine-o'clock bed hour. + +When a very indignant Gracie appeared before her mother to fulfill her +final duty of kissing her "good-night," that individual was more +"gritty" than ever. She was in the act of opening a bulky letter +addressed to her in a familiar handwriting. Gracie knew at once from +whom it came. Instantly the imp of mischief stirred in her bosom. + +"What nursing home will you send Gordon to when he gets back?" she +inquired blandly. + +Her mother eyed her coldly while she drew out the sheets of +letter-paper. She pointed to a wall bell. + +"Ring that bell," she ordered sharply. + +Gracie obeyed, wondering what was to be the consequence of her fresh +effort. She had not long to wait. Her mother's maid entered. + +"Tell Huxton to pack Miss Gracie's trunks ready for Tuxedo. She will +leave for Vernor Court by the midday express. Her governesses will +accompany her." + +The maid retired. In an instant all hope had fled, and Gracie was +reduced to hasty penitence. + +"Please, momma, don't send me out to the country. I'm sorry for what +I've done to-day, real sorry--but I've just had the fidgets all day, +what with pop going away and--and that silly Gordon never coming near +us, or--or anything. True, momma, I won't be naughty ever again. +'Deed I won't. Oh, say you won't send me off by myself," she urged, +coming coaxingly to her mother's side. "There's Jacky Molyneux going +to take me a run in his automobile to-morrow afternoon, and we're going +to Garden City, and he always gives me heaps of ice-cream. Oh, momma, +don't send me off to that dreadful Tuxedo." + +At all times Mrs. Carbhoy was easily cajoled, and just now she was +feeling so miserable and lonely since her husband had been called away +on urgent business, she knew not where. Then here was another of +Gordon's troublesome letters in her lap. So in her trouble she yielded +to her only remaining belonging. But she forthwith sat her long-legged +daughter on a footstool at her feet, and as penance made her listen to +the reading of the letter which had just arrived. Somehow, in view of +the previous letters from her son, Mrs. Carbhoy felt it to be +impossible to face this new one without support, even if that support +were only that of her wholly inadequate thirteen-year-old daughter. + + +"DEAREST MUM: + +"Since Cain got busy shooting up his brother Abel, since Delilah became +a slave to the tonsorial art and practiced on Samson, since Jael turned +her carpentering stunts to considerable account by hammering tacks into +poor Sisera's head, right through the long ages down to the +record-breaking achievements of the champion prevaricator Ananias, I +guess the crookedness of human nature has progressed until it has +reached the pitch of a fine art, such as is practiced by legislators, +diplomats and New York police officers. + +"This is a sweeping statement, but I contend it is none the less true. + +"I'd say that in examining the facts we need to study the real meaning +of 'crookedness.' We must locate its cause as well as effect. Now +'crookedness' is the divergence from a straight line, which some fool +man spent a lifetime in discovering was the shortest route from one +given point to another. No doubt that fellow thought he was making +some discovery, but it kind of seems to me any chump outside the +bug-house and not under the influence of drink would know it without +having to spend even a summer vacation finding it out, and, anyway, I +don't guess it's worth shouting about. + +"I guess it's up to us to track this straight line down in its +application to ethics. That buzzy-headed discoverer also says a line +is length without breadth. Consequently, I argue that a straight line +is just 'nothing,' anyway. Then when a mush-headed dreamer starts +right out to walk the straight line of life it's a million to one +chance he'll break his fool neck, or do some other positively +ridiculous stunt that's liable to terminate what ought to have been a +promising career. I submit, from the foregoing arguments, the straight +line of ethical virtue is just a vision, a dream, an hallucination, a +nightmare. It's one of those things the whole world loves to sit +around on Sundays and yarn about, and just as many folks would hate to +practice, anyway. And this is as sure as you'll find the only bit of +glass on the road when you're automobiling if you don't just happen to +be toting a spare tyre. + +"Seeing that you can't everlastingly keep trying to walk on 'nothing' +without disastrous consequences, and, further, seeing the days of +miracles have died with many other privileges which our ancestors +enjoyed, such as being burned at the stake and painting up our bodies +in fancy colors, it is natural, even a necessity, that 'crookedness' +should have come into its own. + +"Let's start right in at the first chapter of a man's life. It'll +point the whole argument without anything else. It's ingrained even in +the youngest kid to resort to subterfuge. Subterfuge is merely the +most innocent form in a crook's thesis. Maybe a kid, lying in its +cradle, with only a few days of knowledge to work on, don't know the +finer points he'll learn later. But he knows what he wants, and is +going to get it. He's going to get the other feller where he wants +him, and then force him to do his bidding. It's his first effort in +'crookedness' when he finds the straight line of virtue is just a most +uncomfortable nightmare. How does he do it? + +"I guess it's this way. He needs his food. He guesses his gasoline +tank needs filling. He don't guess he's going to lie around with a +sort of mean draught blowing pneumonia through his vitals. He just +waits around awhile to see if any one's yearning to pump up his +infantile tyre, and when he finds there's nothing doing, why, he starts +right in to make his first fall off the straight line of virtue. You +see, the straight line says that kid's tank needs filling only at +stated intervals. The said kid don't see it that way, so he turns +himself into a human megaphone, scares the household cat into a dozen +fits, starts up a canine chorus in the neighboring backyards, makes his +father yearn to shoot up the feller that wrote the marriage service, +sets the local police officer tracking down a murder that was never +committed, and maybe, if he only keeps things humming long enough, sets +all the State legal machinery working overtime to have his parents +incarcerated for keeping an insanitary nuisance on the premises. + +"See the crookedness of that kid? The moment he finds himself duly +inflated with milk he lies low. Do you get the lesson of it? It's +plumb simple. That kid wanted something. He didn't care a cuss for +regulations. He just laid right there and said, 'Away with 'em!' He +was thirsty, or hungry, or greedy. Maybe he was all three. Anyway, he +wanted, and set about getting what he wanted the only way he knew. All +of which illustrates the fact that when human nature demands +satisfaction no laws or regulations are going to stand in the way. And +that's just life from the day we're born. + +"From the foregoing remarks you may incline to the belief that I have +set out willfully to outrage every moral and human law. This is not +quite the case. I am merely giving you the benefit of my observations, +and also, since I am merely another human unit in the perfectly +ridiculous collection of bipeds which go to make up the alleged +superior races of this world, I must fall into line with the rest. + +"If Abel gets in my way I must 'out' him. If I can manufacture a down +cushion out of old Samson's hair to make my lot more comfortable, I'm +just going to get the best pair of shears and get busy. If I'm going +to collect amusement from studding that chump Sisera's head with tacks, +why, it's up to me to avoid delay that way. And as for Ananias, he +seems to me to have been a long way ahead of his time. They'd have had +his monument set up in every public office in the country to-day. He'd +have been the emblem of every trading corporation I know, and his +effigy would have served as the coat-of-arms for the whole of the +present-day creation. + +"I trust you are keeping well, and the responsibility of guiding the +development of our Gracie is showing no sign of undermining your +constitution. Gracie is really a good girl, if a little impetuous. I +notice, however, that impetuosity gives way before the responsibilities +of life. So far she is quite young. I'm hoping good results when she +gets responsibility. + +"Give my best love to the old Dad, and tell him that he must be careful +of his health in such a desperate heat as New York provides in summer +time. I think a month's vacation in the hills would be excellent for +him at this time of year. I am looking forward to the time when I +shall see him again. + +"You might tell him I hope to fulfill my mission under schedule time. +If you do not hear from me again you will know I am working overtime on +the interests in which I left New York. + +"Your loving son, + "GORDON. + +"P.S.--It occurs to me I have not told you all the news I would have +liked to tell you. But two pieces occur to me at the moment. First, +that achievement in life demands not the fostering of the gentler human +emotions, but their outraging. Also, no man has the right to abandon +honesty until dishonesty pays him better. + +"G." + + +The mother's sigh was a deep expression of her hopeless feelings as she +finished the last word of her son's postscript. + +Gracie watched her out of the corners of her eyes. + +"What's the matter, momma?" she inquired. + +Her mother broke down weakly. + +"They haven't found a trace of him yet. They can't locate how these +letters are mailed. They can't just find a thing. And all the time +these letters come along, and--and they get worse and worse. It's no +good, Gracie; the poor boy's just crazy. Sure as sure. It's the heat, +or--or drink, or strain, or--maybe he's starving. Anyway, he's gone, +and we'll never see our Gordon again--not in his right mind. And now +your poor father's gone, too. Goodness knows where. I'll--yes, I'll +have to set the inquiry people to find him, too, if--if I don't hear +from him soon. To--to think I'd have lived to see the day when----" + +"I don't guess Gordon's in any sort of trouble, momma," cried Gracie, +displaying an unexpected sympathy for her distracted parent. Then she +smiled that wise little superior smile of youth which made her strong +features almost pretty. "And I'm sure he's not--crazy. Say, mom, just +don't think anything more about it. And I'd sort of keep all those +letters--if they're like that. You never told me the others. May I +read them? I never would have believed Gordon could have written like +that--never. You see, Gordon's not very bright--is he?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +JAMES CARBHOY ARRIVES + +Snake's Fall was in that sensitive state when the least jar or news of +a startling nature was calculated to upset it, and start its tide of +human emotions bubbling and surging like a shallow stream whose course +has been obstructed by the sudden fall of a bowlder into its bed. + +Early the following morning just such a metaphorical bowlder fell right +into the middle of the Snake's Fall stream. The news flew through the +little town, now so crowded with its overflowing population of +speculators, with that celerity which vital news ever attains in small, +and even large places. It was on everybody's lips before the breakfast +tables were cleared. And, in a matter of seconds, from the moment of +its penetration to the individual, minds were searching not only the +meaning, but the effect it would have upon the general situation, and +their own personal affairs in particular. + +David Slosson, the agent of the Union Grayling and Ukataw Railroad, had +defected in the night! He had gone--bolted--leaving his bill unpaid at +McSwain's hotel! + +For a while a sort of paralysis seized upon the population. It was +staggered. No trains had passed through in the night. Not even a +local freight train. How had he gone? But most of all--why? + +The next bit of news that came through was that Peter's best team had +been stolen from the barn, also an empty hay-rack. This was +mystifying, until it became known that Peter's buggy was laid up at +Mike Callahan's barn, undergoing repairs. The hayrack was the only +vehicle available. But what about saddle horses for a rapid bolt? +Curiously enough it was discovered that Peter's saddle horses were out +grazing. Besides, the story added that the man had taken his baggage +with him. Not a thing had been left behind, and baggage like his could +not have been carried on a saddle horse. + +The story grew as it traveled. It was the snowball over again. It was +said that Peter had been robbed of a large amount of money which he +kept in his safe. Also his cash register had been emptied. An added +item was that Peter himself had been knifed, and had been found in a +dying condition. In fact every conceivable variation of the facts were +flung abroad for the benefit of credulous ears. Consequently the tide +of curious, and startled, and interested news-seekers set in the +direction of Peter's hotel at an early hour. + +Then it was that something of the real facts were discovered. And, in +consequence, those who had participated in Slosson's land deals, and +had received deposit money, congratulated themselves. While those who +had not so profited felt like "kicking" themselves for their want of +enterprise. + +Peter stormed through his house the whole morning. He was like a very +hot and angry lion in a cage far too small for it. His story, as he +told it in the office, was superlative in furious adjectives. + +"I tell you fellows," he cried, at a group of wondering-eyed boarders +in his establishment, "I ha'f suspected he was a blamed crook from the +first moment I got my eyeballs onto him. The feller that 'll bilk his +board bill is come mighty low, sirs. So mighty low you wouldn't find a +well deep enough for him. He had the best rooms in the house at four +an' a ha'f dollars a day all in, an' I ain't see a fi' cent piece of +his money, cep' you ken count the land deposit he paid me. I just been +right through his rooms, an' he ain't left a thing, not a valise, nor a +grip. Not even a soot of pyjamas, or a soap tablet. He's sure cleared +right out fer good, and we ain't goin' to see him round again," he +finished up gloomily. + +Then his fire broke out again. + +"But that ain't what I'm grievin' most, I guess. Ther's allus skunks +around till a place gets civilized up, an' their bokay ain't pleasant. +But he's a hoss thief, too. There's my team. You know that team of +mine, Mr. Davison," he went on, turning to the drug storekeeper who had +dropped in to hear his friend's news. "You've drove behind 'em many a +time. They got a three-minute gait between 'em which 'ud show dust to +any team around these parts. That team was worth two thousand dollars, +sirs, and was matched to an inch, and a shade of color. Say, if I get +across his tracks, an' Sheriff Richardson is out after him with a +posse, I'm goin' to get a shot in before the United States Authorities +waste public money feeding him in penitentiary. I'm feelin' that mad I +can't eat, an' I don't guess I'd know how to hand a decent answer to a +Methodist minister if he came along. If I don't get news of that team +I'm just going to start and break something. I don't figure if he'd +burned this shack right over my head I'd have felt as mad as I do +losin' that dandy team." + +When questioned as to how the man had got away his answer came sharply. + +"How? Why, what was there to stop him, sir? I tell you right here we +ain't been accustomed to deal with his kind in Snake's. The folk +around this layout, till this coal boom started, has all been decent +citizens." He glared with hot eyes upon the men about him, who were +nearly all speculators attracted by that very coal boom. "There's that +darned fire-escape out back, right down from his room, an' what man has +ever locked his barn in these parts? Psha!" he cried, in violent +disgust. "I've had that team three years, and I've never so much as +had a lock put to the barn." + +So it went on all the morning. Peter's fury was one of the sights of +the township for that day. He was never without an audience which +flowed and ebbed like a tide, stimulated by curiosity, self-interest, +and the natural satisfaction of witnessing another's troubles which is +so much an instinct of human nature. + +And beneath every other emotion which the agent's sudden defection +aroused was a wave of almost pitiful meanness. The dreams of the last +week and more had received a set back. In many minds the boom city was +tottering. The crowding hopes of avarice and self-interest had +suddenly received a douche of cold water. What, these speculators +asked themselves, and each other, did the incident portend, what had +the future in store? + +So keen was the interest worked up about Peter McSwain's house that +every other consideration for the time being was forgotten. Party +after party visited Slosson's late quarters with a feeling of +conviction that some trifling clew had been overlooked, and, by some +happy chance, the luck and glory of having discovered it might fall to +their lot. But it was all of no avail. The room was absolutely empty +of all trace of its recent occupant, as only an hotel room can become. + +With the excitement the daily west-bound passenger train was forgotten, +and by the time it was signaled in, the little depot was almost +deserted. There were one or two rigs backed up to it on the town side, +and perhaps a dozen townspeople were present. But the usual gathering +was nowhere about. + +Amongst the few present were Hazel Mallinsbee and Gordon. They had +driven up in a democrat wagon with a particularly fine team, and having +backed the vehicle up to the boarded platform, they stood talking +earnestly and quite unnoticed. Hazel was dressed in an ordinary suit +that possessed nothing startling in its atmosphere of smartness. Her +skirt was of some rather hard material, evidently for hard wear, and +the upper part of her costume was a white lawn shirtwaist under a short +jacket which matched her skirt. Her head was adorned by her customary +prairie hat, which, in Gordon's eyes, became her so admirably. + +Gordon was holding up a picture for the girl's closest inspection. + +"Say, it's sheer bull-headed luck I got this with me," he was saying. +"I found it amongst my old papers and things when I left New York, and +I sort of brought it along as a 'mascot.' The old dad's older than +that now, but you can't mistake him. It's a bully likeness. Get it +into your mind anyway, and then keep it with you." + +Hazel gazed admiringly at the portrait of the man who claimed Gordon as +his son. For the moment she forgot the purpose in hand. + +"Isn't he just splendid?" she exclaimed. "You're--you're the image of +him. Why, say, it seems the unkindest thing ever to--to play him up." + +Gordon laughed. + +"Don't worry that way. We're going to give him the time of his life." +Then he glanced swiftly about him, and noted the emptiness of the +depot. "I guess Peter's keeping the folks busy. He's a bright feller. +I surely guess he's working overtime. Now you get things fixed right, +Hazel. The train's coming along." + +The girl nodded. + +"You can trust me." + +"Right." Gordon sighed. "I'll make tracks then. But I'll be around +handy to see you don't make a mistake." + +He left the depot and disappeared. Hazel stood studying the picture in +her hand, and alternating her attention with the incoming train. She +was in a happy mood. The excitement of her share in Gordon's plot was +thrilling through her veins, and the thought that she was going to meet +his father, the great multi-millionaire, left her almost beside herself +with delighted interest. + +She wondered how much she would find him like Gordon. No, she thought +softly, he could never be really like Gordon. That was impossible. A +multi-millionaire could never have his son's frank enthusiasm for life +in all its turns and twistings of moral impulse. Gordon faced life +with a defiant "don't care." That glorious spirit of youth and moral +health. His father, for all his physical resemblance, would be a hard, +stern, keen-eyed man, with all experience behind him. Then she +remembered Gordon's injunctions. + +"Be just yourself," he had said. Then he had added, with a laugh, "If +you do that you'll have the dear old boy at your feet long before the +day's had time to get cool." + +It was rather nice Gordon talking that way, and the smile which +accompanied her recollection was frankly delighted. Anyway she would +soon know all about it, for the train was already rumbling its way in. + + +James Carbhoy had done all that had been required of him by his agent's +message. He had not welcomed the abandonment of his private car in +favor of the ordinary parlor car and sleeper. Then, too, the purchase +of a ticket for his journey had seemed strange. But somehow, after the +first break from his usual method of travel, he had found enjoyment in +the situation. His fellow passengers, with whom he had got into +conversation on the journey, had passed many pleasant hours, and it +became quite absorbing to look on at the affairs of the world through +eyes that, for the time being, were no longer those of one of the +country's multi-millionaires. + +However, the journey was a long one, and he was pleased enough when he +reached his destination all unheralded and unrecognized. It amused him +to find how many travelers in the country knew nothing about James +Carbhoy and his vast financial exploits. + +As the train slowed down he gathered up his simple belongings, which +consisted of a crocodile leather suitcase, a stout valise of the same +material; and a light dust coat, which he slung over his arm. Armed +with these, he fell in with the queue making its way towards the exit +of the car. He frankly and simply enjoyed the situation. He told +himself he was merely one of the rest of the get-rich-quick brigade who +were flocking to the Eldorado at Snake's Fall. + +He was the last to alight, and he scanned the depot platform for the +familiar figure of his confidential agent. As he did so the locomotive +bell began to toll out its announcement of progress. The train slowly +slid out of the station behind him. + +David Slosson was nowhere to be seen, and he had just made up his mind +to search out a hotel for himself when he became aware of the tailored +figure of a young girl standing before him, and of the pleasant tones +of her voice addressing him. + +"Your agent, David Slosson, Mr. Carbhoy, has been detained out beyond +the coalfields on your most urgent business," she said. "So I was sent +in with the rig to drive you out to your quarters." + +The millionaire was startled. Then, as his steady eyes searched the +delightful face smiling up at him, his start proved a pleasant one. +There was something so very charming in the girl's tone and manner. +Then her extremely pretty eyes, and--Gordon's father mechanically bared +his head, and Hazel could have laughed with joy as she beheld this +strong, handsome edition of the Gordon she knew. + +"Well, come, that was thoughtful of Slosson," he said kindly. "He +certainly has shown remarkable judgment in substituting your company +for his own. My dear young lady, Slosson as a man of affairs is +possible, but as a companion on a journey, however short--well, I---- +And you are really going to drive me to my hotel. That's surely kind +of you." + +Hazel flushed. She felt the meanest thing in the world under the great +man's kindly regard. However, she reminded herself of the great and +ultimate object of the part she was playing and steeled her heart. + +"The team's right here, sir." She felt justified in adding the "sir." +She felt that she must risk nothing in her manner. "I'll just take +your baggage along." + +She was about to relieve the millionaire of his grips, but he drew back. + +"Say, I just couldn't dream of it. You carry my grips? No, no, go +right ahead, and I'll bring them along." + +In a perfect maze of excitement and confusion the girl hastily crossed +over to her team. Somehow she could no longer face the man's steady +eyes without betraying herself like some weak, silly schoolgirl. This +was Gordon's father, she kept telling herself, and--and she was there +to cheat him. It--it just seemed dreadful. + +However, no time was wasted. She sprang into the driving-seat of the +democrat spring rig, and took up the reins. The millionaire deposited +his grips in the body of the vehicle, and himself mounted to the seat +beside her. In a moment the wagon was on the move. + +As they moved away, out of the corners of her eyes Hazel saw the +grinning face of Gordon peering out at them from the window of Steve +Mason's telegraph office, smiling approval and encouragement. +Curiously enough, the sight made her feel almost angry. + +They moved down Main Street at a rattling pace, and, in a few moments, +turned off it into one of those streets which only the erection of +dwelling-houses marked. There were no made roads of any sort. Just +beaten, heavy, sandy tracks on the virgin ground. + +Hazel remained silent for some time. She was almost afraid to speak. +Yet she wanted to. She wanted to talk to Gordon's father. She wanted +to tell him of the mean trick she was playing upon him, for, under the +influence of his steady eyes and the knowledge that he was Gordon's +father, a great surge of shame was stirring in her heart which made her +hate herself. + +For some time the man gazed about him interestedly. Then, as they lost +themselves among the wooden frame dwelling-houses, he breathed a deep +sigh of content and drew out one of those extravagant cigars which +Gordon had not tasted for so many weeks. + +"Say, will smoke worry you any, young lady?" he inquired kindly. + +Hazel was thankful for the opportunity of a cordial reply. + +"Why, no," she cried. Then on the impulse she went on, "I just love +the smell of smoke where men are." She laughed merrily. "I guess men +without smoke makes you feel they're sick in body or conscience." + +Gordon's father laughed in his quiet fashion as he lit his cigar. + +"That way I guess folks of the Anti-Tobacco League need to start right +in and build hospitals for themselves." + +The girl nodded. + +"Anti-Tobacco?" she said. "Why, 'anti' anything wholesomely human must +be a terrible sick crowd. I'd hate to trust them with my pocket-book, +and, goodness knows, there's only about ten cents in it. Even that +would be a temptation to such folks." + +Again came the millionaire's quiet laugh. + +"That's the result of the healthy life you folks live right out here in +the open sunshine," he said, noting the pretty tanning of the girl's +face. "I don't guess it's any real sign of health, mentally or +physically, when folks have to start 'anti' societies, eh?" + +"No, sir," replied the girl. "Did you ever know anybody that was +really healthy who started in to worry how they were living? It's just +what I used to notice way back at college in Boston. The girls that +came from cities were just full of cranks and notions. This wasn't +right for them to eat, that wasn't right for them to do. And it seemed +to me all their folks belonged to some 'anti' society of some sort. If +the 'anti' wasn't for themselves it was for some other folks who +weren't worried with the things they did or the way they lived. It +just seems to me cities are full of cranks who can run everything for +other folks and need other folks to run everything for them. It's just +a sort of human drug store in which every med'cine has to be able to +cure the effects of some other. Out here it's different. We got green +grass and sunshine, the same as God started us with, and so we haven't +got any use for the 'anti' folks." + +"No." James Carbhoy had forgotten the journey and its object. He was +only aware of this fresh, bright young creature beside him. He stirred +in his seat and glanced about him from a sheer sense of a new interest, +and in looking about he became aware of a horseman riding on the same +trail some distance behind them. + +"You said Boston just now," he said curiously. "You were educated in +Boston?" + +Hazel nodded. + +"Yes, my poppa sent me to Boston. He just didn't reckon anything but +Boston was good enough. But I was glad to be back here again." + +The millionaire would have liked to question her more closely as to how +she came to be driving a team at Slosson's command. He had no great +regard for his agent outside of business, But somehow he felt it would +be an impertinence, and so refrained. Instead, he changed the subject. + +"How far out are the coalfields?" he inquired. + +"About five miles." The memory of her purpose swept over the girl +again, and her reply came shortly, and she glanced back quickly over +her shoulder. + +As she did so she became sickeningly aware that two horsemen were on +the trail some distance behind them. How she wished she had never +undertaken this work! + +"I suppose there's quite a town there now?" was the millionaire's next +inquiry. + +"Not a great deal, but there's comfortable quarters the other side of +it. It's going to be a wonderful, wonderful place, sir, when the +railroad starts booming it." + +Hazel felt she must get away from anything approaching a +cross-examination. + +"I don't just get that," said Carbhoy evasively. + +"Well, it's just a question of depot. You see, there's coal right here +enough to heat the whole world. That's what folks say. And when the +railroad fixes things so transport's right, why, everybody 'll just +jump around and build up big commercial corporations, and--there'll be +dollars for everybody." + +"I see--yes." + +"Mr. Slosson is working that way now," the girl went on. Then she +added, with a shadowy smile, "That's why he couldn't get in to meet +you, I guess." + +"He must be very busy," said the millionaire dryly. "However, I'm +glad." And Hazel turned in time to discover his kindly smile. + +Carbhoy gazed about him at the open plains with which they were +surrounded. The air, though hot, was fresh, and the sunlight, though +brilliant, seemed to lack something of that intensity to be found in +the enclosed streets of a city. He threw away his cigar stump, and in +doing so he glanced back over the trail again. He remained gazing +intently in that direction for some moments. Then he turned back. + +"I guess those fellers riding along behind are just prairie men," he +said. + +Hazel started and looked over her shoulder. There were four men now +riding together on the trail. They were steadily keeping pace with her +team some two hundred yards behind. + +It was some moments before the man received his answer. Hazel was +troubled. She was almost horrified. + +"Yes," she said at last, with an effort. "They're just prairie men." +Then she smiled, but her smile was a further effort. "They're pretty +tough boys to look at, but I'd say they're all right. Maybe you're not +used to the prairie?" + +The millionaire smiled. + +"I've seen it out of a train window," he said. + +"Through glass," said Hazel. "It makes a difference, doesn't it? It's +the same with everything. You've got to get into contact to--to +understand." + +"But there hasn't always been glass between me and--things." + +Hazel's smile was spontaneous now as she nodded her appreciation. + +"I'm sure," she said. "You see, you're a millionaire." + +Carbhoy smiled back at her. + +"Just so." This girl was slowly filling him with amazement. + +"It's real plate-glass now," Hazel went on. + +"And plate-glass sometimes gets broken." + +"Yes, I s'pose it does. But you can fix it again--being a millionaire." + +"Yes----" + +The millionaire broke off. There was a rush of hoofs from behind. The +horsemen were close up to them, coming at a hard gallop. Carbhoy +turned quickly. So did Hazel. The millionaire's eyes were calmly +curious. He imagined the men were just going to pass on. Hazel's eyes +were full of a genuine alarm. She had known what to expect. But now +that the moment had come she was really terrified. What would Gordon's +father do? Had he a revolver? And would he use it? This was the +source of her fear. + +It was a breathless moment for the girl. It was the crux of all +Gordon's plans. She was the center of it. She, and these men who were +to execute the lawless work. + +She was given no time to speculate. She was given no time but for that +dreadful wave of fear which swept over her, and left her pretty face +ghastly beneath its tanning. A voice, harsh, commanding, bade her pull +up her team, and the order was accompanied by a string of blasphemy and +the swift play of the man's gun. + +"Hold 'em up, blast you! Hold 'em, or I'll blow the life right out o' +you!" came the ruthless order. + +At the same time James Carbhoy was confronted with a gun from another +direction, and a sharp voice invited him to "push his hands right up to +the sky." + +Both orders were obeyed instantly, and as Hazel saw her companion's +hands thrown up over his head a great reaction of relief set in. She +sat quite still and silent. Her reins rested loosely in her lap. She +no longer dared to look at her companion. Now that all danger of his +resistance was past she feared lest an almost uncontrollable +inclination to laugh should betray her. + +She kept her eyes steadily fixed upon these men, every one of whom she +had known since her childhood, and to whom she fully made up her mind +she intended to read a lecture on the subject of the use of oaths to a +woman, sometime in the future. As she watched them her inclination to +laugh grew stronger and stronger. They had carried out their part with +a nicety for detail that was quite laudable. Each man was armed to the +teeth, and was as grotesque a specimen of prairie ruffianism as clothes +could make him--the leader particularly. And he, in everyday life, she +knew to be the mildest and most quaintly humorous of men. + +But his work was carried out now without a shadow of humor. He looked +murder, or robbery, or any other crime, as he ordered her out of the +driving seat, and waited while she scrambled over the back of the seat +to one of those behind with a movement well-nigh precipitate. Then, at +a sign, one of the other men took her place, and, at another short +command to "look over" the millionaire, the same man proceeded to +search Gordon's father for weapons. The production of an automatic +pistol from one of his coat pockets filled Hazel with consternation at +the thought of the possibilities of disaster which had lain therein. + +But the four assailants gave no sign. Their work proceeded swiftly and +silently. The millionaire's feet were secured, and he was left in his +seat. Then, under the hands of the man who had replaced Hazel, the +journey was continued with the escort beside and behind the vehicle. + +As they drove on Hazel wondered. Her eyes, very soft, very regretful, +were fixed on the iron-gray head of the man in the front seat. She +registered a vow that if he were hurt by the bonds that held his ankles +fast some one was going to hear about it. Now that the whole thing was +over and done with she felt resentful and angry with anybody and +everybody--except the victim of the outrage. She was even mad with +herself that she had lent assistance to such a cruel trick. + +But the millionaire gave no sign. Hazel longed to know something of +his feelings, but he gave neither her nor his assailants the least +inkling of them for a long time. At last, however, a great relief to +the girl's feelings came at the sound of his voice, which had lost none +of its even, kindly note. + +"Say," he observed, addressing the ruffian beside him, who was busily +chewing and spitting, "you don't mind if I smoke, do you?" + +Then Hazel made a fresh vow of retribution for some one as the answer +came. + +"You can smoke all the weed you need," the man said, with a fierce +oath, "only don't try no monkey tricks. You're right fer awhile, +anyways, if you sit tight, I guess, but if you so much as wink an eye +by way of kickin', why, I'll blow a whole hurricane o' lead into your +rotten carcase." + + +It was a long and weary journey that ended somewhere about midnight. +Nor was it until the teamster drew up at the door of a small, squat +frame house that James Carbhoy's bonds were finally released. He was +thankful enough, in spite of his outward display of philosophic +indifference. He knew that he was the victim of a simple "hold-up," +and had little enough fear for his life. The matter was a question of +ransom, he guessed. It was one of those things he had often enough +heard of, but which, up to now, he had been lucky enough to escape. He +only wondered how it came about that these "toughs" had learned of his +coming. He felt that it must have been Slosson's fault. He must have +opened his mouth. Well, for the time, at least, there was little to do +but hope for the best and make the best of things generally. + +He was given no option now but to obey. His captors ordered him out of +the wagon in the same rough manner in which they ordered Hazel. And +the leader conducted them both into the house. + +There was a light burning in the parlor, and the millionaire looked +about him in surprise at the simple comfort and cleanliness of the +place. He had expected a mere hovel, such as he had read about. He +had expected filth and discomfort of every sort. But here--here was a +parlor, neatly furnished and with a wonderful suggestion of homeness +about it. He was pleasantly astonished. But the leader of the gang +was intent upon the business in hand. + +He turned to Hazel first and pointed at the door which led into the +kitchen. + +"Say, you!" he cried roughly. "You best get right out wher' you'll +belong fer awhiles. We ain't used to female sassiety around this +layout, an' I don't guess we need any settin' around now. Say, you'll +jest see to the vittles fer this gent an' us. Ther's a Chink out back +ther' what ain't a circumstance when it comes to cookin' vittles. +You'll see he fixes things right--seein' we've a millionaire fer +company. Get busy." + +Hazel departed, but a wild longing to box the fellow's ears nearly +ruined everything. There certainly was a reckoning mounting up for +some one. + +The moment she had departed the man turned his scowling, repellent eyes +upon his male prisoner. + +"Now, see here, Mister James Carbhoy. I guess you're yearning for a +few words from me. Wal, I allow they're goin' to be mighty few. See?" +he added brutally. "I ain't given to a heap of talk. There's jest +three things you need to hear right here an' now. The first is, it's +goin' to cost you jest a hundred thousand dollars 'fore you get into +the bosom o' your family again. The second is, even if you got the +notion to try and dodge us boys, you couldn't get out o' these +mountains without starvin' to death or breakin' your rotten neck. +You're jest a hundred miles from Snake's Fall, and ninety o' that is +Rocky Mountains an' foothills. You ain't goin' to be locked in a +prisoner here. There ain't no need. You can jest get around as you +please--in daylight--and one of the boys 'll always be on your track. +At night you're just goin' to stop right home--in case you lose +yourself. The third is, if you kick any or try to get away--well, I +don't guess you'll try much else on this earth. The room over this is +your sleep-room, an' I guess you can tote your baggage right there now. +So long." + +Without waiting for a reply the man beat a retreat out through the +front door, which he locked behind him with considerable display. + +Once outside, the man hurried away round to the back of the house, +where, to his surprise, he found Hazel waiting for him. + +She addressed him by name in a sharp whisper. + +"Bud!" she commanded. "Come right here!" + +Then, as the man obeyed her, she led him silently away from the house +in the direction of the corrals. Once well out of earshot of the house +she turned on him. + +"Now see here, Bud," she cried. "I've had all I'm yearning for of you +for the next twenty-four years. Now you're going to light right out +back to the ranch right away, and don't you ever dare to come near here +again--ever. My! but your language has been a disgrace to any New York +tough. I've never, never heard such a variety of curse words ever. If +I'd thought you could have talked that way I'd have had you go to +Sunday school every Sunday since you've been one of our foremen." + +"'Tain't just nothin', Miss Hazel," the man deprecated. "I ken do +better than that on a round-up when the boys get gay. Say, it just did +me good talkin' to a multi-millionaire that way. I don't guess I'll +ever get such a chance again." + +"That you won't," cried Hazel, smiling in the darkness, in spite of her +outraged feelings. + +"But I acted right, Miss," protested the man. "I don't guess he'd have +located me fer anything but a 'hold-up.' Say, we'd got it all fixed. +We just acted it over. I was plumb scared he'd shoot, though. You +never can tell with these millionaires. I was scared he wouldn't know +enough to push his hands up. Say, we'd have had to rush him if he +hadn't, an' maybe there'd have been damage done." + +Hazel sighed. + +"There's enough of that done already. Say, you're sure you didn't hurt +his poor ankles. You see," she explained, "he's Mr. Gordon's father." + +The man began to laugh. + +"Say, don't it beat all, Miss Hazel, stealin' your own father? How 'ud +you fancy stealin' Mr. Mallinsbee? Gee! Mr. Gordon's a dandy. He +sure is. He's a real bright feller, and I like him. What's the next +play, Miss?" + +"Goodness only knows," cried Hazel. Then she began to laugh. "Some +harebrained, mad scheme, or it wouldn't be Gordon's. Anyway, you made +it plain I'm to look after the--prisoner?" + +"Sure. I also told him it would cost him a hundred thousand dollars +before he gets out of here." + +Hazel nodded and laughed. + +"It'll do that." Then she sighed. "It'll take me all my wits keeping +him from guessing I'm concerned in it. I don't know. Well, +good-night, Bud. You're going back to the ranch now. You've only one +of the boys here? That's right. Which is it? Sid Blake?" + +"Yes, Miss. I left Sid. You see, he's bright, and up to any play you +need. I'll get around once each day. Good-night, Miss." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE BOOM IN EARNEST + +It was late in the evening. The lonely house at Buffalo Point stood +out in dim relief against the purpling shades of dusk. At that hour of +the evening the distant outline of Snake's Fall was lost in the gray to +the eastwards. South, there were only the low grass hillocks, now +blended into one definite skyline. To the westward, the sharp outline +of the mountains was still silhouetted against the momentarily dulling +afterglow of sunset. The evening was still, with that wonderful +silence which ever prevails at such an hour upon the open prairie. + +A light shone in the window of the hitherto closed office at Buffalo +Point, and, furthermore, a rig stood at the door with a team of horses +attached thereto, which latter did not belong to Mike Callahan. + +An atmosphere not, perhaps, so much of secrecy as of portent seemed to +hang about the place. The solitary light in the surroundings of +gathering night seemed significant. Then the team, too, waiting ready +to depart at a moment's notice. But above all, perhaps, this was the +first time a sign of life had been visible in the house since the +closing down at the moment when Slosson's sudden plunge into the real +estate world of Snake's Fall had apparently swept all rivalry from his +triumphant path. + +Of a truth, a portentous moment had arrived in the affairs of those +interested in Buffalo Point. And the significance of it was displayed +in the earnest faces of the four men gathered together in the office. +Silas Mallinsbee sat smoking in his own armchair, and with a profound +furrow of concentration upon his broad forehead. His usually thrusting +chin-beard rested upon the front of his shirt by reason of the intent +inclination of his great head. Mike Callahan was seated on a small +chair his elbows resting upon his parted knees, and his chin supported +upon the knuckles of his locked fingers. His eyes were intently fixed +upon the desk, behind which Gordon was frowning over a sheet of paper, +upon which the scratching of his pen made itself distinctly audible in +the silence. Peter McSwain, the fourth conspirator, was still +suffering from a fictitious heat, and was comfortably, but wakefully, +snoring under its influence, with a sort of nasal ticking noise which +harmoniously blended with the scratching of Gordon's pen. + +It was fairly obvious that the work Gordon was engaged upon was the +central interest of all present, for every eye was steadily, almost +anxiously, riveted upon the movement of his pen. + +After a long time Gordon looked up, and a half smile shone in his blue +eyes. + +"Give us a light, some one," he demanded, as he turned his sheet of +paper over on the blotting-pad, and drew his code book from an inner +pocket and laid it beside it. + +Mike Callahan produced and struck the required match. He held it while +Gordon re-lit his half-burned cigar, which had gone out under the +pressure of thought its owner had been putting forth. + +"Good," the latter exclaimed, as the tobacco glowed under the draught +of his powerful lungs. Then he turned the paper over again. "Guess I +got it fixed. I haven't coded it yet, but I'll read it out. It's to +Spenser Harker, my father's chief man." + + +"Cancel all previous arrangements made through Slosson for Snake's +Fall. Take following instructions. Have bought heavily at Buffalo +Point, which is right on the coal-fields. Depot to be built at once at +Buffalo Point. Make all arrangements for dispatch of engineers and +surveyors at once. There must be no delay in starting a boom. My son, +Gordon, is here to represent our interests. Put this to the general +manager of the Union Grayling and Ukataw, and yourself see no delay. +Am going on to coast on urgent affairs. Gordon has the matter well in +hand and will control at this end. This should be a big coup for us. + +"JAMES CARBHOY." + + +As Gordon finished reading he glanced round at his companions' faces +through the smoke of his cigar. Mike was audibly sniggering. +Mallinsbee's eyes were smiling in that twinkling fashion which deep-set +eyes seem so capable of. As for Peter McSwain, from sheer force of +habit he drew forth a colored handkerchief and mopped his grinning eyes. + +"You ain't going to send that?" he said incredulously. + +"Why not?" + +"But--that piece about yourself?" grinned Mike. "You darsen't to do +it." + +"I think I get his point," nodded Mallinsbee, his broad face beaming +admiration. "Sort of local color, I guess." + +Gordon twisted his cigar from one corner of his mouth to the other. +His blue eyes were shining with a sort of earnest amusement. His sharp +white teeth were gripping the mangled end of his cigar firmly. + +"Say, fellows," he said, after a moment's thought, "I'm kind of +wondering if you get just what this thing means to me. It just needs a +sum in dollars to get its meaning to you. But for me it's different. +I need to make dollars, too. But still it's different. You see, some +day I've got to sit right in my father's chair, and run things with a +capital of millions of dollars. But before I do that I've got to get +right up and convince my father I can handle the work right. He +doesn't figure I can act that way--yet. So it's up to me to show him I +can. Well, I've started in, and I'm going to see the game through to +the end. I've backed my wits to push this boat right into harbor safe. +And in doin' that I've got to squeeze the biggest financier in the +country. When I've done it right, that financier will know he can hand +over his particular craft to my steering without fear of my running it +on the rocks. The dollars I need to make out of this are just a +circumstance. They are the outward sign of my fitness for my father's +edification. That piece about my representing my father isn't just +local color either. I actually intend to assume that character, and, +from now on, I intend to work direct with headquarters, ordering the +whole transaction for the railroad myself in _my own name_. Do you get +me? From now on I _am_ my father's representative. If Spenser Harker +chooses to come right along here, if the general manager of the Union +Grayling chooses to come along, I shall meet them, and insist that the +work goes through. You see, I am my father's son, I am still his +secretary, and they have word in private code _from my father_ that I +represent him. There can be no debate. All they know of me is that I +left New York on confidential work for my father. Well, this, I guess, +is the confidential work. Gentlemen, we've simply got to sit right +back and help ourselves to our profits. And while we're doing that, +why, I guess the dear old dad is taking his well-earned vacation in the +hills, while David Slosson is feeling a nasty draught through the +chinks in an old adobe and log shack which I hope will blow the foul +odors out of his fouler mind. You can leave the after part of this +play safely in my hands. Meanwhile, if you'll just give me five +minutes I'll code this message. Then we'll drive right into town and +send it over the wire." + + +Sunday in an obscure country hotel on the western plains is usually the +dullest thing on earth. The habit of years is a whitewash of +respectability and a moderation of tone, both assumed through the +medium of a complete change of attire from that worn during the week. +There is nothing on earth but the loss by fire, or the definite +destruction of them, which will stop the citizen, who possesses such +things, from arraying himself in a "best suit." It is the outward sign +of an attempted cleansing of the soul. There can be no doubt of it. +That suit is not adjusted for the purpose of holiday enjoyment. That +is quite plain. For each man is as careful not to do anything that can +destroy the crease down his trousers, as he is not to sit on the tails +of his well-brushed Prince Albert coat. + +The day is spent in just "sitting around." The citizen will talk. +That is not calculated to spoil his suit. He will even write his mail +after a careful adjustment of the knees of his trousers. He will sneak +into the bar by a back door to obtain an "eye-opener." This, again, +will involve no great risk to his suit. Then he will dine liberally +off roast turkey and pie of some sort. If the hotel is fairly well +priced he will even get an ice-cream with his midday dinner. In the +afternoon he will again sit around and talk. He may even venture a +walk. Then comes the evening supper. It is the worst function of a +dreary day--a meal made up of cakes, preserves, tea or coffee, and any +cold meats left over during the week. + +After that the "best suits" somehow seem to fade out of sight, and a +generally looser tone prevails. + +Such had been the Sundays in Snake's Fall since ever the town had +boasted an hotel with boarding accommodation. No guest had ever dared +to break through the tradition. It would have required heroic courage +to have done so. But now changes in the town were rapidly taking +place. So rapidly, indeed, that the times might well have been +characterized as "breathless." + +On this particular Sunday a perfect revolution was in progress. +Amongst the older inhabitants who managed to drift to the vicinity of +the hotel a feeling of unreality took possession of them, and they +wondered if it were not some curious and not altogether pleasant dream. +The hotel was thronged with a blending of strangers and townspeople, +clad, regardless of the day, in a state of excitement such as might +only have been expected at the declaration of a world war, or a +presidential election. + +It was the culmination of the excitement inspired originally by the +news of Slosson's defection, and which, in the course of less than a +week, had been augmented by happenings in swift and rapid succession, +such as set sober business men wondering if they were living on a +volcano instead of a coalmine, or if the days of miracles had indeed +returned upon the world. + +Well before the excitement over Slosson had died down it became known +that the Buffalo Point interests were at work again. Mallinsbee's +office was opened once more. Furthermore, he had acquired two clerks, +and was securing others from down east. This was more than +significant. It attracted every eye in the new direction. Men strove +to solve the question with regard to its relationship to Slosson's +going. The thought which promptly came to each mind was that Slosson's +going was less a miracle than a natural disappearance. His wild buying +had inspired doubt from the first. The man had gone crazy, and his +employers had turned him down. So he had bolted. The opening of +Buffalo Point warned them that the railroad had in consequence come to +terms with Mallinsbee. So there had been a fresh rush for information +in that direction. + +But this rush received no encouragement and less information, and the +sorely tried speculators were once more flung back into their own outer +darkness. + +Then came the next, the culminating excitement. The news drifted into +the place from outside sources. It came from agents and friends in the +east. Surveyors and engineers and construction gangs were about to be +sent to _Buffalo Point_! The news was quite definite, quite decided. +It was more. It was accompanied by peremptory orders and urgent +requests that those who were on the spot should get in on the Buffalo +Point township without a moment's delay, and price was not to hinder +them. + +Had it been needed, there were no two people in the whole of Snake's +Fall better placed for the dissemination and exaggeration of the news +than Peter McSwain at the hotel and Mike Callahan at the livery barn. +Nor were they idle. Nor did they miss a single opportunity. + +In the office of the hotel, while service was on at the little church, +and all the womenfolk and children were singing their tender hearts out +in an effort to get an appetite for Sunday's dinner, Peter was the +center of observation amidst a crowd of bitterly complaining commercial +sinners, each with his own particular ax to grind and a desperate +grievance against the crooks who were rigging the land markets in the +neighborhood for their own sordid profit. He was holding forth, +debating point for point, and, as he would have described it himself, +"boosting the old boat over a heavy sea." + +Some one had suggested that Buffalo Point had been in league with +Slosson to hold up the situation, while the former completed their own +arrangements to the detriment of the community. Peter promptly jumped +in. + +"Say, youse fellers are all sorts of 'smarts,' anyway," he said, with a +pitying sort of contempt. "What you need is gilt-edged finance. +You're scared to death pulling the chestnuts out o' the fire. You're +mostly looking for a thousand per cent. result, with only a five per +cent. courage. That's just about your play. What's the use in settin' +around here talking murder when the plums are lyin' around? Pick 'em +up, I says. Pick 'em right up an' get your back teeth into 'em so the +juice jest trickles right over your Sunday suits. They're there for +you. Just grab. I'm tired of talk. The truth is, some o' youse +feelin' you've burnt your fingers over Slosson. Slosson was the +railroad's agent. Your five per cent. minds saw the gilding in +following Slosson. When he skipped out with my team you were stung +bad. You've got stakes in Snake's, while you're finding out now the +railroad ain't moved that way. An' so you're just scared to death to +show the color of your paper till you see the depot built and the +locomotives passing this place ringing a chorus of welcome for Buffalo. +Then where are you? You're going to pay sucker prices then, or get +right back east with a big debit for wasted board and time. I'm takin' +a chance myself, and it ain't with any five per cent. courage. I got a +big stake in both places, and I don't care a continental where they +build the depot." + +Mike Callahan was talking in much the same strain in the neighborhood +of his barn, which somehow always became a sort of Sunday meeting-place +for loungers seeking information. But Mike, acting on instructions, +went much further. He spoke of the reports of the movements of the +railroad's engineers and surveyors. He assured his hearers he had had +definite word of it himself, and then added a hint that started +something in the nature of a panic amongst his audience. + +"It ain't no use in guessing," he said from his seat on an upturned +bucket at the open door of his barn. "I ain't got loose cash to fling +around. Mine is just locked right up in hossflesh and rigs, so I ain't +got no ax needs sharpening. But I drive folks around and I hear them +yarning. I drove a crowd out to Mallinsbee's place--the office at +Buffalo Point yesterday. They were guests of his. They were talkin' +depots and things the whole way. Say, ever heard the name of Carbhoy? +Any of youse?" + +Some one assured him that Carbhoy was President of the Union road, and +Mike winked. + +"Jest so," he observed. "As sure as St. Patrick drove the snakes out +of Ireland, one of that gang was called 'Carbhoy.' I heard one of 'em +use the name. And I heard the feller called 'Carbhoy' tell him to +close his map. Not just in them words, but the sort of words a +millionaire might use. That gang are guests of Mallinsbee. Wher' they +are now I can't say. I didn't drive 'em back." + +It was small enough wonder that the conflagration of excitement fairly +swallowed up the town of vultures. The Buffalo Point interests +intended it to do so. Nor could their agents have been better +selected. They were established citizens who came into contact with +the whole floating population of the place. They were above suspicion, +and they just simply laughed and talked and pushed their pinpricks +home, preparing the way for the _dénouement_. + +On the Monday following, the effect of their work began to show itself. +Amongst other visitations Mallinsbee was invaded by a deputation +representing large real-estate interests. + +Under Gordon's management the office had been entirely converted. Now +the original parlor office had been turned over to the use of the +clerical staff. The bedroom Gordon had occupied had become +Mallinsbee's private office, and the other bedroom had been made into +an office for Gordon himself. There was no longer any appearance of a +makeshift about the place. It was an organized commercial +establishment ready for the transaction of any business, from battling +with a royal eagle of commerce down to the plucking of the half-fledged +pigeon. + +The deputation arrived in the morning, and consisted of Mr. Cyrus P. +Laker and Mr. Abe Chester. These two men represented two Chicago +real-estate corporations who were prepared to shed dollars that ran +into six figures in a "right" enterprise. + +The rancher had been notified of their coming, and had sat in +consultation with Gordon for half an hour before their arrival. When +the clerk showed them into Mallinsbee's private office they found him +fully equipped, with his hideous patch over one eye, and Gordon sitting +near by at a small table under the window. + +Abe Chester overflowed the chair the clerk set for him, and Laker +possessed himself of another. They were in sharp contrast, these two. +One was lean and tall, the other was squat and breathed asthmatically. +But both were men of affairs, and equal to every move in a deal. + +The tall man opened the case, with his keen eyes searching the baffling +face of the rancher. Just for one moment he had doubtfully eyed +Gordon's figure, so intently bent over his work, but Mallinsbee had +reassured him with the words, "My confidential secretary." + +Mr. Laker assumed an air of simple frankness. + +"Our errand is a simple one, Mr. Mallinsbee," he began in hollow tones +which seemed to emanate from somewhere in the region of his highly +shined shoes. Then he smiled vaguely, a smile which Gordon mentally +registered as being "childlike," as he observed it out of the corners +of his eyes. "We are looking for two little pieces of information +which you, as a business man, will appreciate as being a justifiable +search on our part. You see, we are open to negotiating a deal of +several hundred thousand dollars, of course depending on the +information being satisfactory." + +"There's several rumors afloat that maybe you can confirm or deny," +broke in Abe Chester shortly. His _confrère's_ "high-brow" methods, as +he termed them, irritated him. + +"Just so," agreed Laker suavely. "Two rumors which affect the +situation very nearly. The first is, is it a fact that the President +of the Union Grayling and Ukataw Railroad is your guest at the present +moment? The second is, there is a rumor afloat that the railroad +company are actually preparing to build their depot here. Is this so?" + +Mallinsbee's expression was annoyingly obscure. Mr. Laker felt that he +was smiling, but Abe Chester was convinced that a smile was not within +a mile of his large features. Both men were agreed, however, that they +distrusted that eye-patch. + +Gordon awaited the rancher's reply with amused patience. It came in +the rumbling, heavy voice so like an organ note, after a duly +thoughtful pause. + +"Well, gentlemen," he said, with the air of a man who has bestowed a +weight of consideration upon his answer, "you have put what a legal +mind maybe 'ud consider 'leading' questions. Not having a legal mind, +but just the mind of an _honest_ trader, I'll say they certainly are +_some_ questions. However, it don't seem to me they'll prejudice a +thing answering 'em straight. You are yearning to deal--well, so am I; +an' if my answer's going to help things that way, why, I thank you for +asking. Mr. Carbhoy is my guest at this moment. How long he'll remain +my guest I can't just say. You see, he's going along to the coast when +we're through fixing things right for Buffalo Point. That answers your +first question, I guess. The second's even easier. The railroad's +engineers will be right here with plans and specifications and +materials and workers for building the depot at Buffalo Point on +_Wednesday noon_." + +Abe Chester drew a short asthmatical breath. His leaner companion +smiled cadaverously. + +"Then it will give us both much pleasure to talk business," said the +latter. + +"Sure," agreed Chester, sparing words which cost him so much breath, of +which he possessed such a small supply. + +Mallinsbee pushed cigars towards them. He felt the occasion needed +their moral support. + +"Help yourselves, gentlemen," he said. "Guess it'll make us talk +better. There's a whole heap of talk coming." + +The two men helped themselves, tenderly pressing the cigars and +smelling them. The rancher took one himself, with the certainty of its +quality, and lit it. + +"A lot to talk about?" inquired Mr. Laker, not without misgivings. + +"Why, yes." The rancher pulled deeply at his cigar and examined the +ash thoughtfully. "Yes," he went on after a moment, "I guess I'll have +to say quite a piece before you talk money. You see, I'd just like you +to understand the position. It's perhaps a bit difficult. This scheme +has been lying around quite a time, inviting folks to put money into it +at a profitable price to themselves. A number of wise friends of mine +have taken the opportunity and are in, good and snug. There's a number +of others hadn't the grit. Maybe I don't just blame them. You see, it +was some gamble, and needed folks who could take a chance. Wall, those +days are past. There's no gamble now. It's as good as American double +eagles. You see, Snake's will just become a sort of flag station, +while Buffalo Point will sit around in a halo of glory with a brand-new +swell depot. It's been some work handling this proposition, and the +folks interested, including the Bude and Sideley Coal Company, need a +deal of compensation for their work. Personally, I am not selling a +single frontage now until the depot is well on the way. In short, I +need a fancy price. In conclusion, gentlemen, let me say quite plainly +that what I would have sold originally for three figures will now, or +rather when the time comes, cost four--and maybe even five." + +"You mean to shut us out," snapped Abe Chester. + +"Is it graft?" inquired Laker, with something between a sneer and anger. + +"Call it what you like," said Mallinsbee coldly. "I've told you the +plain facts, as I shall tell everybody else. Those who want to get in +on the Buffalo Point boom will have to pay money for it--good money. I +think that is all I have to say, gentlemen." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +A TRIFLE + +Few men were less given to dreaming than James Carbhoy. Usually he had +no spare time on his hands for such a pastime. Dreams? Well, perhaps +he occasionally let imagination run riot amidst seas of amazing +figures, but that was all. All other dreams left him cold. Now it was +different. + +He was reclining in an old-fashioned rocker chair outside the front +door of his prison. The air of the valley was soft and balmy, the sun +was setting, and a wealth of ever-changing colors tinted the distant +mountain-tops; a wonderful sense of peace and security reigned +everywhere. So, somehow, he found himself dreaming. + +He filled the chair almost to overflowing and reveled in its comfort, +just as he reveled in the comfort even of his prison. His hands were +clasped behind his iron-gray head, and he drank deeply of the pleasant, +perfumed air. His captivity had already exceeded three weeks, and the +first irritation of it had long since passed, leaving in its place a +philosophic resignation characteristic of the man. He no longer strove +seriously to solve the problem of his detention. During the first days +of his captivity he had thought hard, and the contemplation of possible +disaster to many enterprises resulting from this enforced absence had +troubled him seriously, but as the days wore on and no word came from +his captors his resignation quietly set in, and gradually a pleasant +peace reigned in place of stormy feelings. + +James Carbhoy possessed a considerable humor for a man who spent his +life in multiplying, subtracting and adding numerals which represented +the sum of his gains and losses in currency, and perhaps it was this +which so largely helped him. His temperament should undoubtedly have +been at once harsh, sternly unyielding and bitterly avaricious. In +reality it was none of these things. It was his lot to cause money to +make money, and the work of it was something in the nature of an +amusement. He was warm-hearted and human; he loved battle and the +spirit of competition. Then, too, he possessed a deplorable love for +the knavery of modern financial methods. This was the underlying +temperament which governed all his actions, and a warm, human +kindliness saved him from many of the pitfalls into which such a +temperament might well have trapped him. + +As he sat there basking in the evening sunlight he felt that on the +whole he rather owed his captors a debt of gratitude for introducing +him to a side of life which otherwise he might never have come into +contact with. He knew at the same time that such a feeling was just as +absurd as that the spirit of fierce resentment had so easily died down +within him. All his interests were dependent upon his own efforts for +success, and here he was shut up, a prisoner, with these very affairs, +for all he knew, going completely to the dogs. + +His conflicting feelings made him smile, and here it was that his humor +served him. After all, what did it matter? He knew that some one had +bested him. It was not the first time in his life that he had been +bested. Not by any means. But always in such cases he had ultimately +made up the leeway and gained on the reach. Well, he supposed he would +do so again. So he rested content and submitted to the pleasant +surroundings of his captivity. + +There was one feature of his position, however, which he seriously did +resent. It was a feature which even his humor could not help him to +endure with complacency. It was the simple presence of a Chinaman near +him. He cordially detested Chinamen--so much so that, in all his great +financial undertakings, he did not possess one cent of interest in any +Chinese enterprise. + +Hip-Lee was maddeningly ubiquitous. There was no escape from him. If +the millionaire's fellow prisoner, the pretty teamstress, entered his +room to wait on him--and their captors seemed to have forced such +service upon her--Hip-Lee was her shadow. If he himself elected to go +for a walk through the valley--a freedom accorded him from the +first--there was not a moment but what a glance over his shoulder would +have revealed the lurking, silent, furtive figure in its blue smock, +watchful of his every movement, while apparently occupied in anything +but that peculiar form of pastime. James Carbhoy resented this +surveillance bitterly. Nor did he doubt that beneath that simple blue +smock a long knife was concealed, and, probably, a desire for murder. + +However, nothing of this was concerning him now. The hour was the hour +of peace. The perfection of the scene he was gazing upon had cast its +spell about him, and he was dreaming--really dreaming of nothing. The +joy of living was upon him, and, for the time being, nothing else +mattered. + +In the midst of his dreaming the sound of a footstep coming round the +angle of the building to his right roused him to full alertness. He +glanced round quickly and withdrew his hands from behind his head. +Mechanically he drew his cigar-case from an inner pocket and selected a +cigar. But he was expectant and curious, his feelings inspired by his +knowledge that Hip-Lee always moved soundlessly. + +His eyes were upon the limits of the house when the intruder +materialized. Promptly a wave of pleasurable relief swept over him as +he beheld the pretty figure of his fellow captive. But he gave no +sign, for the reason that the girl was obviously unaware of his +presence, and it yet remained to be seen if the yellow-faced reptile, +Hip-Lee, was at hand as usual. + +He watched her silently. He was struck, too, by her expression of rapt +appreciation of the scene before her, which added further to his +reluctance to break the spell of her enjoyment. But as the hated blue +smock did not make its appearance, the man could no longer resist +temptation. The opportunity was too good to miss. + +"It's some scene," he said in a tone calculated not to startle her, his +gray eyes twinkling genially. + +But Hazel was startled. She was startled more than she cared about. +Her one object was always to avoid contact with Gordon's father, except +under the watchful eyes, of Hip-Lee. She feared that keen, incisive +brain she knew to lie behind his steady gray eyes. She feared +questions her wit was not ready enough to answer without disaster to +the plans of her fellow conspirators. + +She hated the part she was forced to play, but she was also determined +to play it with all her might. She must act now, and act well. So, +with a resolute effort, she faced her victim. + +"I--I just didn't know you were here, sir," she said truthfully, while +her eyes lied an added alarm. "But--but talk low, or the----" + +"You're worrying over that mongrel Chink," said Carbhoy quickly. "I +expected to see his leather features following you around. I guess +he's got ears as long as an ass, and just about twice as sharp. Say, +I'm going to kill that mouse-colored serpent one of these times if he +don't quit his games. Say----" + +He broke off, studying the girl's pretty face speculatively. There was +no doubt her eyes wore a hunted expression--she intended them to. + +"They treating you--right?" he demanded. + +Hazel's effort was better than she knew as she strove for pathos. + +"Oh, yes, I s'pose so," she said hopelessly. "I'm let alone, and--I +get good food. It--it isn't that." + +"What is it?" + +The man's question came sharply. + +Hazel turned her face to the hills and sighed. The movement was well +calculated. + +"It's my folks." Then, with a dramatic touch, "Say, Mr. Carbhoy, do +you guess we'll ever--get out of this? Do you think we'll get back to +our folks? Sometimes I--oh, it's awful!" + +Her words carried conviction, and the man was taken in. + +"Say," he said quickly, "I'm making a big guess we'll get out +later--when things are fixed. This is not a ransom. But it +means--dollars." + +He lit his cigar, and its aroma pleasantly scented the air. + +Hazel sighed with intense feeling--to disguise her inclination to laugh. + +"Yes, sir," she said hopelessly. "One hundred thousand dollars." + +Gordon's father smiled back at her. + +"I'd hate to think I was held up for less," he said. "It would sort of +wound my vanity." + +The girl could have hugged him for the serenity of his attitude. +Nothing seemed to disturb him. She felt that Gordon had every reason +for his devotion to his father, and ought to be well ashamed of himself +for submitting him to the outrage which had been perpetrated. + +"Who--who do you think has done this?" she hazarded hesitatingly. +"Slosson?" + +"Maybe. Though----" + +"Slosson should have met you himself," the girl declared emphatically. + +"He certainly should," replied Carbhoy, with cold emphasis. "He'll +need to explain that--later. Say, how did you come to be driving me?" + +Hazel suddenly felt cold in the warm air. + +"I was just engaged to, because Mr. Slosson couldn't go himself. You +see, father has a spare team, and I do a goodish bit of driving. You +see, we need to do 'most anything to get money here." + +"Yes, that's the way of things." The man's eyes were twinkling again, +and Hazel began to hope that she was once more on firm ground. + +Nor was she disappointed when the man went on. + +"I guess we're all out after--dollars," he said reflectively. Then he +removed his cigar and luxuriously emitted a thin spiral smoke from +between his pursed lips. "It don't seem the sort of work a girl like +you should be at, though. Still, why not? It's a great play--chasing +dollars. It's the best thing in life--wholesome and human. I've +always felt that way about it, and as I've piled up the years and got a +peek into motives and things I've felt more sure that +competition--that's fixing things right for ourselves out of the +general scrum of life--is the life intended for us by the Creator." + +Hazel nodded. + +"Life is competition," she observed, with a wise little smile. + +"Sure. That's why human nature is dishonest--has to be." + +There was a question in the girl's eyes which the millionaire was +prompt to detect. + +"Sure it's dishonest. Can you show me a detail of human nature which +is truly honest? Say, I've watched it all my life, I've built every +sort of construction on it. Wherever I have built in the belief that +honesty is the foundation of human nature things have dropped with a +smash. Now I know, and my faith is none the less. Human nature is +dishonest. It's only a question of degree. I'm dishonest. You're +dishonest. But in your case it's only in the higher ethical sense. +You wouldn't steal a pocket-book. You wouldn't commit murder. But put +yourself into competition with a girl friend baking a swell layer cake, +calculated to disturb the digestion of an ostrich. Say, you'd resort +to any old trick you could think of to fix her where you wanted her." + +Hazel laughed. + +"I wouldn't shoot her up, but--I'd do all I knew to beat her." + +"Just so." + +"After what's happened to us here I guess human nature isn't going to +find a champion in me," Hazel went on. "Still, it's pretty hard to +lose your faith in human nature that way." + +"Lose? Who said 'lose'?" cried the man, with a cordial laugh. "Not I. +If I suddenly found it 'honest,' why, I'd hate to go on living. Human +nature's got to be just as it is. Honesty lies in Nature. That's the +honesty that folks talk about and dream about. It isn't practicable in +human life. Dishonesty is the leavening that makes honesty, in the +abstract, palatable. Say, think of it--if we were all honest like +idealists talk of. What would we have worth living for? Do you know +what would happen? Why, we'd all be sitting around making hymns for +everybody else to sing, till there was such an almighty hullabaloo we'd +all get crazy and have to sign a petition to get it stopped. We'd all +be fixed up in a sort of white suit that wouldn't ever need a laundry, +and every blamed citizen would start right in to turn the world into a +sort of hell by always telling the truth. Just think what it would +mean if you had to tell some friend of yours what you thought of her +for sneaking your latest beau." + +"It certainly would be liable to cause a deal of trouble," laughed +Hazel. + +"Trouble? I should say." The millionaire chuckled softly as he +returned his cigar to his mouth. "Say, I was reading the obituary of a +preacher--my wife's favorite--the other day. He lost his grip on life +and fell through. That reporter boy was bright, and I wondered when I +was reading what he'd have said if he'd spoke the truth as he saw it. +To read that obituary you'd think that preacher feller was the greatest +saint ever lived. I felt I could have wept over that poor feller, the +talk was so elegant and poetic. I just felt the worst worm ever lived +beside that preacher. I felt I ought to spend the last five dollars I +had to fix his grave up with pure white lilies, if I had to go without +food to do it. It was fine. But the writer never said a word about +that preacher living in a swell house in Fifth Avenue, and the $20,000 +he took every year for his job, and the elegant automobile he chased +around to the houses of his rich congregation in. If he'd died in the +slums on the east side I guess that newspaper wouldn't ever have heard +of him, and that writer wouldn't have got dollars for the pretty +language it was his job to scratch together for such an occasion." + +"It doesn't sound nice put that way," sighed Hazel. "I suppose it's +all competition even trying to make folks live right. I suppose that +preacher was successful in his calling--the same as you are in yours. +I suppose his human nature was no different to other folks'." + +"That's it. Life's splendidly dishonest and a perfect sham. Come to +think of it, Ananias must have been all sorts of a great man to be +singled out of a world of liars. On the other hand, he'd have had some +rival in the feller who first accused George Washington of never lying. +Psha! life's a great play, and I'd hate it to be different from what it +is. We're all just as dishonest as we can be and still keep out of +penitentiary: which makes me feel mighty sorry for them that don't. +From the fisherman to the Sunday-school teacher we're all liars, and if +you charged us with it we'd deny it, or worse, and thereby add further +proof to the charge. I've thought a deal over this hold-up, and it +seems to me those guys bluffed us some." + +"You mean about the--ransom," said Hazel, the last sign of amusement +dying swiftly out of her eyes. + +"Why, yes." The millionaire smoked in silence for some moments. Then +quite suddenly he removed the cigar from between his lips. "Maybe you +don't know I'm working on a big land scheme in these parts. It seems +to me some bright gang intend to roll me for my wad. I don't guess +Slosson's in it." + +"Then who is it, sir?" demanded the girl, with unconscious sharpness. + +The man's steady eyes surveyed her through their half-closed lids. He +shook his head. + +"I can't just say--yet. We'll find out in good time." His smile was +quietly confident. "Anyway, for the moment some one's got the drop on +me, and I'll just have to sit around. But--it's pretty tough on you, +Miss--Miss----" + +"Mallinsbee," said Hazel, without thinking. + +"Mallinsbee?" + +The man's gray eyes became suddenly alert, and Hazel felt like killing +herself. She believed, in that one unguarded moment, she had ruined +everything. She held her breath and turned quickly towards the setting +sun, lest her face should betray her. + +Then her terror passed as she heard the quiet, kindly laugh of the man +as he began speaking again. + +"Well, Miss Mallinsbee, here we are, and here we've just got to stay. +I came here to get the best of a deal. We're all out to do some one or +something, somehow or somewhere. It don't much matter who. And when a +man acts right he don't squeal when the other feller's on top. He just +sits around till it's his move, and then he'll try and get things back. +I'm not squealing. It's my turn to sit around--that's all. Meanwhile, +with the comforts at my disposal--good wines, good cigars and mountain +air--I'm having some vacation. If it weren't for that darned Chink +with his detestable blue suit I'd----" + +"Hush!" Hazel had turned and held up a warning finger. + +In response the man glanced sharply about him. There, sure enough, +standing silent and immovable at the corner of the building, was the +hated vision of blue with its crowning features of dull yellow. + +James Carbhoy flung himself back in his rocker. All the humor and +pleasure had been banished from his strong face, and only disgust +remained. + +"Oh, hell!" he exclaimed, and flung his cigar with all his force in the +direction of the intruder. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +ON THE TRAIL + +It was a night to remember, if for nothing else for the exquisite +atmospheric conditions prevailing. The moon was at its full, like some +splendid jewel radiating a silvery peace upon a slumbering world. The +jeweled sky suggested the untold wealth of an infinite universe. The +perfumed air filled lungs and nostrils with a beatific joy in living, +and the darkened splendor of the crowding hills inspired a reverence in +the human heart so profound, that it left scarce a place for the +smallness of mundane hopes and yearnings. The splendor, the breadth of +beauty sank into the human soul and left the spirit straining at its +earthly bonds, and gazing with longing towards the infinite power which +ordered its existence. + +For ten miles of the journey from the old ranch-house Hazel rode under +the sublime influence of feelings so inspired. Nothing of the +conditions were new to her. The mountain nights in summer were as much +a part of her existence as was the ranching life of her home. She knew +them as she knew the work that filled her daylight hours. But their +effect upon her never varied--never weakened. No familiarity with them +could change that feeling of the infinite sublimity somewhere beyond +the narrow confines of human life. She drank in the deep draughts of +perfect life, she gazed abroad with shining eyes of simple happiness on +the splendid world, and a superlative thankfulness to the Creator of +all things that life had been thus vouchsafed her uplifted her heart +and all that was spiritual within her. + +The journey to her home was twenty miles, but her favorite mare +possessed wings so far as its mistress was concerned. The distance was +all too short for the splendid young body, and that youthful mood of +delight. Hazel reveled in the expenditure of the energy required, as +the mare, beneath her, seemed to revel in the physical effort of the +journey. + +For the greater part of the road the cobwebs of affairs she was engaged +upon left Hazel indifferent. The delight of life left no room for +them. But after the half way had been passed there came to her flashes +of thought which reduced her feelings to a more human mood. + +Nor was that mood of the easiest. She experienced feelings of +disquiet, even alarm. She felt vexed, and a great resentment, and even +genuine anger, began to take possession of her. But these were +interspersed with moments when a certain irresponsibility and humor +would not be denied, and underlying all and every other emotion was a +great passionate longing, which she scarcely admitted even to herself. + +Her mind was fixed upon two men: father and son. For the time at +least, they were the pivot of all things worldly for her. In her +thoughts the son possessed attributes little short of a demi-god, while +the father had become a being endowed with a deep, reflected regard. +There was room in her woman's heart for both in their respective +places. She knew she loved them, and her variations of mood were +inspired by the cruelly farcical atmosphere of the position surrounding +them both. She was angry with Gordon, bitterly angry at one moment, at +the next she reveled in the exquisite impudence of his daring. At one +moment her woman's tender pity went out to the big-hearted man who had +been submitted to such indignities by his own son and herself, and all +those concerned in the conspiracy, and, at the next, she found herself +smiling at the humor of his attitude towards his persecutors. Then, +too, over all these complications of feeling she was stirred with alarm +at that painful memory of the unguarded moment, when, lulled by her +interest in the millionaire's talk, she had admitted her name to him. +Visions of hideous possibilities rose before her eyes. If he should +chance to know her father's name. Why not? Surely he knew. But after +that one sharp interrogation he had given no sign. + +She sighed a sort of half-hearted relief, but remained unconvinced. It +was this last contingency which had inspired her night journey home. +She had ridden out the moment she had been certain that their captive +had retired for the night. + +There were still some eight miles to go before the ranch would be +reached when Hazel experienced a fright, which left her ready to turn +and flee back over the way she had come as swiftly as the legs of her +mare could carry her. + +On clearing a bluff of spruce, around which her course lay, in the full +radiance of the moon's high noon, she suddenly beheld a horseman riding +towards her, a ghostly figure moving soundlessly over the high grass. + +Such was the effect of this vision upon her, that, beyond being able to +bring her mare to an abrupt halt, panic left her paralysed. In all her +years she had never encountered a horseman riding late at night in the +mountains. Who was he? Who could he be? And an eerie feeling set her +flesh creeping at the ghostliness and noiselessness of his coming. + +She sat there stupidly, her pretty cheeks ashen in the moonlight. And +all the time the man was coming nearer and nearer, traveling the same +trail she would have done had she pursued her course. Then an abject +terror surged upon her. He must meet her! + +In an instant her paralysis left her, and she gathered her reins to +turn her mare about. But the maneuver was never effected. She had +suddenly recognized the horse the man was riding. It was Sunset. The +next moment she further recognized the broad shoulders of the man in +the saddle, and a glad cry broke from her, and she urged her mare on to +meet him. + +"Gordon!" she cried, in a world of delight and relief as she came up +with him. + +"You, Hazel?" came the joyous response of her ghostly visitor. + +"You just scared me all to death," protested the girl, as the big +chestnut ranged up beside her. + +"I did?" Gordon was smiling tenderly down at the pretty figure, so +fascinating in the moonlight as it sat astride the brown mare. + +"My, but I thought--I--oh, I don't know what I thought. But what are +you doing around--now?" + +The girl was smiling happily enough. Even in the silver of the +moonlight it was obvious that the color had returned to her cheeks. + +"I was going to ask you that," returned Gordon. "But I guess I best +tell you things first." Then he began to laugh. "I was coming out to +see you, but--not you only. Say, I'm just the weakest conspirator ever +started out to trap a mouse. Look at me. Say, get a good look. It +isn't the sort of thing you'll see every time you open your eyes. I +was sick to death feeling the old dad was shut up a prisoner, and I +felt I must get along, even if it was only just to get a peek, and be +sure he wasn't suffering." + +Hazel's eyes were tenderly regarding the great creature in the bright +moonlight. She had been so recently angry at this son's heartless +action, that his expression of contrition made her feel all the more +tender towards him. + +"He's in bed, and--I'd guess he's snoring elegantly by now," she said, +with a smile. "I--I waited to start out till he was in bed." Then her +eyes met his. "What were you coming to--see me for?" + +The direct challenge very nearly precipitated matters. Gordon had +excuses enough for seeing her, but only one real purpose. He hesitated +before replying. + +"We've made good," he said at last, by way of subterfuge, and the girl +drew a deep breath of joyous content. + +"You've--made--good?" she questioned, more in the way of reassuring +herself than desiring a reply. + +Gordon moved his horse so that she could turn about. + +"Let's go back to the--prison," he said, his words charged with the +excited delight stirring within him. + +"Yes, we've made good." The girl turned her mare about and the two +moved on the way she had already come, side by side. "Listen, while I +tell you. Say, I could sort of shout it around the hill-tops--if they +weren't so snowy and cold. Snake's Fall is just a surging land market +for us at Buffalo. There are real estate offices opening everywhere, +and everybody you meet on the sidewalk is a broker of some sort. The +Bude and Sideley folk turned their holdings loose directly we got the +surveyors and engineers of the railroad up, and the folks all jumped. +Then the men at Snake's, who held in ours, followed suit. But your +father, bless him, held tight. The boom fairly rose to a shriek, and +we've been fighting to sit tight, and let the prices go up skywards. +Then we had a meeting, and your father loosened up a bit. Just to keep +the spurt on. Meanwhile I've handled things down east, and kept the +wires singing. The railroad have started a great advertising campaign +at my orders. The coal company, too, are talking Snake's Fall, and +Buffalo Point. In a month there'll be such a rush as only America, and +this continent generally knows how to make. Even now sites are +changing hands at ridiculous prices. Meanwhile I've got the railroad +busy. Already ten construction trains have come through, and they've +started on the new depot." He drew a deep sigh of satisfaction. Then +in a sort of shamefaced manner he went on. "But I've had to weaken in +the old dad's direction. I can't make good and leave him out all +together. You see, that play of Slosson's in Snake's will have to be +made good, and my father will have to make it that way. So I've got +your father to give me a six months' option on a stretch of land +adjoining the coalpits which he hadn't ceded to the Bude people. You +see, if there's coal there it'll put my father right with the game, and +we shan't have hurt him any. Meanwhile things will go on, and we'll +have to keep the old dad for another month. Then I sell, and----" + +"You'll have won out," broke in Hazel, her eyes shining in the +moonlight. Then a shadow crossed her face. "But when your father +knows what you've done? What then?" + +Gordon seemed to consider his reply carefully. + +"You can leave that to me, Hazel," he said at last, with a whimsical +smile. "There's surely got to be a grand finale to this, and when it +comes I'll still need your help. Say, why were you riding in to the +ranch--at dead of night?" + +The abrupt question shocked the girl out of her delighted content. The +memory of her trouble came overwhelmingly upon her. But Gordon was +waiting. + +"You're making good, but I've made pretty bad," she said, thrusting a +desire to burst into tears resolutely from her. "I'm just every sort +of fool and I--don't know how much damage I haven't done. Everything's +gone right until this evening. Hip-Lee has just been as near perfect +as a Chinaman can be. We've carried out all our plans right through, +and I've never been near your father without Hip-Lee looking on. That +is--until this evening." The girl sighed. The confession of her +blundering was hard to make. "It was this way," she went on presently. +"Your father was out walking. I hadn't seen him return. I was in the +kitchen fixing his supper, and it was sticky hot, and I just hated the +flies, so I went out for a breath of air. Hip-Lee had been playing his +spy game on your father. Well, I just stood out front of the house +taking a look at the hills, and wishing I was amongst their snows, when +your father spoke. He had got back, and was sitting outside the house, +and, maybe, like me he was yearning for that snow. Well, I just +couldn't run away--so we talked. I guess we'd talked quite awhile, and +I'd kind of forgotten things, and in the middle of his talk he started +to address me by my name, and got as far as 'Miss.' Then, without a +thought, I spoke my name. He just seemed startled, but never said a +word about it, and now I'm worried to death. Was there ever such----" + +The girl broke off, and it seemed to Gordon, in spite of her attempted +smile, she was very near tears. Instantly he smothered his own +feelings of alarm at her story and endeavored to console her. He +laughed, but in Hazel's hyper-sensitive condition of anxiety, his laugh +lacked its usual buoyancy. + +"That's nothing to worry over," he said. "I'd say if your name had +meant anything to him he wouldn't have given you breathing time before +you'd learned a heap of things that wouldn't have sounded pretty. +Dad's no end of a sport, but when he gets a punch, and the fellow who +gives it him don't vanish quick, he's got a way of hitting back mighty +hard. I don't guess that break's going to figure any in our play. He +never said a word?" + +"Not a word." Hazel tried to take comfort, but still remained +unconvinced. "Anyway what could he do?" + +Gordon remained serious for some moments. Then his eyes lit again. + +"Not a thing," he said emphatically, and Hazel knew he meant it. + +For some time they rode on in silence, and thought was busy with them +both. Hazel was thinking of so many things, all of which somehow +focussed round the man at her side, and her ardent desire to obey his +lightest commands in the schemes of his fertile brain. Gordon had +dismissed every other thought from his mind but the delightful +companionship of this ride, which had come all unexpectedly. The +girl's mare led slightly, and the sober chestnut kept his nose on a +level with her shoulder, and thus Gordon was left free to regard the +girl he loved without fear of embarrassment to her. But somehow Hazel +was not unaware of his regard. A curious subconsciousness left her +with the feeling that her every movement was observed, and a pleasant, +excited nervousness began to stir her. She hastily broke the silence. + +"You said you'd still need my help when--the grand finale came," she +demanded. + +"Sure," came the prompt reply. Then very slowly the man added; "I +can't do anything without your help--now." + +The girl glanced round quickly. + +"You mean--with your father a prisoner?" + +The man's smile deepened, and his blue eyes gazed thoughtfully, +ardently, into the hazel eyes, which, in a moment, became hidden from +him. + +"I don't think I meant--quite that," he said. + +The girl offered no reply, and the man went on. + +"You see, we have become sort of partners in most everything, haven't +we? I don't seem to think of anything without you being in it." Then +he laughed, a little nervous laugh. "I don't try to either. Say, I +went out to the cattle station, and had a look at Slosson the other +day. The boys have got him pretty right, and--I felt sorry for him." + +"Why?" Hazel asked her question without thinking. She somehow felt +incapable of thought just now. She felt like one drifting upon some +tide which was beyond her control, and the only guiding hand that +mattered was this man's. + +Gordon gave one of his curious short laughs, which might have meant +anything. + +"I don't know," he said. Then: "Yes, I do though. Think of a fellow +who's had his business queered, who's staked a big gamble and lost, not +only that, but the girl he's crazy about, and meanwhile is rounded up +in a shack that wouldn't keep a summer shower out, and seems as though +it was set up on purpose by some crazy genius as a sort of playground +for every sort of wind ever blew. Say, if I lost my partner now, +I'd---- Guess our partnership ought to expire in a month. This play +will be through then." + +"Yes." + +With all her desire to talk on indifferently, Hazel could find no word +to add to the monosyllable. She was trembling with a delightful +apprehension she could not check. And somehow she had no desire to +check it. This man was all powerful to sway her emotions, and she knew +it. The moments were growing almost painful in the tenseness of her +emotions. + +"Another month. It's--awful for me to think of." + +"Is it?" + +The inanity of her remark would have made Hazel laugh at any other +time. Now, it passed her by, its meaninglessness conveying nothing +with the submerging of her humor in the sea of stronger emotions. + +Gordon urged his horse to draw level with the mare. Then he +deliberately drew it down to a walk on the rustling grass, and Hazel +followed his example without protest. All about them was the delicate +silver tracery of the moonlight through the trees. The warmth of the +perfumed night air possessed a seductiveness only equaled by the night +beauties of the scene about them. It was such a moment when the most +timorous lover must become emboldened, and emulate the bravest. But +Gordon knew no timidity. His only fear was for failure. Had he +realized the tumult which his words had stirred within this girl's +bosom he might well have flung all hesitation to the winds. As it was +he threw the final cast with all the strength of his virile, impetuous +nature. + +"Another month. Must it end then, Hazel?" He reached out and seized, +with gentle firmness, the girl's bridle hand. "Must it? Say, can't it +be partners--for life?" His eyes were very tender, but their humor was +still lurking in their depths. He leaned towards her and the girl's +hand remained unresistingly in his. "D'you know, dear, I sort of feel +to-night I'd like to have a dozen Slossons standing around waiting, +while I scrapped 'em all in turn for you. Maybe that don't tell you +much. It can't mean anything to you. It means this to me. It means I +just want to be the fellow who's got to see to it that life runs as +smooth as the wheels of a Pullman for you. It means I don't care a +thing for anything else in the world but you, not even this play we're +at now. I guess I just loved you the day I first saw you, and have +gone on loving you worse and worse ever since, till I don't guess +there's any doctor, but having you always with me, can save me from an +early grave." Somehow the two horses had come to a standstill. Nor +were they urged on. "I just want you, Hazel, all the time," Gordon +went on, more and more tenderly. "You'll never get to know how badly I +want you. Will you--shall it be--partners--always?" + +The girl was gazing out over the moonlight scene so that Gordon could +see nothing of the light of happiness shining in her pretty eyes. All +he knew was the trembling of the hand he still held in his. Then, +suddenly, while he waited, he felt the girl's other hand, soft, warm, +full of that quiet strength which he knew to be hers, close over his, +and a wild thrill swept through his whole body. + +"Is it 'yes'?" he demanded, with a passionate pressure of his hand, and +a great light burning in his eyes. "Mine! Mine! For--as long as we +live?" + +The girl still made no verbal reply, but she bowed her head and gently +raised his hand, and tenderly pressed it to her soft bosom. In an +instant she lay crushed in his arms while the two horses, with heads +together, seemed lost in a friendly discussion of the extraordinary +proceedings going on between their riders. + +What they thought about them was apparently on the whole favorable, for +presently, with mute expressions of good will, their handsome heads +drew apart and lowered significantly. The next moment they were +enjoying a pleasant siesta, such as only a four-footed creature can +accomplish standing without risk to life and limb. + +Half an hour later they were wide awake and full of bustling activity. +The closed heels on their saddle cinchas warned them that even lovers' +madness has its limits of duration, and that the practical affairs of +life must inevitably become paramount in the end. + +So they answered the call, and raced down the trail in the cool of the +night. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +IN NEW YORK + +Mrs. James Carbhoy had endured anything but a happy time for several +weeks. She had received no news from her beloved son; her husband had +spirited himself away on business and left her without a word of +definite information as to his whereabouts; while even the trying +presence of her young daughter was denied her, since she had been +forced to dispatch that personification of childish willfulness to +their estate at Tuxedo, that she might be put through a course of +disciplining by her various governesses. + +She was alone, she reminded herself not less than three times a day, +and to be alone in her great mansion at Central Park was the limit of +earthly punishment as she understood it. She detested it. She hated +the hot summer landscape of the park; she was worried to death by the +chorus of automobile hooters as the cars sped up and down the great +asphalt way; she felt that the red-and-white stone palaces with which +she was surrounded were the ugliest things ever hidden from blind eyes, +and an army of servants could be, and was, the most nerve-racking thing +she had ever been called upon to endure. For two peas she would pack a +bag--no, her maid would have to pack it; she was denied even that +pleasure--and hie herself to Europe. + +This was something of the condition of mind to which she was reduced, +when one morning two events happened almost simultaneously which +changed the whole aspect of things, and created in her something +approaching a desire to continue the dreary monotony of life. + +The first was the advent of her mail, with a long letter from her son +_dated at Buffalo Point_, and the second was an urgent request from her +husband's manager, Mr. Harker, desiring permission to wait upon her, as +he had the most encouraging news from the long-lost Gordon and her +husband's affairs generally. + +Gordon's mother did not read her son's letter at once. She saw the +heading and glanced at the opening paragraph. The satisfaction so +inspired caused her to set it aside for careful perusal after her +breakfast. Mr. Harker would be up to see her at about eleven o'clock. +That would give her ample time to have digested its contents before he +arrived. + +For the first time in weeks she ate an ample breakfast at her customary +early hour. She further forgot to make her maid's life a burden during +the process of dressing, and she even enjoyed glancing over the +advertisements of the daily newspapers. Then came the hour of +seclusion in her boudoir when she yielded herself to the perusal of her +boy's letter. + + +"BUFFALO POINT, + Near Snake's Fall. + +"DEAREST MUM: + +"It seems so long since I sent you any mail, and I seem to have so much +news to tell you, and I've so completely forgotten what I have already +told you, that I hardly know where to begin. However, you'll see by +the heading of this letter I am at Buffalo Point, and am glad to say I +have received a visit from the dear old Dad, who is just as happy as +any man of his devotion to work can be--on vacation. His visit to me +here has placed me in a position of great trust in his affairs in the +neighborhood, and I am very proud that, through my own efforts, I have +been so placed. After this I feel that the dear old Dad will never +have cause to question my ability in dealing with big affairs. I feel +he will acknowledge that the seed of his example has really fallen on +fruitful soil, and that, after all, perhaps I shall yet prove a worthy +son of a great father. + +"This, I guess, brings me to the discussion of a subject which has kind +of interested me some these last days. It is the modern understanding +of filial duty. I s'pose even such a duty changes in its aspect, as +everything else seems to change, with the passage of time. Chasing +around in the dark days of pre-civilized times filial duty seemed +pretty clearly marked. One of the first duties of a son was, when his +mother wasn't around to claim the privilege, to get in the way when his +father wanted to hit something with his club. He was also kind of +handy as a sacrifice, either well broiled or minced into fancy chunks, +to make his father's Gods feel good and get benevolent. Then he was +mighty useful doing chores around the home, so his father didn't have +to do more work than it took him filling his stomach with Saurian +steaks and Pterodactyl cutlets, and getting drunk on a sort of beer, +which his wife had contracted the habit of making for him in the +intervals between being laid out cold with a stone club. + +"There don't seem to be much doubt about those days. A son's filial +duty lasted just as long as his father could enforce it with physical +discipline. When he couldn't do it that way any longer, then the son +and father generally made a big talk together, and whatever odds and +ends of the father could be collected at the finish of the pow-wow were +handed over to some local soup kitchen to make stock. + +"Then the son usually took a wife, and so the same old play went on. + +"With variations and moderations these things seem to have gone on, on +some such general lines, right down to our present day. In some grades +of present-day life I don't think there's such a heap of change as +you'd guess. The conditions prevail, only the weapons and things are +different. However, that's by the way. The thing that requires +careful study is how far filial duty is justified. + +"Filial duty is a pretty arbitrary thing when a man who can really +think looks into it. I maintain that obligation is too much imposed +upon offspring. I contend they don't owe a thing to their parents. +It's the parents who owe to the offspring. This may shock you, but I +hope you will put all personal feeling aside and regard it in the +nature of an academic discussion. First of all, the fact of life is +dependent upon the whim of parents to impose it. It is not a thing +which a child owes gratitude for. Say, take a feller who can't swim, +tie half a ton of lead around his neck and boost him into a whirlpool +full of rocks and things, and ask him for gratitude. I'm open to +gamble when he gets his breath he won't say a thing--not a thing--about +gratitude. Maybe he'll remember every other emotion ever given to +erring humanity, but I don't guess he'd be able to spell the word +gratitude, let alone talk it. + +"We'll pass the subject of life for the moment. We've got it. We +didn't want, but we got. And all the kicking won't alter it. Now +filial duty demands obedience, and parents start right in from the +first to make a kid's life a burden that way. Say, we'll take that +whirlpool racket again. It's like two folks standing high and dry on a +rock above it, and firing stones all around the poor darned fool +struggling to win out. It don't matter which way he turns he's headed +off with a rock dropped plumb ahead of him. Those rocks are labeled +'obey.' Say, after about twenty years of dodging those rocks parents +'ll tell that feller of all they did for him in his youth, and say he's +ungrateful just because he's learned enough sense to realize his +parents are fools, anyway, and ought to be petrified mummies in a +public museum. + +"One of the worst sins of parents toward children is the fact that as +soon as they take to sitting around in rockers, and their hinges start +to creak when they get up, they don't ever seem to remember the time +when their joints didn't have to make queer noises. When folks get +that way they reckon it's the duty of all offspring just to sit around +and gape in fool credulity, while they tell 'em what wonderful folk +their parents--used to be, and how they--the children--if they lived a +century, could never hope to be half as wonderful. A really bright kid +generally hopes that for once his parent is talking truth. I say it +with all respect that the gentlest, most harmless, most inoffensive +father would resort to any subterfuge to have his son think he could +lick creation if he fancied that way; and there isn't a woman so +almighty plain but what she'll contrive to get her daughters--while +they're still children--crazy enough to believe she was the beauty of +her family, and that all their good looks are due to her side of the +matrimonial contract. + +"Of course, it isn't a desirable thought to picture your mother playing +at holding hands in dark corners with fellers who never had a +hundred-to-one chance of being your father; also it isn't just pleasant +to speculate on the tricks she had to play to get your father to the +jumping-off mark; neither do you care to dwell on what she thought of +the chorus girls your father was in the habit of buying wine for, and +decorating up with fancy clothes and jewels in his spare moments. You +don't feel it's a nice thing to think of the numbers of times some one +else has had to take off your father's boots for him overnight, and +bathe his aching head with ice-water to get him down town in the +morning to his office. But it wouldn't hurt you a thing if parents +made a point of remembering all these things for themselves, and would +give up making you quit playing parlor games during sermon in church on +Sundays and inventing your own words to the hymn tunes. + +"Now let's jump to what I call the breaking-point of filial duty. It's +the point when a kid gets old enough to master the inner meaning of the +expression 'damn fool,' which has probably been liberally applied to +him for years. It's the moment when physical discipline can no longer +obtain for--physical reasons. It's the point when two real live men, +or two real live women, face each other with a contentious situation +lying between them. Where does obligation lie? Does it remain--anyway? + +"In Nature it does not. In human nature it remains--chiefly because of +undue sentimentalism. Now sentimentalism should be a luxury, and not a +law. This is obvious to any mind not suffocated by the gases of +decadence. I'd like to say Nature's laws are sane and just, and, since +they are inspired by a great and wise Providence, it's not reasonable +to guess they can be improved upon by a psalm-smiting set of folks, who +spend their whole lives in wrapping 'emselves around with cotton batten +to keep out the wholesome draughts of Nature's lungs. + +"So I feel that when the breaking-point of filial duty is reached it is +no longer mother and daughter, father and son, in the practicalities of +life. Take commerce. Father and son are in competition. Each is +fighting for his own. How far is a son justified in emptying an +automatic pistol into his father's food depot, when that mistaken +parent guesses he's yearning to storm his son's stronghold of +commercial enterprise? How far is that father justified in doping his +son's liquor, so he won't lie awake at nights planning to roll him for +his wad next morning? Take a daughter and her momma. Most mothers act +as though they had to live all their lives with their daughters' +husbands. And most daughters act as though they preferred their mommas +should. I ask: how far has a mother right to butt in to run her +daughter's home doings, and so muss up for some one else what she was +never able to do right for herself? Why shouldn't a daughter be +allowed to make her own mess of things, and later on, when she collects +sense, clean it up again the best she knows? + +"These are questions in my mind. These are questions I don't just seem +able to answer right myself, and sort of feel they'd have given old Sol +some insomnia, in spite of all his glory over the baby episode he made +such a song about. Well, I put 'em down here, and maybe you can tell +me about 'em, and, anyway, they make some problem. + +"Maybe I haven't set out my news to the best advantage, but my mind is +very busy with fixing things as they should go. You see, I'm working +hard in the old Dad's interest, and am hoping soon to get that little +word of approval from him which means so much, coming from so great a +man. I am looking forward to seeing you again soon, and hope to see +your dear, smiling face and pretty eyes just as bright and happy as I +always remember them. Give my love to our Gracie, and tell her that +the only way to get rid of those peculiarly spindle lower legs, which +have always been one of her worst physical defects, is to adopt ankle +exercises. It's a defect, like many others in her character, which can +be improved with conscientious effort and patience. + +"Your loving son, + "GORDON. + +"P.S.--Your future daughter-in-law is just crazy to be taken into your +motherly fold. + +"G." + + +Mr. Harker's face was wreathed in smiles at the thought of the pleasant +news it was his good fortune to be conveying to the wife of his chief. +His smile remained until he heard the trim maid's announcement at the +door of Mrs. Carbhoy's boudoir. Then the smile vanished, as though it +had never been, and his well-nourished features became an assortment of +troubled bewilderment. Furthermore, within five minutes of his +ushering into the lady's presence he had registered a solemn vow that +celibacy should remain his lot, until the day that saw his ample +remains become a subject for cooking operations by the crematorium +experts. + +Mr. Harker was certainly unfortunate in his selection of the moment at +which to pay his call. Mrs. James Carbhoy had had half an hour since +reading her son's letter, in which to pursue that hateful hyphenated +word "daughter-in-law" through every darkened channel of her somewhat +limited mental machinery. + +Daughter-in-law! It was everywhere. She could not lose sight of it. +She could not escape its haunting meaning. It pursued her wherever she +went. It was there, lurking amidst the folds of her gowns if she +peered inside the great hanging wardrobes. It danced like a +will-o'-the-wisp in every mirror which her troubled eyes chanced to +encounter. It was interwoven with the patterns of the carpets; and the +wall-paperings found a lurking-place for it amidst the unreal foliage +which adorned them. It laughed at her when she angrily turned away to +avoid it, and when she endeavored to defy it its mocking only +increased. So it was that the unoffending Harker encountered the full +tide of her angry alarm and maternal despair. + +Mr. Harker had prepared a well-turned opening for his excellent news. +But it was never used. Even as his lips moved to speak they remained +sealed, held silent by the bitter cry of outraged maternal pride. + +"He's married!" she cried. "Married--and I--I have never been +consulted!" + +Mr. Harker felt as though he had been caught up in the whirl of a +physical encounter in which his opponent held all the advantage. + +Mrs. Carbhoy waited for no comment. She rushed headlong, following up +her advantage, smashing in "lefts" and "rights" indiscriminately. + +"It's disgraceful--terrible! The ingratitude of it! After all his +father and I have done for him! To think how we've always guided and +taught him! The callous selfishness! The moment he's out of our +sight--this--this is what happens. He's picked up with some wicked, +designing female, whose father's certain to be a--a--gaolbird--or, +anyway, ought to be. Not a word to a soul. We--we don't know who she +is--or--or what. He don't even say her name. Daughter-in-law! +It's--it's---- Mr. Harker, I'm just wondering when I'll come over all +crazy." + +Mr. Harker welcomed the pause. + +"You say Mr. Gordon's married?" he demanded incredulously. + +"Yes--no. That is, he--he says 'your future daughter-in-law'!" + +Mr. Harker breathed a deep relief and strove to smile confidence upon +his chief's wife. + +"Ah, yes. Mr. Gordon was always one for the girls. But he wouldn't +make a fool of himself that way----" + +In a moment the second round of the battle was raging. + +"Fool? Fool? Every man's a fool, if some woman chooses!" cried Mrs. +Carbhoy, and promptly hurled herself into a bitter tirade against her +sex, sparing no race of monsters from likeness to it. + +Mr. Harker was forced to submit from sheer inability to compete with +the rapid flow of expression. But later on he had his opportunity at +what he considered to be the termination of the "second round," while +his opponent retired to her corner to be fanned by her seconds. + +"Anyway, ma'am, if he's not yet married there's still hope. I guess +Mr. Carbhoy's wise to what's doing with him. You see, he's been there +with him." + +"James Carbhoy!" The contemptuous emphasis on her husband's name +opened the "third round," and Mr. Harker felt that the timekeeper had +called "time" before he was ready. + +For three full minutes the scornful wife of the millionaire recited an +amplified denunciation upon husbands in general and millionaires in +particular. But even so the round had to come to its natural +conclusion, and when they were both resting once more in their +"corners," Mr. Harker achieved something almost approaching success. + +"You know, Mrs. Carbhoy, I was feeling pretty good coming along here in +my automobile. Mr. Gordon's something more to me than just your son. +We're real good friends, and I was feeling as anxious for his future as +maybe you were. Well, when I got word from your husband at Snake's +saying that he'd turned our affairs over to Mr. Gordon I was real glad, +and I felt now here was the boy's chance. Then, day after day, along +come his instructions, and I saw by the grip he'd got on things he'd +taken his chance, and was pushing it through with as much smartness as +Mr. Carbhoy himself might have shown. I was more than gratified, +ma'am. Why, only to-day I've received word of a big coal option he's +taken for us. As he's got it it's something for nothing. Nobody could +have done better, not even your husband, ma'am. I really can't think +there's going to be any mistakes about--strange females." + +The man's tribute had a mollifying effect upon the mother. But she was +still the "mother" rather than a creature of logic. She saw her boy +being led to his undoing by some designing creature of her own sex, and +her instinct warned her of the hideous dangers to millionaires' sons +inherent in so guileful a race. + +"If I could only feel that he was experienced in the world," she said +helplessly. "But what does our poor Gordon know of women?" + +Mr. Harker smiled. He was thinking with the intimacy of one man who +knows another. He knew, too, something of the way in which Gordon's +money had generally been spent. + +"We must hope the best, ma'am," he said, with a hypocritical sigh. +"He's evidently not married, so--what do you intend to do about it +while Mr. Carbhoy is on the coast?" + +"Do? Do? Why, I shall just go up to Snake's whatever-it-is, or +Buffalo what's-its-name, and--and----" + +"I should wait awhile, ma'am, if I were you," Mr. Harker interrupted +her, fearing another outburst. "I'm expecting David Slosson in the +city soon. He's one of our confidential men who's been working up at +Snake's for us. I haven't heard from him for quite a while. He's sure +to be along down soon, because he's got to make a report. Maybe he can +tell us just how things are. Anyway, I wouldn't go up there. It's a +queer, wild sort of place, and in no way fit for you." + +"Will Slosson be around soon?" + +"Sure, ma'am." + +"Then I'll wait," cried the troubled mother, without cordiality. Then +she appealed to the man who had always been something more than a mere +commercial figure in her husband's life. "You know, if anything went +wrong with my boy, Mr. Harker, it would just break my heart. I--I +couldn't bear it. But I tell you right here there's no wretched female +going to play her tricks on our Gordon with me around, and while I've +got James Carbhoy's millions to my hand. And if your man Slosson don't +give us satisfactory news of the boy, then, if Snake's what's-its-name +were the worst place on earth--I should make it." + +"If it comes to that, ma'am, there are other folks feel that way, too," +said the manager earnestly. "But meanwhile I'd say don't worry a +thing." + +"I don't!" snapped the mother sharply. "The person who'll need to do +all the worrying is that--female." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +PREPARING FOR THE FINALE + +"I'm getting scared, Gordon. Real truth, I am." + +Hazel was in the saddle. Gordon had just mounted Sunset. It was the +close of a long, arduous, triumphant day for Gordon, and he was feeling +very happy, though mentally weary. The horses moved off before he made +any reply. He had just dismissed Peter McSwain and Mike Callahan, with +whom he had been in close consultation, and Hazel's father was still +within the office to see to its closing for the night and the departure +of the clerical staff. + +The way lay towards the ranch, and the trail the horses were taking +skirted the new township, now no longer a waste of untrodden grass, but +a busy camp with a strongly flowing human tide. + +Hazel had come to meet him at her lover's urgent request, and she was +glad enough to get away from the old ranch house, where the charge of +her captive there was seriously beginning to trouble her. Now she had +at last voiced something of those feelings which the rapid passing of +the weeks had steadily inspired. She knew that her peace of mind +demanded some change from this worrying situation. In her loyalty she +had struggled to perform her share in the conspiracy. She knew, too, +that she had succeeded fairly well, and that her efforts were all +appreciated to their full. She had contrived that her lover's father +should never know a moment's discomfort. That his life in captivity +should be made as easy and pleasant as possible. There were no signs +that it had been otherwise, but now, seven weeks had elapsed since his +arrival, and what had just seemed a scandalous joke to her originally, +had become a sort of painful nightmare which she was longing to throw +off. The moment she and Gordon were actually alone, she had been +impelled to break the silence which was steadily undermining her nerve. + +Gordon's horse was close abreast of the brown mare, and its rider +smiled down from his great height upon the pretty tailored figure of +the girl who had become all the world to him. + +"I know," he said sympathetically. "It's sort of that way with me, +too. I don't just mean I'm scared. There's nothing for me to be +scared about. It's--sort of conscience with me. As for your +father--say"--his smile broadened--"he's taken to his eye-patch with +everybody--me, too. I guess that means he's worried no end." + +"What--what are you going to do--then?" + +Hazel eagerly watched that big, open, ingenuous face with its widely +smiling blue eyes. And, watching it, she discerned added signs of a +growing humor. Finally he laughed outright. + +"Say, we're just the limit for a bunch of conspirators. Yes--the +limit. You're the only one of us who's had the moral courage to put +your feelings into words. We're all scared. We've all been scared +these weeks. Your father's scared, so he can't look at any man with +two eyes. Peter's all of a shiver every time he comes within hailing +distance of the sheriff. As for Mike--well, Mike's sold all his +holdings, and is bursting to sell his livery business, all but one +team, so he'll have the means of skipping the border at a minute's +notice. Say, have you figured out how we stand? How I stand? Well, +from a point of law I guess I'm a good candidate for ten years' +penitentiary. I've kidnapped two men; one's a dirty dog, anyway, and +the other's one of the biggest millionaires in the country. I've +fraudulently played up a railroad. I've started this boom on the +biggest fraud ever practiced. I've--say, ten years! Why, I guess the +tally of this adventure looks to me like twenty in the worst +penitentiary to be found in the country. It--makes me perspire to +think of it." + +He was laughing in a perfectly reckless fashion, and, in spite of her +very real fears, Hazel perforce found herself joining in. + +"It's desperate, Gordon," she cried. "And as for you, who worked it +all out, and led it, you--you are the dearest blackguard ever +breathed." Then quite suddenly her eyes sobered, and her apprehension +returned with a rush. "But how long is--it to last? I--I can't go on +much longer, and your father's getting restive and suspicious." + +Gordon reached down and patted Sunset's crested neck. + +"It's finished now. That's why I asked you to come and meet me. I've +sold." + +"You've sold?" + +In a moment the last shadow of fear had passed out of the girl's pretty +eyes. Now she was agog with excited admiration. + +"Yes." The man nodded. "It had to be done carefully. I've been +selling quietly for days and now it's finished. I didn't get the +prices I hoped quite, but that was because I felt I dared not wait +longer to clear up the general mess I'd made. Your father helped me, +and I now sit here with a roll of precisely one hundred and five +thousand dollars, and a definite promise to your father to fix things +with the great James Carbhoy so no trouble is coming to any one--not +even Slosson. I don't know. Now it's all over I'm sort of sorry. You +know this sort of thing--the excitement of beating folks--is a great +play. I want to be at it all the time." + +"You've got to meet your father yet," said the girl warningly. + +"The old dad? Why, yes, I s'pose I have." Gordon chuckled. "Say, I +don't wonder folks taking to crooked ways. They just set your blood +tingling like--like a glass of champagne on an empty stomach. Just +look out there." He pointed at the new township. "Say, isn't it +wonderful? All in a few weeks. And all the result of one man's +crookedness." + +"And your father has been a--prisoner--the whole time. Over seven +weeks," rebuked the girl. + +"But it's only three weeks since I met you that night on the trail, +Hazel. No other time concerns me. Not even the dear old dad's +captivity. That was the beginning of all things that matter for me." + +"You seem to date everything around that--ridiculous episode," said +Hazel slyly. "I----" + +"I do." + +"Don't interrupt me, sir. I was going to assure you that your proper +spirit should be one of contrition for what you have made your father +endure." + +"It is." + +"You said you didn't care." + +"I don't." + +"Then----" + +Gordon burst out into a happy laugh. + +"Don't you see, dear? I just don't care for, or think about anything +else in the world. You--you--you are just mine, so what's the use of +talking of the old dad." + +"Really? True? True?" The girl's tender eyes were melting as they +gazed up into her lover's. "More to you than all--this?" She +indicated the busy life on the new township. The miracle, as she +regarded it, which he had worked. The man smiled, his eyes full of a +great, tender love. "I'm glad," the girl sighed. "It isn't always so +with men--where the making of money is concerned, is it?" She breathed +a great contentment and happiness. "Yes, I'm--so glad. It's the same +with me, but--I want all this to go on right--because of you. I want +your success. I want your success as a man, and--with your father. +I'm very jealous for those things now. You see, you belong to me, +don't you?" She turned and gazed away across the plain. "Oh, it's +good to see it all--to see all the busy work going on. Look there--and +there," she pointed quickly in many directions. "Buildings going up. +Temporary buildings. The substantial structures to come later. Then +the road gangs at work. The carpenters at the sidewalks. The +surveyors. The teams and wagons. Above all, that depot being built +with all expedition by--your father." She laughed happily and clapped +her hands. "It's all growing every day. A mushroom town. And +you--you have made that money your great father dared you to make. +Dared you--you, and you have made it out of him! Oh, dear! the humor +of it is enough to make a cat laugh. Here you, by sheer audacity and +roguery, have held up a railroad and coolly played the highwayman on +your own father!" + +Gordon shook his head. + +"Call it grabbing opportunity. It was an opportunity which came my way +through the trifling oversight of forgetting to return the private code +book which the old dad had entrusted to my care. Say, I can never +thank the dad enough for that half-hour talk in his office which sent +me out into the wilderness. If he hadn't handed it to me, I should +never have blundered into Snake's; and if I hadn't blundered into +Snake's I shouldn't have found you. I guess my parent's just one of +the few to whom a son owes anything. He gave me life, but didn't stop +at that. He gave me you." + +Hazel's eyes were smiling happily. + +"And in return you lay violent hands on him, and incarcerate him while +you do your best to rob him." + +"It sounds pretty bad." + +"If I didn't know you I'd say that gratitude fell out of your cradle +and killed herself when the fairies got around at your birth. But you +didn't ask me to ride all these miles in to--to say just all these nice +things to me, Gordon? Besides, now you've completed your--graft, what +about your poor long-suffering prisoners? How are you going to save us +all from the consequences of your evil ways? Your father will hate +me." The girl sighed in pretended despair. "He'll never consent +to--to----" + +"Our marriage? Say, if I'm a judge of things I'll have to stand by so +he don't embrace you too often, himself." + +They both laughed like the two happy children they were. There was no +cloud that could mar the sun of their delight now. Hazel, for all her +fears, had perfect faith in this great reckless creature. She had +never been able to obscure the memory of his battle with Slosson on her +behalf. Her faith was unbounded. + +So they rode on, leaving the busy new world the man had created behind +them, as they made their way on towards the ranch. They were leaving +everything behind them, the shadows and sunlight of past strenuous +days, which is the way of youth. They gazed ahead towards the future +with every confidence, and lived in a perfect present which contained +only their two selves. + +It was not until they had nearly reached the ranch, and the wide +pasture stocked with grazing cattle came into view, that the girl was +able to pin her lover down to the urgent matters which lay ahead of +him. Then she received from that simple creature the brief account of +his intentions. For a moment she was staggered. Then, after a brief +digestion of the details, she began to laugh. The rank absurdity and +impudence of them took her fancy, and she found herself caught in the +humor of it all, and ready again to carry out his lightest wish. + +"It's still the same, you see," Gordon finished up. "I still want you, +and your precious help, the same as I always shall. I just can't do a +thing without you, and as long as you are with me, why, I don't guess +failure's got a chance of getting its nose in front. I've got it all +fixed, if you'll play your part. All I ask is, for the Lord's sake +don't start in to laugh at the critical time. I want you scared to +death till I appear, and then you'll just need to chase up an attack of +hysterics or something, throw your heels around and yell blue murder, +and finish up by grabbing me around the neck, and fainting dead away +with happiness. The rest I'll see to. It's some situation for you, +but don't worry when the limelight leaves you in the dark and finds its +way to me. It's just the sort of thing you can find in any old dime +novel. The heroines always act that way, and the hero, too. When you +get back, start right in to think about every dime story you've ever +read. Remember all the things the heroines ever did, and then do 'em +all yourself. See? Guess that isn't as clear as it might be, but when +you've filtered it through that bright little head of yours it'll be +like spring water in a moss-grown mountain creek." + +"Whatever will he say when he knows?" laughed the girl. + +"Say? well, that's not an easy guess," retorted Gordon, with a +responsive laugh. "But, anyway, it's dead sure he'll think a heap +more. Say, there's just one thing more. When you come-to out of that +joyous faint, you got to leave us together for half an hour. Maybe +you'll have some sort of preparation to make, or something. Sort of +stagger out of the room supported by me, and if Hip-Lee attempts to +butt in during that half hour--kill him." + +"You really want me to do--all this?" Hazel's laughing eyes were +raised questioningly. + +"Everything, but--the killing." + +"The fainting--really?" + +"Sure." The man's eyes opened wide. "It's the picture. It's the +reality. It's the local color." + +"Oh, dear!" laughed Hazel, as they rode up to the ranch house. "I +suppose I've got to do it." + +"You will?" + +Gordon flung himself out of the saddle. Hazel laughingly held out her +hand in assurance. + +"My hand on it, Gordon, dear," she cried. + +The man seized it in both of his. Then, regardless of what sharp eyes +might be peeping in their direction, he reached up, and, catching her +about the waist, drew her down towards him till her head was level with +his, and kissed her rapturously. + +"Say, you're the greatest little woman on earth, and--I love you to +death." + +Hazel hastily drew herself out of his strong arms, and, with flushed +face, straightened herself up in the saddle. + +"And you are the greatest and most ridiculous creature ever let loose +to roam this world--and I--love you for it." + +The man laughed. Hazel's laugh joined in. + +"Then--to-night?" + +Hazel nodded. + +"Good-by, dear--till to-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE RESCUE + +It was nearly midnight. The house was quiet. It was so still as to +suggest no life at all within its simple, hospitable walls. It was in +darkness, too, at least from the outside, for all curtains had been +drawn for the night, with as much care as though it were a dwelling +facing upon some busy thoroughfare in a city. + +But, late as the hour was, the occupants of the old ranch house were +not in bed. Hazel was awake, and sitting expectantly waiting in her +bedroom, while somewhere within the purlieus of the kitchen Hip-Lee sat +before an open window in the darkness, doubtless dreaming wakefully of +some flea-ridden village up country in his homeland. + +Upstairs, too, there were no signs of those slumbers which were so long +overdue. Mr. James Carbhoy was seated in a comfortable rocker-chair +adjacent to his dressing bureau, making an effort to become interested +in the "History of the Conquest of Mexico" by the light of a +well-trimmed oil lamp. + +Not one word, however, of the pages he had read had conveyed interest +to his preoccupied mind. It is doubtful if their meaning had been +conveyed with any degree of continuity. He was irritable--irritable +and a shade despondent. + +He had been a captive in that valley for over seven weeks, and the +imprisonment had begun to tell upon his stalwart hardihood. Seven long +weeks of his own company, under easy and even pleasant circumstances. +Even Hazel's company, shadowed as she was by the hated Hip-Lee, had +been denied him. Had it been otherwise he might have felt less +dispirited, for he liked and admired her; and, in spite of the fact +that on that one memorable occasion when he had talked to her alone she +had betrayed, what he now was firmly convinced was her own perfidious +share in his kidnapping, he was human enough to disregard it, and only +remember that she was an extremely pretty and wholly charming creature. + +Yes, he knew now that he had been duped by this daughter of Mallinsbee, +whom he knew owned Buffalo Point, and the whole thing had been a +financial coup engineered by the "smarts" who belonged to his faction. +He had solved the whole problem of his captivity in one revealing +flash, the moment he had learned that this girl was the daughter of +Mallinsbee. He had needed no other information. His keenly trained +mind, with its wide understanding of the methods of financial +interests, had driven straight to the heart of the matter. It was only +the details which had been lacking. But even these had, in a measure, +been filled in during his long hours of solitude and concentrated +thought. + +It was some of the obscured riddles which beset him now, as they had +beset him for days. He could not account for his own confidential +agent Slosson in the matter. Had he been bought over? It seemed +impossible, since Slosson had advised the depot remaining at Snake's +Fall, which was against Mallinsbee's interests. Had he been dealt +with, too? It seemed more likely. But if this were so it made the +daring or desperation of the whole coup suggest to his mind that he was +dealing with men of unusual caliber, and consequently the situation +possessed for him possibilities of a most unpleasant character. + +Then, again, the fact that they were content to leave him unapproached +in his captivity puzzled and disquieted him even more. What could they +achieve with regard to the railroad without his authority? Nothing, +positively nothing, he assured himself. Then what was the purpose to +be served? He could not even guess, and the uncertainty of it all +annoyed, irritated, worried him as the time went on. + +His mind was full of all these concerns as he sat reading the romantic +story of a people with impossible names, and so he lost all the +beauties of one of the most perfect romances in the world. Finally, he +set the book aside and prepared for bed and more hours of worried +sleeplessness. + +James Carbhoy was a typical New Yorker of the best type. In an +unexaggerated way he was fastidious of his appearance and gave a +careful regard to his bodily welfare. He was a man who luxuriated in +cleanly habits of living, and his linen was a sort of passion with him. +In his captivity he had been well cared for in this respect, and the +only cause he had for complaint was the absence of his daily bath, +which he seriously deplored. + +Now he went to the old-fashioned washstand, prepared for his nightly +ablutions, and laid himself out a clean suit of pyjamas. Then he +divested himself of some of his upper garments. He had just started to +remove his shirt, and one arm still remained in its sleeve as he +proceeded to remove it coatwise, when all further action was quite +suddenly suspended and he stood listening. + +A sound had reached his quick ears, a curious sound which, at that hour +of the night, was quite incomprehensible to him. After some breathless +moments he abandoned the divestment of his clothing and swiftly +restored his coat and vest. Then he extinguished his light and drew +the curtains from before the window and opened it further. He sat down +on his bedstead and, resting an elbow on the window-ledge, gazed out +into the starlit, moonless night. + +The sound which had held his attention was still evident. It was the +sound of galloping horses in the distance, the soft plod of many hoofs +over the rich grass of the valley. It was faint but distinct, and, to +this man's inexperienced ears, suggested a large party of horses, +probably horsemen, approaching his prison. With what object? he +wondered, and, wondering, a feeling of excitement took possession of +him. + +Five minutes later his attention was distracted to another direction. +Other sounds reached him, sounds which emanated from close about his +prison itself. There was a movement going on just below him, and +horses were moving about, apparently somewhere in front, where he knew +the corrals to be. His excitement increased. In all his long weeks of +imprisonment he had seen nothing of his captors and no signs of them. +Now, apparently, they were below him, possibly keeping guard, and he +wondered if they had been there every night, silent warders, whose +presence had been all undiscovered by himself. + +It was difficult, difficult to understand or to believe. Yet there was +no doubt that men were gathered below; he could faintly hear their +voices talking in hushed tones, and, equally, he could plainly hear the +sound of their horses. He wished there was a moon to give him light +enough to see what was going on. + +But now the more distant sounds had grown louder, and as they grew the +voices below spoke in less guarded tones. And from the manner of their +speech the listening man knew that something serious was afoot. + +A sudden resolve now formulated in his mind, and he left his place at +the window and stood up. Then he moved swiftly to his door and opened +it. The house seemed wrapped in silence, and he moved out to the head +of the small flight of stairs leading to the floor below. He passed +down and reached the door of the parlor. + +Here he paused for a moment listening. All was still within, and he +cautiously opened the door. The lamp was lit, and, standing beside the +table, upon which the breakfast things were already set, he discovered +the figure of the daughter of Mallinsbee with her back turned towards +him. There was another figure present, too, and, to his intense +chagrin, the millionaire beheld the yellow features of Hip-Lee near the +curtained window. + +However, he passed into the room, and Hazel turned confronting him. He +gazed intently into her face, so serious and apparently troubled. The +yellow lamplight imparted a curious hue, and the man fancied she looked +seriously frightened. + +"What's happening?" he demanded, and an unusual brusqueness was in his +tone. + +The girl's eyes surveyed his expression swiftly. She looked for +something she feared to discover there, and the faintest sigh of relief +escaped her as she realized that her fears were unfounded. + +"That's what we--are trying to find out," she replied, her words +accompanied by a glance of simple, half-fearful helplessness. + +The man checked the reply which promptly rose to his lips. He +remembered in time that this girl was the daughter of Mallinsbee and +that she was exceedingly pretty. To the former he had no desire to +give anything away, while to the latter he desired to display every +courtesy. + +"Our guards seem to be on the alert, and--somebody is approaching," +said the millionaire, with a baffling smile. "If it weren't such a +peaceful spot I'd say there was an atmosphere of--trouble." + +"I--I sort of feel that way, too," said Hazel in a scared manner. She +had gathered all her histrionic abilities together, and intended to use +them. "I wonder what trouble it is?" + +"Seems as if it was for the men who--took us," observed Carbhoy, with a +dryness he could not quite disguise. + +"You--mean our folks have located our whereabouts and--are going to +rescue us?" + +The millionaire smiled into the innocent, questioning eyes, which, he +knew, concealed a humorous guile. + +"I didn't just mean that," he said. "Maybe the trouble won't come +yet." He glanced at the Chinaman standing sphinx-like at the curtains. +"Must he remain?" he said, appealing directly to the girl. + +Hazel felt the necessity for a bold move. + +"Don't let him worry you. We can't help ourselves. I dare not risk +offending him." She conjured a well-feigned shudder. + +The millionaire laughed, and his laugh left the girl troubled and +disconcerted. She would have liked to know what lay behind it. +However, she kept to her attitude of fear. She must play her part to +the end. + +"Hark!" Carbhoy turned his head, listening intently. The girl +followed his example. "Say----" The millionaire broke off, and his +smile was replaced by a look of puzzled incredulity. + +A shot had been fired. It was answered by a shot from somewhere close +to the house. A look of doubt sprang into his gray eyes, and he darted +to the window and unceremoniously brushed the hated Chinaman aside. He +drew the curtain cautiously aside and peered out into the bight. Hazel +beheld the change of expression and his quick, alert movements with +satisfaction. She knew that the sounds of the shots had disconcerted +him. He was more than impressed. He was convinced. + +Then followed a portentous few moments. The two single shots were +converted into something like a rattle of musketry. And intermingled +with it came the hoarse, blasphemous cries of men, and the pounding of +horses' hoofs racing hither and thither. The man at the window +remained silent, his eyes glued to the crack of the divided curtains. +He saw flashes of gunfire and the dim outline of moving figures. But +the details of the scene were hidden from him by the darkness. Hazel, +standing close behind him, rose to a great effort. One hand was laid +abruptly upon his arm, and her nervous fingers clutched at his +coat-sleeve as though she were seeking support. She caught a sharp +breath. + +"My God!" she cried in a tense whisper, while somehow her whole body +shook. + +Carbhoy gave one glance in her direction. His eyes and features had +become tense with excitement. With his disengaged hand he patted the +girl's with a reassuring gentleness, and finally it remained resting +upon her clutching fingers. + +"It's a scrap up all right," he said, with conviction that had no fear +in it. "But it's their game, not----" + +But his words were cut short by the great shouting that went up outside +the house. Then came more firing, and the sharp plonk of bullets as +they struck the building were plainly heard by the watchers. Hazel +urged the man at the curtains-- + +"Come away. For goodness' sake come away. A stray shot! That window! +You----" + +She strove to drag the man away in a wild assumption of panic. But the +millionaire intended to miss nothing of what was going on. The danger +of his position did not occur to him. He firmly released himself from +her clutch. + +"You sit right down, my dear," he said kindly. "Just get right out of +line with this window. I want to see this out. Say, hark! They're +hitting it up good, eh?" + +His eyes were alight with the excitement of battle, and Hazel, watching +him, with fear carefully expressed in her eyes, could not help but +admire the spirit of her lover's father, and more than ever regret the +part she was forced to play. + +She withdrew obediently as the sounds of battle waxed and the cries of +the combatants made the still night hideous. The firing had become +almost incessant, and the bullets seemed to hail upon the building from +every direction. Then, too, the galloping horses added to the tumult, +and it was pretty obvious the defenders were charging their opponents. + +"There seems to be about two to one attacking," said the millionaire +over his shoulder presently. + +As he turned he surveyed with pity the strong look of terror the girl +had contrived. He never once looked in the detested Chinaman's +direction. In his heart he would not have regretted a chance shot +disturbing those yellow, immobile features. + +Then, turning back again quickly-- + +"I wonder!" + +Now that the battle seemed to be at its height, and whilst awaiting its +issue, he had time for conjecture. What was the meaning of it? And +who were the attacking party? Was Slosson at its head? Had Harker +sent up and was this a sheriff's posse? Both seemed possible. Yet +neither, somehow, convinced him. Whoever were attacking, it was pretty +certain in his mind that his release was the object. + +But the moment passed, and he became absorbed once more in the battle +itself. It seemed miraculous to his twentieth-century ideas that such +a condition of things could prevail. Why, it was like the old romantic +days of the hard drinking, hard swearing "bad men," and a sort of +boyish delight in the excitement of it all swept through his veins. He +had no time or thought for the part the now terror-stricken girl had +played in his captivity. All he felt was a large-hearted, chivalrous +regret for her present condition, of which no doubt remained in his +mind. + +A rush of horsemen charged up to the building. The watching man saw +their outline distinctly. There seemed to him at least eight or ten. +He saw another crowd, smaller numerically, charge at them, and then the +revolvers spat out their vicious flashes of ruddy fire. The crowd +dispersed and gathered again. Another fusillade. Then something +seemed to happen. The whole crowd swept away in the darkness, and the +sounds of shooting and the cries of men died away into the distance. + +He waited awhile to assure himself that, so far as their position was +concerned, the battle was at an end. Then he turned away from the +window. + +"They've cleaned 'em out," he said sharply. "I can't tell whose outed. +They've ridden off at the gallop, firing and cursing as they went. +Maybe our captors have driven the others off. Maybe it's the other +way. We'll--hark!" + +He was back at the window again in a second. + +"They're coming back," he cried. "Say----" + +Hazel was at his side in a moment. + +"Are they the----?" + +"Can't say who," cried Carbhoy, peering intently. "A big bunch of 'em." + +"Our men were only four," said Hazel quickly. + +The millionaire was too intent to look round, and so he missed the +girl's smile over at Hip-Lee. But the tone of her voice was +unmistakable in its anxiety. + +"There's eight or more here," he cried. "Say, they're dismounting! +They're----" + +"They're coming into the house!" cried Hazel in an extravagant panic. +"They----" + +At that instant a loud voice beyond the door of the room was heard +shouting to the men outside-- + +"Keep a keen eye while I go through the house! Don't let a soul +escape. If they've hurt one hair of her head somebody's going to pay, +and pay dear." + +The millionaire was standing stock still in the middle of the room. A +curious look was gleaming in his steady eyes. Hazel, in the midst of +her pretended panic, beheld it and interpreted it. She read in it a +recognition of the speaker's voice, but she also read incredulity and +amazement. + +But at that instant the door burst open and a great figure rushed +headlong into the room. As the girl beheld it she flung wide her arms +and, with a cry, ran towards the intruder. + +"Gordon! Gordon! At last, at last!" she cried. "Oh, I thought you +would never find me! Never, never!" + +Her final exclamations were lost in the bosom of his tweed coat, as she +flung herself into his arms and burst into a flood of hysterical +weeping and laughter. + +"Hazel! My poor little Hazel! Say, I've been nearly crazy. I----" + +Gordon broke off, the girl still lying in his arms. His eyes had +lifted to the face of his father, and their keen, steady glance became +instantly absorbed by the gray speculation behind the other's. + +"Dad! You?" + +The astonishment, the incredulity were perfect. They might well have +deceived anybody. + +"Sure," said the millionaire dryly. Then, "I don't guess they've hurt +her any, though. Maybe you best hand her over to her father," he went +on, pointing at the burly figure of Silas Mallinsbee, who, with his +patch well down over his eye, had appeared at that moment in the +doorway. "Guess he'll know how to soothe her some. Meanwhile you'll +maybe tell me how you lit on our trail." + +The man's smile was disarming, yet Gordon fancied he detected a shadow +of that lurking irony which he knew so well in his father. + +He turned about, however, and passed Hazel over to the rancher, while +he added tender injunctions-- + +"Say, Mr. Mallinsbee, she's scared all to death. You best get her to +bed. Poor little girl! Say, I'd like----" + +But he did not complete his sentence. Instead he turned to his father, +as Hazel, with difficulty restraining her laughter, was led from the +room by her solemn-faced, fierce-eyed parent. + +"Say, Dad, what in the name of all creation has brought you here?" + +The millionaire turned, and a cold eye of hatred settled upon the +background which Hip-Lee formed to the picture. + +"Do we need that yellow reptile present?" he said unemotionally. + +"I guess not," said Gordon readily. Then he pointed the door to the +Mongolian. "Get!" he ejaculated. And the injunction was acted upon +with silent alacrity. + +Then the two men faced each other. + +"Well?" demanded the father. + +The son smiled amiably. + +"Well?" he retorted. And both men sat down. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +CASHING IN + +Gordon's eyes were alight with a wonder that somehow lacked reality as +he dropped into the chair beside the table. + +"You? You?" he murmured. Then aloud: "It--it's incredible!" Then, +with an impulsive gesture. "In the name of all that's crazy +what's--what's the meaning of it? How in the world have you got into +the hands of these ruffians?" + +His father selected one of the two remaining cigars in his case, and +passed the other across. + +"Try again," he said quietly, as he bit the end off his. + +But Gordon did not "try again." He took the proffered cigar, and sat +devouring the silent figure and sphinx-like face of the other, while he +felt like one who had received a douche of ice-cold water from a pail. +His acting had missed fire, and he knew it. He wondered how much else +of his efforts had missed fire with this abnormally acute man. He had +intended this to be the moment of his triumph. He had intended to lay +before his father his talent of silver, doubled and redoubled an +hundredfold. He had intended, with all the enthusiasm of youthful +vanity, to display the triumph of his understanding of the modern +methods of dealing with the affairs of finance. He was going to prove +his theories up to the hilt. + +Now, somehow, he felt that whatever victory he had achieved the clear, +keen brain behind his father's steady gray eyes saw through him +completely, right down into the deepest secrets which he had believed +to be securely hidden. Face to face with this man, who had spent all +the long years of his life studying how best to beat his fellow man, +his acting became but a paltry mask which obscured nothing. "Try +again." Such simple words, but so significant. No, it was useless to +"try again" with this dear, shrewd creature he was so futilely +endeavoring to deceive. + +The cold of the gray eyes had changed. It was only a slight change, +but to Gordon, who understood his father so well, it was clearly +perceptible and indicative of the mood behind. There was a suggestion +of a smile in them, an ironical, half-humorous smile that scattered all +his carefully made plans. + +The millionaire struck a match and held it out to light his son's +cigar, and, as Gordon leaned forward, their eyes met in a steady regard. + +"Nothing doing?" inquired the father, as he carefully lit his own cigar +from the same match. + +Gordon shook his head, and his eyes smiled whimsically. + +"Then I best do first talk." The millionaire leaned back in his chair +and breathed out a thin spiral of smoke. Then he sighed. "Good smokes +these. Mallinsbee's a man of taste." + +"Mallinsbee?" + +"Sure." + +"Go on." + +"He's kept me well supplied. Also with good wine. I owe him quite a +debt--that way. Say----" The millionaire paused reflectively. Then +he went on in the manner of a man who has arrived at a complete and +definite decision: "Guess it would take hours asking questions and +getting answers. It's not my way, and I don't guess I'm a lawyer +anyway, and you aren't a shady witness. We know just how to talk out +straight. I've had over seven weeks to think in--and thinking with me +is--a disease. Let's go back. I had a neat land scoop working up +here. Slosson was working it. He's been a secret agent of mine for +years. I've no reason to distrust him. He fixes things right for us +and sends word for me to come along. That's happened many times +before. It's not new, or--unusual. When I get here I'm met by a very +charming young girl with a rig and team. Her excuse for meeting me is +reasonable. The rest is easy. We are both held up, and brought +here--captives. Then I start in to think a lot. Argument don't carry +me more than a mile till that same charming girl, who's just done all +she knew to make things right for me, makes her first break. When I +found out she was the daughter of Mallinsbee I did all the thinking +needed in half an hour. I knew I was to be rolled on this land deal by +Mallinsbee's crowd, and, judging by the methods adopted, to be rolled +good. You see we'd had negotiations with Mallinsbee about his land at +Buffalo Point before. See?" + +Gordon silently nodded. + +His father breathed heavily, and, with a wry twist of his lips, rolled +his cigar firmly into the corner of his mouth. + +"Now, when I'd done thinking it just left me guessing in two +directions. One of 'em I answered more or less satisfactorily. This +was the one I answered. What had become of Slosson? Had he been +handled by these folk, or had he doubled? The latter I counted out. +I've always had him where I wanted him. He wouldn't dare. So I said +he'd been 'handled.' The other was how could they hope to deal with +the Union Grayling without my authority? That's still unanswered, +though I see a gleam of daylight--since meeting you here. However, +Gordon boy, you've certainly given me the surprise of my life--finding +you associated with Mallinsbee--and taken to play-acting. That was a +pretty piece outside with guns. I allow it got me fine. But you +overdid it showing in here. That also told me another thing. It told +me that a feller can spend a lifetime making a bright man of himself, +while it only takes a pretty gal five seconds yanking out one of the +key-stones to the edifice he's built. I guess I've been mighty sorry +for your lady friend. I guessed she was pining to death for her folks, +and was scared to death of that darnation Chink. However, I'm relieved +to find she's just a bunch of bright wits, and don't lack in natural +female ability for play-acting. Maybe you can hand me some about those +directions I'm still guessing in. I'll smoke while you say some." + +Father and son smiled into each other's faces as the elder finished +speaking. But while Gordon's smile was one of genuine admiration, his +father's still savored of that irony which warned the younger that all +was by no means plain sailing yet. + +"I'm glad you feel that way about Hazel, Dad," cried Gordon, his face +flushing with genuine pleasure. "She's some girl. I guess I'm the +luckiest feller alive winning her for a wife, eh?" + +"You're going to--marry her?" + +"Why, yes. She's the greatest, the best, the----" + +"Just so. But we're not both going to marry her." + +Gordon flung back in his chair with a great laugh. But his father's +eyes still maintained their irony. + +"Say, I'm sort of sorry talking that way now. There's other things." +Gordon fumbled in his pocket while he went on. "Slosson? Why +Slosson's trying to stave off pneumonia in a disused, perforated shack +way up on Mallinsbee's ranch. He's a skunk of a man anyway, and I had +to let him know I thought that way. I haven't heard about the +pneumonia yet, but if he got it I don't guess it would give me +nightmare." Then he handed across a small volume in morocco binding +which he had taken from his pocket. "I don't seem to think you'll need +much explanation about the other. That's your code book, which I +forgot to return in the hurry of quitting New York." + +The millionaire turned the cover, closed it again, and quietly bestowed +it in his pocket. + +"Guess I'll keep this," he said without emotion. "Yes, it tells me a +lot. It tells me I've credited Mallinsbee and his crowd with the work +of my son. It tells me that my own son is solely responsible for the +idea, and execution, of rolling his father on this land deal. It tells +me that the principles of big finance must have a fertile resting place +somewhere in my son. Well, there's quite a lot of time before +daylight." + +It had been an anxious moment for Gordon when he handed back the +private code book, and he had watched his father closely. He was +seeking any sign of anger, or regret, or even pain, as his own actions +became apparent to the other. There were no such signs. There was +only that non-committal half smile, and it left him still uncertain. + +His father's patience seemed inexhaustible. Had Gordon only realized +it this was the very sign he should have looked for in such a man. +James Carbhoy loved his son as few men regard their offspring, but he +wanted his son to be something more than a mere object of his +affection. He wanted him to be an object upon which he could bestow +all the enormous pride of a self-made man. He wanted to feel that +exquisite thrill of triumph resulting to his vanity, that Gordon was +his son--the son of his father. + +"Yes, there's quite a while before daylight, Dad, and I'm glad." +Gordon ran his fingers through his hair. "So I'd better hand it you +from the beginning. I want you to get a right understanding of my +motives. It was opportunity. That thing you've always taught me fools +most always try to dodge, and most good men generally miss." + +His father nodded and Gordon settled himself afresh in his chair. + +"Yes, I'm in this thing, Dad," he went on, after the briefest of +pauses. "In it right up to my neck," he added, with a whimsical smile. +"It was the opportunity I needed to make good. Being neither a fool +nor a good man I took it, and now I sit with a wad of one hundred and +five thousand dollars in good United States currency. It's here in my +pocket, and I'm ready to hand it over to you in payment for those old +debts. You will observe I have still eight weeks of my six months to +run. I want to say, as you'll no doubt agree when you've heard my +story, that I've made, or acquired it, through graft and piracy, such +as I talked about to you awhile back, and, as far as I can see, my +method has been as completely dishonest as an honest man could adopt. +Dad, I've always regarded your sense of humor as one of your greatest +attributes, but whether it'll stand for the way I've treated you, even +with my intimate knowledge of you, I'm not prepared to guess. This is +the yarn." + +Gordon plunged into the story without further preamble while his father +sat and smoked on with that half smile still fixed in his gray eyes. +The younger man watched the still, inscrutable, sphinx-like figure with +eyes of grave speculation. He missed no detail in the story of his +irresponsibility and haphazard adventure. He started at the moment +when he booked his passage for Seattle, and carried it on right down to +the melodramatic moment when he burst into that parlor to rescue the +girl he loved from a peril which he knew had never threatened her. He +told it all with a detail that spared neither himself, nor the +confidential agent Slosson, nor any one else concerned. He showed up +the spirit of graft which actuated every step of his progress, and did +not hesitate to apply the lash with merciless force upon the railroad +organization his father controlled. + +And right through, from beginning to end, the millionaire listened +without sign or comment. He wanted to hear all this boy--his boy--had +to say. And as he went on that pride, parental pride, in him grew and +grew. + +At the end of the story Gordon added a final comment-- + +"I want to say, Dad, I haven't done this all myself. I've had the help +of two of the most cheerful, lovable rascals I've ever met. Also the +help of one honest man. But above all, through the whole thing, I've +been supported by the smile of the sweetest and best woman in the +world, the girl who's done her best to care for your comfort here. +She's sacrificed all scruples to help me out, while her father, bless +him, has never approved any of my dirty schemes. There you are, Dad, +that's the yarn. I don't guess it'll make you shout for joy, but, +anyway, you started me out to make good--anyway I chose--and I've made +good. Furthermore, I've made good within the time limit, and, in +making good, I'm bringing back a wife to our home city. I'm standing +on my own legs now, as you always guessed you wanted me to, and if you +don't just fancy the gait I travel--why, it's up to you. That's +mine--now you say." + +The fixity of his father's attitude had driven Gordon to say more than +he had intended, but he meant it, every word, nor did he regard his +parent with any less affection for it. But now, as he awaited a +response, a certain unease was tugging at his heartstrings. + +At last the millionaire rose from his seat and crossed to the curtained +window. He drew the curtains aside, and, raising the sash, flung out +his cigar stump. Then for a moment he gazed out at the moonless night. +While he stood thus the smile in his thoughtful eyes deepened. + +At last, however, he turned back, and the face that confronted the son +he loved wore the sharp, hawk-like look which his opponents in the +business world of New York were so familiar with. + +"That's all right," he said sharply. "But--you've forgotten something." + +Gordon became extremely alert. + +"Have I?" Then he laughed. "It 'ud be a miracle if I hadn't." + +"Sure. Most folks forget something. I forgot that code book." + +"Yes." + +Their eyes met. + +"You've forgotten that I can stop the work at Buffalo Point. You've +forgotten that you've passed out of the realms of simple graft and +plunged into criminal proceedings, which brings you within the shadow +of the law. You've forgotten that I can smash your schemes, break you, +and send you to penitentiary--you and your entire gang." + +The steady eyes were deadly as they coldly backed the sharp +pronouncement of the words. Gordon was caught by the painful emotion +which the harshness of them inspired. He knew that his father had +spoken the simple truth. He knew that in the eyes of the world he was +a plain criminal. The unpleasant feeling was instantly thrust aside, +however. He had not embarked upon this affair without intending to +carry it through to the end he desired. + +"I haven't forgotten those things, Dad," he said, with a sharpness +equal to the other's. "I thought of 'em all--and prepared for 'em. +I'm not playing. You put this thing up to me. I'm here to see it +through." + +"And then?" There was a shade of sarcasm in the millionaire's tone. + +"Then? Why, I could tell you lots of reasons why you can't do any of +these things. There's arguments that I don't guess you've missed +already. But, anyway, just one little fact 'll be sufficient to go on +with. You're here a captive, and you can't get away till I give the +word." + +For one of the very few times in his life James Carbhoy was seriously +disconcerted. Choler began to rise, and a hot flush tinged his cheeks +and his eyes sparkled. + +"You--would keep me here a prisoner--indefinitely?" he exploded. + +"I'm not playing, Dad," Gordon warned. + +Gordon had risen from his chair, and the two stood eye to eye. It was +a tense moment, full of potent possibilities. One of them must give +way, or a clash would inevitably follow, a clash which would probably +destroy forever that perfect devotion which had always existed between +them. + +For Gordon it was a moment of extreme pain. But in him was no thought +of yielding. From his father it was his invincible determination to +force an acknowledgment of fitness in human affairs as he understood +them. + +At that moment there was no humor in the situation for him. + +In the older man, however, humor was perhaps more matured. Parental +affection, too, is perhaps a bigger, wider, deeper thing than the +filial emotions of youth. He had only intended to test this son of +his. His challenge had been intended to try him, to confound. But the +confounding had been with him in the shock of his son's irrevocable +determination. + +That moment of natural resentment passed as swiftly as it had arisen. +Gordon was all, and even more, he told himself dryly, than he had +hoped. And so the moment passed, and the hard, gray eyes melted to a +kindly, whimsical smile which had not one vestige of irony in it. + +"You're a blamed young scamp," he said cordially; "but--I'm afraid I +like you all the better for it. Say, do you think that little girl of +yours and her father have gone to bed yet?" + +Gordon reached across, holding out his hand. + +"Dear old Dad," he cried, "I'm dead sure we'll find 'em both not a mile +the other side of that door. The game's played out, and--we quit?" + +The father caught his son's hand and wrung it. + +"It's played out, boy; and God bless you!" They stood for a moment +hand gripped in hand. Then the millionaire pointed at the door. + +"I'd like to see 'em before--daylight." + +With a delighted laugh Gordon turned away to the door and flung it open. + +"Say," he called, "Hazel! Ho! Mr. Mallinsbee!" + +In a moment Hazel had darted to her lover's side, and was followed more +decorously by the burly rancher, with his patch well down over one eye. +Gordon pointed at it. + +"Guess you can do without that, Mr. Mallinsbee. You're not going to +face an opponent; you're going to meet a--friend." + +He slid his arm about the girl's waist and drew her gently forward +towards his father standing waiting to receive her with humorously +twinkling eyes. + +[Illustration: He Drew Her Gently Towards His Father] + +"So you're to be my little daughter," cried the millionaire kindly. +"Well, my dear, I'm glad. I like grit, and you've got it plenty. I +like a pretty face, and--but I guess Gordon's told you all about that. +Seeing you're to be my daughter--and Gordon's left me no choice in the +matter, the same as he left me no choice in other things--I feel I've +the right to tell you you're a pair of--as impertinent young rascals as +I've ever had the happiness to claim relationship with. Let me see, +just come here, and--Gordon owes me for many nights of anxiety, and I +guess I've a right to make him pay. I'll be satisfied with the payment +of a kiss from you." + +He held out his arms, and Hazel, with a joyous laugh and blushing +cheeks, ran to them. + +"Thank you, my dear," laughed the millionaire, as the girl frankly +kissed him. "And that's the change." He closed his arms about her and +returned her kiss. + +Then, when he had released her, he turned to Mallinsbee and held out +his hand. + +"I can always make friends with the fellow who licks me, Mr. +Mallinsbee. I'm glad to meet you--with that patch removed from your +eye. The game's played and you've won, and I promise you all that's +been done in my name by my son goes. You see, henceforth he's my +partner now, so he's the right to act in my name. I'm trusting him +with my dollars, but you are trusting him with something far more +precious. I hope he'll prove as good a son to you as, I'm glad to say, +I consider he's been to me." + +Mallinsbee smiled a little sadly, and his eyes gazed tenderly in +Hazel's direction. + +"Directly that boy of yours come around, Mr. Carbhoy, I felt the chill +of winter beating up. I'm glad he come, though--I like him. But," he +added, with a sigh, "I'll sure need to bank those furnaces some." + +Hazel left the millionaire's side and crossed to her father, and passed +her arm about his vast waist. + +"Don't start yet, Daddy," she said, smiling up at the rugged face. "I +haven't left you yet, and when I do it's only going to be for a small +piece at a time." + +Silas Mallinsbee shook his head. + +"Don't you worry, little gal," he said gently. "I guess this winter's +goin' to be a mild one. You see, I'm goin' to have a son as well as a +daughter, and--who knows?--maybe grandsons----" + +But Hazel had quickly pressed one hand over his lips and stifled the +possibilities he was about to enumerate. + +Gordon laughed, and his father smiled over at the other father. + +"See, Mr. Mallinsbee, we don't need to worry with the summer," Gordon +cried. "Summer generally fixes things right for itself. Meanwhile +we'll just make the winter as easy as we can. You've given your little +girl to me, and she's all you care for in the world. Well, that's a +trust that demands all the best I can give. I won't fail you. I won't +fail her. And you, Dad, I won't fail you." + +"Good boy," said the millionaire, with a glow of pride. "I just know +it, and--I know it for Mr. Mallinsbee and Hazel, too, if they don't +know it for themselves. Say----" + +For a moment his eyes grew serious. Then into them crept a gleam of +twinkling humor which found reflection on the faces of both Gordon and +Hazel, who waited for him to complete what he had to say. + +"You've told your mother, Gordon?" he inquired. "Seems to me you've +told her 'most everything in those--chatty--letters of yours." + +Gordon grinned and shook his head, while Hazel waited--not without some +apprehension. His father's smile gave way to a quaint expression of +awe at such negligence. + +"I'd say she'd be pleased, of course," the millionaire said, without +conviction. "It's a mercy not always bestowed on a boy to get a wife +like--Hazel. Your mother's a mighty good woman, Gordon, and I'll allow +she's got her ways about things. But she's good, and I guess she'll +just take to Hazel right away." + +There was no confidence in his manner, in spite of the bravery of his +words. But Gordon quickly cleared the atmosphere with his cheery +confidence. + +"You leave the dear old mater to me, Dad," he cried. "You see, you +only married her--she raised me. I'll write her to-night, and--say, +that reminds me," he added, glancing at his watch. "Daylight'll be +around directly. Hazel needs her rest. Hadn't we----" + +Hazel laughed. She had no real desire for bed, but she was tired, +weary with the strain of all the swiftly moving events. She caught at +his suggestion and demanded compliance. + +"Yes," she cried. "There's another day to-morrow. Oh, that wonderful +to-morrow! A long, bright, happy day in which we have nothing to +conceal, no wicked schemes to be worked out. A day of real happiness, +when we can just be our real selves. Let's all go to bed and dream our +dreams with the full certainty that, however happy our to-day is, +to-morrow has always the possibility of being happier." + + +But Gordon did not write the promised letter that night. He held long +communion with himself, and decided to send a telegram. He realized +that diplomacy must be brought to bear, for his mother, with all her +exquisite qualities, possessed a slightly arbitrary side to her +character where her home and belongings were concerned. Therefore he +decided on a bold stroke. + +He sacrificed his own rest that night, and in doing so sacrificed that +of certain others. Sunset was roused from his equine slumbers, as also +was Steve Mason disturbed out of a portion of his night's rest. + +Gordon rode hard into Snake's Fall. He wished to make the return +journey before breakfast. On arrival at the township he ignored every +protest from the operator. He overruled him on every point, and was +prepared to back his overruling with physical force. + +Steve Mason was literally scrambled into his clothes and set to work at +those hated keys, and the New York call was sent singing over the wires. + +Meanwhile Gordon was left at work upon a sheet of paper upon which, +after considerable thought, his diplomatic effort resolved itself into +a piece of superlative effrontery. + +And this was the message which startled his mother over her morning +coffee and rolls, and incidentally sent a current of furious feminine +excitement through the entire Carbhoy establishment at Central Park, +like a sharp electric storm. + + +"_Mrs. James Carbhoy,_ + "_New York._ + +"Gordon's work here beyond praise. Boy has done wonders. When you +hear all you will be proud of him. I am with him here now. Great +events developing. Am most anxious to form alliance with certain +people for financial reasons. Your influence required on social side. +You will understand when I say rich, desirable heiress. Gordon needs +persuasion. Come at once. Special to Snake's Fall. Will meet you at +latter depot. + +"JAMES CARBHOY." + + +When this message was handed to the impatient operator and he had +carefully read it over, the man looked up with what Gordon regarded as +an impertinent grin. + +His resentment promptly leaped. + +"Say," he cried in a threatening tone, "there's some faces made for +grinning, and others that couldn't win prizes that way amongst a crowd +of fool-faced mules. Guess yours was spoiled for any sort of chance +whatever, so cut out trying to make it worse than your parents made it +for you. Get me? Just play about on those fool keys and set the tune +of that message right, or Mr. James Carbhoy's going to hear things +quick." + +The threat of the President of the railroad was sufficient to enforce +compliance, but Steve Mason was no respector of persons outside that +authority, and his retort came glibly. + +"You wrote this, Mister, and--you ain't Mr. James Carbhoy," he said, +with a sneer and a half-threat. + +But Gordon was in no mood for trifling about anything. He was anxious +to be off back to the ranch. + +"Mr. James Carbhoy is my father," he cried sharply, "and if that don't +penetrate your perfectly ridiculous brain-box I'll add that I'm the son +of my father--Mr. James Carbhoy. Are you needing anything, or--will +you get busy?" + +Steve Mason decided to "get busy," and so the message winged its way +over the wires. + + + + +THE END + + + + + BY THE SAME AUTHOR + + The Son of His Father + The Men Who Wrought + The Golden Woman + The Law-Breakers + The Way of the Strong + The Twins of Suffering Creek + The Night-Riders + The One-Way Trail + The Trail of the Axe + The Sheriff of Dyke Hole + The Watchers of the Plains + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Son of his Father, by Ridgwell Cullum + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SON OF HIS FATHER *** + +***** This file should be named 36170-8.txt or 36170-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/1/7/36170/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +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: The Son of his Father + +Author: Ridgwell Cullum + +Illustrator: Douglas Duer + +Release Date: May 30, 2011 [EBook #36170] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SON OF HIS FATHER *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="With Eyes Wide and Staring She Looked About Her" BORDER="2"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center"> +With Eyes Wide and Staring She Looked About Her +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t1"> +THE SON<BR> +OF HIS FATHER +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +BY +</P> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +RIDGWELL CULLUM +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +AUTHOR OF +<BR> +"THE MEN WHO WROUGHT," <BR> +"THE WAY OF THE STRONG," "THE NIGHT-RIDERS,"<BR> +"THE WATCHERS OF THE PLAINS," ETC. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +Illustrations by +<BR> +DOUGLAS DUER +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +PHILADELPHIA +<BR> +GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY +<BR> +PUBLISHERS +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +Copyright, 1915, by +<BR> +George W. Jacobs & Company +<BR> +<I>Published March, 1917</I> +<BR><BR> +All rights reserved +<BR> +<I>Printed in U. S. A.</I> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +TO +<BR> +G. RALPH HALL-CAINE +<BR> +WHOSE SYMPATHY WITH MY WORK HAS NEVER +<BR> +FAILED TO CHEER ME THROUGHOUT +<BR> +OUR LONG AND VALUED +<BR> +FRIENDSHIP +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +CONTENTS +</P> + +<BR> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAP.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">Unrepentant</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">In Chastened Mood</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">Gordon Arrives</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">Gordon Lands at Snake's Fall</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">A Letter Home</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">Gordon Prospects Snake's Fall</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">"Miss Hazel"</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">At Buffalo Point</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">The First Check</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">Gordon Makes His Bid for Fortune</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">Hazel Mallinsbee's Campaign</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">Thinking Hard</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">Slosson Snatches at Opportunity</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">The Reward of Victory</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">In Council</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">Something Doing</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">The Code Book</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">Ways that are Dark</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">James Carbhoy Arrives</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">The Boom in Earnest</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap21">A Trifle</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap22">On the Trail</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap23">In New York</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap24">Preparing for the Finale</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap25">The Rescue</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap26">Cashing In</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +ILLUSTRATIONS +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-front"> +With eyes wide and staring she looked about her . . . <I>Frontispiece</I> +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-214"> +Hazel was waiting for that sign +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-354"> +He drew her gently towards his father +</A> +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +UNREPENTANT +</H4> + +<P> +"To wine, women and gambling, at the age of twenty-four—one hundred +thousand dollars. That's your bill, my boy, and—I've got to pay it." +</P> + +<P> +James Carbhoy leaned back smiling, his half-humorous eyes squarely +challenging his son, who was lounging in a luxurious morocco chair at +the other side of the desk. +</P> + +<P> +As the moments passed without producing any reply, he reached towards +the cabinet at his elbow and helped himself to a large cigar. Without +any scruple he tore the end off it with his strong teeth and struck a +match. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon Carbhoy cleared his throat and looked serious. In spite of his +father's easy, smiling manner he knew that a crisis in his affairs had +been reached. He understood the iron will lying behind the pleasant +steel-gray eyes of his parent. It was a will that flinched at nothing, +a will that had carved for its owner a great fortune in America's most +strenuous financial arena, the railroad world. He also knew the only +way in which to meet his father's challenge with any hope of success. +Above everything else the millionaire demanded courage and +manhood—manhood as he understood it—from those whom he regarded well. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm waiting." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon stirred. The millionaire carefully lit his cigar. +</P> + +<P> +"Put that way it—sounds rotten, Dad, doesn't it?" Gordon's mobile +lips twisted humorously, and he also reached towards the cigar cabinet. +</P> + +<P> +But the older man intercepted him. He held out a box of lesser cigars. +</P> + +<P> +"Try one of these, Gordon. One of the others would add two dollars to +your bill. These are half the price." +</P> + +<P> +The two men smiled into each other's eyes. A great devotion lay +between them. But their regard was not likely to interfere with the +business in hand. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon helped himself. Then he rose from his chair. He moved across +the handsome room, towering enormously. His six feet three inches were +well matched by a great pair of athletic shoulders. His handsome face +bore no traces of the fast living implied by the enormous total of his +debts. The wholesome tan of outdoor sports left him a fine specimen of +the more brilliant youth of America. Then, too, in his humorous blue +eyes lay an extra dash of recklessness, which was probably due to his +superlative physical advantages. He came back to his chair and propped +his vast body on the back of it. His father was watching him +affectionately. +</P> + +<P> +"Dad," he exclaimed, "I'm—sorry." +</P> + +<P> +The other shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't say that. It's not true. I'd hate it to be true—anyway." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon's face lit. +</P> + +<P> +"You're—going to pay it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure. I'm not going to have our name stink in our home city. Sure +I'm going to pay it. But——" +</P> + +<P> +"But—what?" +</P> + +<P> +"So are you." +</P> + +<P> +The faint ticking of the bracket clock on the wall suddenly became like +the blows of a hammer. +</P> + +<P> +"I—I don't think I——" +</P> + +<P> +Young Gordon broke off. His merry eyes had suddenly become troubled. +The crisis was becoming acute. +</P> + +<P> +For some moments the millionaire smoked on luxuriously. Then he +removed his cigar and cleared his throat. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not going to shout. That's not my way," he said in his easy, +deliberate fashion. "Guess folks have got to be young, and the younger +they're young—why, the better. I was young, and—got over it. You're +going to get over it. I figure to help you that way. This is not the +first bill you've handed me, but—but it's going to be the last. Guess +your baby clothes can be packed right up. Maybe they'll be all the +better for it when you hand 'em on to—your kiddie." +</P> + +<P> +The trouble had passed out of the younger man's eyes. They were filled +with the humor inspired by his father's manner of dealing with the +affair in hand. +</P> + +<P> +"That's all right," he said. "I seem to get that clear enough." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad." The millionaire twisted the cigar into the corner of his +mouth. "We can pass right on to—other things. You've been one of my +secretaries for three years, and it don't seem to me the work's worried +you a lot. Still, I put you in early thinking you'd get interested in +the source of the dollars you were handing out in bunches. Maybe it +wasn't the best way of doing it. Still, I had to try it. You see, +it's a great organization I control—though you may not know it. I +control more millions than you could count on your fingers and toes, +and they've cost me some mental sweat gathering 'em together. Some day +you've got to sit in this chair and talk over this 'phone, and when you +do you'll be—a man. You see, I don't fancy my pile being invested in +cut flowers and automobiles for lady friends. I don't seem to have +heard that thousand-dollar parties to boys who can't smoke a five-cent +cigar right, and girls who're just out for a good time anyway, are +liable to bring you interest on the capital invested, except in the way +of contempt. And five-thousand dollar apartments are calculated to +rival the luxury of Rome before its fall. Big play at 'draw' and +'auction' are two diseases not provided for amongst the cures in patent +med'cine advertisements, and as for the older vintages in wines, +they're only permissible in folks who've quit worrying to scratch +dollars together. None of these things seem to me good business, and +in a man at the outset of his career some of 'em are—immoral. You've +had your preliminary run, and I'll admit you've shown a fine turn of +speed. But it smacks too much of the race-track, and seems to me quite +unsuited to the hard highroad of big finance you're destined to travel. +</P> + +<P> +"Just one moment," he went on, as, with flushing cheeks and half-angry +eyes, his son was about to break in. "You haven't got the point of +this talk yet. This bill you've handed me don't figure as largely in +it as you might guess. I've thought about things these months. I +don't blame you a thing. I'm not kicking. The fact you've got to grab +and get your hind teeth into is that there comes a time when two can't +spend one fortune with any degree of amicability. It's a sort of +proposition like two dogs and a bone. Now from a canine point of view +that bone certainly belongs to one of those dogs. No two dogs ever +stole a bone together. Consequently, the situation ends in a scrap, +and it isn't always a cert. that the right thief gets the bone. How it +would work out between us I'm not prepared to guess, but, as 'scrap' +don't belong to the vocabulary between us, we'll handle the matter in +another way. Seeing the fortune—at present—belongs to me, I'll do +the spending in—my own way. My way is mighty simple, too, as far as +you're concerned. I'm going to stake you all you need, so you can get +out and find a bone you can worry on <I>your own</I>. That's how you're +going to pay this bill. You're going to get busy quitting play. We +are, and always have been, and always will be, just two great big +friends, and I'd like you to remember that when I say that the life +you're living is all right for a boy, but in a man it leads to dirty +ditches that aren't easy climbing out of, and—you can't do clean work +with dirty hands. When you've shown me you're capable of collecting a +bone for your own worrying—why, you can come right back here, and I'll +be pleased and proud to hand over the reins of this organization, and +I'll be mighty content to sit around in one of the back seats and get +busy with the applause. Now you talk." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon began without a moment's hesitation. Something of his heat had +passed, but it still remained near the surface. +</P> + +<P> +"Quite time I did," he cried almost sharply. "Look here, father, I +don't think you meant all you said the way your talk conveyed it. To +me the most important of your talk is the implied immorality of my mode +of life. Then the inconsistent fashion in which you point my way +towards—big finance." +</P> + +<P> +His eyes lit again. They had suddenly become dangerously bright. +</P> + +<P> +"Here, we're not going to quarrel, nor get angry," he went on, +gathering heat of manner even in his denial. "We're too great friends +for that, and you've always been too good a sportsman to me, but—but +I'm not going to sit and listen to you or anybody else accusing me of +immorality without kicking with all my strength!" +</P> + +<P> +He brought one great fist down on the desk with a bang that set the +ink-wells and other objects dancing perilously. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not angry with you. I couldn't get angry with you," he proceeded, +with a suppressed excitement that added to his father's smile; "but I +tell you right here I'll not stand for it from you or anybody. My only +crime is spending your money, which you have always encouraged me to +do. From my university days to now my whole leisure has been given up +to athletics. A man can't live immorally and win the contests I have +won. I don't need to name them. Boxing, sculling, running, baseball, +swimming. You know that. Any sane man knows that. The money I've +spent has been spent in the ordinary course of the life to which you +have brought me up. You have always impressed on me the great position +you occupy and the necessity for keeping my end up. That's all I have +to say about my debts, but I have something to say on the subject of +the inconsistency with which you censure immorality in the same breath +as you demand my immediate plunge into the mire of big finance." +</P> + +<P> +He paused for a moment. Then, as abruptly as it had arisen, his heat +died down, and gave place to the ready humor of his real nature. +</P> + +<P> +"Gee, I want to laugh!" He sprang from his seat and began to pace the +floor, talking as he moved. His father watched him with twinkling, +affectionate eyes. "Immorality? Psha! Was there ever anything more +immoral than modern finance? You imply I have learned nothing of your +organization in the three years I've been one of your secretaries. +Dad," he warned, "I've learned enough to have a profound contempt for +the methods of big corporations in this country, or anywhere else. +It's all graft—graft of one sort or another. Do you need me to tell +<I>you</I> of it? No, I don't think so. Twenty-five millions wouldn't +cover the fortune you've made. I know that well enough. How has it +been made? Here, I'll just give you one instance of the machinations +of a big corporation. How did you gain control of the Union Grayling +and Ukataw Railroad? Psha! What's the use? You know. You hammered +it, hammered it to nothing. You got your own people into it, and sat +back while they ran it nearly into bankruptcy under your orders. Then +you bought. Bought it right up, and—sent it ahead. Immoral? It +makes me sweat to think of the people who must have lost fortunes in +that scoop. Immoral? Why, I tell you, Dad, any man can make a pile if +he sticks to the old saw: 'Don't butt up against the law—just dodge +it.' It's only difficult for the fellow who remembers his +Sunday-school days. So far, Dad, I've avoided immorality. I'm waiting +till I start on big finance to become its victim. That's my talk. Now +you do some." +</P> + +<P> +His father nodded. Then he said dryly, "This carpet cost me five +hundred dollars, that chair fifty. Try the chair." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon laughed at the imperturbable smile on his father's face, but he +flung his great body into the chair. +</P> + +<P> +James Carbhoy deliberately knocked the ash from his cigar. It was many +years since he had received such a straight talk from any man. Some of +it had stung—stung sharply, but the justice or injustice of it he set +aside. His whole mind and heart were upon other matters. He took no +umbrage. He swept all personal feeling aside and regarded the boy whom +he idolized. +</P> + +<P> +"We've both made some talk," he observed, "but I think the last word's +with me. I don't seem to be sure which of us has put up the bluff. +Maybe we both have. Anyway, right here and now I'm going to call your +hand. I offered you a stake. You say it's easy to make a pile. Can +you make a pile?" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon shrugged. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, yes. If I follow your wish and embark on—big finance. +And—forget my Sunday school." +</P> + +<P> +The millionaire gathered up the sheaf of loose accounts on the desk and +held them up. His smile was grim and challenging. +</P> + +<P> +"One hundred thousand dollars these bills represent. The cashier will +hand you a check for that amount. Say, you've shown your ability to +spend that amount; can you show your ability to make it?" +</P> + +<P> +For a moment the boy's blue eyes avoided the half-ironical smile of his +father's. Then suddenly they returned the steady gaze, and a flush +spread swiftly over his handsome face. Something of his father's +purpose was dawning upon him. He began to realize that the man who had +made those many millions was far too clever for him when it came to +debate. He squared his shoulders obstinately and took up the +challenge. There was no other course for him. But even as he accepted +it his heart sank at the prospect. +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly," he cried. "Certainly—with a stake to start me." +</P> + +<P> +His father nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure. That goes," he said. +</P> + +<P> +Then he laid the papers on the desk, and his whole manner underwent a +further change. His eyes seemed to harden with the light of battle. +There was an ironical skepticism in them. Even there was a shadow of +contempt. For the moment it seemed as if he had forgotten that the man +before him was his son, and regarded him merely as some rival financier +seeking to beat him in a deal. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll hand you one hundred thousand dollars. That's your stake. This +is the way you'll pay those bills. You'll leave this city in +twenty-four hours. You can go where you choose, do what you choose. +But you must return here in twelve months' time with exactly double +that sum. I make no conditions as to how you make the money. That's +right up to you. I shall ask no questions, and blame you for no +process you adopt, however much I disapprove. Then, to show you how +certain I am you can't do it—why, if you make good, there's a +half-share partnership in my organization waiting right here for you." +</P> + +<P> +"A half-share partnership?" Gordon repeated incredulously. "You +said—a half-share?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's precisely what I said." +</P> + +<P> +All of a sudden the younger man flung back his head and laughed aloud. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Dad, I stand to win right along the line—anyway," he exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +The older man's eyes softened. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe it's just how you look at it." +</P> + +<P> +The change in his father's manner was quite lost upon Gordon. He only +saw his enormous advantage in this one-sided bargain. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, Dad, was there ever such a father as I've got?" he cried +exuberantly. "Never, never! But you're not going to monopolize all +the sportsmanship. I can play the game, too. I don't need one hundred +thousand dollars on this game. I don't need twelve months to do it in. +I'm not going to cut twelve months out of our lives together. Six is +all I need. Six months, and five thousand dollars' stake. That's what +I need. Give me that, and I'll be back with one hundred and five +thousand dollars in six months' time. I haven't a notion where I'm +going or what I'm going to do. All I know is you've put it up to me to +make good, and I'm going to. I'll get that money if—if I have to rob +a bank." +</P> + +<P> +The boy's recklessness was too much for the gravity of the financier. +He sat back and laughed. He flung his half-smoked cigar away, and in a +moment father and son had joined in a duel of loud-voiced mirth. +</P> + +<P> +Presently, however, their laughter died out. The millionaire sprang to +his feet. His eyes were shining with delight. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't care a darn how you do it, boy," he cried. "As you say, it's +up to you. You see, I've got over my Sunday-school days, as you so +delicately reminded me. That's by the way. But there's more in this +than maybe you get right. You're going to learn that no graft can turn +five thousand dollars into one hundred thousand in six months without a +mighty fine commercial brain behind it. It's that brain I'm looking +for in my son. Now get along and see your mother and sister. You've +only got twenty-four hours' grace. Leave these bills to me. You're +making a bid for the greatest fortune ever staked in a wager, and +things like that don't stand for any delay. Get out, Gordon, boy; get +out and—make good." +</P> + +<P> +He held one powerful hand out across the desk, and Gordon promptly +seized and wrung it. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-by, Dad, and—God bless you." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +IN CHASTENED MOOD +</H4> + +<P> +Of course, the whole thing was ridiculous. Gordon knew that. No one +could know it better. The more he thought about it the more surely he +was certain of it. He told himself that he, personally, had behaved +like a first-class madman over the whole affair. How on earth was he +to make one hundred thousand dollars in six months? It couldn't be +done. That was all. It simply couldn't be done. What power of +mischief had driven him to charge his highly respectable father with +graft? It was a rotten thing to do anyway. And it served him right +that it had come back on him by pointing the way to the present +impossible situation. +</P> + +<P> +He was perfectly disgusted with himself. +</P> + +<P> +But after a while he began to chuckle. The thing was not without an +atmosphere of humor—of a sort. No doubt his friends would have seen a +tremendous humor in the idea of his making one hundred thousand dollars +under any conditions. +</P> + +<P> +One hundred thousand dollars! What a tremendous sum it sounded viewed +from the standpoint of his having to make it. He had never considered +it a vast sum before. But now it seemed to grow and grow every time he +thought of it. Then he laughed. What stupid things "noughts" were. +They meant so much just now, and, in reality, they mean nothing at all. +</P> + +<P> +Oh, dear. The whole thing was a terrible trouble. It was worse. It +was a tragedy. But—he mustn't give his friends the laugh on him. +That would be the last straw. No. The whole thing should remain a +secret between his father and himself. He almost broke into a sweat as +he suddenly remembered the Press. What wouldn't the Press do with the +story. The son and heir of James Carbhoy, the well-known +multi-millionaire, leaving home to show the world how to make one +hundred thousand dollars in record time! A stupendous farce. Then the +swarm of reporters buzzing about him like a cloud of flies in summer +time. The prospect was too depressing. Think of the columns in the +Press, especially the cheaper Press. They would haunt him from New +York to—Timbuctoo! +</P> + +<P> +It couldn't be done. He felt certain that in such circumstances +suicide would be justifiable. Thoughts such as these swept on through +his disturbed brain as he sped up Broadway on his way to say good-by to +his mother and sister. He had been lucky in finding his father's +high-powered automobile standing outside the palatial entrance of the +towering Carbhoy Building. Nor had he the least scruple in +commandeering it. +</P> + +<P> +His visit to the east side of Central Park was in the nature of a +whirlwind. He had no desire to be questioned, and he knew his young +sister, Gracie, too well to give her a chance in that direction. Their +friends were wont to say that, for one so young—she was only +thirteen—she was all wit and intellect. He felt that that was because +she was his father's daughter. For himself he was positive she was all +precocity and impertinence. And he told himself he was quite +unprejudiced. +</P> + +<P> +As for his mother, she was one of those gentle Southern women who +declare that no woman has the right to question the doings of the male +members of her household, and, in spite of the luxury with which she +was surrounded, and which she never failed to feel the burden of—she +was originally a small farmer's daughter—still yearned for that homely +meal of her youth, "supper"—a collation of coffee, cakes, preserves +and cold meats. +</P> + +<P> +Experience warned him that he must give her no inkling of the real +facts. She would be too terribly shocked at the revelation. +</P> + +<P> +So, for an hour or more, in the little family circle, in his mother's +splendid boudoir, he talked of everything but his own affairs. Nor was +it until he was in the act of taking his leave that he warned them both +that he was leaving the city for six months. He felt it was a cowardly +thing to do, but, having fired his bombshell in their midst, he fled +precipitately before its stunning effect had time to pass away. +</P> + +<P> +Off he sped, the automobile urged to a dangerous speed, and it was with +a great sense of relief that he finally reached his own apartment on +Riverside Drive. +</P> + +<P> +Letting himself in, he found his man, Harding, waiting for him. +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Carbhoy has been ringing you up, sir," he said in the level tones +of a well-trained servant. "She wants to speak to you, sir—most +important." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon hardened his heart. +</P> + +<P> +"Disconnect the 'phone then," he said sharply, and flung himself into a +great settle which stood in the domed hall. +</P> + +<P> +"Very good, sir." +</P> + +<P> +The man was moving away. +</P> + +<P> +"If my mother or sister should come here, I'm out. Send word down to +the office that there's no one in." +</P> + +<P> +The valet's face was quite expressionless. Gordon Carbhoy had his own +way of dealing with his affairs. Harding understood this. He was also +devoted to his master. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +He vanished out of the hall. +</P> + +<P> +Left alone a great change came over Gordon. The old buoyancy and humor +seemed suddenly to fall from him. For once his eyes were perfectly, +almost painfully serious. He stared about him, searching the +remoteness of his surroundings, his eyes and thoughts dwelling on the +luxury of the apartment he had occupied for the last three years. It +was a two-floored masterpiece of builder's ingenuity. It was to be his +home no longer. +</P> + +<P> +That splendid domed hall had been the scene of many innocent revels. +Yes, in spite of the accusation of immorality, his parties had been +innocent enough. He had entertained the boys and girls of his +acquaintance royally, but—innocently. Well, that was all done with. +It was just a memory. The future was his concern. +</P> + +<P> +The future. And that depended on his own exertions. For a moment the +seriousness of his mood lifted. Surely his own exertions as a business +man was a broken reed to—— What about failure? What was to +follow—failure? He hadn't thought of it, and his father hadn't spoken +of it. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the cloud settled again, and a sort of panic swept over him. +Did his father intend to—kick him out? It almost looked like it. And +yet—— Had he intended this stake as his last? What a perfect fool +he had been to refuse the hundred thousand dollars. Then, in a moment, +his panic passed. He was glad he had done so—anyway. +</P> + +<P> +He selected a cigar from his case and sniffed at it. He remembered his +father's. His handsome blue eyes were twinkling. His own cigars cost +half a dollar more than his father's, and the fact amused him. He cut +the end carefully and lit it. Then he leaned back on the cushions and +resigned himself to the reflection that these things, too, must go with +the rest. They, too, must become a mere memory. +</P> + +<P> +"Harding!" he called. +</P> + +<P> +The man appeared almost magically. +</P> + +<P> +"Harding, have you ever smoked a—five-cent cigar?" he inquired +thoughtfully. +</P> + +<P> +The valet cleared his throat. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sorry to say, sir, I haven't." +</P> + +<P> +"Sorry?" Gordon's eyes were smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"A mere figure of speech, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah—I see. They must be—painful." +</P> + +<P> +"Very, I should think, sir. But, beg pardon, sir, I believe in +some—ahem—low places, they sell two for five cents!" +</P> + +<P> +"Two? I—I wonder if the sanitary authorities know about it." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon smiled into the serious face of his devoted henchman. Then he +went on rapidly— +</P> + +<P> +"What baggage do you suggest for a six months' trip?" +</P> + +<P> +"Europe, sir?" +</P> + +<P> +"No." +</P> + +<P> +"South, sir?" +</P> + +<P> +"I—haven't made up my mind." +</P> + +<P> +"General then, sir. That'll need more. There's the three large +trunks. The steamer trunk. Four suit cases. Will you need your polo +kit, sir, and your——?" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess your focus needs adjusting. Now, suppose you were getting a man +ready for a six months' trip—a man who smoked those two-for-five +cigars. What would you give him?" +</P> + +<P> +Harding's eyelids flickered. He sighed. +</P> + +<P> +"It would be difficult, sir. I shouldn't give him clean +under-garments, sir. I should suggest the oldest suit I could find. +You see, sir, it would be waste to give him a good suit. The axles of +those box cars are so greasy. I'm not sure about a toothbrush." +</P> + +<P> +"Your focus is adjusting itself." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir, thank you, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"And the five-cent-cigar man?" +</P> + +<P> +Harding's verdict came promptly. +</P> + +<P> +"A hand bag with one good suit and ablutionary utensils, sir. Also +strong, warm under-garments, and a thick overcoat. One spare pair of +boots. You see, sir, he could carry that himself." +</P> + +<P> +"Good," cried Gordon delightedly. "You prepare for that +five-cent-cigar man. Now I want some food. Better ring down to the +restaurant." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir. An oyster cocktail? Squab on toast, or a little pheasant? +What about sweets, sir, and what wine will you take?" +</P> + +<P> +"Great gods no, man! Nothing like that. Think of your five-cent-cigar +man. What would he have? Why, sandwiches. You know, nice thick ones, +mostly bread. No. Wait a bit. I know. A club sandwich. Two club +sandwiches, and a bottle of domestic lager. Two things I +hate—eternally. We must equip ourselves, Harding. We must mortify +the flesh. We must readjust our focus, and outrage all our more +delicate susceptibilities. We must reduce ourselves to the +requirements of the five-cent-cigar man, and turn a happy, smiling +world into a dark and drear struggle for existence. See to it, good +Harding, see to it." +</P> + +<P> +The man withdrew, puzzled. Used as he was to Gordon's vagaries, the +thought of his master dining off two hideous club sandwiches and a +bottle of <I>domestic</I> lager made his staunch stomach positively turn. +</P> + +<P> +His perfect training, however, permitted of no verbal protest. And he +waited on the diner with as much care for punctilio as though a formal +banquet were in progress. Then came another violent shock to his +feelings. Gordon leaned back in his chair with a sigh of amused +contentment. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think you could get me a—five-cent cigar, Harding?" he +demanded. "Say, I enjoyed that food. That unique combination of +chicken, hot bacon and—and something pickly—why, it's great. And as +for <I>domestic</I> lager—it's got wine beaten a mile. Guess I'm mighty +anxious to explore a—five-cent cigar." +</P> + +<P> +Harding cleared his throat. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll do my best, sir. It may be difficult, but I'll do my best. I'll +consult the clerk downstairs. He smokes very bad cigars, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Good. You get busy. I'll be around in my den." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir," Harding hesitated. Then with an unusual diffidence, +"Coffee, sir? A little of the '48 brandy, sir?" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon stared. +</P> + +<P> +"Can I believe my ears? Spoil a dinner like that with—'48 brandy? +I'm astonished, Harding. That focus, man; that five-cent-cigar focus!" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon hurried off into his den with a laugh. Harding gazed after him +with puzzled, respectful eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Once in the privacy of his den, half office, half library, and wholly a +room of comfort, Gordon forgot his laugh. His mind was quite made up, +and he knew that a long evening's work lay before him. +</P> + +<P> +He picked up the receiver of his private 'phone to his father's office +and sat down at the desk. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello! Hello! Ah! That you, Harker? Splendid. Guess I'm glad I +caught you. Working late, eh? Sure. It's the way in er—big finance. +Yes. Got to lie awake at nights to do the other feller. Say. No. +Oh, no, that's not what I rang you up for. It's about—finance. Ha, +ha! It's a check for me. Did the governor leave me one? Good. Five +thousand dollars, isn't it? Well, say, don't place it to my credit. +Get cash for it to-morrow, and send it along to—— Let me see. Yes, +I know. You send along a bright clerk with it. He can meet me at the +Pennsylvania Depot to-morrow, at noon—sharp. Yes. In the +waiting-room. Get that? Good. So long." +</P> + +<P> +"That's that," he muttered, as he replaced the receiver. "Now for +Charlie Spiers." +</P> + +<P> +He turned to the ordinary 'phone, picked up the receiver, gave the +operator the number, and waited. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello! Hello, hello, hello! That you, Charlie? Bully. I wasn't +sure getting you. Guess my luck's right in. How are you? Goo—— +No, better not come around to-night. Fact is, I'm up to my back teeth +packing and things. I've got to be away awhile. Business—important." +He laughed. "Don't get funny. It's not play. No. Eh? What's that? +A lady? Quit it. If there's a thing I can't stand just about now it's +a suggestion of immorality. I mean that. The word 'immoral' 's about +enough to set me chasing Broadway barking and foaming at the mouth. I +said I'm going away on business, and it's so important that not even my +mother knows where I'm going. Yes. Ah, I'm glad you feel that way. +It's serious. Now, listen to me; it's up to you to do me a kindness. +I'm going to write the mater now and again. But I can't mail direct, +or she'll know where I am, see? Well, I can send her mail under cover +to you, and you can mail it on to her. Get me? Now, that way, you'll +know just where I am. That's so. Well, you've got to swear right +along over the wire you won't tell a soul. Not the governor, or the +mater, or Gracie, or—or anybody. No, I don't need you to cuss like a +railroader about it. Just swear properly. That's it. That's fine. +On your soul and honor. Fine. I'm glad you added the 'honor' racket, +it makes things plumb sure. Oh, yes, your soul's all right in its way. +But—— Good-by, boy. I'll see you six months from to-day. No. Too +busy. So long." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon hung up the receiver and turned back to his desk with a sigh. +He opened a drawer and took out his check-book, and gave himself up to +a few minutes of figures. There was not a great deal of money to his +credit at the bank, but it was sufficient for his purposes. He wrote +and signed three checks. Then he tore the remaining blanks up and +flung them into the waste-basket. +</P> + +<P> +After that he turned his attention to a systematic examination of his +papers. It was a long, and not uninteresting process, but one that +took a vast amount of patience. He tore up letter after letter, +photographs, bills, every sort of document which a bachelor seems +always to accumulate when troubled by the disease of youth. +</P> + +<P> +In the midst of his labors he came across his father's private code for +cable and telegraph. It brought back to him the memory of his position +as one of his father's secretaries. He smiled as he glanced through +it. It must be sent back to the office. He would hand it to the clerk +who brought him his money in the morning. So he placed it carefully in +the inside pocket of his coat and continued his labors. +</P> + +<P> +Half an hour later Harding appeared. +</P> + +<P> +"Beg pardon, sir," he said. "I had some difficulty, but"—he held up +an oily-looking cigar with a flaming label about its middle, between +his finger and thumb—"I succeeded in obtaining one. I had to take +three surface cars, and finally had to go to Fourth Avenue. It was a +lower place than I expected, sir, seeing that it was a five-cent cigar." +</P> + +<P> +"That means it cost me twenty cents, Harding—unless you were able to +transfer." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon eyed the man's expressionless face quizzically. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sorry, sir. But I forgot about the transfer tickets." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon sighed with pretended regret. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sure guessing it's—bad finance. We ought to do better." +</P> + +<P> +"I could have saved the fares if I'd taken your car, sir," said +Harding, with a flicker of the eyelids. +</P> + +<P> +"Splendid, gasoline at thirteen cents, and the price of tires going up." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon drummed on the desk with his fingers and became thoughtful. He +had a painful duty yet to perform. +</P> + +<P> +"Harding," he said at last, with a genuine sigh, his eyes painfully +serious. "We've got to go different ways. You've—got to quit." +</P> + +<P> +The valet's face never moved a muscle. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Right away." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +Then the man cleared his throat, and laid the oily-looking cigar on the +desk. +</P> + +<P> +"I trust, sir, I've given satisfaction?" +</P> + +<P> +"Satisfaction?" Gordon's tone expressed the most cordial appreciation. +"Satisfaction don't express it. I couldn't have kept up the farce of +existence without you. You are the best fellow in the world. Guess +it's I who haven't given satisfaction." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh—you agree?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir. That is, no, sir." +</P> + +<P> +Harding passed one thin hand across his forehead, and the movement was +one of perplexity. It was the only gesture he permitted himself as any +expression of feeling. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going away for six months—as a five-cent-cigar man," Gordon went +on, disguising his regret under a smile of humor. "I'm going away +on—business." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." The respectful agreement came in a monotonous tone. +</P> + +<P> +"So you'll—just have to quit. That's all." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Ye-es." +</P> + +<P> +"You will—need a man when you come back, sir?" The eagerness was +unmistakable to Gordon. +</P> + +<P> +"I—hope so." +</P> + +<P> +Harding's face brightened. +</P> + +<P> +"I will accept temporary employment then, sir. Thank you, sir." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon wondered. Then he cleared his throat, and held out two of the +checks he had written. +</P> + +<P> +"Here's two months' wages," he said. "One is your due. Guess the +other's the same, only—it's a present. Now, get this. You'll need to +see everything cleared right out of this shanty, and stored at the +Manhattan deposit. When that's done, get right along and report things +to my father, and hand him your accounts for settlement. All my cigars +and cigarettes and wine and things, why, I guess you can have for a +present. It don't seem reasonable to me condemning you to five-cent +cigars and domestic lager. Now pack me one grip, as you said. I'll +wear the suit I've got on. Mind, I need a grip I can tote +myself—full." +</P> + +<P> +"Very good, sir. Thank you, sir. Anything else, sir?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, yes." Gordon was smiling again. "Hand this check in at the bank +when it opens to-morrow, and get me cash for it, and bring it right +along. That's all, except you'd better get me another disgusting +sandwich, and another bottle of tragedy beer for my supper. There's +nothing else." +</P> + +<P> +With a resolute air Gordon turned back to his work, as, with an obvious +sigh of regret, Harding silently withdrew. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +GORDON ARRIVES +</H4> + +<P> +Gordon Carbhoy sat hunched up in his seat. His great shoulders, so +square and broad, seemed to fill up far more space than he was entitled +to. His cheerful face showed no signs of the impatience and +irritability he was really enduring. A seraphic contentment alone +shone in his clear blue eyes. He was a picture of the youthful +conviction that life was in reality a very pleasant thing, and that +there did not exist a single cloud upon the delicately tinted horizon +of his own particular portion of it. +</P> + +<P> +In spite of this outward seeming, however, he was by no means easy. +Every now and again he would stand up and ease the tightness of his +trousers about his knees. He felt dirty, too, dirty and untidy, +notwithstanding the fact that he had washed himself, and brushed his +hair, many times in the cramped compartment of the train devoted to +that purpose. Then he would fling himself into his corner again and +give his attention to the monotonously level landscape beyond the +window and strive to forget the stale odor so peculiar to all railroad +cars, especially in summer time. +</P> + +<P> +These were movements and efforts he had made a hundred times since +leaving the great terminal in New York. He had slept in his corner. +He had eaten cheaply in the dining-car. He had smoked one of the +delicious cigars, from the box which the faithful Harding had secreted +in his grip, in the smoker ahead. He had read every line in the +magazines he had provided himself with, even to the advertisements. +</P> + +<P> +The time hung heavily, drearily. The train grumbled, and shook, and +jolted its ponderous way on across the vast American continent. It was +all very tedious. +</P> + +<P> +Then the endless stream of thought, often fantastic, always +unconvincing, always leading up to those ridiculous cyphers +representing one hundred thousand dollars. If only they were numerals. +Nice, odd numerals. He was a firm believer in the luck of odd numbers. +But no. It was always "noughts." Most disgusting "noughts." +</P> + +<P> +He yawned for about the thousandth time on his two days' journey, and +wondered hopelessly how many more times he would yawn before he reached +the Pacific. +</P> + +<P> +Hello! The conductor was coming through again. Going to tear off more +ticket, Gordon supposed. That tearing off was most interesting. He +wondered if the ticket would last out till he reached Seattle. He +supposed so. +</P> + +<P> +Seattle! The Yukon! The Yukon certainly suggested fortune, the making +of a rapid fortune. But how? One hundred thousand dollars! There it +was again. +</P> + +<P> +His eyes were following the movements of the rubicund conductor. The +man looked enormously self-satisfied, and was certainly bursting with +authority and adipose tissue. He wondered if he couldn't annoy him +some way. It would be good to annoy some one. He closed his smiling +eyes and feigned sleep. +</P> + +<P> +The vast bulk of blue uniform and brass buttons bore down upon him. It +reached his "pew," dropped into the seat opposite, and tweaked him by +the coat sleeve. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon opened his eyes with a pretended start. +</P> + +<P> +"Where are we?" he demanded irritably. +</P> + +<P> +"Som'eres between the devil an' the deep sea, I guess," grinned the +man. "Your—ticket." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon began to fumble slowly through his pockets. He knew precisely +where his ticket was, but he searched carefully and deliberately in +every other possible place. The man waited, breathing heavily. He +displayed not the slightest sign of the annoyance desired. At last +Gordon turned out the inside pocket of his coat. The first thing he +discovered amongst its contents was his father's private code book, and +the annoyance was in his eyes rather than in those of the conductor. +His resolve to return it had been entirely forgotten. +</P> + +<P> +He forthwith produced his ticket. +</P> + +<P> +"The devil's behind us, I s'pose," said Gordon. "Anyway, we're told +it's the right place for him. I'll be glad when we reach the sea." +</P> + +<P> +The conductor examined the ticket, while Gordon returned the code book +to his pocket. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, Seattle," the brassbound official murmured. Then he looked into +the now smiling face before him. "You ain't for Snake's Fall?" +</P> + +<P> +"Guess I shouldn't have paid for a ticket to Seattle if I were," Gordon +retorted with some sarcasm. +</P> + +<P> +"That's so," observed the official, quite undisturbed. "I knew one guy +was for Seattle. I was kind o' wondering 'bout him. Se-attle," he +murmured reflectively. +</P> + +<P> +"On the coast. A seaport. Puget Sound," said Gordon objectionably. +</P> + +<P> +"A low down sailor town on the side of a hill, wher' if you ain't +climbin' up you're mostly fallin' down. Wher' it rains nigh six months +o' the year, an' parboils you the rest. Wher' every bum going to or +coming from the Yukon gets thoroughly soused and plays the fool +gener'ly." +</P> + +<P> +The man's retort was as pointedly objectionable as Gordon's had been, +and the challenge of it stirred the latter's sense of humor. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess I'm one of the bums 'going to,'" he said cheerfully. The man's +fat-surrounded eyes ceased to grin. +</P> + +<P> +"Startin' fer the Yukon in—July? Never heard of it," he said, with a +shake of the head. "It's as ridiculous as startin' fer hell in summer +time. You'll make Alaska when she freezes up, and sit around till she +opens next spring. Say——" +</P> + +<P> +"You mean I'll get hung up for—ten months?" cried Gordon aghast. +</P> + +<P> +"Jest depends on your business." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, of course." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon's heart sank as the man grunted up from his seat, and handed him +back his mutilated ticket. He watched him pass on down the car and +finally vanish through the doorway of the parlor-car beyond. Then his +eyes came back to his surroundings. He stared at the heads of his +fellow travelers dotting the tops of the seats about him. Then his +eyes dropped to his grip on the opposite seat lying under his overcoat, +and again, later, they turned reflectively towards the window. Ten +months. Ten months, and he only had six before him in which to +accomplish his purpose. Was there ever a more perfect imbecile? Was +there ever such a fool trick? +</P> + +<P> +A smile of chagrin grew in his eyes as he remembered how he had arrived +at the Pennsylvania Depot, and had studied the list of places to which +he could go, seeking to find in the names an inspiration for the +accomplishment of his purpose. There had been so many that his amazed +head had been set whirling. There he had stood, wondering and gawking +like some foolish country "Rube," without one single idea beyond the +fact that he must go somewhere and make one hundred thousand dollars in +six months' time. +</P> + +<P> +Then had come that one illuminating flash. He saw the name in great +capital letters in an advertisement. "The Yukon." Of course. It was +the one and only place in the world for quick fortunes, and forthwith +he had booked his passage to Seattle. +</P> + +<P> +Nor was he likely to forget his immense satisfaction when he heard +Harding's respectful "Yes, sir," in response to his information. Now +he certainly was convinced that he was own brother to the finest bred +jackass in the whole wide world. However, there was nothing to be done +but go on to Seattle. He had paid for his ticket, and, Providence +willing, to Seattle he would go. +</P> + +<P> +But Providence had its own ideas upon the matter. Furthermore, +Providence began at once to set its own machinery working in his +behalf. It was the same Providence that looks after drunken men and +imbeciles. Half an hour later it impelled him to gather up his traps +and pass forward into the smoker, accompanied by one of his own big, +expensive cigars. +</P> + +<P> +He pushed his way into the car through the narrow door of +communication. A haze of tobacco smoke blurred his view, but at once +he became aware of a single, melancholy, benevolent eye gazing steadily +at him. +</P> + +<P> +It was an amiable eye and withal shrewd. Also it was surrounded by a +shaggy dark brow. This had a fellow, too, but the eye belonging to the +fellow was concealed beneath what was intended to be a flesh-tinted +cover, secured in place by elastic round its owner's head. +</P> + +<P> +The surrounding face was rugged and weather tanned. And it finished +with a mop of iron-gray hair at one end, and an aggressively tufted +chin beard at the other. But the thrusting whisker could not disguise +the general strength of the face. +</P> + +<P> +Below this was a spread of large body clad in a store suit of some +pretensions, but of ill fit, and a heavy gold watchchain and a large +diamond pin in the neckwear suggested opulence. Furthermore, One Eye +suggested the prime of middle life, and robust health and satisfaction. +</P> + +<P> +There was only one other occupant of the car. He was two or three +seats away, across the aisle. He promptly claimed Gordon's attention. +He was amusing himself by shooting "crap" on a baize-covered +traveling-table. Both men were smoking hard, and, by the density of +the atmosphere, and the aroma, the newcomer estimated that they, unlike +himself, were not five-cent-cigar men. +</P> + +<P> +He paused at the dice thrower's seat and watched the proceedings. The +man appeared not to notice his approach at all, and continued to labor +on with his pastime, carrying on a muttered address to the obdurate +"bones." +</P> + +<P> +"Come 'sev,'" he muttered again and again, as he flung the dice on the +table with a flick of the fingers. +</P> + +<P> +But the "seven" would not come up, and at last he raised a pair of keen +black eyes to Gordon's face. +</P> + +<P> +"Cussed things, them durned bones," he said briefly, and went on with +his play. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"It's like most things. It's luck that tells." +</P> + +<P> +The player grinned down at the dice and nodded agreement, while he +continued his muttered demands. Gordon flung his traps into another +seat, and sat himself down opposite the man. Crap dice never failed to +fascinate him. +</P> + +<P> +The melancholy benevolence of One Eye remained fixed upon the pair. +</P> + +<P> +The seven refused to come up, and finally the player desisted. +</P> + +<P> +"Sort of workin' calculations," he explained, with an amiable grin. +"An' they don't calc worth a cent. As you say, the hull blamed thing +is chance. Sevens, or any other old things 'll just come up when they +darned please, and neither me nor any other feller can make 'em +come—playin' straight." +</P> + +<P> +The man bared his gold-filled teeth in another amiable grin. And +Gordon fell. +</P> + +<P> +His unsuspicious mind was quite unable to appreciate the obvious cut of +the man. The rather flashy style of his clothes. The keen, quick, +black eyes. The disarming ingenuousness of his manner and speech. +These things meant nothing to him. The men he knew were as ready to +win or lose a few hundred dollars on the turn of a card as they were to +drink a cocktail. The thought of sharp practice in gambling was +something which never entered their heads. +</P> + +<P> +He drew out a dollar bill and laid it on the table. The sight of it +across the aisle made One Eye blink. But the black-eyed stranger +promptly covered it, and picked up the dice. He shook them in the palm +of his hand and spun them on the baize, clipping his fingers sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"Come 'sev,'" he muttered. +</P> + +<P> +The miracle of it. The seven came up and he swept in the two dollars. +In a moment he had replaced them with a five-dollar bill. Gordon +responded. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll take two dollars of that," he said, and staked his money. +</P> + +<P> +The man spun the dice, and a five came up. Then it was Gordon's turn +to talk to the dice, calling on them for a seven each time the man +threw. The play became absorbing, and One Eye, from across the aisle, +craned forward. The seven came up before the five, and Gordon won, and +the dice passed. +</P> + +<P> +The game proceeded, and the luck alternated. Then Gordon began to win. +He won consistently for awhile, and nearly twenty dollars had passed +from the stranger's pocket to his. +</P> + +<P> +It was an interesting study in psychology. Gordon was utterly without +suspicion, and full of boyish enthusiasm. His blue eyes were full of +excited interest. He followed each throw, and talked the jargon of the +game like any gambler. All his boredom with the journey was gone. His +quest was thrust into the background. Nothing troubled him in the +least. The joy of the rolling dice was on him, and he laughed and +jested as the wayward "bones" defied or acquiesced to his requirements. +</P> + +<P> +The stranger was far more subtle. For a big powerful man he possessed +absurdly delicate hands. He handled the dice with an expert touch, +which Gordon utterly lacked. He talked to the dice as they fell in a +manner quite devoid of enthusiasm, and as though muttering a formula +from mere habit. He grumbled at his losses, and remained silent in +victory, and all the while he smoked, and smoked, and watched his +opponent with furtive eyes. +</P> + +<P> +One Eye watched the game from the corner without a sign. +</P> + +<P> +A stranger, on his way through the car, paused to watch the game. +Presently he passed on, and then returned with another man. +</P> + +<P> +After awhile Gordon's luck began to wane. His twenty dollars dropped +to fifteen. Then to ten. Then to five. The stranger threw a run of +"sevens." Then the dice passed. But Gordon lost them again, and +presently the five dollars he was still winning passed out of his hands. +</P> + +<P> +From that moment luck deserted him entirely. The stranger threw a +succession of wins. Gordon increased his stakes to five-dollar bills. +Now and again he pulled in a win, but always, it seemed, to lose two +successive throws immediately afterwards. There were times when it +seemed impossible to wrest the dice from his opponent. Whenever he +held them himself he lost them almost immediately. +</P> + +<P> +"Seventy-five dollars, that makes," he said, after one such loss. +"They're going your way, sure." +</P> + +<P> +"It's the luck of things," replied the stranger laconically. +</P> + +<P> +One Eye across the aisle smiled to himself, and abandoned his craning. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon plunged. He doubled his bets with the abandon of youth and +inexperience. And the stranger never failed to tempt him that way when +they were his dice. He always laid more stake than he believed his +opponent would accept. +</P> + +<P> +The hundred dollars was reached and passed in Gordon's losses. Still +the game went on. He passed the hundred and fifty—and then Providence +stepped in. +</P> + +<P> +By this time a number of onlookers had gathered in the car. The place +was full of smoke. They were standing in the aisle. They were sitting +on the arms of the seats of the two players. One or two were leaning +over the backs of the seats. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the speeding train jolted heavily over some rough points. It +swayed for a moment with a sort of deep-sea roll. The onlooker seated +on the arm of the stranger's seat was jerked from his balance and +sprawled on the player. In his efforts to save himself he grabbed at +the table, which promptly toppled. The gambler made a lunge to save +it, and, in the confusion of the moment, a second pair of crap dice, +identical with the pair Gordon was about to shoot, rolled out of his +hand. +</P> + +<P> +Just for an instant there was a breathless pause as Gordon pounced on +them. Then one word escaped him, and his face went deathly white as he +glared furiously at the man across the table. +</P> + +<P> +"Loaded!" +</P> + +<P> +One Eye again craned forward. But now the patch was entirely removed +from his second eye. +</P> + +<P> +The next part of Providence's little game was played without a single +word. One great fist shot out from Gordon's direction, and its impact +with its object sounded dull and sodden. The gambler's head jolted +backwards, and he felt as though his neck had been broken. Then the +baize-covered table was projected across the car by Gordon's other +great hand, while the spectators fled in the direction of the doorways, +and pushed and scrambled their ways through. +</P> + +<P> +Then ensued a wild scene. The animal was stirred to offense with a +sublime abandon. +</P> + +<P> +One Eye remained in his corner, his eyes alight with an appreciation +hardly to have been expected, contemplating humorously the tangle of +humanity as it moved, with lightning rapidity, all over the car. Once, +as the battle swayed in his direction, he even moved his traps under +the seat, lest their bulk should incommode the combatants. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment, at the outset, the two men appeared to be a fair match. +But the impression swiftly passed. The youth, the superb training, the +skill of Gordon became like the sledge-hammer pounding of superior +gunnery in warfare. He hit when and where he pleased, and warded the +wilder blows of his opponent with almost unconcern. But the narrowness +of the aisle and the presence of the seats saved the gambler, and both +men staggered and bumped about in a way that deprived Gordon of much of +the result of his advantage. +</P> + +<P> +The train began to slow up. One Eye glanced apprehensively out of the +window. He gathered up his belongings, and picked up the litter of +money scattered on the floor. +</P> + +<P> +Then he sat watching the fight—and his opportunity. +</P> + +<P> +The men had closed. Regardless of all, they fought with a fury and +abandon as cordial as it now became unscientific. The gambler, +clinging to his opponent, strove to ward off the blows which fell upon +his features like a hailstorm. Gordon, with superlative ferocity, was +bent on leaving them unrecognizable. It was a bloody onslaught, but no +more bloody than Gordon intended it to be. He was stirred now, a young +lion, fighting for the only finish that would satisfy him. +</P> + +<P> +One Eye's opportunity came. He made a run for the door as the train +pulled up with a jolt. +</P> + +<P> +But the fight went on. The stopping of the train conveyed nothing to +the fighting men. Neither saw nor cared that one of the doors was +suddenly flung open. Neither saw the rush of men in uniform. The +invasion of their ring by the train crew meant nothing to them. +</P> + +<P> +Then something happened. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +GORDON LANDS AT SNAKE'S FALL +</H4> + +<P> +Gordon sat up and rubbed his eyes. Then one blood-stained hand went up +to his head, and its fingers passed through his ruffled hair. It +smoothed its way down one cheek, and finally dropped to the ground on +which he was sitting. +</P> + +<P> +Where was he? +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly he became aware of the metal track in front of him, +and—remembered. He glanced down the track. Far in the distance he +could see the speeding train. Then his eyes came back to his immediate +surroundings, and discovered that he was sitting on the boarded footway +of a small country railroad depot. +</P> + +<P> +How did he get there? How on earth did he get there? +</P> + +<P> +As no answer to his mute inquiry was forthcoming he explored further. +He discovered that his grip and overcoat were beside him, also his hat. +And some distance away a number of loungers were idly watching him, +with a smile of profound amusement on every face. +</P> + +<P> +The latter discovery filled him with a swiftly rising resentment, and, +grabbing his hat and thrusting it on his head, he leaped to his feet. +He had no intention of permitting amusement at his expense. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess you sure had some good time," said a deep, musical voice at +his elbow. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon swung about and stood confronting the man, One Eye, whom he had +seen in the train. For a moment he had it in mind to make some +furiously resentful retort. But the man's appearance held his +curiosity and diverted his purpose. The patch had been removed from +his second eye, which now beamed upon him in company with its fellow. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess these are yours," the man went on, thrusting a roll of bills out +towards him. "That 'sharp' dropped his wad during the scrap. I hated +to think a grafting train boss was goin' to collect it. You see, I +guessed how that scrap would end." +</P> + +<P> +"Are they mine?" Gordon was not quite sure he wasn't dreaming. +</P> + +<P> +"Mostly." +</P> + +<P> +The stranger's reply was full of dry humor. Suddenly Gordon's eyes lit. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is that 'sharp'? I haven't done with——" +</P> + +<P> +The stranger pointed after the train. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll need to hustle some." +</P> + +<P> +The anger died out of Gordon's eyes and he began to laugh. With some +diffidence he accepted the money. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, it's—mighty decent of you," he cried cordially. Then, for want +of better means of expression, "Mighty decent." +</P> + +<P> +The two men stood steadily regarding each other. Tall and broad as +Gordon was, the stranger was no less. But he added to his stature the +massiveness of additional years. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon's feelings were under perfect control now. His eyes began to +brighten with their native humor. He was longing to solve the mystery +of that eye-shade which had disappeared from his companion's face, but +was constrained to check his curiosity. +</P> + +<P> +"You said you guessed how the scrap would end?" he said. "There's a +sort of blank in my—memory. I mean about the finish." +</P> + +<P> +The big stranger began to rumble in his throat. To Gordon the sound +was comforting in its wholesome enjoyment. +</P> + +<P> +"It don't need a heap of guessing when a train 'sharp,' who's got the +conductor grafted from his brassbound cap to the soles of his rotten +feet, gets into a scrap how things are going to end. I'd sort of hoped +you'd 'out' him before the crew come along. Guess you'd have done it +if there'd been more room. That's the worst of scrappin' in a railroad +car," he added regretfully. "That train boss got along with his crew +and threw you out—on your head. They kept the 'sharp' aboard, being +well grafted, and figgered to hold up your baggage. I guessed +diff'rently. That all your baggage?" he inquired anxiously. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon gazed down at the grip and coat. +</P> + +<P> +"That's all," he said. Then he impulsively threw out a hand, and the +stranger took it. "It's decent—mighty decent of you." Again his +buoyant laugh rang out. "Say, I surely do seem to have had some good +time." +</P> + +<P> +The twinkling eyes of the stranger nearly closed up in a cordial grin. +</P> + +<P> +"Seems to me you're fixed here till to-morrow, anyway. There ain't any +sort of train west till then. You best come along over to the hotel. +They call it 'hotel' hereabouts. I'm goin' that way." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon agreed, gathered up his property, and fell in beside his +companion. +</P> + +<P> +They moved across the track, and as they went he caught some impression +of the ragged little prairie town at which he had so inadvertently +arrived. There seemed to him to be but a single, unpaved street, +consisting of virgin prairie beaten bare and hard by local traffic. +This was lined on one side by a fringe of wooden houses of every size +and condition, with gaps here and there for roads, yet to be made, +turning out of it. These houses were mostly of a commercial nature. +Back of this he vaguely understood there to be a sparse dotting of +other houses, but their purpose and arrangement remained a mystery to +him. Still farther afield he beheld the green eminence of foothills, +and still farther on, away in the distance, the snowy ramparts of the +Rocky Mountains. The town seemed to occupy only one side of the +track—the south side. The depot was beyond it, on the other. +</P> + +<P> +They picked their way across the track and debouched upon the Main +Street, the name of which Gordon discovered painted in indifferent +characters upon a disreputable signboard. Then they turned westwards +in the direction of an isolated building rather larger than anything +else in the village. +</P> + +<P> +After awhile, as his companion made no further effort at conversation, +Gordon's interest and curiosity refused to permit the continued silence. +</P> + +<P> +"What State are we in?" he inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"Montana." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon glanced quickly at his companion. +</P> + +<P> +"What place is this?" +</P> + +<P> +"Snake's Fall." +</P> + +<P> +The announcement set Gordon laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"What's amiss with Snake's Fall?" inquired the other sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, nothing. I was just thinking. You see, the conductor told me +'most everybody was making for Snake's Fall on the train. I'm sorry +that 'sharp' wasn't. Say——" +</P> + +<P> +"What?" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon laughed again. +</P> + +<P> +"I remember you in the smoker, only—you seemed to have a—a patch over +your left eye." +</P> + +<P> +"Sure." +</P> + +<P> +"Now you haven't got it?" +</P> + +<P> +"No." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not curious, only——" +</P> + +<P> +The stranger's eyes lit ironically. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure you ain't. That's the hotel. Peter McSwain's. He's the boss. +He's a friend of mine, an' I guess he'll fix you right for the night." +</P> + +<P> +The snub was decided but gentle. The man's deep, musical voice +contained no suggestion of displeasure. However, he had made the other +feel that he had been guilty of unpardonable rudeness. +</P> + +<P> +He was reduced to silence for the rest of the journey to the hotel, and +gave himself up to consideration of this new position in which he now +found himself. The one great fact that stood out in his mind was that +he had gained another day on the wrong side of his ledger, and, however +wrong he had been in his first attempt at fortune, his course had been +hopelessly diverted into a still more impossible channel. The +absurdity of the situation inclined him to amusement, but the knowledge +of the real seriousness of it held him troubled. +</P> + +<P> +As they neared the hotel his curiosity further made itself felt. The +place was an ordinary frame building with a veranda. It was square and +squat, like a box. It was two-storied, with windows, five in all, and +a center doorway. These were dotted on the face of it like raisins in +a pudding. Its original paint was undoubtedly white, but that seemed +to have long since succumbed to the influence of the weather, and now +suggested a hopeless hue which was anything but inspiriting. +</P> + +<P> +Leaning against the door-casing, in his shirt-sleeves, was a smallish, +florid man with ruddy hair. His waistcoat was almost as cheerful as +his face, and, judging by the sound of his voice as he talked to a +number of men lounging on the veranda, the latter quite matched the +pattern of his violently checked trousers. +</P> + +<P> +"That's Peter," remarked One Eye, the name, failing a better, Gordon +still thought of his companion by. "He's a bright boy, is Peter," he +added, chuckling. +</P> + +<P> +"The proprietor of the—hotel?" said Gordon, interested. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure." +</P> + +<P> +Then a hail reached them from the veranda. +</P> + +<P> +"Got back, Silas?" cried the loud-voiced hotel-keeper. +</P> + +<P> +"Just what you say yourself," retorted Silas amiably. "Seems to me I +bought a ticket and just got off the train. Still, ther' ain't nothing +certain in this world except—graft." +</P> + +<P> +"That's so," laughed the other. "Still, ther' ain't much of a shadow +'bout you, so we'll take it as real. Who's your friend?" +</P> + +<P> +The hotel-keeper eyed Gordon with a view to trade. The man called +Silas laughed and turned to Gordon. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess I didn't get your name. Mine's Mallinsbee—Silas Mallinsbee. +I'm a rancher, way out ther' in the foothills." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon thought for a moment. Then he decided to use two of his given +names in preference to his father's. +</P> + +<P> +"Mine's Gordon Van Henslaer. Glad to meet you." +</P> + +<P> +"Van Henslaer?" Mallinsbee's eyes twinkled. "Guess the first and last +letters on your grip are spare. Kind of belong back east. How-do?" +Then, without waiting for a reply, he turned to McSwain and the men on +the veranda who were interestedly surveying Gordon. "This is Mister +Gordon Van Henslaer from New York. Thought he'd like to break his +journey west and get a look around Snake's Fall." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"I was persuaded at the last minute," he added. "Can you let me have a +room?" +</P> + +<P> +McSwain became active. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure. Guess we're pretty busy these times, with the town gettin' +ready to boom. But I guess I ken fix any friend of Silas Mallinsbee. +Ther's a room they calculated makin' into a bathroom back of the house, +but some slick Alec figured the boys of Snake's Fall were prejudiced, +so cut it out. It's small, but we got a bed fixed ther', an' you ken +clean yourself at the trough out back. Come right along in." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon was half inclined to protest, but Mallinsbee's voice came +opportunely— +</P> + +<P> +"I told you Peter 'ud fix you right. I've slept in that room myself, +and you'll find it elegant sleepin', if you don't get a nightmare and +get jumping around. We'll go right in." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon's protest died on his lips. Mr. Mallinsbee had a persuasion all +his own. There was a humorous geniality about him that was quite +irresistible to the younger man, nor could he forget the manner in +which he had helped him after the debacle on the train. He felt that +it would have been churlish to refuse his good offices. +</P> + +<P> +They passed into the building. The office was plainly furnished. A +few Windsor chairs, a table, an empty stove, a few nigger pictures on +the walls, and a large register for guests' names. This was the whole +scheme. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon flung down his grip. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm thankful to be off that train, anyway," he said. "Sign +here, eh?" as Peter threw the book towards him. "Say," he added, +glancing at the list of names above his, "you sure are busy." +</P> + +<P> +Peter grinned complacently, while Mallinsbee looked on. +</P> + +<P> +"You've hit this city at the psychological moment in its history, sir," +he declared expansively. "You've hit it, sir, when, if I ken be +allowed to use the expression, the snow's gone an' all the earth's jest +bustin' with new life. You've hit it, sir, when fortunes are just +going to start right into full growth with all the impetus of virgin +soil. Snake's Fall, sir, is about to become the greatest proposition +in the Western States, as a sure thing for soaking dollars into it. +And here, sir, standing right at your elbow, is the courage, enterprise +and intellect that's made it that way. Mr. Silas Mallinsbee is the +father of this city, sir; he's more—he's the creator of it. And, sir, +I congratulate you on the friendship of such a man, a friendship, sir, +in which I have the honor to share." +</P> + +<P> +He grabbed a filthy piece of blotting-paper and dabbed it cheerfully +over Gordon's name in the book, while the latter smiled at the monument +of enterprise himself. +</P> + +<P> +"I was quite unaware——" he began. But Mallinsbee cut him short. +</P> + +<P> +"Peter's a good feller," he declared, "but some seven sorts of a galoot +once told him he ought to go into Congress, and he's been talking ever +since. Ther's jest one thing 'll stop Peter talking, and that's +orderin' a drink. Which I'm doin' right now. Peter, you'll jest hand +us two cocktails. Your specials. And take what you like yourself." +</P> + +<P> +Peter accepted the order with alacrity. His admiration of and +friendship for Mallinsbee could not be doubted for a moment. And +somehow Gordon felt it was a good sign. He returned in a few moments +with the cocktails, and a glass of rye whiskey for himself. +</P> + +<P> +"I know a better play than my special cocktails," he said, a huge wink +distorting most of his ginger-hued features. "They're all right for +customers, but I ain't no use fer picklin' my liver. How?" +</P> + +<P> +"Here's to the extermination of all 'sharps,'" said Mallinsbee in his +deep, rolling voice, and with a meaning glance in Gordon's direction. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"And here's to the confusion of graft and grafters." +</P> + +<P> +All three drank and set their glasses down. +</P> + +<P> +"Graft?" said Mallinsbee thoughtfully. Then he shrugged his massive +shoulders and laughed. "It's not a heap of use blaming grafters for +their graft. They can't help it, any more than you can help scrappin' +when a feller hits your wad on the crook. Graft—why, I just hate to +think of the ways of graft. But you can't get through life without it; +anyway, not life on this earth. I used to think graft a specialty of +this country, but guess I was wrong. I'd localized. It don't belong +to any one country more than another. It belongs to life; to our human +civilization. It's the time limit of life causes the trouble. Nature +makes it a cinch we've all got to be rounded up in the get-rich-quick +corral. We start life foolish. Then for a while we get a sight more +foolish. Then for a few mousy years we take on quite a nice bunch of +sense. After that we start getting foolish again, and then the time +limit comes right down on the backs of our necks like an ax. Well, I +guess those years of sense are so mighty few we've got to get rich +quick against the time we start on the foolish racket again, and graft, +of one sort or another, is the short cut necessary. +</P> + +<P> +"You see, there's every sort of graft. All through life we're looking +around for something we ain't got. Did you ever see a kid around his +parents? Graft; it's all graft. No kiddy ever acted right because he +fancied that way. He's lookin' ahead fer something he's needing, and +his pop or his momma are the folks to pass it along to him. Did you +ever know a kid take his physic without the promise of candy, or the +certainty it would come his way? That's graft. Say, ain't the gal you +fancy the biggest graft of all? You don't get nowhere with her without +graft. She'll eat up everything you can hand her, from automobiles and +jewels down to five-cent candy. Then when you've started getting old +and sick and foolish again, having grafted a pile out of life yourself, +don't every grafter you ever knew come around an' hand you cures and +listen to your senile wisdom just as though they thought you the +greatest proposition ever and hated to see you sick? That's graft. +You've got a pile and they're needin' it." +</P> + +<P> +The twinkle in the big man's eyes while he was talking found a joyous +response in Gordon's. The tongue in the cheek of this native of +Snake's Fall pleased him mightily. But the wide-eyed sunset of Peter +McSwain's features was one of sober earnestness and admiration. +</P> + +<P> +"Gee!" he cried, with prodigious appreciation. "He orter write a book!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A LETTER HOME +</H4> + +<P> +The bathroom proved to be a veritable rabbit hutch, though clean. But +Gordon was astonished to find how far the old life had fallen away +behind him. The bareness of the room did not disturb him in the least, +and, after a wash in the trough at the back of the hotel, and having +dried himself on a towel that may have seen cleaner days, and refused +to be inveigled by the attraction of an unclean comb, securely tied to +a defective mirror in the passage to the back door, he came back to his +bedroom with an added appreciation for its questionable luxury. +</P> + +<P> +Mallinsbee had ridden off on a great chestnut horse, nor, until Gordon +saw him in the saddle, was he definitely able to classify him in his +mind. Big as the amiable stranger was, he sat in the saddle as though +he had been born in it, and he handled his horse as only a cattle man +can. +</P> + +<P> +At supper-time he had an opportunity of studying something of his +fellow guests in the house. They were a mixed gathering, but every +table in the dining-room was full to overflowing. Certainly McSwain +was justified in his claim to a rush of business. +</P> + +<P> +It was quickly obvious to Gordon that these people were by no means +natives of the place. The majority were undoubtedly business men. +Shrewd, keen men of the speculative type, judging from the babel of +talk going on about him. As far as he could make out the whole +interest of the place was land. Land—always land—and again land. +</P> + +<P> +In view of Mallinsbee's friendship Peter McSwain had requested him to +sit beside him at his especial table. And he forthwith began to +question his host. +</P> + +<P> +"Seems to be a big talk of land going on," he said, as he ate his +macaroni soup. +</P> + +<P> +Peter gulped violently at a long tube of macaroni and nearly choked. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure," he said, his eyes wide with an expression the meaning of which +Gordon was never quite certain about. It might have meant mere +astonishment, but it also suggested resentment. "Sure it's land. What +else, unless it's coal, would they talk in Snake's Fall? Every blamed +feller you see settin' around in this room is what Silas Mallinsbee +calls a ground shark. Which means," he added, with a grin, "they're +out to buy or steal land around Snake's Fall. We guess they prefer +stealing. The place is bung full with 'em." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon's interest deepened. +</P> + +<P> +"But why, if you'll forgive me, around—Snake's Fall?" +</P> + +<P> +"Young man," said Peter severely, "you're new to the place, and that's +your excuse for such ignorance." He pushed his half-finished soup +aside and adopted an impressive pose with both elbows on the table, his +hands together, and one finger describing acrobatic gyrations to point +his words. The manner of it fascinated his hearer. "Let me tell you, +sir, that Snake's Fall is the new coalfield of this great country. +Sir," he added, with great dramatic effect, "Snake's Fall is capable of +supplying the coal of the <I>world</I>! There's hundreds of billions of +tons of high-grade coal underlying these silly-lookin' hummocks they +call the foothills. All this land around Snake's Fall was Silas +Mallinsbee's ranch, and he found the coal. That's why I said Silas +Mallinsbee was the father of Snake's Fall. He sold this land to a +great coal corporation, and bought land away further up in the hills, +where he still runs his ranch. He's a great man with a pile of +dollars. And he's clever, too. He's kep' for himself all the land +either side of the railroad, except this town. And that's why all +these land pirates, or ground sharks, are around. The railroad ain't +declared their land yet, and everybody's waiting to jump in. The +coal's five miles west of here, and the railroad has got to say if +they'll keep the depot where it is, or build a new one further along, +right on the coal seams. That's the play we're all watching. We want +to buy right. We want to buy for the boom. These guys here are out to +get in on the ground floor, and see prices go sky high—when they've +bought. There'll be some dandy piles made in this play—and lost." +</P> + +<P> +By the time he had finished Gordon was agog with excitement. It had +stirred as the man began to talk, without his fully understanding the +meaning of it. Then, as he proceeded, it grew, and with its growth +came enlightenment. Vaguely he saw the hand of Providence in the +affairs of the last few days. +</P> + +<P> +He had planned his own little matters, or rather he had drifted into +them, and then the gods of fortune had taken a hand. And the way of +it. He began to smile. A strangely impish mood must have stirred +them. His journey. His discovery of the absurdity of his own plans in +the nick of time. His visit to the smoker. His play with a "sharp." +His fight, and his sudden and uncalculated arrival at Snake's Fall. +Here he was, quite without the least intention of his own, landed into +the only sort of place in which it could be reasonably hoped he might +pick up a fortune quickly. He wondered how he was likely to fare in +competition with these ground sharks about him. And the thought made +him begin to laugh. +</P> + +<P> +McSwain eyed him doubtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Amusin', ain't it?" he said, without appreciation. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"If you only knew—it is." +</P> + +<P> +Peter went on with his food for a few moments in silence. +</P> + +<P> +"I s'pose the boom will come big when it does start?" hazarded Gordon +presently. +</P> + +<P> +"Big? Say, you ain't got a grip on things yet. Snake's Fall could +supply the whole—not half—world with high-grade stove coal. Does +that tell you anything? No? Wal, it jest means that when the railroad +says the word, hundred-dollar plots 'll fetch a thousand dollars in a +week, and maybe ten thousand in a month or less. I tell you right here +that in six months from the time the railroad talks there'll be fifty +thousand speculators right here, and we'll most of us rake in our +piles. We only got to jump in at the start, maybe a bit before, and +the game's right in our hands. Get me? I tell you, sir, this is +bigger than the first Kootenay rush and nigh as big as the Cobalt boom +in Canada." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon was impressed. +</P> + +<P> +"And to think I came here by accident." +</P> + +<P> +"Accident?" +</P> + +<P> +"You see, I was persuaded—against my will." +</P> + +<P> +His eyes were twinkling. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, Mallinsbee persuaded you—being a friend of his." +</P> + +<P> +"No. As a matter of fact I think it was the train conductor who +persuaded me." +</P> + +<P> +"He's a wise guy, then." +</P> + +<P> +"Ye-es. I don't guess I'll see him again. I surely owe him something +for what he did." +</P> + +<P> +Peter nodded seriously as he gazed at the humorous eyes of his +companion. +</P> + +<P> +"He's given you the chance of—a lifetime, sir. And that's a thing +ther' ain't many in this country yearning to do." +</P> + +<P> +After that the meal progressed in silence until the pie was handed +round. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon was thinking hard. He was wondering, in view of what he had +heard, what he ought to do. Land. What did he know about land? How +could he measure his wits against the wits of such land speculators as +he saw about him? He studied the faces of some of the clamorous crowd +in the dining-room. They were a strangely mixed lot. There were +undoubtedly men of substance among them, but equally surely the +majority were adventurers looking to step into the arena of the coming +boom and wrest a slice of fortune by hook, or, more probably, by crook. +What did he know? What could he do? And his mind went back to the +sharp on the train, and the way he had fallen to the man's snare. +Again he wanted to laugh. He had counted the bills which Mallinsbee +had handed him, in the privacy of his bathroom. He only remembered to +have lost about two hundred dollars to the gambler. The dollars handed +to him amounted to well over three hundred. The miracle of it all. He +had nearly killed the gambler, and, instead of losing, he had made over +a hundred dollars on the deal. The miracle of it! +</P> + +<P> +"Do you believe in miracles?" he laughed abruptly. +</P> + +<P> +Peter glanced up from his plate suspiciously. Then he promptly joined +in the other's amusement. He always remembered that this newcomer was +a friend of Silas Mallinsbee. +</P> + +<P> +"Meracles?" he said reflectively. "I can't say I always did. But one +or two things have made some difference that way. Takin' one extra +drink saved my life once. The takin' of that drink wasn't jest a +meracle," he added dryly. "It was more of a habit them days. Still, +it was a meracle in a way. Me an' my brother wer' on a bust. We were +feeling that good we was handin' out our pasts in lumps to each other, +same as if we was strangers, and wasn't raised around the same cabbige +patch. Wal, he'd borrowed an automobile and left the saloon to wind it +up, and get things fixed. While he was gone the boys handed me another +cocktail. Then the bartender slung one at me, an' I hadn't no more +sense than to buy another one myself. Then some damn fool thought rye +was the best mix for drinkin' on top o' cocktails, an' so they put me +to bed. Guess I never see my brother get back from that joy ride." He +sighed. "I allow they had to bury a lot of that automobile with him, +he was so mussed up. Sort o' meracle, you'd say? Then there was +another time. Guess it was my wife. She was one o' them females who +make you feel you want to associate with tame earthworms. Sort o' +female who never knew what a sick headache was, an' sang hymns of a +Sunday evening, and played a harmonium when she was feelin' in sperits. +Sort o' female who couldn't help smellin' out when you was lyin' to +her, an' gener'ly told you of it. A good woman though, an' don't yer +fergit it. Wal, I got sick once an' when I got right again she guessed +it was up to 'em to insure myself in her favor. Guess I'd just paid my +first premium when she goes an' takes colic an' dies. I did all I +knew. I give her ginger, an' hot-water bags, an' poultices. It didn't +make no sort o' difference. She died. I ain't paid no premiums since. +Sort o' meracle that," he added, with a satisfied smile. "Then there's +this coal. I hadn't started this hotel six months when Mallinsbee gets +busy an' makes his deal with the corporation. You ain't goin' to make +a pile out of a bum country hotel without a—meracle." +</P> + +<P> +The man's gravity was impressive, and Gordon strove for sympathy. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he declared, with smiling emphasis. "There are such things as +miracles. One has happened this day—and here. My arrival here was +certainly a miracle. A peculiarly earthy miracle, but, nevertheless, +a—miracle. Say, I'll have to write some in the office. See you +again." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon pushed back his chair and hurried away through the crowded room +towards the office. But here again was a crowd. Here again was +"land"—always "land." And in desperation he betook himself to his +bathroom. He felt he must write to his mother. He felt that on this +his arrival in Snake's Fall he could do no less than reassure her of +his well-being. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Mrs. James Carbhoy sighed contentedly as she raised her eyes from the +last of a number of sheets of paper in her lap. Her husband turned +from his contemplation of the scorching streets, and the parched +foliage of the wide expanse of trees beyond the window. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" he inquired. "Where is the boy?" +</P> + +<P> +There was the faintest touch of anxiety in his inquiry, but his face +was perfectly controlled, and the humor in his eyes was quite unchanged. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Carbhoy sighed again. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know. He doesn't say. Nor does he give the slightest clew." +She examined the envelope of the letter. "It was mailed here in New +York. It's a rambling sort of letter. I hope he is all right. This +hot weather is—— Do you think he——" +</P> + +<P> +Her husband laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess he's all right. You see I don't fancy he wants us to know +where he is. That's come through some friend, I'd say. Just read it +out." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon's mother leaned back in her chair again. She was more than +ready to read her beloved boy's letter again, in spite of her +misgivings. Besides, there was a hope in her thoughts that she had +missed some clew as to his whereabouts which her clear-sighted husband +might detect. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"DEAREST MUM: +</P> + +<P> +"Destinations are mighty curious things which have a way of making up +their minds as to whom they are terminals for, regardless of the +individual. Most of us think the matter of destination is in our own +hands. We make up our minds to go to the North Pole; well, if we get +there it's because no other terminal on the way has made up its mind to +claim us. I've surely arrived at my destination, a place I wasn't +going to, nor had heard of, nor dreamed of—even when I had nightmare. +I guess this place must have said to itself, 'Hello, here's Gordon +Carbhoy on the train; he's every sort of fool, he don't know if it's +Palm Sunday or Candlemas, he hasn't got more sense than an old hen with +kittens, let's divert him where we think he ought to go.' So I arrived +here quite suddenly this afternoon and, in consequence, have wasted +some fifty odd dollars of passage money. It's a good beginning, and +one the old Dad 'll surely appreciate. +</P> + +<P> +"Talking of the old Dad, I'd like you to tell him from me that I don't +think graft is confined to—big finance. This is a discovery he's +likely to be interested in. Also, since he's largely interested in +railroads, though not from a traveling point of view, I would point out +that much might be done to improve accommodation. The aisles are too +narrow and the corners of the seats are too sharp. Furthermore, the +best money-making scheme I can think of at the moment is a billet as a +conductor of a transcontinental express. +</P> + +<P> +"However, these things are just first impressions. +</P> + +<P> +"There are other impressions I won't discuss here. They relate to +arrival platforms of depots. When a fellow gets out on his own in the +world, there are many things with which he comes into contact liable to +strike him forcibly. Those are the things in life calculated to teach +him much that may be useful to him afterwards. I have already come +into contact with such things, and though they are liable to leave an +impression of soreness generally, their lessons are quite sound. +</P> + +<P> +"On the whole, in spite of having lost fifty odd dollars on my railroad +ticket, my first two or three days' adventures have left me with a +margin of profit such as I could not reasonably have expected. I +mention this to show you, presuming that the Dad has told you the +object of my going, that my eye is definitely focused on the primary +purpose of my ramblings. +</P> + +<P> +"I am keeping my eyes well open and one or two of my observations might +be of interest to you. +</P> + +<P> +"I have discovered that the luxurious bath is not actually necessary to +life, and, from a hygienic point of view, there's no real drawback to +the kind of soap vulgarly known as 'hoss.' Furthermore, the filtration +of water for ablutionary purposes is quite unnecessary. All it needs +is to be of a consistency that'll percolate through a fish net. +Moreover, judging from observations only, I have discovered that a comb +and brush, if securely chained up, can be used on any number of heads +without damaging results. +</P> + +<P> +"Observation cannot be considered complete without its being turned +upon one's fellow-creatures. I have already come into contact with +some very interesting specimens of my kind. Without worrying you with +details I have found some of them really worth while. Generalizing, +I'd like to say right here that man seems to be a creature of curious +habits—many of which are bad. I don't say this with malice. On the +contrary, I say it with appreciation. And, too, I never realized what +a general hobby amongst men the collecting of dollars was. It must be +all the more interesting that, as a collection, it never seems +completed. I'd like to remark that view points change quickly under +given circumstances, and I am now bitten with the desire to become a +collector. +</P> + +<P> +"Furthermore, my focus had readjusted itself already. For instance, I +feel no repulsion at the manners displayed in the dining-room of a +small country 'hotel.' I feel sure that the man who eats with his +mouth open and snores at the same time is quite justified, if he +happens to be bigger and stronger than the man who hears and sees him. +I also feel that a man is only within his rights in having two or even +three helpings of every dish in a hotel run on the American plan, +unless the limit to a man's capacity is definitely estimated on the +printed tariff. Another observation came my way. Honesty seems to be +a matter of variable quality. A nice ethical problem is suggested by +the following incident. A man robs his victim; a righteously indignant +onlooker sees the transaction, and his honesty-loving nature rebels. +He forthwith robs the robber and hands the proceeds of his robbery to +the original victim. This seems to me to open up a road to discussion +which I'm sure the Dad and I would enjoy—though not at this distance. +</P> + +<P> +"I have already learned that there are plenty of great men in the world +whose existence I had never suspected. I have a feeling that local +celebrities have a greater glory than national heroes. George +Washington never told a lie, it is true, and his birthday forms an +adequate excuse for a certain stimulation in the enjoyments of a +people. But he never discovered a paying field for speculation by the +dollar chasers. Until a man does that he can have no understanding of +real glory. +</P> + +<P> +"I hope you and Gracie are well. I think it would be advisable to +check Gracie's appetite for candy. I am already realizing that luxury +can be overdone. She might turn her attention to peanuts, which I +observe is a popular pastime amongst the people with whom I have come +into contact. I would suggest to the old Dad that five-cent cigars +have merits in spite of rumor to the contrary. I feel, too, that the +dollar ninety-five he would thus save on his smoke might, in time, +become a valuable asset. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Your loving son,<BR> + "GORDON."<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +GORDON PROSPECTS SNAKE'S FALL +</H4> + +<P> +It was a blazing day. The dust of the prairie street smothered boots +and trouser-legs with a fine gray powder which even rose high enough to +get into the throats of pedestrians, and drive them headlong to the +nearest place where they could hope to quench a raging thirst. +</P> + +<P> +There was no shelter from the sun, unless it were to be found upon the +verandas with which many of the Snake's Fall houses were fronted. +Gordon's face was rapidly blistering as he idly wandered through the +town. Great streams of perspiration coursed from beneath his soft felt +hat. His double collar felt sticky, and suggested imminent collapse. +To all of which discomforts were now added a swarm of flies buzzing +about his moist face with a distracting persistence which tried even +his patience. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon was abroad fairly early. He was abroad for several reasons. He +possessed a haunting dread of the rapid passing of time. He had slept +healthily, if not altogether comfortably. Nor had he yet made up his +mind whether the floor of his room would not be preferable to his bed +for the passing of future nights. The floor was smooth, there were no +hummocks on it. Then, too, the sorely tried and thoroughly slack +bed-springs would be avoided, and the horrible groans of a protesting +frame would remain silent. It was a matter to be given consideration +before the day ended, and, being really of a very thorough nature, he +decided to consider it after supper. +</P> + +<P> +He had lain awake for a long time that first night under the shelter of +Peter McSwain's hospitable roof, and in the interim of dodging the +flock hummocks he had closely considered his future movements. +</P> + +<P> +He argued, if things were as he had been told they were in Snake's +Fall, he did not see how he could do better than throw his lot in with +the crowd of "ground sharks" awaiting the boom. Having convinced +himself in this direction, he felt that at the very earliest +opportunity he must reassure himself of Peter McSwain's veracity. He +felt that no member of the get-rich-quick brigade could dare to ignore +the claims of a great coal discovery about to boom. Besides, the whole +thing had been pitched into his lap; or rather it was he who had been +pitched. Nor did the roughness of the method of his arrival detract +from the chances spreading out before his astonished eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Now he was searching the place for those signs which were to tell him +of the accuracy of his information. Nor was it long before he realized +that such a search on his part was scarcely likely to prove productive. +His knowledge of coal had never been more intimate than the payment of +certain fuel bills presented to him at intervals in the past by the +faithful Harding. While as for indications of a boom—well, he had +heard that a boom came along, everybody robbed everybody else, and in +the end a number of widows and orphans found themselves deprived of +their savings, and a considerable body of attorneys had increased their +year's income out of all proportion to their just deserts. He felt his +weakness keenly. However, he persisted. He felt the only thing was to +attack the problem with an open mind. He did so, and it quickly became +filled with a humorous interest that had nothing to do with his purpose. +</P> + +<P> +Surveying his surroundings, he thought that never in his life had he +even imagined such a quaint collection of habitations. The long, +straight street, running parallel to the railroad track suggested a row +of jagged, giant teeth. Each building was set in its own section of +jawbone, distinct from its nearest neighbor. Then they reared their +heads and terminated in a pointed fang or a flat, clean-cut edge of +high boarding. Sometimes they possessed a mere sloping roof, like a +well-worn tooth, and, here and there, a half-wrecked building, with its +roof fallen in, stood out like a severely decayed molar. +</P> + +<P> +Most of the stores—and he counted a dozen or more—suggested a +considerable trade. In this direction he noted a hardware store +particularly. A drug store, too, with an ice-cream soda fountain, +seemed to be in high favor, as also did several dry-goods stores, +judging by the number of females in attendance. But the small candy +stores were abandoned to the swarming flies. +</P> + +<P> +The people were interesting. There certainly was a considerable number +about, in spite of the heat. They, anyway the men, all looked hot like +himself, but seemed to be surcharged with an energy that appeared to +him somewhat artificial. They hurried unnecessarily. They paused and +spoke quickly, and passed on. Here and there they fell into groups, +and their boisterous laughter suggested the inevitable funny story or +risque tale. There were a great number of vehicles rattling +about—buggies, buckboards, democrat wagons—while several times he was +passed by speeding saddle-horses which smothered him in the dust raised +by their unshod hoofs. +</P> + +<P> +At last he came to the end of the street, and turned to retrace his +steps. It was all too interesting to be readily abandoned on this his +first day beyond the conventions of life as his father's son. +</P> + +<P> +Just outside a large livery barn he came to an abrupt halt, and stood +stupidly staring at the entrance of the largest dry-goods store in the +street. The whole thing had caught and held him in a moment. He +seemed to remember having seen something of the sort in a moving +picture once; perhaps it was years ago. But in real life—never. +</P> + +<P> +A great chestnut saddle-horse had dashed up to the tying-post outside +the store. It had reined up with a jerk, and its rider had flung out +of the saddle with the careless abandon he had read about or seen in +the pictures. Hooking the reins over a peg, the rider hurried towards +the store. It was then Gordon obtained a full view. +</P> + +<P> +In a moment the flies were forgotten and the heat of the day meant +nothing to him. What a vision was revealed! The coiled masses of +auburn hair, the magnificent hazel eyes and the delightful sun-tanned +oval of the face, the trim figure and perfect carriage, the costume! +The long habit coat and loose riding-breeches terminated in the +daintiest of tan riding-boots and silver spurs. Splendid! What a +picture for his admiring eyes! A picture of grace, and health, and +beauty. +</P> + +<P> +But the vision was gone in a moment. The girl had passed into the +store, and it was only left to the enthusiastic spectator to turn to +the magnificent chestnut horse she had so unconcernedly left waiting +for her. +</P> + +<P> +Almost immediately, however, his attention was diverted into another +direction. A dark, sallow-faced man had promptly taken up his position +at the entrance of the store, and stood gazing in after the vanished +figure of the girl. +</P> + +<P> +For some absurd reason Gordon took an intense dislike to the man. He +looked unhealthy, and he hated that look in a man. Besides, the +impertinence of standing there spying upon a lady who was doubtless +simply bent on an ordinary shopping expedition. It was most +exasperating. All unconsciously he straightened his great figure and +squared his shoulders. It would not have required much to have made +him go and ask the man what he meant by it. +</P> + +<P> +He was rapidly working himself up into a superlative rage, when the +girl in the fawn riding-costume reappeared. A delightful smile broke +over his good-looking face, but only to be promptly swallowed up in a +scowl. The girl had paused, and was speaking to the anæmic creature +whose presence he felt to be an outrage. +</P> + +<P> +He noted her smile. What a delightful smile! Yes, he could distinctly +make out two dimples beyond the corners of her pretty mouth. His +dislike of the favored man merged into a regret for himself. +</P> + +<P> +Hello! The smile had gone from the girl's face. Her beautiful hazel +eyes were sparkling with resentment. The man was looking angry, too. +Gordon rubbed his hands. Then he began to grin like a revengeful and +malicious schoolboy. The girl had moved on to her horse, and in doing +so it almost looked as if she had deliberately pushed past the +white-livered creature attempting to detain her. +</P> + +<P> +She leaped into the saddle and swung the horse about almost on its +haunches. The next moment she was lost in a cloud of dust as she raced +down the street. +</P> + +<P> +"Mighty fine horsemanship that," said a voice, as Gordon gazed +open-mouthed after the girlish vision. "A smart gal, too, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon turned. A small man was sitting at the open doors of the livery +barn upon an upturned box. He was leaning forward lazily, with his +elbows on his knees and his hands clutching his forearms. His towzled, +straw-colored hair stuck out under the brim of his prairie hat, and a +chew of tobacco bulged one thin, leathery cheek. His trousers were +fastened about his waist with a strap, and his only upper garment was a +dirty cotton shirt which disclosed an expanse of mahogany-colored chest +below the neck. +</P> + +<P> +"Smart gal?" retorted Gordon enthusiastically. "That don't say a +thing. She might have stepped right out of the pages of a book." Then +he added, as an afterthought, "And it would have to be a mighty good +book, too." +</P> + +<P> +"Sure," nodded the other in agreement. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is she?" +</P> + +<P> +The man grinned and spat. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, that's Miss Hazel. Every feller in this city knows Miss Hazel. +If you need eddication you want to see her astride of an unbroken colt. +Ther' never was a cowpuncher a circumstance aside o' her. She's the +dandiest horseman out." +</P> + +<P> +"I'd say you're right, all right." +</P> + +<P> +"Right? Guess ther' ain't no argument. Hosses is my trade. I was +born an' raised with 'em. It don't take me guessin' twice 'bout a +horseman. I got forty first-class hosses right here in this barn, an' +I got a bunch runnin' on old Mallinsbee's grazin'. Y'see, a livery +barn is a mighty busy place when a city starts to think o' booming. +All them rigs an' buggies you see chasin' around are hired right here," +he finished up proudly. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon became interested. He felt the man was talking because he +wanted to talk. He was talking out of the prevailing excitement which +seemed to actuate everybody on the subject of the coming boom. He +encouraged him. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd say a livery barn should be a mighty fine speculation under these +conditions," he said, while the keen gray eyes of the barn proprietor +quietly sized him up. "There ought to be a pile hanging to it." +</P> + +<P> +"Ye-es." +</P> + +<P> +The man's demur roused the other's curiosity. +</P> + +<P> +"Not?" he inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"'Tain't that. Ther's dollars to it, but—they don't come in bunches. +Y'see, I'm out after a wad—quick. We all are. When the railroad +talks we'll know where we are. But it's best to be in before. See? +Oh, I guess the barn's all right. 'Tain't that. Say, I'd hand you +this barn right here, every plug an' every rig I got, if you could jest +answer me one question—right." +</P> + +<P> +"And the question?" Gordon smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"Wher' is the bloomin' depot to be? Here, or yonder to the west at +Buffalo Point? Answer that right, an' you can have this caboose a +present." +</P> + +<P> +The little man sighed, and Gordon began to understand the strain of +waiting for these people looking for a big pile quick. He shook his +head. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm beginning to think I'd like to know myself. Say, I s'pose you +figure this is a great place to make money? I s'pose you fancy it's a +sure thing?" +</P> + +<P> +The man unfolded his arms and waved one hand in a comprehensive gesture. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you need to ask me that?" he inquired, almost scornfully. "What +does them big coal seams tell you? Can you doubt? Hev' you got two +eyes to your head which don't convey no meaning to your brain? Them +coal seams could stoke hell till kingdom come, an' shares 'ud still be +at a premium. That's the backbone. Wal, we ain't got shares in that +corporation, but the quickest road to the pile o' dollars we're +yearning for is in town plots. An'," he added regretfully, "every day +brings in more sharps, an' every new sharp makes it harder. It's that +blamed railroad we're waiting for, an' that railroad needs to graft its +way in before it'll talk." +</P> + +<P> +"Graft? Graft again," laughed Gordon. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, cert'nly." The livery man opened his eyes in astonishment. +"Folks don't do nothin' for nix that I ever heard. Specially +railroads. That depot 'll be built where their interests lie, an' +we'll have to go on guessin' till they get things fixed." +</P> + +<P> +"I see." +</P> + +<P> +"Which says you ain't blind." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I don't think I'm blind exactly. It's just—lack of experience. +I must get a peek at those seams. Mallinsbee's the man who'll know +about things as soon as anybody, I s'pose. He owns all the land along +the railroad, doesn't he?" +</P> + +<P> +The man rubbed his hands and grinned. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure. He'll know, an' through him us as he's let in on the ground +floor. Say, he's a heap of a good feller—an' bright. Y'see, him an' +us, some of us fellers who been here right along before the coal was +found, are good friends. There's some of us got stakes down Buffalo +Point way as well as up here. See? O' course, our pile lies Buffalo +Point way, an' we're hopin' he'll fix the railroad corporation that +way. If he does, gee! he's the feller we're gamblin' on." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon's interest had become almost feverish as he listened. He was +gathering the corroboration he needed with an ease he had never +anticipated. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose one hundred thousand dollars would be nothing to make +if—things go right?" +</P> + +<P> +"If things go our way, I'd say a hundred thousand wouldn't be a +circumstance," cried the man enthusiastically. "I'd make that out of a +few hundred dollars without a worry—if things went right. But it +ain't the way of things to go right when you figger up." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I s'pose it's a matter of chance. The chance comes, and you've +just got to grab it right and hold it." +</P> + +<P> +"Sure. Chance! If chance hits you, why, don't go to hit back. Jest +hug it—same as you would your best gal." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon laughed and peered into the shadowy interior of the barn. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess that's good talk," he said, "and I'm going to listen. I've got +right hold of that chance, and I'm hugging it. Seems to me I'll need +to get out and get a peek at Silas Mallinsbee's coal. Can you hire me +a rig?" +</P> + +<P> +"I got a dandy top buggy an' team," cried the man, now alert and ready +for business. "Ten dollars to supper-time. How?" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon nodded, and the man vanished within the barn. +</P> + +<P> +Left alone, he reflected on the rapidity of the movement of events. He +had had a luck that he surely could not have anticipated. Why, under +the influence of the prevailing enthusiasm of the place, he seemed to +feel that the whole thing was too utterly simple. He wondered what his +father would have said had he been there. It would be a glorious coup +to return home with that one hundred thousand dollars well before the +expiry of his time limit. +</P> + +<P> +From the dark interior of the barn came the sounds of horses' hoofs +clattering on the boarded floor. +</P> + +<P> +Presently his thoughts drifted from the important matters in hand to a +far less consequent matter. It was not in his nature to be long +enamored of the hunt for fortune, no matter what the consequences +attached to it. +</P> + +<P> +He began to think of the vision in fawn-colored riding-costume. So her +name was Hazel. Hazel—what? he wondered. A pretty name, and well +suited to her. Hazel. Those eyes, and the gorgeous masses of her +hair! He sighed. For a moment he thought of inquiring of the livery +man her other name. Then he smilingly shook his head and decided to +let that remain a secret for the present. It added to the romance of +the thing. Of one thing he was certain: he must contrive to see her +again, and get to know her. Fortune or no fortune, if his father were +to cut him off with the proverbial shilling as a spendthrift and +waster, if he never saw a partnership in the greatest financial +corporation in the United States, that girl could not be allowed to +flash into his life like a ray of spring sunshine, and pass out of it +again because he hadn't the snap to get to know her. +</P> + +<P> +He had known so many women in his own set at home. He had admired, he +had flirted harmlessly enough, he had shed presents and given parties, +but somehow he felt that amongst all those society beauties there had +not been one comparable to this wild rose of the foothills. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, it's a bright team an' 'll need handlin'," said the doubtful +voice of the livery man. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't worry," returned Gordon, shocked into the affairs of the moment +by the anxious voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Good." The man sounded relieved. +</P> + +<P> +"Which is the best way?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, chase the trail straight away west. You can't miss it. I'll +take that ten dollars." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon paid and climbed into the buggy. The next moment the vehicle +rolled out of the barn. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +"MISS HAZEL" +</H4> + +<P> +Gordon was in no mood to take things easily. Something of the +atmosphere of the place had already got into his blood. His was +similar to the mood of those whom he had seen hurrying unnecessarily in +the town. Those whom he had seen exchanging hurried words and passing +on. +</P> + +<P> +Although he lived in the age of automobiles and aeroplanes, nothing of +his education had been forgotten by his father. He was a perfect whip +with a four-in-hand, and now, as he handled a "bright" team of livery +horses, it was child's play to him. He bustled his horses until he had +left the ragamuffin town behind him, then he settled down to a steady, +round gait, and gave himself up to the prospect of the contemplation of +those scenes of industry which he shortly hoped to discover. +</P> + +<P> +Within ten minutes of leaving the town he discovered the first signs. +Men and horses appeared in the distance upon the hills. At one point +he discerned a traction engine hauling a string of laden wagons. It +was the first breaking up of the monotonous green of the low hills. +And it promptly suggested that, in the hidden hollows, he would +probably discover far more energetic signs of the work of the coal +corporation, which doubtless must have already begun in real earnest. +</P> + +<P> +Things were becoming interesting. He wondered how much work had been +done. There was no sign of the coal itself yet. He remembered to have +visited coal mines once, and then everything had been black and gloomy. +Vast heaps of slack had been piled everywhere, and the pit heads had +been surmounted by hauling machinery. There had been great black +wastes dotted by houses and streets, which seemed to have taken to +themselves something of the hue of the deposits which had brought them +into existence. Even the men and women, and particularly the children, +had been living advertisements for the great industry which supported +them. Here, as yet, there were no such signs. However, doubtless +further on there would—— +</P> + +<P> +All in a moment his thoughts of coal were broken off, and all his +interest vanished like a puff of that coal's smoke in a gale. Coal no +longer meant anything to him. He didn't care if the whole wide world +starved for coal for all eternity. A chestnut horse was on the trail +ahead, and a figure was stooping beside it examining its nearside +forefoot. The figure was clad in a <I>fawn-colored riding-costume</I>. +</P> + +<P> +The electric current of his feelings communicated itself to his team +through the whip as its conductor. The team reared and plunged, then, +under his strong hands, they bowled merrily along the dusty trail at a +great though well-controlled speed towards the distant figures. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The girl dropped the horse's hoof and straightened herself abruptly. +She turned with a quick movement, and gazed back over the trail, her +eyes alert and questioning. Her wide prairie hat was thrust slightly +from her forehead, and a coil of abundant auburn hair was displayed +beneath its brim. Her finely penciled eyebrows were drawn together in +an unmistakable question, and her pretty eyes were obviously +speculative. +</P> + +<P> +She waited while the buggy drew nearer. She recognized the team as +from Mike Callahan's barn, but the occupant of the vehicle was a +stranger to her. +</P> + +<P> +The latter fact drew her attention more closely. For a moment she had +hoped that it was someone she knew. She needed someone she knew just +now. Anyway, a stranger was always interesting, even though he could +not afford her the assistance she just now happened to need. +</P> + +<P> +She descried a boyish, eager face on the top of a pair of wonderful +shoulders. But that which made a strong appeal to her was the manner +in which he was handling his horses. There was nothing here of the +slovenly prairie teamster. The stranger, whoever he was, was a master +behind a good team of horses. She delighted in a horseman, whether he +were in the driving-seat or the saddle. +</P> + +<P> +But all of a sudden she became aware that her regard had been observed, +and, with a little smile twinkling in the depths of her hazel eyes, she +picked up her horse's forefoot again, and once more probed with her +gauntleted finger for the cause of the desperate lameness with which he +had been suddenly attacked. +</P> + +<P> +She heard the buggy come up. She was aware that the team had swung out +to avoid collision. Then a cheery voice greeted her ears with its +pleasant and welcome inquiry— +</P> + +<P> +"You seem to be in a fix. Can I help any?" +</P> + +<P> +Before the girl looked round she was aware that the teamster had +alighted. Then when she finally released her hold of the injured hoof, +and stood up, she found herself confronted by Gordon's smiling blue +eyes, as he stood bare-headed before her. +</P> + +<P> +Somehow or other a smiling response was unavoidable. +</P> + +<P> +"That's real kind of you," she said, "but I don't guess you can. You +see, poor Sunset's dead lame with a flint in his frog, and—and I just +can't get the fool thing out." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon endeavored to look serious. But the trouble was incomparable in +his mind with the delightful charm of this girl, in her divided +riding-suit. However, his effort to conceal his admiration was not +without some success. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't guess we can stand for any old thing like an impertinent +flint," he said impulsively. "Sunset must be relieved. Sunset must be +put out of pain. I'm not just a veterinary surgeon, but I'm a +specialist on the particular flint which happens to annoy you. Just +grab these lines while I have a look." +</P> + +<P> +The frank unconventionality of the man was wholly pleasing, and the +girl found herself obeying him without question. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the nearside," she explained. +</P> + +<P> +Then she remained silent, watching the assured manner in which the +stranger set about his work. He picked up the hoof and examined it +closely. Then he drew out a folding button-hook from a trouser pocket. +Then, for a few moments, she watched his deft manipulation of it. +</P> + +<P> +Presently he stood up holding a long, thin, sharp splinter of flint +between finger and thumb. +</P> + +<P> +"Say," he remarked, as he returned the buttonhook to his pocket, while +his eyes shone merrily, "I believe if some bright geologist were to set +out chasing these flints to their lair, I've a notion he'd pull up +in—in—well, aspirate a certain measure in cloth and I'd guess you get +the answer right away. It's paved with 'em. That's my secret belief. +I could write a treatise on 'em. I've discovered every breed and every +species. I tell you if you want to study these rocks right, you need +to run an automobile, and find yourself in a hurry, having forgotten to +carry spare tires. Ugh!" He flung the stone away from him and turned +again to the horse. +</P> + +<P> +Still watching him, the girl saw him deliberately tear off a piece of +his handkerchief, and, with the point of his pocket-knife, stuff it +into the jagged gash in poor Sunset's frog. +</P> + +<P> +"That'll keep out some of Snake's Fall," he observed, returning the +rest of his handkerchief to his pocket. "We'll take it out when we get +him home." Then he deliberately turned to his team and tied Sunset +alongside. After that, in the most practical manner, he moved the +wheels of the buggy apart. "Jump right in. Guess you know the way, so +you can show it me. You see, I'm a stranger. Say, it's an awful thing +to be a stranger. Life's rotten being a stranger." +</P> + +<P> +The girl was gazing at him with wide, wondering eyes that were half +inclined to resentment. She was not accustomed to being ordered about +in this cavalier fashion. She had no intention of being incontinently +swept off her feet. +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks," she said, with an assumption of hauteur. "If you'll untie +Sunset I'll ride home." +</P> + +<P> +"Ride home? Say, you're joking. Why, you can't ride Sunset with that +gash in his frog. Say, you couldn't be so cruel. Think of the poor +fellow silently suffering. Think of the mute anguish he would endure +at each step. It—it would be a crime, an outrage, a—a——" He broke +off, his eyes twinkling merrily. +</P> + +<P> +The girl wanted to be annoyed. She told herself she was annoyed, but +she nevertheless began to laugh, and Gordon knew he was to have his way. +</P> + +<P> +"I really couldn't think of accepting your—— Besides, you weren't +going to Buffalo Point. You know you weren't." +</P> + +<P> +"Do I?" Gordon's eyes were blankly inquiring. "Now how on earth do I +know where I was going? Say, I guess it's true I had in my mind a +vision of the glinting summer sun, tinting the coal heaps with its +wonderful, golden, ripening rays—though I guess it would be some work +ripening stove coal—but as to my ever getting there—well, that just +depended on the trail I happened to take. As I said, I'm a stranger. +And I may as well admit right here that I've a hobby getting mussed up +with wrong trails." +</P> + +<P> +The girl's laughter dispelled her last effort at dignity. +</P> + +<P> +"I knew you were a stranger. You see, I get to know everybody here—by +sight." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon made a gesture of annoyance. +</P> + +<P> +"There," he exclaimed in self-disgust, "I ought to have thought of that +before. How on earth could I expect you to ride in a stranger's buggy, +with said stranger on the business end of the lines? Then the hills +are so near. Why, you might be spirited off goodness knows where, and +your loving relatives never, never hear of you no more, and—— Say, +we can easily fix that though. My name's—Van Henslaer. Gordon Van +Henslaer from New York. Now if you tell me—what's the matter?" +</P> + +<P> +A merry peal of laughter had greeted his announcement, and Gordon +looked on in pretended amazement, waiting for her mirth to subside. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh dear, oh dear," the girl cried at last. "I might have known. Say, +of course I ought to have known. You came here yesterday on the +train—by mistake. You——" +</P> + +<P> +"That's so. I'd booked through to Seattle, but—some interfering pack +of fools guessed I'd made a—mistake," +</P> + +<P> +The girl nodded. Her pretty eyes were still dancing with merriment. +</P> + +<P> +"Father came by the same train, and told me of someone who got mixed up +in—in a fight, and they threw——" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't say another word," Gordon cried hurriedly. "I'm—I'm the man. +And your father is——?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mallinsbee—Silas Mallinsbee!" +</P> + +<P> +"Then you are Hazel Mallinsbee." +</P> + +<P> +"How do you know my first name?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I saw you in town, and the livery man told me you were 'Miss +Hazel.' Say, this is bully. Now we aren't strangers, and you can ride +in my buggy without any question. Jump right in, and I'll drive +you—where is it?" +</P> + +<P> +Hazel Mallinsbee obeyed without further demur. She sprang into the +vehicle, and Gordon promptly followed. The next moment they were +moving on at a steady, sober pace. +</P> + +<P> +"It's Buffalo Point," the girl directed. "It's only four miles. Then +you can go on and enjoy your beautiful pathetic picture of the coal +workings. But you won't have much time if we travel at this gait," she +added slyly. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"It's Sunset," he said. "We must consider his poor foot." +</P> + +<P> +There was laughter in Hazel's eyes as she sighed. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor Sunset. Perhaps—you're right." +</P> + +<P> +"Without a doubt," Gordon laughed. "He might get blood poisoning, or +cancer, or dyspepsia, or something if we bustled him." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel pointed a branching trail to the north. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the trail," she said. "Father's at home. He'll be real glad +to see you. Say, you know father ought to know better—at his age. +He—he just loves a scrap. He was telling me about you, and saying how +you 'hammered'—that's the word he used—the 'sharp.' He was most +upset that the train crew spoiled the finish. You know father's a +great scallywag. I don't believe he thinks he's a day over twenty. +It's—it's dreadful—with a grown-up daughter. He's—just a great big +boy for all his gray hair. You should just see him out on the range. +He's got all the youngsters left standing. It must be grand to grow +old like he does." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon listened to the girl's rich tones, and the enthusiasm lying +behind her words, and somehow the whole situation seemed unreal. Here +he was driving one of the most perfectly delightful girls he had ever +met to her home, within twenty-four hours of his absurd arrival in a +still more absurd town. Nor was she any mere country girl. Her whole +style spoke of an education obtained at one of the great schools in the +East. Her costume might have been tailored on Fifth Avenue, New York. +Yet here she was living the life of the wonderful sunlit prairie, the +daughter of an obscure rancher in the foothills of the Rockies. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, your father is just a bully feller," he agreed quickly. "He +didn't know me from—a grasshopper, but he did me all sorts of a good +service. It don't matter what it was. But it was one of those things +which between men count a whole heap." +</P> + +<P> +The girl's enthusiasm waxed. +</P> + +<P> +"Father's just as good as—as he's clever. But," she added tenderly, +"he's a great scallywag. Oh dear, he'll never grow up." A few minutes +later she pointed quickly ahead with one gauntleted hand. +</P> + +<P> +"That's Buffalo Point," she said. "There where that house is. That's +our house, and beyond it, half a mile, you can see the telegraph poles +of the railroad track." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon gazed ahead. They still had a good mile to go. The lonely +house fixed his attention. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, isn't there a village?" he inquired. "Buffalo Point?" +</P> + +<P> +The girl shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"No. Just that little frame house of ours. Father had it built as—a +sort of office. You see, we're both working hard on his land scheme. +You see, it's—it's our hobby, the same as losing trails is yours." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"That's plumb spoiled my day. I'd forgotten the land business. Now +it's all come over me like a chill, like the drip of an ice wagon down +the back of my neck. I s'pose there'll always be land around, and +we've always got to have coal. It seems a pity, doesn't it. Say, +there hasn't been a soul I've met in twenty-four hours, but they've +been crazy on—on town sites. They're most ridiculous things, town +sites. Four pegs and four imaginary lines, a deal of grass with a +substrata of crawly things. And for that men would scrap, and cheat, +and rob, and—and graft. It's—a wonder." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel Mallinsbee checked her inclination to laugh again. Her eyes were +gazing ahead at the little frame house, and they grew wistfully serious. +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't the land," she said simply. "The scrap, and cheat, and rob, +and graft, are right. But it's the fight for fortune. Fortune?" she +smiled. "Fortune means everything to a modern man. To some women, +too, but not quite in the way it does to a man. You see, in olden days +competition took a different form. I don't know if, in spite of what +folks say about the savagery of old times, they weren't more honest and +wholesome than they are now. However, nature's got to compete for +something. Human nature's got to beat someone. Life is just one +incessant rivalry. Well, in old times it took the form of bloodshed +and war, when men counted with pride the tally of their victories. Now +we point with pride to our civilization, and gaze back in pity upon our +benighted forefathers. Instead of bloodshed, killing, fighting, +massacring and all the old bad habits of those who came before us, we +point our civilization by lying, cheating, robbing and grafting." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"Put that way it sounds as though the old folks were first-class saints +compared with us. There's a deal of honesty when two fellers get right +up on their hind legs and start in to mush each other's faces to a +pulp. But it isn't just the same when you creep up while the other +feller isn't wise and push the muzzle of a gun into his middle and +riddle his stomach till it's like a piece of gruyère cheese." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel shook her head. Her eyes were still smiling, but Gordon detected +something of the serious thought behind them. He vainly endeavored to +sober his mood in sympathy. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess it's the refinement of competition due to the claims of our much +proclaimed culture and civilization. I think civilization is a—a +dreadful mockery. To call it a whitewash would be a libel on a +perfectly innocent, wholesome, sanitary process. That's how I always +feel when I stop to think. But—but," her eyes began to dance with a +joyous enthusiasm, "I don't often think—not that way. Say, I just +love the battle, I mean the modern battle for fortune. It's—it's +almost the champagne of life. I know only one thing to beat it." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon had forgotten the team he was driving, and let them amble +leisurely on towards the house, now so rapidly approaching. +</P> + +<P> +"What's—the real champagne?" he inquired. +</P> + +<P> +The girl turned and gazed at him with wide eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Why," she cried. "Life—just life itself. What else? Say, think of +the moment your eyes open to the splendid sunlight of day. Think of +the moment you realize you are living—living—living, after a long, +delicious night's sleep. Think of all the perfect moments awaiting you +before night falls, and you seek your bed again. It is just the very +essence of perfect joy." +</P> + +<P> +"It's better after breakfast, and you've had time to get around some." +</P> + +<P> +The ardor of the girl's mood received a sudden douche. Just for a +moment a gleam of displeasure shadowed her eyes. Then a twinkling +smile grew, and the clouds dispersed. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't that just a man? Where's your enthusiasm? Where's your joy of +life? Where's your romance, and—and spirit of hope?" +</P> + +<P> +A great pretense of reproach lay in her rapid questions. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, they're all somewhere lying around, I guess," returned Gordon +simply. "Those things are all right, sure. But—but it's a mighty +tough proposition worrying that way on—on an empty stomach. It seems +to me that's just one of life's mistakes. There ought to be a law in +Congress that a feller isn't allowed to—to think till he's had his +morning coffee. The same law might provide for the fellow who fancies +himself a sort of canary and starts right in to sing before he's had +his bath. I'd have him sent to the electric chair. That sort of +fellow never has a voice worth two cents, and he most generally has a +repertoire of songs about as bright as Solomon's, and a mighty deal +older. Sure, Miss Mallinsbee, I haven't a word to say against life in +a general way, but it's about as wayward as a spoilt kid, and needs as +much coaxing." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel Mallinsbee watched the play of the man's features while he +talked. She knew he meant little or nothing of what he said. The +fine, clear eyes, the smiling simplicity and atmosphere of virile youth +about him, all denied the sentiments he was giving vent to. She nodded +as he finished. +</P> + +<P> +"At first I thought you meant all—that," she said lightly. "But now I +know you're just talking for talking's sake." Then, before he could +reply, she pointed excitedly at the house, now less than a hundred +yards away. "Why, there's father, standing right there on the +veranda!" she exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon looked ahead. The old man was waving one great hand to his +daughter. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +AT BUFFALO POINT +</H4> + +<P> +To Gordon's mind Hazel Mallinsbee attached far greater importance to +her father's presence on the veranda than the incident warranted. It +did not seem to him that there was the least necessity for his being +there at all. Truth to tell, the matter appeared to him to be a +perfect nuisance. He had rather liked Silas Mallinsbee when he had met +him under somewhat distressing circumstances in the town. Now he felt +a positive dislike for him. His strong, keen, benevolent face made no +appeal to his sympathies now whatsoever. +</P> + +<P> +Besides, it did not seem right that any man who claimed parentage of +such a delightful daughter as the girl at his side should slouch about +in a pair of old trousers tucked into top-boots and secured about his +waist by a narrow strap. And it seemed positively indecent that he +should display no other upper garment than a cotton shirt of such a +doubtful hue that it was impossible to be sure of its sanitary +condition. +</P> + +<P> +However, he allowed none of these feelings betrayal, and replied +appropriately to Hazel's excited announcement. He was glad, later, he +had exercised such control, for their arrival at the house was the +immediate precursor of an invitation to share their midday meal, which +had already been placed on the table by the silent, inscrutable +Hip-Lee, the Chinese cook and general servitor in this temporary abode. +</P> + +<P> +The horses had been housed and fed in the temporary stable at the back +of the house, and a committee of three had sat upon Sunset's injury and +prescribed for and treated it. Now they were indoors, ready for the +homely meal set out for them. +</P> + +<P> +Hip-Lee moved softly about setting an additional place at the table for +the visitor. Silas Mallinsbee was lounging in the doorway, looking out +across the veranda. Hazel was superintending Hip-Lee's efforts. +Gordon was endeavoring to solve the problem of the rapid and unexpected +happenings which had befallen him since his arrival, and at the same +time carry on a conversation with the rumbling-voiced originator of +Snake's Fall boom. +</P> + +<P> +"At one time I guessed I'd bumped right into the hands of the +Philistines," he said. "That's when I was—er arriving. Since then a +Samaritan got busy my way and dumps me right down in the heart of the +Promised Land, which just now seems to be flowing with milk and honey. +I set out to view the dull black mountains of industry, and instead I +arrive at the sparkling plains of delightful ease. Mr. Mallinsbee, you +certainly have contrived to put me under enormous obligation." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon's eyes were pleasantly following the movements of the girl's +graceful figure about the plain but neat parlor. "I suppose all +offices in the West are not like this, because——" +</P> + +<P> +Mallinsbee rumbled a pleasant laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"Office?" he said, without turning. "That's jest how Hazel calls it. +Guess she's got notions since she finished off her education at Boston. +She's got around with a heap of 'em, includin' that suit she's wearin'. +Y'see, she's my foreman hoss-breaker, and reckons skirts and things +are—played out. Office? Why, it's just a shack. Some time you must +get around out an' see the ranch house. It's some place," he added +with simple pride. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel went up to her father and pretended to threaten him by the neck. +</P> + +<P> +"See, Daddy, you can just quit telling about my notions to—folks. +Anyway"—she turned her back to Gordon—"I appeal to you, Mr. Van +Henslaer, isn't an office a place where folks transact big deals and +make fortunes?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's how folks reckon when they rent them," said Gordon. "Of +course, I've known folks to sleep in 'em. Others use 'em as a sort of +club smoking lounge. Then they've been known to serve some men as a +shelter from—home. I used to have an office." +</P> + +<P> +Silas Mallinsbee turned from his contemplation of the horizon. He was +interested, and his shrewd eyes displayed the fact. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel clapped her hands. +</P> + +<P> +"And what did you use it for?" she demanded quizzically. +</P> + +<P> +"I—oh, I—let's see. Well, mostly an address from which to have word +sent to folks I didn't want to see that—I was out. I used to find it +useful that way." +</P> + +<P> +Mallinsbee's chuckle amused Gordon, but Hazel assumed an air of +judicial severity. +</P> + +<P> +"A spirit not to be encouraged." Then, at the sound of her father's +chuckle, "My daddy, you are as bad as he. Now food's ready, so please +sit in. We can talk easier around a table than when people are +dreaming somewhere in the distance on the horizon, or walking about a +room that isn't bigger than the bare size to sit in. Anyway, Mr. Van +Henslaer, this office is for business. I won't have it disparaged by +my daddy, or—or anyone else. It serves a great purpose so far as +we're concerned." Then she added slyly, "You see, we're in the throes +of the great excitement of making a huge pile, for the sheer love of +making it. Aren't we, Daddy, dear?" +</P> + +<P> +Silas Mallinsbee looked up from the food he was eating with the air of +a man who only eats as a matter of sheer necessity. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, Mr. Van Henslaer," he said in his deep tones, "I've been a +rancher all my life. Cattle, to me, are just about the only things in +the world worth while, 'cept horses. I've never had a care or thought +outside 'em, till one day I got busy worrying what was under the ground +instead of keeping to the things I understood above the ground. Y'see, +the trouble was two things," he went on, smiling tenderly in his +daughter's direction. "One was I'd fed the ranch stoves with surface +coal that you could find almost anywheres on my land, and the other was +the fates just handed me the picture of a daughter who caught the +dangerous disease of 'notions' way down east at school in Boston. +Since she's come along back to us I've had coal, coal, coal all chasin' +through my head, an' playing baseball with every blamed common-sense +idea that ever was there before. Wal, to tell things quick, I made a +mighty big pile out of that coal just to please her. We didn't need +it, but she guessed it was up to me to do this. But that didn't finish +it. This gal here couldn't rest at that. She guessed that pile was +made and done with. She needs to get busy in another direction. Well, +she gets to work, and has all my land on the railroads staked out into +a township, and reckons it's a game worth playing. The other was too +dead easy. This time she reckons to measure her brains and energy +against a railroad! She reckons to show that we can match, and beat, +any card they can play. That's the reason of this office." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel laughed and raised an admonishing finger at the smiling face and +twinkling eyes of her father. +</P> + +<P> +"What did I tell you, Mr. Van Henslaer?" she cried. "Didn't I say he +was just a scallywag? Oh, my great, big daddy, I'm dreadfully, +dreadfully ashamed and disappointed in you. I'm going to give you +away. I am, surely. There, there, Mr. Van Henslaer, sits the wicked +plotter and schemer. Look at him. A big, burly ruffian that ought to +know better. Look at him," she went on, pointing a dramatic finger at +him. "And he isn't even ashamed. He's laughing. Now listen to me. +I'm going to tell you my version. He's a rancher all right, all right. +He's been satisfied with that all his life, and prosperity's never +turned him down. Then one day he found coal, and did nothing. We just +used to talk of it, that was all. Then another day along comes a +friend, a very, very old friend and neighbor, whom he's often helped. +He came along and got my daddy to sell him a certain patch of +grazing—just to help him out, he said. He was a poor man, and my +big-hearted daddy sold it him at a rock-bottom price to make it easy +for him. Three months later they were mining coal on it—anthracite +coal. That fellow made a nice pile out of it. He'd bluffed my daddy, +and my daddy takes a bluff from no man. Well, say, he just nearly went +crazy being bested that way, and he said to me—these were his words: +'Come on, my gal, you and me are just goin' to show folks what we're +made of. If there's money in my land we're going to make all we need +before anyone gets home on us. I'm goin' to show 'em I'm a match for +the best sharks our country can produce—and that's some goin'.' There +sits the money-spinner. There! Look at him; he's self-confessed. I'm +just his clerk, or decoy, or—or any old thing he needs to help him in +his wicked, wicked schemes!" +</P> + +<P> +Mallinsbee sat chuckling at his daughter's charge, and Gordon, watching +him, laughed in chorus. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm kind of sorry, Mr. Mallinsbee, to have had to listen to such a +tale," he said at last, with pretended seriousness, "but I guess you're +charged, tried, convicted and sentenced. Seeing there's just two of +you, it's up to me to give the verdict Guilty!" he declared. "Have you +any reason to show why sentence should not be passed upon you? No? +Very well, then. I sentence you to make that pile, without fail, in a +given time. Say six months. Failing which you'll have the +satisfaction of knowing that you have assisted in the ruin of an +innocent life." +</P> + +<P> +In the midst of the lightness of the moment Gordon had suddenly taken a +resolve. It was one of those quick, impulsive resolves which were +entirely characteristic of him. There was nothing quite clear in his +mind as to any reason in his decision. He was caught in the enthusiasm +of his admiration of the fair oval face of his hostess, whose +unconventional camaraderie so appealed to his wholesome nature; he was +caught by the radiance of her sunny smile, by the laughing depths of +her perfect hazel eyes. Nor was the manner of the man, her father, +without effect upon his responsive, simple nature. +</P> + +<P> +But his sentence on Silas Mallinsbee had caught and held both father's +and daughter's attention, and excited their curiosity. +</P> + +<P> +"Why six months?" smiled Hazel. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, it's sure some time limit," growled Mallinsbee. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon assumed an air of judicial severity. +</P> + +<P> +"Is the court to be questioned upon its powers?" he demanded. "There +is a law of 'contempt,'" he added warningly. +</P> + +<P> +But his warning was without effect. +</P> + +<P> +"And the innocent's ruin?" demanded Hazel. +</P> + +<P> +The answer came without a moment's hesitation. +</P> + +<P> +"Mine," said Gordon. And his audience, now with serious eyes, waited +for him to go on. +</P> + +<P> +Hip-Lee had brought in the sweet, and vanished again in his silent +fashion. Then Gordon raised his eyes from his plate and glanced at his +host. They wandered across to and lingered for a moment on the strong +young face of the girl. Then they came back to his plate, and he +sighed. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, if there's one thing hurts me it's to hear everybody telling a +yarn, and my not having one to throw back at 'em," he said, smiling +down at the simple baked custard and fruit he was devouring. "Just now +I'm not hurt a thing, however, so that remark don't apply. You see, my +yarn's just as simple and easy as both of yours, and I can tell it in a +sentence. My father's sent me out in the world with a stake of my own +naming to make one hundred thousand dollars in six months!" +</P> + +<P> +He was surprised to witness, the dramatic effect of his announcement. +Hazel's astonishment was serious and frankly without disguise. But her +father's was less marked by outward expression. It was only obvious +from the complete lack of the smile which had been in his shrewd eyes a +moment before. +</P> + +<P> +"One hundred thousand dollars in six months!" Hazel exclaimed. She had +narrowly escaped scalding herself with the coffee Hip-Lee had just +served. She set her cup down hastily. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess your father's takin' a big chance," said Mallinsbee thoughtfully. +</P> + +<P> +But their serious astonishment was too great a strain for Gordon. He +began to laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"It's my belief life's too serious to be taken seriously, so the chance +he's taken don't worry me as, maybe, it ought," he said. "You see, my +father's a good sportsman, and he sees most things the way every real +sportsman sees 'em—where his son's concerned. Morally I owe him one +hundred thousand dollars. I say morally. Well, I guess we talked +together some. I—well, maybe I made a big talk, like fellows of my +age and experience are liable to make to a fellow of my father's age +and experience. Then I sort of got a shock, as sometimes fellows of my +age making a big talk do. In about half a minute I found a new meaning +for the word 'bluff.' I thought I'd got its meaning right before that. +I thought I could teach my father all there was to know about bluff. +You see, I'd forgotten he'd lived thirty-three more years than I had. +Bluff? Why, I'd never heard of it as he knew it. The result is I've +got to make one hundred thousand dollars in six months or forfeit my +legitimate future." Then he added with the gayest, most buoyant laugh, +"Say, it's a terrible thing to think of. It's dead serious. It's as +serious as an inter-university ball game." +</P> + +<P> +The lurking smile had returned to Mallinsbee's eyes, and Hazel frankly +joined in Gordon's laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"And you've come to Snake's Fall to—to make it?" she cried. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't just say that," returned Gordon. +</P> + +<P> +"No." Mallinsbee shook his head, and the two men exchanged meaning +glances. Then the old man went on with his food and spoke between the +mouthfuls. "You had an office?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure. You see, I was my father's secretary." +</P> + +<P> +"Secretary?" Mallinsbee looked up quickly. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"That's what he called me. I drew the salary—and my allowance. It +was an elegant office—what little I remember of it." +</P> + +<P> +The old man's regard was very nearly a broad laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, you made a talk about an 'innocent's' life gettin' all mussed up?" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon nodded with profound seriousness. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure," he replied. "Mine. I don't guess you'll deny my innocence." +Mallinsbee shook his head. "Good," Gordon went on; "that makes it +easy. If you don't make good I lose my chance. I'm going to put my +stake in your town plots." +</P> + +<P> +The rancher regarded him steadily for some moments. Then— +</P> + +<P> +"Say, what's your stake?" he inquired abruptly. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon had nothing to hide. There was, it seemed to him, a fatal +magnetism about these people. The girl's eyes were upon him, full of +amused delight at the story he had told; while her father seemed to be +driving towards some definite goal. +</P> + +<P> +"Five thousand dollars. That and a few hundred dollars I had to my +credit at the bank. It don't sound much," he added apologetically, +"but perhaps it isn't quite impossible." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't guess there's a thing impossible in this world for the feller +who's got to make good," said Mallinsbee. "You see, you've got to make +good, and it don't matter a heap if your stake's five hundred or five +thousand. Say, talk's just about the biggest thing in life, but it's +made up of hot air, an' too much hot air's mighty oppressive. So I'll +just get to the end of what I've to say as sudden as I can. I guess my +gal's right, I'm just crazy to beat the 'sharps' on this land scoop, +and I'm going to do it if I get brain fever. Now it's quite a +proposition. I've got to play the railroad and all these ground +sharks, and see I get the juice while they only get the pie-crust. I'm +needing a—we'll call him a secretary. Hazel is all sorts of a bright +help, but she ain't a man. I need a feller who can swear and scrap if +need be, and one who can scratch around with a pen in odd moments. +This thing is a big fight, and the man who's got the biggest heart and +best wind's going to win through. My wind's sound, and I ain't heard +of any heart trouble in my family. Now you ken come in in town plots +so that when the boom comes they'll net you that one hundred thousand +dollars. You don't need to part with that stake—yet. The deal shall +be on paper, and the cash settlement shall come at the finish. +Meanwhile, if need be, for six months you'll put in every moment you've +got on the work of organizing this boom. Maybe we'll need to scrap +plenty. But I don't guess that'll come amiss your way. We'll hand +this shanty over for quarters for you, and we'll share it as an office. +This ain't philanthropy; it's business. The man who's got no more +sense than to call a bluff to make one hundred thousand dollars in six +months is the man for me. He'll make it or he won't. And, anyway, +he's going to make things busy for six months. You ain't a 'sharp' +now—or I wouldn't hand you this talk. But I'm guessin' you'll be +mighty near one before we're through. We've got to graft, and graft +plenty, which is a play that ain't without attractions to a real bright +feller. You see, money's got a heap of evil lyin' around its +root—well, the root of things is gener'ly the most attractive. Guess +I've used a deal of hot air in makin' this proposition, but you won't +need to use as much in your answer—when you've slept over it. Say, if +food's through we'll get busy, Hazel." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Mrs. James Carbhoy was in bed when she received her morning's mail. +Perhaps she and her millionaire husband were unusually old-fashioned in +their domestic life. Anyway, James Carbhoy's presence in the great +bedstead beside her was made obvious by the heavy breathing which, in a +less wealthy man, might have been called snoring, and the mountainous +ridge of bedclothes which covered his monumental bulk. +</P> + +<P> +A querulous voice disturbed his dreams. He heard it from afar off, and +it merged with the scenes he was dwelling upon. A panic followed. He +had made a terrible discovery. It was his wife, and not the president +of a rival railroad, who was stealing the metals of a new track he was +constructing as fast as he could lay them. +</P> + +<P> +He awoke in a cold sweat. He thought he was lying in the cutting +beside the track. His wife had vanished. He rubbed his eyes. No, she +hadn't. There she was, sitting up in bed with a sheaf of papers in her +hand. He felt relieved. +</P> + +<P> +Now her plaint penetrated to his waking consciousness. +</P> + +<P> +"For goodness' sake, James," she cried, "quit snoring and wake up. I +wish you'd pay attention when I'm speaking. I'm all worried to death." +</P> + +<P> +The multi-millionaire yawned distressingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Most folks are worried in the morning. I'm worried, too. Go to +sleep. You'll feel better after a while." +</P> + +<P> +"It's nothing to do with the morning," complained his wife. +"It's—it's a letter from Gordon. The poor boy writes such queer +letters. It's all through you being so hard on him. You never did +have any feeling for—for anybody. I'm sure he's suffering. He never +talked this way before. Maybe he don't get enough to eat; he don't say +where he is either. Perhaps he's just nowhere in particular. You'd +better ring up an inquiry bureau——" +</P> + +<P> +"For goodness' sake read the letter," growled the drowsy man. "You're +making as much fuss as a hen with bald chicks." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Carbhoy withered her husband with a glance that fell only upon the +back of his great head. But she had her way. She meant him to share +in her anxiety through the text of the, to her, incomprehensible +letter. She read slowly and deliberately, and in a voice calculated to +rivet any wandering attention. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"DEAREST MUM: +</P> + +<P> +"There's folks who say that no man knows the real meaning of luck, good +or bad, till he takes to himself a wife. This may be right. My +argument is, it's only partially so. There may be considerable luck +about matrimony. For instance, if any fool man came along and married +our Gracie he'd be taking quite a chance. Her native indolence and +peevishness suggest possibilities. Her tongue is vitriolic in one so +young, as I have frequently had reason to observe. This would +certainly be a case where the man would learn the real meaning of luck. +But there wouldn't be a question. His luck would be out—plumb out. +Jonah would have been a mascot beside him. +</P> + +<P> +"This is by the way. +</P> + +<P> +"I argue luck can be appreciated fully through channels less worrying. +When luck gets busy around its coming is kind of subtle. It's sudden, +too; kind of butts in unnoticed, sometimes painfully, and generally +without shouting. Maybe it happens with a bump or a jar. Personally +I'm betting on the 'bump' play. A bump of that nature got busy my way +when I arrived here. I now have a full appreciation of luck. Quite as +full an appreciation as the man would who married our Gracie. But in +my case I guess it's good luck. This isn't going to tell you all +that's in my mind, but, seeing I haven't fallen for fiction yet, I +guess I won't try to be more explicit. Luck, in my present position, +means the coming responsibility of success. You might hand this on to +the old Dad. +</P> + +<P> +"Talking of the old Dad, it seems to me that, for a delicate digestion, +baked custard and fruit have advantages over ice-cream as a sweet. +This again is by the way. +</P> + +<P> +"In my last letter I gave you a few first impressions on arrival at my +destination. Now, if you'll permit, I'll add what I might call the +maturer reflections of a mind wide awake to life as it really is, and +to the inner meaning of those things which are so carefully hidden from +one brought up in luxury, as I have been. One of the 'dead snips' this +way is that cleverness and wisdom are often confused by the ignorant. +Cleverness don't mean wisdom, and—vice versa. For instance, loafing +idly down a main street six inches deep in a dust that would shame a +blizzard when the wind blows, with a blazing sun scorching the marrow +of the spine till it's ready to be spread out on toast, escorted by an +army of disgusting flies moving in massed formation, and not knowing +better than to drive your soul to perdition through the channel of +extreme bad language, don't suggest cleverness. Yet there may surely +be a deal of wisdom in it if it only keeps you from doing something a +heap more foolish. Maybe this don't sound altogether bright, but +there's quite a deal in it. Think it out. Another thought is that +learning's quite a sound proposition. For instance, a superficial +knowledge of geology may come mighty handy at unexpected moments. A +knowledge of this served me at a critical moment only to-day. So you +see an intimate acquaintance with sharp flints, collected—the +acquaintance, not the flints—during my time as the possessor of an +automobile, which the Dad provided me with and for the upkeep of which +he so kindly paid, has likely had more influence upon my future life +than the best talk ever handed out by a Fifth Avenue preacher ever +would have done. I have no thought of being irreverent. I am merely +handing you a fact. People say that missed opportunities always make +you hate to think of them in after life. For my part, I've generally +figured this to be the philosophic hot air of a man who's getting old +and hates to see youth around him, or else the chin mush of some fool +man who's never had any opportunities, talking through the roof of his +head. I kind of see it different now. You gave me the opportunity of +studying all the beauties of the world seen through an artist's life. +I guessed at the time that would be waste of precious moments that +might be spent chasing athletics. It's only to-day I've got wise to +what a heap I've lost in twenty-four years. Colors just seemed to me +messy mixtures only fit to spoil paper and canvas with. Well, to-day +I've hit on something in the way of color that's just about set me +crazy to see it all the time. It's a sort of yellowy, greeny brown. +That don't sound as merry as it might, but to me it talks plenty. It's +just the dandiest color ever. I discovered it out on a 'long, lone +trail'—that's how folks talk in books—where the surroundings weren't +any improvement on just plain grass. Say, Mum, I guess that color is +great. It gets a grip on you so you don't seem to care if a local +freight train comes along and dissects your vitals, and chews them up +ready for making a delicatessen sausage. When I die I'll just have to +have my shroud dyed that color, and my coffin fixed that way, too. +</P> + +<P> +"This isn't so much of a passing thought as the others. Guess some +folks might figure it to be a disease. Maybe the old Dad would. Well, +I shan't kick any if I die of it. +</P> + +<P> +"Talking of Art, I'm just beginning to get a notion that curves are +wonderful, wonderful things. These days of mechanical appliances I've +always regarded drawing such things by hand as positively ridiculous. +I don't think that way now. If I could only draw the wonderful curves +I have in mind now, why, I guess I'd go right on drawing them till the +birds roosted in my beard and my bones were right for a tame ancestral +skeleton. +</P> + +<P> +"The daylight of knowledge is sort of creeping in. +</P> + +<P> +"I've learned that frame houses have got Fifth Avenue mansions beat a +mile, and the smell of a Chinee can become a dollar-and-a-half scent +sachet in given circumstances. I've learned that real sportsmanship +isn't confined to athletics by any means, and a lame chestnut horse can +be a most friendly creature. I've discovered that one man of purpose +isn't more than fifty per cent. of two, when both are yearning one way. +I'm learning that life's a mighty pleasant journey if you let it alone +and don't worry things. It's no use kicking to put the world to +rights. It's going to give you a whole heap of worry, and, anyway, the +world's liable to retaliate. Also I'd like to add that, though I guess +I'm gathering wisdom, I don't reckon I've got it all by quite a piece. +</P> + +<P> +"Having given you all the news I can think of I guess I'll close. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Your affectionate son,<BR> + "GORDON.<BR> +</P> + +<P> +"P.S.—My remarks about Gracie are merely the privileged reflections of +a brother. When she grows up I dare say she'll be quite a bully girl. +It takes time to get sense. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"G." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"I don't understand it, anyway," sighed Gordon's mother, as she laid +the letter aside. "You'll have to get him back to home, James. He's +suffering. We'll send out an inquiry——" +</P> + +<P> +She broke off, glancing across at the mass of humanity so peacefully +snoring at the far side of the bed, and, after a brief angry moment, +resigned herself to the reflection that men, even millionaires, were +perfectly ridiculous and selfish creatures who had no right whatever to +burden a poor woman's life with the responsibility of children. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE FIRST CHECK +</H4> + +<P> +It was characteristic of Gordon to act unhesitatingly once a decision +was arrived at. The consideration of Silas Mallinsbee's generous offer +was the work of just as many seconds as it took the rancher to make it +in. Though, verbally, it was left for a decision the next day, Gordon +had no doubts in his mind whatever as to the nature of that decision. +</P> + +<P> +When he returned to McSwain's sheltering roof, when another meal had +been devoured in the evening, when the soup-like contents of the +wash-trough had been stirred in the doubtful effort of cleansing +himself, when the busy flies had gone to join the birds in their +evening roost, he betook himself to his private bathroom, and sat +himself upon his questionable bed and gave himself up to reflection, +endeavoring to apply some of the wisdom he believed himself to have +already acquired. +</P> + +<P> +But the application was without useful effect. +</P> + +<P> +He began by an attempt to review the situation from a purely financial +standpoint, and in this endeavor he stretched out his great muscular +limbs along his bed, and propped his broad back against the wall with a +dogged do-or-die look upon his honest face. +</P> + +<P> +At once a mental picture of Hazel Mallinsbee obscured the problem. He +dwelt on it for some profoundly pleasant moments, and then resolutely +thrust it aside. +</P> + +<P> +Next he started by frankly admitting that Mallinsbee's offer left him a +certain winner all along the line—if things went right. Good. If +things went wrong—but they couldn't go wrong with those wonderful +yellowy brown eyes of Hazel's smiling encouragement upon him. The +thought was absurd. +</P> + +<P> +Again for some time his problem was obscured. But after a few minutes +he set his teeth and attacked it afresh. +</P> + +<P> +Of course, if things did go wrong he was done—absolutely finished. +His six months would have expired, his stake would have melted into +thin air. His whole future—— But he would have spent six months at +Hazel's side, working upon something that was obviously very dear to +her brave and loyal heart. What more could a man desire? +</P> + +<P> +He felt his great muscles thrill with a mighty sense of restrained +effort. Was there any thought in the world so inspiring as that which +had the support of the most wonderful creature he had ever met for its +inspiration? He thought not. His pulses stirred at the bare idea of +being Hazel Mallinsbee's companion all those weeks and months. Of +course it would mean nothing to her. She was far too clever, and—and +altogether brainy to give him a second thought. But he felt he could +help her. He felt that to go back home with the knowledge that he—he +had been one of the prime factors in her achieving the hope of her life +would not be without compensations. Compensations? He wondered what +form such compensations took. They certainly would need to be +considerable for the loss of such a companionship. +</P> + +<P> +He thought of the vision he had seen upon the trail. The beautifully +rounded figure. The graceful movements, so obviously natural. Then +those eyes, and—— +</P> + +<P> +He smiled and abandoned all further attempt to consider seriously the +offer he had received. What was the use? His good fortune was +certainly running in a strong tide. To attempt to steer a course was +to fly in the face of his own luck. No, he would swim with it, let it +take him whither it might. Meanwhile, Hazel had promised to meet him +on the morrow, and show him the great coal seam, after which he was to +interview her father, and have supper at the—office. Forthwith he +hastily retired to his nightly game of hide-and-seek amongst the +hummocks of flock in his disreputable bed, that the long hours of night +might the more speedily merge into a golden to-morrow. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The next day Gordon, at an early hour, spent something over fifty +dollars on a pair of ready-made riding-breeches and boots. For once in +his life he felt that the faithful Harding had been found wanting. +Somehow, in arriving at this conclusion, he had forgotten the episode +of the five-cent-cigar man. Anyhow, the purchase had to be made, since +it was necessary to ride out to the coal seams. +</P> + +<P> +It was during the time spent on these matters an incident occurred +which caused him some irritation. He saw in the distance, as he was +making his way to the principal store, the pale-faced, sickly-looking +creature who had accosted Hazel the day before. The sight of the man +put him into a bad temper at once, and he forthwith gave the +storekeeper all the unnecessary trouble he could put him to. +</P> + +<P> +Then, on returning to his hotel, he discovered the man in the office +talking to Peter McSwain. His swift temper left him utterly without +shame, and he stood and stared at the object of his dislike, taking him +in from head to foot with profoundly contemptuous eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Somehow his inspection made him feel glad he disliked the man. He was +a broad-chested person with aggressively cut clothes. His black hair +was obviously greased, and his general cast of features suggested his +Hebrew origin. Gordon had no grudge against him on this latter score. +It was not that. It was the narrow, shifty eyes, the hateful way in +which he smoked his cigar, with its flaming band about its middle. It +was the loud coarse laugh and general air of impertinent arrogance that +set his back bristling. And this—this had spoken to Hazel Mallinsbee +only the day before. +</P> + +<P> +He deposited his parcels in his bathroom, and returned to the office to +find McSwain by himself. He had no hesitation in satisfying his +curiosity. +</P> + +<P> +"Say," he demanded, in a crisp tone. "Who was that rotten-looking +'sharp' you were yarning to when I came in?" +</P> + +<P> +Peter's amiable expression underwent the most trifling change. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess I lost ten thousand dollars talkin' that way once," he said, +smelling cautiously at one of his own cigars. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon promptly snapped back. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe I've lost more than that. But it don't cut any ice. Who was +he?" +</P> + +<P> +Peter smiled as he lit his cigar. +</P> + +<P> +"David Slosson. Guess he's chief robber for the railroad company. +You've seen him. Are you scared any? Say, we've been waitin' to hear +him talk two days now. I guess you could hand us a bunch of emperors, +an' kings, an' princes, an' dust over 'em a sprinkling of presidents, +but I don't reckon you'd stir a pulse among us like the coming of that +man did to this city. That feller's right here to put the railroad in +on this land scoop. When he's fixed 'em the way he wants we'll hear +from the railroad." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon's eyes were thoughtful. +</P> + +<P> +"Chief grafter, eh? He surely looks it." +</P> + +<P> +"Some of 'em do," agreed Peter. "It's my belief the best of 'em don't, +though," he added reflectively. "Yet he surely ought to be right. +Railroads don't usual graft with anything but the best. He was talkin' +pretty, too." +</P> + +<P> +"Pretty? More than he looked," snorted Gordon. Then he began to +laugh. "Say, you and I are pretty well agreed about miracles. I sort +of feel it'll have to be one of them miracles if the time don't come +when I knock seventeen sorts of stuffing out of that man. I feel it +coming on like a disease. You know, creeping through my bones, and +getting to the tips of my fingers. I'd like to spoil his store suit in +the mud, and beautify his features with your 'hoss' soap, and drown 'em +in—well, what's in your washing-trough." +</P> + +<P> +Peter's smile was cordial enough at the forcefulness of his young +guest. He had not forgotten that Gordon was a friend of Mallinsbee. +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't play that way till we see how he's buying," he said +cautiously. +</P> + +<P> +"Play?" Gordon laughed and shook his head. "Well, perhaps you're +right. It certainly will be some play." +</P> + +<P> +After midday dinner Gordon set out on one of Mike Callahan's horses to +keep his appointment with Hazel Mallinsbee. All his ill-humor of the +morning was forgotten, and he looked forward with unalloyed pleasure to +his afternoon, which was to culminate in his entering into his +agreement with her father. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel was waiting for him on the veranda of the office. Her horse, a +fine brown mare, was standing ready saddled. Gordon noted the absence +of Sunset, and understood, but he noted also that her smile of welcome +was lacking something of the joyous spirit she had displayed the night +before. +</P> + +<P> +"Sunset off duty?" he inquired, as he came up and leaped out of the +saddle to assist her. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel scorned his assistance. She was in the saddle almost before he +was aware of her intention. +</P> + +<P> +"Sunset's father's," she said. "The Lady Jane is my saddle horse. +She's the most outrageous jade on the ranch. That's why I like her. +Every moment I'm in the saddle she's trying to get the bit between her +teeth. If she succeeded she'd run till she dropped." Then, with a +deliberate effort, she seemed to thrust some shadow from her mind as +they set off at a brisk canter. "You know, father's just dying to show +you the ranch. He's quite quaint and boyish. He takes likes and +dislikes in the twinkle of an eye, and before all things in his life +comes his wonderful ranch. I'll tell you a secret, Mr. Van Henslaer. +The day you—arrived, after he'd told me just how you had arrived, he +said, 'I'd like to get that boy working around this lay out. I like +the look of him. He don't know a lot, but he can do things.' He's +certainly taken one of his wonderful, impulsive fancies to you. He's +very shrewd, too." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Now I wonder how I ought to take that. I'm all sorts of a fool, but I +can hit hard. That's about his opinion of me, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +Hazel's eyes were slyly watching him. She shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"That's not it," she smiled back. "You don't know my daddy. He might +say that, but there's a whole lot of other thoughts stumbling around in +his funny old head. If he wants you he thinks you can do more than hit +hard." +</P> + +<P> +The humor of it all got hold of Gordon. +</P> + +<P> +"Good," he cried, with one of his whole-hearted laughs. "Now I'll let +you into a secret. This is a great secret. One of those secrets a +feller generally hangs on tight to because he's half ashamed of it. I +can do more than hit hard!" +</P> + +<P> +Then he became serious, and it was the girl's turn to find amusement. +</P> + +<P> +"You see, I've been raised in a bit of a hothouse. Maybe it's more of +a wind shelter, though. You know, where the rough winds of modern life +can't get through the crevices and buffet you. That's why I fell for +that sharp on the train. That's why I bumped head first into Snake's +Fall. That's why your daddy thinks I don't know a lot. But I tell you +right here I've got to make that hundred thousand dollars in six +months, and I'm going to do it by hook or crook, if there's half a +smell of a chance. I've no scruples whatsoever. I just <I>must</I> make +it, or—or I'll never face my father ever again. Do you get me? +Whatever you have at stake in this land proposition, it's just nothing +to what I have. And you'll know what I mean when I say it's just the +youthful pride and foolish egoism of twenty-four years. Say, do you +know what it means to a kid when he's dared to do some fool trick that +may cost his life? Well, that's my position, but I've done the daring +for myself. My mood about this thing is the sort of mood in which, if +I couldn't get that money any other way, I'd willingly hold up a +bullion train." +</P> + +<P> +The girl nodded. For a moment she made no attempt to answer him. She +was gazing out ahead at a point where signs of busy life had made +themselves apparent. Something of the shadow that had been in her eyes +at their meeting had returned. Gordon was watching them, and a quick +concern troubled him. +</P> + +<P> +"Say," he observed anxiously. "You're—worried. I saw it when I came +up." +</P> + +<P> +The girl endeavored to pass his inquiry off lightly. +</P> + +<P> +"Worried?" she shook her head. "The anxieties of the business are on +my poor daddy's shoulders, and will soon be on yours. They're not on +mine." +</P> + +<P> +But Gordon was not easily put off. He edged his horse closer to her +side. +</P> + +<P> +"But you <I>are</I> worried," he declared doggedly. Then he added more +lightly, "I'll take a chance on it. It's—a man. And he's got a sort +of whitewash face, and black, shoe-shined hair. He's got a nose you'd +hate to run up against with any vital part. As for his clothes, +well—a blind man would hate to see 'em." +</P> + +<P> +The girl turned sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"What makes you think that way?" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon smiled triumphantly. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess I've been trying to impress you with the fact that +foolishness—like beauty—is only skin deep. The former applies to me. +The latter—well, I guess I must have just read about—that." +</P> + +<P> +"If you're not careful you'll convince me," Hazel laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"That's one of the things I'm yearning to do." +</P> + +<P> +"You're talking of David Slosson," she challenged him. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"The railroad's—chief grafter." +</P> + +<P> +"And a hateful creature." +</P> + +<P> +"Who's started right away to—annoy you—from the time he got around +Snake's Fall." +</P> + +<P> +A great surprise was looking back into Gordon's eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"You're guessing. You can't know that," Hazel said, with decision. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe. Say,"—Gordon's eyes were half serious, half smiling—"a girl +don't push her way past a man when he's talking to her if—he isn't +annoying her." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you saw him stop me on Main Street yesterday?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure." Then, after a pause, Gordon went on, "Say, tell me. We're to +be fellow conspirators." +</P> + +<P> +Just for one moment Hazel Mallinsbee looked him straight in the eyes. +She was thinking, thinking swiftly. Nor were her thoughts unpleasant. +For one thing she had realized that which Gordon had wished her to +realize—that he was no fool. She was seeing that something in him +which doubtless her father had been quick to discover. She was +thinking, too, of his direct, almost dogged manner of driving home to +the purpose he had in view, and she told herself she liked it. Then, +too, all unconsciously, she was thinking of the open, ingenuous, +smiling face of his. The handsome blue eyes which were certainly his +chief attraction in looks, although his other features were sound +enough. She decided at once that for all these things she liked him +and trusted him. Therefore she admitted her worries. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she said, "it's David Slosson—and your description of him is +too good. He's been here two days. He came here the day before you. +He came out to see father directly he arrived, but, as you know, father +was away. I had to see him. And it wasn't pleasant. Maybe you can +guess his attitude. I don't like to talk of it. He took me for some +silly country girl, I s'pose. Anyway I got rid of him. Then he saw me +yesterday." Suddenly her face flushed, and an angry sparkle shone in +her eyes. "His sort ought to be raw-hided," she declared vehemently. +Then, after a pause, in which she choked her anger back, "We got a note +from him this morning to say he'd be along this afternoon. Father's +going to see him. And I was scared to death you wouldn't get along in +time. That's why I was waiting ready for you, and hustled you off +without seeing father. I was scared the man would get around before we +were away. I haven't said a word to my daddy. You see he'd kill him," +she finished up, with a whimsical little smile. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon was gazing out ahead at the great coal workings they were now +approaching. But though he beheld a small village of buildings, and an +astonishing activity of human beings and machinery, for the time, at +least, they had no interest for him. +</P> + +<P> +"I knew I was up against that man directly I saw him peeking into that +store after you," he said deliberately. "Miss Mallinsbee, I'm going to +ask you all sorts of a big favor. We three are going to work together +for six months. Well, any time you feel worried any by that feller, +don't go to your daddy, just come right along to me. I guess it would +puzzle more than your daddy to kill him after I've done with him. I +don't guess it's the time to talk a lot about this thing now. I don't +sort of fancy big talk that way, anyhow. All I ask you is to let me +know, and to be allowed to keep my own eyes on him." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think I can promise you anything like that," she said +seriously. "But I—thank you all the same. You see, out here a girl's +got to take her own chances, and I'm not altogether helpless that way." +Then she definitely changed the subject and pointed ahead. "There, +what do you think of it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Think of it? Why, he's a low down skunk!" cried Gordon fiercely, +unable any longer to restrain his feelings. +</P> + +<P> +"I wasn't speaking of him. It!" the girl laughed. "The coalpits." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" There was no responsive laugh from Gordon. Then he added with +angry pretense of enjoyment, "Fine!" +</P> + +<P> +For nearly two hours they wandered round the embryonic coal village, +examining everything in detail, and not without a keen interest. The +place, hidden away amongst the higher foothills, was a perfect hive of +industry. Great masses of machinery were lying about everywhere, +waiting their turn for the attention of the engineers. Wooden +buildings were in the course of construction everywhere. A small army +of miners and their wives and children had already taken up their +abode, and the men were at work with the engineers in the preparatory +borings already in full operation. +</P> + +<P> +Even to Gordon's unpracticed eye there was little doubt of the accuracy +of the information he had received relating to Snake's Fall. Here +there was everything required to provoke the boom he had been warned +of. Here was an evidence that the boom would be a genuine one built on +the solid basis of great and lasting commercial interest. Long before +they started on their return journey he congratulated himself heartily +upon the accident which had brought him into the midst of such an +enterprise, and thanked his stars for the further chance which had +brought him into contact with the train "sharp," and so with Silas +Mallinsbee. +</P> + +<P> +It was getting on towards the time for the Mallinsbees' evening meal +when the little frame house once more came within view. There was a +decided charm in its isolation. On all sides were the undulations of +grass which denoted the first steps towards the foothills. There was a +wonderful radiance of summer sheen upon the green world about them, and +the brightness of it all, and the pleasantness, set Gordon thinking of +the pity that all too soon it would be broken up almost entirely by +those black and gloomy signs of man's industry when the resources of +the old world have to be tapped. +</P> + +<P> +However, he was content enough with the moment. The sky was blue and +radiant, the earth was all so green, and the wide, wide world opened +out before him in whatever direction he chose to gaze. While beside +him, sitting her mare with that confident seat of a perfect horsewoman, +was the most beautiful girl in all the world, a girl in whose +companionship he was to spend the next six months. The gods of Fortune +were very, very good to him, and he smiled as the vision of his +sportsman father flashed through his mind. +</P> + +<P> +But his moments of pleasant reflection were abruptly cut short. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel had suddenly raised one pointing arm, and a note of concern was +in her voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Look," she cried. "Something's—upset my daddy." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon looked in the direction of the house. +</P> + +<P> +Silas Mallinsbee was pacing the veranda at a gait that left no doubt in +his mind. It was the agitated walk of a man disturbed. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter?" demanded Gordon, with some concern. +</P> + +<P> +"It looks like—David Slosson," said Hazel, in a hard voice. +</P> + +<P> +They rode up in silence, and the girl was the first to reach the ground. +</P> + +<P> +"Daddy——" she began eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +But her father cut her short. The flesh-tinted patch, which Gordon had +almost forgotten, which he used to cover his left eye with, was thrust +up absurdly upon his forehead. His heavy brows were drawn together in +an angry frown. His tufty chin beard was aggressively thrust, his two +great hands were stuck in the waist of his trousers, which gave him +further an air of truculence. +</P> + +<P> +"Say," he cried, his deep, rolling voice now raised to a pitch of +thunder, "it's taken me fifty-six years to come up with what I've been +chasing all my life. Say, I've spent years an' years huntin' around to +find something meaner than a rattlesnake. Guess I come up with him +to-day." +</P> + +<P> +"David Slosson," cried Hazel, her eyes wide with her anger. +</P> + +<P> +Her father waved her aside as she came towards him. +</P> + +<P> +"No, don't you butt in. I've got to let off hot air, or—or—I'll +bust." +</P> + +<P> +He paced off down the little veranda, and came back again. Then he +stood still, and suddenly brought one great fist down with terrific +force into his other palm. +</P> + +<P> +"Gee, but it's tough. Say, you ever tried to hold a slimy eel?" he +cried, glaring fiercely into Gordon's questioning eyes. "No? It's a +heap of a dirty and unsatisfact'ry job, but it ain't as dirty as +dealing with Mr. David Slosson, nor half as unsatisfact'ry. You can +stamp your heel on it, and crush it into the ground. With David +Slosson you just got to talk pretty and fence while you know he's got +you beat all along the line, an' all the time you're just needin' to +kill him all to death. Of all the white-livered bums. Say, if only +the good God would push him right into these two hands an' say squeeze +him. Say——" He held out his two clenched fists as though he were +wringing out a sponge. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon raked his hair with one hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you need to worry that way, Mr. Mallinsbee? I owe him some myself." +</P> + +<P> +The old man glared for some moments. Then a subtle smile crept into +his eyes. Hazel saw it, and seized the opportunity. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's get right inside and have food. You can tell us then, Daddy. +You see, Mr. Van Henslaer's one of our confederates now. He's come +along to tell you so." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It was with some difficulty that Hazel contrived to pacify her father, +but at last she succeeded in persuading him to partake of the pleasant +meal provided by Hip-Lee. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon was glad when at last they all sat down. The appetizing smell +of coffee, the delicious plates of cold meats, the glass dishes of +preserves, and steaming hot scones, all these things appealed to the +accumulated appetite consequent upon his ride. +</P> + +<P> +"Now tell us all about it," Hazel demanded, when the meal was well +under way. +</P> + +<P> +Old Mallinsbee, still with the absurd eye-shade upon his forehead, had +recovered his humor, and he poured out his story in characteristic +fashion. +</P> + +<P> +"Wall," he said, "maybe I was hot when you come up. He'd been gone +best part of an hour. During that time I'd been sort of bankin' the +furnaces. Gordon Van Henslaer, my boy, I hate meanness worse 'n any +devil hated holy water. Ther's all sorts of meanness in this world, +and ther' ain't no other word to describe it. Killing can be just +every sort of thing from justifiable homicide down to stringin' up some +black scallywag by the neck for doin' the same things white folks do +an' get off with a caution. The feller that steals ain't always to +blame. As often as not we need to blame the general community. Lyin's +mostly a disease, an' when it ain't I guess it's a sort of aggravated +form of commercial enterprise, or the budding of a great newspaper +faculty. You can find excuse, or other name, fer most every crime of +human nature—'cept meanness. David Slosson is just the chief ancestor +of all meanness, an' when I say that, why—it's some talk. He's here +to put the railroad in on the land scoop, and, in that respect, I guess +he's all I could have expected. We were making elegant talk. Or, I +guess, he was mostly. He said his chiefs had sent him up to see how +the general public could best be served by his road with regard to this +coal boom, and I told him I was dead sure that railroads never failed +in their service of the public. I pointed out I had always observed it. +</P> + +<P> +"That talk of mine seemed to open up the road for things, and I handed +him a good cigar and pushed a highball his way. Then he made a big +music of railroads in general, and talked so pious that it set me +yearnin' for my bed. Then I got wide awake. Say, I ain't done a heap +in chapel goin' recently, but I've sort of got hazy recollections of +sitting around dozing, while the preacher doped a lot of elegant hot +air about things which kind of upset your notions of life generally. +Then I seem to recollect getting a sack pushed into my face, and I got +visions of the terrible scare of its coming, and the kind of nervous +chase for that quarter that I could have sworn I'd set ready in my +pocket for such an emergency. That's how I felt—nervous. He was +talkin' prices of plots. +</P> + +<P> +"Wal, I got easy after awhile, and we fixed things elegant. The +railroad was to get a dandy bunch of plots at bedrock prices, if they +built the depot right here at Buffalo Point. And that feller was quick +to see that I was out for the interests of the public, and to make +things easy for the railroad. So he talked pretty. Then—then he +hooked me a 'right.' He asked me plumb out how he stood. I was ready +for him. I said that nothing would suit me better than he should come +in the same way with the railroad." He shook his head regretfully. +"That man hadn't the conscience of a louse. He was yearning for twenty +town plots, in best positions, five of 'em being corner plots, in the +commercial area for—nix! I was feeling as amiable as a she wild-cat, +and I told him there was nothing doing that way. He said he'd hoped +better from my public-spirited remarks. I assured him my public spirit +hadn't changed a cent. He said he was sure it hadn't, and was +astonished what a strong public spirit was shown around the whole of +Snake's Fall. He said that the old town was just the same as Buffalo +Point. They were most anxious to help the railroad out, too. Which, +seeing the depot—the old depot—was already standing there, made it a +cinch for the railroad. They were dead anxious to save the railroad +trouble and expense. I pushed another highball at him, but he guessed +he hadn't a thirst any more, and one cigar was all he ever smoked in an +afternoon. Then he oozed off, and I was glad. I guess homicide has +its drawbacks." +</P> + +<P> +"High 'graft,'" said Gordon. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe it's 'high,'" said Mallinsbee, with a smile in which there was +no mirth. "Guess I wouldn't spell it that way myself. There's just +one thing certain: if my side of the game has to go plumb to hell David +Slosson don't get his graft the way <I>he</I> wants it. And that's what you +and me are up against." +</P> + +<P> +"And we'll beat him." +</P> + +<P> +"We got to." +</P> + +<P> +"You and——" +</P> + +<P> +"You," cried Mallinsbee, thrusting out a hand towards him across the +table. +</P> + +<P> +The two men gripped. Gordon had joined the conspirators. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +GORDON MAKES HIS BID FOR FORTUNE +</H4> + +<P> +Gordon's new address was Buffalo Point, and, entering upon his duties, +he felt like some Napoleon of finance about to embark upon a +market-breaking scheme in which the brilliancy of his manipulations +were to shine forth for the illumination of the pages of history, yet +to be written. +</P> + +<P> +That was how he felt. Those were the feelings of the moment. Later +the burden of his responsibilities obscured the Napoleonic image, and +raised up in his mind a thought as to the wisdom of butting one's head +against a brick wall. +</P> + +<P> +However, for the time at least the joy of responsibility was +considerable, and the greater joy of the companionship and trust of his +new friends was something which inspired him to great efforts. +</P> + +<P> +He studied the affairs of Buffalo Point with a care for detail and an +assiduity which quickly became the surprise and delight of Silas +Mallinsbee. He went over every foot of the new township as laid out by +a well-known firm of town planners from New York under Mallinsbee's +orders and under State supervision. He spent one entire day in +studying the drawn plans, and, finally, having committed all the +details to memory, he felt himself equipped to devote his whole +attention to the cajoling of the railroad which was the sum and +substance of their combined efforts. +</P> + +<P> +In the first week of his occupation he learned many things which had +been obscure. He took the story of Mallinsbee's operations and +examined it closely, discovering in the process that he possessed a +faculty for clear reasoning altogether surprising. Furthermore, he +discovered that Mallinsbee, though possibly unpracticed in the work of +a big financial undertaking, yet possessed all, and more, of the +shrewdness he had vaguely suspected. +</P> + +<P> +One of the first efforts of the old man had been to secure the interest +of many of the chief traders in the old township of Snake's Fall. Also +that of the Bude and Sideley Coal Company. This had been done very +simply but effectively. After having marked off the town sites he +required for himself he had then offered, and sold, to pretty well +every landowner in Snake's Fall a certain allotment of sites at a +merely nominal fee. This, as the man himself declared in the course of +his story, left Snake's Fall pretty well "not carin' a whoop which way +the old cat jumped." The "cat" in this instance being the railroad. +</P> + +<P> +In this way direct and active opposition from the landholders of +Snake's Fall was minimized. As he explained, it was "graft," but he +felt that it was justifiable. This left him with the good will of the +citizens and free to act on broader lines. Then he began to pull all +the wires he could command with the coal people, who regarded him in +the friendliest spirit. However, there was difficulty here, though the +difficulty was not insurmountable. Their engineers were at work +already on the plans to be put into almost immediate operation for the +construction of a private track to link up the coalfields with Snake's +Fall. With them it was a question of time. They could not afford +delay, and the exploitation of the new township would mean delay for +them, although they admitted they would be relieved of a great expense +from its proximity to their workings. +</P> + +<P> +Mallinsbee, after stupendous efforts, and careful negotiations of the +right kind, finally effected a compromise. He was given three months, +of which already one week had elapsed, in which to obtain the definite +assurance that the railroad would accept Buffalo Point as the new city. +In the meantime the coal people's construction would be held up, and +they would assist him with all the influence they could command in +persuading the railroad. This concession was not unaided by +considerable graft, and the graft took the form of an agreement that +Mallinsbee, out of his own pocket, would construct them a coal depot +and yards in conjunction with the railroad, and hand them the titles of +the land necessary for it. +</P> + +<P> +He had just returned from the east, where he had been in consultation +with the Bude and Sideley people, and with whom he had ratified this +agreement, and, at the same time, the railroad had been induced to move +in the matter. All along he had triumphed through the agency of graft, +and the crowning point of his triumph had been demonstrated in the +arrival at Snake's Fall of Mr. David Slosson. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon's first impressions of all these things was that Silas +Mallinsbee had contrived with considerable skill, and that all was more +or less plain sailing. All that remained was to go on, with the +grafting hand thrust ready into the pocket for all eventualities, and +he found himself smiling at the thought of his father, and how surely +his own theories of financial undertakings were working out. +</P> + +<P> +That was his first impression. But it only lasted until he became +aware of those subtleties of human nature lying behind human effort and +intention. He had reckoned without David Slosson, and, more than all, +he had reckoned without Silas Mallinsbee himself. +</P> + +<P> +During that first week of his new work David Slosson had called at the +office twice. Once he had encountered only Gordon, and Hazel had +arrived during the visit. The second time he had had another interview +with Silas Mallinsbee. It was immediately after that interview that +Gordon gained some appreciation of the point where human psychology +stepped into the arena of commercial competition. +</P> + +<P> +The revelation came in Silas Mallinsbee's own statement of the result +of that interview. +</P> + +<P> +"Gordon, my boy," he said. He had quickly abandoned the use of +Gordon's formal address. "If that feller gets around here too frequent +with his blackmail, I'm going to kill him." +</P> + +<P> +Then he thrust the patch over his left eye high up on to his forehead, +and Gordon realized the angry light shining in the man's eyes. With +one eye covered his face had almost been expressionless. His evident +surprise at this realization did not fail to attract the rancher's +attention. +</P> + +<P> +His angry eyes softened to a smile of amusement. +</P> + +<P> +"You're wonderin' 'bout that patch?" he went on. "Wal, when I get up +against a feller who's brighter than I am in a deal, I don't figure to +take chances. Ever played 'draw' with a one-eyed man? No? Wal, I +did—once. An' I ain't recovered from all he taught me yet. He taught +me that two eyes can just about give away double as much as one. +Which, in financial dealings, is quite a piece. I guess that patch has +saved me quite a few dollars in its time. An' it makes me kind of sore +to think I didn't meet that one-eyed 'sharp' earlier in life." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon nodded as he folded up the plan of the town lying on his desk. +</P> + +<P> +"You were using it on—Mr. David Slosson. Say, is he smart, or is he +just a—crook?" +</P> + +<P> +Mallinsbee rose from his chair and moved cumbersomely over to the +doorway, and stood with his back turned, gazing out. +</P> + +<P> +"I ain't fixed him that way—yet. He's sure a crook, anyway. That's a +cinch. 'Bout the other we'll know later. Say, I'm open to graft +anybody on this thing—reasonably. It's part of the game. It's more. +It's the game itself. But I don't submit to blackmail." +</P> + +<P> +"There doesn't seem much difference," said Gordon, drawing some +letter-paper towards him, and preparing to write. +</P> + +<P> +The other remained where he was, moodily gazing out at the hills where +his beloved ranch lay. +</P> + +<P> +"You'd think not—but there is," Mallinsbee went on. "You graft an +organization when you're needin' something from them which they ain't +under obligation to themselves to do. That's buying and selling, and, +as things go, there ain't much kick coming. But when you've done that, +and their favor's fixed right, it's blackmail if their servants come +along and refuse to carry out their work if you don't pay <I>their</I> +price. This feller Slosson is a servant of the railroad. I'm ready to +graft all they need. He's out for blackmail. That feller wants to be +paid something for nothing. He don't do a thing for us. He's got to +do the work I'm paying the railroad for. See? Say, Gordon, boy, +happen what likes I won't do it. That feller don't make one cent out +of me. I'm on the buck, an' I don't care a curse." +</P> + +<P> +Mallinsbee had turned about to deliver his irrevocable decision, and, +as Gordon met the man's serious, obstinate expression, he realized +something of the psychology lying behind a big financial transaction. +</P> + +<P> +If Slosson had been a man of reasonable grafting disposition, if he had +been a pleasant, amiable personality, if he had been a—man, if Silas +Mallinsbee had been used to affairs such as his father dealt +in—well—. But it was useless to speculate further. He only saw a +troublous situation growing up for him to contend with. +</P> + +<P> +"We've got to get him playing our game," he hazarded. +</P> + +<P> +"That we'll never do. We're playing a straight bid for a win. He +couldn't play a straight bid for anything." +</P> + +<P> +"No." There was a great cordiality in Gordon's negative. +</P> + +<P> +"It's us who've got to play him—someways." +</P> + +<P> +"It's some proposition," mused Gordon. +</P> + +<P> +"It surely is. There's ways." Mallinsbee laughed shortly. "Maybe +I'll hand him over to Hazel." Then he gave another short laugh. +"Guess the ranch 'll interest him some—too." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon's eyes lit apprehensively. +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't do that," he said almost sharply. +</P> + +<P> +Mallinsbee faced about. +</P> + +<P> +"Why not? Hazel's a bright girl. She's as wise as any two men. A +crook don't worry her a thing." +</P> + +<P> +"I guess all that's right enough. But—she's a girl, and—I don't seem +to feel it's fair to her." +</P> + +<P> +Mallinsbee remained silent for some moments. Gordon watched the broad +back of the great, lolling figure in the doorway with an alarm he would +not have displayed had he been facing him. Then the sound of +clattering hoofs outside broke up the silence and the old man turned. +</P> + +<P> +"Here she is," he cried, with a shadowy smile. "Guess she can speak +for herself." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon could have cursed the luck that had brought the girl there at +that moment. He understood the depth of her devotion to her father and +his enterprise. Nothing could have been less opportune. +</P> + +<P> +But, in a moment, his annoyance became lost in his delight at the sound +of her cheery greeting. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Daddy," he heard her call out. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon remained where he was, waiting to feast his eyes upon the fresh +beauty of this girl, who occupied so large a portion of his thoughts. +</P> + +<P> +Her father stood aside to allow her to pass in, and Gordon had his +reward in her radiant smile. +</P> + +<P> +"How's our junior partner?" she cried gayly. +</P> + +<P> +"Feeling just about ready to turn the office into a twelve-foot ring +and—hurt somebody," the junior partner retorted quickly. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel pulled a long face. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it that way?" she demanded, and turned back to her father. Then +she added playfully: "What's ruffled the atmosphere of our—dovecote?" +</P> + +<P> +The old man began to chuckle. +</P> + +<P> +"Dovecote?" he said. "Guess armed fortress comes nearer describing +this lay out. Anyway the temper of its occupants," he added, his +twinkling eyes on the determined features of his protégé. "Guess I'll +get goin' out to the ranch while you two scrap things out. Seems to me +I need to get the cobwebs of David Slosson out of my head." +</P> + +<P> +He took his departure without haste, but with the obvious intention of +avoiding any further discussion of David Slosson for the present. And +Gordon was not sorry for his going. He felt that at all costs his +suggestion that Hazel should take her place in the ring with this man +Slosson was not to be thought of. +</P> + +<P> +But he was reckoning without Hazel herself. He was calculating with +all a man's—a young man's—assurance that this girl would regard his +opinions in the light he regarded them himself. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel sat herself upon the edge of his desk, and flicked the rawhide +quirt against the leg of her top boot. Her prairie hat was thrust back +from her forehead, and her pretty tanned face was turned in a smiling +inquiry upon Gordon. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" she asked, with that new alertness the man had come to +regard as a part of her nature, second only to her delightful +camaraderie. +</P> + +<P> +He smiled back into her merry eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm wondering why two men bent on a joint purpose can't see the same +thing in the same light." +</P> + +<P> +"Which means you and my daddy have already started an argument which +I'll have to settle." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess you'll settle it, though—there's no need." +</P> + +<P> +"Why not? If you can't agree?" +</P> + +<P> +"We do agree." +</P> + +<P> +"Then where's the argument?" +</P> + +<P> +"There isn't one." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel began to laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"Why did you say there was?" +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't. It was you who said that." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel's smile had died away. +</P> + +<P> +"It's Slosson, of course," she said decidedly. And Gordon began to +wish she were not so clearsighted, nor so direct in her challenges. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, he's a constant thorn," he said evasively. +</P> + +<P> +"Has he been here to-day?" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"And the result?" +</P> + +<P> +"Your father is—obdurate. Says he won't submit to blackmail." +</P> + +<P> +"Has Slosson abated his terms?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think so." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel rose quickly from her seat on the desk. She walked slowly across +the room and propped herself in the doorway, in precisely the same +position as her father had occupied. Gordon's eyes watched her every +movement. He knew she was considering deeply, and intuition warned him +that the result of her consideration might easily conflict with that +which he had in his mind. But he was not prepared for the announcement +which came a moment later. +</P> + +<P> +She came back to the desk quickly, and took up her old place on it. +Her pretty lips were firmly set, and she gazed soberly and +unflinchingly down into Gordon's apprehensive blue eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"I shall have to deal with David Slosson," she said quietly. Then, +with a light, expressive shrug: "It won't be pleasant—not by quite a +lot. But—it's got to be done, and done quickly. Father won't give +way, so—he must." +</P> + +<P> +But, in a moment, Gordon's protest came with all the enthusiasm of his +impulsive nature. To think of this beautiful child having to defile +herself by cajoling a creature like this Slosson moved him to a pitch +of distraction. Whatever else he did not know, he knew the meaning of +expression when men gaze at women. And he had not forgotten his first +morning in Snake's Fall. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Mallinsbee," he cried, his big body leaning forward in his +earnestness, and all his feelings displayed in his ingenuous face, "I'd +rather let this thing go plumb smash than that you should be brought +into contact with that filthy scum again. Say, you're too young, and +good, to understand such creatures. I know——" +</P> + +<P> +Hazel was smiling whimsically down into his anxious eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"And you're so old and wise you can see plumb through him," she cried. +Then with an exact reproduction of his manner, she leaned forward so +that their faces were within a foot of each other. "You two Solomons +can't deal with him worth two cents. My daddy's too obstinate, and +you—are too prejudiced. He's got to be dealt with, and I'm going to +do it. In a case like this a girl's wiser than any two men." +</P> + +<P> +"That's—just how your father argued," cried Gordon, in exasperation. +And the next moment he could have bitten off his tongue. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel clapped her hands. +</P> + +<P> +"So that was the argument," she cried delightedly. "My daddy in his +wisdom thought of me, and you—you being just a big, big chivalrous boy +with notions, couldn't see the same way." +</P> + +<P> +Then she sat up, and her eyes grew very serious. That which lay behind +them was completely hidden from her companion, as she intended it to be. +</P> + +<P> +Had it been possible for him to have read her approval of himself in +her attitude, he now made it beyond question by the sudden wave of heat +which swept through his heart. +</P> + +<P> +"I tell you, you've no right to sacrifice yourself," he cried hotly. +"Nor has your father——" +</P> + +<P> +"No right? Sacrifice?" Hazel's eyes opened wide, and in their +beautiful depths a sparkle of resentment shone. "Who says that?" she +demanded. Then in a moment her merry thought banished the clouds of +her displeasure. She began to tease. "Why shouldn't I do this? Say, +you've roused my curiosity. What's the danger? I—I just love danger. +What is the danger I'm running?" +</P> + +<P> +But Gordon's sense of humor was unequal to her teasing on such a +subject. He remained sulkily silent. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm waiting," Hazel urged slyly. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon cleared his throat. He glanced up at her a little helplessly. +Their eyes met, and somehow he caught the infection of her lurking +smile. +</P> + +<P> +He was forced to laugh in spite of himself. +</P> + +<P> +"If—if you don't know, it's not for me to say," he cried at last, with +a shrug. "But I tell you, right here, if you were my sister you +wouldn't go near Slosson, if I had to—to chain you up." +</P> + +<P> +"But I'm not your sister," retorted Hazel, with her dazzling smile. +"And, if I were, I shouldn't be a sister of yours if I didn't." Then +she laughed at herself. "Say, isn't that real bright?" Then with a +great pretense at severity she flourished an admonitory finger at him. +"Gordon Van Henslaer," she said solemnly, "you're just as obstinate as +my daddy, but you haven't got his wisdom." Her pretense passed and she +became suddenly very earnest. "This thing is just all the world to my +daddy," she said, "and I can help him. Wouldn't you help him if you +had such a dear, quaint old daddy as I have? I'm sure you would. What +does it matter to me what I may have to put up with if I can help him +out? True, it doesn't matter a thing. Insults? Why, I'll just deal +with them as they come along." Then her mood lightened. "Say, we're +just two real good friends, Mr. Van Henslaer, aren't we? Friends. +It's got a bully sound. That's just how my daddy and I've been ever +since my poor momma died years and years ago. Heigho!" she sighed. +"And now I've got another friend, and that's you. Say, we're always +going to be friends, too, because you're going to understand that +this—this thing is business, and business isn't play. My daddy wants +to make good, and I'm going to do all I know. And," she added slyly, +"that's quite a lot. Do you know, in this thing I'm dead honest when +I'm dealing with honest folk, and I'm a 'sharp' when I'm dealing with +'sharps'? By that I just mean I'm not scared of a thing. Certainly of +nothing Mr. David Slosson can do. My daddy can trust me, and he's +known me all my life. You've only known me a week, but you can trust +me too. I'm out to help things along, so just let's forget this—this +talk." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon's admiration for the girl was so obvious that no words of his +were necessary to illuminate it, but he shook his head seriously as she +finished speaking. +</P> + +<P> +"I just can't help it, Miss Mallinsbee," he said, a little desperately. +"If anything happened to you I'd never forgive myself. What do you +mean to do?" +</P> + +<P> +Hazel smiled at his manner. Her smile was confident, but it was also +an expression of her regard for him. She had no intention of modifying +her decision, but she liked him for his dogged protest. +</P> + +<P> +"You just leave that to me," she cried buoyantly. "I haven't an idea +in my silly head—yet. All I can say is, David Slosson is to be +encouraged. He's to be flattered. I'm going to make him smile real +prettily with that mealy face of his. Guess I'll have to take him out +rides—but I'll promise you it won't be my fault if he don't break his +wicked neck." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon was forced to join in the girl's infectious laugh, but it was +without enjoyment. To think of this man riding at Hazel's side, +basking in her smiles, enjoying her company just when and where he +pleased. The thought was maddening. And it set his fingers tingling +and itching to possess themselves of his throat and squeeze the life +out of him. +</P> + +<P> +"And how long's this to go on for?" he asked sulkily, in spite of his +laugh. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel's eyes opened wide. +</P> + +<P> +"Why—until he weakens, and we get things fixed." +</P> + +<P> +"And if he beats your game?" +</P> + +<P> +"He'll hate himself first, and then we'll have to reorganize our plans." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I guess I'll get busy on the other plans." +</P> + +<P> +"I shall be beaten?" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon glanced away towards the window. His eyes had become reflective. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the only thing I can see," he said slowly. "He'll finish by +insulting you. I know his kind. He'll insult you, sure. And I—well, +I shall just as surely pretty near kill him. And then we'll need +other—plans." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +HAZEL MALLINSBEE'S CAMPAIGN +</H4> + +<P> +The seductive mystery of the hills was beyond all words. A wonderful +outlook of wide valleys, bounded in almost every direction by the vast +incline of wood-clad hills, opened out a world that seemed to terminate +abruptly everywhere, yet to go on and on in an endless series of great +green valleys and mountain streams. Darkling wood-belts crept up the +great hillsides, deep in mysterious shadows, stirring imagination, and +carrying it back to all those haunting dreams of early childhood. For +the most part these were all untrodden by human foot, and so their +mystery deepened. Then above, often penetrating into the low-lying +clouds, the crowning glory of alabaster peaks whose snowy sheen dazed +the wondering eyes raised towards them. +</P> + +<P> +In the valleys below, the green, the wonderful green, bright and +delicate, and quite unfaded by the scorching sun of the prairie away +beyond. Pastures beyond the dreams of all animal imagination in their +humid richness. Water, too, and low, broken scrubs and woodland +bluffs—one vast panorama of verdant beauty, such as only the eye of an +artist or the heart of a ranchman could appreciate. +</P> + +<P> +It was the setting of Silas Mallinsbee's ranch, that ranch which was +more to him than all the world, except his motherless daughter. Gordon +had seen it all as he rode out to spend the week-end on a ranch horse, +placed by Mallinsbee at his disposal. He had marveled then at the +delights spread out before his eyes. Now, on the Sunday morning, while +he awaited breakfast, he wondered still more as he examined, even more +closely, that wealth of natural splendor spread out for his delight. +</P> + +<P> +He was lounging on the deep sun-sheltered veranda which faced the +south. The ranch house was perched high up on the southern slope of +one of the lesser hills. Above him the gentle morning breeze sighed in +the rustling tree-tops of a great crowning woodland. Below him, and +all around him, were the widespreading buildings and corrals of a great +ranching enterprise. It seemed incredible to him that within twenty +miles of him, away to the east, there could exist so mundane and sordid +an undertaking as the Bude and Sideley Coal Company, and the vicious +chorus of ground sharks which haunted Snake's Fall. He felt as though +he were gazing out upon some enchanted valley of dreamland, where the +soft breezes and glinting sunlight possessed a magic to rest the +teeming energy of modern highly tuned brain and nerves. +</P> + +<P> +Its seductiveness lulled him to a profound meditation, and into his +dreaming stole the figure of the mistress of these miles of perfect +beauty. Now he had some understanding of that fascinating buoyancy of +spirit, the simple devotion with which she contemplated the life that +claimed her. How could it be otherwise? Here was nature in all its +wonders of simplicity, shedding upon the life sheltering at its bosom +an equal simplicity, an equal strength, an equal singleness of mind +with which it was itself endowed. He felt that if he, too, had been +brought up in such surroundings no city flesh-pots could ever have +offered him any fascination. He, too, must have felt that this—this +alone was the real life of man. +</P> + +<P> +The play of the dancing sunlight through the distant trees held his +gaze. He forgot to smoke, he forgot everything except the beauty about +him, the stirring ranch life below him, and the girl whose fascination +was daily possessing a greater and greater hold upon him. +</P> + +<P> +Then, quite gently, something else subtly merged itself with the +pleasant tide of his meditations. It was the deep note of a voice +which came from close beside him in a rolling bass that afforded no jar. +</P> + +<P> +"A picture that's mighty hard to beat," it said. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon nodded without turning. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure." +</P> + +<P> +"Kind of holds you till you wonder why folks ever build cities and +things." +</P> + +<P> +"Sure." +</P> + +<P> +"There ain't a muck hole in miles and miles around that you could fall +into, and not come out of with a clean conscience an' a wholesome mind. +Kind of different to a city." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon stirred. He turned and looked into Silas Mallinsbee's smiling +eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"It's—all yours?" he inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"For miles an' miles around. I got nigh a hundred miles of grazing in +these hills—and nobody else don't seem to want it. Makes you wonder." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, set a spade into the ground and find a marketable mineral and +tell somebody. Then see." +</P> + +<P> +Mallinsbee chewed an unlit cigar, and his chin beard twisted absurdly. +</P> + +<P> +"That's it," he said slowly. "There's nothing to these hills as they +are, except to a cattleman, I guess. Cattle don't suit the modern man. +Your profitable crop's a three years' waiting, and that don't mean a +thing to folk nowadays, except a dead loss of time on the round-up of +dollars. They don't figure that once you're good and going that three +years' crop comes around once every year. So they miss a deal." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, they'd reckon it slow, I guess," Gordon agreed. "But," he went +on with enthusiasm, "the life of it. The air." He took a deep breath +of the sparkling mountain atmosphere. "It's champagne. The champagne +of life. Say, it's good to be alive in such a place. And you," he +gazed inquiringly into the man's strong face, "you began it from—the +beginning?" +</P> + +<P> +"I built the first ranch house with my own hands. My old wife an' I +built up this ranch and ran it. And now it's rich and big—she's gone. +She never saw it win out. Hazel's took her place, and it's been for +her to see it grow to what it is. She helped me ship my first single +year's crop of twenty thousand beeves to the market ten years ago. She +was a small kiddie then, and she cried her pretty eyes out when I told +her they were going to the slaughter yards of Chicago. You see, she'd +known most of 'em as calves." +</P> + +<P> +"The work of it must be enormous," meditated Gordon, after a pause in +which he had pictured that small child weeping over her lost calves. +</P> + +<P> +"So," rumbled Mallinsbee. "We're used to it. I run thirty boys all +the year round, and more at round-up. Guess if I was missing Hazel +wouldn't be at a loss to carry on. She's a great ranchman. She knows +it all." +</P> + +<P> +"Wonderful," Gordon cried in admiration. "It's staggering to think of +a girl like that handling this great concern." +</P> + +<P> +"There's two foremen, though. They've been with us years," said the +other simply. +</P> + +<P> +But Gordon's wonder remained no less, and Mallinsbee went on— +</P> + +<P> +"After breakfast we'll take a gun and get up into those woods yonder. +Maybe we'll put up a jack rabbit, or a blacktail deer. Anyway, I guess +there's always a bunch of prairie chicken around." +</P> + +<P> +"Fine," cried Gordon, all his sporting instincts banishing every other +thought. "Which——" +</P> + +<P> +But Hazel's voice interrupted him, summoning them both to breakfast. +</P> + +<P> +"Come along, folks," she cried, "or the coffee 'll be cold." +</P> + +<P> +The men hurried into the house. Gordon felt that there was nothing and +no power on earth that could keep him from his breakfast in that +delicious mountain air, with Hazel for his hostess. +</P> + +<P> +The meal was all he anticipated. Simple, ample, wholesome country +fare, with the accompaniment of perfect cooking. He ate with an +appetite that set Hazel's merry eyes dancing, and her tongue +accompanying them with an equally merry banter. And all the time Silas +Mallinsbee looked on, and smiled, and rumbled an occasional remark. +</P> + +<P> +After breakfast the two men set out with their guns. +</P> + +<P> +"We're sure making Sunday service," said Hazel's father, glancing into +the breech of his favorite gun. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon concurred. +</P> + +<P> +"Up in the woods there," he laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"With a congregation of fur and feather," laughed Hazel. +</P> + +<P> +"Which is as wholesome as petticoats an' swallowtails," said her +father, "an' a good deal more healthy fer our bodies." +</P> + +<P> +"But what about your souls?" inquired Hazel slyly. +</P> + +<P> +"Souls?" Her father snapped the breech closed. "A soul's like a good +sailin' ship. If she's driving on a lee shore it's through bad +seamanship and the winds of heaven, and you can't save it anyway. If +she ain't driving on a lee shore—well, I don't guess she needs saving." +</P> + +<P> +"It's a great big scallywag," came through the open doorway after them, +as they departed. The tenderness and affection in the manner of the +girl's parting words made Gordon feel that his great host had some +compensation for the absence of that mother who had blessed him with +such a pledge of their love. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The two men were returning with their bag. It was not extensive, but +it was select. A small blacktail was lying across Mallinsbee's broad +shoulders. Gordon was carrying a large jack-rabbit, and several brace +of prairie chicken. The younger man was enthusiastic over their sport. +</P> + +<P> +"Talk to me of a city! Why, I could do this twice a day and every day, +till I was blind and silly, and deaf and dumb. I sort of feel life +don't begin to tell you things till you get out in the open, at the +right end of a gun. Makes you feel sorry for the fellows chasing +dollars in a city." +</P> + +<P> +They were approaching the limits of a woodland bluff, from the edge of +which the ranch would be in view. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess that's how I've always felt—till little Hazel got without a +mother," replied Mallinsbee. "After that—well, I just guess I needed +other things to fill up spare thoughts." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon's enthusiasm promptly lessened out of sympathy. Something of +the loneliness of the ranch life—when one of the partners was +taken—now occurred to him. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he said earnestly, "the right woman's just the whole of a man's +world. I guess there are circumstances when—this sun don't shine so +bright. When a man feels something of the vastness and solitude of +these hills, when their mystery sort of gets hold of him. I can get +that—sure." +</P> + +<P> +"Yep. It's just about then when a bit of coal makes all the +difference," Mallinsbee smiled. "I wouldn't just call coal the gayest +thing in life. But it's got its uses. When the summer's past, why, I +guess the stoves of winter need banking." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon nodded his understanding. +</P> + +<P> +"But your daughter is just crazy on this life," he suggested. +</P> + +<P> +The old man's smile had passed. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure." Then he sighed. "She's been my partner ever since, sort of +junior partner. But sometime she 'll be—going." Then his slow smile +crept back into his eyes. "Then it'll be winter all the time. Then +it'll have to be coal, an' again coal—right along." +</P> + +<P> +They emerged from the woods, and instinctively Gordon gazed across at +the distant ranch. In a moment he was standing stock still staring +across the valley. And swiftly there leaped into his eyes a dangerous +light. Mallinsbee halted, too. He shaded his eyes, and an ominous +cloud settled upon his heavy brows. +</P> + +<P> +"Some one driven out," he muttered, examining narrowly a team and buggy +standing at the veranda. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon emitted a sound that was like a laugh, but had no mirth in it. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a man, and he's talking to Miss Mallinsbee on the veranda. It +don't take me guessing his identity. That suit's fixed right on my +mind." +</P> + +<P> +"David Slosson," muttered Mallinsbee, and he hurried on at an increased +pace. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It was after the midday dinner which David Slosson had shared with them. +</P> + +<P> +When her father and Gordon arrived, and before objection could be +offered by anybody, Hazel asked her uninvited guest to stay to dinner. +David Slosson, without the least hesitation, accepted the invitation. +In this manner all opposition from her father was discounted, all +display of either man's displeasure avoided. She contrived, with +subtle feminine wit, to twist the situation to the ends she had in +view. She disliked the visitor intensely. The part she had decided to +play troubled her, but she meant to carry it through whatever it cost +her, and she felt that an opportunity like the present was not to be +missed. +</P> + +<P> +Her father accepted the cue he was offered, but Gordon was obsessed +with murderous thoughts which certainly Hazel read, even in the smile +with which he greeted the man he had decided was to be his enemy. +</P> + +<P> +To Gordon, David Slosson was even more detestable socially than in +business. Here his obvious vulgarity and commonness had no opportunity +of disguise. He displayed it in the very explanation of his visit. +</P> + +<P> +"Say," he cried, "Snake's Fall is just the bummest location this side +of the Sahara on a Sunday. I was lyin' around the hotel with a grouch +on I couldn't have scotched with a dozen highballs. I was hatin' +myself that bad I got right up an' hired a team and drove along out +here on the off-chance of hitting up against some one interestin'." +Then he added, with a glance at Hazel, which Gordon would willingly +have slain him for: "Guess I hit." +</P> + +<P> +This was on the veranda. But later, throughout the meal, his offenses, +in Gordon's eyes, mounted up and up, till the tally nearly reached the +breaking strain. +</P> + +<P> +The man put himself at his ease to his own satisfaction from the start. +He addressed all his talk either to Hazel or to her father, and, by +ignoring Gordon almost entirely, displayed the fact that antagonism was +mutual. +</P> + +<P> +He criticised everything he saw about him, from the simple furnishing +of the room in which they were dining, and the food they were partaking +of, and its cooking, even to the riding-costume Hazel was wearing. He +lost no opportunity of comparing unfavorably the life on the ranch, the +life, as he put it, to which her father condemned Hazel, with the life +of the cities he knew and had lived in. He passed from one rudeness to +another under the firm conviction that he was making an impression upon +this flower of the plains. The men mattered nothing to him. As far as +Mallinsbee was concerned, he felt he held him in the palm of his hand. +</P> + +<P> +Never in his life had Gordon undergone such an ordeal as that meal, +which he had so looked forward to, in the pleasant company of father +and daughter. Never had he known before the real meaning of +self-restraint. More than all it was made harder by the fact that he +felt Hazel was aware of something of his feelings. And the certainty +that her father understood was made plain by the amused twinkle of his +eyes when they were turned in his direction. +</P> + +<P> +Then came the <I>dénouement</I>. It was at the finish of the meal that +Hazel launched her bombshell. Slosson, in a long, coarse disquisition +upon ranching, had been displaying his most perfect ignorance and +conceit. He finished up with the definite statement that ranching was +done, "busted." He knew. He had seen. There was nothing in it. Only +in grain or mixed farming. He had had wide experience on the prairie, +and you couldn't teach him a thing. +</P> + +<P> +"You must let me show you how fallible is your opinion," said Hazel, +with more politeness of language than intent. There was a subtle +sparkle in her eyes which Gordon was rejoiced to detect. "Let me see," +she went on, "it's light till nearly nine o'clock. You see, I mustn't +keep you driving on the prairie after dark for fear of losing +yourself." She laughed. "Now, I'll lend you a saddle horse—if you +can ride," she went on demurely, "and we'll ride round the range till +supper. That'll leave you ample time to get back to Snake's Fall +without losing yourself in the dark." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon wanted to laugh, but forced himself to refrain. Mallinsbee +audibly chuckled. David Slosson looked sharply at Hazel with his +narrow black eyes, and his face went scarlet. Then he forced a +boisterous laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, that's a bet, Miss Hazel," he cried familiarly. "If you can lose +me out on the prairie you're welcome, and when it comes to the saddle, +why, I guess I can ride anything with hair on." +</P> + +<P> +"Better let him have my plug, Sunset," suggested Mallinsbee gutturally. +</P> + +<P> +But Hazel's eyes opened wide. She shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't insult a man of Mr. Slosson's experience by offering him a +cushy old thing like Sunset," she expostulated. Then she turned to +Slosson. "Sunset's a rocking-horse," she explained. "Now, there's a +dandy three-year-old I've just finished breaking in the barn. He's a +lifey boy. Wouldn't you rather have him?" she inquired wickedly. +</P> + +<P> +Slosson's inclination was obvious. He would have preferred Sunset. +But he couldn't take a bluff from a prairie girl, he told himself. +Forthwith he promptly demanded the three-year-old, and his demand +elicited the first genuine smile Gordon had been able to muster since +he had become aware of Slosson's presence on the ranch. +</P> + +<P> +Within half an hour one of the ranch hands brought the two horses to +the veranda. Hazel's mare, keen-eyed, alert and full of life, was a +picture for the eye of a horseman. The other horse, shy and wild-eyed, +was a picture also, but a picture of quite a different type. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel glanced keenly round the saddle of the youngster. Then she +approached Slosson, who was stroking his black mustache pensively on +the veranda, and looked up at him with her sweetest smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Shall I get on him first?" she inquired. "Maybe he'll cat jump some. +He's pretty lifey. I'd hate him to pitch you." +</P> + +<P> +But to his credit it must be said that Slosson possessed the courage of +his bluff. With a half-angry gesture he left the veranda and took the +horse from the grinning, bechapped ranchman. He knew now that he was +being "jollied." +</P> + +<P> +"Guess you can't scare me that way, Miss Hazel," he cried, but there +was no mirth in the harsh laugh that accompanied his words. +</P> + +<P> +He was in the saddle in a trice, and, almost as quickly, he was very +nearly out of it. That cat jump had come on the instant. +</P> + +<P> +"Stick to him," Hazel cried. +</P> + +<P> +And David Slosson did his best. He caught hold of the horn of the +saddle, his heels went into the horse's sides, and, in two seconds, his +attitude was much that of a shipwrecked mariner trying to balance on a +barrel in a stormy sea. But he stuck to the saddle, although so nearly +wrecked, and though the terrified horse gave a pretty display of +bucking, it could not shed its unwelcome burden. So, in a few moments, +it abandoned its attempt. +</P> + +<P> +Then David Slosson sat up in triumph, and his vanity shone forth upon +his pale face in a beaming smile. +</P> + +<P> +"He's some horseman," rumbled Mallinsbee, loud enough for Slosson to +hear as the horses went off. +</P> + +<P> +"Quite," returned Gordon, in a still louder voice. "If there's one +thing I like to see it's a fine exhibition of horsemanship." +</P> + +<P> +Then as the horses started at a headlong gallop down towards the +valley, the two men left behind turned to each other with a laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"He called Hazel's bluff," said the girl's father, with a wry thrust of +his chin beard. +</P> + +<P> +"Which makes it all the more pleasant to think of the time when my turn +comes," said Gordon sharply. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +David Slosson was more than pleased with himself. He was so delighted +that, by a miraculous effort, he had stuck to his horse, that his +vanity completely ran away with him. He would show this girl and her +mossback father. They wanted to "jolly" him. Well, let them keep +trying. +</P> + +<P> +Once the horses had started he gave his its head, and set it at a hard +gallop. He turned in the saddle with a challenge to his companion. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's have a run for it," he cried. +</P> + +<P> +The girl laughed back at him. +</P> + +<P> +"Where you go I'll follow," she cried. +</P> + +<P> +Her words were well calculated. The light of vainglory was in the +man's eyes, and he hammered his heels into his horse's flanks till it +was racing headlong. But Hazel's mare was at his shoulder, striding +along with perfect confidence and controlled under hands equally +perfect. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll go along this valley and I'll show you our next year's crop of +beeves," cried Hazel, later. "They're away yonder, beyond that +southern hill, guess we'll find half of them around there. You said +ranching was played out, I think." +</P> + +<P> +"Right ho," cried the man, with a sneering laugh. "Guess you'll need +to convince me. Say, this is some hoss." +</P> + +<P> +"Useful," admitted Hazel, watching with distressed eyes the man's +lumbering seat in the saddle. +</P> + +<P> +They rode on for some moments in silence. Then Hazel eased her hand +upon the Lady Jane, and drew up on the youngster like a shot from a gun. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll have to get across this stream," she declared, indicating the +six-foot stream along which they were riding. "There's a cattle bridge +lower down which you'd better take. There it is, away on. Guess you +can see it from here." +</P> + +<P> +"What are you goin' to do?" asked the man sharply. He was expecting +another bluff, and was in the right mood to call it, since his success +with the first. +</P> + +<P> +But Hazel had calculated things to a nicety. She owed this man a good +deal already for herself. She owed him more for his impertinent +ignoring of Gordon, and also for his disparagement of the ranch life +she loved. +</P> + +<P> +Without a word she swung her mare sharply to the left. A dozen +strides, a gazelle-like lifting of the round, brown body, and the Lady +Jane was on the opposite bank of the stream. +</P> + +<P> +Before David Slosson was aware of her purpose, and its accomplishment, +his racing horse, still uneducated of mouth, had carried him thirty or +forty yards beyond the spot where Hazel had jumped the stream. At +length, however, he contrived to pull the youngster up. +</P> + +<P> +He smiled as he saw the girl on the other side of the stream. He +remembered her suggestion of the bridge, and he shut his teeth with a +snap. The stream was narrower here, so he had an advantage which, he +believed, she had miscalculated. He took his horse back some distance +and galloped at the stream. Hazel sat watching him with a smile, just +beyond where he should land. His horse shuffled its feet as it came up +to the bank. Then it lifted. Slosson clung to the horn of the saddle. +Then the horse landed, stumbled, fell, hurling its rider headlong in a +perfect quagmire of swamp. +</P> + +<P> +Slosson gathered himself up, a mass of mud and pretty well wet through. +Hazel was out of the saddle in a moment and offering him assistance +with every expression of concern. She came to the edge of the swamp +and reached out her quirt. The man ignored it. He ignored her, and +scrambled to dry ground without assistance. +</P> + +<P> +"I told you to take the bridge," Hazel cried shamelessly. "You knew +you were on a young horse. Oh dear, dear! What a terrible muss you're +in. My, but my daddy will be angry with me for—for letting this +happen." +</P> + +<P> +Her apparently genuine concern slightly mollified the man. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought you were putting up another bluff at me, Miss Hazel," he +said, still angrily. "Say, you best quit bluffing me. I don't take +'em from anybody." +</P> + +<P> +"Bluff? Why, Mr. Slosson, I couldn't bluff you. I—I warned you. +Same as I did about the cat-jumping your horse put up. Say, this is +just dreadful. We'll have to get right back, and get you dried out and +cleaned. I guess that horse is too young for a—city man. I ought to +have given you Sunset. He'd have jumped that stream a mile—if you +wanted him to. Say—there, I'll have to round up your horse, he's +making for home." +</P> + +<P> +In a moment Hazel was in the saddle again, and the man alternately +watched her and scraped the thick mud off his clothes. +</P> + +<P> +He was decidedly angry. His pride was outraged. But even these things +began to pass as he noted the ease and skill with which she rounded up +the runaway horse. She was doing all she could to help him out, and +the fact helped to further mollify him. After all, she <I>had</I> warned +him to take the bridge. Perhaps he had been too ready to see a bluff +in what she had suggested. After all, why should she attempt to bluff +him? He remembered how powerful he was to affect her father's +interests, and took comfort from it. +</P> + +<P> +She came back with the horse and dismounted. +</P> + +<P> +"Say," she cried, in dismay, "that dandy suit of yours. It's all +mussed to death. I'm real sorry, Mr. Slosson. My word, won't my daddy +be angry." +</P> + +<P> +The man began to smile under the girl's evident distress, and, his +temper recovered, his peculiar nature promptly reasserted itself. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, Miss Hazel—oh, hang the 'miss.' You owe me something for this, +you do, an' I don't let folks owe me things long." +</P> + +<P> +"Owe?" Hazel's face was blankly astonished. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure." The man eyed her in an unmistakable fashion. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the girl began to laugh. She pointed at him. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess we'll need to get you home and cleaned down some before we talk +of anything else I owe. That surely is something I owe you. Here, you +get up into the saddle. I'll hold your horse, he's a bit scared. +We'll talk of debts as we ride back." +</P> + +<P> +But Slosson was in no mood to be denied just now. Although his anger +had abated, he felt that Hazel was not to go free of penalty. He came +to her as though about to take the reins from her hand, but, instead, +he thrust out an arm to seize her by the waist. +</P> + +<P> +Then it was that a curious thing happened. The young horse suddenly +jumped backwards, dragging the girl with it out of the man's reach. It +had responded to the swift flick of Hazel's quirt, and left the man +without understanding, and his amorous intentions quite unsatisfied. +The next moment the girl was in her own saddle and laughing down at him. +</P> + +<P> +"I forgot," she cried, "you'd just hate to have your horse held by +a—girl. You best hurry into the saddle, or you'll contract lung +trouble in all that wet." +</P> + +<P> +Slosson cursed softly. But he knew that she was beyond his reach in +the saddle. A tacit admission that, at least here, on the ranch, she +dominated the situation. +</P> + +<P> +"And I've never been able to show you those beeves, and convince you +about ranching," Hazel sighed regretfully later on, as they rode back +towards the ranch. But her sigh was sham and her heart was full of +laughter. +</P> + +<P> +She was thinking of the delight she would witness in Gordon's eyes, +when he beheld the much besmirched suit of this man, to whom he had +taken such a dislike. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THINKING HARD +</H4> + +<P> +The days slipped by with great rapidity. They passed far too rapidly +for Gordon. The expectation of Silas Mallinsbee that David Slosson +would eventually listen to reason, and accept terms for himself similar +to those agreeable to him on behalf of the railroad, showed no sign of +maturing. The firmness of his front in no way seemed to affect the +grafting agent, and from day to day, although the rancher and his +assistant waited patiently for a definite <I>dénouement</I>, nothing +occurred to hold out promise one way or another. Mallinsbee said very +little, but he watched events with wide-open eyes, and not altogether +without hope that the man would be brought to reason. His eyes were on +Hazel, smiling appreciation, for Hazel was at work using every art of +which she was capable to frustrate any opposition to her father's +plans, and to help on, as she described it, the "good work." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm a 'sharper' in this, Mr. Van Henslaer," she declared, in face of +one of Gordon's frequent protests. "I'm no better than David Slosson. +And I—I want you to understand that. I think your ideas of chivalry +are just too sweet, but I want you to look with my eyes. We're a bunch +of most ordinary folk who want to win out. If you and my daddy thought +by burying him, dead or alive, you could beat his hand, why, I guess it +would take an express locomotive to stop you. Well, I'm out to try and +put him out of harm's way in my own fashion. If I can't do it, why, +he'll find I'm not the dandy prairie flower he's figuring I am just +now. That's all. So meanwhile get on with any old plans you can find +up your sleeve. By hook or <I>crook</I> we've <I>got</I> to make good." +</P> + +<P> +By this expression of the girl's extraordinary determination doubtless +Gordon should have been silenced. But he was not silenced, nor +anything like it. The truth was he was in love—wildly, passionately, +jealously in love. It nearly drove him to distraction to watch the way +in which, almost daily, this man Slosson drove out to see Hazel and +take her out for buggy rides or horse riding. Not only that, he and +her father were practically ignored by the man. They were just so much +furniture in the office, and when by any chance the agent did deign to +notice them there was generally something offensive in his manner of +address. +</P> + +<P> +Worst of all, as the outcome of Hazel's campaign there were no signs +that matters were one whit advanced towards the successful completion +of their project, and the days had already grown into weeks. All +Gordon could do was to busy himself with formulating wild and +impossible schemes for beating this creature. And a hundred and one +strenuous possibilities occurred to him, all of which, however, offered +no suggestion of bending the man, only of breaking him. The sum and +substance of all his efforts was a deadly yearning to kill David +Slosson, kill him so dead as to spoil forever his chances of +resurrection. +</P> + +<P> +This was much the position when, nearly three weeks later, in response +to a peremptory note from Slosson in the morning, Silas Mallinsbee +decided that Gordon should deal with him on a business visit in the +afternoon. +</P> + +<P> +Oh yes, Gordon would interview him. Gordon would deal with him. +Gordon would love it above all things. Was he given a free hand? +</P> + +<P> +But Mallinsbee smiled into the fiery eyes of the young giant and shook +his head, while Hazel looked on at the brewing storm with inscrutable +eyes of amusement. +</P> + +<P> +"There's no free hand for anybody in this thing, Gordon, boy," said +Mallinsbee slowly. "And I don't guess there's any crematoriums or +undertakers' corporation around Snake's Fall. Anyway, Hip-Lee wouldn't +do a thing if you asked him to bury a white man." +</P> + +<P> +"White man?" snorted Gordon furiously. +</P> + +<P> +"Remember you're—fighting for my daddy as well as yourself, Mr. Van +Henslaer," said Hazel earnestly. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon sighed. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll remember," he said. And his two friends knew that the matter was +safe in his hands. +</P> + +<P> +Left alone in his office, Gordon endured an unpleasant hour after his +dinner. It was not the thoughts of his coming interview that disturbed +him. It was Hazel. It was of her he was always thinking, when not +actually engaged upon any duty. Every day made his thoughts harder to +bear. +</P> + +<P> +For awhile he sat before his desk, leaning back in his chair, gazing +blankly at the wooden wall opposite him. She was always the same to +him; his worst fits of temper seemed to make no difference. She only +smiled and humored or chided him as though he were some big, wayward +child. Then the next moment she would ride off with this vermin +Slosson, full of merry sallies and smiling graciousness, whom, he knew, +if she had any right feeling at all, she must loathe and despise. +Well, if she did loathe him, she had a curious way of showing it. +</P> + +<P> +He thrust his chair back with an angry movement, and walked off into +the bedroom opening out of the office. He looked in. The neatness of +it, the scent of fresh air pouring in through its open window, meant +nothing to him. He saw none of the work of the guiding hand which, in +preparing it, had provided for his comfort. Hip-Lee kept it clean and +made his bed, the same as he cooked his food. It did not occur to +Gordon to whom Hip-Lee was responsible. +</P> + +<P> +There were pictures on the walls, and it never occurred to Gordon that +these had been taken from Hazel's own bedroom at the ranch—for his +enjoyment. Nor was he aware that the shaving-glass and table had been +specially purchased by Hazel for his comfort. There were a dozen and +one little comforts, none of which he realized had been added to the +room since it had been set aside for his use. +</P> + +<P> +He flung himself upon the bed, all regardless of the lace pillow-sham +which had once had a place on Hazel's own bed. He was in that frame of +mind when he only wanted to get through the hours before Hazel's sunny +presence again returned to the office. He was angry with her. He was +ready to think, did think, the hardest thoughts of her; but he longed, +stupidly, foolishly longed for her return, although he knew that, with +her return, fresh evidence of Slosson's attentions to her and of her +acceptance of them would be forthcoming. +</P> + +<P> +He was only allowed another ten minutes in which to enjoy his moody +misery. At the end of that time he heard the rattle of wheels beyond +the veranda, and sprang from his couch with the battle light shining in +his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +But disappointment awaited him. It was not Slosson who presented +himself. It was the altogether cheerful face of Peter McSwain which +appeared at the doorway. +</P> + +<P> +"Say," he cried. Then he paused and glanced rapidly round the room. +"Ain't Mallinsbee around?" he demanded eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Business?" he inquired. "If it's business I'm right here to attend to +it." +</P> + +<P> +Peter hesitated. +</P> + +<P> +"I s'pose you'd call it business," he said, after a considering pause, +during which he took careful stock of Mallinsbee's representative. +Then he went on, with a suggestion of doubt in his tone, "You deal with +his business—confidential?" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon smiled in spite of his recent bitterness. He moved over to his +desk and sat down, at the same time indicating the chair opposite him. +As soon as McSwain had taken his seat Gordon leaned forward, gazing +straight into the man's always hot-looking face. +</P> + +<P> +"See here, Mr. McSwain, we're at a deadlock for the moment, as maybe +you know. Later it'll straighten itself out. I can speak plainly to +you, because you're a friend of Mr. Mallinsbee, and you're interested +with us in this deal. I'm here to represent Mr. Mallinsbee in +everything, even to dealing with the railroad people, so anything +you've got to say, why, just go ahead. For practical purposes you are +talking to Mr. Mallinsbee." +</P> + +<P> +The disturbed Peter sighed his relief. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad, because what I've got to say won't keep. If you folks don't +get a cinch on that dago-lookin' Slosson feller the game's up. He's +askin' options up at Snake's. He's not buyin' the land yet, just +lookin' for options. Maybe you know I got two plots on Main Street, +besides my hotel. Well, he's made a bid for options on 'em for two +months. He says other folks are goin' to accept his offer. There's +Mike Callahan, the livery man. Slosson's been gettin' at him, too. +Mike come along and told me, and asked what he should do. I guessed +I'd run out and see Mallinsbee. If ther' ain't anything doin' here at +Buffalo, why, it's up to us to accept." +</P> + +<P> +The man mopped his forehead with a gorgeous handkerchief. His eyes +were troubled and anxious. He felt he would rather have dealt with +Mallinsbee. This youngster didn't look smart enough to deal with the +situation. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon was tapping the desk with a penholder. He was thinking very +hard. He knew that the definite movement had come at last, and that it +was adverse to their interests. This was the reply to Mallinsbee's +resolve. For the moment the matter seemed overwhelming. There seemed +to be no counter-move for them to make. Then quite suddenly he +detected a sign of weakness in it. +</P> + +<P> +"Say," he demanded at last, "why does the man want options? I take it +options are to safeguard him <I>in case</I> he wants to buy. This thing +looks better than I thought. He's guessing he may quarrel with us. +He's thinking maybe we won't come to terms. He's worrying that the +news of that will get around, and that, in consequence, up will go +prices in Snake's. That'll mean the railroad 'll have to pay through +the nose, and he'll get into trouble if they have to buy up there. You +see, the bedrock of this layout is—this place has to boom anyway, and +they've got to get in either here or at Snake's." +</P> + +<P> +Peter rubbed his hands. His opinion of Gordon began to undergo +revision. +</P> + +<P> +"Then what are we to do?" The anxiety in his eyes was lessening. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon sprang from his seat, and brought one hand down on his desk with +a slam. +</P> + +<P> +"Do? Why, let him go to hell. Refuse him any option," he cried +fiercely. "Here, I'll tell you what you do. And do it right away. +How do you stand with the folks up there?" +</P> + +<P> +"Good. They mostly listen when I talk," said Peter, with some pride. +</P> + +<P> +"Fine!" cried Gordon. "We'll roast him some. See here, I know you're +holding with us. I know Mike is, and several others. Your interests +are far and away bigger here than in Snake's. So you'll get busy right +away. You'll get all the boys together who've got interests here. +Tell 'em we've fallen out over the railroad deal with Slosson. Tell +'em to get the town together, and then let 'em explain about this +rupture. I'll guarantee the rupture's complete. Make 'em refuse all +options and boost their prices for definite sale, and threaten to raise +'em sky-high unless the railroad make a quick deal. Put a fancy figure +on your land at which he <I>daren't</I> buy. You get that? Now I'll show +you how we'll stand. He's <I>got to come in on this place then</I>. He'll +have to buy at our price, because—<I>the railroad must get in</I>. You +must play the town folks who've got land there, but none here, to force +the prices up on the strength of our quarrel with the railroad, and +I'll guarantee that quarrel's complete this afternoon. Well?" +</P> + +<P> +The last vestige of Peter's worry had disappeared. His eyes shone +admiringly as he gazed at the smiling face of the man who had conceived +so unscrupulous a scheme. He nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"The railroad's got to get in," he agreed. "If they can't get in here +they've got to there. Offer him boom prices there, and if he +closes—which he <I>daren't</I>—we make our bits, anyway. If he don't, +then he's got to buy here <I>on your terms</I>, and—the depot comes here, +and the boom with it. Say, it's bright. An' you'll guarantee that +scrap up?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure." +</P> + +<P> +Peter sprang to his feet. +</P> + +<P> +"That's Mallinsbee's—word?" +</P> + +<P> +"Absolutely." +</P> + +<P> +The man's hot face became suddenly hotter, and his eyes shone. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll get right back and we'll hold a meetin' to-night. Say, we've got +to fool those who ain't got interests here—they ain't more than fifty +per cent.—and then we'll send prices sky-high. You can bet on it, Mr. +Van Henslaer, sir. All it's up to you to do is to turn him down and +drive him our way. We'll drive him back to you. It's elegant." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon gave a final promise as they shook hands when Peter had mounted +his buggy. Then the hotel proprietor drove off in high glee. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon went back to his office without any sensation of satisfaction. +He had committed Mallinsbee to a definite policy that might easily fall +foul of that individual's ideas. But he had committed him, and meant +to carry the thing through against all opposition. +</P> + +<P> +The cue had been too obvious for him to neglect. It was Slosson who +had made a false move. He was temporizing, instead of acting on a +fighting policy, and it was pretty obvious to him that his temporizing +was due to his growing regard for Hazel. The man was mad to ask for +options. He was a fool—a perfect idiot. No, the opportunity had been +too good to miss. If Slosson had shown weakness, he did not intend to +do so. Then, as he sat down and further probed the situation, a real +genuine sensation of satisfaction did occur. There would no longer be +any necessity for Hazel to attempt to play the man. +</P> + +<P> +All in a moment he saw the whole thing, and a wild delight and +excitement surged through him. He was in the heart of a youngster's +paradise once more. The sun streaming in through the window was one +great blaze of heavenly light. The world was fair and joyous, and, for +himself, he was living in a palace of delight. +</P> + +<P> +It was in such mood that he heard the approach of David Slosson. +</P> + +<P> +The agent entered the office with all the arrogance of a detestable +victor. His first words set Gordon's spine bristling, although his +welcoming smile was amiability itself. +</P> + +<P> +Slosson glanced round the room, and, discovering only Gordon, flung +himself into Mallinsbee's chair and delivered himself of his orders. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, you best have your darned Chinaman take my horse around back an' +feed him hay. Where's Mallinsbee?" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon assumed an almost deferential air, but ignored the order for the +horse's care. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sorry, but Mr. Mallinsbee won't be around this afternoon. He's +going up in the hills on a shoot," he lied shamelessly. "Maybe for a +week or two. Maybe only days." +</P> + +<P> +"What in thunder? Say, was he here this morning? I sent word I was +coming along." +</P> + +<P> +Slosson's black eyes had narrowed angrily, and his pasty features were +shaded with the pink of rising temper. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon's eyes expressed simple surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, he was here. Your note got along 'bout eleven. He guessed he +couldn't stop around for you. You see, a few caribou have been seen +within twenty miles of the ranch. They don't wait around for business +appointments." +</P> + +<P> +Slosson brought one fist down on the arm of his chair, and in a burst +of anger almost shouted at the deferential Gordon. +</P> + +<P> +"Caribou?" he exploded. "What in thunder is he chasin' caribou for +when there's things to be settled once and for all that won't keep? +Caribou? The man's crazy. Does he think I'm going to wait around +while he gets chasin'—caribou?" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon maintained a perfect equanimity, but he wanted to laugh badly. +He felt he could afford to laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"There's no need to 'wait around,'" he deferred blandly. "I am here to +act for Mr. Mallinsbee—absolutely. The entire affairs of the township +are in my hands, and I have his definite instructions how to proceed. +If you have any proposition to make I am prepared to deal with it." +</P> + +<P> +For all his apparent deference a note had crept into Gordon's tone +which caught the suspicious ears of the railroad agent. He peered +sharply into the blue eyes of the man across the desk. +</P> + +<P> +"You have absolute power to deal in Mallinsbee's interest?" he +questioned harshly. +</P> + +<P> +"In <I>Mr.</I> Mallinsbee's interests," assented Gordon. +</P> + +<P> +"Wal, what's his proposition?" The man's mustached upper lip was +slightly lifted and he showed his teeth. +</P> + +<P> +"Precisely what it was when he first explained it to you." +</P> + +<P> +The deference had gone out of Gordon's voice. Then, after the briefest +of smiling pauses, he added— +</P> + +<P> +"That is in so far as the railroad is concerned. For your own personal +consideration his offer of sites to you remains the same as regards +price, but the selection of position will be made by—us." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon was enjoying himself enormously. He had taken the law into his +own hands, and intended to put things through in his own way. He +expected an outburst, but none was forthcoming. David Slosson was +beginning to understand. He was taking the measure of this man. He +was taking other measures—the measure of the whole situation. Of a +sudden he realized that he was being told, in his own pet phraseology, +to—go to hell. He had consigned many people in that direction during +his life, but somehow his own consignment was quite a different matter, +especially through the present channel. +</P> + +<P> +He pulled himself up in his chair and squared his shoulders truculently. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess Mallinsbee knows what this means—for him?" he inquired +sharply, but coldly. +</P> + +<P> +"I fancy <I>Mr.</I> Mallinsbee does." +</P> + +<P> +"Now, see here, Mister—I ferget your name," Slosson cried, with sudden +heat. "I'm not the man to be played around with. If this is your +<I>Mister</I> Mallinsbee's final offer, it just means that the railroad +can't do business with him. Which means also that his whole wild-cat +land scheme falls flat, and is so much waste ground, only fit for +grazing his rotten cattle on. I'm not here to mince words——" +</P> + +<P> +"No," concurred Gordon in a steady, cold tone. +</P> + +<P> +"I said I'm not here to mince words. If I can't get my original terms +there's nothing doing, and I'll even promise, seeing we're alone, to +get right out of my way to sew up this concern, lock, stock and barrel." +</P> + +<P> +"That seems to be the obvious thing to do from your point of view—if +you can," said Gordon calmly. "Seeing that <I>Mr.</I> Mallinsbee is nearly +as rich as a railroad corporation, there may be difficulties. Anyway, +threats aren't business talk, and generally display weakness. So, if +you've no business to talk, if you don't feel like coming in on our +terms—why, that's the door, and I guess your horse is still waiting +for that hay you seemed to think just now he needed." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon picked up a pen and proceeded deliberately to start writing a +letter. He felt that David Slosson had something to digest, and needed +time. All he feared now was that Mallinsbee or Hazel might come in +before he rid the place of this precious representative of the railroad. +</P> + +<P> +After a few moments he glanced up from his letter. +</P> + +<P> +"Still here?" he remarked, with upraised brows. +</P> + +<P> +In a moment Slosson started from the brown study into which he had +fallen and leaped to his feet. His narrow black eyes were blazing. +His pasty features were ghastly with fury, and Gordon, gazing up at +him, found himself wondering how it came that the hot summer sun of the +prairie was powerless to change its hue. +</P> + +<P> +The agent thrust out one clenched fist threateningly, and fairly +shouted at the man behind the desk— +</P> + +<P> +"I'll make you all pay for this—Mallinsbee as well as you. You think +you can play me—me! You think you can play the railroad I represent! +I'll show you just what your bluff is worth. You, a miserable crowd of +land pirates! I tell you your land isn't worth grazing price without +our depot. And I promise you I'll break the whole concern——" +</P> + +<P> +"Meanwhile," said Gordon, deliberately rising from his seat and moving +round his desk, "try that doorway, before I—break you. There it is." +He pointed. "Hustle!" +</P> + +<P> +There comes a moment when the wildest temper reaches its limits. And +even the most furious will pause at the brick wall of possible physical +violence. David Slosson had spat out all his venom, or as much of it +as seemed politic. The threatening attitude of Gordon, his monumental +size and obvious strength, his cold determination, all convinced him +that further debate was useless. So he drew back at the "brick wall" +and negotiated the doorway as quickly as possible. +</P> + +<P> +Two minutes later Gordon sighed in a great relief, and passed a hand +across his perspiring forehead. Slosson had passed out of view as +Mallinsbee, on the back of the great Sunset, appeared on the horizon. +</P> + +<P> +"That was a close call," he muttered. "Two minutes more and the old +man might have spoiled the whole scheme." +</P> + +<P> +Silas Mallinsbee's personality seemed to crowd the little office when, +five minutes later, he entered to find Gordon busy at his desk writing +a letter home to his mother. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon displayed no sign of his recent encounter when he looked up. +His ingenuous face was smiling, and his blue eyes were full of an +obvious satisfaction. Mallinsbee read the signs and rumbled out an +inquiry. +</P> + +<P> +"Slosson been around?" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure." +</P> + +<P> +"Fixed anything?" +</P> + +<P> +"Quite a—lot." +</P> + +<P> +"You're lookin' kind of—happy?" +</P> + +<P> +"Guess that's more than—Slosson was." +</P> + +<P> +Mallinsbee's eyes became quite serious. +</P> + +<P> +"I told Hazel just now I'd get along back. You see, I kind of +remembered you just weren't sweet on Slosson, and guessed after all I'd +best be around when he came. Hazel thought it might be as well, too. +Specially as she didn't want to sit around and find no Slosson turn up. +So——" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon was on his feet in an instant. All his smile had vanished. A +look of real alarm had taken its place. +</P> + +<P> +"She was waiting for that skunk? Where?" he demanded in a tone that +suddenly filled the father with genuine alarm. +</P> + +<P> +"He was to go on to the coalpits after he was through here, and she was +to meet him there an' ride over to the young horse corrals where they +been breaking. She was to let him see the boys doin' a bit o' broncho +bustin'. What's——" +</P> + +<P> +"The coalpits? That's the way he took. Say, for God's sake stay right +here—and let me use Sunset. I——" +</P> + +<P> +But Gordon did not wait to finish what he had to say. He was out of +the house and had leaped into the saddle before Mallinsbee could +attempt to protest. The next moment he was galloping straight across +country in the direction of the Bude and Sideley's Coal Company's +workings. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +SLOSSON SNATCHES AT OPPORTUNITY +</H4> + +<P> +Gordon had taken David Slosson's measure perfectly, notwithstanding his +own comparative inexperience of the world. Apart from the agent's +business methods, he had seen through the man himself with regard to +Hazel. Hence, now his most serious alarm. The memory of those +lascivious eyes gazing after Hazel in the Main Street of Snake's Fall, +on his first day in the town, had never left him, and though he had +listened to Hazel's positive assurance of her own safety in dealing +with the man a subtle fear had continually haunted him. This was quite +apart from his own jealous feelings. It was utterly unprejudiced by +them. He knew that sooner or later, unless a miracle happened, Hazel +would become the victim of insult. Deep down in his heart, somewhere, +far underneath his passionate jealousy, he knew that Hazel was only +encouraging Slosson that she might help on their common ends, but he +had always doubted her cleverness to carry such a matter through +successfully. To his mind there could only be one end to it all, and +that end—insult. +</P> + +<P> +Now the thing was almost a certainty. With Slosson in his present mood +anything might happen. So he pressed Sunset to a rattling gallop. If +Slosson insulted her——? But he was not in the mood to think—only to +act. +</P> + +<P> +That his fears were well enough founded was pretty obvious. David +Slosson, as he hurried away from Mallinsbee's office, knew that he had +played the game of his own advantage and—lost. This sort of thing had +not often happened, and on those rare occasions on which it had +happened he had so contrived that those who had caused him a reverse +paid fairly dearly in the end. He was one of those men who believed +that if a man only squeezed hard enough blood could be contrived from a +stone. Against every successful offensive of the enemy there was +nearly always a way of "getting back." +</P> + +<P> +That he could "get back" on the commercial side of the present affair +he possessed not the smallest doubt. He would "recommend" to his +company that the present depot at Snake's Fall, with certain +enlargements, and the private line to be built by the Bude and Sideley +Coal people, were all that was sufficient to serve the public, and, +through his judicious purchase of sites in the old township, a far more +profitable enterprise for them than the new township could offer. +Personally, he would have to sacrifice his own interests. But since +Mallinsbee and his cub of an office boy would be badly "stung," the +matter would not be without satisfaction to his revengeful nature. +Then there was that other matter—and he moistened his thin lips as he +contemplated it. +</P> + +<P> +In spite of all Gordon's lack of faith in Hazel's efforts, they had not +been without effect. Slosson had been flattered. His vanity had seen +conquest in Hazel's readiness to accept his company. It had been +obvious to him from the first that the manner in which he had displayed +his "nerve" before her at the ranch pleased her more than a little. +After all, she was a mere country girl—a "rube" girl. +</P> + +<P> +Nor was it likely that she would be difficult now. She was pretty, +pretty as a picture. Her figure appealed to his sensual nature. She +didn't know a thing—outside her ranch. Well, he could teach her. +Especially now. Oh, yes, it was all very opportune. He would teach +her all he knew. He laughed. He would teach her for—her father's +sake. And—yes, for the sake of that young cub of a man that had +ordered him out of the office. +</P> + +<P> +What was his name—"Van Henslaer"? Yes, that was it. A "square-head," +he supposed. The country was full of these American-speaking German +"square-heads." Then quite suddenly he began to laugh. For the first +time since he came to Snake's Fall the thought occurred to him that +possibly this fellow was in love with Hazel himself. He had been so +busy prosecuting his own attentions to her himself that he had never +considered the possibility of another man being in the running. The +thought inspired an even more pleasant sensation. It threw a new light +upon Van Henslaer's attitude. Well, there was not much doubt as to who +was the favored man. The fellow's very attitude suggested his failure. +</P> + +<P> +Slosson felt he was going to reap better than had seemed at first. He +would ruin Mallinsbee's schemes and satisfy his company at a slight +personal loss to himself. He would complete his triumph over the +individual in Mallinsbee's office. First of all, through Mallinsbee's +failure in the land scheme, by robbing him of a position, and secondly, +through robbing him of all chance of success with the girl. It was not +too bad a retort. He would have made it harsher if he could, but, for +a start, it would have to do. Later, of course, since he would see a +great deal of Snake's Fall and his power in the place would increase, +he would extend operations against his enemies. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel must be his—his entirely. To that he had made up his mind. She +was much too desirable to be "running loose," he told himself. +Marriage was out of the question, unless he wished to commit bigamy; a +pleasantry at which he laughed silently. Anyway, if it were possible, +it would not have suited him. Marriage would have robbed him of the +right to break up her father's land scheme. No, marriage was—— +Well, he was married—to his lasting regret. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel was very attractive; very. He could quite understand a man +making a fool of himself over her. He had once made a fool of himself, +and in consequence marriage was very cheap from his point of view. He +regarded women now as lawful prey. And apart from Hazel's +attractiveness, which was very, very seductive, it would be a pretty +piece of getting back on her father and that other. He laughed again. +It was quaint. The prettier a woman the greater the fool she was. +</P> + +<P> +So he rode on towards the coalpits. +</P> + +<P> +His narrow eyes were alert, watching the horizon on every side. He was +looking for that fawn-colored figure on its brown mare. His thoughts +were full of it now. The rest was all thrust into the background, +leaving full play to his desires, which were fast overwhelming all +caution. It would have been impossible to overwhelm his sense of +decency. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly it occurred to him that it was ridiculous that he should go on +to the coalpits. His eagerness was swaying him. His mad longing for +the girl swept everything before it. Why should he not cut across to +the westward and intercept her on the way from the ranch? She must +come that way, and—he could not possibly miss her. +</P> + +<P> +He looked at his watch. It wanted half an hour to their appointment. +Why, he would be at the pits in ten minutes, which would leave him a +full twenty minutes of waiting. +</P> + +<P> +In his mood of the moment it was a thought quite impossible. So he +swung his horse westwards, with his eyes even more watchful for the +approach of the figure he was seeking. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps Hazel was late. Perhaps Slosson was traveling faster than he +knew. Anyway, he was already in the shadow of the bigger hills when he +discovered the speeding brown mare with its dainty burden. Hazel +discovered him almost at the same instant, and reined in her horse to +let him come up. In a moment or two his roughly familiar greeting +jarred her ears. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello!" he cried. "There never was a woman who could keep time worth +a cent. I guessed you'd strayed some, so I got along quick." +</P> + +<P> +He had reined up facing her on the cattle track, and his sensual eyes +covertly surveyed her from head to foot. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, you haven't been near the pits," protested Hazel, avoiding his +gaze. "You've come across country. Anyway, it's not time yet." She +pulled off a gauntlet and held up her wrist for him to look at the +watch upon it. +</P> + +<P> +He reached out, caught her hand, and drew it towards him on the +pretense of looking at the watch. His eyes were shining dangerously as +he did so. Just for an instant Hazel was taken unawares. Then her +pretty eyes suddenly lost their smile, and she drew her hand sharply +away. +</P> + +<P> +Slosson looked up. +</P> + +<P> +"Your watch is wrong," he declared, with a grin intended to be +facetious, but which scarcely disguised the feelings lying behind it. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel was smiling again. She shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't," she denied. "But come on, or we'll miss the fun. I've got +a youngster there in the corrals, never been saddled or man-handled. +I'm going to ride him for your edification when the boys are through +with the others. It's a mark of my favor which you must duly +appreciate." +</P> + +<P> +She led the way back towards the hills at a steady canter. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, you've got nerve," cried Slosson, in genuine admiration. "Never +been saddled?" +</P> + +<P> +"Or man-handled," returned Hazel, determined he should lose nothing of +her contemplated adventure. "He was rounded up this morning at my +orders out of a bunch of three-year-old prairie-bred colts. You'll +surely see some real bucking—not cat-jumping," she added mischievously. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, you can't forget that play," cried the man, with some pride. +"I'd have got on that hoss if he'd bucked to kingdom-come. I don't +take any bluff from a girl." +</P> + +<P> +"I s'pose girls aren't of much account with you? They're just silly +things with no sense or—or anything. Some men are like that." +</P> + +<P> +A warm glow swept through the man's veins. +</P> + +<P> +"I allow it just depends on the girl." +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe you don't reckon I've got sense?" +</P> + +<P> +Slosson gazed at her with a meaning smile. +</P> + +<P> +"I've seen signs," he observed playfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks. You've surely got keen eyes. Black eyes are mostly keen. +Say, I wonder how much sense they reckon they've seen in me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I should say they've seen that you reckon David Slosson makes a +tolerable companion to ride around with. Which is some sense." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel turned, and her pretty eyes looked straight into his. A man of +less vanity might have questioned the first glance of them. But +Slosson only saw the following smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Just tolerable," she cried, in a fashion which could not give offense. +Then she abruptly changed the subject. "Get through your business +at—the office?" she inquired casually. +</P> + +<P> +Slosson's eyes hardened. In a moment the memory of Gordon swept +through his brain in a tide of swift, hot anger. +</P> + +<P> +"There's nothing doing," he said harshly. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel turned. A quick alarm was shining in her eyes, and the man +interpreted it exactly. Caution was abruptly cast to the winds. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, Hazel," he cried hotly, "I'm going to tell you something. Your +father's a—a fool. Oh, I don't mean it just that way. I mean he's a +fool to set that boy running things for him. He's plumb killed your +golden goose. We've broken off negotiations. That's all. The +railroad don't need Buffalo Point." +</P> + +<P> +"But what's Gordon done?" the girl cried, for the moment off her guard. +"Father gave him instructions. You had an offer to make, and it was to +be considered—duly." +</P> + +<P> +"What's Gordon done?" The man's eyes were hot with fury. "So that's +it—'Gordon.' He's 'Gordon,' eh?" All in a moment venom surged to the +surface. The man's unwholesome features went ghastly in his rage. "He +turned me—me out of the office. He told me to go to hell. Say, that +pup has flung your father's whole darned concern right on to the rocks. +So it's 'Gordon,' eh? To everybody else he's 'Van Henslaer,' but to +you he's 'Gordon.' That's why he's on to me, I guessed as much. Well, +say, you've about mussed up things between you. My back's right up, +and I'm cursed if the railroad 'll move for the benefit of those +interested in Buffalo Point." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel had heard enough. More than enough. Her temper had risen too. +</P> + +<P> +"Look here, Mr. Slosson. I don't pretend to mistake your inference. +Gordon is just a good friend of mine," she declared hotly. "But I've +no doubt that whatever he did was justified. If we're going on any +farther together you're going to apologize right here and now for what +you've said about Gordon." +</P> + +<P> +She reined up her mare so sharply that the startled creature was flung +upon her haunches, and the man's livery horse went on some yards +farther before it was pulled up. But Slosson came back at once and +ranged alongside. They were already in the bigger hills, and one +shaggy crag, overshadowing them, shut out the dazzling gleam of the +westering sun. +</P> + +<P> +"There's going to be the need of a heap of apology around," cried +Slosson, but something of his anger was melting before the girl's +flashing eyes. Then, too, the moment was the opportunity he had been +seeking. "See here, Hazel——" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you dare to call me 'Hazel,'" the girl flung out at him hotly. +"You will apologize here and now." +</P> + +<P> +There was no mistaking her determination, and the man watched her with +furtive eyes. He pretended to consider deeply before he replied. At a +gesture of impatience from the girl he finally flung out one arm. +</P> + +<P> +"See here," he cried, "maybe I oughtn't to have said that, and I guess +I apologize. But—you see, I was sort of mad when you talked that way +about this—'Gordon.'" His teeth clipped over the word. "You see, +Hazel," he insinuated again, "we've had a real good time together, and +you made it so plain I'm not—indifferent to you that it just stung me +bad to hear you speak of—'Gordon.' I'm crazy about you, I am sure. +I'm so crazy I can't sleep at nights. I'm so crazy that I'd let the +railroad folk go hang just for you—if you just asked me. I'd even +forget all that feller said, and would pool in on Buffalo Point the way +your father needs—if you asked me." +</P> + +<P> +He waited. He had thrown every effort of persuasion he was capable of +into his words and manner, and Hazel was deceived. She did not observe +the furtive eyes watching her. She was only aware of the almost +genuine manner of his pleading. +</P> + +<P> +"If I asked you?" she said thoughtfully. Then she looked up quickly, +her eyes half smiling. "Of course I ask you." +</P> + +<P> +In a moment the man pressed nearer. +</P> + +<P> +"And you'll play the game?" he asked almost breathlessly. +</P> + +<P> +All in a moment a subtle fear of him swept through the girl. +Instinctively her hand tightened its grip on the heavy quirt swinging +from her wrist. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" she demanded in a low tone. +</P> + +<P> +The man's eyes were shining with the meaning lying behind his words. +There should have been no necessity to ask that question. +</P> + +<P> +Quite suddenly he reached farther out and seized her about the waist +with one hand, while with the other he caught her reins to check her +mare. The next moment he had crushed her to him and his flushed face +was close to hers. +</P> + +<P> +"There's only one game," he cried hoarsely. "And——" +</P> + +<P> +But he got no further. Like a flash of lightning Hazel's quirt slashed +furiously at him. The blow was wild and missed its object. It fell on +his horse's head and neck. Again it was raised, and again it fell on +the horse and on her mare. The horse plunged aside and her own mare +started forward. The next moment both riders were on the ground, +struggling violently. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Sunset plowed along over the prairie. True enough, he was the +rocking-horse Hazel had declared him to be. But she might have added +that he was the speediest horse ever foaled on her father's range. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon was in no mood to spare him. But, press him as he might, he +seemed incapable of sounding the full depths of his resources. +</P> + +<P> +Had Gordon only taken the course of the impatient Slosson he would have +arrived in time to have prevented the catastrophe. But as it was he +made the coalpits, and, finding no trace of either Hazel or the agent, +with prompt decision he headed at once for the southern corrals. It +was some time before he discovered the tracks he sought, and was +beginning to think that in some extraordinary fashion he had missed +them altogether. The thought stirred his jealousy, and—but he put all +doubt from his mind, and further bustled the long-suffering Sunset. +Then came the moment when he first saw the hoof-prints in the sand of +the cattle track. In a moment his thoughts cleared and his old fears +urged him on. +</P> + +<P> +He was right now, he knew. The hills about him were growing in height +and ruggedness. The corrals were only a few miles on, and Sunset was +racing down the track as if he were aware of the threatening danger to +the girl whom he had so often carried on his back. But even if he were +he was utterly unprepared for the furious thrashing of his present +rider's heels which came as they were approaching one great shaggy hill +to the south of them, in answer to a thin, high-pitched shrill for +"Help!" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon heard and understood. He had been right, after all, and a +terrible panic and fury assailed him. Sunset was racing now, with his +barrel low to the ground. Then as they came into the shadow of the +hill the faithful creature felt the bit in his mouth jar suddenly and +painfully, and he nearly sank on to his haunches. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon was out of the saddle and rushing headlong like some +rage-maddened bull. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Something had happened, and Hazel, in a partial daze, scarcely +understood quite what it was. All she knew was that she was no longer +struggling desperately in the arms of a man, with his hideous face +thrust towards hers with obvious intention. She had fought as she had +never dreamed of having to fight in all her life, and in her extremity +she had shrilled again and again for "Help!" which, had she thought, +she would have known was miles from the lonely spot where she was +struggling. Then had happened that something she could not understand. +She only knew that she was no longer struggling, and that hideous, +coarse, passion-lit face had vanished from before her terrified eyes. +</P> + +<P> +She had heard a voice, a familiar voice, hoarse with passion. The +words it had uttered were the foulest blasphemy, such words as only a +man uses when in the heat of battle and his desire is to kill. Then +had passed that nightmare face from before her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +After some moments her mental faculties became less uncertain, and with +their clearing she became aware of a confusion of sounds. She heard +the sound of blows and the incessant shuffling of feet through the tall +prairie grass. She looked about her. +</P> + +<P> +All in a minute she was on her feet, her eyes wide and staring with an +expression half of terror, half of the wildest excitement. A fight was +going on—a fight in which six feet three of science was arrayed +against lesser stature but equal strength and a blend of animal fury +which yearned to kill. +</P> + +<P> +David Slosson came at his hated adversary in lunging rushes and with +all his weight and muscle, hoping to clinch and reduce the battle to +the less scientific condition of a "rough-and-tumble" as it is known +only in America. Once he could achieve a definite clinch he knew that +the advantage would lie with him. He knew the game of "chew and gouge" +as few men knew it. He had learned it in his earlier days of lumber +camps. +</P> + +<P> +But Gordon had steadied himself from his first mad rush. It was the +sight of Hazel in this man's clutches that had roused the desire for +murder in his hot blood. Now it was different. Now it was a fight, a +fight such as he could enjoy; and such were his feelings that he was +determined it should be a fight to a finish, even if that finish should +mean a killing. +</P> + +<P> +He had no difficulty in punishing. His opponent's arms came at him +wildly, while his own leads and counters struck home with smashes of a +staggering nature. Twice he got in an upper-cut which set his man +reeling, and in each case he smashed home his left immediately with all +the force of his great shoulders. But David Slosson was tough. He +seemed to thrive on punishment, and he came again and again. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon was in his element. His physical condition had never been more +perfect, and, provided that clinch was prevented, nothing on earth +could save his man. The blood was already streaming from Slosson's +cheek, and an ugly split disfigured his lower lip. +</P> + +<P> +Now he came in with his head down—a favorite bull rush of the +"rough-and-tumble." Gordon saw it coming and waited. He side-stepped, +and smashed a terrific blow behind the left ear. The man stumbled, but +saved himself. With an inarticulate attempt at an oath he was at the +boxer again. Another rush, but it checked half-way, and a violent kick +was aimed at Gordon's middle. It missed its mark, but caught him on +the side of the knee. The pain of the blow for a moment robbed the +younger man of his caution. He responded with a smashing left and +right. They both landed, but in the rush his loose coat was caught and +held as the agent fell. +</P> + +<P> +Slosson clung to the coat as a terrier will cling to a stick. In spite +of the rain of blows battering his head he held on. It was the first +hold he needed. The second came a moment later. His other arm crooked +about Gordon's right knee. The next moment they were on the ground in +the throes of a wild, demoniacal "rough-and-tumble." +</P> + +<P> +The science of the boxer could serve Gordon no longer. He knew it. He +knew also that the fight was more than leveled up. The struggle had +degenerated into an inhuman aim for those vital parts which would leave +the victim blind or maimed for life. +</P> + +<P> +By the luck of Providence he fell uppermost. His hands being free and +his strength at its greatest, also possessing nothing of the degraded +mind of the rough-and-tumble fighter, he went for his opponent's +throat, and got his grip just as he felt the other's teeth clip, in a +savage snap, at his right ear. It was a happy miss, or he knew he +would have spent the rest of his life with only one ear, and possibly +part of the other. +</P> + +<P> +But there were other things to avoid. He crushed the man's head upon +the ground, while his great hands tightened their grip upon his throat. +But Slosson's hands were not idle. They struggled up, and Gordon felt +that they were groping for his throat. His own pressure increased. +</P> + +<P> +"Squeal, you swine!" he roared. "Squeal, or I'll choke the life out of +you!" +</P> + +<P> +The man was unable to squeal under the terrible throat-hold. His +breath was coming in gasps. All of a sudden those groping hands made a +lunge at Gordon's eyes. One finger even struck his left eye with +intent to gouge it out. Gordon threw back his head, but dared not +release his hold. His only other defense was an instinctive one. He +opened his mouth and made a wolfish snap at the hand that had sought to +blind him. He bit three of its fingers to the bone. There was a cry +from the man under his hands, and the straining body beneath him ceased +to struggle. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon released his hold and stood up. He aimed one violent kick of +disgust at the man's ribs and turned away. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE REWARD OF VICTORY +</H4> + +<P> +Gordon breathed hard. He wiped the dust from his perspiring face, as a +man almost unconsciously will do after a great exertion. His eyes, +however, remained on his defeated adversary. Presently he moved away a +little uncertainly. A moment later, equally uncertainly, he picked up +his soft felt hat. Then, his gaze still steadily fixed on the object +of his concern, he all unconsciously smoothed his ruffled hair and +replaced his hat upon his head. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel, too, was tensely regarding the deathly silent figure of David +Slosson. A subtle fear was clutching at her heart. So still. He was +so very still. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon's breathing became normal, but his eyes remained absurdly grave. +He approached the prostrate man. But before he reached his side he +paused abruptly and breathed a deep sigh of relief—and began to laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"Right!" he cried. Nor was he addressing any one in particular. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel heard his exclamation, and the clutching fear at her heart +relaxed its grip. She understood that Gordon, too, had shared her +dread. +</P> + +<P> +Now she shifted her regard to the victor. Her eyes were full of a +deep, unspeakable feeling. Gordon was looking in another direction, +so, for the moment, she had nothing to conceal. +</P> + +<P> +The man's attention was upon the horses. A strange diffidence made him +reluctant to follow his impulse and approach Hazel. He had no pride in +his victory. Only regret for the exhibition he had made before her. +Sunset and Slosson's horse were grazing amicably together within twenty +yards of the trail. The fight had disturbed them not one whit. The +Lady Jane had moved off farther, and, in proud isolation, ignored +everybody and everything concerned with the indecent exhibition. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon secured the livery horse to a bush, and rode off on Sunset to +collect the Lady Jane. When he returned the defeated man was stirring. +</P> + +<P> +One glance told Gordon all he cared to know, and he passed over to +where Hazel was still standing, and in silence and quite unsmilingly he +held the Lady Jane for her to mount. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel avoided his eyes, but not from any coldness. She feared lest he +should witness that which now, with all her might, she desired to +conceal. Her feelings were stirred almost beyond her control. This +man had come to her rescue—he had rescued her—by that great +chivalrous manhood that was his. And somehow she felt that she might +have known that he would do so. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon was looking at David Slosson, who was already sitting up. Once +Hazel was in the saddle he moved nearer to the disfigured agent. +</P> + +<P> +"If you're looking for any more," he said coldly, "you can find it. +But don't you ever come near Buffalo Point again or Mallinsbee's ranch. +If you do—I'll kill you!" +</P> + +<P> +David Slosson made no reply. But his eyes followed the two figures as +they rode off, full of a bitter hatred that boded ill for their futures +should chance come his way. +</P> + +<P> +For some time the speeding horses galloped on, their riders remaining +silent. A strange awkwardness had arisen between them. There was so +much to say, so much to explain. Neither of them knew how to begin, or +where. So they were nearing home when finally it was Gordon whose +sense of humor first came to the rescue. They had drawn their horses +down to a walk to give them a breath. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon turned in his saddle. His blue eyes were absurdly smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" he observed interrogatively. +</P> + +<P> +The childlike blandness of his expression was all Hazel needed to help +her throw off the painful restraint that was fast overwhelming her. +Again he had saved her, but this time it was from tears. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" she smiled back at him through the watery signs of unshed tears. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess Sunset 'll hate this trail worse than anything around Buffalo +Point," Gordon said, with a great effort at ease. "He got a flogging +I'll swear he never merited." +</P> + +<P> +"Dear old Sunset," said the girl softly. "And—and he can go." +</P> + +<P> +"Go? Why, he's an express train. Say, the Twentieth Century, Limited, +isn't a circumstance to him." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon's laugh sounded good in Hazel's ears, and the last sign of tears +was banished. It had been touch and go. She had wanted to laugh and +to scream during the fight. Afterwards she had wanted only to weep. +Now she just felt glad she was riding beside a man whom she regarded as +something in the nature of a hero. +</P> + +<P> +"I sort of feel I owe him an apology," Gordon went on doubtfully. +"Same as I owe you one. I—I'm afraid I made a—a disgusting +exhibition of myself. I—I wish I hadn't nearly bitten off that cur's +fingers. It's—awful. It—was that or lose my eyesight." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel had nothing to say. A shiver passed over her, but it was caused +by the thought that the man beside her might have been left blinded. +</P> + +<P> +"You see, that was 'rough and tough,'" Gordon went on, feeling that he +must explain. "It's not human. It's worse than the beasts of the +fields. I—I'm ashamed. But I had to save my eyes. I thought I'd +killed him." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad you didn't," Hazel said in a low voice. Then she added +quickly, "But not for his sake." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"He deserved anything." +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly Hazel turned a pair of shining eyes upon him. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I wish I were a man!" she cried. "Deserved? Oh, he deserved +everything; but so did I. I'll never do it again. Never, never, +never! You warned me. You knew. And it was only you who saved me +from the result of my folly. I—I thought I was smart enough to deal +with him. I—I thought I was clever." She laughed bitterly. "I +thought, because I run our ranch and can do things that few girls can +that way, I could beat a man like that. Say, Mr. Van Henslaer, +I'm—just what he took me for—a silly country girl. Oh, I feel so mad +with myself, and if it hadn't been for you I don't know what would have +happened. Oh, if I could only have fought like you. It—it was +wonderful. And—I brought it all on you by my folly." +</P> + +<P> +There was a strange mixture of emotion in the girl's swift flow of +words. There was a bitter feeling of self-contempt, a vain and +helpless regret; but in all she said, in her shining eyes and warmth of +manner, there was a scarcely concealed delight in her rescuer's great +manhood, courage and devotion. If Gordon beheld it, it is doubtful if +he read it aright. For himself, a great joy that he had been of +service in her protection pervaded him. Just now, for him, all life +centered round Hazel Mallinsbee and her well-being. +</P> + +<P> +"You brought nothing on," he said, his eyes smiling tenderly round at +her. "He's a disease that would overtake any girl." Then he began to +laugh, with the intention of dispelling all her regrets. "Say, he's +just one of life's experiences, and experience is generally unpleasant. +See how much he's taught us both. You've learned that a feller who can +wear a suit that sets all sense of good taste squirming most generally +has a mind to match it. I've learned that no honesty of methods, +whether in scrapping or anything else, is a match for the unscrupulous +methods of a low-down mind. Guess we'll both pigeon-hole those facts +and try not to forget 'em. But say—there's worse worrying," he added, +with an absurdly happy laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"Worse?" +</P> + +<P> +"Only worse because it hasn't happened yet—like the other things have. +You see, the worst always lies in those things we don't know." +</P> + +<P> +"You're thinking of the Buffalo Point scheme?" +</P> + +<P> +"Partly." +</P> + +<P> +"Partly?" +</P> + +<P> +"Did he tell you anything?" +</P> + +<P> +Hazel nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"He said you'd—turned him out of the office." +</P> + +<P> +"That all?" Gordon was chuckling. +</P> + +<P> +"He said you'd told him to go to——" Hazel's eyes were smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"Just so. I did," returned Gordon. "That's the trouble now. I've got +to face your father. I've hit on a plan to beat this feller. I've got +the help of Peter McSwain and some of the boys at Snake's. I'd a +notion we'd pull the thing off, so I just took it into my own +hands—and your father don't know of it. I'm worrying how he'll feel. +You see, if I fail, why, I've busted the whole contract. And now this +thing. Say, what's going to happen next?" As he put his final +question his smiling face looked ludicrously serene. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel had entirely recovered from her recent experiences. She laughed +outright. More and more this man appealed to her. His calm, reckless +courage was a wonderful thing in her eyes. Their whole schemes might +be jeopardized by that afternoon's work, but he had acted without +thought of consequence, without thought of anybody or anything beyond +the fact that he yearned to beat this man Slosson, and would spare +nothing to do so. What was this wild scheme he had suddenly conceived, +almost the first moment he was left in sole control? +</P> + +<P> +She tried to look serious. +</P> + +<P> +"Can you tell it me now?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I could, of course, but——" +</P> + +<P> +"You'd rather wait to see father about it." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," said Gordon, with a wry twist of the lips and a shrug. +"Say, did you ever feel a perfect, idiotic fool? No, of course you +never have, because you couldn't be one. I feel that way. Guess it's +a sort of reaction. I just know I've busted everything. The whole of +our scheme is on the rocks, through me, and, for the life of me, +somehow I—I don't care. I've hit up that cur so he won't want his +med'cine again for years, and it was good, because it was for you. So +I don't just care two cents about anything. Say, I'm learning I'm +alive, same as you talked about the first day I met you, and it's you +are teaching me. But the champagne of life isn't just Life. Guess +Life is just a cheap claret. You're the champagne of my life. That +being so, I guess I'm a drunkard for champagne." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel was held serious by some feeling that also kept her silent. +Somehow she could no longer face those shining, smiling, ingenuous blue +eyes. She wanted to, because she felt they were the most beautiful in +the whole world, and she longed to go on gazing into them forever and +ever. But something forced her to deny herself, and she kept hers +straight ahead. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon went on. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, I haven't said anything wrong, have I?" he cried, fearful of her +displeasure. "You see, I can't put things as they run through my head. +That's one of the queer things about a feller. You know, I've got a +whole heap of beautiful language running around in my head, and when I +try to turn it loose it comes out all mussed up and wrong. Guess +you've never been like that. That's where girls are so clever. D'you +know, if you were to ask me just to pass the salt at supper it would +sound to me like the taste of ice-cream?" +</P> + +<P> +Hazel looked round at the earnest face with a swift sidelong glance. +Then her laughter would no longer be denied. +</P> + +<P> +"Would it?" she cried. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, don't laugh at a feller. I'm in great trouble," Gordon went on +quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"Trouble?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure. Wouldn't you be if you'd bust up a man's scheme the same as I +have, and if the only person in the world whose opinion you cared for +can't help but think you all sorts of a fool?" +</P> + +<P> +Hazel's smile had become very, very tender. +</P> + +<P> +"Who thinks you a—fool?" +</P> + +<P> +"Anybody with sense." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I'm afraid I've got no sense." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon found himself looking into the girl's serious eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"You—don't think me—a—fool?" he cried incredulously. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel had no longer any inclination to laugh. A great emotion suddenly +surged through her heart, and her pretty oval face was set flushing. +</P> + +<P> +"When a woman owes a man what I owe you, if he were the greatest fool +in the world to others, to that woman he becomes all that is great and +fine, and—and—oh, just everything she can think good of him. But +you—you are not a fool, or anything approaching it. I don't care what +you have done in our affairs—for me, whatever it is, it is right. +I'll tell you something more. I am certain that if my daddy wins +through it will be your doing." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon had nothing to say. He was dumbfounded. Hazel, in her +generosity, was the woman he had always dreamed of since that first day +he had seen her, which seemed so far back and long ago. He had nothing +to say, because there was just one thought in his mind, and that +thought was, then and there to take her in his arms and release her for +no man, not even her—— +</P> + +<P> +Hazel was pointing along the trail. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, there is my daddy coming along—on foot. I've never—known him +to walk a prairie trail ever before, I wonder what's ailing him." +</P> + +<P> +And then Gordon had to laugh. +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +They were back in the office. By every conceivable process Silas +Mallinsbee had sought to discover what had happened. But Hazel would +tell him nothing, and Gordon followed her lead. +</P> + +<P> +The old man was disturbed. He was on the verge of anger with both of +them. Then Hazel lifted the safety valve as she remounted her mare, +preparatory to a hasty retreat homewards. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll get back to home, Daddy," she said, in a tone lacking all her +usual enthusiasm. "Mr. Van Henslaer has a lot to tell you about +things, and when I am not here he'll be able to tell you all that +happened—out there." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon again took his cue. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I've a heap to tell you," he said, without any display of +enjoyment. +</P> + +<P> +The men passed into the office as Hazel took her departure. Her +farewell wave of the hand and its accompanying smile for once were not +for her father. Even in the midst of his mixed feelings that obvious +farewell to Gordon made the old rancher feel a breath of the winter he +had once spoken of, nipping the rims of his ears. +</P> + +<P> +And his mind settled upon the thought of banking the furnaces +with—coal. +</P> + +<P> +He took his seat in the big chair he always used and lit a cigar. +Gordon went at once to his desk and sat down. He leaned forward with +hands clasped, and looked squarely into the strong face before him. +</P> + +<P> +"It's bad talk," he said briefly. +</P> + +<P> +"So I guessed." +</P> + +<P> +Then, after a few moments of silence, Gordon recounted the story of the +events of the afternoon right up to Mallinsbee's arrival at the office. +</P> + +<P> +The rancher listened without comment, but with obvious impatience. +This was not what he wanted to hear first. But Gordon had his own way +of doing things. +</P> + +<P> +"You see, I took a big chance on the spur of the moment," he finished +up. "I just didn't dare to think. The idea took right hold of me. +And even now, when I tell it you in cold blood, I seem to feel it was +one of those inspirations that don't need to be passed by. In the +ordinary way I believe it would succeed. Slosson would have been +driven into our plans. But—but now there's worse to come." +</P> + +<P> +"So I guessed." +</P> + +<P> +Mallinsbee's answer was sharp and dry. +</P> + +<P> +"And it's the most important of your talk," he added a moment later. +"What happened—out there?" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon's eyes took on a far-away expression as he gazed out of the +window. +</P> + +<P> +"I nearly killed David Slosson," he said simply. Then he added, "I +knew I'd have to do it before I'd finished." +</P> + +<P> +His gaze came back to Mallinsbee's face. A fierce anger had made his +blue eyes stern and cold. Then he told the rancher of his finding +Hazel struggling furiously in the man's arms, and of her piteous cry +for help, and all that followed. +</P> + +<P> +While he was still talking the girl's father had leaped from his seat +and began pacing the little room like a caged wild beast. His cigar +was forgotten, and every now and then he paused abruptly as Gordon made +some definite point. His eyes were darkly furious, his nostrils +quivered, his great hands clenched at his sides, and in the end, when +the story was told, he stood towering before the desk with a pair of +murderous eyes shining down upon the younger man. +</P> + +<P> +"God in heaven!" he cried furiously; "and he's still alive?" +</P> + +<P> +Then he turned away abruptly. A revolver-belt was hanging on the wall, +and he moved towards it. But Gordon was on his feet in a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"That gun's mine, and—you can't have it!" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon was standing in front of the weapon, facing the furious eyes of +the father. +</P> + +<P> +"Stand aside! I'm—going to kill him—now." +</P> + +<P> +But Gordon made no movement. +</P> + +<P> +"No," he said, with a stony calmness. +</P> + +<P> +It was a painful moment. It was a moment full of threat and intense +crisis. One false move on Gordon's part, and the maddened father's +fury would be turned on him. +</P> + +<P> +The younger man forced a smile to his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"You once said I could scrap, Mr. Mallinsbee. I promise you I scrapped +as I never did before. That man hasn't one whole feature in his face, +and if the hangman's rope had been drawn tight around his neck it +couldn't have done very much more damage than my fingers did. I tell +you he's has his med'cine good and plenty. There's no need for +more—that way. But we're going to hurt him. We're going to hurt him +more by outing him from this deal of ours than ever by killing him. +We're going to stand at nothing now to—'out' him. Let's get our minds +fixed that way. If one plan don't succeed—another must." +</P> + +<P> +Standing there eye to eye Gordon won his way. He saw with satisfaction +the fire in the old man's eyes slowly die down. Then he watched him +reluctantly return to his chair. +</P> + +<P> +It was not until the rancher had struck a match and relit his cigar +that Gordon ventured to return to his desk. +</P> + +<P> +"You're right, boy," Mallinsbee said at last. "You're right—and +you've done right. If the whole scheme busts we—can't help it. +But—but we'll out that—cur." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The hall porter at the Carbhoy Building was perturbed. He was more +than perturbed. He was ruffled out of his blatant superiority and +dignity, and reduced to a condition when he could not state, with any +degree of accuracy, whether the Statue of Liberty was a symbol of +Freedom or a mere piece of cheap decoration for New York Harbor. +</P> + +<P> +The precincts of the beautiful colored marble entrance hall over which +he presided had been invaded, against all rules, by a woman who +obviously had no business there. Moreover, he had been powerless to +stay the invasion. Also he had been forced to submit out of a sheer +sense of politeness to the sex, a politeness it was not his habit to +display even towards his wife. Furthermore, like the veriest +underling, instead of the autocrat he really was, he had been +ordered—<I>ordered</I>—to announce the lady's arrival to Mr. James +Carbhoy, and forthwith conduct her to that holy of holies, which no +other female, except the cleaner, had ever been permitted to enter. It +was Mrs. James Carbhoy who had caused the deplorable upheaval. +</P> + +<P> +But Mrs. James Carbhoy was in no mood to parley with any hall porter, +however gorgeous his livery. She was in no mood to parley even with +her husband. She was disturbed out of her customary condition of +passive acquiescence. She was heartbroken, too, and ready to weep +against any manly chest with which her head came into contact. It is +doubtful, even, if a Fifth Avenue policeman's chest would have been +safe from her attentions in that direction. And surely distress must +certainly be overwhelming that would not shrink from such support. +</P> + +<P> +James Carbhoy detected the signs the moment his door was opened, and +his wife tripped over the fringe of the splendid Turkey carpet and +precipitated herself into the great morocco arm-chair nearest to her, +waving a bunch of letter-paper violently in his direction. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been to the Inquiry Bureau, and had a man detailed right away to +go and find the boy," she burst out at once. Then all her mother's +anxiety merged into an attack upon the man who silently rose from his +desk and closed the door she had left open. "I don't know what to say +to you, James," she went on. "I can't just think why I'm sitting right +here in the presence of such a monster. Here you've driven our boy +from the house. Maybe you've driven him to his death, or even worse, +and I can't even get you to make an attempt to discover if he's alive +or—or dead. This letter came this morning," she went on, holding the +pages aloft, lest he should escape their reproach. "And if he hasn't +gone and married some hussy there, out in some uncivilized region, I +don't know a thing. S'pose he's married a half-breed or—or a squaw," +she cried, her eyes rolling in horror at the bare idea. "It—it'll be +your fault—your doing. You're just a cruel monster, and if it wasn't +for our Gracie's sake I'd—I'd get a divorce. You—you ought to be +ashamed, James Carbhoy. You ought—ought to be in—in prison, instead +of sitting there grinning like some fool image." +</P> + +<P> +The millionaire leaned back in his chair wearily. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, read the letter, Mary. You make me tired." +</P> + +<P> +"Tired? Letter, you call it," cried the excited woman. "I tell you +it's—it's a lot of gibberish that no sane son of ours ever wrote. Oh! +you're as bad as those men at the bureau. I made them read it, +and—and they said he was a—bright boy. Bright, indeed! You listen +to this and you can judge for yourself—if you've any sense at all." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"DEAREST MUM: +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't written you in weeks, which should tell you that I am quite +up to the average in my sense of filial duty. It should also tell you +that I <I>hope</I> I am prospering both in health and in worldly matters. I +say 'hope' because nothing much seems certain in this world except the +perfidy of human nature. It has been said that disappointment is +responsible for all the hope in the world, but I'd like to say right +here that that's just a sort of weak play on words which don't do +justice to the meanest intelligence. I am full of hope and haven't yet +been disappointed. Not even in my conviction that human nature has +some good points, but bad points predominate, which makes you feel +you'd, generally speaking, like to kick it plenty. +</P> + +<P> +"While I'm on the subject of human nature it would be wrong not to +discriminate between male and female human nature. Male can be +dismissed under one plain heading: 'Self'—a heading which embraces +every unpleasant feature in life, from extreme moral rectitude, with +its various branches of self-complacency, down to chewing tobacco, to +me a symbol of all that is criminally filthy in life. Female human +nature comes under a similar heading, only, in a woman's case, 'Self' +is a combination of the two personalities, male and female. You see, +'Self,' in female human nature, is not a complete proposition in +itself. Before it becomes complete there must be a man in the case, +even if he be a disgrace to his sex. I will explain. You couldn't +entertain any feeling or purpose without the old Dad coming into your +focus. But with man it's different. The only reason a woman comes +into his life at all is so that he can kick her out of it if she don't +do just as he says and wants. I guess this sounds better to me writing +from here than maybe it will to you in your parlor in New York. But +it's easier to say things when you feel yourself shorn of the +artificialities of life. +</P> + +<P> +"This is merely preliminary, leading up to two pieces of news I have to +hand to you. The first is, I have discovered that woman is the +greatest proposition inspired by a creative Providence for the delight +of man, but in business, unless specially trained, she's liable to fall +even below the surface scum which includes the lesser grade of biped +called 'man.' The second is that man, generally, is a pretty +disgusting brute, and I allow he deserves all he gets in life, even to +lynching. Understand I am speaking generally, as a looker-on, whose +eyes are no longer blinded by the glamour of wealth in a big city and +the comforts of a luxurious home. +</P> + +<P> +"I feel I've got to say right here that to me, apart from the foregoing +observations, woman is just the most wonderful thing in all this +wonderful world. Her perfections and graces are just sublime; her +understanding of man is so sympathetic that it don't seem to me she'd +need more than two guesses to locate how many dollars he'd got in his +pocket or the quality of the brain oozing out under his hat. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess her eyes are just the dandiest things ever. Furthermore, when +they happen to be hazel, they got a knack of boring holes right through +you, and chasing around and finding the smallest spark of decency that +may happen to be lying hidden in the general muck of a man's moral +makeup. They do more than that. I'd say there never was a man in this +world who, under such circumstances, happens to become aware of some +such spark, but wants to start right in and fan it into a big bonfire +to burn up the refuse under which it's been so long secreted. That's +how he's bound to feel—anyway, at first. +</P> + +<P> +"A woman's just every sort of thing a man needs around him. It don't +seem a matter for worry if the sun-spots became a complete rash and its +old light went out altogether. That feller would still see those +wonderful eyes shining out of the darkness, giving him all the light he +needed in which to play foolish and think himself all sorts of a man. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess when he'd worked overtime that way and sleep set him dreaming +he'd make pictures he couldn't paint in a year. There'd be every sort +of peaceful delight in 'em. There'd be lambs, and children without +clothes, and birds and flowers. And the lambs would bleat, and the +children sing, and the birds flutter, and the flowers smell, and all +the world would be full of joy. Then he'd wake up. Maybe it would be +different then. You see, a man awake figures his woman needs to look +like the statue of Venus, be bursting with the virtues of a first-class +saint, and possess the economical inspiration of a Chinee cook. +</P> + +<P> +"In pursuance of these discoveries of mine I feel that maybe I've got a +wrong focus of our Gracie. Maybe when she gets sense, and sort of +finds herself floating around in the divine beauties of womanhood, some +escaped crank may chase along and figure she possesses some of the +wonderful charms I've been talking about. Personally I wish our Gracie +well, and am hoping for the best. Still, I feel whatever trouble she +has getting a husband I don't guess it'll end there—the trouble, I +mean. +</P> + +<P> +"To come to my second discovery, it has afforded me some pleasant +moments, as well as considerable disgust and anger. It may seem +difficult to associate these emotions without confusion. But were you +to fully understand the situation you would realize that they could be +associated in one harmonious whole. With anger coming first, you find +yourself in a frenzied state of elation, capable of achieving anything, +from murder down to robbing the dead. It is a splendid feeling, and +saves one from the rust of good-natured ineptitude. Then come the +pleasant moments, which may find themselves in extreme exertion and the +general exercise of muscles, and even, in some cases—brains. Disgust +is the necessary mental attitude under reaction. This is how my +discovery affected me. But I fancy the object through which I made my +second discovery was probably affected otherwise. I can't just say +offhand. Maybe I'll learn later, and be able to tell you. +</P> + +<P> +"There is not a day passes but what I make discoveries of a more or +less interesting nature. For instance, I've learned that there's +nothing like three people hating one person to make for a bond of +friendship between them. I'd say it's far more binding than marriage +vows at the altar. This comes under the heading of 'more' interesting. +Under the 'less' comes such things as—the only time that impulsive +action justifies itself is when you're sure of winning out. I have +given myself two examples of impulsive action only to-day. The one in +which I have won out seems to have ruined the chances of the other. +This is a confusion that doesn't seem to justify anything. Still, a +philosopher might be able to disentangle it. +</P> + +<P> +"I should be glad if you would give the old Dad my best love, and tell +him that the figures representing one hundred thousand dollars grow in +size with the advancing weeks. Nor can I tell how big they will appear +by the end of six months. If they grow in my view at the present rate, +by the end of six months it seems to me I'll need to walk around +looking through the wrong end of a telescope so as to get a place for +my feet anywhere on this continent. However, as 'disappointment' has +not yet appeared to create 'hope,' it is obvious that 'conviction' +remains. +</P> + +<P> +"I regret that time does not permit me to write more, so I will close. +Any further news I have to give you I will embody in another letter. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Your loving son,<BR> + "GORDON.<BR> +</P> + +<P> +"P.S.—I have been thinking a great deal about Gracie lately, she being +of the female sex. Of course, I could not compare her with a real +woman, but I feel, with a little judicious broadening of her mind, say +by travel or setting her out to earn her living, she might develop in +the right direction. It is a thought worth pondering. Such a process +might even have good results. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"G." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Mrs. James Carbhoy's angry and disgusted eyes were raised from her +reading to confront her husband's amused smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" she demanded. "Is it sunstroke, or—or——?" +</P> + +<P> +"That inquiry agent was a smart feller," the millionaire interrupted. +"Gordon surely is a—bright boy." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Carbhoy's indignation leaped. And with its leap came another. +She fairly bounced out of the chair she had occupied and hurled herself +at the mahogany door of the office. +</P> + +<P> +"James Carbhoy, I shall see to this matter myself. I always knew you +were merely a money machine. Now I know you have neither heart nor +sense." +</P> + +<P> +She flung open the door. Again she tripped over the fringe of the +carpet, and, with a smothered ejaculation, flew headlong in the +direction of the hall porter's stately presence. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +IN COUNCIL +</H4> + +<P> +There come days in a man's life which are not easily forgotten. Some +poignant incident indelibly fixes them upon memory, and they become +landmarks in his career. The next day became one of such in Gordon's +life. +</P> + +<P> +It was just a little extraordinary, too, that memory should have +selected this particular day in preference to the preceding one. The +first of the two should undoubtedly have been the more significant, for +it partook of a nature which appealed directly to those innermost hopes +and yearnings of a youthful heart. Surely, before all things in life, +Nature claims to itself the passionate yearning of the sexes as +paramount. Gordon had fought for the woman he loved, and basked in her +smiles of approval at his victory. Was not this sufficient to make it +a day of days? The psychological fact remained, the indelible memory +of the next day was planted on the mysterious photographic plates of +his mental camera in preference. +</P> + +<P> +It was a day of wild excitement. It was a day of hopes raised to a +fevered pitch, and then hurled headlong to a bottomless abyss of +despair. It was a day of passionate feeling and bitter memories. A +day of hopeless looking forward and of depression. Then, as a last and +final twist of the whirligig of emotion, it resolved itself into one +great burst of enthusiasm and hope. +</P> + +<P> +It started in at the earliest hour. Hip-Lee was preparing breakfast, +and Gordon was still dressing. A note was brought from Peter McSwain. +Gordon opened it, and the first emotions of an eventful day began to +take definite shape. +</P> + +<P> +The note informed him that McSwain had been faithful to his promise. +He, assisted by Mike Callahan of the livery barn, had worked +strenuously. The results had been splendid amongst all the principal +landholders in Snake's Fall and Buffalo Point. Prices this morning +were "skied" prohibitively. +</P> + +<P> +The holders saw their advantage. Even if the railroad bought in +Snake's Fall they would be "on velvet." They agreed that it was the +first sound move made. They agreed that it was good to "jolly" a +railroad. The men who did not hold in Buffalo only held insignificant +property in Snake's Fall, which would be useless to the railroad. But +should the railroad buy there, even these would be benefited. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon began to feel that palpitating excitement in the stomach +indicative of a disturbed nervous system. Things were stirring. He +examined the situation from the view point of yesterday's encounter. +With these people working in with him, the future certainty began to +look brighter than when he had retired to bed over-night. +</P> + +<P> +Mallinsbee came along after breakfast, and Gordon showed him McSwain's +message. +</P> + +<P> +The rancher read it over twice. Then his opinion came in deep, +rumbling notes. +</P> + +<P> +"That's sure what you needed," he said, with a shrewd, twinkling smile. +"But I don't guess the shoutin's begun." +</P> + +<P> +"No?" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon eyed him uneasily. He had felt rather pleased. +</P> + +<P> +"We can't shout till Slosson talks," the rancher went on. "That talk +of Peter's is still only our side of the play." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon was at his desk. +</P> + +<P> +Then a diversion was created by the advent of a fat stranger with a +large expanse of highly colored waistcoat, and a watchguard to match. +</P> + +<P> +He wanted to talk "sites," and spent half an hour doing so. When he +had gone Mallinsbee offered an explanation which had passed Gordon's +inexperience by. +</P> + +<P> +"That feller's worried," he observed. "He's got wind there's something +doing, and is scared to death the speculators are to be shut out. He's +going back to report to the boys. Maybe we'll hear from Peter +again—later. I wonder what Slosson's thinking?" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"I doubt if he can think yet," he said. "I allow he was upset +yesterday. I'd give a dollar to see him when he starts to try and buy." +</P> + +<P> +"You're feeling sure." +</P> + +<P> +Mallinsbee's doubt was pretty evident. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure? I'm sure of nothing about Slosson except his particular dislike +of me, and, through me, of you." +</P> + +<P> +"Just so. And when a man hates the way he hates you, if he's bright +he'll try to make things hum." +</P> + +<P> +"He's bright all right," allowed Gordon. +</P> + +<P> +A further diversion was created. Two men arrived in a buckboard, and +Mallinsbee's explanation was verified. They were looking for +information. It was said the railroad was to boycott Buffalo Point. +It was said, even, that they had bought in Snake's Fall. Was this so? +And, anyway, what was the meaning of the rise in prices at that end? +</P> + +<P> +"Why, say," finished up one of the men, "when I was talking to Mason, +the dry goods man, this morning, he told me there wasn't a speculator +around who'd money enough to buy his spare holdings in Snake's. And +when I asked him the figger he said he needed ten thousand dollars for +two side street plots and twenty thousand for two avenue fronts. He's +crazy, sure." +</P> + +<P> +Mallinsbee shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Not crazy. Just bright." +</P> + +<P> +When the man had departed, and Mallinsbee had removed the patch from +his eye, he smiled over at Gordon. +</P> + +<P> +"Peter's surely done his work," he said. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon warmed with enthusiasm. If those were the prices ruling Mr. +Slosson would have no option but to be squeezed between the two +interests. Whatever his personal feelings, he must make good with his +company. No agent, unless he were quite crazy, would dare face such +prices for his principals. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see that Slosson's a leg to stand on," he cried, his +enthusiasm bubbling. "We've just got to sit around and wait." +</P> + +<P> +Mallinsbee agreed. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure. Sit around and wait," he said, with that baffling smile of his. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon shrugged, and bent over some figures he had been working on. +Presently he looked up. +</P> + +<P> +"How's Miss Hazel this morning?" he inquired casually. He had wanted +to speak of her before, but the memory of her father's anger yesterday +had restrained him. Now he felt he was safe. +</P> + +<P> +"Just sore over things," said the old man, with a sobering of the eyes. +"I talked to her some last night. She guesses she owes you a heap, but +it ain't nothing to what I owe you." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon flushed. Then he laughed and shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"No man or woman owes me a thing who gives me the chance of a scrap," +he said. +</P> + +<P> +The old man smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"No," he agreed. "With a name like 'Van Henslaer'—you ain't Irish?" +</P> + +<P> +"Descendant of the old early Dutch." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah. They were scrappers, too." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon nodded and went on with his figures. So the morning passed. It +was a waiting for developments which both men knew would not long be +delayed. Mallinsbee was unemotional, but Gordon was all on wires drawn +to great tension. The subtle warnings from Mallinsbee not to be too +optimistic had left him in a state of doubt. And an impatience took +hold of him which he found hard to restrain. +</P> + +<P> +The two men shared their midday meal. Mallinsbee wanted to get back to +the ranch, but neither felt such a course to be policy yet. Besides, +now that the crisis had arrived, Gordon was anxious to have his +superior's approval for his next move. He had taken a chance +yesterday. Now he wanted to make no mistake. +</P> + +<P> +The <I>dénouement</I> came within half an hour of Hip-Lee's clearing of the +table. It came with the sound of galloping hoofs, with the rush of a +horseman up to the veranda. +</P> + +<P> +The two men inside the office looked at each other, and Gordon rose and +dashed at the window. +</P> + +<P> +"It's McSwain," he said, and returned to the haven of his seat behind +his desk. His announcement had been cool enough, but his heart was +hammering against his ribs. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I guess things are going queer," said the rancher pessimistically. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon was about to reply when the door was abruptly thrust open, and +the hot face and hotter eyes of Peter appeared in the doorway. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" +</P> + +<P> +For the life of him Gordon could not have withheld that sharp, nervous +inquiry. +</P> + +<P> +McSwain came right into the room and drew the door closed after him. +Quite suddenly his eyes began to smile in that fashion which so +expresses chagrin. He flung his hat on Gordon's desk and sat himself +on the corner of it. Then he deliberately drew a long breath. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm as worried as a cat goin' to have kittens," he said. "That feller +Slosson's beat us. Maybe he's stark, starin' crazy, maybe he ain't. +Anyways he came right along to me this morning with a face like chewed +up dogs' meat, with a limp on him that 'ud ha' made the fortune of a +tramp, and a mitt all doped up with a dry goods store o' cotton-batten, +and asked me the price of my holdings in Snake's. I guessed I wasn't +selling my hotel lot, but I'd two Main Street frontages that were worth +ten thousand dollars each, and a few other bits going at the waste +ground price of five thousand each." +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" +</P> + +<P> +This time it was Mallinsbee's inquiry. +</P> + +<P> +"He closed the deal for his company, and planted the deposit." +</P> + +<P> +"He closed the deal?" cried Gordon thickly, all his dreams of the +future tumbling about his ears. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, yes." McSwain regarded the younger man's hopelessly staring eyes +for one brief moment. Then he went on: "I was only the first. This +was after dinner. Say, in half an hour he's put his company in at +Snake's to the tune of nearly a quarter million dollars. He's mad. +They'll fire him. They'll repudiate the whole outfit. I tell you he +never squealed at any old price. He's beat our play here. But how do +we stand up there? A crazy man comes along and makes deals which no +corporation in the world would stand for. There ain't a site in +Snake's worth more'n a hundred dollars to a railroad who's got to boom +a place. Well, if his corporation turns him down, how do we stand? +Are they goin' to pay? No, sir; not on your life." +</P> + +<P> +"They'll have to stand it," said Mallinsbee. +</P> + +<P> +"They'll try and fight it," retorted Peter hotly. +</P> + +<P> +"And you can't graft the courts like a railroad can," put in Gordon +quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"They'll have to stand it," repeated Mallinsbee doggedly. "An' I'll +tell you how. Maybe Slosson's crazy. Maybe he's crazy to beat us, an' +I allow he's not without reason for doin' it—now. But it would cost +the railroad a big pile to shift that depot here. It would have been +better for them in the end. You see, they'd have got their holdings in +the township here for pretty well nix, and so they wouldn't have felt +the cost of the depot. The city would have paid that, as well as other +old profits. Anyway, the capital would have had to be laid out. In +Snake's they are laying out capital in their holdings only. They'll +get it back all right, all right—and profits. Slosson's relying on +making up their leeway for them in the boom. He's takin' that chance, +because he's crazy to beat—us." +</P> + +<P> +"And he's done it," said Gordon sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"Yep. He's done it," muttered McSwain regretfully. +</P> + +<P> +"He surely has," agreed Mallinsbee, without emotion. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon was the only one of the trio who appeared to be depressed. +McSwain had the consolation of getting his profit in Snake's Fall. The +only sense in which he was a loser was that his holdings in Buffalo +Point were larger than in the other place. Therefore he was able to +regard the matter more calmly, in the light of the fortunes of war. +Mallinsbee, who had staked all his hopes on Buffalo Point, seemed +utterly unaffected. +</P> + +<P> +A few minutes later McSwain hurried away for the purpose of watching +further developments, promising to return in the evening and report. +Neither he nor Gordon felt that there was the least hope whatever. +Mallinsbee offered no opinion. +</P> + +<P> +When Peter had ridden off, and the two men were left alone, Gordon, +weighed down with his failure, began to give expression to his feelings. +</P> + +<P> +He looked over at the strong face of his benefactor, and took his +courage in both hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Mallinsbee," he said diffidently, "I want to tell you something of +what I feel at the way things have gone through—my failure. I——" +</P> + +<P> +Mallinsbee had thrust his fingers into his waistcoat pocket, and now +drew forth a cigar. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, have a smoke, boy," he said, in his blunt, kindly fashion. +"That's a dollar an' a half smoke," he went on, "an' I brought two of +'em over from the ranch to celebrate on. Guess we best celebrate right +now." +</P> + +<P> +It was a doleful smile which looked back at the rancher as Gordon +accepted the proffered cigar. +</P> + +<P> +"But I——" +</P> + +<P> +"Say, don't bite the end off," interrupted Mallinsbee. "Here's a +piercer." +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks. But you must let——" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be mighty glad to have a light," the other went on hastily. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon was thus forced to silence, and Mallinsbee continued. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, boy," he said, as he settled himself comfortably to enjoy his +expensive cigar, "a business life is just the only thing better than +ranching, I'm beginning to guess. You got to figure on things this +way: ranching you got so many hands around, so much grazin', so many +cattle. Your only enemy is disease. So many head of cows will produce +so many calves, and Nature does the rest. That's ranching in a kind of +outline which sort of reduces it to a question of figures which it +wouldn't need a trick reckoner to work out. Now business is diff'rent. +Ther's always the other feller, and you 'most always feel he's brighter +than you. But he ain't. He's just figurin' the same way at his end of +the deal. So, you see, the real principles of commerce aren't +dependent on the things you got and Nature, same as ranching. Your +assets ain't worth the paper they're written on—till you've got your +man where you want him. Now, to do that you got to ferget you ever +were born honest. You've just got one object in life, and that is to +get the other feller where you want him. It don't matter how you do +it, short of murder. If you succeed, folks'll shout an' say what a +bright boy you are. If you fail they'll say you're a mutt. The whole +thing's a play there ain't no rules to except those the p'lice handle, +and even they don't count when your assets are plenty. You'll hear +folks shouting at revival meetings, an' psalm-smitin' around their city +churches. You'll hear them brag honesty an' righteousness till you +feel you're a worse sinner than ever was found in the Bible. You'll +have 'em come an' look you in the eye and swear to truth, and every +other old play invented to allay suspicions. And all the time it's a +great big bluff for them to get you where <I>they</I> want you. An' that's +why the game's worth playing—even when you're beat. If business was +dead straight; if you could stake your all on a man's word; if ther' +weren't a man who would take graft; if you didn't know the other feller +was yearning to handle your wad—why, the game wouldn't be a +circumstance to ranching." +</P> + +<P> +"That sounds pretty cynical," protested Gordon. He, too, was smoking, +but the failure of his scheme left him unsmiling. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the truth. We were trying to get Slosson where we wanted him. +He's doing the same by us. So far he seems to monopolize most of the +advantage. The question remaining to us now—and it's the only one of +interest from our end of the line—is: Will the President of the Union +Grayling and Ukataw Railroad do as I think he will—back his agent's +play? Will he stand for his crazy buying? Will he fall for Slosson's +game to get us where he wants us? I believe he will, but we can't be +dead certain. Our only chance is to try and make it so he won't—even +if the Snake's boys lose their stuff up there." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon was sitting up. His cigar was removed from the corner of his +mouth and held poised over an ash-tray. There was a sharp look of +inquiry in his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the President of the Union Grayling and Ukataw Railroad got to +do with it?" he demanded quickly. +</P> + +<P> +The rancher raised his heavy brows. +</P> + +<P> +"This is a branch of his road, I guess." +</P> + +<P> +"A—a branch?" Gordon's breath was coming rapidly. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure. You see, it's a branch linking up with the Southern Trunk +route. It runs into the Grayling line where it enters the Rockies. +That's how you make the coast this way." +</P> + +<P> +"And this—is part of the Union Grayling system?" Gordon persisted, +his blue eyes getting bigger and bigger with excitement. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure," nodded Mallinsbee, watching him closely. +</P> + +<P> +Then the explosion came. Gordon could contain himself no longer. He +flung his newly lit dollar-and-a-half cigar on the floor with all the +force of pent feelings and leaped to his feet. +</P> + +<P> +"Great Scott!" he cried. "The President of that road is my father!" +</P> + +<P> +"Eh?" Then, without another sign, Mallinsbee pointed reproachfully at +the fallen cigar. "It cost a dollar an' a ha'f, boy." +</P> + +<P> +But Gordon was beside himself with excitement. A great flash of light +and hope was shining through his recent mental darkness. It didn't +matter to him at that moment if the cigar had cost a thousand dollars. +</P> + +<P> +"But—but don't you understand?" he almost yelled. "The President of +the Union Grayling and Ukataw is my—father." +</P> + +<P> +"James Carbhoy." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes. My name's Gordon Van Henslaer Carbhoy." +</P> + +<P> +Then quite suddenly Gordon sat down and began to laugh. Then he +stooped and picked up his cigar. He was still laughing, while he +carefully wiped the dust from the cigar's moistened end. +</P> + +<P> +"James Carbhoy's your—father?" +</P> + +<P> +Mallinsbee was no longer disturbed at the waste of the cigar. All his +attention was fixed on that laughing face in front of him. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon nodded delightedly, while he once more thrust his cigar into the +corner of his mouth. +</P> + +<P> +"You're thinkin' something?" +</P> + +<P> +Mallinsbee was becoming infected by the other's manner. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure I am." Gordon nodded. "I'm thinking a heap. Say, the fight has +shifted its battle-ground. It's only just going to begin. Gee, if I'd +only thought of it before! The Union Grayling and Ukataw! It's fate. +Say, it isn't Slosson any longer. It's son and father. I've got to +scrap the old dad. Gee! It's colossal. Say, can you beat it? I've +got to make my little pile out of my old dad. And—he sent me out to +make it and show him what I could do." +</P> + +<P> +"But how? I don't just see——" +</P> + +<P> +"How? How?" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon's laughing eyes sobered. He suddenly realized that he had only +considered the humorous side of the position. His brain began to work +at express speed. How was he to turn this thing to account? How? +Yes—how? +</P> + +<P> +Mallinsbee watched him for many silent minutes. And during those +minutes scheme after scheme, each one more wild than its predecessor, +flashed through Gordon's brain. None of them suggested any sane +possibility. He knew he was up against one of the most brilliant +financiers of the country, who, in a matter like this, would regard his +own son simply as "the other feller." He must trick him. But how? +How? +</P> + +<P> +For a long time, in spite of his excited delight, Gordon saw no glamour +of a hope of dealing successfully with his father. Then all in a flash +he remembered something. He remembered he still had his father's +private code book with him. He remembered Slosson. If Slosson could +only be—silenced. +</P> + +<P> +In a moment he was on his feet again. +</P> + +<P> +"I've got it!" he cried exultantly. "I've got it, Mr. Mallinsbee! You +said that it didn't matter, short of murder, how we got the other +feller where we needed him. Will you come in on the wildest, most +crazy scheme you ever heard of? We can beat the game, and we'll take +money for nothing. We can make my dad build the depot right here and +scrap Snake's Fall. We can make him—and without any murder. Will you +come in?" +</P> + +<P> +"In what?" demanded a girlish voice from the veranda doorway. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon swung round, and Mallinsbee turned his smiling, twinkling eyes +upon his daughter, who had arrived all unnoticed. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a scheme he's got to beat his father, gal," laughed Mallinsbee in +a deep-throated chuckle. +</P> + +<P> +"His father?" Hazel turned her smiling, inquiring eyes upon the man +who had rescued her yesterday. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, James Carbhoy," said her father, "the President of this railroad." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel's eyes widened, and their smile died out. +</P> + +<P> +"Your father—the—millionaire—James Carbhoy?" she said. And her note +of regret must have been plain to anybody less excited than Gordon. +</P> + +<P> +But Gordon was beyond all observation of such subtle inflections. He +was obsessed with his wild scheme. He started forward. Walking past +Hazel, he closed and locked the door. Then with alert eyes he glanced +at the window. It was open. He shut it and secured it. Then he set a +chair for Hazel close beside her father, and finally brought his own +chair round and sat himself down facing them. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen to me, and I'll tell you," he grinned, his whole body throbbing +with a joyous humor. "We're going to get the other feller where we +need him, and that other feller is my—dear—old—Dad!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +SOMETHING DOING +</H4> + +<P> +During the next two or three days the entire atmosphere of Snake's Fall +underwent a significant change. All doubt had been set at rest. The +whole problem of the future boom was solved, and David Slosson received +as much homage in the conversation of the general run of the citizens +as though he were the victorious general in a military campaign. The +lesser people, who would receive the most benefit from the coming boom, +regarded him with wide-eyed wonder at the stupendous nature of the +wildly exaggerated reports of his dealings in land. They saw in him a +Napoleon of finance, and remembered that their concerns were vastly +more valuable through his operations. +</P> + +<P> +Men of maturer business instincts withheld their judgment and contented +themselves with a rather dazed wonder. Others, those who had actually +and already profited by his preliminary deals, chuckled softly to +themselves, rubbed their hands gently, pocketed his paper and deposit +money, and wrote him down "plumb crazy." But even so, there was a +sober watchfulness as to the next movements in the approaching boom. +Those who were the farthest seeing kept an eye wide open on Buffalo +Point. So far as they could see it was not possible for the Buffalo +Point interests to go under without a "kick." When would that "kick" +come, and where would it be delivered? +</P> + +<P> +As for David Slosson, after his first effort, which had been the +deciding factor in the future of Snake's Fall, he remained +unapproachable. He was living at Peter McSwain's hotel, and occupied a +bedroom and parlor, which latter served him as an office. Here he +remained more or less invisible, possibly while his disfigured features +underwent the process of mending, possibly nursing his wrath and +plotting developments against the object of it. There was even another +possible explanation. Maybe the plunge into the land market he had +taken needed a great concentration of effort to completely manipulate +it. Whatever it was, very little of the railroad company's agent was +seen after his first setting defiant foot into the arena of affairs. +</P> + +<P> +McSwain was more than interested. The hotel-keeper seemed to have +become obsessed with the idea that David Slosson was the only creature +worth regarding on the face of the earth. This was after he, Peter, +had spent the evening of that memorable first day of real movement, in +the company of Silas Mallinsbee and Gordon, out at the office at +Buffalo Point. +</P> + +<P> +Peter McSwain had always been an attentive landlord in his business, +now he had suddenly become even more so, especially to David Slosson. +There was not a single requirement that the agent could conceive, but +Peter was on hand to supply it. He was more or less at his elbow the +whole time. +</P> + +<P> +Then, too, Mike Callahan became a frequenter of the hotel, and even +boarded there. Furthermore, a wonderful friendliness between him and +Peter sprang up, which was so marked that the townspeople saw in it a +combination of forces possibly foreshadowing the inauguration of a +great hotel enterprise under their joint control. This also was after +that first evening, when Mike Callahan had also formed one of the party +at the office at Buffalo Point. +</P> + +<P> +Another point of interest, had it been noticeable by the more curious +and interested of the frequenters of the hotel, was, that at any time +that Peter McSwain found it necessary to absent himself from the hotel, +Mike was always found in his place superintending the running of the +establishment. +</P> + +<P> +However, these small details were merely an added puff of wind to the +breath of general excitement prevailing. The one thought in the place +seemed to be of those preparations necessary for the boom. Already +certain contracts, long since prepared for such a happening, were put +into operation. A number of buildings were started, or prepared to +start. The news had been sent broadcast by interested citizens, and a +fresh influx of people began and heavy orders from the various traders +were placed with the wholesalers in the East. +</P> + +<P> +David Slosson in his quarters was made aware of these things, but +somehow they raised small enough enthusiasm in him. Truth to tell, he +was far too deeply concerned with the subtleties of his own affairs. +His course of action had not been the wild plunge which Peter McSwain +had suggested. On the contrary, such was his venomous nature that he +had pitted his own abilities and fortune against the Buffalo Point +interests in a carefully calculated scheme. +</P> + +<P> +For years he had been engaged in every corner of the United States and +Canada in such work as he was now doing. In the process of such work, +by methods of unscrupulous grafting and blackmail he had contrived a +fortune of no inconsiderable amount. So that now he was no ordinary +agent. He was a "representative" of the interests he worked for. In +his case the distinction was a nice one. +</P> + +<P> +As the result of his encounter with Gordon he had resolved upon the +crushing defeat of his adversaries by hurling the entire weight of his +personal fortune into the scale. True enough he had bought without +regard to price. He bought all he could in the best positions, and +even in the quarters which would not meet with the railroad's approval. +So his purchases had to be far greater, both in extent and price, than +in the ordinary way he would have made at Buffalo Point. +</P> + +<P> +Having thus bought, and thrown his own money into the affair, this was +his plan of dealing with the matter. First, he knew this boom was +based on sound foundations. The future was assured by the vast +coal-fields just opening up. The Bude and Sideley Coal Company was +only the first. There would be others, many of them. With the +railroad depot at Snake's Fall, the whole of the outlying positions of +the city would boom with the rest. <I>Any land round it would be of +enormous value</I>. So he purchased in every direction. He bought at +"skied" prices from the big holders, so that the railroad should be +satisfied as to positions, and he bought largely in the outlying parts +of the city where no "skied" prices could rule. Then he pooled the +price which he knew the railroad would pay, with his own fortune to pay +the whole bill, put the railroad in <I>on the best sites at their own +price</I>, and held the balance of his purchases for himself. +</P> + +<P> +It was his only means of justifying to his principals his declining to +accept Buffalo Point's terms, and though it meant locking up his +available capital in Snake's Fall, he knew, in the end, he would recoup +himself with added fortune, and have wrecked those who had rejected his +blackmail, and added to their audacity by personal assault. It pleased +him to think that Hazel Mallinsbee would also be made to suffer for +what he considered her outrageous treatment of himself. +</P> + +<P> +His method was certainly Napoleonic, and for its very audacity it +should succeed. As he reviewed his position he could find no +appreciable flaws. If the coal were there the place must boom, +and—<I>he knew the coal was there</I>. +</P> + +<P> +So he was satisfied. +</P> + +<P> +Five days after making his first deal, those deals which had inspired +so much derision, his whole operations were completed. He was feeling +contented. It had been a strenuous time, and had demanded every ounce +of energy and commercial acumen he possessed to complete the work. He +knew that his whole future was at stake, but he also knew that he held +the four aces which would be the finally deciding factors in the game. +He felt free at last to notify the President of the Union Grayling and +Ukataw Railroad of his transactions, and was confident of that shrewd +financier's approval and felicitations. Nor were the latter the least +desirable in his estimation. +</P> + +<P> +He had already dined in his parlor, as had been his custom since his +encounter with Gordon. But now he intended to move abroad. He felt +himself to be the arbiter of the fate of these "rubes," as he +characterized the citizens of Snake's Fall, and he did not see the +necessity for denying himself the adulation such a position entitled +him to. +</P> + +<P> +With a self-satisfied feeling he picked up a long code message he had +written out and thrust it in his pocket. Then, carefully putting away +all other private papers into his dressing-case, and locking it, he +sauntered leisurely out of his room. +</P> + +<P> +He intended to give himself his first breathing space for five days, +and he lounged downstairs to the hotel office. +</P> + +<P> +Sure enough, the first person he encountered was Peter McSwain. The +man looked hot, but then he always looked hot. His smile of welcome +was almost servile, and David Slosson felt pleased at the sign. +</P> + +<P> +The consequence was, his manner promptly became something more than +autocratic. There was a domineering note in his voice, and a cool +insolence in his regard of his host. Peter remained quite undisturbed. +His mind went back to the scene in the office at Buffalo Point on the +eventful first evening, and an even greater servility beamed out of his +hot eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir," he cried, in answer to Slosson's inquiry as to the +movements in the town. "Movements? Why, I'd sure say you've set this +place jumping as though you'd opened up an earthquake under it. I tell +you frankly, Mr. Slosson, sir, we been waitin' days and days with our +eyes on you for a lead. I don't guess it means a thing to a gentleman +like you, but if you'd been a sort o' cock angel right down from the +clouds on an aeroplane you couldn't ha' been blessed more'n the folks +right here have been blessin' your name these last days, since you +outed that bum outfit down at Buffalo Point." +</P> + +<P> +"They're a pretty rotten crowd," agreed Slosson, well enough pleased. +"Though I say it, it takes a man of experience to handle a crowd like +that. They're sheer blackmailers, but I don't stand for a thing like +that. You see, our play is to serve the public right. Well, seeing +Snake's Fall is a straight proposition I guess I had to treat 'em +right. I figure I put a heap of dollars in the way of Snake's Fall. +You won't do so bad yourself?" +</P> + +<P> +Peter smiled amiably. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't kick." +</P> + +<P> +"Kick?" Slosson's eyes widened. "Guess you ought to get right on your +knees, and thank—me." Then he laughed. "Say, maybe you'll start +putting up a—real hotel." +</P> + +<P> +His contempt was marked as he let his glance wander over his simple and +primitive surroundings. Peter took no sort of umbrage. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, that was how I was figurin'. Y'see I got to be first in that +line. Since you downed Mallinsbee's crowd of crooks, why, it's going +to make things easy. Say, you don't figure to sink dollars that way +yourself? Maybe you could get right in on the ground floor." +</P> + +<P> +His cordial tone pleased the agent, but he pretended to consider the +matter too small for his participation. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd need a big holding," he laughed. "I ain't time for one-hossed +shows. Still, I thank you for the offer. Guess the Mallinsbee crowd +are kicking 'emselves to death. What?" +</P> + +<P> +Peter nodded impressively, and drew closer in his confidence. +</P> + +<P> +"Kickin'? That don't describe it. They deserve it, too. They kep' us +dancing around guessin' with their patch of grazin'. Say, this town +owes you a big heap, an' I'm glad. There's one thing owin' a real +smart gent like you, Mr. Slosson, sir, an' quite another owin' a crowd +of crooks like Mallinsbee's. This town ain't likely to forget. +There's things like testimonials around, sir," he added, winking +significantly, "and when a city's making a big pile through a man, +testimonials are like to take on a mighty handsome shape." +</P> + +<P> +Slosson grinned. +</P> + +<P> +"I shouldn't discourage 'em," he said pleasantly. "The folks 'll see +where they are in a few days. Here." He pulled out his long cypher +message from his pocket, and held it out towards Peter triumphantly. +"You can read it if you like. You won't be able to get its meaning, +but I'll tell you what it is. It's to tell my company to go right +ahead. They're in. That means that Snake's Fall is made, sir, +completely and finally made, and the Mallinsbee ground sharks are plumb +down and out. And I'm glad to say I've been the means of fixing things +that way for you." +</P> + +<P> +Peter took the message. He took it rather quickly—almost too quickly. +He read it. The words were so much gibberish to him, and it was far +too long to remember. But with a quick effort he took in the one word +of address, and the first six words of the message. +</P> + +<P> +Then he handed it back. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you need that sent off, sir?" he inquired easily, but his heart was +beating quickly. +</P> + +<P> +Slosson shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess I'll send it myself. I'm going across to the depot right now." +He folded up the paper. "That's the sentence on the Buffalo Point +crooks, and its execution will follow—quick." +</P> + +<P> +"An' serve 'em darned right," cried Peter sharply. "I ain't time for +crooks like them. You're right, sir. Don't take chances. See that +sent off yourself, sir. I'm real glad you come along here. There'll +be fortunes lying around in your track, an' then there's always +them—testimonials. Say, you'll just excuse me, sir, but there's some +all-fired 'rubes' shoutin' for drinks in the bar. I——" +</P> + +<P> +Slosson laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, you get right on. The boys have money to burn in this city now. +They'll have more later. I'll get going." +</P> + +<P> +He moved off and passed through the crowded office, and out of the +hotel, while Peter dashed swiftly into his private office. He went +straight to his desk and wrote on paper all he could remember of the +code message. Then he stood up and swore softly to himself. +</P> + +<P> +For some moments he let himself go at the expense of the man he had +just been talking to. Then he became calmer, and his face grew +thoughtful. Then, after awhile, a smile grew in his hot eyes, and he +murmured audibly— +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder. Steve Mason's a good boy, an' he don't draw a big pile +slamming the keys of his instruments over there. I wonder." +</P> + +<P> +After that he left the office and hurried out to the veranda, and stood +watching, in the evening light, for the figure of David Slosson leaving +the telegraph operator's office. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Gordon and Hazel Mallinsbee were riding amongst the hills. Gordon was +on Sunset, and Hazel's brown mare was reveling in the joy of a fresh +morning gallop through her native valleys and woodlands. +</P> + +<P> +Ever since the memorable day when he discovered that Slosson was his +father's agent, Gordon had lived in a state of almost feverish delight. +At his instigation they had closed up the office at Buffalo Point, to +give color to their defeat by the agent. At his instigation they had +arranged many other more or less significant matters. But it had been +Mallinsbee's own suggestion that Gordon should take up his abode at the +ranch instead of sharing the hospitality of Mike Callahan's livery barn +in Snake's Fall. +</P> + +<P> +It was a glorious summer day and the mountain breezes came down the +hillsides with that refreshing cool belonging to the heights above. +The joy of living was thrilling both of them as they rode, and their +horses, too, seemed to have caught the infection. But there was +something more than the mere joy of life and health actuating them now. +There was an excitement such as neither could have experienced during +those long, dull hours which, during the past weeks, had been spent in +the now closed office at Buffalo Point. +</P> + +<P> +They raced along down a wide green valley lined upon either side by +wood-clad slopes of hills, which mounted up towards the blue for +several hundreds of feet. Ahead of them shone the white ramparts of +the mountain range. They scintillated in the sunlight, a shimmering +wall of snow and ice many thousands of feet high. Before them lay +miles and miles of broken hills, rising higher and higher as they +approached the ultimate barrier of the Rockies themselves. +</P> + +<P> +The riders were in a perfect maze of valleys, and woods, and mountain +streams, and hills; a maze from which it seemed well-nigh impossible to +disentangle themselves. Yet, with her trained eyes, and wonderful +inborn knowledge of hill-craft, Hazel piloted their course without +hesitation, without question. The whole region was an open book to her +in the summer time. For miles and miles through that broken land she +knew every headland, every shadowy wood, every green valley and +gurgling stream. As she often told Gordon, it was her world—her home +and her world, it belonged to her. +</P> + +<P> +"But I should lose myself in five minutes," Gordon protested, as they +swung out of the valley and into a narrow cutting between two +sheer-faced cliffs, overgrown with scrub and small bush, which left +hardly any room for their horses along the banks of a trickling brook +which divided them. +</P> + +<P> +"Surely you would," Hazel, who was now in the lead, called back over +her shoulder. "And I guess I should just as soon lose my way in your +wonderful New York. You follow right along, and I'll promise to bring +you home by supper." Then, with laughing anxiety, "But for goodness' +sake don't lose our lunch out of your saddle bags. We'll be starving +after another hour of this." +</P> + +<P> +The warning startled Gordon into an apprehensive survey of his saddle +bags. They were quite secure, however, and he followed closely on the +mare's heels. +</P> + +<P> +Quickly it became apparent that they were traveling a well-worn cattle +path overgrown by the low scrub. It was difficult, but Hazel followed +it unfalteringly. Half a mile up this narrow, the great facets of the +hills on either side began to close in on them, and still further ahead +Gordon discovered that they almost met overhead, the narrowest possible +crack alone dividing them. +</P> + +<P> +He was wondering in which direction lay their way out of such a +hopeless cul-de-sac when he saw Hazel suddenly bend her body low over +her mare's neck, and, at the same moment, she called back a warning to +him. +</P> + +<P> +"'Ware overhead rocks!" she cried. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon instantly followed her example, and kept close behind her as she +entered a passage which was practically a tunnel. Now their +difficulties were increased tenfold. The tunnel, in spite of the +narrow split in its roof, was almost dark. The low bush completely hid +the track and the little tumbling creek beside the path had deepened to +a six-foot cut bank. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon became troubled. But it was not for himself so much as for +Hazel. His horse, Sunset, was steady as a rock, but the brown mare +ahead was as timid as a kitten. He glanced anxiously at the figure of +the girl. The journey seemed not to trouble her one bit. Her mare, +too, considering her timidity, was wonderfully steady. No doubt it was +the result of perfect confidence in the clever little creature on her +back, he thought. His gaze passed still further ahead. He was looking +for the termination of this mysterious winding tunnel. But twenty +yards was the limit of his vision and, so far, no end was in sight. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly Hazel's merry laugh came echoing back to him. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, isn't this a great place?" she cried. "It's like one of those +enchanted lands you read of in fairy books." Then she added a further +warning. "Keep low. We're nearly through." +</P> + +<P> +The horses scrambled on in the semi-darkness. But for Gordon the +enchantment of the place was passing, and he was glad to know they were +nearly through. +</P> + +<P> +A few minutes later he saw Hazel begin to straighten herself up in the +saddle. He followed her example with some caution and considerable +relief. The roof was becoming higher, so, too, was the light +increasing. Gordon breathed a sigh. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know about the lunch," he said. "I've bumped the walls for +some considerable time. Is there much more of it?" +</P> + +<P> +But before Hazel's reply could reach him his inquiry was answered by +the cavern itself. All in an instant they rounded a bend and a +dazzling beam of sunlight banished the darkness and nearly blinded him. +Two minutes later he pushed his way through a dense screen of willows, +and emerged upon the bank of a beautiful, serene lake of absolutely +transparent, sunlit water. +</P> + +<P> +"Behold the spring which is the source of that little stream," cried +Hazel, indicating the lake spread out before them. "Isn't it a +fairy-book picture? Look round you. Oh, say, I just love it to death." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon gazed about him in wonder. The lake was quite small, but its +setting was as beautiful as any artist could have painted it. All +around it, on two-thirds of its circumference, a hundred different +shades of green illumined the wonderful tangled vegetation. He looked +for the place from which they had emerged. It was completely hidden. +Gone, vanished as if by magic. All that remained were the great hills +at the back and the wooded banks of the lake at their feet. +</P> + +<P> +He looked down at the water. Clear, clear; it was clear as crystal. +Then he turned towards the sun, and something of the wonder of it all +thrilled him. A sea, a calm, unruffled sea of the greenest grass he +had ever beheld stretched out before him. Or was it a broad river of +grass? Yes, it was a wide river, perhaps two miles wide, with great +mountainous banks on either side. To him they seemed to be standing at +its source, and its flow carried his gaze away on towards the west, +where, above all, miles and miles away, shone the white peaks of the +mountains. +</P> + +<P> +The banks of this superb valley were deeply wooded from the base to the +soaring summits. Only were the hues of the foliage varied. Right at +the foot the green was bright, but less bright than the tall sweet +grass. While higher, the dark foliage of pine woods rose somberly on +stately towering blackened trunks. +</P> + +<P> +At last Gordon turned back to the girl, who had sat watching the intent +expression of his face. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me," he said, and he made a comprehensive gesture with one hand. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel was waiting only for that sign. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-214"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-214.jpg" ALT="Hazel Was Waiting for That Sign" BORDER="2"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center"> +Hazel Was Waiting for That Sign +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"Where we stand now we are twenty miles from the ranch," she said. +"The only other outlet to this valley is twenty miles further on to the +west. If you could not find our secret passage again, you would have +to travel sixty miles through the most amazing country to get back +home." +</P> + +<P> +"Sixty miles back?" Gordon muttered. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure," returned Hazel. Then she laughed. "Even then, unless you'd +been pretty well born in these hills you'd never find the way." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon nodded, and glanced in the direction whence they had come. +There was not a sign of the tunnel to be seen. The foliage screen +looked impenetrable. He began to smile. +</P> + +<P> +"And your cattle station?" he questioned. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel turned her mare away, and set off at a brisk canter. She +followed the line of the hills at the edge of the wide plain of sweet +grass. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon followed her, marveling at the place, but more still at his +guide. A quarter of an hour's gallop under the shade of the most +amazingly beautiful woods he ever remembered to have seen, brought them +to a clearing, in the midst of which stood a smallish frame house. It +was more or less surrounded by a number of large, heavy-timbered +corrals. The whole place was perfectly hidden by the screen of woods +from view of the valley beyond. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel leaped out of the saddle and passed hurriedly into the house. +Next minute she returned with two picket ropes. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll picket them both while we eat and get a peek around the place. +We aren't yearning for a twenty-mile tramp back." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon agreed. He remained silent while they off-saddled and secured +their horses beyond the woods on the open grass. He was thinking hard. +He was reviewing the purpose which had brought them to this wonderful +outworld hiding-place. Nor were his thoughts wholly free from doubts +and qualms. +</P> + +<P> +At length the work was done. Their saddle blankets were laid out to +dry in the sun, and the saddle bags were emptied of the ample lunch +Hazel had carefully provided. +</P> + +<P> +The girl was entirely mistress of the situation. Gordon felt his +helplessness out here in the secret heart of nature. +</P> + +<P> +"Shall we eat first or——?" Hazel broke off questioningly. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't we look around the house while the kettle boils?" inquired +Gordon, looking up from the fire he had kindled after some difficulty. +He was kneeling on the bare, dusty ground which had been trodden by the +hoofs of thousands of cattle in the past. +</P> + +<P> +The girl nodded. Her delight in being this man's cicerone was +superlative. This was different from the days she had spent with David +Slosson. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure. Come on," she cried. "And there's a well out back where we can +fill the kettle." +</P> + +<P> +They hurried off to the well, and, between them, rather like two +children, they filled the kettle. Then they returned and placed it on +the fire, and again approached the house. +</P> + +<P> +It was a squat, roomy structure of the ordinary frame type, but it was +in perfect preservation even to its paint, and Hazel pointed this out +as they approached. +</P> + +<P> +"You see this was my daddy's first home," she said. "It's where I was +born." She drew a deep, happy sigh. "I seem to remember every stick +of it. And my daddy, why, he just loves it, too. That's why, though +we don't use it now, he has it painted every year, and kept clean. You +see, when my daddy built this for my momma he hadn't a pile of dollars. +It was just all he could afford, and he didn't ever guess he'd have a +great deal to spend on a home. We lived here years, and our cattle +grazed out in the valley beyond. I used to spend my whole time on the +back of a small broncho mare, chasing up and down the hills and woods. +And that's how I found that tunnel we came through. My, but I do love +this little place!" +</P> + +<P> +"It's great," agreed Gordon warmly. "I'd call it a—a poet's home." +</P> + +<P> +The girl flung open the front door and led the way in. Instantly +Gordon had the surprise of his life. It was furnished. Completely and +comfortably furnished. What was more, the furniture, though old, was +in perfect repair, and the room looked as though it had been recently +occupied. +</P> + +<P> +"When you said 'disused,'" Gordon exclaimed, "I—I—thought it would be +empty." +</P> + +<P> +The girl smiled a little sadly. +</P> + +<P> +"No," she said. "We couldn't forsake it. It would be like forgetting +my poor momma. No. The furniture and things are just as we used them +when she was with us." +</P> + +<P> +She passed from the parlor to the bedrooms, and the lean-to kitchen and +washhouse. Everything was in perfect order, except for a slight dust +which had gathered. +</P> + +<P> +"You see, Hip-Lee and one of the choremen and I can fix it up in a day +ready for occupation. That's how my daddy likes to have it. My daddy +loved our lovely momma. I don't guess he'll ever get over losing her." +Then she looked up, and her shadow of sadness had gone. "Come along," +she cried. "You've seen it all. So we'll just shut it up again, and +get back to our camp. I'm guessing that kettle'll be boiled dry." +</P> + +<P> +But the kettle was only just on the boil, and the girl made the tea +while Gordon set out the food and plates. Then, when all was ready, +they sat down to their <I>tête-à-tête</I> picnic with all the enjoyment of +two children, but with that between them which seemed to fill the whole +air of the valley with an intoxicating sense of happiness and delight. +</P> + +<P> +"And what about that other place—that log and adobe shack you told me +of?" demanded Gordon, taking his tea-cup from the girl's hand. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"That's a dandy shack, full of ants and crawly things, and its roof +leaks water. It's up on a hill where the wind just blows pneumonia +through it. If I showed it you I sort of reckon you'd be scared to use +it for—for anything." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon joined in her laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess it'll be the real thing for my job. Say, don't you sort of +feel like a criminal? I do." He laughed again as he passed the plate +of cut meats to his companion. +</P> + +<P> +"Criminals?" laughed Hazel buoyantly. "Why, I just feel as if you and +my daddy and I were all hanging by the neck on the highest peak of the +Rockies. Say, you're sure—sure of things?" +</P> + +<P> +"I guess there's nothing sure in this world, except that no saint was +ever a financial genius. Sure? Say, how can we be sure till we've +fixed things the way we want 'em? But I tell you we've got to make +good. I won't believe we can fail. We mustn't fail. If only Peter +can get hold of Slosson's messages. Only one will do. If he can do +that, and it's what I expect, why—the whole thing becomes just a +practical joke, only not so harmful." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon attacked his food with a healthy appetite, and the girl watched +him happily. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the cleverest thing ever," she cried, "and—and I can't think how +you thought of it, and, having thought of it—dared to attempt to carry +it out." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not clever, but—I did think of it, didn't I? And as to carrying +it out, why, I guess we're the same as the others. We're 'sharps.' +We're land pirates. We're ground sharks." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel set her cup down. +</P> + +<P> +"But you are clever. I didn't mean it that way." +</P> + +<P> +"You're the first person ever told me." +</P> + +<P> +"Am I?" Hazel blushed. Nor did she know why. Gordon, watching her, +sat entranced. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure. Most everybody reckons I'm just a—a bit of an athlete—that's +all. My sister Gracie never gets tired of telling me what an +all-sorts-of-fool I am." +</P> + +<P> +"How old is your—Gracie?" +</P> + +<P> +"Thirteen." +</P> + +<P> +"That makes a diff'rence." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, she doesn't get it all her own way," laughed Gordon. "I hide her +chocolates. That makes her mad. She's a passion for candy. But the +old dad is a bully feller. He's all sorts of a sportsman, and he +guesses that the best day in his life will be the one in which he finds +I'm not a fool." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel gurgled merrily. +</P> + +<P> +"That'll come along soon." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Gee! It makes me laugh to think of it. But say," he went on, a +moment later, "I'm glad you don't think me a fool. I'm just longing +for——" But he broke off and abruptly rose from the ground. Their +meal was finished. "Do we wash things or do we just pack 'em up?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, we'll pack 'em," said Hazel, rising hastily. A sort of nervous +hurry was in her movement. "We won't rob the choreman and Hip-Lee of +their rights. Say, you bring up the horses, and I'll pack. We can +water them at the lake as we pass out—the horses, I mean." +</P> + +<P> +A few minutes later Gordon returned with the horses. +</P> + +<P> +As he rounded the bend in the now overgrown track, which had once +formed the main approach to the little ranch, and caught sight of the +graceful fawn-clad figure moving about, he stood for a moment to feast +his eyes upon the picture the girl made. She was all he had ever +dreamed of in life. There was nothing of the delicate exotic here, +none of the graceful gowning of a city, concealing an unhealthy body +reduced almost to infirmity by the unwholesome night life of modern +social demands. She was just a living example of the grace with which +Nature so readily endows those who obey her wonderful, helpful laws. +The perfect contours, the elasticity of gait, the clear, keen, +beautiful eyes, and the pretty tanning under the shade of her +wide-brimmed hat. +</P> + +<P> +The beating of the man's heart quickened. All his feelings rose, and +set him longing to tell her all that was in his heart. He wanted then +and there to become her champion for all time. A great passionate wave +set the warm blood of youth surging to his head. He felt that she +belonged to him, and him alone. Had he not fought for her as those +warriors of old would have done? Yes, somehow he felt that she was +his, but, with a strange cowardice, he feared to put his fate to the +test through words which could never express half of all he felt. He +longed and feared, and he told himself—— +</P> + +<P> +But Hazel was looking in his direction. She saw him standing there, +and peremptorily summoned him to her presence. +</P> + +<P> +"For goodness' sake," she cried. "Dreaming when there's work to be +done. Bring them right along, or we'll never get started. There's all +twenty miles before supper." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon hurried forward, and as he came up he made his excuses. +</P> + +<P> +"I had to look," he said apologetically. "You see it isn't every day a +feller gets a chance to see a real picture—like I've seen. Say, these +hills, I guess, can hand all that Nature can paint that way, but you +need a human life in it to make a picture real to just an ordinary +man's eyes. I—had to look." +</P> + +<P> +But Hazel seemed to have become suddenly aware of something of that +which lay behind his words, and she hastily, and with flushed cheeks, +turned to the work of saddling her horse. Gordon attempted to help, +but she laughingly declined any aid. She pointed at the saddle bags on +his saddle. +</P> + +<P> +"They're packed," she said. "Say, I'll show you how to refold your +blanket. This way." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon spent some delicious moments struggling with his blanket under +the girl's superintendence, and his regret was all too genuine when, at +last, it was placed on Sunset's back with the saddle on the top of it. +As for the mare, she was saddled and bitted in the time it took him to +cinch Sunset up. By the time he had adjusted the bit Hazel was in the +saddle, gazing down at his efforts with merry, laughing eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"It does seem queer," she said. "Here are you, big and strong, and +capable of most anything. Yet it puzzles you around a saddle—which is +so simple." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon climbed into his saddle at last, and smiled round at her. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm learning more than I ever guessed I'd learn when I left New York. +I've learned a heap of things, and you've taught me most of them. +Sometime I'll have to tell you all you've taught me, and then—and +then, why, I guess maybe you'll wonder." He laughed as they moved off. +But somehow Hazel kept her eyes averted. +</P> + +<P> +"Now for the enchanted tunnel again," he cried, in a less serious mood. +"More enchantment, more delight! And then—then to the serious +criminal work we have on hand. Criminal. It sounds splendid. It +sounds exciting. We're conspirators of the deepest dye." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE CODE BOOK +</H4> + +<P> +It seemed as though Peter McSwain never did anything without +perspiring. He perspired now with the simple effort of thought. But +it was a considerable effort and a considerable thought. He crowded +more of the latter into five minutes, he assured himself, than a +bankrupt Wall Street man could have done on the eve of settling day. +The object of his thought was the telegraph operator and the subject of +it the interesting thesis of bribery. Then, too, there were the side +issues, which included David Slosson, a telegraph message, and two men +waiting at the other end of things for the result of his share in the +proceedings. +</P> + +<P> +He made no attempt at pleasant conversation with the row of guests +lounging with feet skywards on the shady veranda. For the time at +least the affairs of his hotel were quite secondary. It seemed to him +just now that these men were the misfortunes of a commercial interest. +They were the things that kept him living concealed beneath an exterior +of polite attention which he detested. He had never had a chance of +being his real self until this moment. There was work of a delicate +nature to be performed, work which was to prove his ability in those +finer channels where individuality would count and genuine cleverness +must be displayed. A lot was depending upon his capacity. +</P> + +<P> +This feeling inspired him, and the dew on his forehead became a moist +and shallow lake that was already overflowing its banks. At the end of +five minutes, after having seen David Slosson leave the telegraph +office and move off down the Main Street, this lake became a streaming +torrent as he left the veranda and passed round to the back of the +hotel. +</P> + +<P> +This retrograde movement was a part of his deeply laid plans. He had +no object in visiting either his barn or his kitchens. The Chinese +cook possessed no interest for him at the moment, and as for the hens +and the team of horses, and his lame choreman who tended them, they had +never been farther from his thoughts. +</P> + +<P> +He appeared interested, however, and mopped his forehead several times +as he surveyed the scene with attentive eye. Then he passed on without +a word. Now his route became circuitous. He walked a hundred yards +away from the town, and appeared to be contemplating the open country +with weighty thoughts in his mind. Then he turned away and moved in +another direction, towards the railroad track. Again he paused with +measuring eye. Then he crossed the track and strode off in a fresh +direction. This time he was moving northwards away from the depot and +telegraph office. Those who now chanced to observe him lost all +interest in his movements, and for the time his perspiring face was +forgotten. By the time he came within view of the hotel veranda again +his very existence had been forgotten in the midst of the busy talk of +his guests. And so he was enabled to reach the telegraph office from +the farther side without arousing comment. +</P> + +<P> +He casually opened the door and found himself standing before the +barrier of the paper-littered office. The operator was at his +instrument table ticking out a message in that alert, concentrated +manner peculiar to all telegraphists. The man glanced round at his +visitor and continued his work without a sign of recognition, and the +hotel-keeper propped himself on the counter and drew a cigar from his +vest pocket. +</P> + +<P> +By the time he had lit it satisfactorily the ticking of the instrument +ceased, and a sigh of relief warned him that Steve Mason was free. He +glanced across at the table with his hot eyes and a shadowy smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Busy these times, Steve," he said genially. "The old days when we had +time to sit around in this office and yarn are as far back as the +flood. Say, you ain't got paralysis of the arm yet? Maybe you work +'em both. Hev a smoke?" +</P> + +<P> +Steve smiled wearily. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you never take on operatin', Peter," he said, accepting the +proffered smoke. "Thanks. What's this? One of those 'multiflavums' +of yours you keep for drummers?" +</P> + +<P> +Peter shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"My own smokes. They match the times. We're all making fortunes." +</P> + +<P> +"Are we?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well—ain't we?" +</P> + +<P> +"None of it's come my way," said Steve, lighting his cigar. "But +that's always the way. We get shunted to a bum town like this on a +branch, and they pay us salary according. If the city makes a break +and gets busy and we're nearly crazy with overwork they don't boost us +up. Overwork don't mean overpay, nor overtime. They ain't raised me a +dollar. I'm going to get right on the buck if things keep up. I tell +you I've eaten three meals in this office to-day, with my hand on the +key, and I—I'm just sick to death. I don't take or send again this +night." +</P> + +<P> +"Guess you'll be able to make a break when you sell your holdings," +McSwain went on sympathetically. He raised the barrier and stepped +into the office, and sat himself in a chair he had often occupied in +the unruffled days before the coal. +</P> + +<P> +Steve laughed and sat himself on the corner of his instrument table. +</P> + +<P> +"I ain't got no holding. You can't buy land on a hundred dollars a +month. No, sir. What with the Chinee laundry and my boarding-house, I +guess I need to smoke your 'multiflavums' and drink your worst rye. +Why, I ain't got a balance over to buy an ice-cream-soda in winter." +</P> + +<P> +"You sure are badly staked," murmured Peter. +</P> + +<P> +They smoked in silence for some moments. The atmosphere of the little +office was opening the pores of Peter's skin again. +</P> + +<P> +"Say," he went on presently, mopping his brow carefully, "I made quite +a stake out of that agent feller, Slosson. Somewheres around ten +thousand dollars. Quite a piece of money, eh? I ain't sure he's a +fool or a pretty wise guy." +</P> + +<P> +"He's the railroad man," said Steve significantly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. That don't make him out a fool, does it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'd smile." +</P> + +<P> +"So'd I—if I knew more. I'd give a hundred dollars to see what's to +happen in the next week or so. I've got a big stake here, if the +railroad don't shift the depot. Slosson says they won't. Says he's +bought all he needs right here for his company. I take it he's helped +himself, too. Still, I'd like to know. The boys back at the hotel are +fallin' right over 'emselves to get in. They reckon this place is a +cinch—since Slosson's bought. I'd like to be sure." +</P> + +<P> +Steve laughed. He read through his friend's purpose now. The visit +was not, as he told himself, for nothing. Peter was looking for +information which it would be a serious offense for him to give—if he +possessed any, which he didn't. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess there's nothing doing, Peter," he said slyly. +</P> + +<P> +"What d'you mean?" The hotel-keeper's eyes were hotter than ever. But +there was no resentment in them. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I just don't know a thing what Slosson's doing. And if I did I +couldn't tell you. It would be a criminal offense. Slosson ain't sent +a word over the line since he started to buy metal until to-night, and +the message I've just sent for him is in code, so, as far as I'm +concerned, it's so much Greek. I don't know who it's to, even. That's +why I guess there's nothing doing." +</P> + +<P> +"No—I s'pose not. I s'pose codes can be read, though? There's +experts who worry out any old code. Guess it's mighty interestin'. If +Slosson's sendin' in code I guess he's got something in it he don't +need folks to know. That makes it more worrying." +</P> + +<P> +Peter heaved a great sigh of longing. The other shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"You've got to find the key to 'em," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Yep—a Bible, or some queer old book. Maybe the 'History of the +United States.' Say, I'd hate to chase up the 'History of the United +States' looking for a key. Maybe it would be interestin', though. +Say——" +</P> + +<P> +"You couldn't do it in a month of years," laughed Steve, humoring his +friend. "What would it be worth to you to be able to read his code?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, maybe I'd make fifty thousand dollars." +</P> + +<P> +"Whew! That's some money." +</P> + +<P> +"Sure. I'd like to try. Say, boy, I'll hand you five hundred dollars +to let me take a copy of that message. All you need do is just leave +it on your table there for five minutes and lock the outer door. Then +just pass right into the other room till the five minutes is up. I'll +hand you the bills right here an' now. I'd like to figure on that +message. Is it a bet?" +</P> + +<P> +Steve shook his head. He was scared. He knew the consequences of +discovery to himself too well. It was penitentiary. It was the +equivalent of tapping wires. But Peter was unfolding a big roll of +bills, and the temptation of handling that money was very great. +</P> + +<P> +"You just need to copy the message out? That all?" +</P> + +<P> +"Just that. No more." +</P> + +<P> +"You won't need to disfigure my record?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure not." Peter grinned. He was sweating, profusely. He felt he +was on a hot scent and likely to make a kill. +</P> + +<P> +"Only to make a <I>copy</I>. It's a big bunch of money for just a copy," +Steve demurred suspiciously. +</P> + +<P> +Peter laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, boy, we're old friends. I ain't out to do you a hurt. All I +need is to try and worry out that code and know things. If I was sure +of being able to read it, why, this five hundred would be five +thousand, and worth it all to me, every cent of it. If I can't read +that code, then I'll just hand you back my copy, and no harm's done. +See? I tell you I wouldn't hurt you for more than the money I hope to +make. Is it a bet?" +</P> + +<P> +Steve passed out through the barrier and turned the key in the door. +Then he came back. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll take that money." +</P> + +<P> +"Good." +</P> + +<P> +Peter paid it over, and then watched the other as he took the original +message which Slosson had written off a file and laid it on the table +beside a blank form. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, be as sharp as you can over it," Steve said urgently. Then he +passed into the inner room and closed the door. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The interior of Mike Callahan's livery barn was typical of a small +prairie town. Rows of horse-stalls ran down either side of it, from +one end to the other. At the far end sliding doors opened out upon an +enclosure, round which were the sheds sheltering a widely varied +collection of rigs and buggies. Also here there was further +accommodation for horses. Just inside the main barn, to the left, the +American Irishman had two small rooms. The one at the front, with its +window on Main Street, was his office. Behind this, dependent for +light upon a window at the side of the building, was a harness-room +crowded with saddles and harness of every description, also a bunk on +which Mike usually slept when he kept the barn open at night. +</P> + +<P> +It was late at night now, about midnight on the day following Peter +McSwain's momentous effort with Steve Mason. Four men were gathered +together in profound council in Mike's harness-room. The atmosphere of +the place was poisonous. A horse blanket obscured the window, and the +door was shut and locked, although the barn itself was closed for the +night, and there was small enough chance of intrusion. Still, every +precaution had been taken to avoid any such contingency. +</P> + +<P> +A single guttering candle stuck in the neck of a black bottle illumined +the intent faces of the men. Gordon was sitting at a small table with +a sheet of paper in front of him and a small morocco-bound book beside +it. Silas Mallinsbee and Peter McSwain were sitting upon Mike +Callahan's emergency bunk, while the owner of it contented himself with +an upturned bucket near the door. Cigar-smoke clouded the room and +left the atmosphere choking, but all of them seemed quite impervious to +its inconvenience. +</P> + +<P> +For awhile there was no other sound than the rustle of the leaves of +Gordon's book and the scratching of the indifferent pen he had borrowed +from Mike. Then, after what seemed interminable minutes, he looked up +from his task with a transparent smile. +</P> + +<P> +"It's all right," he said in a low, thrilling tone. "I guess we've got +the game in our hands. He's used the governor's code." +</P> + +<P> +"You can read it?" demanded Peter quickly, leaning forward with a +stiff, tense motion. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it what we guessed?" inquired Mike, with a sigh of relief. +</P> + +<P> +Mallinsbee alone offered no comment. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon nodded in answer to each inquiry. He was reading what he had +written over to himself. +</P> + +<P> +Then he turned sharply to Peter. +</P> + +<P> +"For goodness' sake give me a cigar. I need something to keep me from +shouting." +</P> + +<P> +His tone, and the expression of his eyes were full of excitement. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the greatest luck ever," he went on, while Peter produced a cigar +and passed it across to him. "This feller's in direct communication +with the governor. You see, this code is the private one. I had it as +the dad's secretary. The manager had it, and, of course, my father. +No one else. So it's just about certain this thing was an important +matter for Slosson to be allowed to use it. Now I'd never heard of +this Slosson before, so that it's also evident he's one of my father's +secret agents. A matter which further proves the affair's importance." +</P> + +<P> +He lit his cigar and puffed at it leisurely as he contemplated his +paper with even greater satisfaction. +</P> + +<P> +"This is addressed direct to the old man, which—makes our work doubly +easy," he went on. "Also the nature of the message helps us. If it +had been to our manager it would have been more difficult to work out +my plans." +</P> + +<P> +He raised the paper so that the candlelight fell full upon it. +</P> + +<P> +"This is the transcript. 'Occipud, New York'—that's my father," he +added in parenthesis. +</P> + +<P> +"'Have bought in Snake's Fall, working on instructions. Buffalo Point +crowd out for a heavy graft. Utterly unscrupulous lot, offering +impossible deal. Have turned them down on grounds provided for in your +instructions. Snake's Fall everything you require. Would suggest you +come up here incognito, if possibly convenient. There are other +propositions in coal worth a deep consideration. Coal deposits here +the greatest in the country. Must come an enormous boom. Will send +word later on this matter. Am sending letter covering operations. I +think it will be urgent that you visit this place shortly in interests +of boom as well as the coal.—SLOSSON.'" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon looked round at the faces of his companions in silent triumph. +And in each case he encountered a keen expectancy. As yet his fellow +conspirators were rather in the dark. The significance of that +transcript was not yet sufficiently clear. +</P> + +<P> +"What comes next?" inquired Mallinsbee in his calm, direct fashion. +</P> + +<P> +The others simply waited for enlightenment. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon chuckled softly. +</P> + +<P> +"Now we know we can get at Slosson's messages and my father's messages +to him, and, having the code book, by a miracle of good luck, in my +possession, the rest is easy. First, Peter must get a copy of my +father's reply to this. Meanwhile I shall send an urgent message to my +father in Slosson's name to <I>come up here at once</I>. The answer to that +must never reach Slosson. Get me, Peter? You've got that boy Steve +where you need him. You must hold him there and pay his price. I'll +promise him he'll come to no harm. When my father finds out things +I'll guarantee to pacify him. This way we'll get my father here, I'll +promise you. And when he does get here the fun 'll begin—as we have +arranged. That clear? Mike's got his work marked out. You yours, +Peter. Mr. Mallinsbee and I will do the rest. Peter, you did a great +act laying hands on this message. It was worth double the price. The +whole game is now in our hands." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon folded up the paper and placed it inside the code book, which he +carefully returned to his pocket. +</P> + +<P> +Mike rubbed his hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, it's sure a great play," he said gleefully. +</P> + +<P> +"And seein' you're his son the risk don't amount to pea-shucks," nodded +the perspiring hotel proprietor. +</P> + +<P> +"You can be quite easy on that score," laughed Gordon. "I can promise +you this: it won't be the old dad's fault, when this is over, if you +don't find yourselves gathered around a mighty convivial board +somewhere in New York—at his expense. You know my father as a pretty +bright financier. I don't guess you know him as the sportsman I do." +</P> + +<P> +Mallinsbee suddenly bestirred himself and removed his cigar. +</P> + +<P> +"I kind o' wish he weren't your father, Gordon, boy," he said bluntly. +"It sort of seems tough to me." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon's eyes shot a whimsical smile across at Hazel's father. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd hate to have any other, Mr. Mallinsbee," he said. "Maybe I know +how you're feeling about it. But I tell you right here, if my father +knew I had this opportunity and didn't take it, he'd turn his face to +the wall and never own me as his son again. You're reckoning that for +a son to do his father down sort of puts that son on a level with David +Slosson or any other low down tough. Maybe it does. But I just think +my father the bulliest feller on earth, and I love him mighty hard. I +love him so well that I'd hate to give him a moment's pain. I tell you +frankly that it would pain him if I didn't take this opportunity. It +would pain him far more than anything we intend to do to him—when we +get him here." +</P> + +<P> +He rose from his seat and his good-natured smile swept over the faces +of his companions. +</P> + +<P> +"How do you say, gentlemen? Our work's done for to-night. Are we for +bed?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +WAYS THAT ARE DARK +</H4> + +<P> +The people of Snake's Fall were in the throes of that artificial +excitement which ever accompanies the prospect of immediate and flowing +wealth in a community which has been feverishly striving with a +negative result. +</P> + +<P> +Nor was this excitement a healthy or agreeable wave of emotion. It was +aggressive and vulgar. It was hectoring and full of a blatant +self-advertisement. Men who had never done better for themselves than +a third-rate hotel, or who had never used anything more luxurious than +a street car for locomotion in their ordinary daily life, now talked +largely of Plaza hotels and automobiles, of real estate corners and +bank balances. They sought by every subterfuge to exercise the +dominance of their own personalities in the affairs of the place, only +that they might the further enhance their individual advantage. +Schemes for building and trading were in everybody's minds, and money, +so long held tight under the pressure of doubt, now began to flow in +one incessant stream towards the coffers of the already established +traders. +</P> + +<P> +Every boom city is more or less alike, and Snake's Fall was no +variation to the rule. Gambling commenced in deadly earnest, and the +sharpers, with the eye of the vulture for carrion, descended upon the +place. How word had reached them would have been impossible to tell. +Then came the accompaniment of loose houses, and every other evil which +seems to settle upon such places like a pestilential cloud. +</P> + +<P> +To Gordon, looking on and waiting, it was all a matter of the keenest +interest, not untinged with a certain wholesome-minded disgust, and +when he sometimes spoke of it in the little family circle at the ranch, +or to the worldly-wise Mike Callahan in his barn, his talk was never +without a hint of real regret. +</P> + +<P> +"It makes a feller feel kind of squeamish watching these folks," he +observed to Mike, as they sat smoking in the latter's harness-room one +afternoon. "You see, if I didn't know the whole game was lying in the +palm of my hand I'd just simply sicken at the sordidness of it. We +can't feel that way, though. We're worse than them. They're just dead +in earnest to beat the game by the accepted rules of it, which don't +debar general crookedness. We're out to win by sheer piracy. Makes +you laugh, doesn't it? Makes it a good play." +</P> + +<P> +Mike was older, and had been brought up in a hard school. +</P> + +<P> +"Feelin's don't count one way or the other, I guess," he replied +contemptuously. "When it comes to takin' the dollars out of the other +feller's pocket I'm allus ready and willin'. You can allus help him +out after you beat him. Private charity after the deal is a sort of +liqueur after a good dinner." +</P> + +<P> +"Charity?" Gordon laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, maybe you got another name for it," retorted Mike indifferently. +</P> + +<P> +"Several," laughed Gordon. "Rob a man and give him something back +needs another name." +</P> + +<P> +"They call it 'charity' in the newspapers when them philanthropists +hand back part of the wad they've collected from a deluded +public—anyway. It don't seem different to me." Mike's tone was +sharply argumentative. +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't different," agreed Gordon. "They're both a salve to +conscience. The only thing is that public charity of the latter nature +has the advantage of personal advertisement. I'm learning things, +Mike. I'm learning that the moment you get groping for dollars, you've +just tied up into a sack all the goodness and virtue handed out to you +by the Creator and—drowned it." +</P> + +<P> +Though Gordon was never able to carry any sort of conviction on these +matters with Mike, his occasional regrets found a cordial sympathy in +Hazel Mallinsbee. She watched him very closely during the days of +waiting for the maturity of his schemes. She knew the impulse which +had inspired him. She understood it thoroughly. It was humor, and she +liked him all the better for it. She realized to the full all the +depth of love Gordon possessed for his father, an affection which was +not one whit the less for the fact that to all intents and purposes his +object was the highway robbery of that parent. +</P> + +<P> +It was something of a paradox, but one which she perfectly understood. +She felt that it was a case of two strong personalities opposed to each +other in friendly rivalry. Gordon had propounded his beliefs to a man +of great capacity whose convictions were opposed. Opportunity had +served the younger man, who now intended to drive his point home +ruthlessly, with a deep, kindly humor lying behind his every act. She +could imagine, though she had never seen James Carbhoy, these two men, +big and strong and kindly, sitting opposite each other, smoking +luxuriously when it was all over, discussing the whole situation in the +friendliest possible spirit. +</P> + +<P> +Her father offered little comment. Curiously enough, this man, who had +so much at stake, deep in his heart did not approve of the whole thing. +It was not that he possessed ordinary scruples. Had the conspiracy +been opposed to anybody but Gordon's father he would have been heart +and soul in the affair. He would have reveled in the daring of the +trick which Gordon intended to carry out. As it was, he was +old-fashioned enough to see some sort of heinous ingratitude and +offense in the fact of a son pitted piratically against his father. +</P> + +<P> +However, he, like his daughter, watched closely for every sign this son +of his father gave. But while Hazel watched with sympathy and real +understanding, he saw only with the searching eyes of the observer who +is seeking the manner of man with whom he is dealing. +</P> + +<P> +Once only, during the days of waiting and comparative inaction, he gave +vent to his disapproval, and even then his manner was purely that of +regret. +</P> + +<P> +They were sitting together in the evening sunlight on the veranda of +the ranch. +</P> + +<P> +"Gordon, boy," he said in his deep, rumbling voice, after a long, +thoughtful pause; "if I had a son, which I guess I haven't, it would +hurt like sin to think he'd act towards me same as you're doing to your +father." +</P> + +<P> +His remark did not bring forth an immediate reply. When, however, it +finally came, accompanied as it was by twinkling, mischievous blue +eyes, and a smile of infinite amusement, Hazel, who was standing in the +doorway of the house, fully understood, although it left her father +unconvinced. +</P> + +<P> +"If you were my father, I guess you wouldn't hate it a—little bit," +Gordon said cheerfully. Then his eyes wandered in Hazel's direction, +and presently came back again to her father's face. "Maybe I'll live +many a long year yet, and if I do I can tell you right here that +perhaps there'll only be one greater moment in my life, than the moment +in which we win out on this scheme. I just want you to remember, all +through, that I love my old dad with all that's in me. Same as Hazel +loves you." +</P> + +<P> +From that moment Gordon heard no further protest throughout all the +preparations that had to be made. Silas Mallinsbee cheerfully +acquiesced in all that was demanded of him. Furthermore, he tacitly +acknowledged Gordon's absolute leadership. +</P> + +<P> +Under that leadership much had to be done of a subtle, secret nature. +The impression had to be created that the Buffalo Point interests had +completely abandoned the game. It was an anxious time—anxious and +watchful. David Slosson was kept under close surveillance by the four +conspirators, and, to this end, Gordon and Silas Mallinsbee spent most +of their time in Snake's Fall, which further added to the impression +that their interests had been abandoned. +</P> + +<P> +Having succeeded in bribing Steve Mason, the telegraph operator, in the +first place, Peter McSwain further bought him body and soul over to +their interests. Mallinsbee's purse was wide open for all such +contingencies, and Steve was left with the comfortable feeling that, +whatever happened, he had made sufficient money to throw up his job +before any crash came, and clear out to safety with a capital he could +never have honestly made out of his work. +</P> + +<P> +Thus Gordon had been enabled at last to dispatch his urgent code +message to his father, purporting as it did to come from David Slosson. +It was an irresistible demand for the Union Grayling and Ukataw +Railroad President's immediate presence in Snake's Fall. It had been +made as strong as David Slosson would have dared to make it. Nor, when +the answer to it arrived, would it ever reach the agent. Nothing was +forgotten. Every detail had been prepared for with a forethought +almost incredible in a man of Gordon's temperament and experience. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It was late evening the second day after the dispatching of Gordon's +urgent message. He had not long returned home to the ranch with +Hazel's father from a day amidst the excitement reigning in Snake's +Fall. Hazel was in the house clearing away supper and generally +superintending her domestic affairs. Silas Mallinsbee was round at the +corrals in consultation with his ranch foreman. Gordon was alone on +the veranda smoking and gazing thoughtfully out at the wonderful ruddy +sunset. +</P> + +<P> +For him there was none of the peace which prevailed over the scene that +spread out before him. How could there be? Every moment of the two +days which had intervened since the dispatching of his message had been +fraught with tense, nervous doubt. Every plan he had made depended on +the answer to that message, and he felt that the time-limit for the +answer's arrival had been reached. It must come now within a few +hours. He felt that he must get it to-morrow morning or never. And +when it came what—what then? Would it be the reply he desired, or an +uncompromising negative? He felt that the whole thing depended upon +the relations between his father and his agent. He was inclined to +think, from the very nature of the work his father had intrusted to +Slosson, that those relations were of the greatest confidence. He +hoped it was so, but he could not be absolutely sure. Therefore the +strain of waiting was hard to bear. +</P> + +<P> +While his busy thoughts teemed through his brain, and his +unappreciative gaze roamed over the purpling of the distant hills, his +ears, rendered unusually acute in the deep evening calm, suddenly +caught the faint, distant rumble of a vehicle moving over the trail. +</P> + +<P> +His quick eyes turned alertly. There was only one trail, and that was +the road to Snake's Fall. The alertness of his eyes communicated +itself to his body. He moved off the veranda and gazed down the trail, +of which he now obtained a clear view. A team and buggy were +approaching at a rapid rate, and, even at that distance, he fancied he +recognized it as the one of Mike Callahan's which he had himself driven. +</P> + +<P> +A wave of excitement swept over him. Could it be that——? +</P> + +<P> +He went back to the veranda. The impulse to summon Mallinsbee was hard +to resist. But he forced himself to calmness. +</P> + +<P> +Five minutes later Mike Callahan drove up, and his team stood drooping +and sweating. +</P> + +<P> +"Say," he cried, in aggrieved fashion, "it jest set me whoopin' mad +when that wire-tappin' operator fell into my barn with his blamed +message, twenty minutes after you an' Mallinsbee had left. Look at the +time of it. It had buzzed over the wire ha'f an hour before you went." +Then he began to grin, and a keen light shone in his Irish eyes. "But +when I see who it was from I guessed I'd need to get busy. 'Tain't in +your fancy code. It's jest as plain as my face. Read it. The game's +up to us. Guess it's our move next." +</P> + +<P> +But Gordon was paying no attention to the Irishman. He was reading the +brief message which at last set all his doubts at rest. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Arrive Snake's Fall noon seventeenth." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It was addressed to Slosson, but there was no signature. +</P> + +<P> +"That's to-morrow." Gordon's eyes lit. Then a shadow of doubt crossed +his smiling face. "It's dead safe Steve hasn't sent a copy to Slosson?" +</P> + +<P> +Mike grinned. +</P> + +<P> +"Steve don't draw his wad till—we're sure." +</P> + +<P> +"No." +</P> + +<P> +At that moment Mallinsbee appeared round the angle of the building. +Gordon's face was wreathed in smiles as he turned to him. +</P> + +<P> +"We get to work—to-night," he said. +</P> + +<P> +Mallinsbee nodded, without a sign of the other's excitement. +</P> + +<P> +"So I guessed when I see Mike's team. Peter wise?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yep." The Irishman's spirits had risen to a great pitch. "I put him +wise." +</P> + +<P> +"Splendid. He's got everything ready?" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon was thinking rapidly. +</P> + +<P> +"Better send your team round to the barn," said Mallinsbee, with that +thoughtful care he had for all animals. "Then come inside and get some +supper." +</P> + +<P> +Mike prepared to drive round to the barn. +</P> + +<P> +"I see the rack in his yard," he grinned. +</P> + +<P> +"Good." +</P> + +<P> +Then Gordon laughed. The last care had been banished. Now it was +action. Now? Ah, now he was perfectly happy. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The night was intensely still. The last revelers in Snake's Fall had +betaken themselves to their drunken slumbers. The only lights +remaining were the glow of a small cluster of red lamps just outside +the town at the eastern end of it, and the peeping lights behind the +curtained windows of the houses to which these belonged. There was no +need to question the nature of these houses. In the West they are to +be found on the fringe of every young town that offers the prospect of +prosperity. +</P> + +<P> +There was a single light burning in the hall of McSwain's hotel. This +was as usual, and would burn all night. For the rest, the house was in +darkness. The last guest had retired to rest a full hour or more. +</P> + +<P> +The stillness was profound. The very profundity of it was only +increased by the occasional long-drawn dole of the prairie coyote, +foraging somewhere out in the distance for its benighted prey. +</P> + +<P> +The shadowed outbuildings behind the hotel remained for a long time as +quiet as the rest of the world. The horses in the barn were sleeping +peacefully. The fowls and turkeys and geese which populated the yard +in daylight were as profoundly steeped with sleep as the rest of the +feathered world. Even the two aged husky dogs, set there on the +presumption of keeping guard, were composed for the night. +</P> + +<P> +But after awhile sounds began to emanate from the dark barn. With the +first sound a dog-chain rattled, and immediately a low voice spoke. +After that the dog-chain remained still. Next came the sound of hoofs +on the hard sand floor of the barn. They were hasty, but swiftly +passing. The last sound was heard as two horses emerged upon the open, +each led by a shadowy figure quite unrecognizable in the velvety +darkness of the starlit night. +</P> + +<P> +The horses moved across towards the vague outline of a large hayrack +which stood mounted in the running gear of a dismantled wagon, and the +figures leading them began at once to hook them up in place. While +this was happening two other figures were loading the rack with hay +from the corral near by, in which stood a half-cut haystack. Their +work seemed to be more intricate than the usual process of loading a +hayrack. There seemed to be a sort of wide and long cage in the bottom +of the rack, and the hay needed careful placing to leave the interior +of this free, while yet surrounding it completely and rendering it +absolutely obscured. +</P> + +<P> +In less than half an hour the work was completed, and the four men +gathered together and conversed in low voices. +</P> + +<P> +After this a fresh movement took place. The group broke up, and each +moved off as though to carry out affairs already agreed upon. One man +mounted the rack and took up his position for driving the team. +Another stood near the rear of the wagon and remained waiting, whilst +the other two moved towards the hotel. +</P> + +<P> +These latter parted as they neared the building. One of them entered +it through the back door, and as he came within the radiance of the +solitary oil-lamp it became apparent that his face was completely +masked. He moved stealthily forward, listening for any unwelcome +sound, mounted the staircase, and was immediately swallowed up by the +darkness of the corridor above. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile his companion had taken another route. He had moved along +the building to the left of the back door. His objective was the iron +fire-escape which went up to the gallery outside the upper windows. +</P> + +<P> +He found it almost at the end of the building, and began the ascent. +In a few moments he was at the top, and, moving along the narrow iron +gallery, he counted the windows as he passed them. At the fifth window +he paused and examined it. The blind inside was withdrawn, and he ran +over in his mind the various details which had been given him. He knew +that the latch inside had been carefully removed. +</P> + +<P> +He tried the window cautiously. It moved easily to his pressure, and a +smile stole over his masked features when he remembered that ample +grease had been placed in its slipway. It was good to think that these +contingencies had been so carefully provided for. +</P> + +<P> +The window was sufficiently open. The process had been entirely +soundless, but he bent down and listened intently. Far away, somewhere +inside, he could hear the sound of deep breathing. He made his next +move quickly and stealthily. One leg was raised and thrust through the +opening, and, bending his great body nearly double, he made his way +into the room beyond. +</P> + +<P> +Pausing for a few moments to assure himself that the sleeper in the +adjoining room had not been disturbed, he next made his way towards the +door, aided by the light of a silent sulphur match. He quickly +withdrew the bolt, and was immediately joined by the man who had +entered the hotel through the back door. +</P> + +<P> +Now he turned his attention to the room itself. Yes, everything was as +he had been told. It was a largish room, and a small archway, hung +with heavy curtains, divided it from another. The portion he had +entered was furnished as a parlor, and beyond the curtains was the +bedroom. Signing to his companion to remain where he was, he moved +swiftly and silently to the heavy drawn curtains. For a second he +listened to the breathing beyond; then he parted them and vanished +within. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +David Slosson awoke out of a heavy sleep with a sudden nightmarish +start. He thought some one was calling him, shouting his name aloud in +a terrified voice. +</P> + +<P> +But now he was wide awake in the pitch-dark room: no sound broke the +silence. He was on his back, and he made to turn over on to his side. +Instantly something cold and hard encountered his cheek and a +whispering voice broke the silence. +</P> + +<P> +"One word and you're a dead man!" said the voice. "Just keep quite +still and don't speak, and you won't come to any harm." +</P> + +<P> +David Slosson was no fool, nor was he a coward, but, amongst his other +many experiences on the fringe of civilization, he had learned the +power of a gun held right. He knew that his cheek had encountered the +cold muzzle of a gun. Shocked and startled and helpless as he was, he +remained perfectly still and silent, awaiting developments. +</P> + +<P> +They came swiftly. The curtains parted and a man, completely masked +and clad in the ordinary prairie kit of the West, and bearing a lighted +lamp in his hand, entered the room. His first assailant, holding the +gun only inches from his head, Slosson could not properly discern. Out +of the corners of his eyes he was aware that his face was masked like +that of the other, but that was all. +</P> + +<P> +The newcomer set the lamp down on a table and advanced to the other +side of the bed. Instantly he produced a strap, enwrapped in the folds +of a thick towel. +</P> + +<P> +Slosson realized what was about to happen, and contemplated resistance. +</P> + +<P> +As though his thoughts had been read the man with the gun spoke again— +</P> + +<P> +"Only one sound an' I'll blow your brains to glory. Ther' ain't no +help around that you ken get in time. So don't worry any." +</P> + +<P> +The threat of the gun was irresistible, and Slosson yielded. +</P> + +<P> +The second man forced the strap gag into his mouth and buckled it +tightly behind his victim's head. This done, the agent's hands were +lashed fast with a rope. Then the gun was withdrawn and the wretched +agent was assisted into his clothes, after the pockets had been +searched for weapons. +</P> + +<P> +In a quarter of an hour the whole transaction was completed, and, with +hands securely fastened behind his back and the gag in his mouth fixed +cruelly firmly, David Slosson stood ready to follow his captors. +</P> + +<P> +During all that time he had used his eyes and all his intelligence to +discover the identity of his assailants, but without avail. Even their +great size afforded him no enlightenment, with their entire faces +hidden under the enveloping masks. +</P> + +<P> +In silence the light was extinguished. In silence they left the room +and proceeded down the stairs. In silence they came to the waiting +hayrack outside. Here Slosson beheld the other two masked figures, one +on the wagon, and the other waiting at the rear of it. But he was +given no further chance of observation. His captors seized him bodily +and lifted him into the cage beneath the hay, while one of the men got +in with him and now secured his feet. +</P> + +<P> +After that more hay was thrown into the vehicle, till it looked like an +ordinary farmer's rack, and then the horses started off, and the +prisoner knew that, for some inexplicable reason, he had been kidnaped. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Mrs. Carbhoy had been concerned all day. When she was concerned about +anything her temper generally gave way to a condition which her +youthful daughter was pleased to describe as "gritty." Whether it +really described her mother's mood or not mattered little. It +certainly expressed Gracie's understanding of it. +</P> + +<P> +To-day nothing the child did was right. She had called her physical +culture instructress a "cat" that morning, only because she had been +afraid to enter into a more drastic physical argument with her. For +that her "gritty" mother had deprived her of candy for the day. She +had refused to do anything right at her subsequent dancing lesson, in +consequence, and for that she had had her week's pocket-money stopped. +Then at lunch she had willfully broken the peace by upsetting a glass +of ice-water upon the glass-covered table, and incidentally had broken +the glass. For this she was confined to her school-room for the rest +of the day, and was only allowed to appear before her disturbed mother +at her nine-o'clock bed hour. +</P> + +<P> +When a very indignant Gracie appeared before her mother to fulfill her +final duty of kissing her "good-night," that individual was more +"gritty" than ever. She was in the act of opening a bulky letter +addressed to her in a familiar handwriting. Gracie knew at once from +whom it came. Instantly the imp of mischief stirred in her bosom. +</P> + +<P> +"What nursing home will you send Gordon to when he gets back?" she +inquired blandly. +</P> + +<P> +Her mother eyed her coldly while she drew out the sheets of +letter-paper. She pointed to a wall bell. +</P> + +<P> +"Ring that bell," she ordered sharply. +</P> + +<P> +Gracie obeyed, wondering what was to be the consequence of her fresh +effort. She had not long to wait. Her mother's maid entered. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell Huxton to pack Miss Gracie's trunks ready for Tuxedo. She will +leave for Vernor Court by the midday express. Her governesses will +accompany her." +</P> + +<P> +The maid retired. In an instant all hope had fled, and Gracie was +reduced to hasty penitence. +</P> + +<P> +"Please, momma, don't send me out to the country. I'm sorry for what +I've done to-day, real sorry—but I've just had the fidgets all day, +what with pop going away and—and that silly Gordon never coming near +us, or—or anything. True, momma, I won't be naughty ever again. +'Deed I won't. Oh, say you won't send me off by myself," she urged, +coming coaxingly to her mother's side. "There's Jacky Molyneux going +to take me a run in his automobile to-morrow afternoon, and we're going +to Garden City, and he always gives me heaps of ice-cream. Oh, momma, +don't send me off to that dreadful Tuxedo." +</P> + +<P> +At all times Mrs. Carbhoy was easily cajoled, and just now she was +feeling so miserable and lonely since her husband had been called away +on urgent business, she knew not where. Then here was another of +Gordon's troublesome letters in her lap. So in her trouble she yielded +to her only remaining belonging. But she forthwith sat her long-legged +daughter on a footstool at her feet, and as penance made her listen to +the reading of the letter which had just arrived. Somehow, in view of +the previous letters from her son, Mrs. Carbhoy felt it to be +impossible to face this new one without support, even if that support +were only that of her wholly inadequate thirteen-year-old daughter. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"DEAREST MUM: +</P> + +<P> +"Since Cain got busy shooting up his brother Abel, since Delilah became +a slave to the tonsorial art and practiced on Samson, since Jael turned +her carpentering stunts to considerable account by hammering tacks into +poor Sisera's head, right through the long ages down to the +record-breaking achievements of the champion prevaricator Ananias, I +guess the crookedness of human nature has progressed until it has +reached the pitch of a fine art, such as is practiced by legislators, +diplomats and New York police officers. +</P> + +<P> +"This is a sweeping statement, but I contend it is none the less true. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd say that in examining the facts we need to study the real meaning +of 'crookedness.' We must locate its cause as well as effect. Now +'crookedness' is the divergence from a straight line, which some fool +man spent a lifetime in discovering was the shortest route from one +given point to another. No doubt that fellow thought he was making +some discovery, but it kind of seems to me any chump outside the +bug-house and not under the influence of drink would know it without +having to spend even a summer vacation finding it out, and, anyway, I +don't guess it's worth shouting about. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess it's up to us to track this straight line down in its +application to ethics. That buzzy-headed discoverer also says a line +is length without breadth. Consequently, I argue that a straight line +is just 'nothing,' anyway. Then when a mush-headed dreamer starts +right out to walk the straight line of life it's a million to one +chance he'll break his fool neck, or do some other positively +ridiculous stunt that's liable to terminate what ought to have been a +promising career. I submit, from the foregoing arguments, the straight +line of ethical virtue is just a vision, a dream, an hallucination, a +nightmare. It's one of those things the whole world loves to sit +around on Sundays and yarn about, and just as many folks would hate to +practice, anyway. And this is as sure as you'll find the only bit of +glass on the road when you're automobiling if you don't just happen to +be toting a spare tyre. +</P> + +<P> +"Seeing that you can't everlastingly keep trying to walk on 'nothing' +without disastrous consequences, and, further, seeing the days of +miracles have died with many other privileges which our ancestors +enjoyed, such as being burned at the stake and painting up our bodies +in fancy colors, it is natural, even a necessity, that 'crookedness' +should have come into its own. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's start right in at the first chapter of a man's life. It'll +point the whole argument without anything else. It's ingrained even in +the youngest kid to resort to subterfuge. Subterfuge is merely the +most innocent form in a crook's thesis. Maybe a kid, lying in its +cradle, with only a few days of knowledge to work on, don't know the +finer points he'll learn later. But he knows what he wants, and is +going to get it. He's going to get the other feller where he wants +him, and then force him to do his bidding. It's his first effort in +'crookedness' when he finds the straight line of virtue is just a most +uncomfortable nightmare. How does he do it? +</P> + +<P> +"I guess it's this way. He needs his food. He guesses his gasoline +tank needs filling. He don't guess he's going to lie around with a +sort of mean draught blowing pneumonia through his vitals. He just +waits around awhile to see if any one's yearning to pump up his +infantile tyre, and when he finds there's nothing doing, why, he starts +right in to make his first fall off the straight line of virtue. You +see, the straight line says that kid's tank needs filling only at +stated intervals. The said kid don't see it that way, so he turns +himself into a human megaphone, scares the household cat into a dozen +fits, starts up a canine chorus in the neighboring backyards, makes his +father yearn to shoot up the feller that wrote the marriage service, +sets the local police officer tracking down a murder that was never +committed, and maybe, if he only keeps things humming long enough, sets +all the State legal machinery working overtime to have his parents +incarcerated for keeping an insanitary nuisance on the premises. +</P> + +<P> +"See the crookedness of that kid? The moment he finds himself duly +inflated with milk he lies low. Do you get the lesson of it? It's +plumb simple. That kid wanted something. He didn't care a cuss for +regulations. He just laid right there and said, 'Away with 'em!' He +was thirsty, or hungry, or greedy. Maybe he was all three. Anyway, he +wanted, and set about getting what he wanted the only way he knew. All +of which illustrates the fact that when human nature demands +satisfaction no laws or regulations are going to stand in the way. And +that's just life from the day we're born. +</P> + +<P> +"From the foregoing remarks you may incline to the belief that I have +set out willfully to outrage every moral and human law. This is not +quite the case. I am merely giving you the benefit of my observations, +and also, since I am merely another human unit in the perfectly +ridiculous collection of bipeds which go to make up the alleged +superior races of this world, I must fall into line with the rest. +</P> + +<P> +"If Abel gets in my way I must 'out' him. If I can manufacture a down +cushion out of old Samson's hair to make my lot more comfortable, I'm +just going to get the best pair of shears and get busy. If I'm going +to collect amusement from studding that chump Sisera's head with tacks, +why, it's up to me to avoid delay that way. And as for Ananias, he +seems to me to have been a long way ahead of his time. They'd have had +his monument set up in every public office in the country to-day. He'd +have been the emblem of every trading corporation I know, and his +effigy would have served as the coat-of-arms for the whole of the +present-day creation. +</P> + +<P> +"I trust you are keeping well, and the responsibility of guiding the +development of our Gracie is showing no sign of undermining your +constitution. Gracie is really a good girl, if a little impetuous. I +notice, however, that impetuosity gives way before the responsibilities +of life. So far she is quite young. I'm hoping good results when she +gets responsibility. +</P> + +<P> +"Give my best love to the old Dad, and tell him that he must be careful +of his health in such a desperate heat as New York provides in summer +time. I think a month's vacation in the hills would be excellent for +him at this time of year. I am looking forward to the time when I +shall see him again. +</P> + +<P> +"You might tell him I hope to fulfill my mission under schedule time. +If you do not hear from me again you will know I am working overtime on +the interests in which I left New York. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Your loving son,<BR> + "GORDON.<BR> +</P> + +<P> +"P.S.—It occurs to me I have not told you all the news I would have +liked to tell you. But two pieces occur to me at the moment. First, +that achievement in life demands not the fostering of the gentler human +emotions, but their outraging. Also, no man has the right to abandon +honesty until dishonesty pays him better. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"G." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The mother's sigh was a deep expression of her hopeless feelings as she +finished the last word of her son's postscript. +</P> + +<P> +Gracie watched her out of the corners of her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter, momma?" she inquired. +</P> + +<P> +Her mother broke down weakly. +</P> + +<P> +"They haven't found a trace of him yet. They can't locate how these +letters are mailed. They can't just find a thing. And all the time +these letters come along, and—and they get worse and worse. It's no +good, Gracie; the poor boy's just crazy. Sure as sure. It's the heat, +or—or drink, or strain, or—maybe he's starving. Anyway, he's gone, +and we'll never see our Gordon again—not in his right mind. And now +your poor father's gone, too. Goodness knows where. I'll—yes, I'll +have to set the inquiry people to find him, too, if—if I don't hear +from him soon. To—to think I'd have lived to see the day when——" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't guess Gordon's in any sort of trouble, momma," cried Gracie, +displaying an unexpected sympathy for her distracted parent. Then she +smiled that wise little superior smile of youth which made her strong +features almost pretty. "And I'm sure he's not—crazy. Say, mom, just +don't think anything more about it. And I'd sort of keep all those +letters—if they're like that. You never told me the others. May I +read them? I never would have believed Gordon could have written like +that—never. You see, Gordon's not very bright—is he?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +JAMES CARBHOY ARRIVES +</H4> + +<P> +Snake's Fall was in that sensitive state when the least jar or news of +a startling nature was calculated to upset it, and start its tide of +human emotions bubbling and surging like a shallow stream whose course +has been obstructed by the sudden fall of a bowlder into its bed. +</P> + +<P> +Early the following morning just such a metaphorical bowlder fell right +into the middle of the Snake's Fall stream. The news flew through the +little town, now so crowded with its overflowing population of +speculators, with that celerity which vital news ever attains in small, +and even large places. It was on everybody's lips before the breakfast +tables were cleared. And, in a matter of seconds, from the moment of +its penetration to the individual, minds were searching not only the +meaning, but the effect it would have upon the general situation, and +their own personal affairs in particular. +</P> + +<P> +David Slosson, the agent of the Union Grayling and Ukataw Railroad, had +defected in the night! He had gone—bolted—leaving his bill unpaid at +McSwain's hotel! +</P> + +<P> +For a while a sort of paralysis seized upon the population. It was +staggered. No trains had passed through in the night. Not even a +local freight train. How had he gone? But most of all—why? +</P> + +<P> +The next bit of news that came through was that Peter's best team had +been stolen from the barn, also an empty hay-rack. This was +mystifying, until it became known that Peter's buggy was laid up at +Mike Callahan's barn, undergoing repairs. The hayrack was the only +vehicle available. But what about saddle horses for a rapid bolt? +Curiously enough it was discovered that Peter's saddle horses were out +grazing. Besides, the story added that the man had taken his baggage +with him. Not a thing had been left behind, and baggage like his could +not have been carried on a saddle horse. +</P> + +<P> +The story grew as it traveled. It was the snowball over again. It was +said that Peter had been robbed of a large amount of money which he +kept in his safe. Also his cash register had been emptied. An added +item was that Peter himself had been knifed, and had been found in a +dying condition. In fact every conceivable variation of the facts were +flung abroad for the benefit of credulous ears. Consequently the tide +of curious, and startled, and interested news-seekers set in the +direction of Peter's hotel at an early hour. +</P> + +<P> +Then it was that something of the real facts were discovered. And, in +consequence, those who had participated in Slosson's land deals, and +had received deposit money, congratulated themselves. While those who +had not so profited felt like "kicking" themselves for their want of +enterprise. +</P> + +<P> +Peter stormed through his house the whole morning. He was like a very +hot and angry lion in a cage far too small for it. His story, as he +told it in the office, was superlative in furious adjectives. +</P> + +<P> +"I tell you fellows," he cried, at a group of wondering-eyed boarders +in his establishment, "I ha'f suspected he was a blamed crook from the +first moment I got my eyeballs onto him. The feller that 'll bilk his +board bill is come mighty low, sirs. So mighty low you wouldn't find a +well deep enough for him. He had the best rooms in the house at four +an' a ha'f dollars a day all in, an' I ain't see a fi' cent piece of +his money, cep' you ken count the land deposit he paid me. I just been +right through his rooms, an' he ain't left a thing, not a valise, nor a +grip. Not even a soot of pyjamas, or a soap tablet. He's sure cleared +right out fer good, and we ain't goin' to see him round again," he +finished up gloomily. +</P> + +<P> +Then his fire broke out again. +</P> + +<P> +"But that ain't what I'm grievin' most, I guess. Ther's allus skunks +around till a place gets civilized up, an' their bokay ain't pleasant. +But he's a hoss thief, too. There's my team. You know that team of +mine, Mr. Davison," he went on, turning to the drug storekeeper who had +dropped in to hear his friend's news. "You've drove behind 'em many a +time. They got a three-minute gait between 'em which 'ud show dust to +any team around these parts. That team was worth two thousand dollars, +sirs, and was matched to an inch, and a shade of color. Say, if I get +across his tracks, an' Sheriff Richardson is out after him with a +posse, I'm goin' to get a shot in before the United States Authorities +waste public money feeding him in penitentiary. I'm feelin' that mad I +can't eat, an' I don't guess I'd know how to hand a decent answer to a +Methodist minister if he came along. If I don't get news of that team +I'm just going to start and break something. I don't figure if he'd +burned this shack right over my head I'd have felt as mad as I do +losin' that dandy team." +</P> + +<P> +When questioned as to how the man had got away his answer came sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"How? Why, what was there to stop him, sir? I tell you right here we +ain't been accustomed to deal with his kind in Snake's. The folk +around this layout, till this coal boom started, has all been decent +citizens." He glared with hot eyes upon the men about him, who were +nearly all speculators attracted by that very coal boom. "There's that +darned fire-escape out back, right down from his room, an' what man has +ever locked his barn in these parts? Psha!" he cried, in violent +disgust. "I've had that team three years, and I've never so much as +had a lock put to the barn." +</P> + +<P> +So it went on all the morning. Peter's fury was one of the sights of +the township for that day. He was never without an audience which +flowed and ebbed like a tide, stimulated by curiosity, self-interest, +and the natural satisfaction of witnessing another's troubles which is +so much an instinct of human nature. +</P> + +<P> +And beneath every other emotion which the agent's sudden defection +aroused was a wave of almost pitiful meanness. The dreams of the last +week and more had received a set back. In many minds the boom city was +tottering. The crowding hopes of avarice and self-interest had +suddenly received a douche of cold water. What, these speculators +asked themselves, and each other, did the incident portend, what had +the future in store? +</P> + +<P> +So keen was the interest worked up about Peter McSwain's house that +every other consideration for the time being was forgotten. Party +after party visited Slosson's late quarters with a feeling of +conviction that some trifling clew had been overlooked, and, by some +happy chance, the luck and glory of having discovered it might fall to +their lot. But it was all of no avail. The room was absolutely empty +of all trace of its recent occupant, as only an hotel room can become. +</P> + +<P> +With the excitement the daily west-bound passenger train was forgotten, +and by the time it was signaled in, the little depot was almost +deserted. There were one or two rigs backed up to it on the town side, +and perhaps a dozen townspeople were present. But the usual gathering +was nowhere about. +</P> + +<P> +Amongst the few present were Hazel Mallinsbee and Gordon. They had +driven up in a democrat wagon with a particularly fine team, and having +backed the vehicle up to the boarded platform, they stood talking +earnestly and quite unnoticed. Hazel was dressed in an ordinary suit +that possessed nothing startling in its atmosphere of smartness. Her +skirt was of some rather hard material, evidently for hard wear, and +the upper part of her costume was a white lawn shirtwaist under a short +jacket which matched her skirt. Her head was adorned by her customary +prairie hat, which, in Gordon's eyes, became her so admirably. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon was holding up a picture for the girl's closest inspection. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, it's sheer bull-headed luck I got this with me," he was saying. +"I found it amongst my old papers and things when I left New York, and +I sort of brought it along as a 'mascot.' The old dad's older than +that now, but you can't mistake him. It's a bully likeness. Get it +into your mind anyway, and then keep it with you." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel gazed admiringly at the portrait of the man who claimed Gordon as +his son. For the moment she forgot the purpose in hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't he just splendid?" she exclaimed. "You're—you're the image of +him. Why, say, it seems the unkindest thing ever to—to play him up." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't worry that way. We're going to give him the time of his life." +Then he glanced swiftly about him, and noted the emptiness of the +depot. "I guess Peter's keeping the folks busy. He's a bright feller. +I surely guess he's working overtime. Now you get things fixed right, +Hazel. The train's coming along." +</P> + +<P> +The girl nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"You can trust me." +</P> + +<P> +"Right." Gordon sighed. "I'll make tracks then. But I'll be around +handy to see you don't make a mistake." +</P> + +<P> +He left the depot and disappeared. Hazel stood studying the picture in +her hand, and alternating her attention with the incoming train. She +was in a happy mood. The excitement of her share in Gordon's plot was +thrilling through her veins, and the thought that she was going to meet +his father, the great multi-millionaire, left her almost beside herself +with delighted interest. +</P> + +<P> +She wondered how much she would find him like Gordon. No, she thought +softly, he could never be really like Gordon. That was impossible. A +multi-millionaire could never have his son's frank enthusiasm for life +in all its turns and twistings of moral impulse. Gordon faced life +with a defiant "don't care." That glorious spirit of youth and moral +health. His father, for all his physical resemblance, would be a hard, +stern, keen-eyed man, with all experience behind him. Then she +remembered Gordon's injunctions. +</P> + +<P> +"Be just yourself," he had said. Then he had added, with a laugh, "If +you do that you'll have the dear old boy at your feet long before the +day's had time to get cool." +</P> + +<P> +It was rather nice Gordon talking that way, and the smile which +accompanied her recollection was frankly delighted. Anyway she would +soon know all about it, for the train was already rumbling its way in. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +James Carbhoy had done all that had been required of him by his agent's +message. He had not welcomed the abandonment of his private car in +favor of the ordinary parlor car and sleeper. Then, too, the purchase +of a ticket for his journey had seemed strange. But somehow, after the +first break from his usual method of travel, he had found enjoyment in +the situation. His fellow passengers, with whom he had got into +conversation on the journey, had passed many pleasant hours, and it +became quite absorbing to look on at the affairs of the world through +eyes that, for the time being, were no longer those of one of the +country's multi-millionaires. +</P> + +<P> +However, the journey was a long one, and he was pleased enough when he +reached his destination all unheralded and unrecognized. It amused him +to find how many travelers in the country knew nothing about James +Carbhoy and his vast financial exploits. +</P> + +<P> +As the train slowed down he gathered up his simple belongings, which +consisted of a crocodile leather suitcase, a stout valise of the same +material; and a light dust coat, which he slung over his arm. Armed +with these, he fell in with the queue making its way towards the exit +of the car. He frankly and simply enjoyed the situation. He told +himself he was merely one of the rest of the get-rich-quick brigade who +were flocking to the Eldorado at Snake's Fall. +</P> + +<P> +He was the last to alight, and he scanned the depot platform for the +familiar figure of his confidential agent. As he did so the locomotive +bell began to toll out its announcement of progress. The train slowly +slid out of the station behind him. +</P> + +<P> +David Slosson was nowhere to be seen, and he had just made up his mind +to search out a hotel for himself when he became aware of the tailored +figure of a young girl standing before him, and of the pleasant tones +of her voice addressing him. +</P> + +<P> +"Your agent, David Slosson, Mr. Carbhoy, has been detained out beyond +the coalfields on your most urgent business," she said. "So I was sent +in with the rig to drive you out to your quarters." +</P> + +<P> +The millionaire was startled. Then, as his steady eyes searched the +delightful face smiling up at him, his start proved a pleasant one. +There was something so very charming in the girl's tone and manner. +Then her extremely pretty eyes, and—Gordon's father mechanically bared +his head, and Hazel could have laughed with joy as she beheld this +strong, handsome edition of the Gordon she knew. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, come, that was thoughtful of Slosson," he said kindly. "He +certainly has shown remarkable judgment in substituting your company +for his own. My dear young lady, Slosson as a man of affairs is +possible, but as a companion on a journey, however short—well, I—— +And you are really going to drive me to my hotel. That's surely kind +of you." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel flushed. She felt the meanest thing in the world under the great +man's kindly regard. However, she reminded herself of the great and +ultimate object of the part she was playing and steeled her heart. +</P> + +<P> +"The team's right here, sir." She felt justified in adding the "sir." +She felt that she must risk nothing in her manner. "I'll just take +your baggage along." +</P> + +<P> +She was about to relieve the millionaire of his grips, but he drew back. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, I just couldn't dream of it. You carry my grips? No, no, go +right ahead, and I'll bring them along." +</P> + +<P> +In a perfect maze of excitement and confusion the girl hastily crossed +over to her team. Somehow she could no longer face the man's steady +eyes without betraying herself like some weak, silly schoolgirl. This +was Gordon's father, she kept telling herself, and—and she was there +to cheat him. It—it just seemed dreadful. +</P> + +<P> +However, no time was wasted. She sprang into the driving-seat of the +democrat spring rig, and took up the reins. The millionaire deposited +his grips in the body of the vehicle, and himself mounted to the seat +beside her. In a moment the wagon was on the move. +</P> + +<P> +As they moved away, out of the corners of her eyes Hazel saw the +grinning face of Gordon peering out at them from the window of Steve +Mason's telegraph office, smiling approval and encouragement. +Curiously enough, the sight made her feel almost angry. +</P> + +<P> +They moved down Main Street at a rattling pace, and, in a few moments, +turned off it into one of those streets which only the erection of +dwelling-houses marked. There were no made roads of any sort. Just +beaten, heavy, sandy tracks on the virgin ground. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel remained silent for some time. She was almost afraid to speak. +Yet she wanted to. She wanted to talk to Gordon's father. She wanted +to tell him of the mean trick she was playing upon him, for, under the +influence of his steady eyes and the knowledge that he was Gordon's +father, a great surge of shame was stirring in her heart which made her +hate herself. +</P> + +<P> +For some time the man gazed about him interestedly. Then, as they lost +themselves among the wooden frame dwelling-houses, he breathed a deep +sigh of content and drew out one of those extravagant cigars which +Gordon had not tasted for so many weeks. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, will smoke worry you any, young lady?" he inquired kindly. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel was thankful for the opportunity of a cordial reply. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, no," she cried. Then on the impulse she went on, "I just love +the smell of smoke where men are." She laughed merrily. "I guess men +without smoke makes you feel they're sick in body or conscience." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon's father laughed in his quiet fashion as he lit his cigar. +</P> + +<P> +"That way I guess folks of the Anti-Tobacco League need to start right +in and build hospitals for themselves." +</P> + +<P> +The girl nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Anti-Tobacco?" she said. "Why, 'anti' anything wholesomely human must +be a terrible sick crowd. I'd hate to trust them with my pocket-book, +and, goodness knows, there's only about ten cents in it. Even that +would be a temptation to such folks." +</P> + +<P> +Again came the millionaire's quiet laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the result of the healthy life you folks live right out here in +the open sunshine," he said, noting the pretty tanning of the girl's +face. "I don't guess it's any real sign of health, mentally or +physically, when folks have to start 'anti' societies, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir," replied the girl. "Did you ever know anybody that was +really healthy who started in to worry how they were living? It's just +what I used to notice way back at college in Boston. The girls that +came from cities were just full of cranks and notions. This wasn't +right for them to eat, that wasn't right for them to do. And it seemed +to me all their folks belonged to some 'anti' society of some sort. If +the 'anti' wasn't for themselves it was for some other folks who +weren't worried with the things they did or the way they lived. It +just seems to me cities are full of cranks who can run everything for +other folks and need other folks to run everything for them. It's just +a sort of human drug store in which every med'cine has to be able to +cure the effects of some other. Out here it's different. We got green +grass and sunshine, the same as God started us with, and so we haven't +got any use for the 'anti' folks." +</P> + +<P> +"No." James Carbhoy had forgotten the journey and its object. He was +only aware of this fresh, bright young creature beside him. He stirred +in his seat and glanced about him from a sheer sense of a new interest, +and in looking about he became aware of a horseman riding on the same +trail some distance behind them. +</P> + +<P> +"You said Boston just now," he said curiously. "You were educated in +Boston?" +</P> + +<P> +Hazel nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, my poppa sent me to Boston. He just didn't reckon anything but +Boston was good enough. But I was glad to be back here again." +</P> + +<P> +The millionaire would have liked to question her more closely as to how +she came to be driving a team at Slosson's command. He had no great +regard for his agent outside of business, But somehow he felt it would +be an impertinence, and so refrained. Instead, he changed the subject. +</P> + +<P> +"How far out are the coalfields?" he inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"About five miles." The memory of her purpose swept over the girl +again, and her reply came shortly, and she glanced back quickly over +her shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +As she did so she became sickeningly aware that two horsemen were on +the trail some distance behind them. How she wished she had never +undertaken this work! +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose there's quite a town there now?" was the millionaire's next +inquiry. +</P> + +<P> +"Not a great deal, but there's comfortable quarters the other side of +it. It's going to be a wonderful, wonderful place, sir, when the +railroad starts booming it." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel felt she must get away from anything approaching a +cross-examination. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't just get that," said Carbhoy evasively. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it's just a question of depot. You see, there's coal right here +enough to heat the whole world. That's what folks say. And when the +railroad fixes things so transport's right, why, everybody 'll just +jump around and build up big commercial corporations, and—there'll be +dollars for everybody." +</P> + +<P> +"I see—yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Slosson is working that way now," the girl went on. Then she +added, with a shadowy smile, "That's why he couldn't get in to meet +you, I guess." +</P> + +<P> +"He must be very busy," said the millionaire dryly. "However, I'm +glad." And Hazel turned in time to discover his kindly smile. +</P> + +<P> +Carbhoy gazed about him at the open plains with which they were +surrounded. The air, though hot, was fresh, and the sunlight, though +brilliant, seemed to lack something of that intensity to be found in +the enclosed streets of a city. He threw away his cigar stump, and in +doing so he glanced back over the trail again. He remained gazing +intently in that direction for some moments. Then he turned back. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess those fellers riding along behind are just prairie men," he +said. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel started and looked over her shoulder. There were four men now +riding together on the trail. They were steadily keeping pace with her +team some two hundred yards behind. +</P> + +<P> +It was some moments before the man received his answer. Hazel was +troubled. She was almost horrified. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she said at last, with an effort. "They're just prairie men." +Then she smiled, but her smile was a further effort. "They're pretty +tough boys to look at, but I'd say they're all right. Maybe you're not +used to the prairie?" +</P> + +<P> +The millionaire smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"I've seen it out of a train window," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Through glass," said Hazel. "It makes a difference, doesn't it? It's +the same with everything. You've got to get into contact to—to +understand." +</P> + +<P> +"But there hasn't always been glass between me and—things." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel's smile was spontaneous now as she nodded her appreciation. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sure," she said. "You see, you're a millionaire." +</P> + +<P> +Carbhoy smiled back at her. +</P> + +<P> +"Just so." This girl was slowly filling him with amazement. +</P> + +<P> +"It's real plate-glass now," Hazel went on. +</P> + +<P> +"And plate-glass sometimes gets broken." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I s'pose it does. But you can fix it again—being a millionaire." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes——" +</P> + +<P> +The millionaire broke off. There was a rush of hoofs from behind. The +horsemen were close up to them, coming at a hard gallop. Carbhoy +turned quickly. So did Hazel. The millionaire's eyes were calmly +curious. He imagined the men were just going to pass on. Hazel's eyes +were full of a genuine alarm. She had known what to expect. But now +that the moment had come she was really terrified. What would Gordon's +father do? Had he a revolver? And would he use it? This was the +source of her fear. +</P> + +<P> +It was a breathless moment for the girl. It was the crux of all +Gordon's plans. She was the center of it. She, and these men who were +to execute the lawless work. +</P> + +<P> +She was given no time to speculate. She was given no time but for that +dreadful wave of fear which swept over her, and left her pretty face +ghastly beneath its tanning. A voice, harsh, commanding, bade her pull +up her team, and the order was accompanied by a string of blasphemy and +the swift play of the man's gun. +</P> + +<P> +"Hold 'em up, blast you! Hold 'em, or I'll blow the life right out o' +you!" came the ruthless order. +</P> + +<P> +At the same time James Carbhoy was confronted with a gun from another +direction, and a sharp voice invited him to "push his hands right up to +the sky." +</P> + +<P> +Both orders were obeyed instantly, and as Hazel saw her companion's +hands thrown up over his head a great reaction of relief set in. She +sat quite still and silent. Her reins rested loosely in her lap. She +no longer dared to look at her companion. Now that all danger of his +resistance was past she feared lest an almost uncontrollable +inclination to laugh should betray her. +</P> + +<P> +She kept her eyes steadily fixed upon these men, every one of whom she +had known since her childhood, and to whom she fully made up her mind +she intended to read a lecture on the subject of the use of oaths to a +woman, sometime in the future. As she watched them her inclination to +laugh grew stronger and stronger. They had carried out their part with +a nicety for detail that was quite laudable. Each man was armed to the +teeth, and was as grotesque a specimen of prairie ruffianism as clothes +could make him—the leader particularly. And he, in everyday life, she +knew to be the mildest and most quaintly humorous of men. +</P> + +<P> +But his work was carried out now without a shadow of humor. He looked +murder, or robbery, or any other crime, as he ordered her out of the +driving seat, and waited while she scrambled over the back of the seat +to one of those behind with a movement well-nigh precipitate. Then, at +a sign, one of the other men took her place, and, at another short +command to "look over" the millionaire, the same man proceeded to +search Gordon's father for weapons. The production of an automatic +pistol from one of his coat pockets filled Hazel with consternation at +the thought of the possibilities of disaster which had lain therein. +</P> + +<P> +But the four assailants gave no sign. Their work proceeded swiftly and +silently. The millionaire's feet were secured, and he was left in his +seat. Then, under the hands of the man who had replaced Hazel, the +journey was continued with the escort beside and behind the vehicle. +</P> + +<P> +As they drove on Hazel wondered. Her eyes, very soft, very regretful, +were fixed on the iron-gray head of the man in the front seat. She +registered a vow that if he were hurt by the bonds that held his ankles +fast some one was going to hear about it. Now that the whole thing was +over and done with she felt resentful and angry with anybody and +everybody—except the victim of the outrage. She was even mad with +herself that she had lent assistance to such a cruel trick. +</P> + +<P> +But the millionaire gave no sign. Hazel longed to know something of +his feelings, but he gave neither her nor his assailants the least +inkling of them for a long time. At last, however, a great relief to +the girl's feelings came at the sound of his voice, which had lost none +of its even, kindly note. +</P> + +<P> +"Say," he observed, addressing the ruffian beside him, who was busily +chewing and spitting, "you don't mind if I smoke, do you?" +</P> + +<P> +Then Hazel made a fresh vow of retribution for some one as the answer +came. +</P> + +<P> +"You can smoke all the weed you need," the man said, with a fierce +oath, "only don't try no monkey tricks. You're right fer awhile, +anyways, if you sit tight, I guess, but if you so much as wink an eye +by way of kickin', why, I'll blow a whole hurricane o' lead into your +rotten carcase." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It was a long and weary journey that ended somewhere about midnight. +Nor was it until the teamster drew up at the door of a small, squat +frame house that James Carbhoy's bonds were finally released. He was +thankful enough, in spite of his outward display of philosophic +indifference. He knew that he was the victim of a simple "hold-up," +and had little enough fear for his life. The matter was a question of +ransom, he guessed. It was one of those things he had often enough +heard of, but which, up to now, he had been lucky enough to escape. He +only wondered how it came about that these "toughs" had learned of his +coming. He felt that it must have been Slosson's fault. He must have +opened his mouth. Well, for the time, at least, there was little to do +but hope for the best and make the best of things generally. +</P> + +<P> +He was given no option now but to obey. His captors ordered him out of +the wagon in the same rough manner in which they ordered Hazel. And +the leader conducted them both into the house. +</P> + +<P> +There was a light burning in the parlor, and the millionaire looked +about him in surprise at the simple comfort and cleanliness of the +place. He had expected a mere hovel, such as he had read about. He +had expected filth and discomfort of every sort. But here—here was a +parlor, neatly furnished and with a wonderful suggestion of homeness +about it. He was pleasantly astonished. But the leader of the gang +was intent upon the business in hand. +</P> + +<P> +He turned to Hazel first and pointed at the door which led into the +kitchen. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, you!" he cried roughly. "You best get right out wher' you'll +belong fer awhiles. We ain't used to female sassiety around this +layout, an' I don't guess we need any settin' around now. Say, you'll +jest see to the vittles fer this gent an' us. Ther's a Chink out back +ther' what ain't a circumstance when it comes to cookin' vittles. +You'll see he fixes things right—seein' we've a millionaire fer +company. Get busy." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel departed, but a wild longing to box the fellow's ears nearly +ruined everything. There certainly was a reckoning mounting up for +some one. +</P> + +<P> +The moment she had departed the man turned his scowling, repellent eyes +upon his male prisoner. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, see here, Mister James Carbhoy. I guess you're yearning for a +few words from me. Wal, I allow they're goin' to be mighty few. See?" +he added brutally. "I ain't given to a heap of talk. There's jest +three things you need to hear right here an' now. The first is, it's +goin' to cost you jest a hundred thousand dollars 'fore you get into +the bosom o' your family again. The second is, even if you got the +notion to try and dodge us boys, you couldn't get out o' these +mountains without starvin' to death or breakin' your rotten neck. +You're jest a hundred miles from Snake's Fall, and ninety o' that is +Rocky Mountains an' foothills. You ain't goin' to be locked in a +prisoner here. There ain't no need. You can jest get around as you +please—in daylight—and one of the boys 'll always be on your track. +At night you're just goin' to stop right home—in case you lose +yourself. The third is, if you kick any or try to get away—well, I +don't guess you'll try much else on this earth. The room over this is +your sleep-room, an' I guess you can tote your baggage right there now. +So long." +</P> + +<P> +Without waiting for a reply the man beat a retreat out through the +front door, which he locked behind him with considerable display. +</P> + +<P> +Once outside, the man hurried away round to the back of the house, +where, to his surprise, he found Hazel waiting for him. +</P> + +<P> +She addressed him by name in a sharp whisper. +</P> + +<P> +"Bud!" she commanded. "Come right here!" +</P> + +<P> +Then, as the man obeyed her, she led him silently away from the house +in the direction of the corrals. Once well out of earshot of the house +she turned on him. +</P> + +<P> +"Now see here, Bud," she cried. "I've had all I'm yearning for of you +for the next twenty-four years. Now you're going to light right out +back to the ranch right away, and don't you ever dare to come near here +again—ever. My! but your language has been a disgrace to any New York +tough. I've never, never heard such a variety of curse words ever. If +I'd thought you could have talked that way I'd have had you go to +Sunday school every Sunday since you've been one of our foremen." +</P> + +<P> +"'Tain't just nothin', Miss Hazel," the man deprecated. "I ken do +better than that on a round-up when the boys get gay. Say, it just did +me good talkin' to a multi-millionaire that way. I don't guess I'll +ever get such a chance again." +</P> + +<P> +"That you won't," cried Hazel, smiling in the darkness, in spite of her +outraged feelings. +</P> + +<P> +"But I acted right, Miss," protested the man. "I don't guess he'd have +located me fer anything but a 'hold-up.' Say, we'd got it all fixed. +We just acted it over. I was plumb scared he'd shoot, though. You +never can tell with these millionaires. I was scared he wouldn't know +enough to push his hands up. Say, we'd have had to rush him if he +hadn't, an' maybe there'd have been damage done." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel sighed. +</P> + +<P> +"There's enough of that done already. Say, you're sure you didn't hurt +his poor ankles. You see," she explained, "he's Mr. Gordon's father." +</P> + +<P> +The man began to laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, don't it beat all, Miss Hazel, stealin' your own father? How 'ud +you fancy stealin' Mr. Mallinsbee? Gee! Mr. Gordon's a dandy. He +sure is. He's a real bright feller, and I like him. What's the next +play, Miss?" +</P> + +<P> +"Goodness only knows," cried Hazel. Then she began to laugh. "Some +harebrained, mad scheme, or it wouldn't be Gordon's. Anyway, you made +it plain I'm to look after the—prisoner?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure. I also told him it would cost him a hundred thousand dollars +before he gets out of here." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel nodded and laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"It'll do that." Then she sighed. "It'll take me all my wits keeping +him from guessing I'm concerned in it. I don't know. Well, +good-night, Bud. You're going back to the ranch now. You've only one +of the boys here? That's right. Which is it? Sid Blake?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Miss. I left Sid. You see, he's bright, and up to any play you +need. I'll get around once each day. Good-night, Miss." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE BOOM IN EARNEST +</H4> + +<P> +It was late in the evening. The lonely house at Buffalo Point stood +out in dim relief against the purpling shades of dusk. At that hour of +the evening the distant outline of Snake's Fall was lost in the gray to +the eastwards. South, there were only the low grass hillocks, now +blended into one definite skyline. To the westward, the sharp outline +of the mountains was still silhouetted against the momentarily dulling +afterglow of sunset. The evening was still, with that wonderful +silence which ever prevails at such an hour upon the open prairie. +</P> + +<P> +A light shone in the window of the hitherto closed office at Buffalo +Point, and, furthermore, a rig stood at the door with a team of horses +attached thereto, which latter did not belong to Mike Callahan. +</P> + +<P> +An atmosphere not, perhaps, so much of secrecy as of portent seemed to +hang about the place. The solitary light in the surroundings of +gathering night seemed significant. Then the team, too, waiting ready +to depart at a moment's notice. But above all, perhaps, this was the +first time a sign of life had been visible in the house since the +closing down at the moment when Slosson's sudden plunge into the real +estate world of Snake's Fall had apparently swept all rivalry from his +triumphant path. +</P> + +<P> +Of a truth, a portentous moment had arrived in the affairs of those +interested in Buffalo Point. And the significance of it was displayed +in the earnest faces of the four men gathered together in the office. +Silas Mallinsbee sat smoking in his own armchair, and with a profound +furrow of concentration upon his broad forehead. His usually thrusting +chin-beard rested upon the front of his shirt by reason of the intent +inclination of his great head. Mike Callahan was seated on a small +chair his elbows resting upon his parted knees, and his chin supported +upon the knuckles of his locked fingers. His eyes were intently fixed +upon the desk, behind which Gordon was frowning over a sheet of paper, +upon which the scratching of his pen made itself distinctly audible in +the silence. Peter McSwain, the fourth conspirator, was still +suffering from a fictitious heat, and was comfortably, but wakefully, +snoring under its influence, with a sort of nasal ticking noise which +harmoniously blended with the scratching of Gordon's pen. +</P> + +<P> +It was fairly obvious that the work Gordon was engaged upon was the +central interest of all present, for every eye was steadily, almost +anxiously, riveted upon the movement of his pen. +</P> + +<P> +After a long time Gordon looked up, and a half smile shone in his blue +eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Give us a light, some one," he demanded, as he turned his sheet of +paper over on the blotting-pad, and drew his code book from an inner +pocket and laid it beside it. +</P> + +<P> +Mike Callahan produced and struck the required match. He held it while +Gordon re-lit his half-burned cigar, which had gone out under the +pressure of thought its owner had been putting forth. +</P> + +<P> +"Good," the latter exclaimed, as the tobacco glowed under the draught +of his powerful lungs. Then he turned the paper over again. "Guess I +got it fixed. I haven't coded it yet, but I'll read it out. It's to +Spenser Harker, my father's chief man." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Cancel all previous arrangements made through Slosson for Snake's +Fall. Take following instructions. Have bought heavily at Buffalo +Point, which is right on the coal-fields. Depot to be built at once at +Buffalo Point. Make all arrangements for dispatch of engineers and +surveyors at once. There must be no delay in starting a boom. My son, +Gordon, is here to represent our interests. Put this to the general +manager of the Union Grayling and Ukataw, and yourself see no delay. +Am going on to coast on urgent affairs. Gordon has the matter well in +hand and will control at this end. This should be a big coup for us. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"JAMES CARBHOY." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +As Gordon finished reading he glanced round at his companions' faces +through the smoke of his cigar. Mike was audibly sniggering. +Mallinsbee's eyes were smiling in that twinkling fashion which deep-set +eyes seem so capable of. As for Peter McSwain, from sheer force of +habit he drew forth a colored handkerchief and mopped his grinning eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"You ain't going to send that?" he said incredulously. +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" +</P> + +<P> +"But—that piece about yourself?" grinned Mike. "You darsen't to do +it." +</P> + +<P> +"I think I get his point," nodded Mallinsbee, his broad face beaming +admiration. "Sort of local color, I guess." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon twisted his cigar from one corner of his mouth to the other. +His blue eyes were shining with a sort of earnest amusement. His sharp +white teeth were gripping the mangled end of his cigar firmly. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, fellows," he said, after a moment's thought, "I'm kind of +wondering if you get just what this thing means to me. It just needs a +sum in dollars to get its meaning to you. But for me it's different. +I need to make dollars, too. But still it's different. You see, some +day I've got to sit right in my father's chair, and run things with a +capital of millions of dollars. But before I do that I've got to get +right up and convince my father I can handle the work right. He +doesn't figure I can act that way—yet. So it's up to me to show him I +can. Well, I've started in, and I'm going to see the game through to +the end. I've backed my wits to push this boat right into harbor safe. +And in doin' that I've got to squeeze the biggest financier in the +country. When I've done it right, that financier will know he can hand +over his particular craft to my steering without fear of my running it +on the rocks. The dollars I need to make out of this are just a +circumstance. They are the outward sign of my fitness for my father's +edification. That piece about my representing my father isn't just +local color either. I actually intend to assume that character, and, +from now on, I intend to work direct with headquarters, ordering the +whole transaction for the railroad myself in <I>my own name</I>. Do you get +me? From now on I <I>am</I> my father's representative. If Spenser Harker +chooses to come right along here, if the general manager of the Union +Grayling chooses to come along, I shall meet them, and insist that the +work goes through. You see, I am my father's son, I am still his +secretary, and they have word in private code <I>from my father</I> that I +represent him. There can be no debate. All they know of me is that I +left New York on confidential work for my father. Well, this, I guess, +is the confidential work. Gentlemen, we've simply got to sit right +back and help ourselves to our profits. And while we're doing that, +why, I guess the dear old dad is taking his well-earned vacation in the +hills, while David Slosson is feeling a nasty draught through the +chinks in an old adobe and log shack which I hope will blow the foul +odors out of his fouler mind. You can leave the after part of this +play safely in my hands. Meanwhile, if you'll just give me five +minutes I'll code this message. Then we'll drive right into town and +send it over the wire." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Sunday in an obscure country hotel on the western plains is usually the +dullest thing on earth. The habit of years is a whitewash of +respectability and a moderation of tone, both assumed through the +medium of a complete change of attire from that worn during the week. +There is nothing on earth but the loss by fire, or the definite +destruction of them, which will stop the citizen, who possesses such +things, from arraying himself in a "best suit." It is the outward sign +of an attempted cleansing of the soul. There can be no doubt of it. +That suit is not adjusted for the purpose of holiday enjoyment. That +is quite plain. For each man is as careful not to do anything that can +destroy the crease down his trousers, as he is not to sit on the tails +of his well-brushed Prince Albert coat. +</P> + +<P> +The day is spent in just "sitting around." The citizen will talk. +That is not calculated to spoil his suit. He will even write his mail +after a careful adjustment of the knees of his trousers. He will sneak +into the bar by a back door to obtain an "eye-opener." This, again, +will involve no great risk to his suit. Then he will dine liberally +off roast turkey and pie of some sort. If the hotel is fairly well +priced he will even get an ice-cream with his midday dinner. In the +afternoon he will again sit around and talk. He may even venture a +walk. Then comes the evening supper. It is the worst function of a +dreary day—a meal made up of cakes, preserves, tea or coffee, and any +cold meats left over during the week. +</P> + +<P> +After that the "best suits" somehow seem to fade out of sight, and a +generally looser tone prevails. +</P> + +<P> +Such had been the Sundays in Snake's Fall since ever the town had +boasted an hotel with boarding accommodation. No guest had ever dared +to break through the tradition. It would have required heroic courage +to have done so. But now changes in the town were rapidly taking +place. So rapidly, indeed, that the times might well have been +characterized as "breathless." +</P> + +<P> +On this particular Sunday a perfect revolution was in progress. +Amongst the older inhabitants who managed to drift to the vicinity of +the hotel a feeling of unreality took possession of them, and they +wondered if it were not some curious and not altogether pleasant dream. +The hotel was thronged with a blending of strangers and townspeople, +clad, regardless of the day, in a state of excitement such as might +only have been expected at the declaration of a world war, or a +presidential election. +</P> + +<P> +It was the culmination of the excitement inspired originally by the +news of Slosson's defection, and which, in the course of less than a +week, had been augmented by happenings in swift and rapid succession, +such as set sober business men wondering if they were living on a +volcano instead of a coalmine, or if the days of miracles had indeed +returned upon the world. +</P> + +<P> +Well before the excitement over Slosson had died down it became known +that the Buffalo Point interests were at work again. Mallinsbee's +office was opened once more. Furthermore, he had acquired two clerks, +and was securing others from down east. This was more than +significant. It attracted every eye in the new direction. Men strove +to solve the question with regard to its relationship to Slosson's +going. The thought which promptly came to each mind was that Slosson's +going was less a miracle than a natural disappearance. His wild buying +had inspired doubt from the first. The man had gone crazy, and his +employers had turned him down. So he had bolted. The opening of +Buffalo Point warned them that the railroad had in consequence come to +terms with Mallinsbee. So there had been a fresh rush for information +in that direction. +</P> + +<P> +But this rush received no encouragement and less information, and the +sorely tried speculators were once more flung back into their own outer +darkness. +</P> + +<P> +Then came the next, the culminating excitement. The news drifted into +the place from outside sources. It came from agents and friends in the +east. Surveyors and engineers and construction gangs were about to be +sent to <I>Buffalo Point</I>! The news was quite definite, quite decided. +It was more. It was accompanied by peremptory orders and urgent +requests that those who were on the spot should get in on the Buffalo +Point township without a moment's delay, and price was not to hinder +them. +</P> + +<P> +Had it been needed, there were no two people in the whole of Snake's +Fall better placed for the dissemination and exaggeration of the news +than Peter McSwain at the hotel and Mike Callahan at the livery barn. +Nor were they idle. Nor did they miss a single opportunity. +</P> + +<P> +In the office of the hotel, while service was on at the little church, +and all the womenfolk and children were singing their tender hearts out +in an effort to get an appetite for Sunday's dinner, Peter was the +center of observation amidst a crowd of bitterly complaining commercial +sinners, each with his own particular ax to grind and a desperate +grievance against the crooks who were rigging the land markets in the +neighborhood for their own sordid profit. He was holding forth, +debating point for point, and, as he would have described it himself, +"boosting the old boat over a heavy sea." +</P> + +<P> +Some one had suggested that Buffalo Point had been in league with +Slosson to hold up the situation, while the former completed their own +arrangements to the detriment of the community. Peter promptly jumped +in. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, youse fellers are all sorts of 'smarts,' anyway," he said, with a +pitying sort of contempt. "What you need is gilt-edged finance. +You're scared to death pulling the chestnuts out o' the fire. You're +mostly looking for a thousand per cent. result, with only a five per +cent. courage. That's just about your play. What's the use in settin' +around here talking murder when the plums are lyin' around? Pick 'em +up, I says. Pick 'em right up an' get your back teeth into 'em so the +juice jest trickles right over your Sunday suits. They're there for +you. Just grab. I'm tired of talk. The truth is, some o' youse +feelin' you've burnt your fingers over Slosson. Slosson was the +railroad's agent. Your five per cent. minds saw the gilding in +following Slosson. When he skipped out with my team you were stung +bad. You've got stakes in Snake's, while you're finding out now the +railroad ain't moved that way. An' so you're just scared to death to +show the color of your paper till you see the depot built and the +locomotives passing this place ringing a chorus of welcome for Buffalo. +Then where are you? You're going to pay sucker prices then, or get +right back east with a big debit for wasted board and time. I'm takin' +a chance myself, and it ain't with any five per cent. courage. I got a +big stake in both places, and I don't care a continental where they +build the depot." +</P> + +<P> +Mike Callahan was talking in much the same strain in the neighborhood +of his barn, which somehow always became a sort of Sunday meeting-place +for loungers seeking information. But Mike, acting on instructions, +went much further. He spoke of the reports of the movements of the +railroad's engineers and surveyors. He assured his hearers he had had +definite word of it himself, and then added a hint that started +something in the nature of a panic amongst his audience. +</P> + +<P> +"It ain't no use in guessing," he said from his seat on an upturned +bucket at the open door of his barn. "I ain't got loose cash to fling +around. Mine is just locked right up in hossflesh and rigs, so I ain't +got no ax needs sharpening. But I drive folks around and I hear them +yarning. I drove a crowd out to Mallinsbee's place—the office at +Buffalo Point yesterday. They were guests of his. They were talkin' +depots and things the whole way. Say, ever heard the name of Carbhoy? +Any of youse?" +</P> + +<P> +Some one assured him that Carbhoy was President of the Union road, and +Mike winked. +</P> + +<P> +"Jest so," he observed. "As sure as St. Patrick drove the snakes out +of Ireland, one of that gang was called 'Carbhoy.' I heard one of 'em +use the name. And I heard the feller called 'Carbhoy' tell him to +close his map. Not just in them words, but the sort of words a +millionaire might use. That gang are guests of Mallinsbee. Wher' they +are now I can't say. I didn't drive 'em back." +</P> + +<P> +It was small enough wonder that the conflagration of excitement fairly +swallowed up the town of vultures. The Buffalo Point interests +intended it to do so. Nor could their agents have been better +selected. They were established citizens who came into contact with +the whole floating population of the place. They were above suspicion, +and they just simply laughed and talked and pushed their pinpricks +home, preparing the way for the <I>dénouement</I>. +</P> + +<P> +On the Monday following, the effect of their work began to show itself. +Amongst other visitations Mallinsbee was invaded by a deputation +representing large real-estate interests. +</P> + +<P> +Under Gordon's management the office had been entirely converted. Now +the original parlor office had been turned over to the use of the +clerical staff. The bedroom Gordon had occupied had become +Mallinsbee's private office, and the other bedroom had been made into +an office for Gordon himself. There was no longer any appearance of a +makeshift about the place. It was an organized commercial +establishment ready for the transaction of any business, from battling +with a royal eagle of commerce down to the plucking of the half-fledged +pigeon. +</P> + +<P> +The deputation arrived in the morning, and consisted of Mr. Cyrus P. +Laker and Mr. Abe Chester. These two men represented two Chicago +real-estate corporations who were prepared to shed dollars that ran +into six figures in a "right" enterprise. +</P> + +<P> +The rancher had been notified of their coming, and had sat in +consultation with Gordon for half an hour before their arrival. When +the clerk showed them into Mallinsbee's private office they found him +fully equipped, with his hideous patch over one eye, and Gordon sitting +near by at a small table under the window. +</P> + +<P> +Abe Chester overflowed the chair the clerk set for him, and Laker +possessed himself of another. They were in sharp contrast, these two. +One was lean and tall, the other was squat and breathed asthmatically. +But both were men of affairs, and equal to every move in a deal. +</P> + +<P> +The tall man opened the case, with his keen eyes searching the baffling +face of the rancher. Just for one moment he had doubtfully eyed +Gordon's figure, so intently bent over his work, but Mallinsbee had +reassured him with the words, "My confidential secretary." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Laker assumed an air of simple frankness. +</P> + +<P> +"Our errand is a simple one, Mr. Mallinsbee," he began in hollow tones +which seemed to emanate from somewhere in the region of his highly +shined shoes. Then he smiled vaguely, a smile which Gordon mentally +registered as being "childlike," as he observed it out of the corners +of his eyes. "We are looking for two little pieces of information +which you, as a business man, will appreciate as being a justifiable +search on our part. You see, we are open to negotiating a deal of +several hundred thousand dollars, of course depending on the +information being satisfactory." +</P> + +<P> +"There's several rumors afloat that maybe you can confirm or deny," +broke in Abe Chester shortly. His <I>confrère's</I> "high-brow" methods, as +he termed them, irritated him. +</P> + +<P> +"Just so," agreed Laker suavely. "Two rumors which affect the +situation very nearly. The first is, is it a fact that the President +of the Union Grayling and Ukataw Railroad is your guest at the present +moment? The second is, there is a rumor afloat that the railroad +company are actually preparing to build their depot here. Is this so?" +</P> + +<P> +Mallinsbee's expression was annoyingly obscure. Mr. Laker felt that he +was smiling, but Abe Chester was convinced that a smile was not within +a mile of his large features. Both men were agreed, however, that they +distrusted that eye-patch. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon awaited the rancher's reply with amused patience. It came in +the rumbling, heavy voice so like an organ note, after a duly +thoughtful pause. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, gentlemen," he said, with the air of a man who has bestowed a +weight of consideration upon his answer, "you have put what a legal +mind maybe 'ud consider 'leading' questions. Not having a legal mind, +but just the mind of an <I>honest</I> trader, I'll say they certainly are +<I>some</I> questions. However, it don't seem to me they'll prejudice a +thing answering 'em straight. You are yearning to deal—well, so am I; +an' if my answer's going to help things that way, why, I thank you for +asking. Mr. Carbhoy is my guest at this moment. How long he'll remain +my guest I can't just say. You see, he's going along to the coast when +we're through fixing things right for Buffalo Point. That answers your +first question, I guess. The second's even easier. The railroad's +engineers will be right here with plans and specifications and +materials and workers for building the depot at Buffalo Point on +<I>Wednesday noon</I>." +</P> + +<P> +Abe Chester drew a short asthmatical breath. His leaner companion +smiled cadaverously. +</P> + +<P> +"Then it will give us both much pleasure to talk business," said the +latter. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure," agreed Chester, sparing words which cost him so much breath, of +which he possessed such a small supply. +</P> + +<P> +Mallinsbee pushed cigars towards them. He felt the occasion needed +their moral support. +</P> + +<P> +"Help yourselves, gentlemen," he said. "Guess it'll make us talk +better. There's a whole heap of talk coming." +</P> + +<P> +The two men helped themselves, tenderly pressing the cigars and +smelling them. The rancher took one himself, with the certainty of its +quality, and lit it. +</P> + +<P> +"A lot to talk about?" inquired Mr. Laker, not without misgivings. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, yes." The rancher pulled deeply at his cigar and examined the +ash thoughtfully. "Yes," he went on after a moment, "I guess I'll have +to say quite a piece before you talk money. You see, I'd just like you +to understand the position. It's perhaps a bit difficult. This scheme +has been lying around quite a time, inviting folks to put money into it +at a profitable price to themselves. A number of wise friends of mine +have taken the opportunity and are in, good and snug. There's a number +of others hadn't the grit. Maybe I don't just blame them. You see, it +was some gamble, and needed folks who could take a chance. Wall, those +days are past. There's no gamble now. It's as good as American double +eagles. You see, Snake's will just become a sort of flag station, +while Buffalo Point will sit around in a halo of glory with a brand-new +swell depot. It's been some work handling this proposition, and the +folks interested, including the Bude and Sideley Coal Company, need a +deal of compensation for their work. Personally, I am not selling a +single frontage now until the depot is well on the way. In short, I +need a fancy price. In conclusion, gentlemen, let me say quite plainly +that what I would have sold originally for three figures will now, or +rather when the time comes, cost four—and maybe even five." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean to shut us out," snapped Abe Chester. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it graft?" inquired Laker, with something between a sneer and anger. +</P> + +<P> +"Call it what you like," said Mallinsbee coldly. "I've told you the +plain facts, as I shall tell everybody else. Those who want to get in +on the Buffalo Point boom will have to pay money for it—good money. I +think that is all I have to say, gentlemen." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A TRIFLE +</H4> + +<P> +Few men were less given to dreaming than James Carbhoy. Usually he had +no spare time on his hands for such a pastime. Dreams? Well, perhaps +he occasionally let imagination run riot amidst seas of amazing +figures, but that was all. All other dreams left him cold. Now it was +different. +</P> + +<P> +He was reclining in an old-fashioned rocker chair outside the front +door of his prison. The air of the valley was soft and balmy, the sun +was setting, and a wealth of ever-changing colors tinted the distant +mountain-tops; a wonderful sense of peace and security reigned +everywhere. So, somehow, he found himself dreaming. +</P> + +<P> +He filled the chair almost to overflowing and reveled in its comfort, +just as he reveled in the comfort even of his prison. His hands were +clasped behind his iron-gray head, and he drank deeply of the pleasant, +perfumed air. His captivity had already exceeded three weeks, and the +first irritation of it had long since passed, leaving in its place a +philosophic resignation characteristic of the man. He no longer strove +seriously to solve the problem of his detention. During the first days +of his captivity he had thought hard, and the contemplation of possible +disaster to many enterprises resulting from this enforced absence had +troubled him seriously, but as the days wore on and no word came from +his captors his resignation quietly set in, and gradually a pleasant +peace reigned in place of stormy feelings. +</P> + +<P> +James Carbhoy possessed a considerable humor for a man who spent his +life in multiplying, subtracting and adding numerals which represented +the sum of his gains and losses in currency, and perhaps it was this +which so largely helped him. His temperament should undoubtedly have +been at once harsh, sternly unyielding and bitterly avaricious. In +reality it was none of these things. It was his lot to cause money to +make money, and the work of it was something in the nature of an +amusement. He was warm-hearted and human; he loved battle and the +spirit of competition. Then, too, he possessed a deplorable love for +the knavery of modern financial methods. This was the underlying +temperament which governed all his actions, and a warm, human +kindliness saved him from many of the pitfalls into which such a +temperament might well have trapped him. +</P> + +<P> +As he sat there basking in the evening sunlight he felt that on the +whole he rather owed his captors a debt of gratitude for introducing +him to a side of life which otherwise he might never have come into +contact with. He knew at the same time that such a feeling was just as +absurd as that the spirit of fierce resentment had so easily died down +within him. All his interests were dependent upon his own efforts for +success, and here he was shut up, a prisoner, with these very affairs, +for all he knew, going completely to the dogs. +</P> + +<P> +His conflicting feelings made him smile, and here it was that his humor +served him. After all, what did it matter? He knew that some one had +bested him. It was not the first time in his life that he had been +bested. Not by any means. But always in such cases he had ultimately +made up the leeway and gained on the reach. Well, he supposed he would +do so again. So he rested content and submitted to the pleasant +surroundings of his captivity. +</P> + +<P> +There was one feature of his position, however, which he seriously did +resent. It was a feature which even his humor could not help him to +endure with complacency. It was the simple presence of a Chinaman near +him. He cordially detested Chinamen—so much so that, in all his great +financial undertakings, he did not possess one cent of interest in any +Chinese enterprise. +</P> + +<P> +Hip-Lee was maddeningly ubiquitous. There was no escape from him. If +the millionaire's fellow prisoner, the pretty teamstress, entered his +room to wait on him—and their captors seemed to have forced such +service upon her—Hip-Lee was her shadow. If he himself elected to go +for a walk through the valley—a freedom accorded him from the +first—there was not a moment but what a glance over his shoulder would +have revealed the lurking, silent, furtive figure in its blue smock, +watchful of his every movement, while apparently occupied in anything +but that peculiar form of pastime. James Carbhoy resented this +surveillance bitterly. Nor did he doubt that beneath that simple blue +smock a long knife was concealed, and, probably, a desire for murder. +</P> + +<P> +However, nothing of this was concerning him now. The hour was the hour +of peace. The perfection of the scene he was gazing upon had cast its +spell about him, and he was dreaming—really dreaming of nothing. The +joy of living was upon him, and, for the time being, nothing else +mattered. +</P> + +<P> +In the midst of his dreaming the sound of a footstep coming round the +angle of the building to his right roused him to full alertness. He +glanced round quickly and withdrew his hands from behind his head. +Mechanically he drew his cigar-case from an inner pocket and selected a +cigar. But he was expectant and curious, his feelings inspired by his +knowledge that Hip-Lee always moved soundlessly. +</P> + +<P> +His eyes were upon the limits of the house when the intruder +materialized. Promptly a wave of pleasurable relief swept over him as +he beheld the pretty figure of his fellow captive. But he gave no +sign, for the reason that the girl was obviously unaware of his +presence, and it yet remained to be seen if the yellow-faced reptile, +Hip-Lee, was at hand as usual. +</P> + +<P> +He watched her silently. He was struck, too, by her expression of rapt +appreciation of the scene before her, which added further to his +reluctance to break the spell of her enjoyment. But as the hated blue +smock did not make its appearance, the man could no longer resist +temptation. The opportunity was too good to miss. +</P> + +<P> +"It's some scene," he said in a tone calculated not to startle her, his +gray eyes twinkling genially. +</P> + +<P> +But Hazel was startled. She was startled more than she cared about. +Her one object was always to avoid contact with Gordon's father, except +under the watchful eyes, of Hip-Lee. She feared that keen, incisive +brain she knew to lie behind his steady gray eyes. She feared +questions her wit was not ready enough to answer without disaster to +the plans of her fellow conspirators. +</P> + +<P> +She hated the part she was forced to play, but she was also determined +to play it with all her might. She must act now, and act well. So, +with a resolute effort, she faced her victim. +</P> + +<P> +"I—I just didn't know you were here, sir," she said truthfully, while +her eyes lied an added alarm. "But—but talk low, or the——" +</P> + +<P> +"You're worrying over that mongrel Chink," said Carbhoy quickly. "I +expected to see his leather features following you around. I guess +he's got ears as long as an ass, and just about twice as sharp. Say, +I'm going to kill that mouse-colored serpent one of these times if he +don't quit his games. Say——" +</P> + +<P> +He broke off, studying the girl's pretty face speculatively. There was +no doubt her eyes wore a hunted expression—she intended them to. +</P> + +<P> +"They treating you—right?" he demanded. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel's effort was better than she knew as she strove for pathos. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, I s'pose so," she said hopelessly. "I'm let alone, and—I +get good food. It—it isn't that." +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" +</P> + +<P> +The man's question came sharply. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel turned her face to the hills and sighed. The movement was well +calculated. +</P> + +<P> +"It's my folks." Then, with a dramatic touch, "Say, Mr. Carbhoy, do +you guess we'll ever—get out of this? Do you think we'll get back to +our folks? Sometimes I—oh, it's awful!" +</P> + +<P> +Her words carried conviction, and the man was taken in. +</P> + +<P> +"Say," he said quickly, "I'm making a big guess we'll get out +later—when things are fixed. This is not a ransom. But it +means—dollars." +</P> + +<P> +He lit his cigar, and its aroma pleasantly scented the air. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel sighed with intense feeling—to disguise her inclination to laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir," she said hopelessly. "One hundred thousand dollars." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon's father smiled back at her. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd hate to think I was held up for less," he said. "It would sort of +wound my vanity." +</P> + +<P> +The girl could have hugged him for the serenity of his attitude. +Nothing seemed to disturb him. She felt that Gordon had every reason +for his devotion to his father, and ought to be well ashamed of himself +for submitting him to the outrage which had been perpetrated. +</P> + +<P> +"Who—who do you think has done this?" she hazarded hesitatingly. +"Slosson?" +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe. Though——" +</P> + +<P> +"Slosson should have met you himself," the girl declared emphatically. +</P> + +<P> +"He certainly should," replied Carbhoy, with cold emphasis. "He'll +need to explain that—later. Say, how did you come to be driving me?" +</P> + +<P> +Hazel suddenly felt cold in the warm air. +</P> + +<P> +"I was just engaged to, because Mr. Slosson couldn't go himself. You +see, father has a spare team, and I do a goodish bit of driving. You +see, we need to do 'most anything to get money here." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, that's the way of things." The man's eyes were twinkling again, +and Hazel began to hope that she was once more on firm ground. +</P> + +<P> +Nor was she disappointed when the man went on. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess we're all out after—dollars," he said reflectively. Then he +removed his cigar and luxuriously emitted a thin spiral smoke from +between his pursed lips. "It don't seem the sort of work a girl like +you should be at, though. Still, why not? It's a great play—chasing +dollars. It's the best thing in life—wholesome and human. I've +always felt that way about it, and as I've piled up the years and got a +peek into motives and things I've felt more sure that +competition—that's fixing things right for ourselves out of the +general scrum of life—is the life intended for us by the Creator." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Life is competition," she observed, with a wise little smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure. That's why human nature is dishonest—has to be." +</P> + +<P> +There was a question in the girl's eyes which the millionaire was +prompt to detect. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure it's dishonest. Can you show me a detail of human nature which +is truly honest? Say, I've watched it all my life, I've built every +sort of construction on it. Wherever I have built in the belief that +honesty is the foundation of human nature things have dropped with a +smash. Now I know, and my faith is none the less. Human nature is +dishonest. It's only a question of degree. I'm dishonest. You're +dishonest. But in your case it's only in the higher ethical sense. +You wouldn't steal a pocket-book. You wouldn't commit murder. But put +yourself into competition with a girl friend baking a swell layer cake, +calculated to disturb the digestion of an ostrich. Say, you'd resort +to any old trick you could think of to fix her where you wanted her." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't shoot her up, but—I'd do all I knew to beat her." +</P> + +<P> +"Just so." +</P> + +<P> +"After what's happened to us here I guess human nature isn't going to +find a champion in me," Hazel went on. "Still, it's pretty hard to +lose your faith in human nature that way." +</P> + +<P> +"Lose? Who said 'lose'?" cried the man, with a cordial laugh. "Not I. +If I suddenly found it 'honest,' why, I'd hate to go on living. Human +nature's got to be just as it is. Honesty lies in Nature. That's the +honesty that folks talk about and dream about. It isn't practicable in +human life. Dishonesty is the leavening that makes honesty, in the +abstract, palatable. Say, think of it—if we were all honest like +idealists talk of. What would we have worth living for? Do you know +what would happen? Why, we'd all be sitting around making hymns for +everybody else to sing, till there was such an almighty hullabaloo we'd +all get crazy and have to sign a petition to get it stopped. We'd all +be fixed up in a sort of white suit that wouldn't ever need a laundry, +and every blamed citizen would start right in to turn the world into a +sort of hell by always telling the truth. Just think what it would +mean if you had to tell some friend of yours what you thought of her +for sneaking your latest beau." +</P> + +<P> +"It certainly would be liable to cause a deal of trouble," laughed +Hazel. +</P> + +<P> +"Trouble? I should say." The millionaire chuckled softly as he +returned his cigar to his mouth. "Say, I was reading the obituary of a +preacher—my wife's favorite—the other day. He lost his grip on life +and fell through. That reporter boy was bright, and I wondered when I +was reading what he'd have said if he'd spoke the truth as he saw it. +To read that obituary you'd think that preacher feller was the greatest +saint ever lived. I felt I could have wept over that poor feller, the +talk was so elegant and poetic. I just felt the worst worm ever lived +beside that preacher. I felt I ought to spend the last five dollars I +had to fix his grave up with pure white lilies, if I had to go without +food to do it. It was fine. But the writer never said a word about +that preacher living in a swell house in Fifth Avenue, and the $20,000 +he took every year for his job, and the elegant automobile he chased +around to the houses of his rich congregation in. If he'd died in the +slums on the east side I guess that newspaper wouldn't ever have heard +of him, and that writer wouldn't have got dollars for the pretty +language it was his job to scratch together for such an occasion." +</P> + +<P> +"It doesn't sound nice put that way," sighed Hazel. "I suppose it's +all competition even trying to make folks live right. I suppose that +preacher was successful in his calling—the same as you are in yours. +I suppose his human nature was no different to other folks'." +</P> + +<P> +"That's it. Life's splendidly dishonest and a perfect sham. Come to +think of it, Ananias must have been all sorts of a great man to be +singled out of a world of liars. On the other hand, he'd have had some +rival in the feller who first accused George Washington of never lying. +Psha! life's a great play, and I'd hate it to be different from what it +is. We're all just as dishonest as we can be and still keep out of +penitentiary: which makes me feel mighty sorry for them that don't. +From the fisherman to the Sunday-school teacher we're all liars, and if +you charged us with it we'd deny it, or worse, and thereby add further +proof to the charge. I've thought a deal over this hold-up, and it +seems to me those guys bluffed us some." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean about the—ransom," said Hazel, the last sign of amusement +dying swiftly out of her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, yes." The millionaire smoked in silence for some moments. Then +quite suddenly he removed the cigar from between his lips. "Maybe you +don't know I'm working on a big land scheme in these parts. It seems +to me some bright gang intend to roll me for my wad. I don't guess +Slosson's in it." +</P> + +<P> +"Then who is it, sir?" demanded the girl, with unconscious sharpness. +</P> + +<P> +The man's steady eyes surveyed her through their half-closed lids. He +shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't just say—yet. We'll find out in good time." His smile was +quietly confident. "Anyway, for the moment some one's got the drop on +me, and I'll just have to sit around. But—it's pretty tough on you, +Miss—Miss——" +</P> + +<P> +"Mallinsbee," said Hazel, without thinking. +</P> + +<P> +"Mallinsbee?" +</P> + +<P> +The man's gray eyes became suddenly alert, and Hazel felt like killing +herself. She believed, in that one unguarded moment, she had ruined +everything. She held her breath and turned quickly towards the setting +sun, lest her face should betray her. +</P> + +<P> +Then her terror passed as she heard the quiet, kindly laugh of the man +as he began speaking again. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Miss Mallinsbee, here we are, and here we've just got to stay. +I came here to get the best of a deal. We're all out to do some one or +something, somehow or somewhere. It don't much matter who. And when a +man acts right he don't squeal when the other feller's on top. He just +sits around till it's his move, and then he'll try and get things back. +I'm not squealing. It's my turn to sit around—that's all. Meanwhile, +with the comforts at my disposal—good wines, good cigars and mountain +air—I'm having some vacation. If it weren't for that darned Chink +with his detestable blue suit I'd——" +</P> + +<P> +"Hush!" Hazel had turned and held up a warning finger. +</P> + +<P> +In response the man glanced sharply about him. There, sure enough, +standing silent and immovable at the corner of the building, was the +hated vision of blue with its crowning features of dull yellow. +</P> + +<P> +James Carbhoy flung himself back in his rocker. All the humor and +pleasure had been banished from his strong face, and only disgust +remained. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, hell!" he exclaimed, and flung his cigar with all his force in the +direction of the intruder. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +ON THE TRAIL +</H4> + +<P> +It was a night to remember, if for nothing else for the exquisite +atmospheric conditions prevailing. The moon was at its full, like some +splendid jewel radiating a silvery peace upon a slumbering world. The +jeweled sky suggested the untold wealth of an infinite universe. The +perfumed air filled lungs and nostrils with a beatific joy in living, +and the darkened splendor of the crowding hills inspired a reverence in +the human heart so profound, that it left scarce a place for the +smallness of mundane hopes and yearnings. The splendor, the breadth of +beauty sank into the human soul and left the spirit straining at its +earthly bonds, and gazing with longing towards the infinite power which +ordered its existence. +</P> + +<P> +For ten miles of the journey from the old ranch-house Hazel rode under +the sublime influence of feelings so inspired. Nothing of the +conditions were new to her. The mountain nights in summer were as much +a part of her existence as was the ranching life of her home. She knew +them as she knew the work that filled her daylight hours. But their +effect upon her never varied—never weakened. No familiarity with them +could change that feeling of the infinite sublimity somewhere beyond +the narrow confines of human life. She drank in the deep draughts of +perfect life, she gazed abroad with shining eyes of simple happiness on +the splendid world, and a superlative thankfulness to the Creator of +all things that life had been thus vouchsafed her uplifted her heart +and all that was spiritual within her. +</P> + +<P> +The journey to her home was twenty miles, but her favorite mare +possessed wings so far as its mistress was concerned. The distance was +all too short for the splendid young body, and that youthful mood of +delight. Hazel reveled in the expenditure of the energy required, as +the mare, beneath her, seemed to revel in the physical effort of the +journey. +</P> + +<P> +For the greater part of the road the cobwebs of affairs she was engaged +upon left Hazel indifferent. The delight of life left no room for +them. But after the half way had been passed there came to her flashes +of thought which reduced her feelings to a more human mood. +</P> + +<P> +Nor was that mood of the easiest. She experienced feelings of +disquiet, even alarm. She felt vexed, and a great resentment, and even +genuine anger, began to take possession of her. But these were +interspersed with moments when a certain irresponsibility and humor +would not be denied, and underlying all and every other emotion was a +great passionate longing, which she scarcely admitted even to herself. +</P> + +<P> +Her mind was fixed upon two men: father and son. For the time at +least, they were the pivot of all things worldly for her. In her +thoughts the son possessed attributes little short of a demi-god, while +the father had become a being endowed with a deep, reflected regard. +There was room in her woman's heart for both in their respective +places. She knew she loved them, and her variations of mood were +inspired by the cruelly farcical atmosphere of the position surrounding +them both. She was angry with Gordon, bitterly angry at one moment, at +the next she reveled in the exquisite impudence of his daring. At one +moment her woman's tender pity went out to the big-hearted man who had +been submitted to such indignities by his own son and herself, and all +those concerned in the conspiracy, and, at the next, she found herself +smiling at the humor of his attitude towards his persecutors. Then, +too, over all these complications of feeling she was stirred with alarm +at that painful memory of the unguarded moment, when, lulled by her +interest in the millionaire's talk, she had admitted her name to him. +Visions of hideous possibilities rose before her eyes. If he should +chance to know her father's name. Why not? Surely he knew. But after +that one sharp interrogation he had given no sign. +</P> + +<P> +She sighed a sort of half-hearted relief, but remained unconvinced. It +was this last contingency which had inspired her night journey home. +She had ridden out the moment she had been certain that their captive +had retired for the night. +</P> + +<P> +There were still some eight miles to go before the ranch would be +reached when Hazel experienced a fright, which left her ready to turn +and flee back over the way she had come as swiftly as the legs of her +mare could carry her. +</P> + +<P> +On clearing a bluff of spruce, around which her course lay, in the full +radiance of the moon's high noon, she suddenly beheld a horseman riding +towards her, a ghostly figure moving soundlessly over the high grass. +</P> + +<P> +Such was the effect of this vision upon her, that, beyond being able to +bring her mare to an abrupt halt, panic left her paralysed. In all her +years she had never encountered a horseman riding late at night in the +mountains. Who was he? Who could he be? And an eerie feeling set her +flesh creeping at the ghostliness and noiselessness of his coming. +</P> + +<P> +She sat there stupidly, her pretty cheeks ashen in the moonlight. And +all the time the man was coming nearer and nearer, traveling the same +trail she would have done had she pursued her course. Then an abject +terror surged upon her. He must meet her! +</P> + +<P> +In an instant her paralysis left her, and she gathered her reins to +turn her mare about. But the maneuver was never effected. She had +suddenly recognized the horse the man was riding. It was Sunset. The +next moment she further recognized the broad shoulders of the man in +the saddle, and a glad cry broke from her, and she urged her mare on to +meet him. +</P> + +<P> +"Gordon!" she cried, in a world of delight and relief as she came up +with him. +</P> + +<P> +"You, Hazel?" came the joyous response of her ghostly visitor. +</P> + +<P> +"You just scared me all to death," protested the girl, as the big +chestnut ranged up beside her. +</P> + +<P> +"I did?" Gordon was smiling tenderly down at the pretty figure, so +fascinating in the moonlight as it sat astride the brown mare. +</P> + +<P> +"My, but I thought—I—oh, I don't know what I thought. But what are +you doing around—now?" +</P> + +<P> +The girl was smiling happily enough. Even in the silver of the +moonlight it was obvious that the color had returned to her cheeks. +</P> + +<P> +"I was going to ask you that," returned Gordon. "But I guess I best +tell you things first." Then he began to laugh. "I was coming out to +see you, but—not you only. Say, I'm just the weakest conspirator ever +started out to trap a mouse. Look at me. Say, get a good look. It +isn't the sort of thing you'll see every time you open your eyes. I +was sick to death feeling the old dad was shut up a prisoner, and I +felt I must get along, even if it was only just to get a peek, and be +sure he wasn't suffering." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel's eyes were tenderly regarding the great creature in the bright +moonlight. She had been so recently angry at this son's heartless +action, that his expression of contrition made her feel all the more +tender towards him. +</P> + +<P> +"He's in bed, and—I'd guess he's snoring elegantly by now," she said, +with a smile. "I—I waited to start out till he was in bed." Then her +eyes met his. "What were you coming to—see me for?" +</P> + +<P> +The direct challenge very nearly precipitated matters. Gordon had +excuses enough for seeing her, but only one real purpose. He hesitated +before replying. +</P> + +<P> +"We've made good," he said at last, by way of subterfuge, and the girl +drew a deep breath of joyous content. +</P> + +<P> +"You've—made—good?" she questioned, more in the way of reassuring +herself than desiring a reply. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon moved his horse so that she could turn about. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's go back to the—prison," he said, his words charged with the +excited delight stirring within him. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, we've made good." The girl turned her mare about and the two +moved on the way she had already come, side by side. "Listen, while I +tell you. Say, I could sort of shout it around the hill-tops—if they +weren't so snowy and cold. Snake's Fall is just a surging land market +for us at Buffalo. There are real estate offices opening everywhere, +and everybody you meet on the sidewalk is a broker of some sort. The +Bude and Sideley folk turned their holdings loose directly we got the +surveyors and engineers of the railroad up, and the folks all jumped. +Then the men at Snake's, who held in ours, followed suit. But your +father, bless him, held tight. The boom fairly rose to a shriek, and +we've been fighting to sit tight, and let the prices go up skywards. +Then we had a meeting, and your father loosened up a bit. Just to keep +the spurt on. Meanwhile I've handled things down east, and kept the +wires singing. The railroad have started a great advertising campaign +at my orders. The coal company, too, are talking Snake's Fall, and +Buffalo Point. In a month there'll be such a rush as only America, and +this continent generally knows how to make. Even now sites are +changing hands at ridiculous prices. Meanwhile I've got the railroad +busy. Already ten construction trains have come through, and they've +started on the new depot." He drew a deep sigh of satisfaction. Then +in a sort of shamefaced manner he went on. "But I've had to weaken in +the old dad's direction. I can't make good and leave him out all +together. You see, that play of Slosson's in Snake's will have to be +made good, and my father will have to make it that way. So I've got +your father to give me a six months' option on a stretch of land +adjoining the coalpits which he hadn't ceded to the Bude people. You +see, if there's coal there it'll put my father right with the game, and +we shan't have hurt him any. Meanwhile things will go on, and we'll +have to keep the old dad for another month. Then I sell, and——" +</P> + +<P> +"You'll have won out," broke in Hazel, her eyes shining in the +moonlight. Then a shadow crossed her face. "But when your father +knows what you've done? What then?" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon seemed to consider his reply carefully. +</P> + +<P> +"You can leave that to me, Hazel," he said at last, with a whimsical +smile. "There's surely got to be a grand finale to this, and when it +comes I'll still need your help. Say, why were you riding in to the +ranch—at dead of night?" +</P> + +<P> +The abrupt question shocked the girl out of her delighted content. The +memory of her trouble came overwhelmingly upon her. But Gordon was +waiting. +</P> + +<P> +"You're making good, but I've made pretty bad," she said, thrusting a +desire to burst into tears resolutely from her. "I'm just every sort +of fool and I—don't know how much damage I haven't done. Everything's +gone right until this evening. Hip-Lee has just been as near perfect +as a Chinaman can be. We've carried out all our plans right through, +and I've never been near your father without Hip-Lee looking on. That +is—until this evening." The girl sighed. The confession of her +blundering was hard to make. "It was this way," she went on presently. +"Your father was out walking. I hadn't seen him return. I was in the +kitchen fixing his supper, and it was sticky hot, and I just hated the +flies, so I went out for a breath of air. Hip-Lee had been playing his +spy game on your father. Well, I just stood out front of the house +taking a look at the hills, and wishing I was amongst their snows, when +your father spoke. He had got back, and was sitting outside the house, +and, maybe, like me he was yearning for that snow. Well, I just +couldn't run away—so we talked. I guess we'd talked quite awhile, and +I'd kind of forgotten things, and in the middle of his talk he started +to address me by my name, and got as far as 'Miss.' Then, without a +thought, I spoke my name. He just seemed startled, but never said a +word about it, and now I'm worried to death. Was there ever such——" +</P> + +<P> +The girl broke off, and it seemed to Gordon, in spite of her attempted +smile, she was very near tears. Instantly he smothered his own +feelings of alarm at her story and endeavored to console her. He +laughed, but in Hazel's hyper-sensitive condition of anxiety, his laugh +lacked its usual buoyancy. +</P> + +<P> +"That's nothing to worry over," he said. "I'd say if your name had +meant anything to him he wouldn't have given you breathing time before +you'd learned a heap of things that wouldn't have sounded pretty. +Dad's no end of a sport, but when he gets a punch, and the fellow who +gives it him don't vanish quick, he's got a way of hitting back mighty +hard. I don't guess that break's going to figure any in our play. He +never said a word?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not a word." Hazel tried to take comfort, but still remained +unconvinced. "Anyway what could he do?" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon remained serious for some moments. Then his eyes lit again. +</P> + +<P> +"Not a thing," he said emphatically, and Hazel knew he meant it. +</P> + +<P> +For some time they rode on in silence, and thought was busy with them +both. Hazel was thinking of so many things, all of which somehow +focussed round the man at her side, and her ardent desire to obey his +lightest commands in the schemes of his fertile brain. Gordon had +dismissed every other thought from his mind but the delightful +companionship of this ride, which had come all unexpectedly. The +girl's mare led slightly, and the sober chestnut kept his nose on a +level with her shoulder, and thus Gordon was left free to regard the +girl he loved without fear of embarrassment to her. But somehow Hazel +was not unaware of his regard. A curious subconsciousness left her +with the feeling that her every movement was observed, and a pleasant, +excited nervousness began to stir her. She hastily broke the silence. +</P> + +<P> +"You said you'd still need my help when—the grand finale came," she +demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure," came the prompt reply. Then very slowly the man added; "I +can't do anything without your help—now." +</P> + +<P> +The girl glanced round quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"You mean—with your father a prisoner?" +</P> + +<P> +The man's smile deepened, and his blue eyes gazed thoughtfully, +ardently, into the hazel eyes, which, in a moment, became hidden from +him. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think I meant—quite that," he said. +</P> + +<P> +The girl offered no reply, and the man went on. +</P> + +<P> +"You see, we have become sort of partners in most everything, haven't +we? I don't seem to think of anything without you being in it." Then +he laughed, a little nervous laugh. "I don't try to either. Say, I +went out to the cattle station, and had a look at Slosson the other +day. The boys have got him pretty right, and—I felt sorry for him." +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" Hazel asked her question without thinking. She somehow felt +incapable of thought just now. She felt like one drifting upon some +tide which was beyond her control, and the only guiding hand that +mattered was this man's. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon gave one of his curious short laughs, which might have meant +anything. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," he said. Then: "Yes, I do though. Think of a fellow +who's had his business queered, who's staked a big gamble and lost, not +only that, but the girl he's crazy about, and meanwhile is rounded up +in a shack that wouldn't keep a summer shower out, and seems as though +it was set up on purpose by some crazy genius as a sort of playground +for every sort of wind ever blew. Say, if I lost my partner now, +I'd—— Guess our partnership ought to expire in a month. This play +will be through then." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +With all her desire to talk on indifferently, Hazel could find no word +to add to the monosyllable. She was trembling with a delightful +apprehension she could not check. And somehow she had no desire to +check it. This man was all powerful to sway her emotions, and she knew +it. The moments were growing almost painful in the tenseness of her +emotions. +</P> + +<P> +"Another month. It's—awful for me to think of." +</P> + +<P> +"Is it?" +</P> + +<P> +The inanity of her remark would have made Hazel laugh at any other +time. Now, it passed her by, its meaninglessness conveying nothing +with the submerging of her humor in the sea of stronger emotions. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon urged his horse to draw level with the mare. Then he +deliberately drew it down to a walk on the rustling grass, and Hazel +followed his example without protest. All about them was the delicate +silver tracery of the moonlight through the trees. The warmth of the +perfumed night air possessed a seductiveness only equaled by the night +beauties of the scene about them. It was such a moment when the most +timorous lover must become emboldened, and emulate the bravest. But +Gordon knew no timidity. His only fear was for failure. Had he +realized the tumult which his words had stirred within this girl's +bosom he might well have flung all hesitation to the winds. As it was +he threw the final cast with all the strength of his virile, impetuous +nature. +</P> + +<P> +"Another month. Must it end then, Hazel?" He reached out and seized, +with gentle firmness, the girl's bridle hand. "Must it? Say, can't it +be partners—for life?" His eyes were very tender, but their humor was +still lurking in their depths. He leaned towards her and the girl's +hand remained unresistingly in his. "D'you know, dear, I sort of feel +to-night I'd like to have a dozen Slossons standing around waiting, +while I scrapped 'em all in turn for you. Maybe that don't tell you +much. It can't mean anything to you. It means this to me. It means I +just want to be the fellow who's got to see to it that life runs as +smooth as the wheels of a Pullman for you. It means I don't care a +thing for anything else in the world but you, not even this play we're +at now. I guess I just loved you the day I first saw you, and have +gone on loving you worse and worse ever since, till I don't guess +there's any doctor, but having you always with me, can save me from an +early grave." Somehow the two horses had come to a standstill. Nor +were they urged on. "I just want you, Hazel, all the time," Gordon +went on, more and more tenderly. "You'll never get to know how badly I +want you. Will you—shall it be—partners—always?" +</P> + +<P> +The girl was gazing out over the moonlight scene so that Gordon could +see nothing of the light of happiness shining in her pretty eyes. All +he knew was the trembling of the hand he still held in his. Then, +suddenly, while he waited, he felt the girl's other hand, soft, warm, +full of that quiet strength which he knew to be hers, close over his, +and a wild thrill swept through his whole body. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it 'yes'?" he demanded, with a passionate pressure of his hand, and +a great light burning in his eyes. "Mine! Mine! For—as long as we +live?" +</P> + +<P> +The girl still made no verbal reply, but she bowed her head and gently +raised his hand, and tenderly pressed it to her soft bosom. In an +instant she lay crushed in his arms while the two horses, with heads +together, seemed lost in a friendly discussion of the extraordinary +proceedings going on between their riders. +</P> + +<P> +What they thought about them was apparently on the whole favorable, for +presently, with mute expressions of good will, their handsome heads +drew apart and lowered significantly. The next moment they were +enjoying a pleasant siesta, such as only a four-footed creature can +accomplish standing without risk to life and limb. +</P> + +<P> +Half an hour later they were wide awake and full of bustling activity. +The closed heels on their saddle cinchas warned them that even lovers' +madness has its limits of duration, and that the practical affairs of +life must inevitably become paramount in the end. +</P> + +<P> +So they answered the call, and raced down the trail in the cool of the +night. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap23"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +IN NEW YORK +</H4> + +<P> +Mrs. James Carbhoy had endured anything but a happy time for several +weeks. She had received no news from her beloved son; her husband had +spirited himself away on business and left her without a word of +definite information as to his whereabouts; while even the trying +presence of her young daughter was denied her, since she had been +forced to dispatch that personification of childish willfulness to +their estate at Tuxedo, that she might be put through a course of +disciplining by her various governesses. +</P> + +<P> +She was alone, she reminded herself not less than three times a day, +and to be alone in her great mansion at Central Park was the limit of +earthly punishment as she understood it. She detested it. She hated +the hot summer landscape of the park; she was worried to death by the +chorus of automobile hooters as the cars sped up and down the great +asphalt way; she felt that the red-and-white stone palaces with which +she was surrounded were the ugliest things ever hidden from blind eyes, +and an army of servants could be, and was, the most nerve-racking thing +she had ever been called upon to endure. For two peas she would pack a +bag—no, her maid would have to pack it; she was denied even that +pleasure—and hie herself to Europe. +</P> + +<P> +This was something of the condition of mind to which she was reduced, +when one morning two events happened almost simultaneously which +changed the whole aspect of things, and created in her something +approaching a desire to continue the dreary monotony of life. +</P> + +<P> +The first was the advent of her mail, with a long letter from her son +<I>dated at Buffalo Point</I>, and the second was an urgent request from her +husband's manager, Mr. Harker, desiring permission to wait upon her, as +he had the most encouraging news from the long-lost Gordon and her +husband's affairs generally. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon's mother did not read her son's letter at once. She saw the +heading and glanced at the opening paragraph. The satisfaction so +inspired caused her to set it aside for careful perusal after her +breakfast. Mr. Harker would be up to see her at about eleven o'clock. +That would give her ample time to have digested its contents before he +arrived. +</P> + +<P> +For the first time in weeks she ate an ample breakfast at her customary +early hour. She further forgot to make her maid's life a burden during +the process of dressing, and she even enjoyed glancing over the +advertisements of the daily newspapers. Then came the hour of +seclusion in her boudoir when she yielded herself to the perusal of her +boy's letter. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"BUFFALO POINT,<BR> + Near Snake's Fall.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"DEAREST MUM: +</P> + +<P> +"It seems so long since I sent you any mail, and I seem to have so much +news to tell you, and I've so completely forgotten what I have already +told you, that I hardly know where to begin. However, you'll see by +the heading of this letter I am at Buffalo Point, and am glad to say I +have received a visit from the dear old Dad, who is just as happy as +any man of his devotion to work can be—on vacation. His visit to me +here has placed me in a position of great trust in his affairs in the +neighborhood, and I am very proud that, through my own efforts, I have +been so placed. After this I feel that the dear old Dad will never +have cause to question my ability in dealing with big affairs. I feel +he will acknowledge that the seed of his example has really fallen on +fruitful soil, and that, after all, perhaps I shall yet prove a worthy +son of a great father. +</P> + +<P> +"This, I guess, brings me to the discussion of a subject which has kind +of interested me some these last days. It is the modern understanding +of filial duty. I s'pose even such a duty changes in its aspect, as +everything else seems to change, with the passage of time. Chasing +around in the dark days of pre-civilized times filial duty seemed +pretty clearly marked. One of the first duties of a son was, when his +mother wasn't around to claim the privilege, to get in the way when his +father wanted to hit something with his club. He was also kind of +handy as a sacrifice, either well broiled or minced into fancy chunks, +to make his father's Gods feel good and get benevolent. Then he was +mighty useful doing chores around the home, so his father didn't have +to do more work than it took him filling his stomach with Saurian +steaks and Pterodactyl cutlets, and getting drunk on a sort of beer, +which his wife had contracted the habit of making for him in the +intervals between being laid out cold with a stone club. +</P> + +<P> +"There don't seem to be much doubt about those days. A son's filial +duty lasted just as long as his father could enforce it with physical +discipline. When he couldn't do it that way any longer, then the son +and father generally made a big talk together, and whatever odds and +ends of the father could be collected at the finish of the pow-wow were +handed over to some local soup kitchen to make stock. +</P> + +<P> +"Then the son usually took a wife, and so the same old play went on. +</P> + +<P> +"With variations and moderations these things seem to have gone on, on +some such general lines, right down to our present day. In some grades +of present-day life I don't think there's such a heap of change as +you'd guess. The conditions prevail, only the weapons and things are +different. However, that's by the way. The thing that requires +careful study is how far filial duty is justified. +</P> + +<P> +"Filial duty is a pretty arbitrary thing when a man who can really +think looks into it. I maintain that obligation is too much imposed +upon offspring. I contend they don't owe a thing to their parents. +It's the parents who owe to the offspring. This may shock you, but I +hope you will put all personal feeling aside and regard it in the +nature of an academic discussion. First of all, the fact of life is +dependent upon the whim of parents to impose it. It is not a thing +which a child owes gratitude for. Say, take a feller who can't swim, +tie half a ton of lead around his neck and boost him into a whirlpool +full of rocks and things, and ask him for gratitude. I'm open to +gamble when he gets his breath he won't say a thing—not a thing—about +gratitude. Maybe he'll remember every other emotion ever given to +erring humanity, but I don't guess he'd be able to spell the word +gratitude, let alone talk it. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll pass the subject of life for the moment. We've got it. We +didn't want, but we got. And all the kicking won't alter it. Now +filial duty demands obedience, and parents start right in from the +first to make a kid's life a burden that way. Say, we'll take that +whirlpool racket again. It's like two folks standing high and dry on a +rock above it, and firing stones all around the poor darned fool +struggling to win out. It don't matter which way he turns he's headed +off with a rock dropped plumb ahead of him. Those rocks are labeled +'obey.' Say, after about twenty years of dodging those rocks parents +'ll tell that feller of all they did for him in his youth, and say he's +ungrateful just because he's learned enough sense to realize his +parents are fools, anyway, and ought to be petrified mummies in a +public museum. +</P> + +<P> +"One of the worst sins of parents toward children is the fact that as +soon as they take to sitting around in rockers, and their hinges start +to creak when they get up, they don't ever seem to remember the time +when their joints didn't have to make queer noises. When folks get +that way they reckon it's the duty of all offspring just to sit around +and gape in fool credulity, while they tell 'em what wonderful folk +their parents—used to be, and how they—the children—if they lived a +century, could never hope to be half as wonderful. A really bright kid +generally hopes that for once his parent is talking truth. I say it +with all respect that the gentlest, most harmless, most inoffensive +father would resort to any subterfuge to have his son think he could +lick creation if he fancied that way; and there isn't a woman so +almighty plain but what she'll contrive to get her daughters—while +they're still children—crazy enough to believe she was the beauty of +her family, and that all their good looks are due to her side of the +matrimonial contract. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, it isn't a desirable thought to picture your mother playing +at holding hands in dark corners with fellers who never had a +hundred-to-one chance of being your father; also it isn't just pleasant +to speculate on the tricks she had to play to get your father to the +jumping-off mark; neither do you care to dwell on what she thought of +the chorus girls your father was in the habit of buying wine for, and +decorating up with fancy clothes and jewels in his spare moments. You +don't feel it's a nice thing to think of the numbers of times some one +else has had to take off your father's boots for him overnight, and +bathe his aching head with ice-water to get him down town in the +morning to his office. But it wouldn't hurt you a thing if parents +made a point of remembering all these things for themselves, and would +give up making you quit playing parlor games during sermon in church on +Sundays and inventing your own words to the hymn tunes. +</P> + +<P> +"Now let's jump to what I call the breaking-point of filial duty. It's +the point when a kid gets old enough to master the inner meaning of the +expression 'damn fool,' which has probably been liberally applied to +him for years. It's the moment when physical discipline can no longer +obtain for—physical reasons. It's the point when two real live men, +or two real live women, face each other with a contentious situation +lying between them. Where does obligation lie? Does it remain—anyway? +</P> + +<P> +"In Nature it does not. In human nature it remains—chiefly because of +undue sentimentalism. Now sentimentalism should be a luxury, and not a +law. This is obvious to any mind not suffocated by the gases of +decadence. I'd like to say Nature's laws are sane and just, and, since +they are inspired by a great and wise Providence, it's not reasonable +to guess they can be improved upon by a psalm-smiting set of folks, who +spend their whole lives in wrapping 'emselves around with cotton batten +to keep out the wholesome draughts of Nature's lungs. +</P> + +<P> +"So I feel that when the breaking-point of filial duty is reached it is +no longer mother and daughter, father and son, in the practicalities of +life. Take commerce. Father and son are in competition. Each is +fighting for his own. How far is a son justified in emptying an +automatic pistol into his father's food depot, when that mistaken +parent guesses he's yearning to storm his son's stronghold of +commercial enterprise? How far is that father justified in doping his +son's liquor, so he won't lie awake at nights planning to roll him for +his wad next morning? Take a daughter and her momma. Most mothers act +as though they had to live all their lives with their daughters' +husbands. And most daughters act as though they preferred their mommas +should. I ask: how far has a mother right to butt in to run her +daughter's home doings, and so muss up for some one else what she was +never able to do right for herself? Why shouldn't a daughter be +allowed to make her own mess of things, and later on, when she collects +sense, clean it up again the best she knows? +</P> + +<P> +"These are questions in my mind. These are questions I don't just seem +able to answer right myself, and sort of feel they'd have given old Sol +some insomnia, in spite of all his glory over the baby episode he made +such a song about. Well, I put 'em down here, and maybe you can tell +me about 'em, and, anyway, they make some problem. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe I haven't set out my news to the best advantage, but my mind is +very busy with fixing things as they should go. You see, I'm working +hard in the old Dad's interest, and am hoping soon to get that little +word of approval from him which means so much, coming from so great a +man. I am looking forward to seeing you again soon, and hope to see +your dear, smiling face and pretty eyes just as bright and happy as I +always remember them. Give my love to our Gracie, and tell her that +the only way to get rid of those peculiarly spindle lower legs, which +have always been one of her worst physical defects, is to adopt ankle +exercises. It's a defect, like many others in her character, which can +be improved with conscientious effort and patience. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Your loving son,<BR> + "GORDON.<BR> +</P> + +<P> +"P.S.—Your future daughter-in-law is just crazy to be taken into your +motherly fold. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"G." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Mr. Harker's face was wreathed in smiles at the thought of the pleasant +news it was his good fortune to be conveying to the wife of his chief. +His smile remained until he heard the trim maid's announcement at the +door of Mrs. Carbhoy's boudoir. Then the smile vanished, as though it +had never been, and his well-nourished features became an assortment of +troubled bewilderment. Furthermore, within five minutes of his +ushering into the lady's presence he had registered a solemn vow that +celibacy should remain his lot, until the day that saw his ample +remains become a subject for cooking operations by the crematorium +experts. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Harker was certainly unfortunate in his selection of the moment at +which to pay his call. Mrs. James Carbhoy had had half an hour since +reading her son's letter, in which to pursue that hateful hyphenated +word "daughter-in-law" through every darkened channel of her somewhat +limited mental machinery. +</P> + +<P> +Daughter-in-law! It was everywhere. She could not lose sight of it. +She could not escape its haunting meaning. It pursued her wherever she +went. It was there, lurking amidst the folds of her gowns if she +peered inside the great hanging wardrobes. It danced like a +will-o'-the-wisp in every mirror which her troubled eyes chanced to +encounter. It was interwoven with the patterns of the carpets; and the +wall-paperings found a lurking-place for it amidst the unreal foliage +which adorned them. It laughed at her when she angrily turned away to +avoid it, and when she endeavored to defy it its mocking only +increased. So it was that the unoffending Harker encountered the full +tide of her angry alarm and maternal despair. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Harker had prepared a well-turned opening for his excellent news. +But it was never used. Even as his lips moved to speak they remained +sealed, held silent by the bitter cry of outraged maternal pride. +</P> + +<P> +"He's married!" she cried. "Married—and I—I have never been +consulted!" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Harker felt as though he had been caught up in the whirl of a +physical encounter in which his opponent held all the advantage. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Carbhoy waited for no comment. She rushed headlong, following up +her advantage, smashing in "lefts" and "rights" indiscriminately. +</P> + +<P> +"It's disgraceful—terrible! The ingratitude of it! After all his +father and I have done for him! To think how we've always guided and +taught him! The callous selfishness! The moment he's out of our +sight—this—this is what happens. He's picked up with some wicked, +designing female, whose father's certain to be a—a—gaolbird—or, +anyway, ought to be. Not a word to a soul. We—we don't know who she +is—or—or what. He don't even say her name. Daughter-in-law! +It's—it's—— Mr. Harker, I'm just wondering when I'll come over all +crazy." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Harker welcomed the pause. +</P> + +<P> +"You say Mr. Gordon's married?" he demanded incredulously. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—no. That is, he—he says 'your future daughter-in-law'!" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Harker breathed a deep relief and strove to smile confidence upon +his chief's wife. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, yes. Mr. Gordon was always one for the girls. But he wouldn't +make a fool of himself that way——" +</P> + +<P> +In a moment the second round of the battle was raging. +</P> + +<P> +"Fool? Fool? Every man's a fool, if some woman chooses!" cried Mrs. +Carbhoy, and promptly hurled herself into a bitter tirade against her +sex, sparing no race of monsters from likeness to it. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Harker was forced to submit from sheer inability to compete with +the rapid flow of expression. But later on he had his opportunity at +what he considered to be the termination of the "second round," while +his opponent retired to her corner to be fanned by her seconds. +</P> + +<P> +"Anyway, ma'am, if he's not yet married there's still hope. I guess +Mr. Carbhoy's wise to what's doing with him. You see, he's been there +with him." +</P> + +<P> +"James Carbhoy!" The contemptuous emphasis on her husband's name +opened the "third round," and Mr. Harker felt that the timekeeper had +called "time" before he was ready. +</P> + +<P> +For three full minutes the scornful wife of the millionaire recited an +amplified denunciation upon husbands in general and millionaires in +particular. But even so the round had to come to its natural +conclusion, and when they were both resting once more in their +"corners," Mr. Harker achieved something almost approaching success. +</P> + +<P> +"You know, Mrs. Carbhoy, I was feeling pretty good coming along here in +my automobile. Mr. Gordon's something more to me than just your son. +We're real good friends, and I was feeling as anxious for his future as +maybe you were. Well, when I got word from your husband at Snake's +saying that he'd turned our affairs over to Mr. Gordon I was real glad, +and I felt now here was the boy's chance. Then, day after day, along +come his instructions, and I saw by the grip he'd got on things he'd +taken his chance, and was pushing it through with as much smartness as +Mr. Carbhoy himself might have shown. I was more than gratified, +ma'am. Why, only to-day I've received word of a big coal option he's +taken for us. As he's got it it's something for nothing. Nobody could +have done better, not even your husband, ma'am. I really can't think +there's going to be any mistakes about—strange females." +</P> + +<P> +The man's tribute had a mollifying effect upon the mother. But she was +still the "mother" rather than a creature of logic. She saw her boy +being led to his undoing by some designing creature of her own sex, and +her instinct warned her of the hideous dangers to millionaires' sons +inherent in so guileful a race. +</P> + +<P> +"If I could only feel that he was experienced in the world," she said +helplessly. "But what does our poor Gordon know of women?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Harker smiled. He was thinking with the intimacy of one man who +knows another. He knew, too, something of the way in which Gordon's +money had generally been spent. +</P> + +<P> +"We must hope the best, ma'am," he said, with a hypocritical sigh. +"He's evidently not married, so—what do you intend to do about it +while Mr. Carbhoy is on the coast?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do? Do? Why, I shall just go up to Snake's whatever-it-is, or +Buffalo what's-its-name, and—and——" +</P> + +<P> +"I should wait awhile, ma'am, if I were you," Mr. Harker interrupted +her, fearing another outburst. "I'm expecting David Slosson in the +city soon. He's one of our confidential men who's been working up at +Snake's for us. I haven't heard from him for quite a while. He's sure +to be along down soon, because he's got to make a report. Maybe he can +tell us just how things are. Anyway, I wouldn't go up there. It's a +queer, wild sort of place, and in no way fit for you." +</P> + +<P> +"Will Slosson be around soon?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, ma'am." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I'll wait," cried the troubled mother, without cordiality. Then +she appealed to the man who had always been something more than a mere +commercial figure in her husband's life. "You know, if anything went +wrong with my boy, Mr. Harker, it would just break my heart. I—I +couldn't bear it. But I tell you right here there's no wretched female +going to play her tricks on our Gordon with me around, and while I've +got James Carbhoy's millions to my hand. And if your man Slosson don't +give us satisfactory news of the boy, then, if Snake's what's-its-name +were the worst place on earth—I should make it." +</P> + +<P> +"If it comes to that, ma'am, there are other folks feel that way, too," +said the manager earnestly. "But meanwhile I'd say don't worry a +thing." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't!" snapped the mother sharply. "The person who'll need to do +all the worrying is that—female." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap24"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +PREPARING FOR THE FINALE +</H4> + +<P> +"I'm getting scared, Gordon. Real truth, I am." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel was in the saddle. Gordon had just mounted Sunset. It was the +close of a long, arduous, triumphant day for Gordon, and he was feeling +very happy, though mentally weary. The horses moved off before he made +any reply. He had just dismissed Peter McSwain and Mike Callahan, with +whom he had been in close consultation, and Hazel's father was still +within the office to see to its closing for the night and the departure +of the clerical staff. +</P> + +<P> +The way lay towards the ranch, and the trail the horses were taking +skirted the new township, now no longer a waste of untrodden grass, but +a busy camp with a strongly flowing human tide. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel had come to meet him at her lover's urgent request, and she was +glad enough to get away from the old ranch house, where the charge of +her captive there was seriously beginning to trouble her. Now she had +at last voiced something of those feelings which the rapid passing of +the weeks had steadily inspired. She knew that her peace of mind +demanded some change from this worrying situation. In her loyalty she +had struggled to perform her share in the conspiracy. She knew, too, +that she had succeeded fairly well, and that her efforts were all +appreciated to their full. She had contrived that her lover's father +should never know a moment's discomfort. That his life in captivity +should be made as easy and pleasant as possible. There were no signs +that it had been otherwise, but now, seven weeks had elapsed since his +arrival, and what had just seemed a scandalous joke to her originally, +had become a sort of painful nightmare which she was longing to throw +off. The moment she and Gordon were actually alone, she had been +impelled to break the silence which was steadily undermining her nerve. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon's horse was close abreast of the brown mare, and its rider +smiled down from his great height upon the pretty tailored figure of +the girl who had become all the world to him. +</P> + +<P> +"I know," he said sympathetically. "It's sort of that way with me, +too. I don't just mean I'm scared. There's nothing for me to be +scared about. It's—sort of conscience with me. As for your +father—say"—his smile broadened—"he's taken to his eye-patch with +everybody—me, too. I guess that means he's worried no end." +</P> + +<P> +"What—what are you going to do—then?" +</P> + +<P> +Hazel eagerly watched that big, open, ingenuous face with its widely +smiling blue eyes. And, watching it, she discerned added signs of a +growing humor. Finally he laughed outright. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, we're just the limit for a bunch of conspirators. Yes—the +limit. You're the only one of us who's had the moral courage to put +your feelings into words. We're all scared. We've all been scared +these weeks. Your father's scared, so he can't look at any man with +two eyes. Peter's all of a shiver every time he comes within hailing +distance of the sheriff. As for Mike—well, Mike's sold all his +holdings, and is bursting to sell his livery business, all but one +team, so he'll have the means of skipping the border at a minute's +notice. Say, have you figured out how we stand? How I stand? Well, +from a point of law I guess I'm a good candidate for ten years' +penitentiary. I've kidnapped two men; one's a dirty dog, anyway, and +the other's one of the biggest millionaires in the country. I've +fraudulently played up a railroad. I've started this boom on the +biggest fraud ever practiced. I've—say, ten years! Why, I guess the +tally of this adventure looks to me like twenty in the worst +penitentiary to be found in the country. It—makes me perspire to +think of it." +</P> + +<P> +He was laughing in a perfectly reckless fashion, and, in spite of her +very real fears, Hazel perforce found herself joining in. +</P> + +<P> +"It's desperate, Gordon," she cried. "And as for you, who worked it +all out, and led it, you—you are the dearest blackguard ever +breathed." Then quite suddenly her eyes sobered, and her apprehension +returned with a rush. "But how long is—it to last? I—I can't go on +much longer, and your father's getting restive and suspicious." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon reached down and patted Sunset's crested neck. +</P> + +<P> +"It's finished now. That's why I asked you to come and meet me. I've +sold." +</P> + +<P> +"You've sold?" +</P> + +<P> +In a moment the last shadow of fear had passed out of the girl's pretty +eyes. Now she was agog with excited admiration. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." The man nodded. "It had to be done carefully. I've been +selling quietly for days and now it's finished. I didn't get the +prices I hoped quite, but that was because I felt I dared not wait +longer to clear up the general mess I'd made. Your father helped me, +and I now sit here with a roll of precisely one hundred and five +thousand dollars, and a definite promise to your father to fix things +with the great James Carbhoy so no trouble is coming to any one—not +even Slosson. I don't know. Now it's all over I'm sort of sorry. You +know this sort of thing—the excitement of beating folks—is a great +play. I want to be at it all the time." +</P> + +<P> +"You've got to meet your father yet," said the girl warningly. +</P> + +<P> +"The old dad? Why, yes, I s'pose I have." Gordon chuckled. "Say, I +don't wonder folks taking to crooked ways. They just set your blood +tingling like—like a glass of champagne on an empty stomach. Just +look out there." He pointed at the new township. "Say, isn't it +wonderful? All in a few weeks. And all the result of one man's +crookedness." +</P> + +<P> +"And your father has been a—prisoner—the whole time. Over seven +weeks," rebuked the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"But it's only three weeks since I met you that night on the trail, +Hazel. No other time concerns me. Not even the dear old dad's +captivity. That was the beginning of all things that matter for me." +</P> + +<P> +"You seem to date everything around that—ridiculous episode," said +Hazel slyly. "I——" +</P> + +<P> +"I do." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't interrupt me, sir. I was going to assure you that your proper +spirit should be one of contrition for what you have made your father +endure." +</P> + +<P> +"It is." +</P> + +<P> +"You said you didn't care." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't." +</P> + +<P> +"Then——" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon burst out into a happy laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you see, dear? I just don't care for, or think about anything +else in the world. You—you—you are just mine, so what's the use of +talking of the old dad." +</P> + +<P> +"Really? True? True?" The girl's tender eyes were melting as they +gazed up into her lover's. "More to you than all—this?" She +indicated the busy life on the new township. The miracle, as she +regarded it, which he had worked. The man smiled, his eyes full of a +great, tender love. "I'm glad," the girl sighed. "It isn't always so +with men—where the making of money is concerned, is it?" She breathed +a great contentment and happiness. "Yes, I'm—so glad. It's the same +with me, but—I want all this to go on right—because of you. I want +your success. I want your success as a man, and—with your father. +I'm very jealous for those things now. You see, you belong to me, +don't you?" She turned and gazed away across the plain. "Oh, it's +good to see it all—to see all the busy work going on. Look there—and +there," she pointed quickly in many directions. "Buildings going up. +Temporary buildings. The substantial structures to come later. Then +the road gangs at work. The carpenters at the sidewalks. The +surveyors. The teams and wagons. Above all, that depot being built +with all expedition by—your father." She laughed happily and clapped +her hands. "It's all growing every day. A mushroom town. And +you—you have made that money your great father dared you to make. +Dared you—you, and you have made it out of him! Oh, dear! the humor +of it is enough to make a cat laugh. Here you, by sheer audacity and +roguery, have held up a railroad and coolly played the highwayman on +your own father!" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Call it grabbing opportunity. It was an opportunity which came my way +through the trifling oversight of forgetting to return the private code +book which the old dad had entrusted to my care. Say, I can never +thank the dad enough for that half-hour talk in his office which sent +me out into the wilderness. If he hadn't handed it to me, I should +never have blundered into Snake's; and if I hadn't blundered into +Snake's I shouldn't have found you. I guess my parent's just one of +the few to whom a son owes anything. He gave me life, but didn't stop +at that. He gave me you." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel's eyes were smiling happily. +</P> + +<P> +"And in return you lay violent hands on him, and incarcerate him while +you do your best to rob him." +</P> + +<P> +"It sounds pretty bad." +</P> + +<P> +"If I didn't know you I'd say that gratitude fell out of your cradle +and killed herself when the fairies got around at your birth. But you +didn't ask me to ride all these miles in to—to say just all these nice +things to me, Gordon? Besides, now you've completed your—graft, what +about your poor long-suffering prisoners? How are you going to save us +all from the consequences of your evil ways? Your father will hate +me." The girl sighed in pretended despair. "He'll never consent +to—to——" +</P> + +<P> +"Our marriage? Say, if I'm a judge of things I'll have to stand by so +he don't embrace you too often, himself." +</P> + +<P> +They both laughed like the two happy children they were. There was no +cloud that could mar the sun of their delight now. Hazel, for all her +fears, had perfect faith in this great reckless creature. She had +never been able to obscure the memory of his battle with Slosson on her +behalf. Her faith was unbounded. +</P> + +<P> +So they rode on, leaving the busy new world the man had created behind +them, as they made their way on towards the ranch. They were leaving +everything behind them, the shadows and sunlight of past strenuous +days, which is the way of youth. They gazed ahead towards the future +with every confidence, and lived in a perfect present which contained +only their two selves. +</P> + +<P> +It was not until they had nearly reached the ranch, and the wide +pasture stocked with grazing cattle came into view, that the girl was +able to pin her lover down to the urgent matters which lay ahead of +him. Then she received from that simple creature the brief account of +his intentions. For a moment she was staggered. Then, after a brief +digestion of the details, she began to laugh. The rank absurdity and +impudence of them took her fancy, and she found herself caught in the +humor of it all, and ready again to carry out his lightest wish. +</P> + +<P> +"It's still the same, you see," Gordon finished up. "I still want you, +and your precious help, the same as I always shall. I just can't do a +thing without you, and as long as you are with me, why, I don't guess +failure's got a chance of getting its nose in front. I've got it all +fixed, if you'll play your part. All I ask is, for the Lord's sake +don't start in to laugh at the critical time. I want you scared to +death till I appear, and then you'll just need to chase up an attack of +hysterics or something, throw your heels around and yell blue murder, +and finish up by grabbing me around the neck, and fainting dead away +with happiness. The rest I'll see to. It's some situation for you, +but don't worry when the limelight leaves you in the dark and finds its +way to me. It's just the sort of thing you can find in any old dime +novel. The heroines always act that way, and the hero, too. When you +get back, start right in to think about every dime story you've ever +read. Remember all the things the heroines ever did, and then do 'em +all yourself. See? Guess that isn't as clear as it might be, but when +you've filtered it through that bright little head of yours it'll be +like spring water in a moss-grown mountain creek." +</P> + +<P> +"Whatever will he say when he knows?" laughed the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Say? well, that's not an easy guess," retorted Gordon, with a +responsive laugh. "But, anyway, it's dead sure he'll think a heap +more. Say, there's just one thing more. When you come-to out of that +joyous faint, you got to leave us together for half an hour. Maybe +you'll have some sort of preparation to make, or something. Sort of +stagger out of the room supported by me, and if Hip-Lee attempts to +butt in during that half hour—kill him." +</P> + +<P> +"You really want me to do—all this?" Hazel's laughing eyes were +raised questioningly. +</P> + +<P> +"Everything, but—the killing." +</P> + +<P> +"The fainting—really?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure." The man's eyes opened wide. "It's the picture. It's the +reality. It's the local color." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, dear!" laughed Hazel, as they rode up to the ranch house. "I +suppose I've got to do it." +</P> + +<P> +"You will?" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon flung himself out of the saddle. Hazel laughingly held out her +hand in assurance. +</P> + +<P> +"My hand on it, Gordon, dear," she cried. +</P> + +<P> +The man seized it in both of his. Then, regardless of what sharp eyes +might be peeping in their direction, he reached up, and, catching her +about the waist, drew her down towards him till her head was level with +his, and kissed her rapturously. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, you're the greatest little woman on earth, and—I love you to +death." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel hastily drew herself out of his strong arms, and, with flushed +face, straightened herself up in the saddle. +</P> + +<P> +"And you are the greatest and most ridiculous creature ever let loose +to roam this world—and I—love you for it." +</P> + +<P> +The man laughed. Hazel's laugh joined in. +</P> + +<P> +"Then—to-night?" +</P> + +<P> +Hazel nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-by, dear—till to-night." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap25"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE RESCUE +</H4> + +<P> +It was nearly midnight. The house was quiet. It was so still as to +suggest no life at all within its simple, hospitable walls. It was in +darkness, too, at least from the outside, for all curtains had been +drawn for the night, with as much care as though it were a dwelling +facing upon some busy thoroughfare in a city. +</P> + +<P> +But, late as the hour was, the occupants of the old ranch house were +not in bed. Hazel was awake, and sitting expectantly waiting in her +bedroom, while somewhere within the purlieus of the kitchen Hip-Lee sat +before an open window in the darkness, doubtless dreaming wakefully of +some flea-ridden village up country in his homeland. +</P> + +<P> +Upstairs, too, there were no signs of those slumbers which were so long +overdue. Mr. James Carbhoy was seated in a comfortable rocker-chair +adjacent to his dressing bureau, making an effort to become interested +in the "History of the Conquest of Mexico" by the light of a +well-trimmed oil lamp. +</P> + +<P> +Not one word, however, of the pages he had read had conveyed interest +to his preoccupied mind. It is doubtful if their meaning had been +conveyed with any degree of continuity. He was irritable—irritable +and a shade despondent. +</P> + +<P> +He had been a captive in that valley for over seven weeks, and the +imprisonment had begun to tell upon his stalwart hardihood. Seven long +weeks of his own company, under easy and even pleasant circumstances. +Even Hazel's company, shadowed as she was by the hated Hip-Lee, had +been denied him. Had it been otherwise he might have felt less +dispirited, for he liked and admired her; and, in spite of the fact +that on that one memorable occasion when he had talked to her alone she +had betrayed, what he now was firmly convinced was her own perfidious +share in his kidnapping, he was human enough to disregard it, and only +remember that she was an extremely pretty and wholly charming creature. +</P> + +<P> +Yes, he knew now that he had been duped by this daughter of Mallinsbee, +whom he knew owned Buffalo Point, and the whole thing had been a +financial coup engineered by the "smarts" who belonged to his faction. +He had solved the whole problem of his captivity in one revealing +flash, the moment he had learned that this girl was the daughter of +Mallinsbee. He had needed no other information. His keenly trained +mind, with its wide understanding of the methods of financial +interests, had driven straight to the heart of the matter. It was only +the details which had been lacking. But even these had, in a measure, +been filled in during his long hours of solitude and concentrated +thought. +</P> + +<P> +It was some of the obscured riddles which beset him now, as they had +beset him for days. He could not account for his own confidential +agent Slosson in the matter. Had he been bought over? It seemed +impossible, since Slosson had advised the depot remaining at Snake's +Fall, which was against Mallinsbee's interests. Had he been dealt +with, too? It seemed more likely. But if this were so it made the +daring or desperation of the whole coup suggest to his mind that he was +dealing with men of unusual caliber, and consequently the situation +possessed for him possibilities of a most unpleasant character. +</P> + +<P> +Then, again, the fact that they were content to leave him unapproached +in his captivity puzzled and disquieted him even more. What could they +achieve with regard to the railroad without his authority? Nothing, +positively nothing, he assured himself. Then what was the purpose to +be served? He could not even guess, and the uncertainty of it all +annoyed, irritated, worried him as the time went on. +</P> + +<P> +His mind was full of all these concerns as he sat reading the romantic +story of a people with impossible names, and so he lost all the +beauties of one of the most perfect romances in the world. Finally, he +set the book aside and prepared for bed and more hours of worried +sleeplessness. +</P> + +<P> +James Carbhoy was a typical New Yorker of the best type. In an +unexaggerated way he was fastidious of his appearance and gave a +careful regard to his bodily welfare. He was a man who luxuriated in +cleanly habits of living, and his linen was a sort of passion with him. +In his captivity he had been well cared for in this respect, and the +only cause he had for complaint was the absence of his daily bath, +which he seriously deplored. +</P> + +<P> +Now he went to the old-fashioned washstand, prepared for his nightly +ablutions, and laid himself out a clean suit of pyjamas. Then he +divested himself of some of his upper garments. He had just started to +remove his shirt, and one arm still remained in its sleeve as he +proceeded to remove it coatwise, when all further action was quite +suddenly suspended and he stood listening. +</P> + +<P> +A sound had reached his quick ears, a curious sound which, at that hour +of the night, was quite incomprehensible to him. After some breathless +moments he abandoned the divestment of his clothing and swiftly +restored his coat and vest. Then he extinguished his light and drew +the curtains from before the window and opened it further. He sat down +on his bedstead and, resting an elbow on the window-ledge, gazed out +into the starlit, moonless night. +</P> + +<P> +The sound which had held his attention was still evident. It was the +sound of galloping horses in the distance, the soft plod of many hoofs +over the rich grass of the valley. It was faint but distinct, and, to +this man's inexperienced ears, suggested a large party of horses, +probably horsemen, approaching his prison. With what object? he +wondered, and, wondering, a feeling of excitement took possession of +him. +</P> + +<P> +Five minutes later his attention was distracted to another direction. +Other sounds reached him, sounds which emanated from close about his +prison itself. There was a movement going on just below him, and +horses were moving about, apparently somewhere in front, where he knew +the corrals to be. His excitement increased. In all his long weeks of +imprisonment he had seen nothing of his captors and no signs of them. +Now, apparently, they were below him, possibly keeping guard, and he +wondered if they had been there every night, silent warders, whose +presence had been all undiscovered by himself. +</P> + +<P> +It was difficult, difficult to understand or to believe. Yet there was +no doubt that men were gathered below; he could faintly hear their +voices talking in hushed tones, and, equally, he could plainly hear the +sound of their horses. He wished there was a moon to give him light +enough to see what was going on. +</P> + +<P> +But now the more distant sounds had grown louder, and as they grew the +voices below spoke in less guarded tones. And from the manner of their +speech the listening man knew that something serious was afoot. +</P> + +<P> +A sudden resolve now formulated in his mind, and he left his place at +the window and stood up. Then he moved swiftly to his door and opened +it. The house seemed wrapped in silence, and he moved out to the head +of the small flight of stairs leading to the floor below. He passed +down and reached the door of the parlor. +</P> + +<P> +Here he paused for a moment listening. All was still within, and he +cautiously opened the door. The lamp was lit, and, standing beside the +table, upon which the breakfast things were already set, he discovered +the figure of the daughter of Mallinsbee with her back turned towards +him. There was another figure present, too, and, to his intense +chagrin, the millionaire beheld the yellow features of Hip-Lee near the +curtained window. +</P> + +<P> +However, he passed into the room, and Hazel turned confronting him. He +gazed intently into her face, so serious and apparently troubled. The +yellow lamplight imparted a curious hue, and the man fancied she looked +seriously frightened. +</P> + +<P> +"What's happening?" he demanded, and an unusual brusqueness was in his +tone. +</P> + +<P> +The girl's eyes surveyed his expression swiftly. She looked for +something she feared to discover there, and the faintest sigh of relief +escaped her as she realized that her fears were unfounded. +</P> + +<P> +"That's what we—are trying to find out," she replied, her words +accompanied by a glance of simple, half-fearful helplessness. +</P> + +<P> +The man checked the reply which promptly rose to his lips. He +remembered in time that this girl was the daughter of Mallinsbee and +that she was exceedingly pretty. To the former he had no desire to +give anything away, while to the latter he desired to display every +courtesy. +</P> + +<P> +"Our guards seem to be on the alert, and—somebody is approaching," +said the millionaire, with a baffling smile. "If it weren't such a +peaceful spot I'd say there was an atmosphere of—trouble." +</P> + +<P> +"I—I sort of feel that way, too," said Hazel in a scared manner. She +had gathered all her histrionic abilities together, and intended to use +them. "I wonder what trouble it is?" +</P> + +<P> +"Seems as if it was for the men who—took us," observed Carbhoy, with a +dryness he could not quite disguise. +</P> + +<P> +"You—mean our folks have located our whereabouts and—are going to +rescue us?" +</P> + +<P> +The millionaire smiled into the innocent, questioning eyes, which, he +knew, concealed a humorous guile. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't just mean that," he said. "Maybe the trouble won't come +yet." He glanced at the Chinaman standing sphinx-like at the curtains. +"Must he remain?" he said, appealing directly to the girl. +</P> + +<P> +Hazel felt the necessity for a bold move. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't let him worry you. We can't help ourselves. I dare not risk +offending him." She conjured a well-feigned shudder. +</P> + +<P> +The millionaire laughed, and his laugh left the girl troubled and +disconcerted. She would have liked to know what lay behind it. +However, she kept to her attitude of fear. She must play her part to +the end. +</P> + +<P> +"Hark!" Carbhoy turned his head, listening intently. The girl +followed his example. "Say——" The millionaire broke off, and his +smile was replaced by a look of puzzled incredulity. +</P> + +<P> +A shot had been fired. It was answered by a shot from somewhere close +to the house. A look of doubt sprang into his gray eyes, and he darted +to the window and unceremoniously brushed the hated Chinaman aside. He +drew the curtain cautiously aside and peered out into the bight. Hazel +beheld the change of expression and his quick, alert movements with +satisfaction. She knew that the sounds of the shots had disconcerted +him. He was more than impressed. He was convinced. +</P> + +<P> +Then followed a portentous few moments. The two single shots were +converted into something like a rattle of musketry. And intermingled +with it came the hoarse, blasphemous cries of men, and the pounding of +horses' hoofs racing hither and thither. The man at the window +remained silent, his eyes glued to the crack of the divided curtains. +He saw flashes of gunfire and the dim outline of moving figures. But +the details of the scene were hidden from him by the darkness. Hazel, +standing close behind him, rose to a great effort. One hand was laid +abruptly upon his arm, and her nervous fingers clutched at his +coat-sleeve as though she were seeking support. She caught a sharp +breath. +</P> + +<P> +"My God!" she cried in a tense whisper, while somehow her whole body +shook. +</P> + +<P> +Carbhoy gave one glance in her direction. His eyes and features had +become tense with excitement. With his disengaged hand he patted the +girl's with a reassuring gentleness, and finally it remained resting +upon her clutching fingers. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a scrap up all right," he said, with conviction that had no fear +in it. "But it's their game, not——" +</P> + +<P> +But his words were cut short by the great shouting that went up outside +the house. Then came more firing, and the sharp plonk of bullets as +they struck the building were plainly heard by the watchers. Hazel +urged the man at the curtains— +</P> + +<P> +"Come away. For goodness' sake come away. A stray shot! That window! +You——" +</P> + +<P> +She strove to drag the man away in a wild assumption of panic. But the +millionaire intended to miss nothing of what was going on. The danger +of his position did not occur to him. He firmly released himself from +her clutch. +</P> + +<P> +"You sit right down, my dear," he said kindly. "Just get right out of +line with this window. I want to see this out. Say, hark! They're +hitting it up good, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +His eyes were alight with the excitement of battle, and Hazel, watching +him, with fear carefully expressed in her eyes, could not help but +admire the spirit of her lover's father, and more than ever regret the +part she was forced to play. +</P> + +<P> +She withdrew obediently as the sounds of battle waxed and the cries of +the combatants made the still night hideous. The firing had become +almost incessant, and the bullets seemed to hail upon the building from +every direction. Then, too, the galloping horses added to the tumult, +and it was pretty obvious the defenders were charging their opponents. +</P> + +<P> +"There seems to be about two to one attacking," said the millionaire +over his shoulder presently. +</P> + +<P> +As he turned he surveyed with pity the strong look of terror the girl +had contrived. He never once looked in the detested Chinaman's +direction. In his heart he would not have regretted a chance shot +disturbing those yellow, immobile features. +</P> + +<P> +Then, turning back again quickly— +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder!" +</P> + +<P> +Now that the battle seemed to be at its height, and whilst awaiting its +issue, he had time for conjecture. What was the meaning of it? And +who were the attacking party? Was Slosson at its head? Had Harker +sent up and was this a sheriff's posse? Both seemed possible. Yet +neither, somehow, convinced him. Whoever were attacking, it was pretty +certain in his mind that his release was the object. +</P> + +<P> +But the moment passed, and he became absorbed once more in the battle +itself. It seemed miraculous to his twentieth-century ideas that such +a condition of things could prevail. Why, it was like the old romantic +days of the hard drinking, hard swearing "bad men," and a sort of +boyish delight in the excitement of it all swept through his veins. He +had no time or thought for the part the now terror-stricken girl had +played in his captivity. All he felt was a large-hearted, chivalrous +regret for her present condition, of which no doubt remained in his +mind. +</P> + +<P> +A rush of horsemen charged up to the building. The watching man saw +their outline distinctly. There seemed to him at least eight or ten. +He saw another crowd, smaller numerically, charge at them, and then the +revolvers spat out their vicious flashes of ruddy fire. The crowd +dispersed and gathered again. Another fusillade. Then something +seemed to happen. The whole crowd swept away in the darkness, and the +sounds of shooting and the cries of men died away into the distance. +</P> + +<P> +He waited awhile to assure himself that, so far as their position was +concerned, the battle was at an end. Then he turned away from the +window. +</P> + +<P> +"They've cleaned 'em out," he said sharply. "I can't tell whose outed. +They've ridden off at the gallop, firing and cursing as they went. +Maybe our captors have driven the others off. Maybe it's the other +way. We'll—hark!" +</P> + +<P> +He was back at the window again in a second. +</P> + +<P> +"They're coming back," he cried. "Say——" +</P> + +<P> +Hazel was at his side in a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"Are they the——?" +</P> + +<P> +"Can't say who," cried Carbhoy, peering intently. "A big bunch of 'em." +</P> + +<P> +"Our men were only four," said Hazel quickly. +</P> + +<P> +The millionaire was too intent to look round, and so he missed the +girl's smile over at Hip-Lee. But the tone of her voice was +unmistakable in its anxiety. +</P> + +<P> +"There's eight or more here," he cried. "Say, they're dismounting! +They're——" +</P> + +<P> +"They're coming into the house!" cried Hazel in an extravagant panic. +"They——" +</P> + +<P> +At that instant a loud voice beyond the door of the room was heard +shouting to the men outside— +</P> + +<P> +"Keep a keen eye while I go through the house! Don't let a soul +escape. If they've hurt one hair of her head somebody's going to pay, +and pay dear." +</P> + +<P> +The millionaire was standing stock still in the middle of the room. A +curious look was gleaming in his steady eyes. Hazel, in the midst of +her pretended panic, beheld it and interpreted it. She read in it a +recognition of the speaker's voice, but she also read incredulity and +amazement. +</P> + +<P> +But at that instant the door burst open and a great figure rushed +headlong into the room. As the girl beheld it she flung wide her arms +and, with a cry, ran towards the intruder. +</P> + +<P> +"Gordon! Gordon! At last, at last!" she cried. "Oh, I thought you +would never find me! Never, never!" +</P> + +<P> +Her final exclamations were lost in the bosom of his tweed coat, as she +flung herself into his arms and burst into a flood of hysterical +weeping and laughter. +</P> + +<P> +"Hazel! My poor little Hazel! Say, I've been nearly crazy. I——" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon broke off, the girl still lying in his arms. His eyes had +lifted to the face of his father, and their keen, steady glance became +instantly absorbed by the gray speculation behind the other's. +</P> + +<P> +"Dad! You?" +</P> + +<P> +The astonishment, the incredulity were perfect. They might well have +deceived anybody. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure," said the millionaire dryly. Then, "I don't guess they've hurt +her any, though. Maybe you best hand her over to her father," he went +on, pointing at the burly figure of Silas Mallinsbee, who, with his +patch well down over his eye, had appeared at that moment in the +doorway. "Guess he'll know how to soothe her some. Meanwhile you'll +maybe tell me how you lit on our trail." +</P> + +<P> +The man's smile was disarming, yet Gordon fancied he detected a shadow +of that lurking irony which he knew so well in his father. +</P> + +<P> +He turned about, however, and passed Hazel over to the rancher, while +he added tender injunctions— +</P> + +<P> +"Say, Mr. Mallinsbee, she's scared all to death. You best get her to +bed. Poor little girl! Say, I'd like——" +</P> + +<P> +But he did not complete his sentence. Instead he turned to his father, +as Hazel, with difficulty restraining her laughter, was led from the +room by her solemn-faced, fierce-eyed parent. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, Dad, what in the name of all creation has brought you here?" +</P> + +<P> +The millionaire turned, and a cold eye of hatred settled upon the +background which Hip-Lee formed to the picture. +</P> + +<P> +"Do we need that yellow reptile present?" he said unemotionally. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess not," said Gordon readily. Then he pointed the door to the +Mongolian. "Get!" he ejaculated. And the injunction was acted upon +with silent alacrity. +</P> + +<P> +Then the two men faced each other. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" demanded the father. +</P> + +<P> +The son smiled amiably. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" he retorted. And both men sat down. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap26"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +CASHING IN +</H4> + +<P> +Gordon's eyes were alight with a wonder that somehow lacked reality as +he dropped into the chair beside the table. +</P> + +<P> +"You? You?" he murmured. Then aloud: "It—it's incredible!" Then, +with an impulsive gesture. "In the name of all that's crazy +what's—what's the meaning of it? How in the world have you got into +the hands of these ruffians?" +</P> + +<P> +His father selected one of the two remaining cigars in his case, and +passed the other across. +</P> + +<P> +"Try again," he said quietly, as he bit the end off his. +</P> + +<P> +But Gordon did not "try again." He took the proffered cigar, and sat +devouring the silent figure and sphinx-like face of the other, while he +felt like one who had received a douche of ice-cold water from a pail. +His acting had missed fire, and he knew it. He wondered how much else +of his efforts had missed fire with this abnormally acute man. He had +intended this to be the moment of his triumph. He had intended to lay +before his father his talent of silver, doubled and redoubled an +hundredfold. He had intended, with all the enthusiasm of youthful +vanity, to display the triumph of his understanding of the modern +methods of dealing with the affairs of finance. He was going to prove +his theories up to the hilt. +</P> + +<P> +Now, somehow, he felt that whatever victory he had achieved the clear, +keen brain behind his father's steady gray eyes saw through him +completely, right down into the deepest secrets which he had believed +to be securely hidden. Face to face with this man, who had spent all +the long years of his life studying how best to beat his fellow man, +his acting became but a paltry mask which obscured nothing. "Try +again." Such simple words, but so significant. No, it was useless to +"try again" with this dear, shrewd creature he was so futilely +endeavoring to deceive. +</P> + +<P> +The cold of the gray eyes had changed. It was only a slight change, +but to Gordon, who understood his father so well, it was clearly +perceptible and indicative of the mood behind. There was a suggestion +of a smile in them, an ironical, half-humorous smile that scattered all +his carefully made plans. +</P> + +<P> +The millionaire struck a match and held it out to light his son's +cigar, and, as Gordon leaned forward, their eyes met in a steady regard. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing doing?" inquired the father, as he carefully lit his own cigar +from the same match. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon shook his head, and his eyes smiled whimsically. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I best do first talk." The millionaire leaned back in his chair +and breathed out a thin spiral of smoke. Then he sighed. "Good smokes +these. Mallinsbee's a man of taste." +</P> + +<P> +"Mallinsbee?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure." +</P> + +<P> +"Go on." +</P> + +<P> +"He's kept me well supplied. Also with good wine. I owe him quite a +debt—that way. Say——" The millionaire paused reflectively. Then +he went on in the manner of a man who has arrived at a complete and +definite decision: "Guess it would take hours asking questions and +getting answers. It's not my way, and I don't guess I'm a lawyer +anyway, and you aren't a shady witness. We know just how to talk out +straight. I've had over seven weeks to think in—and thinking with me +is—a disease. Let's go back. I had a neat land scoop working up +here. Slosson was working it. He's been a secret agent of mine for +years. I've no reason to distrust him. He fixes things right for us +and sends word for me to come along. That's happened many times +before. It's not new, or—unusual. When I get here I'm met by a very +charming young girl with a rig and team. Her excuse for meeting me is +reasonable. The rest is easy. We are both held up, and brought +here—captives. Then I start in to think a lot. Argument don't carry +me more than a mile till that same charming girl, who's just done all +she knew to make things right for me, makes her first break. When I +found out she was the daughter of Mallinsbee I did all the thinking +needed in half an hour. I knew I was to be rolled on this land deal by +Mallinsbee's crowd, and, judging by the methods adopted, to be rolled +good. You see we'd had negotiations with Mallinsbee about his land at +Buffalo Point before. See?" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon silently nodded. +</P> + +<P> +His father breathed heavily, and, with a wry twist of his lips, rolled +his cigar firmly into the corner of his mouth. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, when I'd done thinking it just left me guessing in two +directions. One of 'em I answered more or less satisfactorily. This +was the one I answered. What had become of Slosson? Had he been +handled by these folk, or had he doubled? The latter I counted out. +I've always had him where I wanted him. He wouldn't dare. So I said +he'd been 'handled.' The other was how could they hope to deal with +the Union Grayling without my authority? That's still unanswered, +though I see a gleam of daylight—since meeting you here. However, +Gordon boy, you've certainly given me the surprise of my life—finding +you associated with Mallinsbee—and taken to play-acting. That was a +pretty piece outside with guns. I allow it got me fine. But you +overdid it showing in here. That also told me another thing. It told +me that a feller can spend a lifetime making a bright man of himself, +while it only takes a pretty gal five seconds yanking out one of the +key-stones to the edifice he's built. I guess I've been mighty sorry +for your lady friend. I guessed she was pining to death for her folks, +and was scared to death of that darnation Chink. However, I'm relieved +to find she's just a bunch of bright wits, and don't lack in natural +female ability for play-acting. Maybe you can hand me some about those +directions I'm still guessing in. I'll smoke while you say some." +</P> + +<P> +Father and son smiled into each other's faces as the elder finished +speaking. But while Gordon's smile was one of genuine admiration, his +father's still savored of that irony which warned the younger that all +was by no means plain sailing yet. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad you feel that way about Hazel, Dad," cried Gordon, his face +flushing with genuine pleasure. "She's some girl. I guess I'm the +luckiest feller alive winning her for a wife, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +"You're going to—marry her?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, yes. She's the greatest, the best, the——" +</P> + +<P> +"Just so. But we're not both going to marry her." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon flung back in his chair with a great laugh. But his father's +eyes still maintained their irony. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, I'm sort of sorry talking that way now. There's other things." +Gordon fumbled in his pocket while he went on. "Slosson? Why +Slosson's trying to stave off pneumonia in a disused, perforated shack +way up on Mallinsbee's ranch. He's a skunk of a man anyway, and I had +to let him know I thought that way. I haven't heard about the +pneumonia yet, but if he got it I don't guess it would give me +nightmare." Then he handed across a small volume in morocco binding +which he had taken from his pocket. "I don't seem to think you'll need +much explanation about the other. That's your code book, which I +forgot to return in the hurry of quitting New York." +</P> + +<P> +The millionaire turned the cover, closed it again, and quietly bestowed +it in his pocket. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess I'll keep this," he said without emotion. "Yes, it tells me a +lot. It tells me I've credited Mallinsbee and his crowd with the work +of my son. It tells me that my own son is solely responsible for the +idea, and execution, of rolling his father on this land deal. It tells +me that the principles of big finance must have a fertile resting place +somewhere in my son. Well, there's quite a lot of time before +daylight." +</P> + +<P> +It had been an anxious moment for Gordon when he handed back the +private code book, and he had watched his father closely. He was +seeking any sign of anger, or regret, or even pain, as his own actions +became apparent to the other. There were no such signs. There was +only that non-committal half smile, and it left him still uncertain. +</P> + +<P> +His father's patience seemed inexhaustible. Had Gordon only realized +it this was the very sign he should have looked for in such a man. +James Carbhoy loved his son as few men regard their offspring, but he +wanted his son to be something more than a mere object of his +affection. He wanted him to be an object upon which he could bestow +all the enormous pride of a self-made man. He wanted to feel that +exquisite thrill of triumph resulting to his vanity, that Gordon was +his son—the son of his father. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, there's quite a while before daylight, Dad, and I'm glad." +Gordon ran his fingers through his hair. "So I'd better hand it you +from the beginning. I want you to get a right understanding of my +motives. It was opportunity. That thing you've always taught me fools +most always try to dodge, and most good men generally miss." +</P> + +<P> +His father nodded and Gordon settled himself afresh in his chair. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I'm in this thing, Dad," he went on, after the briefest of +pauses. "In it right up to my neck," he added, with a whimsical smile. +"It was the opportunity I needed to make good. Being neither a fool +nor a good man I took it, and now I sit with a wad of one hundred and +five thousand dollars in good United States currency. It's here in my +pocket, and I'm ready to hand it over to you in payment for those old +debts. You will observe I have still eight weeks of my six months to +run. I want to say, as you'll no doubt agree when you've heard my +story, that I've made, or acquired it, through graft and piracy, such +as I talked about to you awhile back, and, as far as I can see, my +method has been as completely dishonest as an honest man could adopt. +Dad, I've always regarded your sense of humor as one of your greatest +attributes, but whether it'll stand for the way I've treated you, even +with my intimate knowledge of you, I'm not prepared to guess. This is +the yarn." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon plunged into the story without further preamble while his father +sat and smoked on with that half smile still fixed in his gray eyes. +The younger man watched the still, inscrutable, sphinx-like figure with +eyes of grave speculation. He missed no detail in the story of his +irresponsibility and haphazard adventure. He started at the moment +when he booked his passage for Seattle, and carried it on right down to +the melodramatic moment when he burst into that parlor to rescue the +girl he loved from a peril which he knew had never threatened her. He +told it all with a detail that spared neither himself, nor the +confidential agent Slosson, nor any one else concerned. He showed up +the spirit of graft which actuated every step of his progress, and did +not hesitate to apply the lash with merciless force upon the railroad +organization his father controlled. +</P> + +<P> +And right through, from beginning to end, the millionaire listened +without sign or comment. He wanted to hear all this boy—his boy—had +to say. And as he went on that pride, parental pride, in him grew and +grew. +</P> + +<P> +At the end of the story Gordon added a final comment— +</P> + +<P> +"I want to say, Dad, I haven't done this all myself. I've had the help +of two of the most cheerful, lovable rascals I've ever met. Also the +help of one honest man. But above all, through the whole thing, I've +been supported by the smile of the sweetest and best woman in the +world, the girl who's done her best to care for your comfort here. +She's sacrificed all scruples to help me out, while her father, bless +him, has never approved any of my dirty schemes. There you are, Dad, +that's the yarn. I don't guess it'll make you shout for joy, but, +anyway, you started me out to make good—anyway I chose—and I've made +good. Furthermore, I've made good within the time limit, and, in +making good, I'm bringing back a wife to our home city. I'm standing +on my own legs now, as you always guessed you wanted me to, and if you +don't just fancy the gait I travel—why, it's up to you. That's +mine—now you say." +</P> + +<P> +The fixity of his father's attitude had driven Gordon to say more than +he had intended, but he meant it, every word, nor did he regard his +parent with any less affection for it. But now, as he awaited a +response, a certain unease was tugging at his heartstrings. +</P> + +<P> +At last the millionaire rose from his seat and crossed to the curtained +window. He drew the curtains aside, and, raising the sash, flung out +his cigar stump. Then for a moment he gazed out at the moonless night. +While he stood thus the smile in his thoughtful eyes deepened. +</P> + +<P> +At last, however, he turned back, and the face that confronted the son +he loved wore the sharp, hawk-like look which his opponents in the +business world of New York were so familiar with. +</P> + +<P> +"That's all right," he said sharply. "But—you've forgotten something." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon became extremely alert. +</P> + +<P> +"Have I?" Then he laughed. "It 'ud be a miracle if I hadn't." +</P> + +<P> +"Sure. Most folks forget something. I forgot that code book." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +Their eyes met. +</P> + +<P> +"You've forgotten that I can stop the work at Buffalo Point. You've +forgotten that you've passed out of the realms of simple graft and +plunged into criminal proceedings, which brings you within the shadow +of the law. You've forgotten that I can smash your schemes, break you, +and send you to penitentiary—you and your entire gang." +</P> + +<P> +The steady eyes were deadly as they coldly backed the sharp +pronouncement of the words. Gordon was caught by the painful emotion +which the harshness of them inspired. He knew that his father had +spoken the simple truth. He knew that in the eyes of the world he was +a plain criminal. The unpleasant feeling was instantly thrust aside, +however. He had not embarked upon this affair without intending to +carry it through to the end he desired. +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't forgotten those things, Dad," he said, with a sharpness +equal to the other's. "I thought of 'em all—and prepared for 'em. +I'm not playing. You put this thing up to me. I'm here to see it +through." +</P> + +<P> +"And then?" There was a shade of sarcasm in the millionaire's tone. +</P> + +<P> +"Then? Why, I could tell you lots of reasons why you can't do any of +these things. There's arguments that I don't guess you've missed +already. But, anyway, just one little fact 'll be sufficient to go on +with. You're here a captive, and you can't get away till I give the +word." +</P> + +<P> +For one of the very few times in his life James Carbhoy was seriously +disconcerted. Choler began to rise, and a hot flush tinged his cheeks +and his eyes sparkled. +</P> + +<P> +"You—would keep me here a prisoner—indefinitely?" he exploded. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not playing, Dad," Gordon warned. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon had risen from his chair, and the two stood eye to eye. It was +a tense moment, full of potent possibilities. One of them must give +way, or a clash would inevitably follow, a clash which would probably +destroy forever that perfect devotion which had always existed between +them. +</P> + +<P> +For Gordon it was a moment of extreme pain. But in him was no thought +of yielding. From his father it was his invincible determination to +force an acknowledgment of fitness in human affairs as he understood +them. +</P> + +<P> +At that moment there was no humor in the situation for him. +</P> + +<P> +In the older man, however, humor was perhaps more matured. Parental +affection, too, is perhaps a bigger, wider, deeper thing than the +filial emotions of youth. He had only intended to test this son of +his. His challenge had been intended to try him, to confound. But the +confounding had been with him in the shock of his son's irrevocable +determination. +</P> + +<P> +That moment of natural resentment passed as swiftly as it had arisen. +Gordon was all, and even more, he told himself dryly, than he had +hoped. And so the moment passed, and the hard, gray eyes melted to a +kindly, whimsical smile which had not one vestige of irony in it. +</P> + +<P> +"You're a blamed young scamp," he said cordially; "but—I'm afraid I +like you all the better for it. Say, do you think that little girl of +yours and her father have gone to bed yet?" +</P> + +<P> +Gordon reached across, holding out his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Dear old Dad," he cried, "I'm dead sure we'll find 'em both not a mile +the other side of that door. The game's played out, and—we quit?" +</P> + +<P> +The father caught his son's hand and wrung it. +</P> + +<P> +"It's played out, boy; and God bless you!" They stood for a moment +hand gripped in hand. Then the millionaire pointed at the door. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd like to see 'em before—daylight." +</P> + +<P> +With a delighted laugh Gordon turned away to the door and flung it open. +</P> + +<P> +"Say," he called, "Hazel! Ho! Mr. Mallinsbee!" +</P> + +<P> +In a moment Hazel had darted to her lover's side, and was followed more +decorously by the burly rancher, with his patch well down over one eye. +Gordon pointed at it. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess you can do without that, Mr. Mallinsbee. You're not going to +face an opponent; you're going to meet a—friend." +</P> + +<P> +He slid his arm about the girl's waist and drew her gently forward +towards his father standing waiting to receive her with humorously +twinkling eyes. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-354"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-354.jpg" ALT="He Drew Her Gently Towards His Father" BORDER="2"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center"> +He Drew Her Gently Towards His Father +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"So you're to be my little daughter," cried the millionaire kindly. +"Well, my dear, I'm glad. I like grit, and you've got it plenty. I +like a pretty face, and—but I guess Gordon's told you all about that. +Seeing you're to be my daughter—and Gordon's left me no choice in the +matter, the same as he left me no choice in other things—I feel I've +the right to tell you you're a pair of—as impertinent young rascals as +I've ever had the happiness to claim relationship with. Let me see, +just come here, and—Gordon owes me for many nights of anxiety, and I +guess I've a right to make him pay. I'll be satisfied with the payment +of a kiss from you." +</P> + +<P> +He held out his arms, and Hazel, with a joyous laugh and blushing +cheeks, ran to them. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, my dear," laughed the millionaire, as the girl frankly +kissed him. "And that's the change." He closed his arms about her and +returned her kiss. +</P> + +<P> +Then, when he had released her, he turned to Mallinsbee and held out +his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I can always make friends with the fellow who licks me, Mr. +Mallinsbee. I'm glad to meet you—with that patch removed from your +eye. The game's played and you've won, and I promise you all that's +been done in my name by my son goes. You see, henceforth he's my +partner now, so he's the right to act in my name. I'm trusting him +with my dollars, but you are trusting him with something far more +precious. I hope he'll prove as good a son to you as, I'm glad to say, +I consider he's been to me." +</P> + +<P> +Mallinsbee smiled a little sadly, and his eyes gazed tenderly in +Hazel's direction. +</P> + +<P> +"Directly that boy of yours come around, Mr. Carbhoy, I felt the chill +of winter beating up. I'm glad he come, though—I like him. But," he +added, with a sigh, "I'll sure need to bank those furnaces some." +</P> + +<P> +Hazel left the millionaire's side and crossed to her father, and passed +her arm about his vast waist. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't start yet, Daddy," she said, smiling up at the rugged face. "I +haven't left you yet, and when I do it's only going to be for a small +piece at a time." +</P> + +<P> +Silas Mallinsbee shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you worry, little gal," he said gently. "I guess this winter's +goin' to be a mild one. You see, I'm goin' to have a son as well as a +daughter, and—who knows?—maybe grandsons——" +</P> + +<P> +But Hazel had quickly pressed one hand over his lips and stifled the +possibilities he was about to enumerate. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon laughed, and his father smiled over at the other father. +</P> + +<P> +"See, Mr. Mallinsbee, we don't need to worry with the summer," Gordon +cried. "Summer generally fixes things right for itself. Meanwhile +we'll just make the winter as easy as we can. You've given your little +girl to me, and she's all you care for in the world. Well, that's a +trust that demands all the best I can give. I won't fail you. I won't +fail her. And you, Dad, I won't fail you." +</P> + +<P> +"Good boy," said the millionaire, with a glow of pride. "I just know +it, and—I know it for Mr. Mallinsbee and Hazel, too, if they don't +know it for themselves. Say——" +</P> + +<P> +For a moment his eyes grew serious. Then into them crept a gleam of +twinkling humor which found reflection on the faces of both Gordon and +Hazel, who waited for him to complete what he had to say. +</P> + +<P> +"You've told your mother, Gordon?" he inquired. "Seems to me you've +told her 'most everything in those—chatty—letters of yours." +</P> + +<P> +Gordon grinned and shook his head, while Hazel waited—not without some +apprehension. His father's smile gave way to a quaint expression of +awe at such negligence. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd say she'd be pleased, of course," the millionaire said, without +conviction. "It's a mercy not always bestowed on a boy to get a wife +like—Hazel. Your mother's a mighty good woman, Gordon, and I'll allow +she's got her ways about things. But she's good, and I guess she'll +just take to Hazel right away." +</P> + +<P> +There was no confidence in his manner, in spite of the bravery of his +words. But Gordon quickly cleared the atmosphere with his cheery +confidence. +</P> + +<P> +"You leave the dear old mater to me, Dad," he cried. "You see, you +only married her—she raised me. I'll write her to-night, and—say, +that reminds me," he added, glancing at his watch. "Daylight'll be +around directly. Hazel needs her rest. Hadn't we——" +</P> + +<P> +Hazel laughed. She had no real desire for bed, but she was tired, +weary with the strain of all the swiftly moving events. She caught at +his suggestion and demanded compliance. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she cried. "There's another day to-morrow. Oh, that wonderful +to-morrow! A long, bright, happy day in which we have nothing to +conceal, no wicked schemes to be worked out. A day of real happiness, +when we can just be our real selves. Let's all go to bed and dream our +dreams with the full certainty that, however happy our to-day is, +to-morrow has always the possibility of being happier." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +But Gordon did not write the promised letter that night. He held long +communion with himself, and decided to send a telegram. He realized +that diplomacy must be brought to bear, for his mother, with all her +exquisite qualities, possessed a slightly arbitrary side to her +character where her home and belongings were concerned. Therefore he +decided on a bold stroke. +</P> + +<P> +He sacrificed his own rest that night, and in doing so sacrificed that +of certain others. Sunset was roused from his equine slumbers, as also +was Steve Mason disturbed out of a portion of his night's rest. +</P> + +<P> +Gordon rode hard into Snake's Fall. He wished to make the return +journey before breakfast. On arrival at the township he ignored every +protest from the operator. He overruled him on every point, and was +prepared to back his overruling with physical force. +</P> + +<P> +Steve Mason was literally scrambled into his clothes and set to work at +those hated keys, and the New York call was sent singing over the wires. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile Gordon was left at work upon a sheet of paper upon which, +after considerable thought, his diplomatic effort resolved itself into +a piece of superlative effrontery. +</P> + +<P> +And this was the message which startled his mother over her morning +coffee and rolls, and incidentally sent a current of furious feminine +excitement through the entire Carbhoy establishment at Central Park, +like a sharp electric storm. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"<I>Mrs. James Carbhoy,</I><BR> + "<I>New York.</I><BR> +</P> + +<P> +"Gordon's work here beyond praise. Boy has done wonders. When you +hear all you will be proud of him. I am with him here now. Great +events developing. Am most anxious to form alliance with certain +people for financial reasons. Your influence required on social side. +You will understand when I say rich, desirable heiress. Gordon needs +persuasion. Come at once. Special to Snake's Fall. Will meet you at +latter depot. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"JAMES CARBHOY." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +When this message was handed to the impatient operator and he had +carefully read it over, the man looked up with what Gordon regarded as +an impertinent grin. +</P> + +<P> +His resentment promptly leaped. +</P> + +<P> +"Say," he cried in a threatening tone, "there's some faces made for +grinning, and others that couldn't win prizes that way amongst a crowd +of fool-faced mules. Guess yours was spoiled for any sort of chance +whatever, so cut out trying to make it worse than your parents made it +for you. Get me? Just play about on those fool keys and set the tune +of that message right, or Mr. James Carbhoy's going to hear things +quick." +</P> + +<P> +The threat of the President of the railroad was sufficient to enforce +compliance, but Steve Mason was no respector of persons outside that +authority, and his retort came glibly. +</P> + +<P> +"You wrote this, Mister, and—you ain't Mr. James Carbhoy," he said, +with a sneer and a half-threat. +</P> + +<P> +But Gordon was in no mood for trifling about anything. He was anxious +to be off back to the ranch. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. James Carbhoy is my father," he cried sharply, "and if that don't +penetrate your perfectly ridiculous brain-box I'll add that I'm the son +of my father—Mr. James Carbhoy. Are you needing anything, or—will +you get busy?" +</P> + +<P> +Steve Mason decided to "get busy," and so the message winged its way +over the wires. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="finis"> +THE END +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<HR> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap27"></A> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +BY THE SAME AUTHOR +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> +The Son of His Father<BR> +The Men Who Wrought<BR> +The Golden Woman<BR> +The Law-Breakers<BR> +The Way of the Strong<BR> +The Twins of Suffering Creek<BR> +The Night-Riders<BR> +The One-Way Trail<BR> +The Trail of the Axe<BR> +The Sheriff of Dyke Hole<BR> +The Watchers of the Plains<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Son of his Father, by Ridgwell Cullum + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SON OF HIS FATHER *** + +***** This file should be named 36170-h.htm or 36170-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/1/7/36170/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +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: The Son of his Father + +Author: Ridgwell Cullum + +Illustrator: Douglas Duer + +Release Date: May 30, 2011 [EBook #36170] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SON OF HIS FATHER *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: With Eyes Wide and Staring She Looked About Her] + + + + + +THE SON OF HIS FATHER + + +BY + +RIDGWELL CULLUM + + +AUTHOR OF + +"THE MEN WHO WROUGHT," "THE WAY OF THE STRONG," "THE NIGHT-RIDERS," +"THE WATCHERS OF THE PLAINS," ETC. + + + +Illustrations by + +DOUGLAS DUER + + + +PHILADELPHIA + +GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY + +PUBLISHERS + + + + +Copyright, 1915, by + +George W. Jacobs & Company + +_Published March, 1917_ + + +All rights reserved + +_Printed in U. S. A._ + + + + +TO + +G. RALPH HALL-CAINE + +WHOSE SYMPATHY WITH MY WORK HAS NEVER + +FAILED TO CHEER ME THROUGHOUT + +OUR LONG AND VALUED + +FRIENDSHIP + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAP. + + I Unrepentant + II In Chastened Mood + III Gordon Arrives + IV Gordon Lands at Snake's Fall + V A Letter Home + VI Gordon Prospects Snake's Fall + VII "Miss Hazel" + VIII At Buffalo Point + IX The First Check + X Gordon Makes His Bid for Fortune + XI Hazel Mallinsbee's Campaign + XII Thinking Hard + XIII Slosson Snatches at Opportunity + XIV The Reward of Victory + XV In Council + XVI Something Doing + XVII The Code Book + XVIII Ways that are Dark + XIX James Carbhoy Arrives + XX The Boom in Earnest + XXI A Trifle + XXII On the Trail + XXIII In New York + XXIV Preparing for the Finale + XXV The Rescue + XXVI Cashing In + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +With eyes wide and staring she looked about her . . . _Frontispiece_ + +Hazel was waiting for that sign + +He drew her gently towards his father + + + + +CHAPTER I + +UNREPENTANT + +"To wine, women and gambling, at the age of twenty-four--one hundred +thousand dollars. That's your bill, my boy, and--I've got to pay it." + +James Carbhoy leaned back smiling, his half-humorous eyes squarely +challenging his son, who was lounging in a luxurious morocco chair at +the other side of the desk. + +As the moments passed without producing any reply, he reached towards +the cabinet at his elbow and helped himself to a large cigar. Without +any scruple he tore the end off it with his strong teeth and struck a +match. + +"Well?" + +Gordon Carbhoy cleared his throat and looked serious. In spite of his +father's easy, smiling manner he knew that a crisis in his affairs had +been reached. He understood the iron will lying behind the pleasant +steel-gray eyes of his parent. It was a will that flinched at nothing, +a will that had carved for its owner a great fortune in America's most +strenuous financial arena, the railroad world. He also knew the only +way in which to meet his father's challenge with any hope of success. +Above everything else the millionaire demanded courage and +manhood--manhood as he understood it--from those whom he regarded well. + +"I'm waiting." + +Gordon stirred. The millionaire carefully lit his cigar. + +"Put that way it--sounds rotten, Dad, doesn't it?" Gordon's mobile +lips twisted humorously, and he also reached towards the cigar cabinet. + +But the older man intercepted him. He held out a box of lesser cigars. + +"Try one of these, Gordon. One of the others would add two dollars to +your bill. These are half the price." + +The two men smiled into each other's eyes. A great devotion lay +between them. But their regard was not likely to interfere with the +business in hand. + +Gordon helped himself. Then he rose from his chair. He moved across +the handsome room, towering enormously. His six feet three inches were +well matched by a great pair of athletic shoulders. His handsome face +bore no traces of the fast living implied by the enormous total of his +debts. The wholesome tan of outdoor sports left him a fine specimen of +the more brilliant youth of America. Then, too, in his humorous blue +eyes lay an extra dash of recklessness, which was probably due to his +superlative physical advantages. He came back to his chair and propped +his vast body on the back of it. His father was watching him +affectionately. + +"Dad," he exclaimed, "I'm--sorry." + +The other shook his head. + +"Don't say that. It's not true. I'd hate it to be true--anyway." + +Gordon's face lit. + +"You're--going to pay it?" + +"Sure. I'm not going to have our name stink in our home city. Sure +I'm going to pay it. But----" + +"But--what?" + +"So are you." + +The faint ticking of the bracket clock on the wall suddenly became like +the blows of a hammer. + +"I--I don't think I----" + +Young Gordon broke off. His merry eyes had suddenly become troubled. +The crisis was becoming acute. + +For some moments the millionaire smoked on luxuriously. Then he +removed his cigar and cleared his throat. + +"I'm not going to shout. That's not my way," he said in his easy, +deliberate fashion. "Guess folks have got to be young, and the younger +they're young--why, the better. I was young, and--got over it. You're +going to get over it. I figure to help you that way. This is not the +first bill you've handed me, but--but it's going to be the last. Guess +your baby clothes can be packed right up. Maybe they'll be all the +better for it when you hand 'em on to--your kiddie." + +The trouble had passed out of the younger man's eyes. They were filled +with the humor inspired by his father's manner of dealing with the +affair in hand. + +"That's all right," he said. "I seem to get that clear enough." + +"I'm glad." The millionaire twisted the cigar into the corner of his +mouth. "We can pass right on to--other things. You've been one of my +secretaries for three years, and it don't seem to me the work's worried +you a lot. Still, I put you in early thinking you'd get interested in +the source of the dollars you were handing out in bunches. Maybe it +wasn't the best way of doing it. Still, I had to try it. You see, +it's a great organization I control--though you may not know it. I +control more millions than you could count on your fingers and toes, +and they've cost me some mental sweat gathering 'em together. Some day +you've got to sit in this chair and talk over this 'phone, and when you +do you'll be--a man. You see, I don't fancy my pile being invested in +cut flowers and automobiles for lady friends. I don't seem to have +heard that thousand-dollar parties to boys who can't smoke a five-cent +cigar right, and girls who're just out for a good time anyway, are +liable to bring you interest on the capital invested, except in the way +of contempt. And five-thousand dollar apartments are calculated to +rival the luxury of Rome before its fall. Big play at 'draw' and +'auction' are two diseases not provided for amongst the cures in patent +med'cine advertisements, and as for the older vintages in wines, +they're only permissible in folks who've quit worrying to scratch +dollars together. None of these things seem to me good business, and +in a man at the outset of his career some of 'em are--immoral. You've +had your preliminary run, and I'll admit you've shown a fine turn of +speed. But it smacks too much of the race-track, and seems to me quite +unsuited to the hard highroad of big finance you're destined to travel. + +"Just one moment," he went on, as, with flushing cheeks and half-angry +eyes, his son was about to break in. "You haven't got the point of +this talk yet. This bill you've handed me don't figure as largely in +it as you might guess. I've thought about things these months. I +don't blame you a thing. I'm not kicking. The fact you've got to grab +and get your hind teeth into is that there comes a time when two can't +spend one fortune with any degree of amicability. It's a sort of +proposition like two dogs and a bone. Now from a canine point of view +that bone certainly belongs to one of those dogs. No two dogs ever +stole a bone together. Consequently, the situation ends in a scrap, +and it isn't always a cert. that the right thief gets the bone. How it +would work out between us I'm not prepared to guess, but, as 'scrap' +don't belong to the vocabulary between us, we'll handle the matter in +another way. Seeing the fortune--at present--belongs to me, I'll do +the spending in--my own way. My way is mighty simple, too, as far as +you're concerned. I'm going to stake you all you need, so you can get +out and find a bone you can worry on _your own_. That's how you're +going to pay this bill. You're going to get busy quitting play. We +are, and always have been, and always will be, just two great big +friends, and I'd like you to remember that when I say that the life +you're living is all right for a boy, but in a man it leads to dirty +ditches that aren't easy climbing out of, and--you can't do clean work +with dirty hands. When you've shown me you're capable of collecting a +bone for your own worrying--why, you can come right back here, and I'll +be pleased and proud to hand over the reins of this organization, and +I'll be mighty content to sit around in one of the back seats and get +busy with the applause. Now you talk." + +Gordon began without a moment's hesitation. Something of his heat had +passed, but it still remained near the surface. + +"Quite time I did," he cried almost sharply. "Look here, father, I +don't think you meant all you said the way your talk conveyed it. To +me the most important of your talk is the implied immorality of my mode +of life. Then the inconsistent fashion in which you point my way +towards--big finance." + +His eyes lit again. They had suddenly become dangerously bright. + +"Here, we're not going to quarrel, nor get angry," he went on, +gathering heat of manner even in his denial. "We're too great friends +for that, and you've always been too good a sportsman to me, but--but +I'm not going to sit and listen to you or anybody else accusing me of +immorality without kicking with all my strength!" + +He brought one great fist down on the desk with a bang that set the +ink-wells and other objects dancing perilously. + +"I'm not angry with you. I couldn't get angry with you," he proceeded, +with a suppressed excitement that added to his father's smile; "but I +tell you right here I'll not stand for it from you or anybody. My only +crime is spending your money, which you have always encouraged me to +do. From my university days to now my whole leisure has been given up +to athletics. A man can't live immorally and win the contests I have +won. I don't need to name them. Boxing, sculling, running, baseball, +swimming. You know that. Any sane man knows that. The money I've +spent has been spent in the ordinary course of the life to which you +have brought me up. You have always impressed on me the great position +you occupy and the necessity for keeping my end up. That's all I have +to say about my debts, but I have something to say on the subject of +the inconsistency with which you censure immorality in the same breath +as you demand my immediate plunge into the mire of big finance." + +He paused for a moment. Then, as abruptly as it had arisen, his heat +died down, and gave place to the ready humor of his real nature. + +"Gee, I want to laugh!" He sprang from his seat and began to pace the +floor, talking as he moved. His father watched him with twinkling, +affectionate eyes. "Immorality? Psha! Was there ever anything more +immoral than modern finance? You imply I have learned nothing of your +organization in the three years I've been one of your secretaries. +Dad," he warned, "I've learned enough to have a profound contempt for +the methods of big corporations in this country, or anywhere else. +It's all graft--graft of one sort or another. Do you need me to tell +_you_ of it? No, I don't think so. Twenty-five millions wouldn't +cover the fortune you've made. I know that well enough. How has it +been made? Here, I'll just give you one instance of the machinations +of a big corporation. How did you gain control of the Union Grayling +and Ukataw Railroad? Psha! What's the use? You know. You hammered +it, hammered it to nothing. You got your own people into it, and sat +back while they ran it nearly into bankruptcy under your orders. Then +you bought. Bought it right up, and--sent it ahead. Immoral? It +makes me sweat to think of the people who must have lost fortunes in +that scoop. Immoral? Why, I tell you, Dad, any man can make a pile if +he sticks to the old saw: 'Don't butt up against the law--just dodge +it.' It's only difficult for the fellow who remembers his +Sunday-school days. So far, Dad, I've avoided immorality. I'm waiting +till I start on big finance to become its victim. That's my talk. Now +you do some." + +His father nodded. Then he said dryly, "This carpet cost me five +hundred dollars, that chair fifty. Try the chair." + +Gordon laughed at the imperturbable smile on his father's face, but he +flung his great body into the chair. + +James Carbhoy deliberately knocked the ash from his cigar. It was many +years since he had received such a straight talk from any man. Some of +it had stung--stung sharply, but the justice or injustice of it he set +aside. His whole mind and heart were upon other matters. He took no +umbrage. He swept all personal feeling aside and regarded the boy whom +he idolized. + +"We've both made some talk," he observed, "but I think the last word's +with me. I don't seem to be sure which of us has put up the bluff. +Maybe we both have. Anyway, right here and now I'm going to call your +hand. I offered you a stake. You say it's easy to make a pile. Can +you make a pile?" + +Gordon shrugged. + +"Why, yes. If I follow your wish and embark on--big finance. +And--forget my Sunday school." + +The millionaire gathered up the sheaf of loose accounts on the desk and +held them up. His smile was grim and challenging. + +"One hundred thousand dollars these bills represent. The cashier will +hand you a check for that amount. Say, you've shown your ability to +spend that amount; can you show your ability to make it?" + +For a moment the boy's blue eyes avoided the half-ironical smile of his +father's. Then suddenly they returned the steady gaze, and a flush +spread swiftly over his handsome face. Something of his father's +purpose was dawning upon him. He began to realize that the man who had +made those many millions was far too clever for him when it came to +debate. He squared his shoulders obstinately and took up the +challenge. There was no other course for him. But even as he accepted +it his heart sank at the prospect. + +"Certainly," he cried. "Certainly--with a stake to start me." + +His father nodded. + +"Sure. That goes," he said. + +Then he laid the papers on the desk, and his whole manner underwent a +further change. His eyes seemed to harden with the light of battle. +There was an ironical skepticism in them. Even there was a shadow of +contempt. For the moment it seemed as if he had forgotten that the man +before him was his son, and regarded him merely as some rival financier +seeking to beat him in a deal. + +"I'll hand you one hundred thousand dollars. That's your stake. This +is the way you'll pay those bills. You'll leave this city in +twenty-four hours. You can go where you choose, do what you choose. +But you must return here in twelve months' time with exactly double +that sum. I make no conditions as to how you make the money. That's +right up to you. I shall ask no questions, and blame you for no +process you adopt, however much I disapprove. Then, to show you how +certain I am you can't do it--why, if you make good, there's a +half-share partnership in my organization waiting right here for you." + +"A half-share partnership?" Gordon repeated incredulously. "You +said--a half-share?" + +"That's precisely what I said." + +All of a sudden the younger man flung back his head and laughed aloud. + +"Why, Dad, I stand to win right along the line--anyway," he exclaimed. + +The older man's eyes softened. + +"Maybe it's just how you look at it." + +The change in his father's manner was quite lost upon Gordon. He only +saw his enormous advantage in this one-sided bargain. + +"Say, Dad, was there ever such a father as I've got?" he cried +exuberantly. "Never, never! But you're not going to monopolize all +the sportsmanship. I can play the game, too. I don't need one hundred +thousand dollars on this game. I don't need twelve months to do it in. +I'm not going to cut twelve months out of our lives together. Six is +all I need. Six months, and five thousand dollars' stake. That's what +I need. Give me that, and I'll be back with one hundred and five +thousand dollars in six months' time. I haven't a notion where I'm +going or what I'm going to do. All I know is you've put it up to me to +make good, and I'm going to. I'll get that money if--if I have to rob +a bank." + +The boy's recklessness was too much for the gravity of the financier. +He sat back and laughed. He flung his half-smoked cigar away, and in a +moment father and son had joined in a duel of loud-voiced mirth. + +Presently, however, their laughter died out. The millionaire sprang to +his feet. His eyes were shining with delight. + +"I don't care a darn how you do it, boy," he cried. "As you say, it's +up to you. You see, I've got over my Sunday-school days, as you so +delicately reminded me. That's by the way. But there's more in this +than maybe you get right. You're going to learn that no graft can turn +five thousand dollars into one hundred thousand in six months without a +mighty fine commercial brain behind it. It's that brain I'm looking +for in my son. Now get along and see your mother and sister. You've +only got twenty-four hours' grace. Leave these bills to me. You're +making a bid for the greatest fortune ever staked in a wager, and +things like that don't stand for any delay. Get out, Gordon, boy; get +out and--make good." + +He held one powerful hand out across the desk, and Gordon promptly +seized and wrung it. + +"Good-by, Dad, and--God bless you." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +IN CHASTENED MOOD + +Of course, the whole thing was ridiculous. Gordon knew that. No one +could know it better. The more he thought about it the more surely he +was certain of it. He told himself that he, personally, had behaved +like a first-class madman over the whole affair. How on earth was he +to make one hundred thousand dollars in six months? It couldn't be +done. That was all. It simply couldn't be done. What power of +mischief had driven him to charge his highly respectable father with +graft? It was a rotten thing to do anyway. And it served him right +that it had come back on him by pointing the way to the present +impossible situation. + +He was perfectly disgusted with himself. + +But after a while he began to chuckle. The thing was not without an +atmosphere of humor--of a sort. No doubt his friends would have seen a +tremendous humor in the idea of his making one hundred thousand dollars +under any conditions. + +One hundred thousand dollars! What a tremendous sum it sounded viewed +from the standpoint of his having to make it. He had never considered +it a vast sum before. But now it seemed to grow and grow every time he +thought of it. Then he laughed. What stupid things "noughts" were. +They meant so much just now, and, in reality, they mean nothing at all. + +Oh, dear. The whole thing was a terrible trouble. It was worse. It +was a tragedy. But--he mustn't give his friends the laugh on him. +That would be the last straw. No. The whole thing should remain a +secret between his father and himself. He almost broke into a sweat as +he suddenly remembered the Press. What wouldn't the Press do with the +story. The son and heir of James Carbhoy, the well-known +multi-millionaire, leaving home to show the world how to make one +hundred thousand dollars in record time! A stupendous farce. Then the +swarm of reporters buzzing about him like a cloud of flies in summer +time. The prospect was too depressing. Think of the columns in the +Press, especially the cheaper Press. They would haunt him from New +York to--Timbuctoo! + +It couldn't be done. He felt certain that in such circumstances +suicide would be justifiable. Thoughts such as these swept on through +his disturbed brain as he sped up Broadway on his way to say good-by to +his mother and sister. He had been lucky in finding his father's +high-powered automobile standing outside the palatial entrance of the +towering Carbhoy Building. Nor had he the least scruple in +commandeering it. + +His visit to the east side of Central Park was in the nature of a +whirlwind. He had no desire to be questioned, and he knew his young +sister, Gracie, too well to give her a chance in that direction. Their +friends were wont to say that, for one so young--she was only +thirteen--she was all wit and intellect. He felt that that was because +she was his father's daughter. For himself he was positive she was all +precocity and impertinence. And he told himself he was quite +unprejudiced. + +As for his mother, she was one of those gentle Southern women who +declare that no woman has the right to question the doings of the male +members of her household, and, in spite of the luxury with which she +was surrounded, and which she never failed to feel the burden of--she +was originally a small farmer's daughter--still yearned for that homely +meal of her youth, "supper"--a collation of coffee, cakes, preserves +and cold meats. + +Experience warned him that he must give her no inkling of the real +facts. She would be too terribly shocked at the revelation. + +So, for an hour or more, in the little family circle, in his mother's +splendid boudoir, he talked of everything but his own affairs. Nor was +it until he was in the act of taking his leave that he warned them both +that he was leaving the city for six months. He felt it was a cowardly +thing to do, but, having fired his bombshell in their midst, he fled +precipitately before its stunning effect had time to pass away. + +Off he sped, the automobile urged to a dangerous speed, and it was with +a great sense of relief that he finally reached his own apartment on +Riverside Drive. + +Letting himself in, he found his man, Harding, waiting for him. + +"Mrs. Carbhoy has been ringing you up, sir," he said in the level tones +of a well-trained servant. "She wants to speak to you, sir--most +important." + +Gordon hardened his heart. + +"Disconnect the 'phone then," he said sharply, and flung himself into a +great settle which stood in the domed hall. + +"Very good, sir." + +The man was moving away. + +"If my mother or sister should come here, I'm out. Send word down to +the office that there's no one in." + +The valet's face was quite expressionless. Gordon Carbhoy had his own +way of dealing with his affairs. Harding understood this. He was also +devoted to his master. + +"Yes, sir." + +He vanished out of the hall. + +Left alone a great change came over Gordon. The old buoyancy and humor +seemed suddenly to fall from him. For once his eyes were perfectly, +almost painfully serious. He stared about him, searching the +remoteness of his surroundings, his eyes and thoughts dwelling on the +luxury of the apartment he had occupied for the last three years. It +was a two-floored masterpiece of builder's ingenuity. It was to be his +home no longer. + +That splendid domed hall had been the scene of many innocent revels. +Yes, in spite of the accusation of immorality, his parties had been +innocent enough. He had entertained the boys and girls of his +acquaintance royally, but--innocently. Well, that was all done with. +It was just a memory. The future was his concern. + +The future. And that depended on his own exertions. For a moment the +seriousness of his mood lifted. Surely his own exertions as a business +man was a broken reed to---- What about failure? What was to +follow--failure? He hadn't thought of it, and his father hadn't spoken +of it. + +Suddenly the cloud settled again, and a sort of panic swept over him. +Did his father intend to--kick him out? It almost looked like it. And +yet---- Had he intended this stake as his last? What a perfect fool +he had been to refuse the hundred thousand dollars. Then, in a moment, +his panic passed. He was glad he had done so--anyway. + +He selected a cigar from his case and sniffed at it. He remembered his +father's. His handsome blue eyes were twinkling. His own cigars cost +half a dollar more than his father's, and the fact amused him. He cut +the end carefully and lit it. Then he leaned back on the cushions and +resigned himself to the reflection that these things, too, must go with +the rest. They, too, must become a mere memory. + +"Harding!" he called. + +The man appeared almost magically. + +"Harding, have you ever smoked a--five-cent cigar?" he inquired +thoughtfully. + +The valet cleared his throat. + +"I'm sorry to say, sir, I haven't." + +"Sorry?" Gordon's eyes were smiling. + +"A mere figure of speech, sir." + +"Ah--I see. They must be--painful." + +"Very, I should think, sir. But, beg pardon, sir, I believe in +some--ahem--low places, they sell two for five cents!" + +"Two? I--I wonder if the sanitary authorities know about it." + +Gordon smiled into the serious face of his devoted henchman. Then he +went on rapidly-- + +"What baggage do you suggest for a six months' trip?" + +"Europe, sir?" + +"No." + +"South, sir?" + +"I--haven't made up my mind." + +"General then, sir. That'll need more. There's the three large +trunks. The steamer trunk. Four suit cases. Will you need your polo +kit, sir, and your----?" + +Gordon shook his head. + +"Guess your focus needs adjusting. Now, suppose you were getting a man +ready for a six months' trip--a man who smoked those two-for-five +cigars. What would you give him?" + +Harding's eyelids flickered. He sighed. + +"It would be difficult, sir. I shouldn't give him clean +under-garments, sir. I should suggest the oldest suit I could find. +You see, sir, it would be waste to give him a good suit. The axles of +those box cars are so greasy. I'm not sure about a toothbrush." + +"Your focus is adjusting itself." + +"Yes, sir, thank you, sir." + +"And the five-cent-cigar man?" + +Harding's verdict came promptly. + +"A hand bag with one good suit and ablutionary utensils, sir. Also +strong, warm under-garments, and a thick overcoat. One spare pair of +boots. You see, sir, he could carry that himself." + +"Good," cried Gordon delightedly. "You prepare for that +five-cent-cigar man. Now I want some food. Better ring down to the +restaurant." + +"Yes, sir. An oyster cocktail? Squab on toast, or a little pheasant? +What about sweets, sir, and what wine will you take?" + +"Great gods no, man! Nothing like that. Think of your five-cent-cigar +man. What would he have? Why, sandwiches. You know, nice thick ones, +mostly bread. No. Wait a bit. I know. A club sandwich. Two club +sandwiches, and a bottle of domestic lager. Two things I +hate--eternally. We must equip ourselves, Harding. We must mortify +the flesh. We must readjust our focus, and outrage all our more +delicate susceptibilities. We must reduce ourselves to the +requirements of the five-cent-cigar man, and turn a happy, smiling +world into a dark and drear struggle for existence. See to it, good +Harding, see to it." + +The man withdrew, puzzled. Used as he was to Gordon's vagaries, the +thought of his master dining off two hideous club sandwiches and a +bottle of _domestic_ lager made his staunch stomach positively turn. + +His perfect training, however, permitted of no verbal protest. And he +waited on the diner with as much care for punctilio as though a formal +banquet were in progress. Then came another violent shock to his +feelings. Gordon leaned back in his chair with a sigh of amused +contentment. + +"Do you think you could get me a--five-cent cigar, Harding?" he +demanded. "Say, I enjoyed that food. That unique combination of +chicken, hot bacon and--and something pickly--why, it's great. And as +for _domestic_ lager--it's got wine beaten a mile. Guess I'm mighty +anxious to explore a--five-cent cigar." + +Harding cleared his throat. + +"I'll do my best, sir. It may be difficult, but I'll do my best. I'll +consult the clerk downstairs. He smokes very bad cigars, sir." + +"Good. You get busy. I'll be around in my den." + +"Yes, sir," Harding hesitated. Then with an unusual diffidence, +"Coffee, sir? A little of the '48 brandy, sir?" + +Gordon stared. + +"Can I believe my ears? Spoil a dinner like that with--'48 brandy? +I'm astonished, Harding. That focus, man; that five-cent-cigar focus!" + +Gordon hurried off into his den with a laugh. Harding gazed after him +with puzzled, respectful eyes. + +Once in the privacy of his den, half office, half library, and wholly a +room of comfort, Gordon forgot his laugh. His mind was quite made up, +and he knew that a long evening's work lay before him. + +He picked up the receiver of his private 'phone to his father's office +and sat down at the desk. + +"Hello! Hello! Ah! That you, Harker? Splendid. Guess I'm glad I +caught you. Working late, eh? Sure. It's the way in er--big finance. +Yes. Got to lie awake at nights to do the other feller. Say. No. +Oh, no, that's not what I rang you up for. It's about--finance. Ha, +ha! It's a check for me. Did the governor leave me one? Good. Five +thousand dollars, isn't it? Well, say, don't place it to my credit. +Get cash for it to-morrow, and send it along to---- Let me see. Yes, +I know. You send along a bright clerk with it. He can meet me at the +Pennsylvania Depot to-morrow, at noon--sharp. Yes. In the +waiting-room. Get that? Good. So long." + +"That's that," he muttered, as he replaced the receiver. "Now for +Charlie Spiers." + +He turned to the ordinary 'phone, picked up the receiver, gave the +operator the number, and waited. + +"Hello! Hello, hello, hello! That you, Charlie? Bully. I wasn't +sure getting you. Guess my luck's right in. How are you? Goo---- +No, better not come around to-night. Fact is, I'm up to my back teeth +packing and things. I've got to be away awhile. Business--important." +He laughed. "Don't get funny. It's not play. No. Eh? What's that? +A lady? Quit it. If there's a thing I can't stand just about now it's +a suggestion of immorality. I mean that. The word 'immoral' 's about +enough to set me chasing Broadway barking and foaming at the mouth. I +said I'm going away on business, and it's so important that not even my +mother knows where I'm going. Yes. Ah, I'm glad you feel that way. +It's serious. Now, listen to me; it's up to you to do me a kindness. +I'm going to write the mater now and again. But I can't mail direct, +or she'll know where I am, see? Well, I can send her mail under cover +to you, and you can mail it on to her. Get me? Now, that way, you'll +know just where I am. That's so. Well, you've got to swear right +along over the wire you won't tell a soul. Not the governor, or the +mater, or Gracie, or--or anybody. No, I don't need you to cuss like a +railroader about it. Just swear properly. That's it. That's fine. +On your soul and honor. Fine. I'm glad you added the 'honor' racket, +it makes things plumb sure. Oh, yes, your soul's all right in its way. +But---- Good-by, boy. I'll see you six months from to-day. No. Too +busy. So long." + +Gordon hung up the receiver and turned back to his desk with a sigh. +He opened a drawer and took out his check-book, and gave himself up to +a few minutes of figures. There was not a great deal of money to his +credit at the bank, but it was sufficient for his purposes. He wrote +and signed three checks. Then he tore the remaining blanks up and +flung them into the waste-basket. + +After that he turned his attention to a systematic examination of his +papers. It was a long, and not uninteresting process, but one that +took a vast amount of patience. He tore up letter after letter, +photographs, bills, every sort of document which a bachelor seems +always to accumulate when troubled by the disease of youth. + +In the midst of his labors he came across his father's private code for +cable and telegraph. It brought back to him the memory of his position +as one of his father's secretaries. He smiled as he glanced through +it. It must be sent back to the office. He would hand it to the clerk +who brought him his money in the morning. So he placed it carefully in +the inside pocket of his coat and continued his labors. + +Half an hour later Harding appeared. + +"Beg pardon, sir," he said. "I had some difficulty, but"--he held up +an oily-looking cigar with a flaming label about its middle, between +his finger and thumb--"I succeeded in obtaining one. I had to take +three surface cars, and finally had to go to Fourth Avenue. It was a +lower place than I expected, sir, seeing that it was a five-cent cigar." + +"That means it cost me twenty cents, Harding--unless you were able to +transfer." + +Gordon eyed the man's expressionless face quizzically. + +"I'm sorry, sir. But I forgot about the transfer tickets." + +Gordon sighed with pretended regret. + +"I'm sure guessing it's--bad finance. We ought to do better." + +"I could have saved the fares if I'd taken your car, sir," said +Harding, with a flicker of the eyelids. + +"Splendid, gasoline at thirteen cents, and the price of tires going up." + +Gordon drummed on the desk with his fingers and became thoughtful. He +had a painful duty yet to perform. + +"Harding," he said at last, with a genuine sigh, his eyes painfully +serious. "We've got to go different ways. You've--got to quit." + +The valet's face never moved a muscle. + +"Yes, sir." + +"Right away." + +"Yes, sir." + +Then the man cleared his throat, and laid the oily-looking cigar on the +desk. + +"I trust, sir, I've given satisfaction?" + +"Satisfaction?" Gordon's tone expressed the most cordial appreciation. +"Satisfaction don't express it. I couldn't have kept up the farce of +existence without you. You are the best fellow in the world. Guess +it's I who haven't given satisfaction." + +"Yes, sir." + +"Oh--you agree?" + +"Yes, sir. That is, no, sir." + +Harding passed one thin hand across his forehead, and the movement was +one of perplexity. It was the only gesture he permitted himself as any +expression of feeling. + +"I'm going away for six months--as a five-cent-cigar man," Gordon went +on, disguising his regret under a smile of humor. "I'm going away +on--business." + +"Yes, sir." The respectful agreement came in a monotonous tone. + +"So you'll--just have to quit. That's all." + +"Yes, sir." + +"Ye-es." + +"You will--need a man when you come back, sir?" The eagerness was +unmistakable to Gordon. + +"I--hope so." + +Harding's face brightened. + +"I will accept temporary employment then, sir. Thank you, sir." + +Gordon wondered. Then he cleared his throat, and held out two of the +checks he had written. + +"Here's two months' wages," he said. "One is your due. Guess the +other's the same, only--it's a present. Now, get this. You'll need to +see everything cleared right out of this shanty, and stored at the +Manhattan deposit. When that's done, get right along and report things +to my father, and hand him your accounts for settlement. All my cigars +and cigarettes and wine and things, why, I guess you can have for a +present. It don't seem reasonable to me condemning you to five-cent +cigars and domestic lager. Now pack me one grip, as you said. I'll +wear the suit I've got on. Mind, I need a grip I can tote +myself--full." + +"Very good, sir. Thank you, sir. Anything else, sir?" + +"Why, yes." Gordon was smiling again. "Hand this check in at the bank +when it opens to-morrow, and get me cash for it, and bring it right +along. That's all, except you'd better get me another disgusting +sandwich, and another bottle of tragedy beer for my supper. There's +nothing else." + +With a resolute air Gordon turned back to his work, as, with an obvious +sigh of regret, Harding silently withdrew. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +GORDON ARRIVES + +Gordon Carbhoy sat hunched up in his seat. His great shoulders, so +square and broad, seemed to fill up far more space than he was entitled +to. His cheerful face showed no signs of the impatience and +irritability he was really enduring. A seraphic contentment alone +shone in his clear blue eyes. He was a picture of the youthful +conviction that life was in reality a very pleasant thing, and that +there did not exist a single cloud upon the delicately tinted horizon +of his own particular portion of it. + +In spite of this outward seeming, however, he was by no means easy. +Every now and again he would stand up and ease the tightness of his +trousers about his knees. He felt dirty, too, dirty and untidy, +notwithstanding the fact that he had washed himself, and brushed his +hair, many times in the cramped compartment of the train devoted to +that purpose. Then he would fling himself into his corner again and +give his attention to the monotonously level landscape beyond the +window and strive to forget the stale odor so peculiar to all railroad +cars, especially in summer time. + +These were movements and efforts he had made a hundred times since +leaving the great terminal in New York. He had slept in his corner. +He had eaten cheaply in the dining-car. He had smoked one of the +delicious cigars, from the box which the faithful Harding had secreted +in his grip, in the smoker ahead. He had read every line in the +magazines he had provided himself with, even to the advertisements. + +The time hung heavily, drearily. The train grumbled, and shook, and +jolted its ponderous way on across the vast American continent. It was +all very tedious. + +Then the endless stream of thought, often fantastic, always +unconvincing, always leading up to those ridiculous cyphers +representing one hundred thousand dollars. If only they were numerals. +Nice, odd numerals. He was a firm believer in the luck of odd numbers. +But no. It was always "noughts." Most disgusting "noughts." + +He yawned for about the thousandth time on his two days' journey, and +wondered hopelessly how many more times he would yawn before he reached +the Pacific. + +Hello! The conductor was coming through again. Going to tear off more +ticket, Gordon supposed. That tearing off was most interesting. He +wondered if the ticket would last out till he reached Seattle. He +supposed so. + +Seattle! The Yukon! The Yukon certainly suggested fortune, the making +of a rapid fortune. But how? One hundred thousand dollars! There it +was again. + +His eyes were following the movements of the rubicund conductor. The +man looked enormously self-satisfied, and was certainly bursting with +authority and adipose tissue. He wondered if he couldn't annoy him +some way. It would be good to annoy some one. He closed his smiling +eyes and feigned sleep. + +The vast bulk of blue uniform and brass buttons bore down upon him. It +reached his "pew," dropped into the seat opposite, and tweaked him by +the coat sleeve. + +Gordon opened his eyes with a pretended start. + +"Where are we?" he demanded irritably. + +"Som'eres between the devil an' the deep sea, I guess," grinned the +man. "Your--ticket." + +Gordon began to fumble slowly through his pockets. He knew precisely +where his ticket was, but he searched carefully and deliberately in +every other possible place. The man waited, breathing heavily. He +displayed not the slightest sign of the annoyance desired. At last +Gordon turned out the inside pocket of his coat. The first thing he +discovered amongst its contents was his father's private code book, and +the annoyance was in his eyes rather than in those of the conductor. +His resolve to return it had been entirely forgotten. + +He forthwith produced his ticket. + +"The devil's behind us, I s'pose," said Gordon. "Anyway, we're told +it's the right place for him. I'll be glad when we reach the sea." + +The conductor examined the ticket, while Gordon returned the code book +to his pocket. + +"Ah, Seattle," the brassbound official murmured. Then he looked into +the now smiling face before him. "You ain't for Snake's Fall?" + +"Guess I shouldn't have paid for a ticket to Seattle if I were," Gordon +retorted with some sarcasm. + +"That's so," observed the official, quite undisturbed. "I knew one guy +was for Seattle. I was kind o' wondering 'bout him. Se-attle," he +murmured reflectively. + +"On the coast. A seaport. Puget Sound," said Gordon objectionably. + +"A low down sailor town on the side of a hill, wher' if you ain't +climbin' up you're mostly fallin' down. Wher' it rains nigh six months +o' the year, an' parboils you the rest. Wher' every bum going to or +coming from the Yukon gets thoroughly soused and plays the fool +gener'ly." + +The man's retort was as pointedly objectionable as Gordon's had been, +and the challenge of it stirred the latter's sense of humor. + +"Guess I'm one of the bums 'going to,'" he said cheerfully. The man's +fat-surrounded eyes ceased to grin. + +"Startin' fer the Yukon in--July? Never heard of it," he said, with a +shake of the head. "It's as ridiculous as startin' fer hell in summer +time. You'll make Alaska when she freezes up, and sit around till she +opens next spring. Say----" + +"You mean I'll get hung up for--ten months?" cried Gordon aghast. + +"Jest depends on your business." + +"Yes, of course." + +Gordon's heart sank as the man grunted up from his seat, and handed him +back his mutilated ticket. He watched him pass on down the car and +finally vanish through the doorway of the parlor-car beyond. Then his +eyes came back to his surroundings. He stared at the heads of his +fellow travelers dotting the tops of the seats about him. Then his +eyes dropped to his grip on the opposite seat lying under his overcoat, +and again, later, they turned reflectively towards the window. Ten +months. Ten months, and he only had six before him in which to +accomplish his purpose. Was there ever a more perfect imbecile? Was +there ever such a fool trick? + +A smile of chagrin grew in his eyes as he remembered how he had arrived +at the Pennsylvania Depot, and had studied the list of places to which +he could go, seeking to find in the names an inspiration for the +accomplishment of his purpose. There had been so many that his amazed +head had been set whirling. There he had stood, wondering and gawking +like some foolish country "Rube," without one single idea beyond the +fact that he must go somewhere and make one hundred thousand dollars in +six months' time. + +Then had come that one illuminating flash. He saw the name in great +capital letters in an advertisement. "The Yukon." Of course. It was +the one and only place in the world for quick fortunes, and forthwith +he had booked his passage to Seattle. + +Nor was he likely to forget his immense satisfaction when he heard +Harding's respectful "Yes, sir," in response to his information. Now +he certainly was convinced that he was own brother to the finest bred +jackass in the whole wide world. However, there was nothing to be done +but go on to Seattle. He had paid for his ticket, and, Providence +willing, to Seattle he would go. + +But Providence had its own ideas upon the matter. Furthermore, +Providence began at once to set its own machinery working in his +behalf. It was the same Providence that looks after drunken men and +imbeciles. Half an hour later it impelled him to gather up his traps +and pass forward into the smoker, accompanied by one of his own big, +expensive cigars. + +He pushed his way into the car through the narrow door of +communication. A haze of tobacco smoke blurred his view, but at once +he became aware of a single, melancholy, benevolent eye gazing steadily +at him. + +It was an amiable eye and withal shrewd. Also it was surrounded by a +shaggy dark brow. This had a fellow, too, but the eye belonging to the +fellow was concealed beneath what was intended to be a flesh-tinted +cover, secured in place by elastic round its owner's head. + +The surrounding face was rugged and weather tanned. And it finished +with a mop of iron-gray hair at one end, and an aggressively tufted +chin beard at the other. But the thrusting whisker could not disguise +the general strength of the face. + +Below this was a spread of large body clad in a store suit of some +pretensions, but of ill fit, and a heavy gold watchchain and a large +diamond pin in the neckwear suggested opulence. Furthermore, One Eye +suggested the prime of middle life, and robust health and satisfaction. + +There was only one other occupant of the car. He was two or three +seats away, across the aisle. He promptly claimed Gordon's attention. +He was amusing himself by shooting "crap" on a baize-covered +traveling-table. Both men were smoking hard, and, by the density of +the atmosphere, and the aroma, the newcomer estimated that they, unlike +himself, were not five-cent-cigar men. + +He paused at the dice thrower's seat and watched the proceedings. The +man appeared not to notice his approach at all, and continued to labor +on with his pastime, carrying on a muttered address to the obdurate +"bones." + +"Come 'sev,'" he muttered again and again, as he flung the dice on the +table with a flick of the fingers. + +But the "seven" would not come up, and at last he raised a pair of keen +black eyes to Gordon's face. + +"Cussed things, them durned bones," he said briefly, and went on with +his play. + +Gordon smiled. + +"It's like most things. It's luck that tells." + +The player grinned down at the dice and nodded agreement, while he +continued his muttered demands. Gordon flung his traps into another +seat, and sat himself down opposite the man. Crap dice never failed to +fascinate him. + +The melancholy benevolence of One Eye remained fixed upon the pair. + +The seven refused to come up, and finally the player desisted. + +"Sort of workin' calculations," he explained, with an amiable grin. +"An' they don't calc worth a cent. As you say, the hull blamed thing +is chance. Sevens, or any other old things 'll just come up when they +darned please, and neither me nor any other feller can make 'em +come--playin' straight." + +The man bared his gold-filled teeth in another amiable grin. And +Gordon fell. + +His unsuspicious mind was quite unable to appreciate the obvious cut of +the man. The rather flashy style of his clothes. The keen, quick, +black eyes. The disarming ingenuousness of his manner and speech. +These things meant nothing to him. The men he knew were as ready to +win or lose a few hundred dollars on the turn of a card as they were to +drink a cocktail. The thought of sharp practice in gambling was +something which never entered their heads. + +He drew out a dollar bill and laid it on the table. The sight of it +across the aisle made One Eye blink. But the black-eyed stranger +promptly covered it, and picked up the dice. He shook them in the palm +of his hand and spun them on the baize, clipping his fingers sharply. + +"Come 'sev,'" he muttered. + +The miracle of it. The seven came up and he swept in the two dollars. +In a moment he had replaced them with a five-dollar bill. Gordon +responded. + +"I'll take two dollars of that," he said, and staked his money. + +The man spun the dice, and a five came up. Then it was Gordon's turn +to talk to the dice, calling on them for a seven each time the man +threw. The play became absorbing, and One Eye, from across the aisle, +craned forward. The seven came up before the five, and Gordon won, and +the dice passed. + +The game proceeded, and the luck alternated. Then Gordon began to win. +He won consistently for awhile, and nearly twenty dollars had passed +from the stranger's pocket to his. + +It was an interesting study in psychology. Gordon was utterly without +suspicion, and full of boyish enthusiasm. His blue eyes were full of +excited interest. He followed each throw, and talked the jargon of the +game like any gambler. All his boredom with the journey was gone. His +quest was thrust into the background. Nothing troubled him in the +least. The joy of the rolling dice was on him, and he laughed and +jested as the wayward "bones" defied or acquiesced to his requirements. + +The stranger was far more subtle. For a big powerful man he possessed +absurdly delicate hands. He handled the dice with an expert touch, +which Gordon utterly lacked. He talked to the dice as they fell in a +manner quite devoid of enthusiasm, and as though muttering a formula +from mere habit. He grumbled at his losses, and remained silent in +victory, and all the while he smoked, and smoked, and watched his +opponent with furtive eyes. + +One Eye watched the game from the corner without a sign. + +A stranger, on his way through the car, paused to watch the game. +Presently he passed on, and then returned with another man. + +After awhile Gordon's luck began to wane. His twenty dollars dropped +to fifteen. Then to ten. Then to five. The stranger threw a run of +"sevens." Then the dice passed. But Gordon lost them again, and +presently the five dollars he was still winning passed out of his hands. + +From that moment luck deserted him entirely. The stranger threw a +succession of wins. Gordon increased his stakes to five-dollar bills. +Now and again he pulled in a win, but always, it seemed, to lose two +successive throws immediately afterwards. There were times when it +seemed impossible to wrest the dice from his opponent. Whenever he +held them himself he lost them almost immediately. + +"Seventy-five dollars, that makes," he said, after one such loss. +"They're going your way, sure." + +"It's the luck of things," replied the stranger laconically. + +One Eye across the aisle smiled to himself, and abandoned his craning. + +Gordon plunged. He doubled his bets with the abandon of youth and +inexperience. And the stranger never failed to tempt him that way when +they were his dice. He always laid more stake than he believed his +opponent would accept. + +The hundred dollars was reached and passed in Gordon's losses. Still +the game went on. He passed the hundred and fifty--and then Providence +stepped in. + +By this time a number of onlookers had gathered in the car. The place +was full of smoke. They were standing in the aisle. They were sitting +on the arms of the seats of the two players. One or two were leaning +over the backs of the seats. + +Suddenly the speeding train jolted heavily over some rough points. It +swayed for a moment with a sort of deep-sea roll. The onlooker seated +on the arm of the stranger's seat was jerked from his balance and +sprawled on the player. In his efforts to save himself he grabbed at +the table, which promptly toppled. The gambler made a lunge to save +it, and, in the confusion of the moment, a second pair of crap dice, +identical with the pair Gordon was about to shoot, rolled out of his +hand. + +Just for an instant there was a breathless pause as Gordon pounced on +them. Then one word escaped him, and his face went deathly white as he +glared furiously at the man across the table. + +"Loaded!" + +One Eye again craned forward. But now the patch was entirely removed +from his second eye. + +The next part of Providence's little game was played without a single +word. One great fist shot out from Gordon's direction, and its impact +with its object sounded dull and sodden. The gambler's head jolted +backwards, and he felt as though his neck had been broken. Then the +baize-covered table was projected across the car by Gordon's other +great hand, while the spectators fled in the direction of the doorways, +and pushed and scrambled their ways through. + +Then ensued a wild scene. The animal was stirred to offense with a +sublime abandon. + +One Eye remained in his corner, his eyes alight with an appreciation +hardly to have been expected, contemplating humorously the tangle of +humanity as it moved, with lightning rapidity, all over the car. Once, +as the battle swayed in his direction, he even moved his traps under +the seat, lest their bulk should incommode the combatants. + +For a moment, at the outset, the two men appeared to be a fair match. +But the impression swiftly passed. The youth, the superb training, the +skill of Gordon became like the sledge-hammer pounding of superior +gunnery in warfare. He hit when and where he pleased, and warded the +wilder blows of his opponent with almost unconcern. But the narrowness +of the aisle and the presence of the seats saved the gambler, and both +men staggered and bumped about in a way that deprived Gordon of much of +the result of his advantage. + +The train began to slow up. One Eye glanced apprehensively out of the +window. He gathered up his belongings, and picked up the litter of +money scattered on the floor. + +Then he sat watching the fight--and his opportunity. + +The men had closed. Regardless of all, they fought with a fury and +abandon as cordial as it now became unscientific. The gambler, +clinging to his opponent, strove to ward off the blows which fell upon +his features like a hailstorm. Gordon, with superlative ferocity, was +bent on leaving them unrecognizable. It was a bloody onslaught, but no +more bloody than Gordon intended it to be. He was stirred now, a young +lion, fighting for the only finish that would satisfy him. + +One Eye's opportunity came. He made a run for the door as the train +pulled up with a jolt. + +But the fight went on. The stopping of the train conveyed nothing to +the fighting men. Neither saw nor cared that one of the doors was +suddenly flung open. Neither saw the rush of men in uniform. The +invasion of their ring by the train crew meant nothing to them. + +Then something happened. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +GORDON LANDS AT SNAKE'S FALL + +Gordon sat up and rubbed his eyes. Then one blood-stained hand went up +to his head, and its fingers passed through his ruffled hair. It +smoothed its way down one cheek, and finally dropped to the ground on +which he was sitting. + +Where was he? + +Suddenly he became aware of the metal track in front of him, +and--remembered. He glanced down the track. Far in the distance he +could see the speeding train. Then his eyes came back to his immediate +surroundings, and discovered that he was sitting on the boarded footway +of a small country railroad depot. + +How did he get there? How on earth did he get there? + +As no answer to his mute inquiry was forthcoming he explored further. +He discovered that his grip and overcoat were beside him, also his hat. +And some distance away a number of loungers were idly watching him, +with a smile of profound amusement on every face. + +The latter discovery filled him with a swiftly rising resentment, and, +grabbing his hat and thrusting it on his head, he leaped to his feet. +He had no intention of permitting amusement at his expense. + +"I guess you sure had some good time," said a deep, musical voice at +his elbow. + +Gordon swung about and stood confronting the man, One Eye, whom he had +seen in the train. For a moment he had it in mind to make some +furiously resentful retort. But the man's appearance held his +curiosity and diverted his purpose. The patch had been removed from +his second eye, which now beamed upon him in company with its fellow. + +"Guess these are yours," the man went on, thrusting a roll of bills out +towards him. "That 'sharp' dropped his wad during the scrap. I hated +to think a grafting train boss was goin' to collect it. You see, I +guessed how that scrap would end." + +"Are they mine?" Gordon was not quite sure he wasn't dreaming. + +"Mostly." + +The stranger's reply was full of dry humor. Suddenly Gordon's eyes lit. + +"Where is that 'sharp'? I haven't done with----" + +The stranger pointed after the train. + +"You'll need to hustle some." + +The anger died out of Gordon's eyes and he began to laugh. With some +diffidence he accepted the money. + +"Say, it's--mighty decent of you," he cried cordially. Then, for want +of better means of expression, "Mighty decent." + +The two men stood steadily regarding each other. Tall and broad as +Gordon was, the stranger was no less. But he added to his stature the +massiveness of additional years. + +Gordon's feelings were under perfect control now. His eyes began to +brighten with their native humor. He was longing to solve the mystery +of that eye-shade which had disappeared from his companion's face, but +was constrained to check his curiosity. + +"You said you guessed how the scrap would end?" he said. "There's a +sort of blank in my--memory. I mean about the finish." + +The big stranger began to rumble in his throat. To Gordon the sound +was comforting in its wholesome enjoyment. + +"It don't need a heap of guessing when a train 'sharp,' who's got the +conductor grafted from his brassbound cap to the soles of his rotten +feet, gets into a scrap how things are going to end. I'd sort of hoped +you'd 'out' him before the crew come along. Guess you'd have done it +if there'd been more room. That's the worst of scrappin' in a railroad +car," he added regretfully. "That train boss got along with his crew +and threw you out--on your head. They kept the 'sharp' aboard, being +well grafted, and figgered to hold up your baggage. I guessed +diff'rently. That all your baggage?" he inquired anxiously. + +Gordon gazed down at the grip and coat. + +"That's all," he said. Then he impulsively threw out a hand, and the +stranger took it. "It's decent--mighty decent of you." Again his +buoyant laugh rang out. "Say, I surely do seem to have had some good +time." + +The twinkling eyes of the stranger nearly closed up in a cordial grin. + +"Seems to me you're fixed here till to-morrow, anyway. There ain't any +sort of train west till then. You best come along over to the hotel. +They call it 'hotel' hereabouts. I'm goin' that way." + +Gordon agreed, gathered up his property, and fell in beside his +companion. + +They moved across the track, and as they went he caught some impression +of the ragged little prairie town at which he had so inadvertently +arrived. There seemed to him to be but a single, unpaved street, +consisting of virgin prairie beaten bare and hard by local traffic. +This was lined on one side by a fringe of wooden houses of every size +and condition, with gaps here and there for roads, yet to be made, +turning out of it. These houses were mostly of a commercial nature. +Back of this he vaguely understood there to be a sparse dotting of +other houses, but their purpose and arrangement remained a mystery to +him. Still farther afield he beheld the green eminence of foothills, +and still farther on, away in the distance, the snowy ramparts of the +Rocky Mountains. The town seemed to occupy only one side of the +track--the south side. The depot was beyond it, on the other. + +They picked their way across the track and debouched upon the Main +Street, the name of which Gordon discovered painted in indifferent +characters upon a disreputable signboard. Then they turned westwards +in the direction of an isolated building rather larger than anything +else in the village. + +After awhile, as his companion made no further effort at conversation, +Gordon's interest and curiosity refused to permit the continued silence. + +"What State are we in?" he inquired. + +"Montana." + +Gordon glanced quickly at his companion. + +"What place is this?" + +"Snake's Fall." + +The announcement set Gordon laughing. + +"What's amiss with Snake's Fall?" inquired the other sharply. + +"Why, nothing. I was just thinking. You see, the conductor told me +'most everybody was making for Snake's Fall on the train. I'm sorry +that 'sharp' wasn't. Say----" + +"What?" + +Gordon laughed again. + +"I remember you in the smoker, only--you seemed to have a--a patch over +your left eye." + +"Sure." + +"Now you haven't got it?" + +"No." + +"I'm not curious, only----" + +The stranger's eyes lit ironically. + +"Sure you ain't. That's the hotel. Peter McSwain's. He's the boss. +He's a friend of mine, an' I guess he'll fix you right for the night." + +The snub was decided but gentle. The man's deep, musical voice +contained no suggestion of displeasure. However, he had made the other +feel that he had been guilty of unpardonable rudeness. + +He was reduced to silence for the rest of the journey to the hotel, and +gave himself up to consideration of this new position in which he now +found himself. The one great fact that stood out in his mind was that +he had gained another day on the wrong side of his ledger, and, however +wrong he had been in his first attempt at fortune, his course had been +hopelessly diverted into a still more impossible channel. The +absurdity of the situation inclined him to amusement, but the knowledge +of the real seriousness of it held him troubled. + +As they neared the hotel his curiosity further made itself felt. The +place was an ordinary frame building with a veranda. It was square and +squat, like a box. It was two-storied, with windows, five in all, and +a center doorway. These were dotted on the face of it like raisins in +a pudding. Its original paint was undoubtedly white, but that seemed +to have long since succumbed to the influence of the weather, and now +suggested a hopeless hue which was anything but inspiriting. + +Leaning against the door-casing, in his shirt-sleeves, was a smallish, +florid man with ruddy hair. His waistcoat was almost as cheerful as +his face, and, judging by the sound of his voice as he talked to a +number of men lounging on the veranda, the latter quite matched the +pattern of his violently checked trousers. + +"That's Peter," remarked One Eye, the name, failing a better, Gordon +still thought of his companion by. "He's a bright boy, is Peter," he +added, chuckling. + +"The proprietor of the--hotel?" said Gordon, interested. + +"Sure." + +Then a hail reached them from the veranda. + +"Got back, Silas?" cried the loud-voiced hotel-keeper. + +"Just what you say yourself," retorted Silas amiably. "Seems to me I +bought a ticket and just got off the train. Still, ther' ain't nothing +certain in this world except--graft." + +"That's so," laughed the other. "Still, ther' ain't much of a shadow +'bout you, so we'll take it as real. Who's your friend?" + +The hotel-keeper eyed Gordon with a view to trade. The man called +Silas laughed and turned to Gordon. + +"Guess I didn't get your name. Mine's Mallinsbee--Silas Mallinsbee. +I'm a rancher, way out ther' in the foothills." + +Gordon thought for a moment. Then he decided to use two of his given +names in preference to his father's. + +"Mine's Gordon Van Henslaer. Glad to meet you." + +"Van Henslaer?" Mallinsbee's eyes twinkled. "Guess the first and last +letters on your grip are spare. Kind of belong back east. How-do?" +Then, without waiting for a reply, he turned to McSwain and the men on +the veranda who were interestedly surveying Gordon. "This is Mister +Gordon Van Henslaer from New York. Thought he'd like to break his +journey west and get a look around Snake's Fall." + +Gordon laughed. + +"I was persuaded at the last minute," he added. "Can you let me have a +room?" + +McSwain became active. + +"Sure. Guess we're pretty busy these times, with the town gettin' +ready to boom. But I guess I ken fix any friend of Silas Mallinsbee. +Ther's a room they calculated makin' into a bathroom back of the house, +but some slick Alec figured the boys of Snake's Fall were prejudiced, +so cut it out. It's small, but we got a bed fixed ther', an' you ken +clean yourself at the trough out back. Come right along in." + +Gordon was half inclined to protest, but Mallinsbee's voice came +opportunely-- + +"I told you Peter 'ud fix you right. I've slept in that room myself, +and you'll find it elegant sleepin', if you don't get a nightmare and +get jumping around. We'll go right in." + +Gordon's protest died on his lips. Mr. Mallinsbee had a persuasion all +his own. There was a humorous geniality about him that was quite +irresistible to the younger man, nor could he forget the manner in +which he had helped him after the debacle on the train. He felt that +it would have been churlish to refuse his good offices. + +They passed into the building. The office was plainly furnished. A +few Windsor chairs, a table, an empty stove, a few nigger pictures on +the walls, and a large register for guests' names. This was the whole +scheme. + +Gordon flung down his grip. + +"Well, I'm thankful to be off that train, anyway," he said. "Sign +here, eh?" as Peter threw the book towards him. "Say," he added, +glancing at the list of names above his, "you sure are busy." + +Peter grinned complacently, while Mallinsbee looked on. + +"You've hit this city at the psychological moment in its history, sir," +he declared expansively. "You've hit it, sir, when, if I ken be +allowed to use the expression, the snow's gone an' all the earth's jest +bustin' with new life. You've hit it, sir, when fortunes are just +going to start right into full growth with all the impetus of virgin +soil. Snake's Fall, sir, is about to become the greatest proposition +in the Western States, as a sure thing for soaking dollars into it. +And here, sir, standing right at your elbow, is the courage, enterprise +and intellect that's made it that way. Mr. Silas Mallinsbee is the +father of this city, sir; he's more--he's the creator of it. And, sir, +I congratulate you on the friendship of such a man, a friendship, sir, +in which I have the honor to share." + +He grabbed a filthy piece of blotting-paper and dabbed it cheerfully +over Gordon's name in the book, while the latter smiled at the monument +of enterprise himself. + +"I was quite unaware----" he began. But Mallinsbee cut him short. + +"Peter's a good feller," he declared, "but some seven sorts of a galoot +once told him he ought to go into Congress, and he's been talking ever +since. Ther's jest one thing 'll stop Peter talking, and that's +orderin' a drink. Which I'm doin' right now. Peter, you'll jest hand +us two cocktails. Your specials. And take what you like yourself." + +Peter accepted the order with alacrity. His admiration of and +friendship for Mallinsbee could not be doubted for a moment. And +somehow Gordon felt it was a good sign. He returned in a few moments +with the cocktails, and a glass of rye whiskey for himself. + +"I know a better play than my special cocktails," he said, a huge wink +distorting most of his ginger-hued features. "They're all right for +customers, but I ain't no use fer picklin' my liver. How?" + +"Here's to the extermination of all 'sharps,'" said Mallinsbee in his +deep, rolling voice, and with a meaning glance in Gordon's direction. + +Gordon nodded. + +"And here's to the confusion of graft and grafters." + +All three drank and set their glasses down. + +"Graft?" said Mallinsbee thoughtfully. Then he shrugged his massive +shoulders and laughed. "It's not a heap of use blaming grafters for +their graft. They can't help it, any more than you can help scrappin' +when a feller hits your wad on the crook. Graft--why, I just hate to +think of the ways of graft. But you can't get through life without it; +anyway, not life on this earth. I used to think graft a specialty of +this country, but guess I was wrong. I'd localized. It don't belong +to any one country more than another. It belongs to life; to our human +civilization. It's the time limit of life causes the trouble. Nature +makes it a cinch we've all got to be rounded up in the get-rich-quick +corral. We start life foolish. Then for a while we get a sight more +foolish. Then for a few mousy years we take on quite a nice bunch of +sense. After that we start getting foolish again, and then the time +limit comes right down on the backs of our necks like an ax. Well, I +guess those years of sense are so mighty few we've got to get rich +quick against the time we start on the foolish racket again, and graft, +of one sort or another, is the short cut necessary. + +"You see, there's every sort of graft. All through life we're looking +around for something we ain't got. Did you ever see a kid around his +parents? Graft; it's all graft. No kiddy ever acted right because he +fancied that way. He's lookin' ahead fer something he's needing, and +his pop or his momma are the folks to pass it along to him. Did you +ever know a kid take his physic without the promise of candy, or the +certainty it would come his way? That's graft. Say, ain't the gal you +fancy the biggest graft of all? You don't get nowhere with her without +graft. She'll eat up everything you can hand her, from automobiles and +jewels down to five-cent candy. Then when you've started getting old +and sick and foolish again, having grafted a pile out of life yourself, +don't every grafter you ever knew come around an' hand you cures and +listen to your senile wisdom just as though they thought you the +greatest proposition ever and hated to see you sick? That's graft. +You've got a pile and they're needin' it." + +The twinkle in the big man's eyes while he was talking found a joyous +response in Gordon's. The tongue in the cheek of this native of +Snake's Fall pleased him mightily. But the wide-eyed sunset of Peter +McSwain's features was one of sober earnestness and admiration. + +"Gee!" he cried, with prodigious appreciation. "He orter write a book!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A LETTER HOME + +The bathroom proved to be a veritable rabbit hutch, though clean. But +Gordon was astonished to find how far the old life had fallen away +behind him. The bareness of the room did not disturb him in the least, +and, after a wash in the trough at the back of the hotel, and having +dried himself on a towel that may have seen cleaner days, and refused +to be inveigled by the attraction of an unclean comb, securely tied to +a defective mirror in the passage to the back door, he came back to his +bedroom with an added appreciation for its questionable luxury. + +Mallinsbee had ridden off on a great chestnut horse, nor, until Gordon +saw him in the saddle, was he definitely able to classify him in his +mind. Big as the amiable stranger was, he sat in the saddle as though +he had been born in it, and he handled his horse as only a cattle man +can. + +At supper-time he had an opportunity of studying something of his +fellow guests in the house. They were a mixed gathering, but every +table in the dining-room was full to overflowing. Certainly McSwain +was justified in his claim to a rush of business. + +It was quickly obvious to Gordon that these people were by no means +natives of the place. The majority were undoubtedly business men. +Shrewd, keen men of the speculative type, judging from the babel of +talk going on about him. As far as he could make out the whole +interest of the place was land. Land--always land--and again land. + +In view of Mallinsbee's friendship Peter McSwain had requested him to +sit beside him at his especial table. And he forthwith began to +question his host. + +"Seems to be a big talk of land going on," he said, as he ate his +macaroni soup. + +Peter gulped violently at a long tube of macaroni and nearly choked. + +"Sure," he said, his eyes wide with an expression the meaning of which +Gordon was never quite certain about. It might have meant mere +astonishment, but it also suggested resentment. "Sure it's land. What +else, unless it's coal, would they talk in Snake's Fall? Every blamed +feller you see settin' around in this room is what Silas Mallinsbee +calls a ground shark. Which means," he added, with a grin, "they're +out to buy or steal land around Snake's Fall. We guess they prefer +stealing. The place is bung full with 'em." + +Gordon's interest deepened. + +"But why, if you'll forgive me, around--Snake's Fall?" + +"Young man," said Peter severely, "you're new to the place, and that's +your excuse for such ignorance." He pushed his half-finished soup +aside and adopted an impressive pose with both elbows on the table, his +hands together, and one finger describing acrobatic gyrations to point +his words. The manner of it fascinated his hearer. "Let me tell you, +sir, that Snake's Fall is the new coalfield of this great country. +Sir," he added, with great dramatic effect, "Snake's Fall is capable of +supplying the coal of the _world_! There's hundreds of billions of +tons of high-grade coal underlying these silly-lookin' hummocks they +call the foothills. All this land around Snake's Fall was Silas +Mallinsbee's ranch, and he found the coal. That's why I said Silas +Mallinsbee was the father of Snake's Fall. He sold this land to a +great coal corporation, and bought land away further up in the hills, +where he still runs his ranch. He's a great man with a pile of +dollars. And he's clever, too. He's kep' for himself all the land +either side of the railroad, except this town. And that's why all +these land pirates, or ground sharks, are around. The railroad ain't +declared their land yet, and everybody's waiting to jump in. The +coal's five miles west of here, and the railroad has got to say if +they'll keep the depot where it is, or build a new one further along, +right on the coal seams. That's the play we're all watching. We want +to buy right. We want to buy for the boom. These guys here are out to +get in on the ground floor, and see prices go sky high--when they've +bought. There'll be some dandy piles made in this play--and lost." + +By the time he had finished Gordon was agog with excitement. It had +stirred as the man began to talk, without his fully understanding the +meaning of it. Then, as he proceeded, it grew, and with its growth +came enlightenment. Vaguely he saw the hand of Providence in the +affairs of the last few days. + +He had planned his own little matters, or rather he had drifted into +them, and then the gods of fortune had taken a hand. And the way of +it. He began to smile. A strangely impish mood must have stirred +them. His journey. His discovery of the absurdity of his own plans in +the nick of time. His visit to the smoker. His play with a "sharp." +His fight, and his sudden and uncalculated arrival at Snake's Fall. +Here he was, quite without the least intention of his own, landed into +the only sort of place in which it could be reasonably hoped he might +pick up a fortune quickly. He wondered how he was likely to fare in +competition with these ground sharks about him. And the thought made +him begin to laugh. + +McSwain eyed him doubtfully. + +"Amusin', ain't it?" he said, without appreciation. + +Gordon shook his head. + +"If you only knew--it is." + +Peter went on with his food for a few moments in silence. + +"I s'pose the boom will come big when it does start?" hazarded Gordon +presently. + +"Big? Say, you ain't got a grip on things yet. Snake's Fall could +supply the whole--not half--world with high-grade stove coal. Does +that tell you anything? No? Wal, it jest means that when the railroad +says the word, hundred-dollar plots 'll fetch a thousand dollars in a +week, and maybe ten thousand in a month or less. I tell you right here +that in six months from the time the railroad talks there'll be fifty +thousand speculators right here, and we'll most of us rake in our +piles. We only got to jump in at the start, maybe a bit before, and +the game's right in our hands. Get me? I tell you, sir, this is +bigger than the first Kootenay rush and nigh as big as the Cobalt boom +in Canada." + +Gordon was impressed. + +"And to think I came here by accident." + +"Accident?" + +"You see, I was persuaded--against my will." + +His eyes were twinkling. + +"Ah, Mallinsbee persuaded you--being a friend of his." + +"No. As a matter of fact I think it was the train conductor who +persuaded me." + +"He's a wise guy, then." + +"Ye-es. I don't guess I'll see him again. I surely owe him something +for what he did." + +Peter nodded seriously as he gazed at the humorous eyes of his +companion. + +"He's given you the chance of--a lifetime, sir. And that's a thing +ther' ain't many in this country yearning to do." + +After that the meal progressed in silence until the pie was handed +round. + +Gordon was thinking hard. He was wondering, in view of what he had +heard, what he ought to do. Land. What did he know about land? How +could he measure his wits against the wits of such land speculators as +he saw about him? He studied the faces of some of the clamorous crowd +in the dining-room. They were a strangely mixed lot. There were +undoubtedly men of substance among them, but equally surely the +majority were adventurers looking to step into the arena of the coming +boom and wrest a slice of fortune by hook, or, more probably, by crook. +What did he know? What could he do? And his mind went back to the +sharp on the train, and the way he had fallen to the man's snare. +Again he wanted to laugh. He had counted the bills which Mallinsbee +had handed him, in the privacy of his bathroom. He only remembered to +have lost about two hundred dollars to the gambler. The dollars handed +to him amounted to well over three hundred. The miracle of it all. He +had nearly killed the gambler, and, instead of losing, he had made over +a hundred dollars on the deal. The miracle of it! + +"Do you believe in miracles?" he laughed abruptly. + +Peter glanced up from his plate suspiciously. Then he promptly joined +in the other's amusement. He always remembered that this newcomer was +a friend of Silas Mallinsbee. + +"Meracles?" he said reflectively. "I can't say I always did. But one +or two things have made some difference that way. Takin' one extra +drink saved my life once. The takin' of that drink wasn't jest a +meracle," he added dryly. "It was more of a habit them days. Still, +it was a meracle in a way. Me an' my brother wer' on a bust. We were +feeling that good we was handin' out our pasts in lumps to each other, +same as if we was strangers, and wasn't raised around the same cabbige +patch. Wal, he'd borrowed an automobile and left the saloon to wind it +up, and get things fixed. While he was gone the boys handed me another +cocktail. Then the bartender slung one at me, an' I hadn't no more +sense than to buy another one myself. Then some damn fool thought rye +was the best mix for drinkin' on top o' cocktails, an' so they put me +to bed. Guess I never see my brother get back from that joy ride." He +sighed. "I allow they had to bury a lot of that automobile with him, +he was so mussed up. Sort o' meracle, you'd say? Then there was +another time. Guess it was my wife. She was one o' them females who +make you feel you want to associate with tame earthworms. Sort o' +female who never knew what a sick headache was, an' sang hymns of a +Sunday evening, and played a harmonium when she was feelin' in sperits. +Sort o' female who couldn't help smellin' out when you was lyin' to +her, an' gener'ly told you of it. A good woman though, an' don't yer +fergit it. Wal, I got sick once an' when I got right again she guessed +it was up to 'em to insure myself in her favor. Guess I'd just paid my +first premium when she goes an' takes colic an' dies. I did all I +knew. I give her ginger, an' hot-water bags, an' poultices. It didn't +make no sort o' difference. She died. I ain't paid no premiums since. +Sort o' meracle that," he added, with a satisfied smile. "Then there's +this coal. I hadn't started this hotel six months when Mallinsbee gets +busy an' makes his deal with the corporation. You ain't goin' to make +a pile out of a bum country hotel without a--meracle." + +The man's gravity was impressive, and Gordon strove for sympathy. + +"Yes," he declared, with smiling emphasis. "There are such things as +miracles. One has happened this day--and here. My arrival here was +certainly a miracle. A peculiarly earthy miracle, but, nevertheless, +a--miracle. Say, I'll have to write some in the office. See you +again." + +Gordon pushed back his chair and hurried away through the crowded room +towards the office. But here again was a crowd. Here again was +"land"--always "land." And in desperation he betook himself to his +bathroom. He felt he must write to his mother. He felt that on this +his arrival in Snake's Fall he could do no less than reassure her of +his well-being. + + +Mrs. James Carbhoy sighed contentedly as she raised her eyes from the +last of a number of sheets of paper in her lap. Her husband turned +from his contemplation of the scorching streets, and the parched +foliage of the wide expanse of trees beyond the window. + +"Well?" he inquired. "Where is the boy?" + +There was the faintest touch of anxiety in his inquiry, but his face +was perfectly controlled, and the humor in his eyes was quite unchanged. + +Mrs. Carbhoy sighed again. + +"I don't know. He doesn't say. Nor does he give the slightest clew." +She examined the envelope of the letter. "It was mailed here in New +York. It's a rambling sort of letter. I hope he is all right. This +hot weather is---- Do you think he----" + +Her husband laughed. + +"I guess he's all right. You see I don't fancy he wants us to know +where he is. That's come through some friend, I'd say. Just read it +out." + +Gordon's mother leaned back in her chair again. She was more than +ready to read her beloved boy's letter again, in spite of her +misgivings. Besides, there was a hope in her thoughts that she had +missed some clew as to his whereabouts which her clear-sighted husband +might detect. + + +"DEAREST MUM: + +"Destinations are mighty curious things which have a way of making up +their minds as to whom they are terminals for, regardless of the +individual. Most of us think the matter of destination is in our own +hands. We make up our minds to go to the North Pole; well, if we get +there it's because no other terminal on the way has made up its mind to +claim us. I've surely arrived at my destination, a place I wasn't +going to, nor had heard of, nor dreamed of--even when I had nightmare. +I guess this place must have said to itself, 'Hello, here's Gordon +Carbhoy on the train; he's every sort of fool, he don't know if it's +Palm Sunday or Candlemas, he hasn't got more sense than an old hen with +kittens, let's divert him where we think he ought to go.' So I arrived +here quite suddenly this afternoon and, in consequence, have wasted +some fifty odd dollars of passage money. It's a good beginning, and +one the old Dad 'll surely appreciate. + +"Talking of the old Dad, I'd like you to tell him from me that I don't +think graft is confined to--big finance. This is a discovery he's +likely to be interested in. Also, since he's largely interested in +railroads, though not from a traveling point of view, I would point out +that much might be done to improve accommodation. The aisles are too +narrow and the corners of the seats are too sharp. Furthermore, the +best money-making scheme I can think of at the moment is a billet as a +conductor of a transcontinental express. + +"However, these things are just first impressions. + +"There are other impressions I won't discuss here. They relate to +arrival platforms of depots. When a fellow gets out on his own in the +world, there are many things with which he comes into contact liable to +strike him forcibly. Those are the things in life calculated to teach +him much that may be useful to him afterwards. I have already come +into contact with such things, and though they are liable to leave an +impression of soreness generally, their lessons are quite sound. + +"On the whole, in spite of having lost fifty odd dollars on my railroad +ticket, my first two or three days' adventures have left me with a +margin of profit such as I could not reasonably have expected. I +mention this to show you, presuming that the Dad has told you the +object of my going, that my eye is definitely focused on the primary +purpose of my ramblings. + +"I am keeping my eyes well open and one or two of my observations might +be of interest to you. + +"I have discovered that the luxurious bath is not actually necessary to +life, and, from a hygienic point of view, there's no real drawback to +the kind of soap vulgarly known as 'hoss.' Furthermore, the filtration +of water for ablutionary purposes is quite unnecessary. All it needs +is to be of a consistency that'll percolate through a fish net. +Moreover, judging from observations only, I have discovered that a comb +and brush, if securely chained up, can be used on any number of heads +without damaging results. + +"Observation cannot be considered complete without its being turned +upon one's fellow-creatures. I have already come into contact with +some very interesting specimens of my kind. Without worrying you with +details I have found some of them really worth while. Generalizing, +I'd like to say right here that man seems to be a creature of curious +habits--many of which are bad. I don't say this with malice. On the +contrary, I say it with appreciation. And, too, I never realized what +a general hobby amongst men the collecting of dollars was. It must be +all the more interesting that, as a collection, it never seems +completed. I'd like to remark that view points change quickly under +given circumstances, and I am now bitten with the desire to become a +collector. + +"Furthermore, my focus had readjusted itself already. For instance, I +feel no repulsion at the manners displayed in the dining-room of a +small country 'hotel.' I feel sure that the man who eats with his +mouth open and snores at the same time is quite justified, if he +happens to be bigger and stronger than the man who hears and sees him. +I also feel that a man is only within his rights in having two or even +three helpings of every dish in a hotel run on the American plan, +unless the limit to a man's capacity is definitely estimated on the +printed tariff. Another observation came my way. Honesty seems to be +a matter of variable quality. A nice ethical problem is suggested by +the following incident. A man robs his victim; a righteously indignant +onlooker sees the transaction, and his honesty-loving nature rebels. +He forthwith robs the robber and hands the proceeds of his robbery to +the original victim. This seems to me to open up a road to discussion +which I'm sure the Dad and I would enjoy--though not at this distance. + +"I have already learned that there are plenty of great men in the world +whose existence I had never suspected. I have a feeling that local +celebrities have a greater glory than national heroes. George +Washington never told a lie, it is true, and his birthday forms an +adequate excuse for a certain stimulation in the enjoyments of a +people. But he never discovered a paying field for speculation by the +dollar chasers. Until a man does that he can have no understanding of +real glory. + +"I hope you and Gracie are well. I think it would be advisable to +check Gracie's appetite for candy. I am already realizing that luxury +can be overdone. She might turn her attention to peanuts, which I +observe is a popular pastime amongst the people with whom I have come +into contact. I would suggest to the old Dad that five-cent cigars +have merits in spite of rumor to the contrary. I feel, too, that the +dollar ninety-five he would thus save on his smoke might, in time, +become a valuable asset. + +"Your loving son, + "GORDON." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +GORDON PROSPECTS SNAKE'S FALL + +It was a blazing day. The dust of the prairie street smothered boots +and trouser-legs with a fine gray powder which even rose high enough to +get into the throats of pedestrians, and drive them headlong to the +nearest place where they could hope to quench a raging thirst. + +There was no shelter from the sun, unless it were to be found upon the +verandas with which many of the Snake's Fall houses were fronted. +Gordon's face was rapidly blistering as he idly wandered through the +town. Great streams of perspiration coursed from beneath his soft felt +hat. His double collar felt sticky, and suggested imminent collapse. +To all of which discomforts were now added a swarm of flies buzzing +about his moist face with a distracting persistence which tried even +his patience. + +Gordon was abroad fairly early. He was abroad for several reasons. He +possessed a haunting dread of the rapid passing of time. He had slept +healthily, if not altogether comfortably. Nor had he yet made up his +mind whether the floor of his room would not be preferable to his bed +for the passing of future nights. The floor was smooth, there were no +hummocks on it. Then, too, the sorely tried and thoroughly slack +bed-springs would be avoided, and the horrible groans of a protesting +frame would remain silent. It was a matter to be given consideration +before the day ended, and, being really of a very thorough nature, he +decided to consider it after supper. + +He had lain awake for a long time that first night under the shelter of +Peter McSwain's hospitable roof, and in the interim of dodging the +flock hummocks he had closely considered his future movements. + +He argued, if things were as he had been told they were in Snake's +Fall, he did not see how he could do better than throw his lot in with +the crowd of "ground sharks" awaiting the boom. Having convinced +himself in this direction, he felt that at the very earliest +opportunity he must reassure himself of Peter McSwain's veracity. He +felt that no member of the get-rich-quick brigade could dare to ignore +the claims of a great coal discovery about to boom. Besides, the whole +thing had been pitched into his lap; or rather it was he who had been +pitched. Nor did the roughness of the method of his arrival detract +from the chances spreading out before his astonished eyes. + +Now he was searching the place for those signs which were to tell him +of the accuracy of his information. Nor was it long before he realized +that such a search on his part was scarcely likely to prove productive. +His knowledge of coal had never been more intimate than the payment of +certain fuel bills presented to him at intervals in the past by the +faithful Harding. While as for indications of a boom--well, he had +heard that a boom came along, everybody robbed everybody else, and in +the end a number of widows and orphans found themselves deprived of +their savings, and a considerable body of attorneys had increased their +year's income out of all proportion to their just deserts. He felt his +weakness keenly. However, he persisted. He felt the only thing was to +attack the problem with an open mind. He did so, and it quickly became +filled with a humorous interest that had nothing to do with his purpose. + +Surveying his surroundings, he thought that never in his life had he +even imagined such a quaint collection of habitations. The long, +straight street, running parallel to the railroad track suggested a row +of jagged, giant teeth. Each building was set in its own section of +jawbone, distinct from its nearest neighbor. Then they reared their +heads and terminated in a pointed fang or a flat, clean-cut edge of +high boarding. Sometimes they possessed a mere sloping roof, like a +well-worn tooth, and, here and there, a half-wrecked building, with its +roof fallen in, stood out like a severely decayed molar. + +Most of the stores--and he counted a dozen or more--suggested a +considerable trade. In this direction he noted a hardware store +particularly. A drug store, too, with an ice-cream soda fountain, +seemed to be in high favor, as also did several dry-goods stores, +judging by the number of females in attendance. But the small candy +stores were abandoned to the swarming flies. + +The people were interesting. There certainly was a considerable number +about, in spite of the heat. They, anyway the men, all looked hot like +himself, but seemed to be surcharged with an energy that appeared to +him somewhat artificial. They hurried unnecessarily. They paused and +spoke quickly, and passed on. Here and there they fell into groups, +and their boisterous laughter suggested the inevitable funny story or +risque tale. There were a great number of vehicles rattling +about--buggies, buckboards, democrat wagons--while several times he was +passed by speeding saddle-horses which smothered him in the dust raised +by their unshod hoofs. + +At last he came to the end of the street, and turned to retrace his +steps. It was all too interesting to be readily abandoned on this his +first day beyond the conventions of life as his father's son. + +Just outside a large livery barn he came to an abrupt halt, and stood +stupidly staring at the entrance of the largest dry-goods store in the +street. The whole thing had caught and held him in a moment. He +seemed to remember having seen something of the sort in a moving +picture once; perhaps it was years ago. But in real life--never. + +A great chestnut saddle-horse had dashed up to the tying-post outside +the store. It had reined up with a jerk, and its rider had flung out +of the saddle with the careless abandon he had read about or seen in +the pictures. Hooking the reins over a peg, the rider hurried towards +the store. It was then Gordon obtained a full view. + +In a moment the flies were forgotten and the heat of the day meant +nothing to him. What a vision was revealed! The coiled masses of +auburn hair, the magnificent hazel eyes and the delightful sun-tanned +oval of the face, the trim figure and perfect carriage, the costume! +The long habit coat and loose riding-breeches terminated in the +daintiest of tan riding-boots and silver spurs. Splendid! What a +picture for his admiring eyes! A picture of grace, and health, and +beauty. + +But the vision was gone in a moment. The girl had passed into the +store, and it was only left to the enthusiastic spectator to turn to +the magnificent chestnut horse she had so unconcernedly left waiting +for her. + +Almost immediately, however, his attention was diverted into another +direction. A dark, sallow-faced man had promptly taken up his position +at the entrance of the store, and stood gazing in after the vanished +figure of the girl. + +For some absurd reason Gordon took an intense dislike to the man. He +looked unhealthy, and he hated that look in a man. Besides, the +impertinence of standing there spying upon a lady who was doubtless +simply bent on an ordinary shopping expedition. It was most +exasperating. All unconsciously he straightened his great figure and +squared his shoulders. It would not have required much to have made +him go and ask the man what he meant by it. + +He was rapidly working himself up into a superlative rage, when the +girl in the fawn riding-costume reappeared. A delightful smile broke +over his good-looking face, but only to be promptly swallowed up in a +scowl. The girl had paused, and was speaking to the anaemic creature +whose presence he felt to be an outrage. + +He noted her smile. What a delightful smile! Yes, he could distinctly +make out two dimples beyond the corners of her pretty mouth. His +dislike of the favored man merged into a regret for himself. + +Hello! The smile had gone from the girl's face. Her beautiful hazel +eyes were sparkling with resentment. The man was looking angry, too. +Gordon rubbed his hands. Then he began to grin like a revengeful and +malicious schoolboy. The girl had moved on to her horse, and in doing +so it almost looked as if she had deliberately pushed past the +white-livered creature attempting to detain her. + +She leaped into the saddle and swung the horse about almost on its +haunches. The next moment she was lost in a cloud of dust as she raced +down the street. + +"Mighty fine horsemanship that," said a voice, as Gordon gazed +open-mouthed after the girlish vision. "A smart gal, too, eh?" + +Gordon turned. A small man was sitting at the open doors of the livery +barn upon an upturned box. He was leaning forward lazily, with his +elbows on his knees and his hands clutching his forearms. His towzled, +straw-colored hair stuck out under the brim of his prairie hat, and a +chew of tobacco bulged one thin, leathery cheek. His trousers were +fastened about his waist with a strap, and his only upper garment was a +dirty cotton shirt which disclosed an expanse of mahogany-colored chest +below the neck. + +"Smart gal?" retorted Gordon enthusiastically. "That don't say a +thing. She might have stepped right out of the pages of a book." Then +he added, as an afterthought, "And it would have to be a mighty good +book, too." + +"Sure," nodded the other in agreement. + +"Who is she?" + +The man grinned and spat. + +"Why, that's Miss Hazel. Every feller in this city knows Miss Hazel. +If you need eddication you want to see her astride of an unbroken colt. +Ther' never was a cowpuncher a circumstance aside o' her. She's the +dandiest horseman out." + +"I'd say you're right, all right." + +"Right? Guess ther' ain't no argument. Hosses is my trade. I was +born an' raised with 'em. It don't take me guessin' twice 'bout a +horseman. I got forty first-class hosses right here in this barn, an' +I got a bunch runnin' on old Mallinsbee's grazin'. Y'see, a livery +barn is a mighty busy place when a city starts to think o' booming. +All them rigs an' buggies you see chasin' around are hired right here," +he finished up proudly. + +Gordon became interested. He felt the man was talking because he +wanted to talk. He was talking out of the prevailing excitement which +seemed to actuate everybody on the subject of the coming boom. He +encouraged him. + +"I'd say a livery barn should be a mighty fine speculation under these +conditions," he said, while the keen gray eyes of the barn proprietor +quietly sized him up. "There ought to be a pile hanging to it." + +"Ye-es." + +The man's demur roused the other's curiosity. + +"Not?" he inquired. + +"'Tain't that. Ther's dollars to it, but--they don't come in bunches. +Y'see, I'm out after a wad--quick. We all are. When the railroad +talks we'll know where we are. But it's best to be in before. See? +Oh, I guess the barn's all right. 'Tain't that. Say, I'd hand you +this barn right here, every plug an' every rig I got, if you could jest +answer me one question--right." + +"And the question?" Gordon smiled. + +"Wher' is the bloomin' depot to be? Here, or yonder to the west at +Buffalo Point? Answer that right, an' you can have this caboose a +present." + +The little man sighed, and Gordon began to understand the strain of +waiting for these people looking for a big pile quick. He shook his +head. + +"I'm beginning to think I'd like to know myself. Say, I s'pose you +figure this is a great place to make money? I s'pose you fancy it's a +sure thing?" + +The man unfolded his arms and waved one hand in a comprehensive gesture. + +"Do you need to ask me that?" he inquired, almost scornfully. "What +does them big coal seams tell you? Can you doubt? Hev' you got two +eyes to your head which don't convey no meaning to your brain? Them +coal seams could stoke hell till kingdom come, an' shares 'ud still be +at a premium. That's the backbone. Wal, we ain't got shares in that +corporation, but the quickest road to the pile o' dollars we're +yearning for is in town plots. An'," he added regretfully, "every day +brings in more sharps, an' every new sharp makes it harder. It's that +blamed railroad we're waiting for, an' that railroad needs to graft its +way in before it'll talk." + +"Graft? Graft again," laughed Gordon. + +"Why, cert'nly." The livery man opened his eyes in astonishment. +"Folks don't do nothin' for nix that I ever heard. Specially +railroads. That depot 'll be built where their interests lie, an' +we'll have to go on guessin' till they get things fixed." + +"I see." + +"Which says you ain't blind." + +"No, I don't think I'm blind exactly. It's just--lack of experience. +I must get a peek at those seams. Mallinsbee's the man who'll know +about things as soon as anybody, I s'pose. He owns all the land along +the railroad, doesn't he?" + +The man rubbed his hands and grinned. + +"Sure. He'll know, an' through him us as he's let in on the ground +floor. Say, he's a heap of a good feller--an' bright. Y'see, him an' +us, some of us fellers who been here right along before the coal was +found, are good friends. There's some of us got stakes down Buffalo +Point way as well as up here. See? O' course, our pile lies Buffalo +Point way, an' we're hopin' he'll fix the railroad corporation that +way. If he does, gee! he's the feller we're gamblin' on." + +Gordon's interest had become almost feverish as he listened. He was +gathering the corroboration he needed with an ease he had never +anticipated. + +"I suppose one hundred thousand dollars would be nothing to make +if--things go right?" + +"If things go our way, I'd say a hundred thousand wouldn't be a +circumstance," cried the man enthusiastically. "I'd make that out of a +few hundred dollars without a worry--if things went right. But it +ain't the way of things to go right when you figger up." + +"No, I s'pose it's a matter of chance. The chance comes, and you've +just got to grab it right and hold it." + +"Sure. Chance! If chance hits you, why, don't go to hit back. Jest +hug it--same as you would your best gal." + +Gordon laughed and peered into the shadowy interior of the barn. + +"Guess that's good talk," he said, "and I'm going to listen. I've got +right hold of that chance, and I'm hugging it. Seems to me I'll need +to get out and get a peek at Silas Mallinsbee's coal. Can you hire me +a rig?" + +"I got a dandy top buggy an' team," cried the man, now alert and ready +for business. "Ten dollars to supper-time. How?" + +Gordon nodded, and the man vanished within the barn. + +Left alone, he reflected on the rapidity of the movement of events. He +had had a luck that he surely could not have anticipated. Why, under +the influence of the prevailing enthusiasm of the place, he seemed to +feel that the whole thing was too utterly simple. He wondered what his +father would have said had he been there. It would be a glorious coup +to return home with that one hundred thousand dollars well before the +expiry of his time limit. + +From the dark interior of the barn came the sounds of horses' hoofs +clattering on the boarded floor. + +Presently his thoughts drifted from the important matters in hand to a +far less consequent matter. It was not in his nature to be long +enamored of the hunt for fortune, no matter what the consequences +attached to it. + +He began to think of the vision in fawn-colored riding-costume. So her +name was Hazel. Hazel--what? he wondered. A pretty name, and well +suited to her. Hazel. Those eyes, and the gorgeous masses of her +hair! He sighed. For a moment he thought of inquiring of the livery +man her other name. Then he smilingly shook his head and decided to +let that remain a secret for the present. It added to the romance of +the thing. Of one thing he was certain: he must contrive to see her +again, and get to know her. Fortune or no fortune, if his father were +to cut him off with the proverbial shilling as a spendthrift and +waster, if he never saw a partnership in the greatest financial +corporation in the United States, that girl could not be allowed to +flash into his life like a ray of spring sunshine, and pass out of it +again because he hadn't the snap to get to know her. + +He had known so many women in his own set at home. He had admired, he +had flirted harmlessly enough, he had shed presents and given parties, +but somehow he felt that amongst all those society beauties there had +not been one comparable to this wild rose of the foothills. + +"Say, it's a bright team an' 'll need handlin'," said the doubtful +voice of the livery man. + +"Don't worry," returned Gordon, shocked into the affairs of the moment +by the anxious voice. + +"Good." The man sounded relieved. + +"Which is the best way?" + +"Why, chase the trail straight away west. You can't miss it. I'll +take that ten dollars." + +Gordon paid and climbed into the buggy. The next moment the vehicle +rolled out of the barn. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +"MISS HAZEL" + +Gordon was in no mood to take things easily. Something of the +atmosphere of the place had already got into his blood. His was +similar to the mood of those whom he had seen hurrying unnecessarily in +the town. Those whom he had seen exchanging hurried words and passing +on. + +Although he lived in the age of automobiles and aeroplanes, nothing of +his education had been forgotten by his father. He was a perfect whip +with a four-in-hand, and now, as he handled a "bright" team of livery +horses, it was child's play to him. He bustled his horses until he had +left the ragamuffin town behind him, then he settled down to a steady, +round gait, and gave himself up to the prospect of the contemplation of +those scenes of industry which he shortly hoped to discover. + +Within ten minutes of leaving the town he discovered the first signs. +Men and horses appeared in the distance upon the hills. At one point +he discerned a traction engine hauling a string of laden wagons. It +was the first breaking up of the monotonous green of the low hills. +And it promptly suggested that, in the hidden hollows, he would +probably discover far more energetic signs of the work of the coal +corporation, which doubtless must have already begun in real earnest. + +Things were becoming interesting. He wondered how much work had been +done. There was no sign of the coal itself yet. He remembered to have +visited coal mines once, and then everything had been black and gloomy. +Vast heaps of slack had been piled everywhere, and the pit heads had +been surmounted by hauling machinery. There had been great black +wastes dotted by houses and streets, which seemed to have taken to +themselves something of the hue of the deposits which had brought them +into existence. Even the men and women, and particularly the children, +had been living advertisements for the great industry which supported +them. Here, as yet, there were no such signs. However, doubtless +further on there would---- + +All in a moment his thoughts of coal were broken off, and all his +interest vanished like a puff of that coal's smoke in a gale. Coal no +longer meant anything to him. He didn't care if the whole wide world +starved for coal for all eternity. A chestnut horse was on the trail +ahead, and a figure was stooping beside it examining its nearside +forefoot. The figure was clad in a _fawn-colored riding-costume_. + +The electric current of his feelings communicated itself to his team +through the whip as its conductor. The team reared and plunged, then, +under his strong hands, they bowled merrily along the dusty trail at a +great though well-controlled speed towards the distant figures. + + +The girl dropped the horse's hoof and straightened herself abruptly. +She turned with a quick movement, and gazed back over the trail, her +eyes alert and questioning. Her wide prairie hat was thrust slightly +from her forehead, and a coil of abundant auburn hair was displayed +beneath its brim. Her finely penciled eyebrows were drawn together in +an unmistakable question, and her pretty eyes were obviously +speculative. + +She waited while the buggy drew nearer. She recognized the team as +from Mike Callahan's barn, but the occupant of the vehicle was a +stranger to her. + +The latter fact drew her attention more closely. For a moment she had +hoped that it was someone she knew. She needed someone she knew just +now. Anyway, a stranger was always interesting, even though he could +not afford her the assistance she just now happened to need. + +She descried a boyish, eager face on the top of a pair of wonderful +shoulders. But that which made a strong appeal to her was the manner +in which he was handling his horses. There was nothing here of the +slovenly prairie teamster. The stranger, whoever he was, was a master +behind a good team of horses. She delighted in a horseman, whether he +were in the driving-seat or the saddle. + +But all of a sudden she became aware that her regard had been observed, +and, with a little smile twinkling in the depths of her hazel eyes, she +picked up her horse's forefoot again, and once more probed with her +gauntleted finger for the cause of the desperate lameness with which he +had been suddenly attacked. + +She heard the buggy come up. She was aware that the team had swung out +to avoid collision. Then a cheery voice greeted her ears with its +pleasant and welcome inquiry-- + +"You seem to be in a fix. Can I help any?" + +Before the girl looked round she was aware that the teamster had +alighted. Then when she finally released her hold of the injured hoof, +and stood up, she found herself confronted by Gordon's smiling blue +eyes, as he stood bare-headed before her. + +Somehow or other a smiling response was unavoidable. + +"That's real kind of you," she said, "but I don't guess you can. You +see, poor Sunset's dead lame with a flint in his frog, and--and I just +can't get the fool thing out." + +Gordon endeavored to look serious. But the trouble was incomparable in +his mind with the delightful charm of this girl, in her divided +riding-suit. However, his effort to conceal his admiration was not +without some success. + +"I don't guess we can stand for any old thing like an impertinent +flint," he said impulsively. "Sunset must be relieved. Sunset must be +put out of pain. I'm not just a veterinary surgeon, but I'm a +specialist on the particular flint which happens to annoy you. Just +grab these lines while I have a look." + +The frank unconventionality of the man was wholly pleasing, and the +girl found herself obeying him without question. + +"It's the nearside," she explained. + +Then she remained silent, watching the assured manner in which the +stranger set about his work. He picked up the hoof and examined it +closely. Then he drew out a folding button-hook from a trouser pocket. +Then, for a few moments, she watched his deft manipulation of it. + +Presently he stood up holding a long, thin, sharp splinter of flint +between finger and thumb. + +"Say," he remarked, as he returned the buttonhook to his pocket, while +his eyes shone merrily, "I believe if some bright geologist were to set +out chasing these flints to their lair, I've a notion he'd pull up +in--in--well, aspirate a certain measure in cloth and I'd guess you get +the answer right away. It's paved with 'em. That's my secret belief. +I could write a treatise on 'em. I've discovered every breed and every +species. I tell you if you want to study these rocks right, you need +to run an automobile, and find yourself in a hurry, having forgotten to +carry spare tires. Ugh!" He flung the stone away from him and turned +again to the horse. + +Still watching him, the girl saw him deliberately tear off a piece of +his handkerchief, and, with the point of his pocket-knife, stuff it +into the jagged gash in poor Sunset's frog. + +"That'll keep out some of Snake's Fall," he observed, returning the +rest of his handkerchief to his pocket. "We'll take it out when we get +him home." Then he deliberately turned to his team and tied Sunset +alongside. After that, in the most practical manner, he moved the +wheels of the buggy apart. "Jump right in. Guess you know the way, so +you can show it me. You see, I'm a stranger. Say, it's an awful thing +to be a stranger. Life's rotten being a stranger." + +The girl was gazing at him with wide, wondering eyes that were half +inclined to resentment. She was not accustomed to being ordered about +in this cavalier fashion. She had no intention of being incontinently +swept off her feet. + +"Thanks," she said, with an assumption of hauteur. "If you'll untie +Sunset I'll ride home." + +"Ride home? Say, you're joking. Why, you can't ride Sunset with that +gash in his frog. Say, you couldn't be so cruel. Think of the poor +fellow silently suffering. Think of the mute anguish he would endure +at each step. It--it would be a crime, an outrage, a--a----" He broke +off, his eyes twinkling merrily. + +The girl wanted to be annoyed. She told herself she was annoyed, but +she nevertheless began to laugh, and Gordon knew he was to have his way. + +"I really couldn't think of accepting your---- Besides, you weren't +going to Buffalo Point. You know you weren't." + +"Do I?" Gordon's eyes were blankly inquiring. "Now how on earth do I +know where I was going? Say, I guess it's true I had in my mind a +vision of the glinting summer sun, tinting the coal heaps with its +wonderful, golden, ripening rays--though I guess it would be some work +ripening stove coal--but as to my ever getting there--well, that just +depended on the trail I happened to take. As I said, I'm a stranger. +And I may as well admit right here that I've a hobby getting mussed up +with wrong trails." + +The girl's laughter dispelled her last effort at dignity. + +"I knew you were a stranger. You see, I get to know everybody here--by +sight." + +Gordon made a gesture of annoyance. + +"There," he exclaimed in self-disgust, "I ought to have thought of that +before. How on earth could I expect you to ride in a stranger's buggy, +with said stranger on the business end of the lines? Then the hills +are so near. Why, you might be spirited off goodness knows where, and +your loving relatives never, never hear of you no more, and---- Say, +we can easily fix that though. My name's--Van Henslaer. Gordon Van +Henslaer from New York. Now if you tell me--what's the matter?" + +A merry peal of laughter had greeted his announcement, and Gordon +looked on in pretended amazement, waiting for her mirth to subside. + +"Oh dear, oh dear," the girl cried at last. "I might have known. Say, +of course I ought to have known. You came here yesterday on the +train--by mistake. You----" + +"That's so. I'd booked through to Seattle, but--some interfering pack +of fools guessed I'd made a--mistake," + +The girl nodded. Her pretty eyes were still dancing with merriment. + +"Father came by the same train, and told me of someone who got mixed up +in--in a fight, and they threw----" + +"Don't say another word," Gordon cried hurriedly. "I'm--I'm the man. +And your father is----?" + +"Mallinsbee--Silas Mallinsbee!" + +"Then you are Hazel Mallinsbee." + +"How do you know my first name?" + +"Why, I saw you in town, and the livery man told me you were 'Miss +Hazel.' Say, this is bully. Now we aren't strangers, and you can ride +in my buggy without any question. Jump right in, and I'll drive +you--where is it?" + +Hazel Mallinsbee obeyed without further demur. She sprang into the +vehicle, and Gordon promptly followed. The next moment they were +moving on at a steady, sober pace. + +"It's Buffalo Point," the girl directed. "It's only four miles. Then +you can go on and enjoy your beautiful pathetic picture of the coal +workings. But you won't have much time if we travel at this gait," she +added slyly. + +Gordon shook his head. + +"It's Sunset," he said. "We must consider his poor foot." + +There was laughter in Hazel's eyes as she sighed. + +"Poor Sunset. Perhaps--you're right." + +"Without a doubt," Gordon laughed. "He might get blood poisoning, or +cancer, or dyspepsia, or something if we bustled him." + +Hazel pointed a branching trail to the north. + +"That's the trail," she said. "Father's at home. He'll be real glad +to see you. Say, you know father ought to know better--at his age. +He--he just loves a scrap. He was telling me about you, and saying how +you 'hammered'--that's the word he used--the 'sharp.' He was most +upset that the train crew spoiled the finish. You know father's a +great scallywag. I don't believe he thinks he's a day over twenty. +It's--it's dreadful--with a grown-up daughter. He's--just a great big +boy for all his gray hair. You should just see him out on the range. +He's got all the youngsters left standing. It must be grand to grow +old like he does." + +Gordon listened to the girl's rich tones, and the enthusiasm lying +behind her words, and somehow the whole situation seemed unreal. Here +he was driving one of the most perfectly delightful girls he had ever +met to her home, within twenty-four hours of his absurd arrival in a +still more absurd town. Nor was she any mere country girl. Her whole +style spoke of an education obtained at one of the great schools in the +East. Her costume might have been tailored on Fifth Avenue, New York. +Yet here she was living the life of the wonderful sunlit prairie, the +daughter of an obscure rancher in the foothills of the Rockies. + +"Say, your father is just a bully feller," he agreed quickly. "He +didn't know me from--a grasshopper, but he did me all sorts of a good +service. It don't matter what it was. But it was one of those things +which between men count a whole heap." + +The girl's enthusiasm waxed. + +"Father's just as good as--as he's clever. But," she added tenderly, +"he's a great scallywag. Oh dear, he'll never grow up." A few minutes +later she pointed quickly ahead with one gauntleted hand. + +"That's Buffalo Point," she said. "There where that house is. That's +our house, and beyond it, half a mile, you can see the telegraph poles +of the railroad track." + +Gordon gazed ahead. They still had a good mile to go. The lonely +house fixed his attention. + +"Say, isn't there a village?" he inquired. "Buffalo Point?" + +The girl shook her head. + +"No. Just that little frame house of ours. Father had it built as--a +sort of office. You see, we're both working hard on his land scheme. +You see, it's--it's our hobby, the same as losing trails is yours." + +Gordon laughed. + +"That's plumb spoiled my day. I'd forgotten the land business. Now +it's all come over me like a chill, like the drip of an ice wagon down +the back of my neck. I s'pose there'll always be land around, and +we've always got to have coal. It seems a pity, doesn't it. Say, +there hasn't been a soul I've met in twenty-four hours, but they've +been crazy on--on town sites. They're most ridiculous things, town +sites. Four pegs and four imaginary lines, a deal of grass with a +substrata of crawly things. And for that men would scrap, and cheat, +and rob, and--and graft. It's--a wonder." + +Hazel Mallinsbee checked her inclination to laugh again. Her eyes were +gazing ahead at the little frame house, and they grew wistfully serious. + +"It isn't the land," she said simply. "The scrap, and cheat, and rob, +and graft, are right. But it's the fight for fortune. Fortune?" she +smiled. "Fortune means everything to a modern man. To some women, +too, but not quite in the way it does to a man. You see, in olden days +competition took a different form. I don't know if, in spite of what +folks say about the savagery of old times, they weren't more honest and +wholesome than they are now. However, nature's got to compete for +something. Human nature's got to beat someone. Life is just one +incessant rivalry. Well, in old times it took the form of bloodshed +and war, when men counted with pride the tally of their victories. Now +we point with pride to our civilization, and gaze back in pity upon our +benighted forefathers. Instead of bloodshed, killing, fighting, +massacring and all the old bad habits of those who came before us, we +point our civilization by lying, cheating, robbing and grafting." + +Gordon smiled. + +"Put that way it sounds as though the old folks were first-class saints +compared with us. There's a deal of honesty when two fellers get right +up on their hind legs and start in to mush each other's faces to a +pulp. But it isn't just the same when you creep up while the other +feller isn't wise and push the muzzle of a gun into his middle and +riddle his stomach till it's like a piece of gruyere cheese." + +Hazel shook her head. Her eyes were still smiling, but Gordon detected +something of the serious thought behind them. He vainly endeavored to +sober his mood in sympathy. + +"Guess it's the refinement of competition due to the claims of our much +proclaimed culture and civilization. I think civilization is a--a +dreadful mockery. To call it a whitewash would be a libel on a +perfectly innocent, wholesome, sanitary process. That's how I always +feel when I stop to think. But--but," her eyes began to dance with a +joyous enthusiasm, "I don't often think--not that way. Say, I just +love the battle, I mean the modern battle for fortune. It's--it's +almost the champagne of life. I know only one thing to beat it." + +Gordon had forgotten the team he was driving, and let them amble +leisurely on towards the house, now so rapidly approaching. + +"What's--the real champagne?" he inquired. + +The girl turned and gazed at him with wide eyes. + +"Why," she cried. "Life--just life itself. What else? Say, think of +the moment your eyes open to the splendid sunlight of day. Think of +the moment you realize you are living--living--living, after a long, +delicious night's sleep. Think of all the perfect moments awaiting you +before night falls, and you seek your bed again. It is just the very +essence of perfect joy." + +"It's better after breakfast, and you've had time to get around some." + +The ardor of the girl's mood received a sudden douche. Just for a +moment a gleam of displeasure shadowed her eyes. Then a twinkling +smile grew, and the clouds dispersed. + +"Isn't that just a man? Where's your enthusiasm? Where's your joy of +life? Where's your romance, and--and spirit of hope?" + +A great pretense of reproach lay in her rapid questions. + +"Oh, they're all somewhere lying around, I guess," returned Gordon +simply. "Those things are all right, sure. But--but it's a mighty +tough proposition worrying that way on--on an empty stomach. It seems +to me that's just one of life's mistakes. There ought to be a law in +Congress that a feller isn't allowed to--to think till he's had his +morning coffee. The same law might provide for the fellow who fancies +himself a sort of canary and starts right in to sing before he's had +his bath. I'd have him sent to the electric chair. That sort of +fellow never has a voice worth two cents, and he most generally has a +repertoire of songs about as bright as Solomon's, and a mighty deal +older. Sure, Miss Mallinsbee, I haven't a word to say against life in +a general way, but it's about as wayward as a spoilt kid, and needs as +much coaxing." + +Hazel Mallinsbee watched the play of the man's features while he +talked. She knew he meant little or nothing of what he said. The +fine, clear eyes, the smiling simplicity and atmosphere of virile youth +about him, all denied the sentiments he was giving vent to. She nodded +as he finished. + +"At first I thought you meant all--that," she said lightly. "But now I +know you're just talking for talking's sake." Then, before he could +reply, she pointed excitedly at the house, now less than a hundred +yards away. "Why, there's father, standing right there on the +veranda!" she exclaimed. + +Gordon looked ahead. The old man was waving one great hand to his +daughter. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +AT BUFFALO POINT + +To Gordon's mind Hazel Mallinsbee attached far greater importance to +her father's presence on the veranda than the incident warranted. It +did not seem to him that there was the least necessity for his being +there at all. Truth to tell, the matter appeared to him to be a +perfect nuisance. He had rather liked Silas Mallinsbee when he had met +him under somewhat distressing circumstances in the town. Now he felt +a positive dislike for him. His strong, keen, benevolent face made no +appeal to his sympathies now whatsoever. + +Besides, it did not seem right that any man who claimed parentage of +such a delightful daughter as the girl at his side should slouch about +in a pair of old trousers tucked into top-boots and secured about his +waist by a narrow strap. And it seemed positively indecent that he +should display no other upper garment than a cotton shirt of such a +doubtful hue that it was impossible to be sure of its sanitary +condition. + +However, he allowed none of these feelings betrayal, and replied +appropriately to Hazel's excited announcement. He was glad, later, he +had exercised such control, for their arrival at the house was the +immediate precursor of an invitation to share their midday meal, which +had already been placed on the table by the silent, inscrutable +Hip-Lee, the Chinese cook and general servitor in this temporary abode. + +The horses had been housed and fed in the temporary stable at the back +of the house, and a committee of three had sat upon Sunset's injury and +prescribed for and treated it. Now they were indoors, ready for the +homely meal set out for them. + +Hip-Lee moved softly about setting an additional place at the table for +the visitor. Silas Mallinsbee was lounging in the doorway, looking out +across the veranda. Hazel was superintending Hip-Lee's efforts. +Gordon was endeavoring to solve the problem of the rapid and unexpected +happenings which had befallen him since his arrival, and at the same +time carry on a conversation with the rumbling-voiced originator of +Snake's Fall boom. + +"At one time I guessed I'd bumped right into the hands of the +Philistines," he said. "That's when I was--er arriving. Since then a +Samaritan got busy my way and dumps me right down in the heart of the +Promised Land, which just now seems to be flowing with milk and honey. +I set out to view the dull black mountains of industry, and instead I +arrive at the sparkling plains of delightful ease. Mr. Mallinsbee, you +certainly have contrived to put me under enormous obligation." + +Gordon's eyes were pleasantly following the movements of the girl's +graceful figure about the plain but neat parlor. "I suppose all +offices in the West are not like this, because----" + +Mallinsbee rumbled a pleasant laugh. + +"Office?" he said, without turning. "That's jest how Hazel calls it. +Guess she's got notions since she finished off her education at Boston. +She's got around with a heap of 'em, includin' that suit she's wearin'. +Y'see, she's my foreman hoss-breaker, and reckons skirts and things +are--played out. Office? Why, it's just a shack. Some time you must +get around out an' see the ranch house. It's some place," he added +with simple pride. + +Hazel went up to her father and pretended to threaten him by the neck. + +"See, Daddy, you can just quit telling about my notions to--folks. +Anyway"--she turned her back to Gordon--"I appeal to you, Mr. Van +Henslaer, isn't an office a place where folks transact big deals and +make fortunes?" + +"That's how folks reckon when they rent them," said Gordon. "Of +course, I've known folks to sleep in 'em. Others use 'em as a sort of +club smoking lounge. Then they've been known to serve some men as a +shelter from--home. I used to have an office." + +Silas Mallinsbee turned from his contemplation of the horizon. He was +interested, and his shrewd eyes displayed the fact. + +Hazel clapped her hands. + +"And what did you use it for?" she demanded quizzically. + +"I--oh, I--let's see. Well, mostly an address from which to have word +sent to folks I didn't want to see that--I was out. I used to find it +useful that way." + +Mallinsbee's chuckle amused Gordon, but Hazel assumed an air of +judicial severity. + +"A spirit not to be encouraged." Then, at the sound of her father's +chuckle, "My daddy, you are as bad as he. Now food's ready, so please +sit in. We can talk easier around a table than when people are +dreaming somewhere in the distance on the horizon, or walking about a +room that isn't bigger than the bare size to sit in. Anyway, Mr. Van +Henslaer, this office is for business. I won't have it disparaged by +my daddy, or--or anyone else. It serves a great purpose so far as +we're concerned." Then she added slyly, "You see, we're in the throes +of the great excitement of making a huge pile, for the sheer love of +making it. Aren't we, Daddy, dear?" + +Silas Mallinsbee looked up from the food he was eating with the air of +a man who only eats as a matter of sheer necessity. + +"Say, Mr. Van Henslaer," he said in his deep tones, "I've been a +rancher all my life. Cattle, to me, are just about the only things in +the world worth while, 'cept horses. I've never had a care or thought +outside 'em, till one day I got busy worrying what was under the ground +instead of keeping to the things I understood above the ground. Y'see, +the trouble was two things," he went on, smiling tenderly in his +daughter's direction. "One was I'd fed the ranch stoves with surface +coal that you could find almost anywheres on my land, and the other was +the fates just handed me the picture of a daughter who caught the +dangerous disease of 'notions' way down east at school in Boston. +Since she's come along back to us I've had coal, coal, coal all chasin' +through my head, an' playing baseball with every blamed common-sense +idea that ever was there before. Wal, to tell things quick, I made a +mighty big pile out of that coal just to please her. We didn't need +it, but she guessed it was up to me to do this. But that didn't finish +it. This gal here couldn't rest at that. She guessed that pile was +made and done with. She needs to get busy in another direction. Well, +she gets to work, and has all my land on the railroads staked out into +a township, and reckons it's a game worth playing. The other was too +dead easy. This time she reckons to measure her brains and energy +against a railroad! She reckons to show that we can match, and beat, +any card they can play. That's the reason of this office." + +Hazel laughed and raised an admonishing finger at the smiling face and +twinkling eyes of her father. + +"What did I tell you, Mr. Van Henslaer?" she cried. "Didn't I say he +was just a scallywag? Oh, my great, big daddy, I'm dreadfully, +dreadfully ashamed and disappointed in you. I'm going to give you +away. I am, surely. There, there, Mr. Van Henslaer, sits the wicked +plotter and schemer. Look at him. A big, burly ruffian that ought to +know better. Look at him," she went on, pointing a dramatic finger at +him. "And he isn't even ashamed. He's laughing. Now listen to me. +I'm going to tell you my version. He's a rancher all right, all right. +He's been satisfied with that all his life, and prosperity's never +turned him down. Then one day he found coal, and did nothing. We just +used to talk of it, that was all. Then another day along comes a +friend, a very, very old friend and neighbor, whom he's often helped. +He came along and got my daddy to sell him a certain patch of +grazing--just to help him out, he said. He was a poor man, and my +big-hearted daddy sold it him at a rock-bottom price to make it easy +for him. Three months later they were mining coal on it--anthracite +coal. That fellow made a nice pile out of it. He'd bluffed my daddy, +and my daddy takes a bluff from no man. Well, say, he just nearly went +crazy being bested that way, and he said to me--these were his words: +'Come on, my gal, you and me are just goin' to show folks what we're +made of. If there's money in my land we're going to make all we need +before anyone gets home on us. I'm goin' to show 'em I'm a match for +the best sharks our country can produce--and that's some goin'.' There +sits the money-spinner. There! Look at him; he's self-confessed. I'm +just his clerk, or decoy, or--or any old thing he needs to help him in +his wicked, wicked schemes!" + +Mallinsbee sat chuckling at his daughter's charge, and Gordon, watching +him, laughed in chorus. + +"I'm kind of sorry, Mr. Mallinsbee, to have had to listen to such a +tale," he said at last, with pretended seriousness, "but I guess you're +charged, tried, convicted and sentenced. Seeing there's just two of +you, it's up to me to give the verdict Guilty!" he declared. "Have you +any reason to show why sentence should not be passed upon you? No? +Very well, then. I sentence you to make that pile, without fail, in a +given time. Say six months. Failing which you'll have the +satisfaction of knowing that you have assisted in the ruin of an +innocent life." + +In the midst of the lightness of the moment Gordon had suddenly taken a +resolve. It was one of those quick, impulsive resolves which were +entirely characteristic of him. There was nothing quite clear in his +mind as to any reason in his decision. He was caught in the enthusiasm +of his admiration of the fair oval face of his hostess, whose +unconventional camaraderie so appealed to his wholesome nature; he was +caught by the radiance of her sunny smile, by the laughing depths of +her perfect hazel eyes. Nor was the manner of the man, her father, +without effect upon his responsive, simple nature. + +But his sentence on Silas Mallinsbee had caught and held both father's +and daughter's attention, and excited their curiosity. + +"Why six months?" smiled Hazel. + +"Say, it's sure some time limit," growled Mallinsbee. + +Gordon assumed an air of judicial severity. + +"Is the court to be questioned upon its powers?" he demanded. "There +is a law of 'contempt,'" he added warningly. + +But his warning was without effect. + +"And the innocent's ruin?" demanded Hazel. + +The answer came without a moment's hesitation. + +"Mine," said Gordon. And his audience, now with serious eyes, waited +for him to go on. + +Hip-Lee had brought in the sweet, and vanished again in his silent +fashion. Then Gordon raised his eyes from his plate and glanced at his +host. They wandered across to and lingered for a moment on the strong +young face of the girl. Then they came back to his plate, and he +sighed. + +"Say, if there's one thing hurts me it's to hear everybody telling a +yarn, and my not having one to throw back at 'em," he said, smiling +down at the simple baked custard and fruit he was devouring. "Just now +I'm not hurt a thing, however, so that remark don't apply. You see, my +yarn's just as simple and easy as both of yours, and I can tell it in a +sentence. My father's sent me out in the world with a stake of my own +naming to make one hundred thousand dollars in six months!" + +He was surprised to witness, the dramatic effect of his announcement. +Hazel's astonishment was serious and frankly without disguise. But her +father's was less marked by outward expression. It was only obvious +from the complete lack of the smile which had been in his shrewd eyes a +moment before. + +"One hundred thousand dollars in six months!" Hazel exclaimed. She had +narrowly escaped scalding herself with the coffee Hip-Lee had just +served. She set her cup down hastily. + +"Guess your father's takin' a big chance," said Mallinsbee thoughtfully. + +But their serious astonishment was too great a strain for Gordon. He +began to laugh. + +"It's my belief life's too serious to be taken seriously, so the chance +he's taken don't worry me as, maybe, it ought," he said. "You see, my +father's a good sportsman, and he sees most things the way every real +sportsman sees 'em--where his son's concerned. Morally I owe him one +hundred thousand dollars. I say morally. Well, I guess we talked +together some. I--well, maybe I made a big talk, like fellows of my +age and experience are liable to make to a fellow of my father's age +and experience. Then I sort of got a shock, as sometimes fellows of my +age making a big talk do. In about half a minute I found a new meaning +for the word 'bluff.' I thought I'd got its meaning right before that. +I thought I could teach my father all there was to know about bluff. +You see, I'd forgotten he'd lived thirty-three more years than I had. +Bluff? Why, I'd never heard of it as he knew it. The result is I've +got to make one hundred thousand dollars in six months or forfeit my +legitimate future." Then he added with the gayest, most buoyant laugh, +"Say, it's a terrible thing to think of. It's dead serious. It's as +serious as an inter-university ball game." + +The lurking smile had returned to Mallinsbee's eyes, and Hazel frankly +joined in Gordon's laugh. + +"And you've come to Snake's Fall to--to make it?" she cried. + +"I can't just say that," returned Gordon. + +"No." Mallinsbee shook his head, and the two men exchanged meaning +glances. Then the old man went on with his food and spoke between the +mouthfuls. "You had an office?" + +"Sure. You see, I was my father's secretary." + +"Secretary?" Mallinsbee looked up quickly. + +Gordon nodded. + +"That's what he called me. I drew the salary--and my allowance. It +was an elegant office--what little I remember of it." + +The old man's regard was very nearly a broad laugh. + +"Say, you made a talk about an 'innocent's' life gettin' all mussed up?" + +Gordon nodded with profound seriousness. + +"Sure," he replied. "Mine. I don't guess you'll deny my innocence." +Mallinsbee shook his head. "Good," Gordon went on; "that makes it +easy. If you don't make good I lose my chance. I'm going to put my +stake in your town plots." + +The rancher regarded him steadily for some moments. Then-- + +"Say, what's your stake?" he inquired abruptly. + +Gordon had nothing to hide. There was, it seemed to him, a fatal +magnetism about these people. The girl's eyes were upon him, full of +amused delight at the story he had told; while her father seemed to be +driving towards some definite goal. + +"Five thousand dollars. That and a few hundred dollars I had to my +credit at the bank. It don't sound much," he added apologetically, +"but perhaps it isn't quite impossible." + +"I don't guess there's a thing impossible in this world for the feller +who's got to make good," said Mallinsbee. "You see, you've got to make +good, and it don't matter a heap if your stake's five hundred or five +thousand. Say, talk's just about the biggest thing in life, but it's +made up of hot air, an' too much hot air's mighty oppressive. So I'll +just get to the end of what I've to say as sudden as I can. I guess my +gal's right, I'm just crazy to beat the 'sharps' on this land scoop, +and I'm going to do it if I get brain fever. Now it's quite a +proposition. I've got to play the railroad and all these ground +sharks, and see I get the juice while they only get the pie-crust. I'm +needing a--we'll call him a secretary. Hazel is all sorts of a bright +help, but she ain't a man. I need a feller who can swear and scrap if +need be, and one who can scratch around with a pen in odd moments. +This thing is a big fight, and the man who's got the biggest heart and +best wind's going to win through. My wind's sound, and I ain't heard +of any heart trouble in my family. Now you ken come in in town plots +so that when the boom comes they'll net you that one hundred thousand +dollars. You don't need to part with that stake--yet. The deal shall +be on paper, and the cash settlement shall come at the finish. +Meanwhile, if need be, for six months you'll put in every moment you've +got on the work of organizing this boom. Maybe we'll need to scrap +plenty. But I don't guess that'll come amiss your way. We'll hand +this shanty over for quarters for you, and we'll share it as an office. +This ain't philanthropy; it's business. The man who's got no more +sense than to call a bluff to make one hundred thousand dollars in six +months is the man for me. He'll make it or he won't. And, anyway, +he's going to make things busy for six months. You ain't a 'sharp' +now--or I wouldn't hand you this talk. But I'm guessin' you'll be +mighty near one before we're through. We've got to graft, and graft +plenty, which is a play that ain't without attractions to a real bright +feller. You see, money's got a heap of evil lyin' around its +root--well, the root of things is gener'ly the most attractive. Guess +I've used a deal of hot air in makin' this proposition, but you won't +need to use as much in your answer--when you've slept over it. Say, if +food's through we'll get busy, Hazel." + + +Mrs. James Carbhoy was in bed when she received her morning's mail. +Perhaps she and her millionaire husband were unusually old-fashioned in +their domestic life. Anyway, James Carbhoy's presence in the great +bedstead beside her was made obvious by the heavy breathing which, in a +less wealthy man, might have been called snoring, and the mountainous +ridge of bedclothes which covered his monumental bulk. + +A querulous voice disturbed his dreams. He heard it from afar off, and +it merged with the scenes he was dwelling upon. A panic followed. He +had made a terrible discovery. It was his wife, and not the president +of a rival railroad, who was stealing the metals of a new track he was +constructing as fast as he could lay them. + +He awoke in a cold sweat. He thought he was lying in the cutting +beside the track. His wife had vanished. He rubbed his eyes. No, she +hadn't. There she was, sitting up in bed with a sheaf of papers in her +hand. He felt relieved. + +Now her plaint penetrated to his waking consciousness. + +"For goodness' sake, James," she cried, "quit snoring and wake up. I +wish you'd pay attention when I'm speaking. I'm all worried to death." + +The multi-millionaire yawned distressingly. + +"Most folks are worried in the morning. I'm worried, too. Go to +sleep. You'll feel better after a while." + +"It's nothing to do with the morning," complained his wife. +"It's--it's a letter from Gordon. The poor boy writes such queer +letters. It's all through you being so hard on him. You never did +have any feeling for--for anybody. I'm sure he's suffering. He never +talked this way before. Maybe he don't get enough to eat; he don't say +where he is either. Perhaps he's just nowhere in particular. You'd +better ring up an inquiry bureau----" + +"For goodness' sake read the letter," growled the drowsy man. "You're +making as much fuss as a hen with bald chicks." + +Mrs. Carbhoy withered her husband with a glance that fell only upon the +back of his great head. But she had her way. She meant him to share +in her anxiety through the text of the, to her, incomprehensible +letter. She read slowly and deliberately, and in a voice calculated to +rivet any wandering attention. + + +"DEAREST MUM: + +"There's folks who say that no man knows the real meaning of luck, good +or bad, till he takes to himself a wife. This may be right. My +argument is, it's only partially so. There may be considerable luck +about matrimony. For instance, if any fool man came along and married +our Gracie he'd be taking quite a chance. Her native indolence and +peevishness suggest possibilities. Her tongue is vitriolic in one so +young, as I have frequently had reason to observe. This would +certainly be a case where the man would learn the real meaning of luck. +But there wouldn't be a question. His luck would be out--plumb out. +Jonah would have been a mascot beside him. + +"This is by the way. + +"I argue luck can be appreciated fully through channels less worrying. +When luck gets busy around its coming is kind of subtle. It's sudden, +too; kind of butts in unnoticed, sometimes painfully, and generally +without shouting. Maybe it happens with a bump or a jar. Personally +I'm betting on the 'bump' play. A bump of that nature got busy my way +when I arrived here. I now have a full appreciation of luck. Quite as +full an appreciation as the man would who married our Gracie. But in +my case I guess it's good luck. This isn't going to tell you all +that's in my mind, but, seeing I haven't fallen for fiction yet, I +guess I won't try to be more explicit. Luck, in my present position, +means the coming responsibility of success. You might hand this on to +the old Dad. + +"Talking of the old Dad, it seems to me that, for a delicate digestion, +baked custard and fruit have advantages over ice-cream as a sweet. +This again is by the way. + +"In my last letter I gave you a few first impressions on arrival at my +destination. Now, if you'll permit, I'll add what I might call the +maturer reflections of a mind wide awake to life as it really is, and +to the inner meaning of those things which are so carefully hidden from +one brought up in luxury, as I have been. One of the 'dead snips' this +way is that cleverness and wisdom are often confused by the ignorant. +Cleverness don't mean wisdom, and--vice versa. For instance, loafing +idly down a main street six inches deep in a dust that would shame a +blizzard when the wind blows, with a blazing sun scorching the marrow +of the spine till it's ready to be spread out on toast, escorted by an +army of disgusting flies moving in massed formation, and not knowing +better than to drive your soul to perdition through the channel of +extreme bad language, don't suggest cleverness. Yet there may surely +be a deal of wisdom in it if it only keeps you from doing something a +heap more foolish. Maybe this don't sound altogether bright, but +there's quite a deal in it. Think it out. Another thought is that +learning's quite a sound proposition. For instance, a superficial +knowledge of geology may come mighty handy at unexpected moments. A +knowledge of this served me at a critical moment only to-day. So you +see an intimate acquaintance with sharp flints, collected--the +acquaintance, not the flints--during my time as the possessor of an +automobile, which the Dad provided me with and for the upkeep of which +he so kindly paid, has likely had more influence upon my future life +than the best talk ever handed out by a Fifth Avenue preacher ever +would have done. I have no thought of being irreverent. I am merely +handing you a fact. People say that missed opportunities always make +you hate to think of them in after life. For my part, I've generally +figured this to be the philosophic hot air of a man who's getting old +and hates to see youth around him, or else the chin mush of some fool +man who's never had any opportunities, talking through the roof of his +head. I kind of see it different now. You gave me the opportunity of +studying all the beauties of the world seen through an artist's life. +I guessed at the time that would be waste of precious moments that +might be spent chasing athletics. It's only to-day I've got wise to +what a heap I've lost in twenty-four years. Colors just seemed to me +messy mixtures only fit to spoil paper and canvas with. Well, to-day +I've hit on something in the way of color that's just about set me +crazy to see it all the time. It's a sort of yellowy, greeny brown. +That don't sound as merry as it might, but to me it talks plenty. It's +just the dandiest color ever. I discovered it out on a 'long, lone +trail'--that's how folks talk in books--where the surroundings weren't +any improvement on just plain grass. Say, Mum, I guess that color is +great. It gets a grip on you so you don't seem to care if a local +freight train comes along and dissects your vitals, and chews them up +ready for making a delicatessen sausage. When I die I'll just have to +have my shroud dyed that color, and my coffin fixed that way, too. + +"This isn't so much of a passing thought as the others. Guess some +folks might figure it to be a disease. Maybe the old Dad would. Well, +I shan't kick any if I die of it. + +"Talking of Art, I'm just beginning to get a notion that curves are +wonderful, wonderful things. These days of mechanical appliances I've +always regarded drawing such things by hand as positively ridiculous. +I don't think that way now. If I could only draw the wonderful curves +I have in mind now, why, I guess I'd go right on drawing them till the +birds roosted in my beard and my bones were right for a tame ancestral +skeleton. + +"The daylight of knowledge is sort of creeping in. + +"I've learned that frame houses have got Fifth Avenue mansions beat a +mile, and the smell of a Chinee can become a dollar-and-a-half scent +sachet in given circumstances. I've learned that real sportsmanship +isn't confined to athletics by any means, and a lame chestnut horse can +be a most friendly creature. I've discovered that one man of purpose +isn't more than fifty per cent. of two, when both are yearning one way. +I'm learning that life's a mighty pleasant journey if you let it alone +and don't worry things. It's no use kicking to put the world to +rights. It's going to give you a whole heap of worry, and, anyway, the +world's liable to retaliate. Also I'd like to add that, though I guess +I'm gathering wisdom, I don't reckon I've got it all by quite a piece. + +"Having given you all the news I can think of I guess I'll close. + +"Your affectionate son, + "GORDON. + +"P.S.--My remarks about Gracie are merely the privileged reflections of +a brother. When she grows up I dare say she'll be quite a bully girl. +It takes time to get sense. + +"G." + + +"I don't understand it, anyway," sighed Gordon's mother, as she laid +the letter aside. "You'll have to get him back to home, James. He's +suffering. We'll send out an inquiry----" + +She broke off, glancing across at the mass of humanity so peacefully +snoring at the far side of the bed, and, after a brief angry moment, +resigned herself to the reflection that men, even millionaires, were +perfectly ridiculous and selfish creatures who had no right whatever to +burden a poor woman's life with the responsibility of children. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE FIRST CHECK + +It was characteristic of Gordon to act unhesitatingly once a decision +was arrived at. The consideration of Silas Mallinsbee's generous offer +was the work of just as many seconds as it took the rancher to make it +in. Though, verbally, it was left for a decision the next day, Gordon +had no doubts in his mind whatever as to the nature of that decision. + +When he returned to McSwain's sheltering roof, when another meal had +been devoured in the evening, when the soup-like contents of the +wash-trough had been stirred in the doubtful effort of cleansing +himself, when the busy flies had gone to join the birds in their +evening roost, he betook himself to his private bathroom, and sat +himself upon his questionable bed and gave himself up to reflection, +endeavoring to apply some of the wisdom he believed himself to have +already acquired. + +But the application was without useful effect. + +He began by an attempt to review the situation from a purely financial +standpoint, and in this endeavor he stretched out his great muscular +limbs along his bed, and propped his broad back against the wall with a +dogged do-or-die look upon his honest face. + +At once a mental picture of Hazel Mallinsbee obscured the problem. He +dwelt on it for some profoundly pleasant moments, and then resolutely +thrust it aside. + +Next he started by frankly admitting that Mallinsbee's offer left him a +certain winner all along the line--if things went right. Good. If +things went wrong--but they couldn't go wrong with those wonderful +yellowy brown eyes of Hazel's smiling encouragement upon him. The +thought was absurd. + +Again for some time his problem was obscured. But after a few minutes +he set his teeth and attacked it afresh. + +Of course, if things did go wrong he was done--absolutely finished. +His six months would have expired, his stake would have melted into +thin air. His whole future---- But he would have spent six months at +Hazel's side, working upon something that was obviously very dear to +her brave and loyal heart. What more could a man desire? + +He felt his great muscles thrill with a mighty sense of restrained +effort. Was there any thought in the world so inspiring as that which +had the support of the most wonderful creature he had ever met for its +inspiration? He thought not. His pulses stirred at the bare idea of +being Hazel Mallinsbee's companion all those weeks and months. Of +course it would mean nothing to her. She was far too clever, and--and +altogether brainy to give him a second thought. But he felt he could +help her. He felt that to go back home with the knowledge that he--he +had been one of the prime factors in her achieving the hope of her life +would not be without compensations. Compensations? He wondered what +form such compensations took. They certainly would need to be +considerable for the loss of such a companionship. + +He thought of the vision he had seen upon the trail. The beautifully +rounded figure. The graceful movements, so obviously natural. Then +those eyes, and---- + +He smiled and abandoned all further attempt to consider seriously the +offer he had received. What was the use? His good fortune was +certainly running in a strong tide. To attempt to steer a course was +to fly in the face of his own luck. No, he would swim with it, let it +take him whither it might. Meanwhile, Hazel had promised to meet him +on the morrow, and show him the great coal seam, after which he was to +interview her father, and have supper at the--office. Forthwith he +hastily retired to his nightly game of hide-and-seek amongst the +hummocks of flock in his disreputable bed, that the long hours of night +might the more speedily merge into a golden to-morrow. + + +The next day Gordon, at an early hour, spent something over fifty +dollars on a pair of ready-made riding-breeches and boots. For once in +his life he felt that the faithful Harding had been found wanting. +Somehow, in arriving at this conclusion, he had forgotten the episode +of the five-cent-cigar man. Anyhow, the purchase had to be made, since +it was necessary to ride out to the coal seams. + +It was during the time spent on these matters an incident occurred +which caused him some irritation. He saw in the distance, as he was +making his way to the principal store, the pale-faced, sickly-looking +creature who had accosted Hazel the day before. The sight of the man +put him into a bad temper at once, and he forthwith gave the +storekeeper all the unnecessary trouble he could put him to. + +Then, on returning to his hotel, he discovered the man in the office +talking to Peter McSwain. His swift temper left him utterly without +shame, and he stood and stared at the object of his dislike, taking him +in from head to foot with profoundly contemptuous eyes. + +Somehow his inspection made him feel glad he disliked the man. He was +a broad-chested person with aggressively cut clothes. His black hair +was obviously greased, and his general cast of features suggested his +Hebrew origin. Gordon had no grudge against him on this latter score. +It was not that. It was the narrow, shifty eyes, the hateful way in +which he smoked his cigar, with its flaming band about its middle. It +was the loud coarse laugh and general air of impertinent arrogance that +set his back bristling. And this--this had spoken to Hazel Mallinsbee +only the day before. + +He deposited his parcels in his bathroom, and returned to the office to +find McSwain by himself. He had no hesitation in satisfying his +curiosity. + +"Say," he demanded, in a crisp tone. "Who was that rotten-looking +'sharp' you were yarning to when I came in?" + +Peter's amiable expression underwent the most trifling change. + +"Guess I lost ten thousand dollars talkin' that way once," he said, +smelling cautiously at one of his own cigars. + +Gordon promptly snapped back. + +"Maybe I've lost more than that. But it don't cut any ice. Who was +he?" + +Peter smiled as he lit his cigar. + +"David Slosson. Guess he's chief robber for the railroad company. +You've seen him. Are you scared any? Say, we've been waitin' to hear +him talk two days now. I guess you could hand us a bunch of emperors, +an' kings, an' princes, an' dust over 'em a sprinkling of presidents, +but I don't reckon you'd stir a pulse among us like the coming of that +man did to this city. That feller's right here to put the railroad in +on this land scoop. When he's fixed 'em the way he wants we'll hear +from the railroad." + +Gordon's eyes were thoughtful. + +"Chief grafter, eh? He surely looks it." + +"Some of 'em do," agreed Peter. "It's my belief the best of 'em don't, +though," he added reflectively. "Yet he surely ought to be right. +Railroads don't usual graft with anything but the best. He was talkin' +pretty, too." + +"Pretty? More than he looked," snorted Gordon. Then he began to +laugh. "Say, you and I are pretty well agreed about miracles. I sort +of feel it'll have to be one of them miracles if the time don't come +when I knock seventeen sorts of stuffing out of that man. I feel it +coming on like a disease. You know, creeping through my bones, and +getting to the tips of my fingers. I'd like to spoil his store suit in +the mud, and beautify his features with your 'hoss' soap, and drown 'em +in--well, what's in your washing-trough." + +Peter's smile was cordial enough at the forcefulness of his young +guest. He had not forgotten that Gordon was a friend of Mallinsbee. + +"I wouldn't play that way till we see how he's buying," he said +cautiously. + +"Play?" Gordon laughed and shook his head. "Well, perhaps you're +right. It certainly will be some play." + +After midday dinner Gordon set out on one of Mike Callahan's horses to +keep his appointment with Hazel Mallinsbee. All his ill-humor of the +morning was forgotten, and he looked forward with unalloyed pleasure to +his afternoon, which was to culminate in his entering into his +agreement with her father. + +Hazel was waiting for him on the veranda of the office. Her horse, a +fine brown mare, was standing ready saddled. Gordon noted the absence +of Sunset, and understood, but he noted also that her smile of welcome +was lacking something of the joyous spirit she had displayed the night +before. + +"Sunset off duty?" he inquired, as he came up and leaped out of the +saddle to assist her. + +Hazel scorned his assistance. She was in the saddle almost before he +was aware of her intention. + +"Sunset's father's," she said. "The Lady Jane is my saddle horse. +She's the most outrageous jade on the ranch. That's why I like her. +Every moment I'm in the saddle she's trying to get the bit between her +teeth. If she succeeded she'd run till she dropped." Then, with a +deliberate effort, she seemed to thrust some shadow from her mind as +they set off at a brisk canter. "You know, father's just dying to show +you the ranch. He's quite quaint and boyish. He takes likes and +dislikes in the twinkle of an eye, and before all things in his life +comes his wonderful ranch. I'll tell you a secret, Mr. Van Henslaer. +The day you--arrived, after he'd told me just how you had arrived, he +said, 'I'd like to get that boy working around this lay out. I like +the look of him. He don't know a lot, but he can do things.' He's +certainly taken one of his wonderful, impulsive fancies to you. He's +very shrewd, too." + +Gordon laughed. + +"Now I wonder how I ought to take that. I'm all sorts of a fool, but I +can hit hard. That's about his opinion of me, eh?" + +Hazel's eyes were slyly watching him. She shook her head. + +"That's not it," she smiled back. "You don't know my daddy. He might +say that, but there's a whole lot of other thoughts stumbling around in +his funny old head. If he wants you he thinks you can do more than hit +hard." + +The humor of it all got hold of Gordon. + +"Good," he cried, with one of his whole-hearted laughs. "Now I'll let +you into a secret. This is a great secret. One of those secrets a +feller generally hangs on tight to because he's half ashamed of it. I +can do more than hit hard!" + +Then he became serious, and it was the girl's turn to find amusement. + +"You see, I've been raised in a bit of a hothouse. Maybe it's more of +a wind shelter, though. You know, where the rough winds of modern life +can't get through the crevices and buffet you. That's why I fell for +that sharp on the train. That's why I bumped head first into Snake's +Fall. That's why your daddy thinks I don't know a lot. But I tell you +right here I've got to make that hundred thousand dollars in six +months, and I'm going to do it by hook or crook, if there's half a +smell of a chance. I've no scruples whatsoever. I just _must_ make +it, or--or I'll never face my father ever again. Do you get me? +Whatever you have at stake in this land proposition, it's just nothing +to what I have. And you'll know what I mean when I say it's just the +youthful pride and foolish egoism of twenty-four years. Say, do you +know what it means to a kid when he's dared to do some fool trick that +may cost his life? Well, that's my position, but I've done the daring +for myself. My mood about this thing is the sort of mood in which, if +I couldn't get that money any other way, I'd willingly hold up a +bullion train." + +The girl nodded. For a moment she made no attempt to answer him. She +was gazing out ahead at a point where signs of busy life had made +themselves apparent. Something of the shadow that had been in her eyes +at their meeting had returned. Gordon was watching them, and a quick +concern troubled him. + +"Say," he observed anxiously. "You're--worried. I saw it when I came +up." + +The girl endeavored to pass his inquiry off lightly. + +"Worried?" she shook her head. "The anxieties of the business are on +my poor daddy's shoulders, and will soon be on yours. They're not on +mine." + +But Gordon was not easily put off. He edged his horse closer to her +side. + +"But you _are_ worried," he declared doggedly. Then he added more +lightly, "I'll take a chance on it. It's--a man. And he's got a sort +of whitewash face, and black, shoe-shined hair. He's got a nose you'd +hate to run up against with any vital part. As for his clothes, +well--a blind man would hate to see 'em." + +The girl turned sharply. + +"What makes you think that way?" + +Gordon smiled triumphantly. + +"Guess I've been trying to impress you with the fact that +foolishness--like beauty--is only skin deep. The former applies to me. +The latter--well, I guess I must have just read about--that." + +"If you're not careful you'll convince me," Hazel laughed. + +"That's one of the things I'm yearning to do." + +"You're talking of David Slosson," she challenged him. + +Gordon nodded. + +"The railroad's--chief grafter." + +"And a hateful creature." + +"Who's started right away to--annoy you--from the time he got around +Snake's Fall." + +A great surprise was looking back into Gordon's eyes. + +"You're guessing. You can't know that," Hazel said, with decision. + +"Maybe. Say,"--Gordon's eyes were half serious, half smiling--"a girl +don't push her way past a man when he's talking to her if--he isn't +annoying her." + +"Then you saw him stop me on Main Street yesterday?" + +"Sure." Then, after a pause, Gordon went on, "Say, tell me. We're to +be fellow conspirators." + +Just for one moment Hazel Mallinsbee looked him straight in the eyes. +She was thinking, thinking swiftly. Nor were her thoughts unpleasant. +For one thing she had realized that which Gordon had wished her to +realize--that he was no fool. She was seeing that something in him +which doubtless her father had been quick to discover. She was +thinking, too, of his direct, almost dogged manner of driving home to +the purpose he had in view, and she told herself she liked it. Then, +too, all unconsciously, she was thinking of the open, ingenuous, +smiling face of his. The handsome blue eyes which were certainly his +chief attraction in looks, although his other features were sound +enough. She decided at once that for all these things she liked him +and trusted him. Therefore she admitted her worries. + +"Yes," she said, "it's David Slosson--and your description of him is +too good. He's been here two days. He came here the day before you. +He came out to see father directly he arrived, but, as you know, father +was away. I had to see him. And it wasn't pleasant. Maybe you can +guess his attitude. I don't like to talk of it. He took me for some +silly country girl, I s'pose. Anyway I got rid of him. Then he saw me +yesterday." Suddenly her face flushed, and an angry sparkle shone in +her eyes. "His sort ought to be raw-hided," she declared vehemently. +Then, after a pause, in which she choked her anger back, "We got a note +from him this morning to say he'd be along this afternoon. Father's +going to see him. And I was scared to death you wouldn't get along in +time. That's why I was waiting ready for you, and hustled you off +without seeing father. I was scared the man would get around before we +were away. I haven't said a word to my daddy. You see he'd kill him," +she finished up, with a whimsical little smile. + +Gordon was gazing out ahead at the great coal workings they were now +approaching. But though he beheld a small village of buildings, and an +astonishing activity of human beings and machinery, for the time, at +least, they had no interest for him. + +"I knew I was up against that man directly I saw him peeking into that +store after you," he said deliberately. "Miss Mallinsbee, I'm going to +ask you all sorts of a big favor. We three are going to work together +for six months. Well, any time you feel worried any by that feller, +don't go to your daddy, just come right along to me. I guess it would +puzzle more than your daddy to kill him after I've done with him. I +don't guess it's the time to talk a lot about this thing now. I don't +sort of fancy big talk that way, anyhow. All I ask you is to let me +know, and to be allowed to keep my own eyes on him." + +Hazel shook her head. + +"I don't think I can promise you anything like that," she said +seriously. "But I--thank you all the same. You see, out here a girl's +got to take her own chances, and I'm not altogether helpless that way." +Then she definitely changed the subject and pointed ahead. "There, +what do you think of it?" + +"Think of it? Why, he's a low down skunk!" cried Gordon fiercely, +unable any longer to restrain his feelings. + +"I wasn't speaking of him. It!" the girl laughed. "The coalpits." + +"Oh!" There was no responsive laugh from Gordon. Then he added with +angry pretense of enjoyment, "Fine!" + +For nearly two hours they wandered round the embryonic coal village, +examining everything in detail, and not without a keen interest. The +place, hidden away amongst the higher foothills, was a perfect hive of +industry. Great masses of machinery were lying about everywhere, +waiting their turn for the attention of the engineers. Wooden +buildings were in the course of construction everywhere. A small army +of miners and their wives and children had already taken up their +abode, and the men were at work with the engineers in the preparatory +borings already in full operation. + +Even to Gordon's unpracticed eye there was little doubt of the accuracy +of the information he had received relating to Snake's Fall. Here +there was everything required to provoke the boom he had been warned +of. Here was an evidence that the boom would be a genuine one built on +the solid basis of great and lasting commercial interest. Long before +they started on their return journey he congratulated himself heartily +upon the accident which had brought him into the midst of such an +enterprise, and thanked his stars for the further chance which had +brought him into contact with the train "sharp," and so with Silas +Mallinsbee. + +It was getting on towards the time for the Mallinsbees' evening meal +when the little frame house once more came within view. There was a +decided charm in its isolation. On all sides were the undulations of +grass which denoted the first steps towards the foothills. There was a +wonderful radiance of summer sheen upon the green world about them, and +the brightness of it all, and the pleasantness, set Gordon thinking of +the pity that all too soon it would be broken up almost entirely by +those black and gloomy signs of man's industry when the resources of +the old world have to be tapped. + +However, he was content enough with the moment. The sky was blue and +radiant, the earth was all so green, and the wide, wide world opened +out before him in whatever direction he chose to gaze. While beside +him, sitting her mare with that confident seat of a perfect horsewoman, +was the most beautiful girl in all the world, a girl in whose +companionship he was to spend the next six months. The gods of Fortune +were very, very good to him, and he smiled as the vision of his +sportsman father flashed through his mind. + +But his moments of pleasant reflection were abruptly cut short. + +Hazel had suddenly raised one pointing arm, and a note of concern was +in her voice. + +"Look," she cried. "Something's--upset my daddy." + +Gordon looked in the direction of the house. + +Silas Mallinsbee was pacing the veranda at a gait that left no doubt in +his mind. It was the agitated walk of a man disturbed. + +"What's the matter?" demanded Gordon, with some concern. + +"It looks like--David Slosson," said Hazel, in a hard voice. + +They rode up in silence, and the girl was the first to reach the ground. + +"Daddy----" she began eagerly. + +But her father cut her short. The flesh-tinted patch, which Gordon had +almost forgotten, which he used to cover his left eye with, was thrust +up absurdly upon his forehead. His heavy brows were drawn together in +an angry frown. His tufty chin beard was aggressively thrust, his two +great hands were stuck in the waist of his trousers, which gave him +further an air of truculence. + +"Say," he cried, his deep, rolling voice now raised to a pitch of +thunder, "it's taken me fifty-six years to come up with what I've been +chasing all my life. Say, I've spent years an' years huntin' around to +find something meaner than a rattlesnake. Guess I come up with him +to-day." + +"David Slosson," cried Hazel, her eyes wide with her anger. + +Her father waved her aside as she came towards him. + +"No, don't you butt in. I've got to let off hot air, or--or--I'll +bust." + +He paced off down the little veranda, and came back again. Then he +stood still, and suddenly brought one great fist down with terrific +force into his other palm. + +"Gee, but it's tough. Say, you ever tried to hold a slimy eel?" he +cried, glaring fiercely into Gordon's questioning eyes. "No? It's a +heap of a dirty and unsatisfact'ry job, but it ain't as dirty as +dealing with Mr. David Slosson, nor half as unsatisfact'ry. You can +stamp your heel on it, and crush it into the ground. With David +Slosson you just got to talk pretty and fence while you know he's got +you beat all along the line, an' all the time you're just needin' to +kill him all to death. Of all the white-livered bums. Say, if only +the good God would push him right into these two hands an' say squeeze +him. Say----" He held out his two clenched fists as though he were +wringing out a sponge. + +Gordon raked his hair with one hand. + +"Do you need to worry that way, Mr. Mallinsbee? I owe him some myself." + +The old man glared for some moments. Then a subtle smile crept into +his eyes. Hazel saw it, and seized the opportunity. + +"Let's get right inside and have food. You can tell us then, Daddy. +You see, Mr. Van Henslaer's one of our confederates now. He's come +along to tell you so." + + +It was with some difficulty that Hazel contrived to pacify her father, +but at last she succeeded in persuading him to partake of the pleasant +meal provided by Hip-Lee. + +Gordon was glad when at last they all sat down. The appetizing smell +of coffee, the delicious plates of cold meats, the glass dishes of +preserves, and steaming hot scones, all these things appealed to the +accumulated appetite consequent upon his ride. + +"Now tell us all about it," Hazel demanded, when the meal was well +under way. + +Old Mallinsbee, still with the absurd eye-shade upon his forehead, had +recovered his humor, and he poured out his story in characteristic +fashion. + +"Wall," he said, "maybe I was hot when you come up. He'd been gone +best part of an hour. During that time I'd been sort of bankin' the +furnaces. Gordon Van Henslaer, my boy, I hate meanness worse 'n any +devil hated holy water. Ther's all sorts of meanness in this world, +and ther' ain't no other word to describe it. Killing can be just +every sort of thing from justifiable homicide down to stringin' up some +black scallywag by the neck for doin' the same things white folks do +an' get off with a caution. The feller that steals ain't always to +blame. As often as not we need to blame the general community. Lyin's +mostly a disease, an' when it ain't I guess it's a sort of aggravated +form of commercial enterprise, or the budding of a great newspaper +faculty. You can find excuse, or other name, fer most every crime of +human nature--'cept meanness. David Slosson is just the chief ancestor +of all meanness, an' when I say that, why--it's some talk. He's here +to put the railroad in on the land scoop, and, in that respect, I guess +he's all I could have expected. We were making elegant talk. Or, I +guess, he was mostly. He said his chiefs had sent him up to see how +the general public could best be served by his road with regard to this +coal boom, and I told him I was dead sure that railroads never failed +in their service of the public. I pointed out I had always observed it. + +"That talk of mine seemed to open up the road for things, and I handed +him a good cigar and pushed a highball his way. Then he made a big +music of railroads in general, and talked so pious that it set me +yearnin' for my bed. Then I got wide awake. Say, I ain't done a heap +in chapel goin' recently, but I've sort of got hazy recollections of +sitting around dozing, while the preacher doped a lot of elegant hot +air about things which kind of upset your notions of life generally. +Then I seem to recollect getting a sack pushed into my face, and I got +visions of the terrible scare of its coming, and the kind of nervous +chase for that quarter that I could have sworn I'd set ready in my +pocket for such an emergency. That's how I felt--nervous. He was +talkin' prices of plots. + +"Wal, I got easy after awhile, and we fixed things elegant. The +railroad was to get a dandy bunch of plots at bedrock prices, if they +built the depot right here at Buffalo Point. And that feller was quick +to see that I was out for the interests of the public, and to make +things easy for the railroad. So he talked pretty. Then--then he +hooked me a 'right.' He asked me plumb out how he stood. I was ready +for him. I said that nothing would suit me better than he should come +in the same way with the railroad." He shook his head regretfully. +"That man hadn't the conscience of a louse. He was yearning for twenty +town plots, in best positions, five of 'em being corner plots, in the +commercial area for--nix! I was feeling as amiable as a she wild-cat, +and I told him there was nothing doing that way. He said he'd hoped +better from my public-spirited remarks. I assured him my public spirit +hadn't changed a cent. He said he was sure it hadn't, and was +astonished what a strong public spirit was shown around the whole of +Snake's Fall. He said that the old town was just the same as Buffalo +Point. They were most anxious to help the railroad out, too. Which, +seeing the depot--the old depot--was already standing there, made it a +cinch for the railroad. They were dead anxious to save the railroad +trouble and expense. I pushed another highball at him, but he guessed +he hadn't a thirst any more, and one cigar was all he ever smoked in an +afternoon. Then he oozed off, and I was glad. I guess homicide has +its drawbacks." + +"High 'graft,'" said Gordon. + +"Maybe it's 'high,'" said Mallinsbee, with a smile in which there was +no mirth. "Guess I wouldn't spell it that way myself. There's just +one thing certain: if my side of the game has to go plumb to hell David +Slosson don't get his graft the way _he_ wants it. And that's what you +and me are up against." + +"And we'll beat him." + +"We got to." + +"You and----" + +"You," cried Mallinsbee, thrusting out a hand towards him across the +table. + +The two men gripped. Gordon had joined the conspirators. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +GORDON MAKES HIS BID FOR FORTUNE + +Gordon's new address was Buffalo Point, and, entering upon his duties, +he felt like some Napoleon of finance about to embark upon a +market-breaking scheme in which the brilliancy of his manipulations +were to shine forth for the illumination of the pages of history, yet +to be written. + +That was how he felt. Those were the feelings of the moment. Later +the burden of his responsibilities obscured the Napoleonic image, and +raised up in his mind a thought as to the wisdom of butting one's head +against a brick wall. + +However, for the time at least the joy of responsibility was +considerable, and the greater joy of the companionship and trust of his +new friends was something which inspired him to great efforts. + +He studied the affairs of Buffalo Point with a care for detail and an +assiduity which quickly became the surprise and delight of Silas +Mallinsbee. He went over every foot of the new township as laid out by +a well-known firm of town planners from New York under Mallinsbee's +orders and under State supervision. He spent one entire day in +studying the drawn plans, and, finally, having committed all the +details to memory, he felt himself equipped to devote his whole +attention to the cajoling of the railroad which was the sum and +substance of their combined efforts. + +In the first week of his occupation he learned many things which had +been obscure. He took the story of Mallinsbee's operations and +examined it closely, discovering in the process that he possessed a +faculty for clear reasoning altogether surprising. Furthermore, he +discovered that Mallinsbee, though possibly unpracticed in the work of +a big financial undertaking, yet possessed all, and more, of the +shrewdness he had vaguely suspected. + +One of the first efforts of the old man had been to secure the interest +of many of the chief traders in the old township of Snake's Fall. Also +that of the Bude and Sideley Coal Company. This had been done very +simply but effectively. After having marked off the town sites he +required for himself he had then offered, and sold, to pretty well +every landowner in Snake's Fall a certain allotment of sites at a +merely nominal fee. This, as the man himself declared in the course of +his story, left Snake's Fall pretty well "not carin' a whoop which way +the old cat jumped." The "cat" in this instance being the railroad. + +In this way direct and active opposition from the landholders of +Snake's Fall was minimized. As he explained, it was "graft," but he +felt that it was justifiable. This left him with the good will of the +citizens and free to act on broader lines. Then he began to pull all +the wires he could command with the coal people, who regarded him in +the friendliest spirit. However, there was difficulty here, though the +difficulty was not insurmountable. Their engineers were at work +already on the plans to be put into almost immediate operation for the +construction of a private track to link up the coalfields with Snake's +Fall. With them it was a question of time. They could not afford +delay, and the exploitation of the new township would mean delay for +them, although they admitted they would be relieved of a great expense +from its proximity to their workings. + +Mallinsbee, after stupendous efforts, and careful negotiations of the +right kind, finally effected a compromise. He was given three months, +of which already one week had elapsed, in which to obtain the definite +assurance that the railroad would accept Buffalo Point as the new city. +In the meantime the coal people's construction would be held up, and +they would assist him with all the influence they could command in +persuading the railroad. This concession was not unaided by +considerable graft, and the graft took the form of an agreement that +Mallinsbee, out of his own pocket, would construct them a coal depot +and yards in conjunction with the railroad, and hand them the titles of +the land necessary for it. + +He had just returned from the east, where he had been in consultation +with the Bude and Sideley people, and with whom he had ratified this +agreement, and, at the same time, the railroad had been induced to move +in the matter. All along he had triumphed through the agency of graft, +and the crowning point of his triumph had been demonstrated in the +arrival at Snake's Fall of Mr. David Slosson. + +Gordon's first impressions of all these things was that Silas +Mallinsbee had contrived with considerable skill, and that all was more +or less plain sailing. All that remained was to go on, with the +grafting hand thrust ready into the pocket for all eventualities, and +he found himself smiling at the thought of his father, and how surely +his own theories of financial undertakings were working out. + +That was his first impression. But it only lasted until he became +aware of those subtleties of human nature lying behind human effort and +intention. He had reckoned without David Slosson, and, more than all, +he had reckoned without Silas Mallinsbee himself. + +During that first week of his new work David Slosson had called at the +office twice. Once he had encountered only Gordon, and Hazel had +arrived during the visit. The second time he had had another interview +with Silas Mallinsbee. It was immediately after that interview that +Gordon gained some appreciation of the point where human psychology +stepped into the arena of commercial competition. + +The revelation came in Silas Mallinsbee's own statement of the result +of that interview. + +"Gordon, my boy," he said. He had quickly abandoned the use of +Gordon's formal address. "If that feller gets around here too frequent +with his blackmail, I'm going to kill him." + +Then he thrust the patch over his left eye high up on to his forehead, +and Gordon realized the angry light shining in the man's eyes. With +one eye covered his face had almost been expressionless. His evident +surprise at this realization did not fail to attract the rancher's +attention. + +His angry eyes softened to a smile of amusement. + +"You're wonderin' 'bout that patch?" he went on. "Wal, when I get up +against a feller who's brighter than I am in a deal, I don't figure to +take chances. Ever played 'draw' with a one-eyed man? No? Wal, I +did--once. An' I ain't recovered from all he taught me yet. He taught +me that two eyes can just about give away double as much as one. +Which, in financial dealings, is quite a piece. I guess that patch has +saved me quite a few dollars in its time. An' it makes me kind of sore +to think I didn't meet that one-eyed 'sharp' earlier in life." + +Gordon nodded as he folded up the plan of the town lying on his desk. + +"You were using it on--Mr. David Slosson. Say, is he smart, or is he +just a--crook?" + +Mallinsbee rose from his chair and moved cumbersomely over to the +doorway, and stood with his back turned, gazing out. + +"I ain't fixed him that way--yet. He's sure a crook, anyway. That's a +cinch. 'Bout the other we'll know later. Say, I'm open to graft +anybody on this thing--reasonably. It's part of the game. It's more. +It's the game itself. But I don't submit to blackmail." + +"There doesn't seem much difference," said Gordon, drawing some +letter-paper towards him, and preparing to write. + +The other remained where he was, moodily gazing out at the hills where +his beloved ranch lay. + +"You'd think not--but there is," Mallinsbee went on. "You graft an +organization when you're needin' something from them which they ain't +under obligation to themselves to do. That's buying and selling, and, +as things go, there ain't much kick coming. But when you've done that, +and their favor's fixed right, it's blackmail if their servants come +along and refuse to carry out their work if you don't pay _their_ +price. This feller Slosson is a servant of the railroad. I'm ready to +graft all they need. He's out for blackmail. That feller wants to be +paid something for nothing. He don't do a thing for us. He's got to +do the work I'm paying the railroad for. See? Say, Gordon, boy, +happen what likes I won't do it. That feller don't make one cent out +of me. I'm on the buck, an' I don't care a curse." + +Mallinsbee had turned about to deliver his irrevocable decision, and, +as Gordon met the man's serious, obstinate expression, he realized +something of the psychology lying behind a big financial transaction. + +If Slosson had been a man of reasonable grafting disposition, if he had +been a pleasant, amiable personality, if he had been a--man, if Silas +Mallinsbee had been used to affairs such as his father dealt +in--well--. But it was useless to speculate further. He only saw a +troublous situation growing up for him to contend with. + +"We've got to get him playing our game," he hazarded. + +"That we'll never do. We're playing a straight bid for a win. He +couldn't play a straight bid for anything." + +"No." There was a great cordiality in Gordon's negative. + +"It's us who've got to play him--someways." + +"It's some proposition," mused Gordon. + +"It surely is. There's ways." Mallinsbee laughed shortly. "Maybe +I'll hand him over to Hazel." Then he gave another short laugh. +"Guess the ranch 'll interest him some--too." + +Gordon's eyes lit apprehensively. + +"I wouldn't do that," he said almost sharply. + +Mallinsbee faced about. + +"Why not? Hazel's a bright girl. She's as wise as any two men. A +crook don't worry her a thing." + +"I guess all that's right enough. But--she's a girl, and--I don't seem +to feel it's fair to her." + +Mallinsbee remained silent for some moments. Gordon watched the broad +back of the great, lolling figure in the doorway with an alarm he would +not have displayed had he been facing him. Then the sound of +clattering hoofs outside broke up the silence and the old man turned. + +"Here she is," he cried, with a shadowy smile. "Guess she can speak +for herself." + +Gordon could have cursed the luck that had brought the girl there at +that moment. He understood the depth of her devotion to her father and +his enterprise. Nothing could have been less opportune. + +But, in a moment, his annoyance became lost in his delight at the sound +of her cheery greeting. + +"Hello, Daddy," he heard her call out. + +Gordon remained where he was, waiting to feast his eyes upon the fresh +beauty of this girl, who occupied so large a portion of his thoughts. + +Her father stood aside to allow her to pass in, and Gordon had his +reward in her radiant smile. + +"How's our junior partner?" she cried gayly. + +"Feeling just about ready to turn the office into a twelve-foot ring +and--hurt somebody," the junior partner retorted quickly. + +Hazel pulled a long face. + +"Is it that way?" she demanded, and turned back to her father. Then +she added playfully: "What's ruffled the atmosphere of our--dovecote?" + +The old man began to chuckle. + +"Dovecote?" he said. "Guess armed fortress comes nearer describing +this lay out. Anyway the temper of its occupants," he added, his +twinkling eyes on the determined features of his protege. "Guess I'll +get goin' out to the ranch while you two scrap things out. Seems to me +I need to get the cobwebs of David Slosson out of my head." + +He took his departure without haste, but with the obvious intention of +avoiding any further discussion of David Slosson for the present. And +Gordon was not sorry for his going. He felt that at all costs his +suggestion that Hazel should take her place in the ring with this man +Slosson was not to be thought of. + +But he was reckoning without Hazel herself. He was calculating with +all a man's--a young man's--assurance that this girl would regard his +opinions in the light he regarded them himself. + +Hazel sat herself upon the edge of his desk, and flicked the rawhide +quirt against the leg of her top boot. Her prairie hat was thrust back +from her forehead, and her pretty tanned face was turned in a smiling +inquiry upon Gordon. + +"What is it?" she asked, with that new alertness the man had come to +regard as a part of her nature, second only to her delightful +camaraderie. + +He smiled back into her merry eyes. + +"I'm wondering why two men bent on a joint purpose can't see the same +thing in the same light." + +"Which means you and my daddy have already started an argument which +I'll have to settle." + +Gordon laughed. + +"Guess you'll settle it, though--there's no need." + +"Why not? If you can't agree?" + +"We do agree." + +"Then where's the argument?" + +"There isn't one." + +Hazel began to laugh. + +"Why did you say there was?" + +"I didn't. It was you who said that." + +Hazel's smile had died away. + +"It's Slosson, of course," she said decidedly. And Gordon began to +wish she were not so clearsighted, nor so direct in her challenges. + +"Oh, he's a constant thorn," he said evasively. + +"Has he been here to-day?" + +Gordon nodded. + +"And the result?" + +"Your father is--obdurate. Says he won't submit to blackmail." + +"Has Slosson abated his terms?" + +"I don't think so." + +Hazel rose quickly from her seat on the desk. She walked slowly across +the room and propped herself in the doorway, in precisely the same +position as her father had occupied. Gordon's eyes watched her every +movement. He knew she was considering deeply, and intuition warned him +that the result of her consideration might easily conflict with that +which he had in his mind. But he was not prepared for the announcement +which came a moment later. + +She came back to the desk quickly, and took up her old place on it. +Her pretty lips were firmly set, and she gazed soberly and +unflinchingly down into Gordon's apprehensive blue eyes. + +"I shall have to deal with David Slosson," she said quietly. Then, +with a light, expressive shrug: "It won't be pleasant--not by quite a +lot. But--it's got to be done, and done quickly. Father won't give +way, so--he must." + +But, in a moment, Gordon's protest came with all the enthusiasm of his +impulsive nature. To think of this beautiful child having to defile +herself by cajoling a creature like this Slosson moved him to a pitch +of distraction. Whatever else he did not know, he knew the meaning of +expression when men gaze at women. And he had not forgotten his first +morning in Snake's Fall. + +"Miss Mallinsbee," he cried, his big body leaning forward in his +earnestness, and all his feelings displayed in his ingenuous face, "I'd +rather let this thing go plumb smash than that you should be brought +into contact with that filthy scum again. Say, you're too young, and +good, to understand such creatures. I know----" + +Hazel was smiling whimsically down into his anxious eyes. + +"And you're so old and wise you can see plumb through him," she cried. +Then with an exact reproduction of his manner, she leaned forward so +that their faces were within a foot of each other. "You two Solomons +can't deal with him worth two cents. My daddy's too obstinate, and +you--are too prejudiced. He's got to be dealt with, and I'm going to +do it. In a case like this a girl's wiser than any two men." + +"That's--just how your father argued," cried Gordon, in exasperation. +And the next moment he could have bitten off his tongue. + +Hazel clapped her hands. + +"So that was the argument," she cried delightedly. "My daddy in his +wisdom thought of me, and you--you being just a big, big chivalrous boy +with notions, couldn't see the same way." + +Then she sat up, and her eyes grew very serious. That which lay behind +them was completely hidden from her companion, as she intended it to be. + +Had it been possible for him to have read her approval of himself in +her attitude, he now made it beyond question by the sudden wave of heat +which swept through his heart. + +"I tell you, you've no right to sacrifice yourself," he cried hotly. +"Nor has your father----" + +"No right? Sacrifice?" Hazel's eyes opened wide, and in their +beautiful depths a sparkle of resentment shone. "Who says that?" she +demanded. Then in a moment her merry thought banished the clouds of +her displeasure. She began to tease. "Why shouldn't I do this? Say, +you've roused my curiosity. What's the danger? I--I just love danger. +What is the danger I'm running?" + +But Gordon's sense of humor was unequal to her teasing on such a +subject. He remained sulkily silent. + +"I'm waiting," Hazel urged slyly. + +Gordon cleared his throat. He glanced up at her a little helplessly. +Their eyes met, and somehow he caught the infection of her lurking +smile. + +He was forced to laugh in spite of himself. + +"If--if you don't know, it's not for me to say," he cried at last, with +a shrug. "But I tell you, right here, if you were my sister you +wouldn't go near Slosson, if I had to--to chain you up." + +"But I'm not your sister," retorted Hazel, with her dazzling smile. +"And, if I were, I shouldn't be a sister of yours if I didn't." Then +she laughed at herself. "Say, isn't that real bright?" Then with a +great pretense at severity she flourished an admonitory finger at him. +"Gordon Van Henslaer," she said solemnly, "you're just as obstinate as +my daddy, but you haven't got his wisdom." Her pretense passed and she +became suddenly very earnest. "This thing is just all the world to my +daddy," she said, "and I can help him. Wouldn't you help him if you +had such a dear, quaint old daddy as I have? I'm sure you would. What +does it matter to me what I may have to put up with if I can help him +out? True, it doesn't matter a thing. Insults? Why, I'll just deal +with them as they come along." Then her mood lightened. "Say, we're +just two real good friends, Mr. Van Henslaer, aren't we? Friends. +It's got a bully sound. That's just how my daddy and I've been ever +since my poor momma died years and years ago. Heigho!" she sighed. +"And now I've got another friend, and that's you. Say, we're always +going to be friends, too, because you're going to understand that +this--this thing is business, and business isn't play. My daddy wants +to make good, and I'm going to do all I know. And," she added slyly, +"that's quite a lot. Do you know, in this thing I'm dead honest when +I'm dealing with honest folk, and I'm a 'sharp' when I'm dealing with +'sharps'? By that I just mean I'm not scared of a thing. Certainly of +nothing Mr. David Slosson can do. My daddy can trust me, and he's +known me all my life. You've only known me a week, but you can trust +me too. I'm out to help things along, so just let's forget this--this +talk." + +Gordon's admiration for the girl was so obvious that no words of his +were necessary to illuminate it, but he shook his head seriously as she +finished speaking. + +"I just can't help it, Miss Mallinsbee," he said, a little desperately. +"If anything happened to you I'd never forgive myself. What do you +mean to do?" + +Hazel smiled at his manner. Her smile was confident, but it was also +an expression of her regard for him. She had no intention of modifying +her decision, but she liked him for his dogged protest. + +"You just leave that to me," she cried buoyantly. "I haven't an idea +in my silly head--yet. All I can say is, David Slosson is to be +encouraged. He's to be flattered. I'm going to make him smile real +prettily with that mealy face of his. Guess I'll have to take him out +rides--but I'll promise you it won't be my fault if he don't break his +wicked neck." + +Gordon was forced to join in the girl's infectious laugh, but it was +without enjoyment. To think of this man riding at Hazel's side, +basking in her smiles, enjoying her company just when and where he +pleased. The thought was maddening. And it set his fingers tingling +and itching to possess themselves of his throat and squeeze the life +out of him. + +"And how long's this to go on for?" he asked sulkily, in spite of his +laugh. + +Hazel's eyes opened wide. + +"Why--until he weakens, and we get things fixed." + +"And if he beats your game?" + +"He'll hate himself first, and then we'll have to reorganize our plans." + +"Then I guess I'll get busy on the other plans." + +"I shall be beaten?" + +Gordon glanced away towards the window. His eyes had become reflective. + +"It's the only thing I can see," he said slowly. "He'll finish by +insulting you. I know his kind. He'll insult you, sure. And I--well, +I shall just as surely pretty near kill him. And then we'll need +other--plans." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +HAZEL MALLINSBEE'S CAMPAIGN + +The seductive mystery of the hills was beyond all words. A wonderful +outlook of wide valleys, bounded in almost every direction by the vast +incline of wood-clad hills, opened out a world that seemed to terminate +abruptly everywhere, yet to go on and on in an endless series of great +green valleys and mountain streams. Darkling wood-belts crept up the +great hillsides, deep in mysterious shadows, stirring imagination, and +carrying it back to all those haunting dreams of early childhood. For +the most part these were all untrodden by human foot, and so their +mystery deepened. Then above, often penetrating into the low-lying +clouds, the crowning glory of alabaster peaks whose snowy sheen dazed +the wondering eyes raised towards them. + +In the valleys below, the green, the wonderful green, bright and +delicate, and quite unfaded by the scorching sun of the prairie away +beyond. Pastures beyond the dreams of all animal imagination in their +humid richness. Water, too, and low, broken scrubs and woodland +bluffs--one vast panorama of verdant beauty, such as only the eye of an +artist or the heart of a ranchman could appreciate. + +It was the setting of Silas Mallinsbee's ranch, that ranch which was +more to him than all the world, except his motherless daughter. Gordon +had seen it all as he rode out to spend the week-end on a ranch horse, +placed by Mallinsbee at his disposal. He had marveled then at the +delights spread out before his eyes. Now, on the Sunday morning, while +he awaited breakfast, he wondered still more as he examined, even more +closely, that wealth of natural splendor spread out for his delight. + +He was lounging on the deep sun-sheltered veranda which faced the +south. The ranch house was perched high up on the southern slope of +one of the lesser hills. Above him the gentle morning breeze sighed in +the rustling tree-tops of a great crowning woodland. Below him, and +all around him, were the widespreading buildings and corrals of a great +ranching enterprise. It seemed incredible to him that within twenty +miles of him, away to the east, there could exist so mundane and sordid +an undertaking as the Bude and Sideley Coal Company, and the vicious +chorus of ground sharks which haunted Snake's Fall. He felt as though +he were gazing out upon some enchanted valley of dreamland, where the +soft breezes and glinting sunlight possessed a magic to rest the +teeming energy of modern highly tuned brain and nerves. + +Its seductiveness lulled him to a profound meditation, and into his +dreaming stole the figure of the mistress of these miles of perfect +beauty. Now he had some understanding of that fascinating buoyancy of +spirit, the simple devotion with which she contemplated the life that +claimed her. How could it be otherwise? Here was nature in all its +wonders of simplicity, shedding upon the life sheltering at its bosom +an equal simplicity, an equal strength, an equal singleness of mind +with which it was itself endowed. He felt that if he, too, had been +brought up in such surroundings no city flesh-pots could ever have +offered him any fascination. He, too, must have felt that this--this +alone was the real life of man. + +The play of the dancing sunlight through the distant trees held his +gaze. He forgot to smoke, he forgot everything except the beauty about +him, the stirring ranch life below him, and the girl whose fascination +was daily possessing a greater and greater hold upon him. + +Then, quite gently, something else subtly merged itself with the +pleasant tide of his meditations. It was the deep note of a voice +which came from close beside him in a rolling bass that afforded no jar. + +"A picture that's mighty hard to beat," it said. + +Gordon nodded without turning. + +"Sure." + +"Kind of holds you till you wonder why folks ever build cities and +things." + +"Sure." + +"There ain't a muck hole in miles and miles around that you could fall +into, and not come out of with a clean conscience an' a wholesome mind. +Kind of different to a city." + +Gordon stirred. He turned and looked into Silas Mallinsbee's smiling +eyes. + +"It's--all yours?" he inquired. + +"For miles an' miles around. I got nigh a hundred miles of grazing in +these hills--and nobody else don't seem to want it. Makes you wonder." + +Gordon laughed. + +"Say, set a spade into the ground and find a marketable mineral and +tell somebody. Then see." + +Mallinsbee chewed an unlit cigar, and his chin beard twisted absurdly. + +"That's it," he said slowly. "There's nothing to these hills as they +are, except to a cattleman, I guess. Cattle don't suit the modern man. +Your profitable crop's a three years' waiting, and that don't mean a +thing to folk nowadays, except a dead loss of time on the round-up of +dollars. They don't figure that once you're good and going that three +years' crop comes around once every year. So they miss a deal." + +"Yes, they'd reckon it slow, I guess," Gordon agreed. "But," he went +on with enthusiasm, "the life of it. The air." He took a deep breath +of the sparkling mountain atmosphere. "It's champagne. The champagne +of life. Say, it's good to be alive in such a place. And you," he +gazed inquiringly into the man's strong face, "you began it from--the +beginning?" + +"I built the first ranch house with my own hands. My old wife an' I +built up this ranch and ran it. And now it's rich and big--she's gone. +She never saw it win out. Hazel's took her place, and it's been for +her to see it grow to what it is. She helped me ship my first single +year's crop of twenty thousand beeves to the market ten years ago. She +was a small kiddie then, and she cried her pretty eyes out when I told +her they were going to the slaughter yards of Chicago. You see, she'd +known most of 'em as calves." + +"The work of it must be enormous," meditated Gordon, after a pause in +which he had pictured that small child weeping over her lost calves. + +"So," rumbled Mallinsbee. "We're used to it. I run thirty boys all +the year round, and more at round-up. Guess if I was missing Hazel +wouldn't be at a loss to carry on. She's a great ranchman. She knows +it all." + +"Wonderful," Gordon cried in admiration. "It's staggering to think of +a girl like that handling this great concern." + +"There's two foremen, though. They've been with us years," said the +other simply. + +But Gordon's wonder remained no less, and Mallinsbee went on-- + +"After breakfast we'll take a gun and get up into those woods yonder. +Maybe we'll put up a jack rabbit, or a blacktail deer. Anyway, I guess +there's always a bunch of prairie chicken around." + +"Fine," cried Gordon, all his sporting instincts banishing every other +thought. "Which----" + +But Hazel's voice interrupted him, summoning them both to breakfast. + +"Come along, folks," she cried, "or the coffee 'll be cold." + +The men hurried into the house. Gordon felt that there was nothing and +no power on earth that could keep him from his breakfast in that +delicious mountain air, with Hazel for his hostess. + +The meal was all he anticipated. Simple, ample, wholesome country +fare, with the accompaniment of perfect cooking. He ate with an +appetite that set Hazel's merry eyes dancing, and her tongue +accompanying them with an equally merry banter. And all the time Silas +Mallinsbee looked on, and smiled, and rumbled an occasional remark. + +After breakfast the two men set out with their guns. + +"We're sure making Sunday service," said Hazel's father, glancing into +the breech of his favorite gun. + +Gordon concurred. + +"Up in the woods there," he laughed. + +"With a congregation of fur and feather," laughed Hazel. + +"Which is as wholesome as petticoats an' swallowtails," said her +father, "an' a good deal more healthy fer our bodies." + +"But what about your souls?" inquired Hazel slyly. + +"Souls?" Her father snapped the breech closed. "A soul's like a good +sailin' ship. If she's driving on a lee shore it's through bad +seamanship and the winds of heaven, and you can't save it anyway. If +she ain't driving on a lee shore--well, I don't guess she needs saving." + +"It's a great big scallywag," came through the open doorway after them, +as they departed. The tenderness and affection in the manner of the +girl's parting words made Gordon feel that his great host had some +compensation for the absence of that mother who had blessed him with +such a pledge of their love. + + +The two men were returning with their bag. It was not extensive, but +it was select. A small blacktail was lying across Mallinsbee's broad +shoulders. Gordon was carrying a large jack-rabbit, and several brace +of prairie chicken. The younger man was enthusiastic over their sport. + +"Talk to me of a city! Why, I could do this twice a day and every day, +till I was blind and silly, and deaf and dumb. I sort of feel life +don't begin to tell you things till you get out in the open, at the +right end of a gun. Makes you feel sorry for the fellows chasing +dollars in a city." + +They were approaching the limits of a woodland bluff, from the edge of +which the ranch would be in view. + +"Guess that's how I've always felt--till little Hazel got without a +mother," replied Mallinsbee. "After that--well, I just guess I needed +other things to fill up spare thoughts." + +Gordon's enthusiasm promptly lessened out of sympathy. Something of +the loneliness of the ranch life--when one of the partners was +taken--now occurred to him. + +"Yes," he said earnestly, "the right woman's just the whole of a man's +world. I guess there are circumstances when--this sun don't shine so +bright. When a man feels something of the vastness and solitude of +these hills, when their mystery sort of gets hold of him. I can get +that--sure." + +"Yep. It's just about then when a bit of coal makes all the +difference," Mallinsbee smiled. "I wouldn't just call coal the gayest +thing in life. But it's got its uses. When the summer's past, why, I +guess the stoves of winter need banking." + +Gordon nodded his understanding. + +"But your daughter is just crazy on this life," he suggested. + +The old man's smile had passed. + +"Sure." Then he sighed. "She's been my partner ever since, sort of +junior partner. But sometime she 'll be--going." Then his slow smile +crept back into his eyes. "Then it'll be winter all the time. Then +it'll have to be coal, an' again coal--right along." + +They emerged from the woods, and instinctively Gordon gazed across at +the distant ranch. In a moment he was standing stock still staring +across the valley. And swiftly there leaped into his eyes a dangerous +light. Mallinsbee halted, too. He shaded his eyes, and an ominous +cloud settled upon his heavy brows. + +"Some one driven out," he muttered, examining narrowly a team and buggy +standing at the veranda. + +Gordon emitted a sound that was like a laugh, but had no mirth in it. + +"It's a man, and he's talking to Miss Mallinsbee on the veranda. It +don't take me guessing his identity. That suit's fixed right on my +mind." + +"David Slosson," muttered Mallinsbee, and he hurried on at an increased +pace. + + +It was after the midday dinner which David Slosson had shared with them. + +When her father and Gordon arrived, and before objection could be +offered by anybody, Hazel asked her uninvited guest to stay to dinner. +David Slosson, without the least hesitation, accepted the invitation. +In this manner all opposition from her father was discounted, all +display of either man's displeasure avoided. She contrived, with +subtle feminine wit, to twist the situation to the ends she had in +view. She disliked the visitor intensely. The part she had decided to +play troubled her, but she meant to carry it through whatever it cost +her, and she felt that an opportunity like the present was not to be +missed. + +Her father accepted the cue he was offered, but Gordon was obsessed +with murderous thoughts which certainly Hazel read, even in the smile +with which he greeted the man he had decided was to be his enemy. + +To Gordon, David Slosson was even more detestable socially than in +business. Here his obvious vulgarity and commonness had no opportunity +of disguise. He displayed it in the very explanation of his visit. + +"Say," he cried, "Snake's Fall is just the bummest location this side +of the Sahara on a Sunday. I was lyin' around the hotel with a grouch +on I couldn't have scotched with a dozen highballs. I was hatin' +myself that bad I got right up an' hired a team and drove along out +here on the off-chance of hitting up against some one interestin'." +Then he added, with a glance at Hazel, which Gordon would willingly +have slain him for: "Guess I hit." + +This was on the veranda. But later, throughout the meal, his offenses, +in Gordon's eyes, mounted up and up, till the tally nearly reached the +breaking strain. + +The man put himself at his ease to his own satisfaction from the start. +He addressed all his talk either to Hazel or to her father, and, by +ignoring Gordon almost entirely, displayed the fact that antagonism was +mutual. + +He criticised everything he saw about him, from the simple furnishing +of the room in which they were dining, and the food they were partaking +of, and its cooking, even to the riding-costume Hazel was wearing. He +lost no opportunity of comparing unfavorably the life on the ranch, the +life, as he put it, to which her father condemned Hazel, with the life +of the cities he knew and had lived in. He passed from one rudeness to +another under the firm conviction that he was making an impression upon +this flower of the plains. The men mattered nothing to him. As far as +Mallinsbee was concerned, he felt he held him in the palm of his hand. + +Never in his life had Gordon undergone such an ordeal as that meal, +which he had so looked forward to, in the pleasant company of father +and daughter. Never had he known before the real meaning of +self-restraint. More than all it was made harder by the fact that he +felt Hazel was aware of something of his feelings. And the certainty +that her father understood was made plain by the amused twinkle of his +eyes when they were turned in his direction. + +Then came the _denouement_. It was at the finish of the meal that +Hazel launched her bombshell. Slosson, in a long, coarse disquisition +upon ranching, had been displaying his most perfect ignorance and +conceit. He finished up with the definite statement that ranching was +done, "busted." He knew. He had seen. There was nothing in it. Only +in grain or mixed farming. He had had wide experience on the prairie, +and you couldn't teach him a thing. + +"You must let me show you how fallible is your opinion," said Hazel, +with more politeness of language than intent. There was a subtle +sparkle in her eyes which Gordon was rejoiced to detect. "Let me see," +she went on, "it's light till nearly nine o'clock. You see, I mustn't +keep you driving on the prairie after dark for fear of losing +yourself." She laughed. "Now, I'll lend you a saddle horse--if you +can ride," she went on demurely, "and we'll ride round the range till +supper. That'll leave you ample time to get back to Snake's Fall +without losing yourself in the dark." + +Gordon wanted to laugh, but forced himself to refrain. Mallinsbee +audibly chuckled. David Slosson looked sharply at Hazel with his +narrow black eyes, and his face went scarlet. Then he forced a +boisterous laugh. + +"Say, that's a bet, Miss Hazel," he cried familiarly. "If you can lose +me out on the prairie you're welcome, and when it comes to the saddle, +why, I guess I can ride anything with hair on." + +"Better let him have my plug, Sunset," suggested Mallinsbee gutturally. + +But Hazel's eyes opened wide. She shook her head. + +"I wouldn't insult a man of Mr. Slosson's experience by offering him a +cushy old thing like Sunset," she expostulated. Then she turned to +Slosson. "Sunset's a rocking-horse," she explained. "Now, there's a +dandy three-year-old I've just finished breaking in the barn. He's a +lifey boy. Wouldn't you rather have him?" she inquired wickedly. + +Slosson's inclination was obvious. He would have preferred Sunset. +But he couldn't take a bluff from a prairie girl, he told himself. +Forthwith he promptly demanded the three-year-old, and his demand +elicited the first genuine smile Gordon had been able to muster since +he had become aware of Slosson's presence on the ranch. + +Within half an hour one of the ranch hands brought the two horses to +the veranda. Hazel's mare, keen-eyed, alert and full of life, was a +picture for the eye of a horseman. The other horse, shy and wild-eyed, +was a picture also, but a picture of quite a different type. + +Hazel glanced keenly round the saddle of the youngster. Then she +approached Slosson, who was stroking his black mustache pensively on +the veranda, and looked up at him with her sweetest smile. + +"Shall I get on him first?" she inquired. "Maybe he'll cat jump some. +He's pretty lifey. I'd hate him to pitch you." + +But to his credit it must be said that Slosson possessed the courage of +his bluff. With a half-angry gesture he left the veranda and took the +horse from the grinning, bechapped ranchman. He knew now that he was +being "jollied." + +"Guess you can't scare me that way, Miss Hazel," he cried, but there +was no mirth in the harsh laugh that accompanied his words. + +He was in the saddle in a trice, and, almost as quickly, he was very +nearly out of it. That cat jump had come on the instant. + +"Stick to him," Hazel cried. + +And David Slosson did his best. He caught hold of the horn of the +saddle, his heels went into the horse's sides, and, in two seconds, his +attitude was much that of a shipwrecked mariner trying to balance on a +barrel in a stormy sea. But he stuck to the saddle, although so nearly +wrecked, and though the terrified horse gave a pretty display of +bucking, it could not shed its unwelcome burden. So, in a few moments, +it abandoned its attempt. + +Then David Slosson sat up in triumph, and his vanity shone forth upon +his pale face in a beaming smile. + +"He's some horseman," rumbled Mallinsbee, loud enough for Slosson to +hear as the horses went off. + +"Quite," returned Gordon, in a still louder voice. "If there's one +thing I like to see it's a fine exhibition of horsemanship." + +Then as the horses started at a headlong gallop down towards the +valley, the two men left behind turned to each other with a laugh. + +"He called Hazel's bluff," said the girl's father, with a wry thrust of +his chin beard. + +"Which makes it all the more pleasant to think of the time when my turn +comes," said Gordon sharply. + + +David Slosson was more than pleased with himself. He was so delighted +that, by a miraculous effort, he had stuck to his horse, that his +vanity completely ran away with him. He would show this girl and her +mossback father. They wanted to "jolly" him. Well, let them keep +trying. + +Once the horses had started he gave his its head, and set it at a hard +gallop. He turned in the saddle with a challenge to his companion. + +"Let's have a run for it," he cried. + +The girl laughed back at him. + +"Where you go I'll follow," she cried. + +Her words were well calculated. The light of vainglory was in the +man's eyes, and he hammered his heels into his horse's flanks till it +was racing headlong. But Hazel's mare was at his shoulder, striding +along with perfect confidence and controlled under hands equally +perfect. + +"We'll go along this valley and I'll show you our next year's crop of +beeves," cried Hazel, later. "They're away yonder, beyond that +southern hill, guess we'll find half of them around there. You said +ranching was played out, I think." + +"Right ho," cried the man, with a sneering laugh. "Guess you'll need +to convince me. Say, this is some hoss." + +"Useful," admitted Hazel, watching with distressed eyes the man's +lumbering seat in the saddle. + +They rode on for some moments in silence. Then Hazel eased her hand +upon the Lady Jane, and drew up on the youngster like a shot from a gun. + +"We'll have to get across this stream," she declared, indicating the +six-foot stream along which they were riding. "There's a cattle bridge +lower down which you'd better take. There it is, away on. Guess you +can see it from here." + +"What are you goin' to do?" asked the man sharply. He was expecting +another bluff, and was in the right mood to call it, since his success +with the first. + +But Hazel had calculated things to a nicety. She owed this man a good +deal already for herself. She owed him more for his impertinent +ignoring of Gordon, and also for his disparagement of the ranch life +she loved. + +Without a word she swung her mare sharply to the left. A dozen +strides, a gazelle-like lifting of the round, brown body, and the Lady +Jane was on the opposite bank of the stream. + +Before David Slosson was aware of her purpose, and its accomplishment, +his racing horse, still uneducated of mouth, had carried him thirty or +forty yards beyond the spot where Hazel had jumped the stream. At +length, however, he contrived to pull the youngster up. + +He smiled as he saw the girl on the other side of the stream. He +remembered her suggestion of the bridge, and he shut his teeth with a +snap. The stream was narrower here, so he had an advantage which, he +believed, she had miscalculated. He took his horse back some distance +and galloped at the stream. Hazel sat watching him with a smile, just +beyond where he should land. His horse shuffled its feet as it came up +to the bank. Then it lifted. Slosson clung to the horn of the saddle. +Then the horse landed, stumbled, fell, hurling its rider headlong in a +perfect quagmire of swamp. + +Slosson gathered himself up, a mass of mud and pretty well wet through. +Hazel was out of the saddle in a moment and offering him assistance +with every expression of concern. She came to the edge of the swamp +and reached out her quirt. The man ignored it. He ignored her, and +scrambled to dry ground without assistance. + +"I told you to take the bridge," Hazel cried shamelessly. "You knew +you were on a young horse. Oh dear, dear! What a terrible muss you're +in. My, but my daddy will be angry with me for--for letting this +happen." + +Her apparently genuine concern slightly mollified the man. + +"I thought you were putting up another bluff at me, Miss Hazel," he +said, still angrily. "Say, you best quit bluffing me. I don't take +'em from anybody." + +"Bluff? Why, Mr. Slosson, I couldn't bluff you. I--I warned you. +Same as I did about the cat-jumping your horse put up. Say, this is +just dreadful. We'll have to get right back, and get you dried out and +cleaned. I guess that horse is too young for a--city man. I ought to +have given you Sunset. He'd have jumped that stream a mile--if you +wanted him to. Say--there, I'll have to round up your horse, he's +making for home." + +In a moment Hazel was in the saddle again, and the man alternately +watched her and scraped the thick mud off his clothes. + +He was decidedly angry. His pride was outraged. But even these things +began to pass as he noted the ease and skill with which she rounded up +the runaway horse. She was doing all she could to help him out, and +the fact helped to further mollify him. After all, she _had_ warned +him to take the bridge. Perhaps he had been too ready to see a bluff +in what she had suggested. After all, why should she attempt to bluff +him? He remembered how powerful he was to affect her father's +interests, and took comfort from it. + +She came back with the horse and dismounted. + +"Say," she cried, in dismay, "that dandy suit of yours. It's all +mussed to death. I'm real sorry, Mr. Slosson. My word, won't my daddy +be angry." + +The man began to smile under the girl's evident distress, and, his +temper recovered, his peculiar nature promptly reasserted itself. + +"Say, Miss Hazel--oh, hang the 'miss.' You owe me something for this, +you do, an' I don't let folks owe me things long." + +"Owe?" Hazel's face was blankly astonished. + +"Sure." The man eyed her in an unmistakable fashion. + +Suddenly the girl began to laugh. She pointed at him. + +"Guess we'll need to get you home and cleaned down some before we talk +of anything else I owe. That surely is something I owe you. Here, you +get up into the saddle. I'll hold your horse, he's a bit scared. +We'll talk of debts as we ride back." + +But Slosson was in no mood to be denied just now. Although his anger +had abated, he felt that Hazel was not to go free of penalty. He came +to her as though about to take the reins from her hand, but, instead, +he thrust out an arm to seize her by the waist. + +Then it was that a curious thing happened. The young horse suddenly +jumped backwards, dragging the girl with it out of the man's reach. It +had responded to the swift flick of Hazel's quirt, and left the man +without understanding, and his amorous intentions quite unsatisfied. +The next moment the girl was in her own saddle and laughing down at him. + +"I forgot," she cried, "you'd just hate to have your horse held by +a--girl. You best hurry into the saddle, or you'll contract lung +trouble in all that wet." + +Slosson cursed softly. But he knew that she was beyond his reach in +the saddle. A tacit admission that, at least here, on the ranch, she +dominated the situation. + +"And I've never been able to show you those beeves, and convince you +about ranching," Hazel sighed regretfully later on, as they rode back +towards the ranch. But her sigh was sham and her heart was full of +laughter. + +She was thinking of the delight she would witness in Gordon's eyes, +when he beheld the much besmirched suit of this man, to whom he had +taken such a dislike. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THINKING HARD + +The days slipped by with great rapidity. They passed far too rapidly +for Gordon. The expectation of Silas Mallinsbee that David Slosson +would eventually listen to reason, and accept terms for himself similar +to those agreeable to him on behalf of the railroad, showed no sign of +maturing. The firmness of his front in no way seemed to affect the +grafting agent, and from day to day, although the rancher and his +assistant waited patiently for a definite _denouement_, nothing +occurred to hold out promise one way or another. Mallinsbee said very +little, but he watched events with wide-open eyes, and not altogether +without hope that the man would be brought to reason. His eyes were on +Hazel, smiling appreciation, for Hazel was at work using every art of +which she was capable to frustrate any opposition to her father's +plans, and to help on, as she described it, the "good work." + +"I'm a 'sharper' in this, Mr. Van Henslaer," she declared, in face of +one of Gordon's frequent protests. "I'm no better than David Slosson. +And I--I want you to understand that. I think your ideas of chivalry +are just too sweet, but I want you to look with my eyes. We're a bunch +of most ordinary folk who want to win out. If you and my daddy thought +by burying him, dead or alive, you could beat his hand, why, I guess it +would take an express locomotive to stop you. Well, I'm out to try and +put him out of harm's way in my own fashion. If I can't do it, why, +he'll find I'm not the dandy prairie flower he's figuring I am just +now. That's all. So meanwhile get on with any old plans you can find +up your sleeve. By hook or _crook_ we've _got_ to make good." + +By this expression of the girl's extraordinary determination doubtless +Gordon should have been silenced. But he was not silenced, nor +anything like it. The truth was he was in love--wildly, passionately, +jealously in love. It nearly drove him to distraction to watch the way +in which, almost daily, this man Slosson drove out to see Hazel and +take her out for buggy rides or horse riding. Not only that, he and +her father were practically ignored by the man. They were just so much +furniture in the office, and when by any chance the agent did deign to +notice them there was generally something offensive in his manner of +address. + +Worst of all, as the outcome of Hazel's campaign there were no signs +that matters were one whit advanced towards the successful completion +of their project, and the days had already grown into weeks. All +Gordon could do was to busy himself with formulating wild and +impossible schemes for beating this creature. And a hundred and one +strenuous possibilities occurred to him, all of which, however, offered +no suggestion of bending the man, only of breaking him. The sum and +substance of all his efforts was a deadly yearning to kill David +Slosson, kill him so dead as to spoil forever his chances of +resurrection. + +This was much the position when, nearly three weeks later, in response +to a peremptory note from Slosson in the morning, Silas Mallinsbee +decided that Gordon should deal with him on a business visit in the +afternoon. + +Oh yes, Gordon would interview him. Gordon would deal with him. +Gordon would love it above all things. Was he given a free hand? + +But Mallinsbee smiled into the fiery eyes of the young giant and shook +his head, while Hazel looked on at the brewing storm with inscrutable +eyes of amusement. + +"There's no free hand for anybody in this thing, Gordon, boy," said +Mallinsbee slowly. "And I don't guess there's any crematoriums or +undertakers' corporation around Snake's Fall. Anyway, Hip-Lee wouldn't +do a thing if you asked him to bury a white man." + +"White man?" snorted Gordon furiously. + +"Remember you're--fighting for my daddy as well as yourself, Mr. Van +Henslaer," said Hazel earnestly. + +Gordon sighed. + +"I'll remember," he said. And his two friends knew that the matter was +safe in his hands. + +Left alone in his office, Gordon endured an unpleasant hour after his +dinner. It was not the thoughts of his coming interview that disturbed +him. It was Hazel. It was of her he was always thinking, when not +actually engaged upon any duty. Every day made his thoughts harder to +bear. + +For awhile he sat before his desk, leaning back in his chair, gazing +blankly at the wooden wall opposite him. She was always the same to +him; his worst fits of temper seemed to make no difference. She only +smiled and humored or chided him as though he were some big, wayward +child. Then the next moment she would ride off with this vermin +Slosson, full of merry sallies and smiling graciousness, whom, he knew, +if she had any right feeling at all, she must loathe and despise. +Well, if she did loathe him, she had a curious way of showing it. + +He thrust his chair back with an angry movement, and walked off into +the bedroom opening out of the office. He looked in. The neatness of +it, the scent of fresh air pouring in through its open window, meant +nothing to him. He saw none of the work of the guiding hand which, in +preparing it, had provided for his comfort. Hip-Lee kept it clean and +made his bed, the same as he cooked his food. It did not occur to +Gordon to whom Hip-Lee was responsible. + +There were pictures on the walls, and it never occurred to Gordon that +these had been taken from Hazel's own bedroom at the ranch--for his +enjoyment. Nor was he aware that the shaving-glass and table had been +specially purchased by Hazel for his comfort. There were a dozen and +one little comforts, none of which he realized had been added to the +room since it had been set aside for his use. + +He flung himself upon the bed, all regardless of the lace pillow-sham +which had once had a place on Hazel's own bed. He was in that frame of +mind when he only wanted to get through the hours before Hazel's sunny +presence again returned to the office. He was angry with her. He was +ready to think, did think, the hardest thoughts of her; but he longed, +stupidly, foolishly longed for her return, although he knew that, with +her return, fresh evidence of Slosson's attentions to her and of her +acceptance of them would be forthcoming. + +He was only allowed another ten minutes in which to enjoy his moody +misery. At the end of that time he heard the rattle of wheels beyond +the veranda, and sprang from his couch with the battle light shining in +his eyes. + +But disappointment awaited him. It was not Slosson who presented +himself. It was the altogether cheerful face of Peter McSwain which +appeared at the doorway. + +"Say," he cried. Then he paused and glanced rapidly round the room. +"Ain't Mallinsbee around?" he demanded eagerly. + +Gordon shook his head. + +"Business?" he inquired. "If it's business I'm right here to attend to +it." + +Peter hesitated. + +"I s'pose you'd call it business," he said, after a considering pause, +during which he took careful stock of Mallinsbee's representative. +Then he went on, with a suggestion of doubt in his tone, "You deal with +his business--confidential?" + +Gordon smiled in spite of his recent bitterness. He moved over to his +desk and sat down, at the same time indicating the chair opposite him. +As soon as McSwain had taken his seat Gordon leaned forward, gazing +straight into the man's always hot-looking face. + +"See here, Mr. McSwain, we're at a deadlock for the moment, as maybe +you know. Later it'll straighten itself out. I can speak plainly to +you, because you're a friend of Mr. Mallinsbee, and you're interested +with us in this deal. I'm here to represent Mr. Mallinsbee in +everything, even to dealing with the railroad people, so anything +you've got to say, why, just go ahead. For practical purposes you are +talking to Mr. Mallinsbee." + +The disturbed Peter sighed his relief. + +"I'm glad, because what I've got to say won't keep. If you folks don't +get a cinch on that dago-lookin' Slosson feller the game's up. He's +askin' options up at Snake's. He's not buyin' the land yet, just +lookin' for options. Maybe you know I got two plots on Main Street, +besides my hotel. Well, he's made a bid for options on 'em for two +months. He says other folks are goin' to accept his offer. There's +Mike Callahan, the livery man. Slosson's been gettin' at him, too. +Mike come along and told me, and asked what he should do. I guessed +I'd run out and see Mallinsbee. If ther' ain't anything doin' here at +Buffalo, why, it's up to us to accept." + +The man mopped his forehead with a gorgeous handkerchief. His eyes +were troubled and anxious. He felt he would rather have dealt with +Mallinsbee. This youngster didn't look smart enough to deal with the +situation. + +Gordon was tapping the desk with a penholder. He was thinking very +hard. He knew that the definite movement had come at last, and that it +was adverse to their interests. This was the reply to Mallinsbee's +resolve. For the moment the matter seemed overwhelming. There seemed +to be no counter-move for them to make. Then quite suddenly he +detected a sign of weakness in it. + +"Say," he demanded at last, "why does the man want options? I take it +options are to safeguard him _in case_ he wants to buy. This thing +looks better than I thought. He's guessing he may quarrel with us. +He's thinking maybe we won't come to terms. He's worrying that the +news of that will get around, and that, in consequence, up will go +prices in Snake's. That'll mean the railroad 'll have to pay through +the nose, and he'll get into trouble if they have to buy up there. You +see, the bedrock of this layout is--this place has to boom anyway, and +they've got to get in either here or at Snake's." + +Peter rubbed his hands. His opinion of Gordon began to undergo +revision. + +"Then what are we to do?" The anxiety in his eyes was lessening. + +Gordon sprang from his seat, and brought one hand down on his desk with +a slam. + +"Do? Why, let him go to hell. Refuse him any option," he cried +fiercely. "Here, I'll tell you what you do. And do it right away. +How do you stand with the folks up there?" + +"Good. They mostly listen when I talk," said Peter, with some pride. + +"Fine!" cried Gordon. "We'll roast him some. See here, I know you're +holding with us. I know Mike is, and several others. Your interests +are far and away bigger here than in Snake's. So you'll get busy right +away. You'll get all the boys together who've got interests here. +Tell 'em we've fallen out over the railroad deal with Slosson. Tell +'em to get the town together, and then let 'em explain about this +rupture. I'll guarantee the rupture's complete. Make 'em refuse all +options and boost their prices for definite sale, and threaten to raise +'em sky-high unless the railroad make a quick deal. Put a fancy figure +on your land at which he _daren't_ buy. You get that? Now I'll show +you how we'll stand. He's _got to come in on this place then_. He'll +have to buy at our price, because--_the railroad must get in_. You +must play the town folks who've got land there, but none here, to force +the prices up on the strength of our quarrel with the railroad, and +I'll guarantee that quarrel's complete this afternoon. Well?" + +The last vestige of Peter's worry had disappeared. His eyes shone +admiringly as he gazed at the smiling face of the man who had conceived +so unscrupulous a scheme. He nodded. + +"The railroad's got to get in," he agreed. "If they can't get in here +they've got to there. Offer him boom prices there, and if he +closes--which he _daren't_--we make our bits, anyway. If he don't, +then he's got to buy here _on your terms_, and--the depot comes here, +and the boom with it. Say, it's bright. An' you'll guarantee that +scrap up?" + +"Sure." + +Peter sprang to his feet. + +"That's Mallinsbee's--word?" + +"Absolutely." + +The man's hot face became suddenly hotter, and his eyes shone. + +"I'll get right back and we'll hold a meetin' to-night. Say, we've got +to fool those who ain't got interests here--they ain't more than fifty +per cent.--and then we'll send prices sky-high. You can bet on it, Mr. +Van Henslaer, sir. All it's up to you to do is to turn him down and +drive him our way. We'll drive him back to you. It's elegant." + +Gordon gave a final promise as they shook hands when Peter had mounted +his buggy. Then the hotel proprietor drove off in high glee. + +Gordon went back to his office without any sensation of satisfaction. +He had committed Mallinsbee to a definite policy that might easily fall +foul of that individual's ideas. But he had committed him, and meant +to carry the thing through against all opposition. + +The cue had been too obvious for him to neglect. It was Slosson who +had made a false move. He was temporizing, instead of acting on a +fighting policy, and it was pretty obvious to him that his temporizing +was due to his growing regard for Hazel. The man was mad to ask for +options. He was a fool--a perfect idiot. No, the opportunity had been +too good to miss. If Slosson had shown weakness, he did not intend to +do so. Then, as he sat down and further probed the situation, a real +genuine sensation of satisfaction did occur. There would no longer be +any necessity for Hazel to attempt to play the man. + +All in a moment he saw the whole thing, and a wild delight and +excitement surged through him. He was in the heart of a youngster's +paradise once more. The sun streaming in through the window was one +great blaze of heavenly light. The world was fair and joyous, and, for +himself, he was living in a palace of delight. + +It was in such mood that he heard the approach of David Slosson. + +The agent entered the office with all the arrogance of a detestable +victor. His first words set Gordon's spine bristling, although his +welcoming smile was amiability itself. + +Slosson glanced round the room, and, discovering only Gordon, flung +himself into Mallinsbee's chair and delivered himself of his orders. + +"Say, you best have your darned Chinaman take my horse around back an' +feed him hay. Where's Mallinsbee?" + +Gordon assumed an almost deferential air, but ignored the order for the +horse's care. + +"I'm sorry, but Mr. Mallinsbee won't be around this afternoon. He's +going up in the hills on a shoot," he lied shamelessly. "Maybe for a +week or two. Maybe only days." + +"What in thunder? Say, was he here this morning? I sent word I was +coming along." + +Slosson's black eyes had narrowed angrily, and his pasty features were +shaded with the pink of rising temper. + +Gordon's eyes expressed simple surprise. + +"Sure, he was here. Your note got along 'bout eleven. He guessed he +couldn't stop around for you. You see, a few caribou have been seen +within twenty miles of the ranch. They don't wait around for business +appointments." + +Slosson brought one fist down on the arm of his chair, and in a burst +of anger almost shouted at the deferential Gordon. + +"Caribou?" he exploded. "What in thunder is he chasin' caribou for +when there's things to be settled once and for all that won't keep? +Caribou? The man's crazy. Does he think I'm going to wait around +while he gets chasin'--caribou?" + +Gordon maintained a perfect equanimity, but he wanted to laugh badly. +He felt he could afford to laugh. + +"There's no need to 'wait around,'" he deferred blandly. "I am here to +act for Mr. Mallinsbee--absolutely. The entire affairs of the township +are in my hands, and I have his definite instructions how to proceed. +If you have any proposition to make I am prepared to deal with it." + +For all his apparent deference a note had crept into Gordon's tone +which caught the suspicious ears of the railroad agent. He peered +sharply into the blue eyes of the man across the desk. + +"You have absolute power to deal in Mallinsbee's interest?" he +questioned harshly. + +"In _Mr._ Mallinsbee's interests," assented Gordon. + +"Wal, what's his proposition?" The man's mustached upper lip was +slightly lifted and he showed his teeth. + +"Precisely what it was when he first explained it to you." + +The deference had gone out of Gordon's voice. Then, after the briefest +of smiling pauses, he added-- + +"That is in so far as the railroad is concerned. For your own personal +consideration his offer of sites to you remains the same as regards +price, but the selection of position will be made by--us." + +Gordon was enjoying himself enormously. He had taken the law into his +own hands, and intended to put things through in his own way. He +expected an outburst, but none was forthcoming. David Slosson was +beginning to understand. He was taking the measure of this man. He +was taking other measures--the measure of the whole situation. Of a +sudden he realized that he was being told, in his own pet phraseology, +to--go to hell. He had consigned many people in that direction during +his life, but somehow his own consignment was quite a different matter, +especially through the present channel. + +He pulled himself up in his chair and squared his shoulders truculently. + +"I guess Mallinsbee knows what this means--for him?" he inquired +sharply, but coldly. + +"I fancy _Mr._ Mallinsbee does." + +"Now, see here, Mister--I ferget your name," Slosson cried, with sudden +heat. "I'm not the man to be played around with. If this is your +_Mister_ Mallinsbee's final offer, it just means that the railroad +can't do business with him. Which means also that his whole wild-cat +land scheme falls flat, and is so much waste ground, only fit for +grazing his rotten cattle on. I'm not here to mince words----" + +"No," concurred Gordon in a steady, cold tone. + +"I said I'm not here to mince words. If I can't get my original terms +there's nothing doing, and I'll even promise, seeing we're alone, to +get right out of my way to sew up this concern, lock, stock and barrel." + +"That seems to be the obvious thing to do from your point of view--if +you can," said Gordon calmly. "Seeing that _Mr._ Mallinsbee is nearly +as rich as a railroad corporation, there may be difficulties. Anyway, +threats aren't business talk, and generally display weakness. So, if +you've no business to talk, if you don't feel like coming in on our +terms--why, that's the door, and I guess your horse is still waiting +for that hay you seemed to think just now he needed." + +Gordon picked up a pen and proceeded deliberately to start writing a +letter. He felt that David Slosson had something to digest, and needed +time. All he feared now was that Mallinsbee or Hazel might come in +before he rid the place of this precious representative of the railroad. + +After a few moments he glanced up from his letter. + +"Still here?" he remarked, with upraised brows. + +In a moment Slosson started from the brown study into which he had +fallen and leaped to his feet. His narrow black eyes were blazing. +His pasty features were ghastly with fury, and Gordon, gazing up at +him, found himself wondering how it came that the hot summer sun of the +prairie was powerless to change its hue. + +The agent thrust out one clenched fist threateningly, and fairly +shouted at the man behind the desk-- + +"I'll make you all pay for this--Mallinsbee as well as you. You think +you can play me--me! You think you can play the railroad I represent! +I'll show you just what your bluff is worth. You, a miserable crowd of +land pirates! I tell you your land isn't worth grazing price without +our depot. And I promise you I'll break the whole concern----" + +"Meanwhile," said Gordon, deliberately rising from his seat and moving +round his desk, "try that doorway, before I--break you. There it is." +He pointed. "Hustle!" + +There comes a moment when the wildest temper reaches its limits. And +even the most furious will pause at the brick wall of possible physical +violence. David Slosson had spat out all his venom, or as much of it +as seemed politic. The threatening attitude of Gordon, his monumental +size and obvious strength, his cold determination, all convinced him +that further debate was useless. So he drew back at the "brick wall" +and negotiated the doorway as quickly as possible. + +Two minutes later Gordon sighed in a great relief, and passed a hand +across his perspiring forehead. Slosson had passed out of view as +Mallinsbee, on the back of the great Sunset, appeared on the horizon. + +"That was a close call," he muttered. "Two minutes more and the old +man might have spoiled the whole scheme." + +Silas Mallinsbee's personality seemed to crowd the little office when, +five minutes later, he entered to find Gordon busy at his desk writing +a letter home to his mother. + +Gordon displayed no sign of his recent encounter when he looked up. +His ingenuous face was smiling, and his blue eyes were full of an +obvious satisfaction. Mallinsbee read the signs and rumbled out an +inquiry. + +"Slosson been around?" + +Gordon nodded. + +"Sure." + +"Fixed anything?" + +"Quite a--lot." + +"You're lookin' kind of--happy?" + +"Guess that's more than--Slosson was." + +Mallinsbee's eyes became quite serious. + +"I told Hazel just now I'd get along back. You see, I kind of +remembered you just weren't sweet on Slosson, and guessed after all I'd +best be around when he came. Hazel thought it might be as well, too. +Specially as she didn't want to sit around and find no Slosson turn up. +So----" + +Gordon was on his feet in an instant. All his smile had vanished. A +look of real alarm had taken its place. + +"She was waiting for that skunk? Where?" he demanded in a tone that +suddenly filled the father with genuine alarm. + +"He was to go on to the coalpits after he was through here, and she was +to meet him there an' ride over to the young horse corrals where they +been breaking. She was to let him see the boys doin' a bit o' broncho +bustin'. What's----" + +"The coalpits? That's the way he took. Say, for God's sake stay right +here--and let me use Sunset. I----" + +But Gordon did not wait to finish what he had to say. He was out of +the house and had leaped into the saddle before Mallinsbee could +attempt to protest. The next moment he was galloping straight across +country in the direction of the Bude and Sideley's Coal Company's +workings. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +SLOSSON SNATCHES AT OPPORTUNITY + +Gordon had taken David Slosson's measure perfectly, notwithstanding his +own comparative inexperience of the world. Apart from the agent's +business methods, he had seen through the man himself with regard to +Hazel. Hence, now his most serious alarm. The memory of those +lascivious eyes gazing after Hazel in the Main Street of Snake's Fall, +on his first day in the town, had never left him, and though he had +listened to Hazel's positive assurance of her own safety in dealing +with the man a subtle fear had continually haunted him. This was quite +apart from his own jealous feelings. It was utterly unprejudiced by +them. He knew that sooner or later, unless a miracle happened, Hazel +would become the victim of insult. Deep down in his heart, somewhere, +far underneath his passionate jealousy, he knew that Hazel was only +encouraging Slosson that she might help on their common ends, but he +had always doubted her cleverness to carry such a matter through +successfully. To his mind there could only be one end to it all, and +that end--insult. + +Now the thing was almost a certainty. With Slosson in his present mood +anything might happen. So he pressed Sunset to a rattling gallop. If +Slosson insulted her----? But he was not in the mood to think--only to +act. + +That his fears were well enough founded was pretty obvious. David +Slosson, as he hurried away from Mallinsbee's office, knew that he had +played the game of his own advantage and--lost. This sort of thing had +not often happened, and on those rare occasions on which it had +happened he had so contrived that those who had caused him a reverse +paid fairly dearly in the end. He was one of those men who believed +that if a man only squeezed hard enough blood could be contrived from a +stone. Against every successful offensive of the enemy there was +nearly always a way of "getting back." + +That he could "get back" on the commercial side of the present affair +he possessed not the smallest doubt. He would "recommend" to his +company that the present depot at Snake's Fall, with certain +enlargements, and the private line to be built by the Bude and Sideley +Coal people, were all that was sufficient to serve the public, and, +through his judicious purchase of sites in the old township, a far more +profitable enterprise for them than the new township could offer. +Personally, he would have to sacrifice his own interests. But since +Mallinsbee and his cub of an office boy would be badly "stung," the +matter would not be without satisfaction to his revengeful nature. +Then there was that other matter--and he moistened his thin lips as he +contemplated it. + +In spite of all Gordon's lack of faith in Hazel's efforts, they had not +been without effect. Slosson had been flattered. His vanity had seen +conquest in Hazel's readiness to accept his company. It had been +obvious to him from the first that the manner in which he had displayed +his "nerve" before her at the ranch pleased her more than a little. +After all, she was a mere country girl--a "rube" girl. + +Nor was it likely that she would be difficult now. She was pretty, +pretty as a picture. Her figure appealed to his sensual nature. She +didn't know a thing--outside her ranch. Well, he could teach her. +Especially now. Oh, yes, it was all very opportune. He would teach +her all he knew. He laughed. He would teach her for--her father's +sake. And--yes, for the sake of that young cub of a man that had +ordered him out of the office. + +What was his name--"Van Henslaer"? Yes, that was it. A "square-head," +he supposed. The country was full of these American-speaking German +"square-heads." Then quite suddenly he began to laugh. For the first +time since he came to Snake's Fall the thought occurred to him that +possibly this fellow was in love with Hazel himself. He had been so +busy prosecuting his own attentions to her himself that he had never +considered the possibility of another man being in the running. The +thought inspired an even more pleasant sensation. It threw a new light +upon Van Henslaer's attitude. Well, there was not much doubt as to who +was the favored man. The fellow's very attitude suggested his failure. + +Slosson felt he was going to reap better than had seemed at first. He +would ruin Mallinsbee's schemes and satisfy his company at a slight +personal loss to himself. He would complete his triumph over the +individual in Mallinsbee's office. First of all, through Mallinsbee's +failure in the land scheme, by robbing him of a position, and secondly, +through robbing him of all chance of success with the girl. It was not +too bad a retort. He would have made it harsher if he could, but, for +a start, it would have to do. Later, of course, since he would see a +great deal of Snake's Fall and his power in the place would increase, +he would extend operations against his enemies. + +Hazel must be his--his entirely. To that he had made up his mind. She +was much too desirable to be "running loose," he told himself. +Marriage was out of the question, unless he wished to commit bigamy; a +pleasantry at which he laughed silently. Anyway, if it were possible, +it would not have suited him. Marriage would have robbed him of the +right to break up her father's land scheme. No, marriage was---- +Well, he was married--to his lasting regret. + +Hazel was very attractive; very. He could quite understand a man +making a fool of himself over her. He had once made a fool of himself, +and in consequence marriage was very cheap from his point of view. He +regarded women now as lawful prey. And apart from Hazel's +attractiveness, which was very, very seductive, it would be a pretty +piece of getting back on her father and that other. He laughed again. +It was quaint. The prettier a woman the greater the fool she was. + +So he rode on towards the coalpits. + +His narrow eyes were alert, watching the horizon on every side. He was +looking for that fawn-colored figure on its brown mare. His thoughts +were full of it now. The rest was all thrust into the background, +leaving full play to his desires, which were fast overwhelming all +caution. It would have been impossible to overwhelm his sense of +decency. + +Suddenly it occurred to him that it was ridiculous that he should go on +to the coalpits. His eagerness was swaying him. His mad longing for +the girl swept everything before it. Why should he not cut across to +the westward and intercept her on the way from the ranch? She must +come that way, and--he could not possibly miss her. + +He looked at his watch. It wanted half an hour to their appointment. +Why, he would be at the pits in ten minutes, which would leave him a +full twenty minutes of waiting. + +In his mood of the moment it was a thought quite impossible. So he +swung his horse westwards, with his eyes even more watchful for the +approach of the figure he was seeking. + +Perhaps Hazel was late. Perhaps Slosson was traveling faster than he +knew. Anyway, he was already in the shadow of the bigger hills when he +discovered the speeding brown mare with its dainty burden. Hazel +discovered him almost at the same instant, and reined in her horse to +let him come up. In a moment or two his roughly familiar greeting +jarred her ears. + +"Hello!" he cried. "There never was a woman who could keep time worth +a cent. I guessed you'd strayed some, so I got along quick." + +He had reined up facing her on the cattle track, and his sensual eyes +covertly surveyed her from head to foot. + +"Why, you haven't been near the pits," protested Hazel, avoiding his +gaze. "You've come across country. Anyway, it's not time yet." She +pulled off a gauntlet and held up her wrist for him to look at the +watch upon it. + +He reached out, caught her hand, and drew it towards him on the +pretense of looking at the watch. His eyes were shining dangerously as +he did so. Just for an instant Hazel was taken unawares. Then her +pretty eyes suddenly lost their smile, and she drew her hand sharply +away. + +Slosson looked up. + +"Your watch is wrong," he declared, with a grin intended to be +facetious, but which scarcely disguised the feelings lying behind it. + +Hazel was smiling again. She shook her head. + +"It isn't," she denied. "But come on, or we'll miss the fun. I've got +a youngster there in the corrals, never been saddled or man-handled. +I'm going to ride him for your edification when the boys are through +with the others. It's a mark of my favor which you must duly +appreciate." + +She led the way back towards the hills at a steady canter. + +"Say, you've got nerve," cried Slosson, in genuine admiration. "Never +been saddled?" + +"Or man-handled," returned Hazel, determined he should lose nothing of +her contemplated adventure. "He was rounded up this morning at my +orders out of a bunch of three-year-old prairie-bred colts. You'll +surely see some real bucking--not cat-jumping," she added mischievously. + +"Say, you can't forget that play," cried the man, with some pride. +"I'd have got on that hoss if he'd bucked to kingdom-come. I don't +take any bluff from a girl." + +"I s'pose girls aren't of much account with you? They're just silly +things with no sense or--or anything. Some men are like that." + +A warm glow swept through the man's veins. + +"I allow it just depends on the girl." + +"Maybe you don't reckon I've got sense?" + +Slosson gazed at her with a meaning smile. + +"I've seen signs," he observed playfully. + +"Thanks. You've surely got keen eyes. Black eyes are mostly keen. +Say, I wonder how much sense they reckon they've seen in me?" + +"Well, I should say they've seen that you reckon David Slosson makes a +tolerable companion to ride around with. Which is some sense." + +Hazel turned, and her pretty eyes looked straight into his. A man of +less vanity might have questioned the first glance of them. But +Slosson only saw the following smile. + +"Just tolerable," she cried, in a fashion which could not give offense. +Then she abruptly changed the subject. "Get through your business +at--the office?" she inquired casually. + +Slosson's eyes hardened. In a moment the memory of Gordon swept +through his brain in a tide of swift, hot anger. + +"There's nothing doing," he said harshly. + +Hazel turned. A quick alarm was shining in her eyes, and the man +interpreted it exactly. Caution was abruptly cast to the winds. + +"Say, Hazel," he cried hotly, "I'm going to tell you something. Your +father's a--a fool. Oh, I don't mean it just that way. I mean he's a +fool to set that boy running things for him. He's plumb killed your +golden goose. We've broken off negotiations. That's all. The +railroad don't need Buffalo Point." + +"But what's Gordon done?" the girl cried, for the moment off her guard. +"Father gave him instructions. You had an offer to make, and it was to +be considered--duly." + +"What's Gordon done?" The man's eyes were hot with fury. "So that's +it--'Gordon.' He's 'Gordon,' eh?" All in a moment venom surged to the +surface. The man's unwholesome features went ghastly in his rage. "He +turned me--me out of the office. He told me to go to hell. Say, that +pup has flung your father's whole darned concern right on to the rocks. +So it's 'Gordon,' eh? To everybody else he's 'Van Henslaer,' but to +you he's 'Gordon.' That's why he's on to me, I guessed as much. Well, +say, you've about mussed up things between you. My back's right up, +and I'm cursed if the railroad 'll move for the benefit of those +interested in Buffalo Point." + +Hazel had heard enough. More than enough. Her temper had risen too. + +"Look here, Mr. Slosson. I don't pretend to mistake your inference. +Gordon is just a good friend of mine," she declared hotly. "But I've +no doubt that whatever he did was justified. If we're going on any +farther together you're going to apologize right here and now for what +you've said about Gordon." + +She reined up her mare so sharply that the startled creature was flung +upon her haunches, and the man's livery horse went on some yards +farther before it was pulled up. But Slosson came back at once and +ranged alongside. They were already in the bigger hills, and one +shaggy crag, overshadowing them, shut out the dazzling gleam of the +westering sun. + +"There's going to be the need of a heap of apology around," cried +Slosson, but something of his anger was melting before the girl's +flashing eyes. Then, too, the moment was the opportunity he had been +seeking. "See here, Hazel----" + +"Don't you dare to call me 'Hazel,'" the girl flung out at him hotly. +"You will apologize here and now." + +There was no mistaking her determination, and the man watched her with +furtive eyes. He pretended to consider deeply before he replied. At a +gesture of impatience from the girl he finally flung out one arm. + +"See here," he cried, "maybe I oughtn't to have said that, and I guess +I apologize. But--you see, I was sort of mad when you talked that way +about this--'Gordon.'" His teeth clipped over the word. "You see, +Hazel," he insinuated again, "we've had a real good time together, and +you made it so plain I'm not--indifferent to you that it just stung me +bad to hear you speak of--'Gordon.' I'm crazy about you, I am sure. +I'm so crazy I can't sleep at nights. I'm so crazy that I'd let the +railroad folk go hang just for you--if you just asked me. I'd even +forget all that feller said, and would pool in on Buffalo Point the way +your father needs--if you asked me." + +He waited. He had thrown every effort of persuasion he was capable of +into his words and manner, and Hazel was deceived. She did not observe +the furtive eyes watching her. She was only aware of the almost +genuine manner of his pleading. + +"If I asked you?" she said thoughtfully. Then she looked up quickly, +her eyes half smiling. "Of course I ask you." + +In a moment the man pressed nearer. + +"And you'll play the game?" he asked almost breathlessly. + +All in a moment a subtle fear of him swept through the girl. +Instinctively her hand tightened its grip on the heavy quirt swinging +from her wrist. + +"What do you mean?" she demanded in a low tone. + +The man's eyes were shining with the meaning lying behind his words. +There should have been no necessity to ask that question. + +Quite suddenly he reached farther out and seized her about the waist +with one hand, while with the other he caught her reins to check her +mare. The next moment he had crushed her to him and his flushed face +was close to hers. + +"There's only one game," he cried hoarsely. "And----" + +But he got no further. Like a flash of lightning Hazel's quirt slashed +furiously at him. The blow was wild and missed its object. It fell on +his horse's head and neck. Again it was raised, and again it fell on +the horse and on her mare. The horse plunged aside and her own mare +started forward. The next moment both riders were on the ground, +struggling violently. + + +Sunset plowed along over the prairie. True enough, he was the +rocking-horse Hazel had declared him to be. But she might have added +that he was the speediest horse ever foaled on her father's range. + +Gordon was in no mood to spare him. But, press him as he might, he +seemed incapable of sounding the full depths of his resources. + +Had Gordon only taken the course of the impatient Slosson he would have +arrived in time to have prevented the catastrophe. But as it was he +made the coalpits, and, finding no trace of either Hazel or the agent, +with prompt decision he headed at once for the southern corrals. It +was some time before he discovered the tracks he sought, and was +beginning to think that in some extraordinary fashion he had missed +them altogether. The thought stirred his jealousy, and--but he put all +doubt from his mind, and further bustled the long-suffering Sunset. +Then came the moment when he first saw the hoof-prints in the sand of +the cattle track. In a moment his thoughts cleared and his old fears +urged him on. + +He was right now, he knew. The hills about him were growing in height +and ruggedness. The corrals were only a few miles on, and Sunset was +racing down the track as if he were aware of the threatening danger to +the girl whom he had so often carried on his back. But even if he were +he was utterly unprepared for the furious thrashing of his present +rider's heels which came as they were approaching one great shaggy hill +to the south of them, in answer to a thin, high-pitched shrill for +"Help!" + +Gordon heard and understood. He had been right, after all, and a +terrible panic and fury assailed him. Sunset was racing now, with his +barrel low to the ground. Then as they came into the shadow of the +hill the faithful creature felt the bit in his mouth jar suddenly and +painfully, and he nearly sank on to his haunches. + +Gordon was out of the saddle and rushing headlong like some +rage-maddened bull. + + +Something had happened, and Hazel, in a partial daze, scarcely +understood quite what it was. All she knew was that she was no longer +struggling desperately in the arms of a man, with his hideous face +thrust towards hers with obvious intention. She had fought as she had +never dreamed of having to fight in all her life, and in her extremity +she had shrilled again and again for "Help!" which, had she thought, +she would have known was miles from the lonely spot where she was +struggling. Then had happened that something she could not understand. +She only knew that she was no longer struggling, and that hideous, +coarse, passion-lit face had vanished from before her terrified eyes. + +She had heard a voice, a familiar voice, hoarse with passion. The +words it had uttered were the foulest blasphemy, such words as only a +man uses when in the heat of battle and his desire is to kill. Then +had passed that nightmare face from before her eyes. + +After some moments her mental faculties became less uncertain, and with +their clearing she became aware of a confusion of sounds. She heard +the sound of blows and the incessant shuffling of feet through the tall +prairie grass. She looked about her. + +All in a minute she was on her feet, her eyes wide and staring with an +expression half of terror, half of the wildest excitement. A fight was +going on--a fight in which six feet three of science was arrayed +against lesser stature but equal strength and a blend of animal fury +which yearned to kill. + +David Slosson came at his hated adversary in lunging rushes and with +all his weight and muscle, hoping to clinch and reduce the battle to +the less scientific condition of a "rough-and-tumble" as it is known +only in America. Once he could achieve a definite clinch he knew that +the advantage would lie with him. He knew the game of "chew and gouge" +as few men knew it. He had learned it in his earlier days of lumber +camps. + +But Gordon had steadied himself from his first mad rush. It was the +sight of Hazel in this man's clutches that had roused the desire for +murder in his hot blood. Now it was different. Now it was a fight, a +fight such as he could enjoy; and such were his feelings that he was +determined it should be a fight to a finish, even if that finish should +mean a killing. + +He had no difficulty in punishing. His opponent's arms came at him +wildly, while his own leads and counters struck home with smashes of a +staggering nature. Twice he got in an upper-cut which set his man +reeling, and in each case he smashed home his left immediately with all +the force of his great shoulders. But David Slosson was tough. He +seemed to thrive on punishment, and he came again and again. + +Gordon was in his element. His physical condition had never been more +perfect, and, provided that clinch was prevented, nothing on earth +could save his man. The blood was already streaming from Slosson's +cheek, and an ugly split disfigured his lower lip. + +Now he came in with his head down--a favorite bull rush of the +"rough-and-tumble." Gordon saw it coming and waited. He side-stepped, +and smashed a terrific blow behind the left ear. The man stumbled, but +saved himself. With an inarticulate attempt at an oath he was at the +boxer again. Another rush, but it checked half-way, and a violent kick +was aimed at Gordon's middle. It missed its mark, but caught him on +the side of the knee. The pain of the blow for a moment robbed the +younger man of his caution. He responded with a smashing left and +right. They both landed, but in the rush his loose coat was caught and +held as the agent fell. + +Slosson clung to the coat as a terrier will cling to a stick. In spite +of the rain of blows battering his head he held on. It was the first +hold he needed. The second came a moment later. His other arm crooked +about Gordon's right knee. The next moment they were on the ground in +the throes of a wild, demoniacal "rough-and-tumble." + +The science of the boxer could serve Gordon no longer. He knew it. He +knew also that the fight was more than leveled up. The struggle had +degenerated into an inhuman aim for those vital parts which would leave +the victim blind or maimed for life. + +By the luck of Providence he fell uppermost. His hands being free and +his strength at its greatest, also possessing nothing of the degraded +mind of the rough-and-tumble fighter, he went for his opponent's +throat, and got his grip just as he felt the other's teeth clip, in a +savage snap, at his right ear. It was a happy miss, or he knew he +would have spent the rest of his life with only one ear, and possibly +part of the other. + +But there were other things to avoid. He crushed the man's head upon +the ground, while his great hands tightened their grip upon his throat. +But Slosson's hands were not idle. They struggled up, and Gordon felt +that they were groping for his throat. His own pressure increased. + +"Squeal, you swine!" he roared. "Squeal, or I'll choke the life out of +you!" + +The man was unable to squeal under the terrible throat-hold. His +breath was coming in gasps. All of a sudden those groping hands made a +lunge at Gordon's eyes. One finger even struck his left eye with +intent to gouge it out. Gordon threw back his head, but dared not +release his hold. His only other defense was an instinctive one. He +opened his mouth and made a wolfish snap at the hand that had sought to +blind him. He bit three of its fingers to the bone. There was a cry +from the man under his hands, and the straining body beneath him ceased +to struggle. + +Gordon released his hold and stood up. He aimed one violent kick of +disgust at the man's ribs and turned away. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE REWARD OF VICTORY + +Gordon breathed hard. He wiped the dust from his perspiring face, as a +man almost unconsciously will do after a great exertion. His eyes, +however, remained on his defeated adversary. Presently he moved away a +little uncertainly. A moment later, equally uncertainly, he picked up +his soft felt hat. Then, his gaze still steadily fixed on the object +of his concern, he all unconsciously smoothed his ruffled hair and +replaced his hat upon his head. + +Hazel, too, was tensely regarding the deathly silent figure of David +Slosson. A subtle fear was clutching at her heart. So still. He was +so very still. + +Gordon's breathing became normal, but his eyes remained absurdly grave. +He approached the prostrate man. But before he reached his side he +paused abruptly and breathed a deep sigh of relief--and began to laugh. + +"Right!" he cried. Nor was he addressing any one in particular. + +Hazel heard his exclamation, and the clutching fear at her heart +relaxed its grip. She understood that Gordon, too, had shared her +dread. + +Now she shifted her regard to the victor. Her eyes were full of a +deep, unspeakable feeling. Gordon was looking in another direction, +so, for the moment, she had nothing to conceal. + +The man's attention was upon the horses. A strange diffidence made him +reluctant to follow his impulse and approach Hazel. He had no pride in +his victory. Only regret for the exhibition he had made before her. +Sunset and Slosson's horse were grazing amicably together within twenty +yards of the trail. The fight had disturbed them not one whit. The +Lady Jane had moved off farther, and, in proud isolation, ignored +everybody and everything concerned with the indecent exhibition. + +Gordon secured the livery horse to a bush, and rode off on Sunset to +collect the Lady Jane. When he returned the defeated man was stirring. + +One glance told Gordon all he cared to know, and he passed over to +where Hazel was still standing, and in silence and quite unsmilingly he +held the Lady Jane for her to mount. + +Hazel avoided his eyes, but not from any coldness. She feared lest he +should witness that which now, with all her might, she desired to +conceal. Her feelings were stirred almost beyond her control. This +man had come to her rescue--he had rescued her--by that great +chivalrous manhood that was his. And somehow she felt that she might +have known that he would do so. + +Gordon was looking at David Slosson, who was already sitting up. Once +Hazel was in the saddle he moved nearer to the disfigured agent. + +"If you're looking for any more," he said coldly, "you can find it. +But don't you ever come near Buffalo Point again or Mallinsbee's ranch. +If you do--I'll kill you!" + +David Slosson made no reply. But his eyes followed the two figures as +they rode off, full of a bitter hatred that boded ill for their futures +should chance come his way. + +For some time the speeding horses galloped on, their riders remaining +silent. A strange awkwardness had arisen between them. There was so +much to say, so much to explain. Neither of them knew how to begin, or +where. So they were nearing home when finally it was Gordon whose +sense of humor first came to the rescue. They had drawn their horses +down to a walk to give them a breath. + +Gordon turned in his saddle. His blue eyes were absurdly smiling. + +"Well?" he observed interrogatively. + +The childlike blandness of his expression was all Hazel needed to help +her throw off the painful restraint that was fast overwhelming her. +Again he had saved her, but this time it was from tears. + +"Well?" she smiled back at him through the watery signs of unshed tears. + +"I guess Sunset 'll hate this trail worse than anything around Buffalo +Point," Gordon said, with a great effort at ease. "He got a flogging +I'll swear he never merited." + +"Dear old Sunset," said the girl softly. "And--and he can go." + +"Go? Why, he's an express train. Say, the Twentieth Century, Limited, +isn't a circumstance to him." + +Gordon's laugh sounded good in Hazel's ears, and the last sign of tears +was banished. It had been touch and go. She had wanted to laugh and +to scream during the fight. Afterwards she had wanted only to weep. +Now she just felt glad she was riding beside a man whom she regarded as +something in the nature of a hero. + +"I sort of feel I owe him an apology," Gordon went on doubtfully. +"Same as I owe you one. I--I'm afraid I made a--a disgusting +exhibition of myself. I--I wish I hadn't nearly bitten off that cur's +fingers. It's--awful. It--was that or lose my eyesight." + +Hazel had nothing to say. A shiver passed over her, but it was caused +by the thought that the man beside her might have been left blinded. + +"You see, that was 'rough and tough,'" Gordon went on, feeling that he +must explain. "It's not human. It's worse than the beasts of the +fields. I--I'm ashamed. But I had to save my eyes. I thought I'd +killed him." + +"I'm glad you didn't," Hazel said in a low voice. Then she added +quickly, "But not for his sake." + +Gordon nodded. + +"He deserved anything." + +Suddenly Hazel turned a pair of shining eyes upon him. + +"Oh, I wish I were a man!" she cried. "Deserved? Oh, he deserved +everything; but so did I. I'll never do it again. Never, never, +never! You warned me. You knew. And it was only you who saved me +from the result of my folly. I--I thought I was smart enough to deal +with him. I--I thought I was clever." She laughed bitterly. "I +thought, because I run our ranch and can do things that few girls can +that way, I could beat a man like that. Say, Mr. Van Henslaer, +I'm--just what he took me for--a silly country girl. Oh, I feel so mad +with myself, and if it hadn't been for you I don't know what would have +happened. Oh, if I could only have fought like you. It--it was +wonderful. And--I brought it all on you by my folly." + +There was a strange mixture of emotion in the girl's swift flow of +words. There was a bitter feeling of self-contempt, a vain and +helpless regret; but in all she said, in her shining eyes and warmth of +manner, there was a scarcely concealed delight in her rescuer's great +manhood, courage and devotion. If Gordon beheld it, it is doubtful if +he read it aright. For himself, a great joy that he had been of +service in her protection pervaded him. Just now, for him, all life +centered round Hazel Mallinsbee and her well-being. + +"You brought nothing on," he said, his eyes smiling tenderly round at +her. "He's a disease that would overtake any girl." Then he began to +laugh, with the intention of dispelling all her regrets. "Say, he's +just one of life's experiences, and experience is generally unpleasant. +See how much he's taught us both. You've learned that a feller who can +wear a suit that sets all sense of good taste squirming most generally +has a mind to match it. I've learned that no honesty of methods, +whether in scrapping or anything else, is a match for the unscrupulous +methods of a low-down mind. Guess we'll both pigeon-hole those facts +and try not to forget 'em. But say--there's worse worrying," he added, +with an absurdly happy laugh. + +"Worse?" + +"Only worse because it hasn't happened yet--like the other things have. +You see, the worst always lies in those things we don't know." + +"You're thinking of the Buffalo Point scheme?" + +"Partly." + +"Partly?" + +"Did he tell you anything?" + +Hazel nodded. + +"He said you'd--turned him out of the office." + +"That all?" Gordon was chuckling. + +"He said you'd told him to go to----" Hazel's eyes were smiling. + +"Just so. I did," returned Gordon. "That's the trouble now. I've got +to face your father. I've hit on a plan to beat this feller. I've got +the help of Peter McSwain and some of the boys at Snake's. I'd a +notion we'd pull the thing off, so I just took it into my own +hands--and your father don't know of it. I'm worrying how he'll feel. +You see, if I fail, why, I've busted the whole contract. And now this +thing. Say, what's going to happen next?" As he put his final +question his smiling face looked ludicrously serene. + +Hazel had entirely recovered from her recent experiences. She laughed +outright. More and more this man appealed to her. His calm, reckless +courage was a wonderful thing in her eyes. Their whole schemes might +be jeopardized by that afternoon's work, but he had acted without +thought of consequence, without thought of anybody or anything beyond +the fact that he yearned to beat this man Slosson, and would spare +nothing to do so. What was this wild scheme he had suddenly conceived, +almost the first moment he was left in sole control? + +She tried to look serious. + +"Can you tell it me now?" she asked. + +"I could, of course, but----" + +"You'd rather wait to see father about it." + +"I don't know," said Gordon, with a wry twist of the lips and a shrug. +"Say, did you ever feel a perfect, idiotic fool? No, of course you +never have, because you couldn't be one. I feel that way. Guess it's +a sort of reaction. I just know I've busted everything. The whole of +our scheme is on the rocks, through me, and, for the life of me, +somehow I--I don't care. I've hit up that cur so he won't want his +med'cine again for years, and it was good, because it was for you. So +I don't just care two cents about anything. Say, I'm learning I'm +alive, same as you talked about the first day I met you, and it's you +are teaching me. But the champagne of life isn't just Life. Guess +Life is just a cheap claret. You're the champagne of my life. That +being so, I guess I'm a drunkard for champagne." + +Hazel was held serious by some feeling that also kept her silent. +Somehow she could no longer face those shining, smiling, ingenuous blue +eyes. She wanted to, because she felt they were the most beautiful in +the whole world, and she longed to go on gazing into them forever and +ever. But something forced her to deny herself, and she kept hers +straight ahead. + +Gordon went on. + +"Say, I haven't said anything wrong, have I?" he cried, fearful of her +displeasure. "You see, I can't put things as they run through my head. +That's one of the queer things about a feller. You know, I've got a +whole heap of beautiful language running around in my head, and when I +try to turn it loose it comes out all mussed up and wrong. Guess +you've never been like that. That's where girls are so clever. D'you +know, if you were to ask me just to pass the salt at supper it would +sound to me like the taste of ice-cream?" + +Hazel looked round at the earnest face with a swift sidelong glance. +Then her laughter would no longer be denied. + +"Would it?" she cried. + +"Say, don't laugh at a feller. I'm in great trouble," Gordon went on +quickly. + +"Trouble?" + +"Sure. Wouldn't you be if you'd bust up a man's scheme the same as I +have, and if the only person in the world whose opinion you cared for +can't help but think you all sorts of a fool?" + +Hazel's smile had become very, very tender. + +"Who thinks you a--fool?" + +"Anybody with sense." + +"Then I'm afraid I've got no sense." + +Gordon found himself looking into the girl's serious eyes. + +"You--don't think me--a--fool?" he cried incredulously. + +Hazel had no longer any inclination to laugh. A great emotion suddenly +surged through her heart, and her pretty oval face was set flushing. + +"When a woman owes a man what I owe you, if he were the greatest fool +in the world to others, to that woman he becomes all that is great and +fine, and--and--oh, just everything she can think good of him. But +you--you are not a fool, or anything approaching it. I don't care what +you have done in our affairs--for me, whatever it is, it is right. +I'll tell you something more. I am certain that if my daddy wins +through it will be your doing." + +Gordon had nothing to say. He was dumbfounded. Hazel, in her +generosity, was the woman he had always dreamed of since that first day +he had seen her, which seemed so far back and long ago. He had nothing +to say, because there was just one thought in his mind, and that +thought was, then and there to take her in his arms and release her for +no man, not even her---- + +Hazel was pointing along the trail. + +"Why, there is my daddy coming along--on foot. I've never--known him +to walk a prairie trail ever before, I wonder what's ailing him." + +And then Gordon had to laugh. + + +They were back in the office. By every conceivable process Silas +Mallinsbee had sought to discover what had happened. But Hazel would +tell him nothing, and Gordon followed her lead. + +The old man was disturbed. He was on the verge of anger with both of +them. Then Hazel lifted the safety valve as she remounted her mare, +preparatory to a hasty retreat homewards. + +"I'll get back to home, Daddy," she said, in a tone lacking all her +usual enthusiasm. "Mr. Van Henslaer has a lot to tell you about +things, and when I am not here he'll be able to tell you all that +happened--out there." + +Gordon again took his cue. + +"Yes, I've a heap to tell you," he said, without any display of +enjoyment. + +The men passed into the office as Hazel took her departure. Her +farewell wave of the hand and its accompanying smile for once were not +for her father. Even in the midst of his mixed feelings that obvious +farewell to Gordon made the old rancher feel a breath of the winter he +had once spoken of, nipping the rims of his ears. + +And his mind settled upon the thought of banking the furnaces +with--coal. + +He took his seat in the big chair he always used and lit a cigar. +Gordon went at once to his desk and sat down. He leaned forward with +hands clasped, and looked squarely into the strong face before him. + +"It's bad talk," he said briefly. + +"So I guessed." + +Then, after a few moments of silence, Gordon recounted the story of the +events of the afternoon right up to Mallinsbee's arrival at the office. + +The rancher listened without comment, but with obvious impatience. +This was not what he wanted to hear first. But Gordon had his own way +of doing things. + +"You see, I took a big chance on the spur of the moment," he finished +up. "I just didn't dare to think. The idea took right hold of me. +And even now, when I tell it you in cold blood, I seem to feel it was +one of those inspirations that don't need to be passed by. In the +ordinary way I believe it would succeed. Slosson would have been +driven into our plans. But--but now there's worse to come." + +"So I guessed." + +Mallinsbee's answer was sharp and dry. + +"And it's the most important of your talk," he added a moment later. +"What happened--out there?" + +Gordon's eyes took on a far-away expression as he gazed out of the +window. + +"I nearly killed David Slosson," he said simply. Then he added, "I +knew I'd have to do it before I'd finished." + +His gaze came back to Mallinsbee's face. A fierce anger had made his +blue eyes stern and cold. Then he told the rancher of his finding +Hazel struggling furiously in the man's arms, and of her piteous cry +for help, and all that followed. + +While he was still talking the girl's father had leaped from his seat +and began pacing the little room like a caged wild beast. His cigar +was forgotten, and every now and then he paused abruptly as Gordon made +some definite point. His eyes were darkly furious, his nostrils +quivered, his great hands clenched at his sides, and in the end, when +the story was told, he stood towering before the desk with a pair of +murderous eyes shining down upon the younger man. + +"God in heaven!" he cried furiously; "and he's still alive?" + +Then he turned away abruptly. A revolver-belt was hanging on the wall, +and he moved towards it. But Gordon was on his feet in a moment. + +"That gun's mine, and--you can't have it!" + +Gordon was standing in front of the weapon, facing the furious eyes of +the father. + +"Stand aside! I'm--going to kill him--now." + +But Gordon made no movement. + +"No," he said, with a stony calmness. + +It was a painful moment. It was a moment full of threat and intense +crisis. One false move on Gordon's part, and the maddened father's +fury would be turned on him. + +The younger man forced a smile to his eyes. + +"You once said I could scrap, Mr. Mallinsbee. I promise you I scrapped +as I never did before. That man hasn't one whole feature in his face, +and if the hangman's rope had been drawn tight around his neck it +couldn't have done very much more damage than my fingers did. I tell +you he's has his med'cine good and plenty. There's no need for +more--that way. But we're going to hurt him. We're going to hurt him +more by outing him from this deal of ours than ever by killing him. +We're going to stand at nothing now to--'out' him. Let's get our minds +fixed that way. If one plan don't succeed--another must." + +Standing there eye to eye Gordon won his way. He saw with satisfaction +the fire in the old man's eyes slowly die down. Then he watched him +reluctantly return to his chair. + +It was not until the rancher had struck a match and relit his cigar +that Gordon ventured to return to his desk. + +"You're right, boy," Mallinsbee said at last. "You're right--and +you've done right. If the whole scheme busts we--can't help it. +But--but we'll out that--cur." + + +The hall porter at the Carbhoy Building was perturbed. He was more +than perturbed. He was ruffled out of his blatant superiority and +dignity, and reduced to a condition when he could not state, with any +degree of accuracy, whether the Statue of Liberty was a symbol of +Freedom or a mere piece of cheap decoration for New York Harbor. + +The precincts of the beautiful colored marble entrance hall over which +he presided had been invaded, against all rules, by a woman who +obviously had no business there. Moreover, he had been powerless to +stay the invasion. Also he had been forced to submit out of a sheer +sense of politeness to the sex, a politeness it was not his habit to +display even towards his wife. Furthermore, like the veriest +underling, instead of the autocrat he really was, he had been +ordered--_ordered_--to announce the lady's arrival to Mr. James +Carbhoy, and forthwith conduct her to that holy of holies, which no +other female, except the cleaner, had ever been permitted to enter. It +was Mrs. James Carbhoy who had caused the deplorable upheaval. + +But Mrs. James Carbhoy was in no mood to parley with any hall porter, +however gorgeous his livery. She was in no mood to parley even with +her husband. She was disturbed out of her customary condition of +passive acquiescence. She was heartbroken, too, and ready to weep +against any manly chest with which her head came into contact. It is +doubtful, even, if a Fifth Avenue policeman's chest would have been +safe from her attentions in that direction. And surely distress must +certainly be overwhelming that would not shrink from such support. + +James Carbhoy detected the signs the moment his door was opened, and +his wife tripped over the fringe of the splendid Turkey carpet and +precipitated herself into the great morocco arm-chair nearest to her, +waving a bunch of letter-paper violently in his direction. + +"I've been to the Inquiry Bureau, and had a man detailed right away to +go and find the boy," she burst out at once. Then all her mother's +anxiety merged into an attack upon the man who silently rose from his +desk and closed the door she had left open. "I don't know what to say +to you, James," she went on. "I can't just think why I'm sitting right +here in the presence of such a monster. Here you've driven our boy +from the house. Maybe you've driven him to his death, or even worse, +and I can't even get you to make an attempt to discover if he's alive +or--or dead. This letter came this morning," she went on, holding the +pages aloft, lest he should escape their reproach. "And if he hasn't +gone and married some hussy there, out in some uncivilized region, I +don't know a thing. S'pose he's married a half-breed or--or a squaw," +she cried, her eyes rolling in horror at the bare idea. "It--it'll be +your fault--your doing. You're just a cruel monster, and if it wasn't +for our Gracie's sake I'd--I'd get a divorce. You--you ought to be +ashamed, James Carbhoy. You ought--ought to be in--in prison, instead +of sitting there grinning like some fool image." + +The millionaire leaned back in his chair wearily. + +"Oh, read the letter, Mary. You make me tired." + +"Tired? Letter, you call it," cried the excited woman. "I tell you +it's--it's a lot of gibberish that no sane son of ours ever wrote. Oh! +you're as bad as those men at the bureau. I made them read it, +and--and they said he was a--bright boy. Bright, indeed! You listen +to this and you can judge for yourself--if you've any sense at all." + + +"DEAREST MUM: + +"I haven't written you in weeks, which should tell you that I am quite +up to the average in my sense of filial duty. It should also tell you +that I _hope_ I am prospering both in health and in worldly matters. I +say 'hope' because nothing much seems certain in this world except the +perfidy of human nature. It has been said that disappointment is +responsible for all the hope in the world, but I'd like to say right +here that that's just a sort of weak play on words which don't do +justice to the meanest intelligence. I am full of hope and haven't yet +been disappointed. Not even in my conviction that human nature has +some good points, but bad points predominate, which makes you feel +you'd, generally speaking, like to kick it plenty. + +"While I'm on the subject of human nature it would be wrong not to +discriminate between male and female human nature. Male can be +dismissed under one plain heading: 'Self'--a heading which embraces +every unpleasant feature in life, from extreme moral rectitude, with +its various branches of self-complacency, down to chewing tobacco, to +me a symbol of all that is criminally filthy in life. Female human +nature comes under a similar heading, only, in a woman's case, 'Self' +is a combination of the two personalities, male and female. You see, +'Self,' in female human nature, is not a complete proposition in +itself. Before it becomes complete there must be a man in the case, +even if he be a disgrace to his sex. I will explain. You couldn't +entertain any feeling or purpose without the old Dad coming into your +focus. But with man it's different. The only reason a woman comes +into his life at all is so that he can kick her out of it if she don't +do just as he says and wants. I guess this sounds better to me writing +from here than maybe it will to you in your parlor in New York. But +it's easier to say things when you feel yourself shorn of the +artificialities of life. + +"This is merely preliminary, leading up to two pieces of news I have to +hand to you. The first is, I have discovered that woman is the +greatest proposition inspired by a creative Providence for the delight +of man, but in business, unless specially trained, she's liable to fall +even below the surface scum which includes the lesser grade of biped +called 'man.' The second is that man, generally, is a pretty +disgusting brute, and I allow he deserves all he gets in life, even to +lynching. Understand I am speaking generally, as a looker-on, whose +eyes are no longer blinded by the glamour of wealth in a big city and +the comforts of a luxurious home. + +"I feel I've got to say right here that to me, apart from the foregoing +observations, woman is just the most wonderful thing in all this +wonderful world. Her perfections and graces are just sublime; her +understanding of man is so sympathetic that it don't seem to me she'd +need more than two guesses to locate how many dollars he'd got in his +pocket or the quality of the brain oozing out under his hat. + +"I guess her eyes are just the dandiest things ever. Furthermore, when +they happen to be hazel, they got a knack of boring holes right through +you, and chasing around and finding the smallest spark of decency that +may happen to be lying hidden in the general muck of a man's moral +makeup. They do more than that. I'd say there never was a man in this +world who, under such circumstances, happens to become aware of some +such spark, but wants to start right in and fan it into a big bonfire +to burn up the refuse under which it's been so long secreted. That's +how he's bound to feel--anyway, at first. + +"A woman's just every sort of thing a man needs around him. It don't +seem a matter for worry if the sun-spots became a complete rash and its +old light went out altogether. That feller would still see those +wonderful eyes shining out of the darkness, giving him all the light he +needed in which to play foolish and think himself all sorts of a man. + +"Guess when he'd worked overtime that way and sleep set him dreaming +he'd make pictures he couldn't paint in a year. There'd be every sort +of peaceful delight in 'em. There'd be lambs, and children without +clothes, and birds and flowers. And the lambs would bleat, and the +children sing, and the birds flutter, and the flowers smell, and all +the world would be full of joy. Then he'd wake up. Maybe it would be +different then. You see, a man awake figures his woman needs to look +like the statue of Venus, be bursting with the virtues of a first-class +saint, and possess the economical inspiration of a Chinee cook. + +"In pursuance of these discoveries of mine I feel that maybe I've got a +wrong focus of our Gracie. Maybe when she gets sense, and sort of +finds herself floating around in the divine beauties of womanhood, some +escaped crank may chase along and figure she possesses some of the +wonderful charms I've been talking about. Personally I wish our Gracie +well, and am hoping for the best. Still, I feel whatever trouble she +has getting a husband I don't guess it'll end there--the trouble, I +mean. + +"To come to my second discovery, it has afforded me some pleasant +moments, as well as considerable disgust and anger. It may seem +difficult to associate these emotions without confusion. But were you +to fully understand the situation you would realize that they could be +associated in one harmonious whole. With anger coming first, you find +yourself in a frenzied state of elation, capable of achieving anything, +from murder down to robbing the dead. It is a splendid feeling, and +saves one from the rust of good-natured ineptitude. Then come the +pleasant moments, which may find themselves in extreme exertion and the +general exercise of muscles, and even, in some cases--brains. Disgust +is the necessary mental attitude under reaction. This is how my +discovery affected me. But I fancy the object through which I made my +second discovery was probably affected otherwise. I can't just say +offhand. Maybe I'll learn later, and be able to tell you. + +"There is not a day passes but what I make discoveries of a more or +less interesting nature. For instance, I've learned that there's +nothing like three people hating one person to make for a bond of +friendship between them. I'd say it's far more binding than marriage +vows at the altar. This comes under the heading of 'more' interesting. +Under the 'less' comes such things as--the only time that impulsive +action justifies itself is when you're sure of winning out. I have +given myself two examples of impulsive action only to-day. The one in +which I have won out seems to have ruined the chances of the other. +This is a confusion that doesn't seem to justify anything. Still, a +philosopher might be able to disentangle it. + +"I should be glad if you would give the old Dad my best love, and tell +him that the figures representing one hundred thousand dollars grow in +size with the advancing weeks. Nor can I tell how big they will appear +by the end of six months. If they grow in my view at the present rate, +by the end of six months it seems to me I'll need to walk around +looking through the wrong end of a telescope so as to get a place for +my feet anywhere on this continent. However, as 'disappointment' has +not yet appeared to create 'hope,' it is obvious that 'conviction' +remains. + +"I regret that time does not permit me to write more, so I will close. +Any further news I have to give you I will embody in another letter. + +"Your loving son, + "GORDON. + +"P.S.--I have been thinking a great deal about Gracie lately, she being +of the female sex. Of course, I could not compare her with a real +woman, but I feel, with a little judicious broadening of her mind, say +by travel or setting her out to earn her living, she might develop in +the right direction. It is a thought worth pondering. Such a process +might even have good results. + +"G." + + +Mrs. James Carbhoy's angry and disgusted eyes were raised from her +reading to confront her husband's amused smile. + +"Well?" she demanded. "Is it sunstroke, or--or----?" + +"That inquiry agent was a smart feller," the millionaire interrupted. +"Gordon surely is a--bright boy." + +Mrs. Carbhoy's indignation leaped. And with its leap came another. +She fairly bounced out of the chair she had occupied and hurled herself +at the mahogany door of the office. + +"James Carbhoy, I shall see to this matter myself. I always knew you +were merely a money machine. Now I know you have neither heart nor +sense." + +She flung open the door. Again she tripped over the fringe of the +carpet, and, with a smothered ejaculation, flew headlong in the +direction of the hall porter's stately presence. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +IN COUNCIL + +There come days in a man's life which are not easily forgotten. Some +poignant incident indelibly fixes them upon memory, and they become +landmarks in his career. The next day became one of such in Gordon's +life. + +It was just a little extraordinary, too, that memory should have +selected this particular day in preference to the preceding one. The +first of the two should undoubtedly have been the more significant, for +it partook of a nature which appealed directly to those innermost hopes +and yearnings of a youthful heart. Surely, before all things in life, +Nature claims to itself the passionate yearning of the sexes as +paramount. Gordon had fought for the woman he loved, and basked in her +smiles of approval at his victory. Was not this sufficient to make it +a day of days? The psychological fact remained, the indelible memory +of the next day was planted on the mysterious photographic plates of +his mental camera in preference. + +It was a day of wild excitement. It was a day of hopes raised to a +fevered pitch, and then hurled headlong to a bottomless abyss of +despair. It was a day of passionate feeling and bitter memories. A +day of hopeless looking forward and of depression. Then, as a last and +final twist of the whirligig of emotion, it resolved itself into one +great burst of enthusiasm and hope. + +It started in at the earliest hour. Hip-Lee was preparing breakfast, +and Gordon was still dressing. A note was brought from Peter McSwain. +Gordon opened it, and the first emotions of an eventful day began to +take definite shape. + +The note informed him that McSwain had been faithful to his promise. +He, assisted by Mike Callahan of the livery barn, had worked +strenuously. The results had been splendid amongst all the principal +landholders in Snake's Fall and Buffalo Point. Prices this morning +were "skied" prohibitively. + +The holders saw their advantage. Even if the railroad bought in +Snake's Fall they would be "on velvet." They agreed that it was the +first sound move made. They agreed that it was good to "jolly" a +railroad. The men who did not hold in Buffalo only held insignificant +property in Snake's Fall, which would be useless to the railroad. But +should the railroad buy there, even these would be benefited. + +Gordon began to feel that palpitating excitement in the stomach +indicative of a disturbed nervous system. Things were stirring. He +examined the situation from the view point of yesterday's encounter. +With these people working in with him, the future certainty began to +look brighter than when he had retired to bed over-night. + +Mallinsbee came along after breakfast, and Gordon showed him McSwain's +message. + +The rancher read it over twice. Then his opinion came in deep, +rumbling notes. + +"That's sure what you needed," he said, with a shrewd, twinkling smile. +"But I don't guess the shoutin's begun." + +"No?" + +Gordon eyed him uneasily. He had felt rather pleased. + +"We can't shout till Slosson talks," the rancher went on. "That talk +of Peter's is still only our side of the play." + +"Yes." + +Gordon was at his desk. + +Then a diversion was created by the advent of a fat stranger with a +large expanse of highly colored waistcoat, and a watchguard to match. + +He wanted to talk "sites," and spent half an hour doing so. When he +had gone Mallinsbee offered an explanation which had passed Gordon's +inexperience by. + +"That feller's worried," he observed. "He's got wind there's something +doing, and is scared to death the speculators are to be shut out. He's +going back to report to the boys. Maybe we'll hear from Peter +again--later. I wonder what Slosson's thinking?" + +Gordon smiled. + +"I doubt if he can think yet," he said. "I allow he was upset +yesterday. I'd give a dollar to see him when he starts to try and buy." + +"You're feeling sure." + +Mallinsbee's doubt was pretty evident. + +"Sure? I'm sure of nothing about Slosson except his particular dislike +of me, and, through me, of you." + +"Just so. And when a man hates the way he hates you, if he's bright +he'll try to make things hum." + +"He's bright all right," allowed Gordon. + +A further diversion was created. Two men arrived in a buckboard, and +Mallinsbee's explanation was verified. They were looking for +information. It was said the railroad was to boycott Buffalo Point. +It was said, even, that they had bought in Snake's Fall. Was this so? +And, anyway, what was the meaning of the rise in prices at that end? + +"Why, say," finished up one of the men, "when I was talking to Mason, +the dry goods man, this morning, he told me there wasn't a speculator +around who'd money enough to buy his spare holdings in Snake's. And +when I asked him the figger he said he needed ten thousand dollars for +two side street plots and twenty thousand for two avenue fronts. He's +crazy, sure." + +Mallinsbee shook his head. + +"Not crazy. Just bright." + +When the man had departed, and Mallinsbee had removed the patch from +his eye, he smiled over at Gordon. + +"Peter's surely done his work," he said. + +Gordon warmed with enthusiasm. If those were the prices ruling Mr. +Slosson would have no option but to be squeezed between the two +interests. Whatever his personal feelings, he must make good with his +company. No agent, unless he were quite crazy, would dare face such +prices for his principals. + +"I don't see that Slosson's a leg to stand on," he cried, his +enthusiasm bubbling. "We've just got to sit around and wait." + +Mallinsbee agreed. + +"Sure. Sit around and wait," he said, with that baffling smile of his. + +Gordon shrugged, and bent over some figures he had been working on. +Presently he looked up. + +"How's Miss Hazel this morning?" he inquired casually. He had wanted +to speak of her before, but the memory of her father's anger yesterday +had restrained him. Now he felt he was safe. + +"Just sore over things," said the old man, with a sobering of the eyes. +"I talked to her some last night. She guesses she owes you a heap, but +it ain't nothing to what I owe you." + +Gordon flushed. Then he laughed and shook his head. + +"No man or woman owes me a thing who gives me the chance of a scrap," +he said. + +The old man smiled. + +"No," he agreed. "With a name like 'Van Henslaer'--you ain't Irish?" + +"Descendant of the old early Dutch." + +"Ah. They were scrappers, too." + +Gordon nodded and went on with his figures. So the morning passed. It +was a waiting for developments which both men knew would not long be +delayed. Mallinsbee was unemotional, but Gordon was all on wires drawn +to great tension. The subtle warnings from Mallinsbee not to be too +optimistic had left him in a state of doubt. And an impatience took +hold of him which he found hard to restrain. + +The two men shared their midday meal. Mallinsbee wanted to get back to +the ranch, but neither felt such a course to be policy yet. Besides, +now that the crisis had arrived, Gordon was anxious to have his +superior's approval for his next move. He had taken a chance +yesterday. Now he wanted to make no mistake. + +The _denouement_ came within half an hour of Hip-Lee's clearing of the +table. It came with the sound of galloping hoofs, with the rush of a +horseman up to the veranda. + +The two men inside the office looked at each other, and Gordon rose and +dashed at the window. + +"It's McSwain," he said, and returned to the haven of his seat behind +his desk. His announcement had been cool enough, but his heart was +hammering against his ribs. + +"Then I guess things are going queer," said the rancher pessimistically. + +Gordon was about to reply when the door was abruptly thrust open, and +the hot face and hotter eyes of Peter appeared in the doorway. + +"Well?" + +For the life of him Gordon could not have withheld that sharp, nervous +inquiry. + +McSwain came right into the room and drew the door closed after him. +Quite suddenly his eyes began to smile in that fashion which so +expresses chagrin. He flung his hat on Gordon's desk and sat himself +on the corner of it. Then he deliberately drew a long breath. + +"I'm as worried as a cat goin' to have kittens," he said. "That feller +Slosson's beat us. Maybe he's stark, starin' crazy, maybe he ain't. +Anyways he came right along to me this morning with a face like chewed +up dogs' meat, with a limp on him that 'ud ha' made the fortune of a +tramp, and a mitt all doped up with a dry goods store o' cotton-batten, +and asked me the price of my holdings in Snake's. I guessed I wasn't +selling my hotel lot, but I'd two Main Street frontages that were worth +ten thousand dollars each, and a few other bits going at the waste +ground price of five thousand each." + +"Well?" + +This time it was Mallinsbee's inquiry. + +"He closed the deal for his company, and planted the deposit." + +"He closed the deal?" cried Gordon thickly, all his dreams of the +future tumbling about his ears. + +"Why, yes." McSwain regarded the younger man's hopelessly staring eyes +for one brief moment. Then he went on: "I was only the first. This +was after dinner. Say, in half an hour he's put his company in at +Snake's to the tune of nearly a quarter million dollars. He's mad. +They'll fire him. They'll repudiate the whole outfit. I tell you he +never squealed at any old price. He's beat our play here. But how do +we stand up there? A crazy man comes along and makes deals which no +corporation in the world would stand for. There ain't a site in +Snake's worth more'n a hundred dollars to a railroad who's got to boom +a place. Well, if his corporation turns him down, how do we stand? +Are they goin' to pay? No, sir; not on your life." + +"They'll have to stand it," said Mallinsbee. + +"They'll try and fight it," retorted Peter hotly. + +"And you can't graft the courts like a railroad can," put in Gordon +quickly. + +"They'll have to stand it," repeated Mallinsbee doggedly. "An' I'll +tell you how. Maybe Slosson's crazy. Maybe he's crazy to beat us, an' +I allow he's not without reason for doin' it--now. But it would cost +the railroad a big pile to shift that depot here. It would have been +better for them in the end. You see, they'd have got their holdings in +the township here for pretty well nix, and so they wouldn't have felt +the cost of the depot. The city would have paid that, as well as other +old profits. Anyway, the capital would have had to be laid out. In +Snake's they are laying out capital in their holdings only. They'll +get it back all right, all right--and profits. Slosson's relying on +making up their leeway for them in the boom. He's takin' that chance, +because he's crazy to beat--us." + +"And he's done it," said Gordon sharply. + +"Yep. He's done it," muttered McSwain regretfully. + +"He surely has," agreed Mallinsbee, without emotion. + +Gordon was the only one of the trio who appeared to be depressed. +McSwain had the consolation of getting his profit in Snake's Fall. The +only sense in which he was a loser was that his holdings in Buffalo +Point were larger than in the other place. Therefore he was able to +regard the matter more calmly, in the light of the fortunes of war. +Mallinsbee, who had staked all his hopes on Buffalo Point, seemed +utterly unaffected. + +A few minutes later McSwain hurried away for the purpose of watching +further developments, promising to return in the evening and report. +Neither he nor Gordon felt that there was the least hope whatever. +Mallinsbee offered no opinion. + +When Peter had ridden off, and the two men were left alone, Gordon, +weighed down with his failure, began to give expression to his feelings. + +He looked over at the strong face of his benefactor, and took his +courage in both hands. + +"Mr. Mallinsbee," he said diffidently, "I want to tell you something of +what I feel at the way things have gone through--my failure. I----" + +Mallinsbee had thrust his fingers into his waistcoat pocket, and now +drew forth a cigar. + +"Say, have a smoke, boy," he said, in his blunt, kindly fashion. +"That's a dollar an' a half smoke," he went on, "an' I brought two of +'em over from the ranch to celebrate on. Guess we best celebrate right +now." + +It was a doleful smile which looked back at the rancher as Gordon +accepted the proffered cigar. + +"But I----" + +"Say, don't bite the end off," interrupted Mallinsbee. "Here's a +piercer." + +"Thanks. But you must let----" + +"I'll be mighty glad to have a light," the other went on hastily. + +Gordon was thus forced to silence, and Mallinsbee continued. + +"Say, boy," he said, as he settled himself comfortably to enjoy his +expensive cigar, "a business life is just the only thing better than +ranching, I'm beginning to guess. You got to figure on things this +way: ranching you got so many hands around, so much grazin', so many +cattle. Your only enemy is disease. So many head of cows will produce +so many calves, and Nature does the rest. That's ranching in a kind of +outline which sort of reduces it to a question of figures which it +wouldn't need a trick reckoner to work out. Now business is diff'rent. +Ther's always the other feller, and you 'most always feel he's brighter +than you. But he ain't. He's just figurin' the same way at his end of +the deal. So, you see, the real principles of commerce aren't +dependent on the things you got and Nature, same as ranching. Your +assets ain't worth the paper they're written on--till you've got your +man where you want him. Now, to do that you got to ferget you ever +were born honest. You've just got one object in life, and that is to +get the other feller where you want him. It don't matter how you do +it, short of murder. If you succeed, folks'll shout an' say what a +bright boy you are. If you fail they'll say you're a mutt. The whole +thing's a play there ain't no rules to except those the p'lice handle, +and even they don't count when your assets are plenty. You'll hear +folks shouting at revival meetings, an' psalm-smitin' around their city +churches. You'll hear them brag honesty an' righteousness till you +feel you're a worse sinner than ever was found in the Bible. You'll +have 'em come an' look you in the eye and swear to truth, and every +other old play invented to allay suspicions. And all the time it's a +great big bluff for them to get you where _they_ want you. An' that's +why the game's worth playing--even when you're beat. If business was +dead straight; if you could stake your all on a man's word; if ther' +weren't a man who would take graft; if you didn't know the other feller +was yearning to handle your wad--why, the game wouldn't be a +circumstance to ranching." + +"That sounds pretty cynical," protested Gordon. He, too, was smoking, +but the failure of his scheme left him unsmiling. + +"It's the truth. We were trying to get Slosson where we wanted him. +He's doing the same by us. So far he seems to monopolize most of the +advantage. The question remaining to us now--and it's the only one of +interest from our end of the line--is: Will the President of the Union +Grayling and Ukataw Railroad do as I think he will--back his agent's +play? Will he stand for his crazy buying? Will he fall for Slosson's +game to get us where he wants us? I believe he will, but we can't be +dead certain. Our only chance is to try and make it so he won't--even +if the Snake's boys lose their stuff up there." + +Gordon was sitting up. His cigar was removed from the corner of his +mouth and held poised over an ash-tray. There was a sharp look of +inquiry in his eyes. + +"What's the President of the Union Grayling and Ukataw Railroad got to +do with it?" he demanded quickly. + +The rancher raised his heavy brows. + +"This is a branch of his road, I guess." + +"A--a branch?" Gordon's breath was coming rapidly. + +"Sure. You see, it's a branch linking up with the Southern Trunk +route. It runs into the Grayling line where it enters the Rockies. +That's how you make the coast this way." + +"And this--is part of the Union Grayling system?" Gordon persisted, +his blue eyes getting bigger and bigger with excitement. + +"Sure," nodded Mallinsbee, watching him closely. + +Then the explosion came. Gordon could contain himself no longer. He +flung his newly lit dollar-and-a-half cigar on the floor with all the +force of pent feelings and leaped to his feet. + +"Great Scott!" he cried. "The President of that road is my father!" + +"Eh?" Then, without another sign, Mallinsbee pointed reproachfully at +the fallen cigar. "It cost a dollar an' a ha'f, boy." + +But Gordon was beside himself with excitement. A great flash of light +and hope was shining through his recent mental darkness. It didn't +matter to him at that moment if the cigar had cost a thousand dollars. + +"But--but don't you understand?" he almost yelled. "The President of +the Union Grayling and Ukataw is my--father." + +"James Carbhoy." + +"Yes, yes. My name's Gordon Van Henslaer Carbhoy." + +Then quite suddenly Gordon sat down and began to laugh. Then he +stooped and picked up his cigar. He was still laughing, while he +carefully wiped the dust from the cigar's moistened end. + +"James Carbhoy's your--father?" + +Mallinsbee was no longer disturbed at the waste of the cigar. All his +attention was fixed on that laughing face in front of him. + +Gordon nodded delightedly, while he once more thrust his cigar into the +corner of his mouth. + +"You're thinkin' something?" + +Mallinsbee was becoming infected by the other's manner. + +"Sure I am." Gordon nodded. "I'm thinking a heap. Say, the fight has +shifted its battle-ground. It's only just going to begin. Gee, if I'd +only thought of it before! The Union Grayling and Ukataw! It's fate. +Say, it isn't Slosson any longer. It's son and father. I've got to +scrap the old dad. Gee! It's colossal. Say, can you beat it? I've +got to make my little pile out of my old dad. And--he sent me out to +make it and show him what I could do." + +"But how? I don't just see----" + +"How? How?" + +Gordon's laughing eyes sobered. He suddenly realized that he had only +considered the humorous side of the position. His brain began to work +at express speed. How was he to turn this thing to account? How? +Yes--how? + +Mallinsbee watched him for many silent minutes. And during those +minutes scheme after scheme, each one more wild than its predecessor, +flashed through Gordon's brain. None of them suggested any sane +possibility. He knew he was up against one of the most brilliant +financiers of the country, who, in a matter like this, would regard his +own son simply as "the other feller." He must trick him. But how? +How? + +For a long time, in spite of his excited delight, Gordon saw no glamour +of a hope of dealing successfully with his father. Then all in a flash +he remembered something. He remembered he still had his father's +private code book with him. He remembered Slosson. If Slosson could +only be--silenced. + +In a moment he was on his feet again. + +"I've got it!" he cried exultantly. "I've got it, Mr. Mallinsbee! You +said that it didn't matter, short of murder, how we got the other +feller where we needed him. Will you come in on the wildest, most +crazy scheme you ever heard of? We can beat the game, and we'll take +money for nothing. We can make my dad build the depot right here and +scrap Snake's Fall. We can make him--and without any murder. Will you +come in?" + +"In what?" demanded a girlish voice from the veranda doorway. + +Gordon swung round, and Mallinsbee turned his smiling, twinkling eyes +upon his daughter, who had arrived all unnoticed. + +"It's a scheme he's got to beat his father, gal," laughed Mallinsbee in +a deep-throated chuckle. + +"His father?" Hazel turned her smiling, inquiring eyes upon the man +who had rescued her yesterday. + +"Yes, James Carbhoy," said her father, "the President of this railroad." + +Hazel's eyes widened, and their smile died out. + +"Your father--the--millionaire--James Carbhoy?" she said. And her note +of regret must have been plain to anybody less excited than Gordon. + +But Gordon was beyond all observation of such subtle inflections. He +was obsessed with his wild scheme. He started forward. Walking past +Hazel, he closed and locked the door. Then with alert eyes he glanced +at the window. It was open. He shut it and secured it. Then he set a +chair for Hazel close beside her father, and finally brought his own +chair round and sat himself down facing them. + +"Listen to me, and I'll tell you," he grinned, his whole body throbbing +with a joyous humor. "We're going to get the other feller where we +need him, and that other feller is my--dear--old--Dad!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +SOMETHING DOING + +During the next two or three days the entire atmosphere of Snake's Fall +underwent a significant change. All doubt had been set at rest. The +whole problem of the future boom was solved, and David Slosson received +as much homage in the conversation of the general run of the citizens +as though he were the victorious general in a military campaign. The +lesser people, who would receive the most benefit from the coming boom, +regarded him with wide-eyed wonder at the stupendous nature of the +wildly exaggerated reports of his dealings in land. They saw in him a +Napoleon of finance, and remembered that their concerns were vastly +more valuable through his operations. + +Men of maturer business instincts withheld their judgment and contented +themselves with a rather dazed wonder. Others, those who had actually +and already profited by his preliminary deals, chuckled softly to +themselves, rubbed their hands gently, pocketed his paper and deposit +money, and wrote him down "plumb crazy." But even so, there was a +sober watchfulness as to the next movements in the approaching boom. +Those who were the farthest seeing kept an eye wide open on Buffalo +Point. So far as they could see it was not possible for the Buffalo +Point interests to go under without a "kick." When would that "kick" +come, and where would it be delivered? + +As for David Slosson, after his first effort, which had been the +deciding factor in the future of Snake's Fall, he remained +unapproachable. He was living at Peter McSwain's hotel, and occupied a +bedroom and parlor, which latter served him as an office. Here he +remained more or less invisible, possibly while his disfigured features +underwent the process of mending, possibly nursing his wrath and +plotting developments against the object of it. There was even another +possible explanation. Maybe the plunge into the land market he had +taken needed a great concentration of effort to completely manipulate +it. Whatever it was, very little of the railroad company's agent was +seen after his first setting defiant foot into the arena of affairs. + +McSwain was more than interested. The hotel-keeper seemed to have +become obsessed with the idea that David Slosson was the only creature +worth regarding on the face of the earth. This was after he, Peter, +had spent the evening of that memorable first day of real movement, in +the company of Silas Mallinsbee and Gordon, out at the office at +Buffalo Point. + +Peter McSwain had always been an attentive landlord in his business, +now he had suddenly become even more so, especially to David Slosson. +There was not a single requirement that the agent could conceive, but +Peter was on hand to supply it. He was more or less at his elbow the +whole time. + +Then, too, Mike Callahan became a frequenter of the hotel, and even +boarded there. Furthermore, a wonderful friendliness between him and +Peter sprang up, which was so marked that the townspeople saw in it a +combination of forces possibly foreshadowing the inauguration of a +great hotel enterprise under their joint control. This also was after +that first evening, when Mike Callahan had also formed one of the party +at the office at Buffalo Point. + +Another point of interest, had it been noticeable by the more curious +and interested of the frequenters of the hotel, was, that at any time +that Peter McSwain found it necessary to absent himself from the hotel, +Mike was always found in his place superintending the running of the +establishment. + +However, these small details were merely an added puff of wind to the +breath of general excitement prevailing. The one thought in the place +seemed to be of those preparations necessary for the boom. Already +certain contracts, long since prepared for such a happening, were put +into operation. A number of buildings were started, or prepared to +start. The news had been sent broadcast by interested citizens, and a +fresh influx of people began and heavy orders from the various traders +were placed with the wholesalers in the East. + +David Slosson in his quarters was made aware of these things, but +somehow they raised small enough enthusiasm in him. Truth to tell, he +was far too deeply concerned with the subtleties of his own affairs. +His course of action had not been the wild plunge which Peter McSwain +had suggested. On the contrary, such was his venomous nature that he +had pitted his own abilities and fortune against the Buffalo Point +interests in a carefully calculated scheme. + +For years he had been engaged in every corner of the United States and +Canada in such work as he was now doing. In the process of such work, +by methods of unscrupulous grafting and blackmail he had contrived a +fortune of no inconsiderable amount. So that now he was no ordinary +agent. He was a "representative" of the interests he worked for. In +his case the distinction was a nice one. + +As the result of his encounter with Gordon he had resolved upon the +crushing defeat of his adversaries by hurling the entire weight of his +personal fortune into the scale. True enough he had bought without +regard to price. He bought all he could in the best positions, and +even in the quarters which would not meet with the railroad's approval. +So his purchases had to be far greater, both in extent and price, than +in the ordinary way he would have made at Buffalo Point. + +Having thus bought, and thrown his own money into the affair, this was +his plan of dealing with the matter. First, he knew this boom was +based on sound foundations. The future was assured by the vast +coal-fields just opening up. The Bude and Sideley Coal Company was +only the first. There would be others, many of them. With the +railroad depot at Snake's Fall, the whole of the outlying positions of +the city would boom with the rest. _Any land round it would be of +enormous value_. So he purchased in every direction. He bought at +"skied" prices from the big holders, so that the railroad should be +satisfied as to positions, and he bought largely in the outlying parts +of the city where no "skied" prices could rule. Then he pooled the +price which he knew the railroad would pay, with his own fortune to pay +the whole bill, put the railroad in _on the best sites at their own +price_, and held the balance of his purchases for himself. + +It was his only means of justifying to his principals his declining to +accept Buffalo Point's terms, and though it meant locking up his +available capital in Snake's Fall, he knew, in the end, he would recoup +himself with added fortune, and have wrecked those who had rejected his +blackmail, and added to their audacity by personal assault. It pleased +him to think that Hazel Mallinsbee would also be made to suffer for +what he considered her outrageous treatment of himself. + +His method was certainly Napoleonic, and for its very audacity it +should succeed. As he reviewed his position he could find no +appreciable flaws. If the coal were there the place must boom, +and--_he knew the coal was there_. + +So he was satisfied. + +Five days after making his first deal, those deals which had inspired +so much derision, his whole operations were completed. He was feeling +contented. It had been a strenuous time, and had demanded every ounce +of energy and commercial acumen he possessed to complete the work. He +knew that his whole future was at stake, but he also knew that he held +the four aces which would be the finally deciding factors in the game. +He felt free at last to notify the President of the Union Grayling and +Ukataw Railroad of his transactions, and was confident of that shrewd +financier's approval and felicitations. Nor were the latter the least +desirable in his estimation. + +He had already dined in his parlor, as had been his custom since his +encounter with Gordon. But now he intended to move abroad. He felt +himself to be the arbiter of the fate of these "rubes," as he +characterized the citizens of Snake's Fall, and he did not see the +necessity for denying himself the adulation such a position entitled +him to. + +With a self-satisfied feeling he picked up a long code message he had +written out and thrust it in his pocket. Then, carefully putting away +all other private papers into his dressing-case, and locking it, he +sauntered leisurely out of his room. + +He intended to give himself his first breathing space for five days, +and he lounged downstairs to the hotel office. + +Sure enough, the first person he encountered was Peter McSwain. The +man looked hot, but then he always looked hot. His smile of welcome +was almost servile, and David Slosson felt pleased at the sign. + +The consequence was, his manner promptly became something more than +autocratic. There was a domineering note in his voice, and a cool +insolence in his regard of his host. Peter remained quite undisturbed. +His mind went back to the scene in the office at Buffalo Point on the +eventful first evening, and an even greater servility beamed out of his +hot eyes. + +"Yes, sir," he cried, in answer to Slosson's inquiry as to the +movements in the town. "Movements? Why, I'd sure say you've set this +place jumping as though you'd opened up an earthquake under it. I tell +you frankly, Mr. Slosson, sir, we been waitin' days and days with our +eyes on you for a lead. I don't guess it means a thing to a gentleman +like you, but if you'd been a sort o' cock angel right down from the +clouds on an aeroplane you couldn't ha' been blessed more'n the folks +right here have been blessin' your name these last days, since you +outed that bum outfit down at Buffalo Point." + +"They're a pretty rotten crowd," agreed Slosson, well enough pleased. +"Though I say it, it takes a man of experience to handle a crowd like +that. They're sheer blackmailers, but I don't stand for a thing like +that. You see, our play is to serve the public right. Well, seeing +Snake's Fall is a straight proposition I guess I had to treat 'em +right. I figure I put a heap of dollars in the way of Snake's Fall. +You won't do so bad yourself?" + +Peter smiled amiably. + +"I can't kick." + +"Kick?" Slosson's eyes widened. "Guess you ought to get right on your +knees, and thank--me." Then he laughed. "Say, maybe you'll start +putting up a--real hotel." + +His contempt was marked as he let his glance wander over his simple and +primitive surroundings. Peter took no sort of umbrage. + +"Well, that was how I was figurin'. Y'see I got to be first in that +line. Since you downed Mallinsbee's crowd of crooks, why, it's going +to make things easy. Say, you don't figure to sink dollars that way +yourself? Maybe you could get right in on the ground floor." + +His cordial tone pleased the agent, but he pretended to consider the +matter too small for his participation. + +"I'd need a big holding," he laughed. "I ain't time for one-hossed +shows. Still, I thank you for the offer. Guess the Mallinsbee crowd +are kicking 'emselves to death. What?" + +Peter nodded impressively, and drew closer in his confidence. + +"Kickin'? That don't describe it. They deserve it, too. They kep' us +dancing around guessin' with their patch of grazin'. Say, this town +owes you a big heap, an' I'm glad. There's one thing owin' a real +smart gent like you, Mr. Slosson, sir, an' quite another owin' a crowd +of crooks like Mallinsbee's. This town ain't likely to forget. +There's things like testimonials around, sir," he added, winking +significantly, "and when a city's making a big pile through a man, +testimonials are like to take on a mighty handsome shape." + +Slosson grinned. + +"I shouldn't discourage 'em," he said pleasantly. "The folks 'll see +where they are in a few days. Here." He pulled out his long cypher +message from his pocket, and held it out towards Peter triumphantly. +"You can read it if you like. You won't be able to get its meaning, +but I'll tell you what it is. It's to tell my company to go right +ahead. They're in. That means that Snake's Fall is made, sir, +completely and finally made, and the Mallinsbee ground sharks are plumb +down and out. And I'm glad to say I've been the means of fixing things +that way for you." + +Peter took the message. He took it rather quickly--almost too quickly. +He read it. The words were so much gibberish to him, and it was far +too long to remember. But with a quick effort he took in the one word +of address, and the first six words of the message. + +Then he handed it back. + +"Do you need that sent off, sir?" he inquired easily, but his heart was +beating quickly. + +Slosson shook his head. + +"Guess I'll send it myself. I'm going across to the depot right now." +He folded up the paper. "That's the sentence on the Buffalo Point +crooks, and its execution will follow--quick." + +"An' serve 'em darned right," cried Peter sharply. "I ain't time for +crooks like them. You're right, sir. Don't take chances. See that +sent off yourself, sir. I'm real glad you come along here. There'll +be fortunes lying around in your track, an' then there's always +them--testimonials. Say, you'll just excuse me, sir, but there's some +all-fired 'rubes' shoutin' for drinks in the bar. I----" + +Slosson laughed. + +"Yes, you get right on. The boys have money to burn in this city now. +They'll have more later. I'll get going." + +He moved off and passed through the crowded office, and out of the +hotel, while Peter dashed swiftly into his private office. He went +straight to his desk and wrote on paper all he could remember of the +code message. Then he stood up and swore softly to himself. + +For some moments he let himself go at the expense of the man he had +just been talking to. Then he became calmer, and his face grew +thoughtful. Then, after awhile, a smile grew in his hot eyes, and he +murmured audibly-- + +"I wonder. Steve Mason's a good boy, an' he don't draw a big pile +slamming the keys of his instruments over there. I wonder." + +After that he left the office and hurried out to the veranda, and stood +watching, in the evening light, for the figure of David Slosson leaving +the telegraph operator's office. + + +Gordon and Hazel Mallinsbee were riding amongst the hills. Gordon was +on Sunset, and Hazel's brown mare was reveling in the joy of a fresh +morning gallop through her native valleys and woodlands. + +Ever since the memorable day when he discovered that Slosson was his +father's agent, Gordon had lived in a state of almost feverish delight. +At his instigation they had closed up the office at Buffalo Point, to +give color to their defeat by the agent. At his instigation they had +arranged many other more or less significant matters. But it had been +Mallinsbee's own suggestion that Gordon should take up his abode at the +ranch instead of sharing the hospitality of Mike Callahan's livery barn +in Snake's Fall. + +It was a glorious summer day and the mountain breezes came down the +hillsides with that refreshing cool belonging to the heights above. +The joy of living was thrilling both of them as they rode, and their +horses, too, seemed to have caught the infection. But there was +something more than the mere joy of life and health actuating them now. +There was an excitement such as neither could have experienced during +those long, dull hours which, during the past weeks, had been spent in +the now closed office at Buffalo Point. + +They raced along down a wide green valley lined upon either side by +wood-clad slopes of hills, which mounted up towards the blue for +several hundreds of feet. Ahead of them shone the white ramparts of +the mountain range. They scintillated in the sunlight, a shimmering +wall of snow and ice many thousands of feet high. Before them lay +miles and miles of broken hills, rising higher and higher as they +approached the ultimate barrier of the Rockies themselves. + +The riders were in a perfect maze of valleys, and woods, and mountain +streams, and hills; a maze from which it seemed well-nigh impossible to +disentangle themselves. Yet, with her trained eyes, and wonderful +inborn knowledge of hill-craft, Hazel piloted their course without +hesitation, without question. The whole region was an open book to her +in the summer time. For miles and miles through that broken land she +knew every headland, every shadowy wood, every green valley and +gurgling stream. As she often told Gordon, it was her world--her home +and her world, it belonged to her. + +"But I should lose myself in five minutes," Gordon protested, as they +swung out of the valley and into a narrow cutting between two +sheer-faced cliffs, overgrown with scrub and small bush, which left +hardly any room for their horses along the banks of a trickling brook +which divided them. + +"Surely you would," Hazel, who was now in the lead, called back over +her shoulder. "And I guess I should just as soon lose my way in your +wonderful New York. You follow right along, and I'll promise to bring +you home by supper." Then, with laughing anxiety, "But for goodness' +sake don't lose our lunch out of your saddle bags. We'll be starving +after another hour of this." + +The warning startled Gordon into an apprehensive survey of his saddle +bags. They were quite secure, however, and he followed closely on the +mare's heels. + +Quickly it became apparent that they were traveling a well-worn cattle +path overgrown by the low scrub. It was difficult, but Hazel followed +it unfalteringly. Half a mile up this narrow, the great facets of the +hills on either side began to close in on them, and still further ahead +Gordon discovered that they almost met overhead, the narrowest possible +crack alone dividing them. + +He was wondering in which direction lay their way out of such a +hopeless cul-de-sac when he saw Hazel suddenly bend her body low over +her mare's neck, and, at the same moment, she called back a warning to +him. + +"'Ware overhead rocks!" she cried. + +Gordon instantly followed her example, and kept close behind her as she +entered a passage which was practically a tunnel. Now their +difficulties were increased tenfold. The tunnel, in spite of the +narrow split in its roof, was almost dark. The low bush completely hid +the track and the little tumbling creek beside the path had deepened to +a six-foot cut bank. + +Gordon became troubled. But it was not for himself so much as for +Hazel. His horse, Sunset, was steady as a rock, but the brown mare +ahead was as timid as a kitten. He glanced anxiously at the figure of +the girl. The journey seemed not to trouble her one bit. Her mare, +too, considering her timidity, was wonderfully steady. No doubt it was +the result of perfect confidence in the clever little creature on her +back, he thought. His gaze passed still further ahead. He was looking +for the termination of this mysterious winding tunnel. But twenty +yards was the limit of his vision and, so far, no end was in sight. + +Suddenly Hazel's merry laugh came echoing back to him. + +"Say, isn't this a great place?" she cried. "It's like one of those +enchanted lands you read of in fairy books." Then she added a further +warning. "Keep low. We're nearly through." + +The horses scrambled on in the semi-darkness. But for Gordon the +enchantment of the place was passing, and he was glad to know they were +nearly through. + +A few minutes later he saw Hazel begin to straighten herself up in the +saddle. He followed her example with some caution and considerable +relief. The roof was becoming higher, so, too, was the light +increasing. Gordon breathed a sigh. + +"I don't know about the lunch," he said. "I've bumped the walls for +some considerable time. Is there much more of it?" + +But before Hazel's reply could reach him his inquiry was answered by +the cavern itself. All in an instant they rounded a bend and a +dazzling beam of sunlight banished the darkness and nearly blinded him. +Two minutes later he pushed his way through a dense screen of willows, +and emerged upon the bank of a beautiful, serene lake of absolutely +transparent, sunlit water. + +"Behold the spring which is the source of that little stream," cried +Hazel, indicating the lake spread out before them. "Isn't it a +fairy-book picture? Look round you. Oh, say, I just love it to death." + +Gordon gazed about him in wonder. The lake was quite small, but its +setting was as beautiful as any artist could have painted it. All +around it, on two-thirds of its circumference, a hundred different +shades of green illumined the wonderful tangled vegetation. He looked +for the place from which they had emerged. It was completely hidden. +Gone, vanished as if by magic. All that remained were the great hills +at the back and the wooded banks of the lake at their feet. + +He looked down at the water. Clear, clear; it was clear as crystal. +Then he turned towards the sun, and something of the wonder of it all +thrilled him. A sea, a calm, unruffled sea of the greenest grass he +had ever beheld stretched out before him. Or was it a broad river of +grass? Yes, it was a wide river, perhaps two miles wide, with great +mountainous banks on either side. To him they seemed to be standing at +its source, and its flow carried his gaze away on towards the west, +where, above all, miles and miles away, shone the white peaks of the +mountains. + +The banks of this superb valley were deeply wooded from the base to the +soaring summits. Only were the hues of the foliage varied. Right at +the foot the green was bright, but less bright than the tall sweet +grass. While higher, the dark foliage of pine woods rose somberly on +stately towering blackened trunks. + +At last Gordon turned back to the girl, who had sat watching the intent +expression of his face. + +"Tell me," he said, and he made a comprehensive gesture with one hand. + +Hazel was waiting only for that sign. + +[Illustration: Hazel Was Waiting for That Sign] + +"Where we stand now we are twenty miles from the ranch," she said. +"The only other outlet to this valley is twenty miles further on to the +west. If you could not find our secret passage again, you would have +to travel sixty miles through the most amazing country to get back +home." + +"Sixty miles back?" Gordon muttered. + +"Sure," returned Hazel. Then she laughed. "Even then, unless you'd +been pretty well born in these hills you'd never find the way." + +Gordon nodded, and glanced in the direction whence they had come. +There was not a sign of the tunnel to be seen. The foliage screen +looked impenetrable. He began to smile. + +"And your cattle station?" he questioned. + +"Come on." + +Hazel turned her mare away, and set off at a brisk canter. She +followed the line of the hills at the edge of the wide plain of sweet +grass. + +Gordon followed her, marveling at the place, but more still at his +guide. A quarter of an hour's gallop under the shade of the most +amazingly beautiful woods he ever remembered to have seen, brought them +to a clearing, in the midst of which stood a smallish frame house. It +was more or less surrounded by a number of large, heavy-timbered +corrals. The whole place was perfectly hidden by the screen of woods +from view of the valley beyond. + +Hazel leaped out of the saddle and passed hurriedly into the house. +Next minute she returned with two picket ropes. + +"We'll picket them both while we eat and get a peek around the place. +We aren't yearning for a twenty-mile tramp back." + +Gordon agreed. He remained silent while they off-saddled and secured +their horses beyond the woods on the open grass. He was thinking hard. +He was reviewing the purpose which had brought them to this wonderful +outworld hiding-place. Nor were his thoughts wholly free from doubts +and qualms. + +At length the work was done. Their saddle blankets were laid out to +dry in the sun, and the saddle bags were emptied of the ample lunch +Hazel had carefully provided. + +The girl was entirely mistress of the situation. Gordon felt his +helplessness out here in the secret heart of nature. + +"Shall we eat first or----?" Hazel broke off questioningly. + +"Can't we look around the house while the kettle boils?" inquired +Gordon, looking up from the fire he had kindled after some difficulty. +He was kneeling on the bare, dusty ground which had been trodden by the +hoofs of thousands of cattle in the past. + +The girl nodded. Her delight in being this man's cicerone was +superlative. This was different from the days she had spent with David +Slosson. + +"Sure. Come on," she cried. "And there's a well out back where we can +fill the kettle." + +They hurried off to the well, and, between them, rather like two +children, they filled the kettle. Then they returned and placed it on +the fire, and again approached the house. + +It was a squat, roomy structure of the ordinary frame type, but it was +in perfect preservation even to its paint, and Hazel pointed this out +as they approached. + +"You see this was my daddy's first home," she said. "It's where I was +born." She drew a deep, happy sigh. "I seem to remember every stick +of it. And my daddy, why, he just loves it, too. That's why, though +we don't use it now, he has it painted every year, and kept clean. You +see, when my daddy built this for my momma he hadn't a pile of dollars. +It was just all he could afford, and he didn't ever guess he'd have a +great deal to spend on a home. We lived here years, and our cattle +grazed out in the valley beyond. I used to spend my whole time on the +back of a small broncho mare, chasing up and down the hills and woods. +And that's how I found that tunnel we came through. My, but I do love +this little place!" + +"It's great," agreed Gordon warmly. "I'd call it a--a poet's home." + +The girl flung open the front door and led the way in. Instantly +Gordon had the surprise of his life. It was furnished. Completely and +comfortably furnished. What was more, the furniture, though old, was +in perfect repair, and the room looked as though it had been recently +occupied. + +"When you said 'disused,'" Gordon exclaimed, "I--I--thought it would be +empty." + +The girl smiled a little sadly. + +"No," she said. "We couldn't forsake it. It would be like forgetting +my poor momma. No. The furniture and things are just as we used them +when she was with us." + +She passed from the parlor to the bedrooms, and the lean-to kitchen and +washhouse. Everything was in perfect order, except for a slight dust +which had gathered. + +"You see, Hip-Lee and one of the choremen and I can fix it up in a day +ready for occupation. That's how my daddy likes to have it. My daddy +loved our lovely momma. I don't guess he'll ever get over losing her." +Then she looked up, and her shadow of sadness had gone. "Come along," +she cried. "You've seen it all. So we'll just shut it up again, and +get back to our camp. I'm guessing that kettle'll be boiled dry." + +But the kettle was only just on the boil, and the girl made the tea +while Gordon set out the food and plates. Then, when all was ready, +they sat down to their _tete-a-tete_ picnic with all the enjoyment of +two children, but with that between them which seemed to fill the whole +air of the valley with an intoxicating sense of happiness and delight. + +"And what about that other place--that log and adobe shack you told me +of?" demanded Gordon, taking his tea-cup from the girl's hand. + +Hazel laughed. + +"That's a dandy shack, full of ants and crawly things, and its roof +leaks water. It's up on a hill where the wind just blows pneumonia +through it. If I showed it you I sort of reckon you'd be scared to use +it for--for anything." + +Gordon joined in her laugh. + +"I guess it'll be the real thing for my job. Say, don't you sort of +feel like a criminal? I do." He laughed again as he passed the plate +of cut meats to his companion. + +"Criminals?" laughed Hazel buoyantly. "Why, I just feel as if you and +my daddy and I were all hanging by the neck on the highest peak of the +Rockies. Say, you're sure--sure of things?" + +"I guess there's nothing sure in this world, except that no saint was +ever a financial genius. Sure? Say, how can we be sure till we've +fixed things the way we want 'em? But I tell you we've got to make +good. I won't believe we can fail. We mustn't fail. If only Peter +can get hold of Slosson's messages. Only one will do. If he can do +that, and it's what I expect, why--the whole thing becomes just a +practical joke, only not so harmful." + +Gordon attacked his food with a healthy appetite, and the girl watched +him happily. + +"It's the cleverest thing ever," she cried, "and--and I can't think how +you thought of it, and, having thought of it--dared to attempt to carry +it out." + +Gordon smiled. + +"I'm not clever, but--I did think of it, didn't I? And as to carrying +it out, why, I guess we're the same as the others. We're 'sharps.' +We're land pirates. We're ground sharks." + +Hazel set her cup down. + +"But you are clever. I didn't mean it that way." + +"You're the first person ever told me." + +"Am I?" Hazel blushed. Nor did she know why. Gordon, watching her, +sat entranced. + +"Sure. Most everybody reckons I'm just a--a bit of an athlete--that's +all. My sister Gracie never gets tired of telling me what an +all-sorts-of-fool I am." + +"How old is your--Gracie?" + +"Thirteen." + +"That makes a diff'rence." + +"Oh, she doesn't get it all her own way," laughed Gordon. "I hide her +chocolates. That makes her mad. She's a passion for candy. But the +old dad is a bully feller. He's all sorts of a sportsman, and he +guesses that the best day in his life will be the one in which he finds +I'm not a fool." + +Hazel gurgled merrily. + +"That'll come along soon." + +Gordon nodded. + +"Gee! It makes me laugh to think of it. But say," he went on, a +moment later, "I'm glad you don't think me a fool. I'm just longing +for----" But he broke off and abruptly rose from the ground. Their +meal was finished. "Do we wash things or do we just pack 'em up?" + +"Oh, we'll pack 'em," said Hazel, rising hastily. A sort of nervous +hurry was in her movement. "We won't rob the choreman and Hip-Lee of +their rights. Say, you bring up the horses, and I'll pack. We can +water them at the lake as we pass out--the horses, I mean." + +A few minutes later Gordon returned with the horses. + +As he rounded the bend in the now overgrown track, which had once +formed the main approach to the little ranch, and caught sight of the +graceful fawn-clad figure moving about, he stood for a moment to feast +his eyes upon the picture the girl made. She was all he had ever +dreamed of in life. There was nothing of the delicate exotic here, +none of the graceful gowning of a city, concealing an unhealthy body +reduced almost to infirmity by the unwholesome night life of modern +social demands. She was just a living example of the grace with which +Nature so readily endows those who obey her wonderful, helpful laws. +The perfect contours, the elasticity of gait, the clear, keen, +beautiful eyes, and the pretty tanning under the shade of her +wide-brimmed hat. + +The beating of the man's heart quickened. All his feelings rose, and +set him longing to tell her all that was in his heart. He wanted then +and there to become her champion for all time. A great passionate wave +set the warm blood of youth surging to his head. He felt that she +belonged to him, and him alone. Had he not fought for her as those +warriors of old would have done? Yes, somehow he felt that she was +his, but, with a strange cowardice, he feared to put his fate to the +test through words which could never express half of all he felt. He +longed and feared, and he told himself---- + +But Hazel was looking in his direction. She saw him standing there, +and peremptorily summoned him to her presence. + +"For goodness' sake," she cried. "Dreaming when there's work to be +done. Bring them right along, or we'll never get started. There's all +twenty miles before supper." + +Gordon hurried forward, and as he came up he made his excuses. + +"I had to look," he said apologetically. "You see it isn't every day a +feller gets a chance to see a real picture--like I've seen. Say, these +hills, I guess, can hand all that Nature can paint that way, but you +need a human life in it to make a picture real to just an ordinary +man's eyes. I--had to look." + +But Hazel seemed to have become suddenly aware of something of that +which lay behind his words, and she hastily, and with flushed cheeks, +turned to the work of saddling her horse. Gordon attempted to help, +but she laughingly declined any aid. She pointed at the saddle bags on +his saddle. + +"They're packed," she said. "Say, I'll show you how to refold your +blanket. This way." + +Gordon spent some delicious moments struggling with his blanket under +the girl's superintendence, and his regret was all too genuine when, at +last, it was placed on Sunset's back with the saddle on the top of it. +As for the mare, she was saddled and bitted in the time it took him to +cinch Sunset up. By the time he had adjusted the bit Hazel was in the +saddle, gazing down at his efforts with merry, laughing eyes. + +"It does seem queer," she said. "Here are you, big and strong, and +capable of most anything. Yet it puzzles you around a saddle--which is +so simple." + +Gordon climbed into his saddle at last, and smiled round at her. + +"I'm learning more than I ever guessed I'd learn when I left New York. +I've learned a heap of things, and you've taught me most of them. +Sometime I'll have to tell you all you've taught me, and then--and +then, why, I guess maybe you'll wonder." He laughed as they moved off. +But somehow Hazel kept her eyes averted. + +"Now for the enchanted tunnel again," he cried, in a less serious mood. +"More enchantment, more delight! And then--then to the serious +criminal work we have on hand. Criminal. It sounds splendid. It +sounds exciting. We're conspirators of the deepest dye." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE CODE BOOK + +It seemed as though Peter McSwain never did anything without +perspiring. He perspired now with the simple effort of thought. But +it was a considerable effort and a considerable thought. He crowded +more of the latter into five minutes, he assured himself, than a +bankrupt Wall Street man could have done on the eve of settling day. +The object of his thought was the telegraph operator and the subject of +it the interesting thesis of bribery. Then, too, there were the side +issues, which included David Slosson, a telegraph message, and two men +waiting at the other end of things for the result of his share in the +proceedings. + +He made no attempt at pleasant conversation with the row of guests +lounging with feet skywards on the shady veranda. For the time at +least the affairs of his hotel were quite secondary. It seemed to him +just now that these men were the misfortunes of a commercial interest. +They were the things that kept him living concealed beneath an exterior +of polite attention which he detested. He had never had a chance of +being his real self until this moment. There was work of a delicate +nature to be performed, work which was to prove his ability in those +finer channels where individuality would count and genuine cleverness +must be displayed. A lot was depending upon his capacity. + +This feeling inspired him, and the dew on his forehead became a moist +and shallow lake that was already overflowing its banks. At the end of +five minutes, after having seen David Slosson leave the telegraph +office and move off down the Main Street, this lake became a streaming +torrent as he left the veranda and passed round to the back of the +hotel. + +This retrograde movement was a part of his deeply laid plans. He had +no object in visiting either his barn or his kitchens. The Chinese +cook possessed no interest for him at the moment, and as for the hens +and the team of horses, and his lame choreman who tended them, they had +never been farther from his thoughts. + +He appeared interested, however, and mopped his forehead several times +as he surveyed the scene with attentive eye. Then he passed on without +a word. Now his route became circuitous. He walked a hundred yards +away from the town, and appeared to be contemplating the open country +with weighty thoughts in his mind. Then he turned away and moved in +another direction, towards the railroad track. Again he paused with +measuring eye. Then he crossed the track and strode off in a fresh +direction. This time he was moving northwards away from the depot and +telegraph office. Those who now chanced to observe him lost all +interest in his movements, and for the time his perspiring face was +forgotten. By the time he came within view of the hotel veranda again +his very existence had been forgotten in the midst of the busy talk of +his guests. And so he was enabled to reach the telegraph office from +the farther side without arousing comment. + +He casually opened the door and found himself standing before the +barrier of the paper-littered office. The operator was at his +instrument table ticking out a message in that alert, concentrated +manner peculiar to all telegraphists. The man glanced round at his +visitor and continued his work without a sign of recognition, and the +hotel-keeper propped himself on the counter and drew a cigar from his +vest pocket. + +By the time he had lit it satisfactorily the ticking of the instrument +ceased, and a sigh of relief warned him that Steve Mason was free. He +glanced across at the table with his hot eyes and a shadowy smile. + +"Busy these times, Steve," he said genially. "The old days when we had +time to sit around in this office and yarn are as far back as the +flood. Say, you ain't got paralysis of the arm yet? Maybe you work +'em both. Hev a smoke?" + +Steve smiled wearily. + +"Don't you never take on operatin', Peter," he said, accepting the +proffered smoke. "Thanks. What's this? One of those 'multiflavums' +of yours you keep for drummers?" + +Peter shook his head. + +"My own smokes. They match the times. We're all making fortunes." + +"Are we?" + +"Well--ain't we?" + +"None of it's come my way," said Steve, lighting his cigar. "But +that's always the way. We get shunted to a bum town like this on a +branch, and they pay us salary according. If the city makes a break +and gets busy and we're nearly crazy with overwork they don't boost us +up. Overwork don't mean overpay, nor overtime. They ain't raised me a +dollar. I'm going to get right on the buck if things keep up. I tell +you I've eaten three meals in this office to-day, with my hand on the +key, and I--I'm just sick to death. I don't take or send again this +night." + +"Guess you'll be able to make a break when you sell your holdings," +McSwain went on sympathetically. He raised the barrier and stepped +into the office, and sat himself in a chair he had often occupied in +the unruffled days before the coal. + +Steve laughed and sat himself on the corner of his instrument table. + +"I ain't got no holding. You can't buy land on a hundred dollars a +month. No, sir. What with the Chinee laundry and my boarding-house, I +guess I need to smoke your 'multiflavums' and drink your worst rye. +Why, I ain't got a balance over to buy an ice-cream-soda in winter." + +"You sure are badly staked," murmured Peter. + +They smoked in silence for some moments. The atmosphere of the little +office was opening the pores of Peter's skin again. + +"Say," he went on presently, mopping his brow carefully, "I made quite +a stake out of that agent feller, Slosson. Somewheres around ten +thousand dollars. Quite a piece of money, eh? I ain't sure he's a +fool or a pretty wise guy." + +"He's the railroad man," said Steve significantly. + +"Yes. That don't make him out a fool, does it?" + +"I'd smile." + +"So'd I--if I knew more. I'd give a hundred dollars to see what's to +happen in the next week or so. I've got a big stake here, if the +railroad don't shift the depot. Slosson says they won't. Says he's +bought all he needs right here for his company. I take it he's helped +himself, too. Still, I'd like to know. The boys back at the hotel are +fallin' right over 'emselves to get in. They reckon this place is a +cinch--since Slosson's bought. I'd like to be sure." + +Steve laughed. He read through his friend's purpose now. The visit +was not, as he told himself, for nothing. Peter was looking for +information which it would be a serious offense for him to give--if he +possessed any, which he didn't. + +"Guess there's nothing doing, Peter," he said slyly. + +"What d'you mean?" The hotel-keeper's eyes were hotter than ever. But +there was no resentment in them. + +"Why, I just don't know a thing what Slosson's doing. And if I did I +couldn't tell you. It would be a criminal offense. Slosson ain't sent +a word over the line since he started to buy metal until to-night, and +the message I've just sent for him is in code, so, as far as I'm +concerned, it's so much Greek. I don't know who it's to, even. That's +why I guess there's nothing doing." + +"No--I s'pose not. I s'pose codes can be read, though? There's +experts who worry out any old code. Guess it's mighty interestin'. If +Slosson's sendin' in code I guess he's got something in it he don't +need folks to know. That makes it more worrying." + +Peter heaved a great sigh of longing. The other shook his head. + +"You've got to find the key to 'em," he said. + +"Yep--a Bible, or some queer old book. Maybe the 'History of the +United States.' Say, I'd hate to chase up the 'History of the United +States' looking for a key. Maybe it would be interestin', though. +Say----" + +"You couldn't do it in a month of years," laughed Steve, humoring his +friend. "What would it be worth to you to be able to read his code?" + +"Oh, maybe I'd make fifty thousand dollars." + +"Whew! That's some money." + +"Sure. I'd like to try. Say, boy, I'll hand you five hundred dollars +to let me take a copy of that message. All you need do is just leave +it on your table there for five minutes and lock the outer door. Then +just pass right into the other room till the five minutes is up. I'll +hand you the bills right here an' now. I'd like to figure on that +message. Is it a bet?" + +Steve shook his head. He was scared. He knew the consequences of +discovery to himself too well. It was penitentiary. It was the +equivalent of tapping wires. But Peter was unfolding a big roll of +bills, and the temptation of handling that money was very great. + +"You just need to copy the message out? That all?" + +"Just that. No more." + +"You won't need to disfigure my record?" + +"Sure not." Peter grinned. He was sweating, profusely. He felt he +was on a hot scent and likely to make a kill. + +"Only to make a _copy_. It's a big bunch of money for just a copy," +Steve demurred suspiciously. + +Peter laughed. + +"Say, boy, we're old friends. I ain't out to do you a hurt. All I +need is to try and worry out that code and know things. If I was sure +of being able to read it, why, this five hundred would be five +thousand, and worth it all to me, every cent of it. If I can't read +that code, then I'll just hand you back my copy, and no harm's done. +See? I tell you I wouldn't hurt you for more than the money I hope to +make. Is it a bet?" + +Steve passed out through the barrier and turned the key in the door. +Then he came back. + +"I'll take that money." + +"Good." + +Peter paid it over, and then watched the other as he took the original +message which Slosson had written off a file and laid it on the table +beside a blank form. + +"Say, be as sharp as you can over it," Steve said urgently. Then he +passed into the inner room and closed the door. + + +The interior of Mike Callahan's livery barn was typical of a small +prairie town. Rows of horse-stalls ran down either side of it, from +one end to the other. At the far end sliding doors opened out upon an +enclosure, round which were the sheds sheltering a widely varied +collection of rigs and buggies. Also here there was further +accommodation for horses. Just inside the main barn, to the left, the +American Irishman had two small rooms. The one at the front, with its +window on Main Street, was his office. Behind this, dependent for +light upon a window at the side of the building, was a harness-room +crowded with saddles and harness of every description, also a bunk on +which Mike usually slept when he kept the barn open at night. + +It was late at night now, about midnight on the day following Peter +McSwain's momentous effort with Steve Mason. Four men were gathered +together in profound council in Mike's harness-room. The atmosphere of +the place was poisonous. A horse blanket obscured the window, and the +door was shut and locked, although the barn itself was closed for the +night, and there was small enough chance of intrusion. Still, every +precaution had been taken to avoid any such contingency. + +A single guttering candle stuck in the neck of a black bottle illumined +the intent faces of the men. Gordon was sitting at a small table with +a sheet of paper in front of him and a small morocco-bound book beside +it. Silas Mallinsbee and Peter McSwain were sitting upon Mike +Callahan's emergency bunk, while the owner of it contented himself with +an upturned bucket near the door. Cigar-smoke clouded the room and +left the atmosphere choking, but all of them seemed quite impervious to +its inconvenience. + +For awhile there was no other sound than the rustle of the leaves of +Gordon's book and the scratching of the indifferent pen he had borrowed +from Mike. Then, after what seemed interminable minutes, he looked up +from his task with a transparent smile. + +"It's all right," he said in a low, thrilling tone. "I guess we've got +the game in our hands. He's used the governor's code." + +"You can read it?" demanded Peter quickly, leaning forward with a +stiff, tense motion. + +"Is it what we guessed?" inquired Mike, with a sigh of relief. + +Mallinsbee alone offered no comment. + +Gordon nodded in answer to each inquiry. He was reading what he had +written over to himself. + +Then he turned sharply to Peter. + +"For goodness' sake give me a cigar. I need something to keep me from +shouting." + +His tone, and the expression of his eyes were full of excitement. + +"It's the greatest luck ever," he went on, while Peter produced a cigar +and passed it across to him. "This feller's in direct communication +with the governor. You see, this code is the private one. I had it as +the dad's secretary. The manager had it, and, of course, my father. +No one else. So it's just about certain this thing was an important +matter for Slosson to be allowed to use it. Now I'd never heard of +this Slosson before, so that it's also evident he's one of my father's +secret agents. A matter which further proves the affair's importance." + +He lit his cigar and puffed at it leisurely as he contemplated his +paper with even greater satisfaction. + +"This is addressed direct to the old man, which--makes our work doubly +easy," he went on. "Also the nature of the message helps us. If it +had been to our manager it would have been more difficult to work out +my plans." + +He raised the paper so that the candlelight fell full upon it. + +"This is the transcript. 'Occipud, New York'--that's my father," he +added in parenthesis. + +"'Have bought in Snake's Fall, working on instructions. Buffalo Point +crowd out for a heavy graft. Utterly unscrupulous lot, offering +impossible deal. Have turned them down on grounds provided for in your +instructions. Snake's Fall everything you require. Would suggest you +come up here incognito, if possibly convenient. There are other +propositions in coal worth a deep consideration. Coal deposits here +the greatest in the country. Must come an enormous boom. Will send +word later on this matter. Am sending letter covering operations. I +think it will be urgent that you visit this place shortly in interests +of boom as well as the coal.--SLOSSON.'" + +Gordon looked round at the faces of his companions in silent triumph. +And in each case he encountered a keen expectancy. As yet his fellow +conspirators were rather in the dark. The significance of that +transcript was not yet sufficiently clear. + +"What comes next?" inquired Mallinsbee in his calm, direct fashion. + +The others simply waited for enlightenment. + +Gordon chuckled softly. + +"Now we know we can get at Slosson's messages and my father's messages +to him, and, having the code book, by a miracle of good luck, in my +possession, the rest is easy. First, Peter must get a copy of my +father's reply to this. Meanwhile I shall send an urgent message to my +father in Slosson's name to _come up here at once_. The answer to that +must never reach Slosson. Get me, Peter? You've got that boy Steve +where you need him. You must hold him there and pay his price. I'll +promise him he'll come to no harm. When my father finds out things +I'll guarantee to pacify him. This way we'll get my father here, I'll +promise you. And when he does get here the fun 'll begin--as we have +arranged. That clear? Mike's got his work marked out. You yours, +Peter. Mr. Mallinsbee and I will do the rest. Peter, you did a great +act laying hands on this message. It was worth double the price. The +whole game is now in our hands." + +Gordon folded up the paper and placed it inside the code book, which he +carefully returned to his pocket. + +Mike rubbed his hands. + +"Say, it's sure a great play," he said gleefully. + +"And seein' you're his son the risk don't amount to pea-shucks," nodded +the perspiring hotel proprietor. + +"You can be quite easy on that score," laughed Gordon. "I can promise +you this: it won't be the old dad's fault, when this is over, if you +don't find yourselves gathered around a mighty convivial board +somewhere in New York--at his expense. You know my father as a pretty +bright financier. I don't guess you know him as the sportsman I do." + +Mallinsbee suddenly bestirred himself and removed his cigar. + +"I kind o' wish he weren't your father, Gordon, boy," he said bluntly. +"It sort of seems tough to me." + +Gordon's eyes shot a whimsical smile across at Hazel's father. + +"I'd hate to have any other, Mr. Mallinsbee," he said. "Maybe I know +how you're feeling about it. But I tell you right here, if my father +knew I had this opportunity and didn't take it, he'd turn his face to +the wall and never own me as his son again. You're reckoning that for +a son to do his father down sort of puts that son on a level with David +Slosson or any other low down tough. Maybe it does. But I just think +my father the bulliest feller on earth, and I love him mighty hard. I +love him so well that I'd hate to give him a moment's pain. I tell you +frankly that it would pain him if I didn't take this opportunity. It +would pain him far more than anything we intend to do to him--when we +get him here." + +He rose from his seat and his good-natured smile swept over the faces +of his companions. + +"How do you say, gentlemen? Our work's done for to-night. Are we for +bed?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +WAYS THAT ARE DARK + +The people of Snake's Fall were in the throes of that artificial +excitement which ever accompanies the prospect of immediate and flowing +wealth in a community which has been feverishly striving with a +negative result. + +Nor was this excitement a healthy or agreeable wave of emotion. It was +aggressive and vulgar. It was hectoring and full of a blatant +self-advertisement. Men who had never done better for themselves than +a third-rate hotel, or who had never used anything more luxurious than +a street car for locomotion in their ordinary daily life, now talked +largely of Plaza hotels and automobiles, of real estate corners and +bank balances. They sought by every subterfuge to exercise the +dominance of their own personalities in the affairs of the place, only +that they might the further enhance their individual advantage. +Schemes for building and trading were in everybody's minds, and money, +so long held tight under the pressure of doubt, now began to flow in +one incessant stream towards the coffers of the already established +traders. + +Every boom city is more or less alike, and Snake's Fall was no +variation to the rule. Gambling commenced in deadly earnest, and the +sharpers, with the eye of the vulture for carrion, descended upon the +place. How word had reached them would have been impossible to tell. +Then came the accompaniment of loose houses, and every other evil which +seems to settle upon such places like a pestilential cloud. + +To Gordon, looking on and waiting, it was all a matter of the keenest +interest, not untinged with a certain wholesome-minded disgust, and +when he sometimes spoke of it in the little family circle at the ranch, +or to the worldly-wise Mike Callahan in his barn, his talk was never +without a hint of real regret. + +"It makes a feller feel kind of squeamish watching these folks," he +observed to Mike, as they sat smoking in the latter's harness-room one +afternoon. "You see, if I didn't know the whole game was lying in the +palm of my hand I'd just simply sicken at the sordidness of it. We +can't feel that way, though. We're worse than them. They're just dead +in earnest to beat the game by the accepted rules of it, which don't +debar general crookedness. We're out to win by sheer piracy. Makes +you laugh, doesn't it? Makes it a good play." + +Mike was older, and had been brought up in a hard school. + +"Feelin's don't count one way or the other, I guess," he replied +contemptuously. "When it comes to takin' the dollars out of the other +feller's pocket I'm allus ready and willin'. You can allus help him +out after you beat him. Private charity after the deal is a sort of +liqueur after a good dinner." + +"Charity?" Gordon laughed. + +"Well, maybe you got another name for it," retorted Mike indifferently. + +"Several," laughed Gordon. "Rob a man and give him something back +needs another name." + +"They call it 'charity' in the newspapers when them philanthropists +hand back part of the wad they've collected from a deluded +public--anyway. It don't seem different to me." Mike's tone was +sharply argumentative. + +"It isn't different," agreed Gordon. "They're both a salve to +conscience. The only thing is that public charity of the latter nature +has the advantage of personal advertisement. I'm learning things, +Mike. I'm learning that the moment you get groping for dollars, you've +just tied up into a sack all the goodness and virtue handed out to you +by the Creator and--drowned it." + +Though Gordon was never able to carry any sort of conviction on these +matters with Mike, his occasional regrets found a cordial sympathy in +Hazel Mallinsbee. She watched him very closely during the days of +waiting for the maturity of his schemes. She knew the impulse which +had inspired him. She understood it thoroughly. It was humor, and she +liked him all the better for it. She realized to the full all the +depth of love Gordon possessed for his father, an affection which was +not one whit the less for the fact that to all intents and purposes his +object was the highway robbery of that parent. + +It was something of a paradox, but one which she perfectly understood. +She felt that it was a case of two strong personalities opposed to each +other in friendly rivalry. Gordon had propounded his beliefs to a man +of great capacity whose convictions were opposed. Opportunity had +served the younger man, who now intended to drive his point home +ruthlessly, with a deep, kindly humor lying behind his every act. She +could imagine, though she had never seen James Carbhoy, these two men, +big and strong and kindly, sitting opposite each other, smoking +luxuriously when it was all over, discussing the whole situation in the +friendliest possible spirit. + +Her father offered little comment. Curiously enough, this man, who had +so much at stake, deep in his heart did not approve of the whole thing. +It was not that he possessed ordinary scruples. Had the conspiracy +been opposed to anybody but Gordon's father he would have been heart +and soul in the affair. He would have reveled in the daring of the +trick which Gordon intended to carry out. As it was, he was +old-fashioned enough to see some sort of heinous ingratitude and +offense in the fact of a son pitted piratically against his father. + +However, he, like his daughter, watched closely for every sign this son +of his father gave. But while Hazel watched with sympathy and real +understanding, he saw only with the searching eyes of the observer who +is seeking the manner of man with whom he is dealing. + +Once only, during the days of waiting and comparative inaction, he gave +vent to his disapproval, and even then his manner was purely that of +regret. + +They were sitting together in the evening sunlight on the veranda of +the ranch. + +"Gordon, boy," he said in his deep, rumbling voice, after a long, +thoughtful pause; "if I had a son, which I guess I haven't, it would +hurt like sin to think he'd act towards me same as you're doing to your +father." + +His remark did not bring forth an immediate reply. When, however, it +finally came, accompanied as it was by twinkling, mischievous blue +eyes, and a smile of infinite amusement, Hazel, who was standing in the +doorway of the house, fully understood, although it left her father +unconvinced. + +"If you were my father, I guess you wouldn't hate it a--little bit," +Gordon said cheerfully. Then his eyes wandered in Hazel's direction, +and presently came back again to her father's face. "Maybe I'll live +many a long year yet, and if I do I can tell you right here that +perhaps there'll only be one greater moment in my life, than the moment +in which we win out on this scheme. I just want you to remember, all +through, that I love my old dad with all that's in me. Same as Hazel +loves you." + +From that moment Gordon heard no further protest throughout all the +preparations that had to be made. Silas Mallinsbee cheerfully +acquiesced in all that was demanded of him. Furthermore, he tacitly +acknowledged Gordon's absolute leadership. + +Under that leadership much had to be done of a subtle, secret nature. +The impression had to be created that the Buffalo Point interests had +completely abandoned the game. It was an anxious time--anxious and +watchful. David Slosson was kept under close surveillance by the four +conspirators, and, to this end, Gordon and Silas Mallinsbee spent most +of their time in Snake's Fall, which further added to the impression +that their interests had been abandoned. + +Having succeeded in bribing Steve Mason, the telegraph operator, in the +first place, Peter McSwain further bought him body and soul over to +their interests. Mallinsbee's purse was wide open for all such +contingencies, and Steve was left with the comfortable feeling that, +whatever happened, he had made sufficient money to throw up his job +before any crash came, and clear out to safety with a capital he could +never have honestly made out of his work. + +Thus Gordon had been enabled at last to dispatch his urgent code +message to his father, purporting as it did to come from David Slosson. +It was an irresistible demand for the Union Grayling and Ukataw +Railroad President's immediate presence in Snake's Fall. It had been +made as strong as David Slosson would have dared to make it. Nor, when +the answer to it arrived, would it ever reach the agent. Nothing was +forgotten. Every detail had been prepared for with a forethought +almost incredible in a man of Gordon's temperament and experience. + + +It was late evening the second day after the dispatching of Gordon's +urgent message. He had not long returned home to the ranch with +Hazel's father from a day amidst the excitement reigning in Snake's +Fall. Hazel was in the house clearing away supper and generally +superintending her domestic affairs. Silas Mallinsbee was round at the +corrals in consultation with his ranch foreman. Gordon was alone on +the veranda smoking and gazing thoughtfully out at the wonderful ruddy +sunset. + +For him there was none of the peace which prevailed over the scene that +spread out before him. How could there be? Every moment of the two +days which had intervened since the dispatching of his message had been +fraught with tense, nervous doubt. Every plan he had made depended on +the answer to that message, and he felt that the time-limit for the +answer's arrival had been reached. It must come now within a few +hours. He felt that he must get it to-morrow morning or never. And +when it came what--what then? Would it be the reply he desired, or an +uncompromising negative? He felt that the whole thing depended upon +the relations between his father and his agent. He was inclined to +think, from the very nature of the work his father had intrusted to +Slosson, that those relations were of the greatest confidence. He +hoped it was so, but he could not be absolutely sure. Therefore the +strain of waiting was hard to bear. + +While his busy thoughts teemed through his brain, and his +unappreciative gaze roamed over the purpling of the distant hills, his +ears, rendered unusually acute in the deep evening calm, suddenly +caught the faint, distant rumble of a vehicle moving over the trail. + +His quick eyes turned alertly. There was only one trail, and that was +the road to Snake's Fall. The alertness of his eyes communicated +itself to his body. He moved off the veranda and gazed down the trail, +of which he now obtained a clear view. A team and buggy were +approaching at a rapid rate, and, even at that distance, he fancied he +recognized it as the one of Mike Callahan's which he had himself driven. + +A wave of excitement swept over him. Could it be that----? + +He went back to the veranda. The impulse to summon Mallinsbee was hard +to resist. But he forced himself to calmness. + +Five minutes later Mike Callahan drove up, and his team stood drooping +and sweating. + +"Say," he cried, in aggrieved fashion, "it jest set me whoopin' mad +when that wire-tappin' operator fell into my barn with his blamed +message, twenty minutes after you an' Mallinsbee had left. Look at the +time of it. It had buzzed over the wire ha'f an hour before you went." +Then he began to grin, and a keen light shone in his Irish eyes. "But +when I see who it was from I guessed I'd need to get busy. 'Tain't in +your fancy code. It's jest as plain as my face. Read it. The game's +up to us. Guess it's our move next." + +But Gordon was paying no attention to the Irishman. He was reading the +brief message which at last set all his doubts at rest. + + +"Arrive Snake's Fall noon seventeenth." + + +It was addressed to Slosson, but there was no signature. + +"That's to-morrow." Gordon's eyes lit. Then a shadow of doubt crossed +his smiling face. "It's dead safe Steve hasn't sent a copy to Slosson?" + +Mike grinned. + +"Steve don't draw his wad till--we're sure." + +"No." + +At that moment Mallinsbee appeared round the angle of the building. +Gordon's face was wreathed in smiles as he turned to him. + +"We get to work--to-night," he said. + +Mallinsbee nodded, without a sign of the other's excitement. + +"So I guessed when I see Mike's team. Peter wise?" + +"Yep." The Irishman's spirits had risen to a great pitch. "I put him +wise." + +"Splendid. He's got everything ready?" + +Gordon was thinking rapidly. + +"Better send your team round to the barn," said Mallinsbee, with that +thoughtful care he had for all animals. "Then come inside and get some +supper." + +Mike prepared to drive round to the barn. + +"I see the rack in his yard," he grinned. + +"Good." + +Then Gordon laughed. The last care had been banished. Now it was +action. Now? Ah, now he was perfectly happy. + + +The night was intensely still. The last revelers in Snake's Fall had +betaken themselves to their drunken slumbers. The only lights +remaining were the glow of a small cluster of red lamps just outside +the town at the eastern end of it, and the peeping lights behind the +curtained windows of the houses to which these belonged. There was no +need to question the nature of these houses. In the West they are to +be found on the fringe of every young town that offers the prospect of +prosperity. + +There was a single light burning in the hall of McSwain's hotel. This +was as usual, and would burn all night. For the rest, the house was in +darkness. The last guest had retired to rest a full hour or more. + +The stillness was profound. The very profundity of it was only +increased by the occasional long-drawn dole of the prairie coyote, +foraging somewhere out in the distance for its benighted prey. + +The shadowed outbuildings behind the hotel remained for a long time as +quiet as the rest of the world. The horses in the barn were sleeping +peacefully. The fowls and turkeys and geese which populated the yard +in daylight were as profoundly steeped with sleep as the rest of the +feathered world. Even the two aged husky dogs, set there on the +presumption of keeping guard, were composed for the night. + +But after awhile sounds began to emanate from the dark barn. With the +first sound a dog-chain rattled, and immediately a low voice spoke. +After that the dog-chain remained still. Next came the sound of hoofs +on the hard sand floor of the barn. They were hasty, but swiftly +passing. The last sound was heard as two horses emerged upon the open, +each led by a shadowy figure quite unrecognizable in the velvety +darkness of the starlit night. + +The horses moved across towards the vague outline of a large hayrack +which stood mounted in the running gear of a dismantled wagon, and the +figures leading them began at once to hook them up in place. While +this was happening two other figures were loading the rack with hay +from the corral near by, in which stood a half-cut haystack. Their +work seemed to be more intricate than the usual process of loading a +hayrack. There seemed to be a sort of wide and long cage in the bottom +of the rack, and the hay needed careful placing to leave the interior +of this free, while yet surrounding it completely and rendering it +absolutely obscured. + +In less than half an hour the work was completed, and the four men +gathered together and conversed in low voices. + +After this a fresh movement took place. The group broke up, and each +moved off as though to carry out affairs already agreed upon. One man +mounted the rack and took up his position for driving the team. +Another stood near the rear of the wagon and remained waiting, whilst +the other two moved towards the hotel. + +These latter parted as they neared the building. One of them entered +it through the back door, and as he came within the radiance of the +solitary oil-lamp it became apparent that his face was completely +masked. He moved stealthily forward, listening for any unwelcome +sound, mounted the staircase, and was immediately swallowed up by the +darkness of the corridor above. + +Meanwhile his companion had taken another route. He had moved along +the building to the left of the back door. His objective was the iron +fire-escape which went up to the gallery outside the upper windows. + +He found it almost at the end of the building, and began the ascent. +In a few moments he was at the top, and, moving along the narrow iron +gallery, he counted the windows as he passed them. At the fifth window +he paused and examined it. The blind inside was withdrawn, and he ran +over in his mind the various details which had been given him. He knew +that the latch inside had been carefully removed. + +He tried the window cautiously. It moved easily to his pressure, and a +smile stole over his masked features when he remembered that ample +grease had been placed in its slipway. It was good to think that these +contingencies had been so carefully provided for. + +The window was sufficiently open. The process had been entirely +soundless, but he bent down and listened intently. Far away, somewhere +inside, he could hear the sound of deep breathing. He made his next +move quickly and stealthily. One leg was raised and thrust through the +opening, and, bending his great body nearly double, he made his way +into the room beyond. + +Pausing for a few moments to assure himself that the sleeper in the +adjoining room had not been disturbed, he next made his way towards the +door, aided by the light of a silent sulphur match. He quickly +withdrew the bolt, and was immediately joined by the man who had +entered the hotel through the back door. + +Now he turned his attention to the room itself. Yes, everything was as +he had been told. It was a largish room, and a small archway, hung +with heavy curtains, divided it from another. The portion he had +entered was furnished as a parlor, and beyond the curtains was the +bedroom. Signing to his companion to remain where he was, he moved +swiftly and silently to the heavy drawn curtains. For a second he +listened to the breathing beyond; then he parted them and vanished +within. + + +David Slosson awoke out of a heavy sleep with a sudden nightmarish +start. He thought some one was calling him, shouting his name aloud in +a terrified voice. + +But now he was wide awake in the pitch-dark room: no sound broke the +silence. He was on his back, and he made to turn over on to his side. +Instantly something cold and hard encountered his cheek and a +whispering voice broke the silence. + +"One word and you're a dead man!" said the voice. "Just keep quite +still and don't speak, and you won't come to any harm." + +David Slosson was no fool, nor was he a coward, but, amongst his other +many experiences on the fringe of civilization, he had learned the +power of a gun held right. He knew that his cheek had encountered the +cold muzzle of a gun. Shocked and startled and helpless as he was, he +remained perfectly still and silent, awaiting developments. + +They came swiftly. The curtains parted and a man, completely masked +and clad in the ordinary prairie kit of the West, and bearing a lighted +lamp in his hand, entered the room. His first assailant, holding the +gun only inches from his head, Slosson could not properly discern. Out +of the corners of his eyes he was aware that his face was masked like +that of the other, but that was all. + +The newcomer set the lamp down on a table and advanced to the other +side of the bed. Instantly he produced a strap, enwrapped in the folds +of a thick towel. + +Slosson realized what was about to happen, and contemplated resistance. + +As though his thoughts had been read the man with the gun spoke again-- + +"Only one sound an' I'll blow your brains to glory. Ther' ain't no +help around that you ken get in time. So don't worry any." + +The threat of the gun was irresistible, and Slosson yielded. + +The second man forced the strap gag into his mouth and buckled it +tightly behind his victim's head. This done, the agent's hands were +lashed fast with a rope. Then the gun was withdrawn and the wretched +agent was assisted into his clothes, after the pockets had been +searched for weapons. + +In a quarter of an hour the whole transaction was completed, and, with +hands securely fastened behind his back and the gag in his mouth fixed +cruelly firmly, David Slosson stood ready to follow his captors. + +During all that time he had used his eyes and all his intelligence to +discover the identity of his assailants, but without avail. Even their +great size afforded him no enlightenment, with their entire faces +hidden under the enveloping masks. + +In silence the light was extinguished. In silence they left the room +and proceeded down the stairs. In silence they came to the waiting +hayrack outside. Here Slosson beheld the other two masked figures, one +on the wagon, and the other waiting at the rear of it. But he was +given no further chance of observation. His captors seized him bodily +and lifted him into the cage beneath the hay, while one of the men got +in with him and now secured his feet. + +After that more hay was thrown into the vehicle, till it looked like an +ordinary farmer's rack, and then the horses started off, and the +prisoner knew that, for some inexplicable reason, he had been kidnaped. + + +Mrs. Carbhoy had been concerned all day. When she was concerned about +anything her temper generally gave way to a condition which her +youthful daughter was pleased to describe as "gritty." Whether it +really described her mother's mood or not mattered little. It +certainly expressed Gracie's understanding of it. + +To-day nothing the child did was right. She had called her physical +culture instructress a "cat" that morning, only because she had been +afraid to enter into a more drastic physical argument with her. For +that her "gritty" mother had deprived her of candy for the day. She +had refused to do anything right at her subsequent dancing lesson, in +consequence, and for that she had had her week's pocket-money stopped. +Then at lunch she had willfully broken the peace by upsetting a glass +of ice-water upon the glass-covered table, and incidentally had broken +the glass. For this she was confined to her school-room for the rest +of the day, and was only allowed to appear before her disturbed mother +at her nine-o'clock bed hour. + +When a very indignant Gracie appeared before her mother to fulfill her +final duty of kissing her "good-night," that individual was more +"gritty" than ever. She was in the act of opening a bulky letter +addressed to her in a familiar handwriting. Gracie knew at once from +whom it came. Instantly the imp of mischief stirred in her bosom. + +"What nursing home will you send Gordon to when he gets back?" she +inquired blandly. + +Her mother eyed her coldly while she drew out the sheets of +letter-paper. She pointed to a wall bell. + +"Ring that bell," she ordered sharply. + +Gracie obeyed, wondering what was to be the consequence of her fresh +effort. She had not long to wait. Her mother's maid entered. + +"Tell Huxton to pack Miss Gracie's trunks ready for Tuxedo. She will +leave for Vernor Court by the midday express. Her governesses will +accompany her." + +The maid retired. In an instant all hope had fled, and Gracie was +reduced to hasty penitence. + +"Please, momma, don't send me out to the country. I'm sorry for what +I've done to-day, real sorry--but I've just had the fidgets all day, +what with pop going away and--and that silly Gordon never coming near +us, or--or anything. True, momma, I won't be naughty ever again. +'Deed I won't. Oh, say you won't send me off by myself," she urged, +coming coaxingly to her mother's side. "There's Jacky Molyneux going +to take me a run in his automobile to-morrow afternoon, and we're going +to Garden City, and he always gives me heaps of ice-cream. Oh, momma, +don't send me off to that dreadful Tuxedo." + +At all times Mrs. Carbhoy was easily cajoled, and just now she was +feeling so miserable and lonely since her husband had been called away +on urgent business, she knew not where. Then here was another of +Gordon's troublesome letters in her lap. So in her trouble she yielded +to her only remaining belonging. But she forthwith sat her long-legged +daughter on a footstool at her feet, and as penance made her listen to +the reading of the letter which had just arrived. Somehow, in view of +the previous letters from her son, Mrs. Carbhoy felt it to be +impossible to face this new one without support, even if that support +were only that of her wholly inadequate thirteen-year-old daughter. + + +"DEAREST MUM: + +"Since Cain got busy shooting up his brother Abel, since Delilah became +a slave to the tonsorial art and practiced on Samson, since Jael turned +her carpentering stunts to considerable account by hammering tacks into +poor Sisera's head, right through the long ages down to the +record-breaking achievements of the champion prevaricator Ananias, I +guess the crookedness of human nature has progressed until it has +reached the pitch of a fine art, such as is practiced by legislators, +diplomats and New York police officers. + +"This is a sweeping statement, but I contend it is none the less true. + +"I'd say that in examining the facts we need to study the real meaning +of 'crookedness.' We must locate its cause as well as effect. Now +'crookedness' is the divergence from a straight line, which some fool +man spent a lifetime in discovering was the shortest route from one +given point to another. No doubt that fellow thought he was making +some discovery, but it kind of seems to me any chump outside the +bug-house and not under the influence of drink would know it without +having to spend even a summer vacation finding it out, and, anyway, I +don't guess it's worth shouting about. + +"I guess it's up to us to track this straight line down in its +application to ethics. That buzzy-headed discoverer also says a line +is length without breadth. Consequently, I argue that a straight line +is just 'nothing,' anyway. Then when a mush-headed dreamer starts +right out to walk the straight line of life it's a million to one +chance he'll break his fool neck, or do some other positively +ridiculous stunt that's liable to terminate what ought to have been a +promising career. I submit, from the foregoing arguments, the straight +line of ethical virtue is just a vision, a dream, an hallucination, a +nightmare. It's one of those things the whole world loves to sit +around on Sundays and yarn about, and just as many folks would hate to +practice, anyway. And this is as sure as you'll find the only bit of +glass on the road when you're automobiling if you don't just happen to +be toting a spare tyre. + +"Seeing that you can't everlastingly keep trying to walk on 'nothing' +without disastrous consequences, and, further, seeing the days of +miracles have died with many other privileges which our ancestors +enjoyed, such as being burned at the stake and painting up our bodies +in fancy colors, it is natural, even a necessity, that 'crookedness' +should have come into its own. + +"Let's start right in at the first chapter of a man's life. It'll +point the whole argument without anything else. It's ingrained even in +the youngest kid to resort to subterfuge. Subterfuge is merely the +most innocent form in a crook's thesis. Maybe a kid, lying in its +cradle, with only a few days of knowledge to work on, don't know the +finer points he'll learn later. But he knows what he wants, and is +going to get it. He's going to get the other feller where he wants +him, and then force him to do his bidding. It's his first effort in +'crookedness' when he finds the straight line of virtue is just a most +uncomfortable nightmare. How does he do it? + +"I guess it's this way. He needs his food. He guesses his gasoline +tank needs filling. He don't guess he's going to lie around with a +sort of mean draught blowing pneumonia through his vitals. He just +waits around awhile to see if any one's yearning to pump up his +infantile tyre, and when he finds there's nothing doing, why, he starts +right in to make his first fall off the straight line of virtue. You +see, the straight line says that kid's tank needs filling only at +stated intervals. The said kid don't see it that way, so he turns +himself into a human megaphone, scares the household cat into a dozen +fits, starts up a canine chorus in the neighboring backyards, makes his +father yearn to shoot up the feller that wrote the marriage service, +sets the local police officer tracking down a murder that was never +committed, and maybe, if he only keeps things humming long enough, sets +all the State legal machinery working overtime to have his parents +incarcerated for keeping an insanitary nuisance on the premises. + +"See the crookedness of that kid? The moment he finds himself duly +inflated with milk he lies low. Do you get the lesson of it? It's +plumb simple. That kid wanted something. He didn't care a cuss for +regulations. He just laid right there and said, 'Away with 'em!' He +was thirsty, or hungry, or greedy. Maybe he was all three. Anyway, he +wanted, and set about getting what he wanted the only way he knew. All +of which illustrates the fact that when human nature demands +satisfaction no laws or regulations are going to stand in the way. And +that's just life from the day we're born. + +"From the foregoing remarks you may incline to the belief that I have +set out willfully to outrage every moral and human law. This is not +quite the case. I am merely giving you the benefit of my observations, +and also, since I am merely another human unit in the perfectly +ridiculous collection of bipeds which go to make up the alleged +superior races of this world, I must fall into line with the rest. + +"If Abel gets in my way I must 'out' him. If I can manufacture a down +cushion out of old Samson's hair to make my lot more comfortable, I'm +just going to get the best pair of shears and get busy. If I'm going +to collect amusement from studding that chump Sisera's head with tacks, +why, it's up to me to avoid delay that way. And as for Ananias, he +seems to me to have been a long way ahead of his time. They'd have had +his monument set up in every public office in the country to-day. He'd +have been the emblem of every trading corporation I know, and his +effigy would have served as the coat-of-arms for the whole of the +present-day creation. + +"I trust you are keeping well, and the responsibility of guiding the +development of our Gracie is showing no sign of undermining your +constitution. Gracie is really a good girl, if a little impetuous. I +notice, however, that impetuosity gives way before the responsibilities +of life. So far she is quite young. I'm hoping good results when she +gets responsibility. + +"Give my best love to the old Dad, and tell him that he must be careful +of his health in such a desperate heat as New York provides in summer +time. I think a month's vacation in the hills would be excellent for +him at this time of year. I am looking forward to the time when I +shall see him again. + +"You might tell him I hope to fulfill my mission under schedule time. +If you do not hear from me again you will know I am working overtime on +the interests in which I left New York. + +"Your loving son, + "GORDON. + +"P.S.--It occurs to me I have not told you all the news I would have +liked to tell you. But two pieces occur to me at the moment. First, +that achievement in life demands not the fostering of the gentler human +emotions, but their outraging. Also, no man has the right to abandon +honesty until dishonesty pays him better. + +"G." + + +The mother's sigh was a deep expression of her hopeless feelings as she +finished the last word of her son's postscript. + +Gracie watched her out of the corners of her eyes. + +"What's the matter, momma?" she inquired. + +Her mother broke down weakly. + +"They haven't found a trace of him yet. They can't locate how these +letters are mailed. They can't just find a thing. And all the time +these letters come along, and--and they get worse and worse. It's no +good, Gracie; the poor boy's just crazy. Sure as sure. It's the heat, +or--or drink, or strain, or--maybe he's starving. Anyway, he's gone, +and we'll never see our Gordon again--not in his right mind. And now +your poor father's gone, too. Goodness knows where. I'll--yes, I'll +have to set the inquiry people to find him, too, if--if I don't hear +from him soon. To--to think I'd have lived to see the day when----" + +"I don't guess Gordon's in any sort of trouble, momma," cried Gracie, +displaying an unexpected sympathy for her distracted parent. Then she +smiled that wise little superior smile of youth which made her strong +features almost pretty. "And I'm sure he's not--crazy. Say, mom, just +don't think anything more about it. And I'd sort of keep all those +letters--if they're like that. You never told me the others. May I +read them? I never would have believed Gordon could have written like +that--never. You see, Gordon's not very bright--is he?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +JAMES CARBHOY ARRIVES + +Snake's Fall was in that sensitive state when the least jar or news of +a startling nature was calculated to upset it, and start its tide of +human emotions bubbling and surging like a shallow stream whose course +has been obstructed by the sudden fall of a bowlder into its bed. + +Early the following morning just such a metaphorical bowlder fell right +into the middle of the Snake's Fall stream. The news flew through the +little town, now so crowded with its overflowing population of +speculators, with that celerity which vital news ever attains in small, +and even large places. It was on everybody's lips before the breakfast +tables were cleared. And, in a matter of seconds, from the moment of +its penetration to the individual, minds were searching not only the +meaning, but the effect it would have upon the general situation, and +their own personal affairs in particular. + +David Slosson, the agent of the Union Grayling and Ukataw Railroad, had +defected in the night! He had gone--bolted--leaving his bill unpaid at +McSwain's hotel! + +For a while a sort of paralysis seized upon the population. It was +staggered. No trains had passed through in the night. Not even a +local freight train. How had he gone? But most of all--why? + +The next bit of news that came through was that Peter's best team had +been stolen from the barn, also an empty hay-rack. This was +mystifying, until it became known that Peter's buggy was laid up at +Mike Callahan's barn, undergoing repairs. The hayrack was the only +vehicle available. But what about saddle horses for a rapid bolt? +Curiously enough it was discovered that Peter's saddle horses were out +grazing. Besides, the story added that the man had taken his baggage +with him. Not a thing had been left behind, and baggage like his could +not have been carried on a saddle horse. + +The story grew as it traveled. It was the snowball over again. It was +said that Peter had been robbed of a large amount of money which he +kept in his safe. Also his cash register had been emptied. An added +item was that Peter himself had been knifed, and had been found in a +dying condition. In fact every conceivable variation of the facts were +flung abroad for the benefit of credulous ears. Consequently the tide +of curious, and startled, and interested news-seekers set in the +direction of Peter's hotel at an early hour. + +Then it was that something of the real facts were discovered. And, in +consequence, those who had participated in Slosson's land deals, and +had received deposit money, congratulated themselves. While those who +had not so profited felt like "kicking" themselves for their want of +enterprise. + +Peter stormed through his house the whole morning. He was like a very +hot and angry lion in a cage far too small for it. His story, as he +told it in the office, was superlative in furious adjectives. + +"I tell you fellows," he cried, at a group of wondering-eyed boarders +in his establishment, "I ha'f suspected he was a blamed crook from the +first moment I got my eyeballs onto him. The feller that 'll bilk his +board bill is come mighty low, sirs. So mighty low you wouldn't find a +well deep enough for him. He had the best rooms in the house at four +an' a ha'f dollars a day all in, an' I ain't see a fi' cent piece of +his money, cep' you ken count the land deposit he paid me. I just been +right through his rooms, an' he ain't left a thing, not a valise, nor a +grip. Not even a soot of pyjamas, or a soap tablet. He's sure cleared +right out fer good, and we ain't goin' to see him round again," he +finished up gloomily. + +Then his fire broke out again. + +"But that ain't what I'm grievin' most, I guess. Ther's allus skunks +around till a place gets civilized up, an' their bokay ain't pleasant. +But he's a hoss thief, too. There's my team. You know that team of +mine, Mr. Davison," he went on, turning to the drug storekeeper who had +dropped in to hear his friend's news. "You've drove behind 'em many a +time. They got a three-minute gait between 'em which 'ud show dust to +any team around these parts. That team was worth two thousand dollars, +sirs, and was matched to an inch, and a shade of color. Say, if I get +across his tracks, an' Sheriff Richardson is out after him with a +posse, I'm goin' to get a shot in before the United States Authorities +waste public money feeding him in penitentiary. I'm feelin' that mad I +can't eat, an' I don't guess I'd know how to hand a decent answer to a +Methodist minister if he came along. If I don't get news of that team +I'm just going to start and break something. I don't figure if he'd +burned this shack right over my head I'd have felt as mad as I do +losin' that dandy team." + +When questioned as to how the man had got away his answer came sharply. + +"How? Why, what was there to stop him, sir? I tell you right here we +ain't been accustomed to deal with his kind in Snake's. The folk +around this layout, till this coal boom started, has all been decent +citizens." He glared with hot eyes upon the men about him, who were +nearly all speculators attracted by that very coal boom. "There's that +darned fire-escape out back, right down from his room, an' what man has +ever locked his barn in these parts? Psha!" he cried, in violent +disgust. "I've had that team three years, and I've never so much as +had a lock put to the barn." + +So it went on all the morning. Peter's fury was one of the sights of +the township for that day. He was never without an audience which +flowed and ebbed like a tide, stimulated by curiosity, self-interest, +and the natural satisfaction of witnessing another's troubles which is +so much an instinct of human nature. + +And beneath every other emotion which the agent's sudden defection +aroused was a wave of almost pitiful meanness. The dreams of the last +week and more had received a set back. In many minds the boom city was +tottering. The crowding hopes of avarice and self-interest had +suddenly received a douche of cold water. What, these speculators +asked themselves, and each other, did the incident portend, what had +the future in store? + +So keen was the interest worked up about Peter McSwain's house that +every other consideration for the time being was forgotten. Party +after party visited Slosson's late quarters with a feeling of +conviction that some trifling clew had been overlooked, and, by some +happy chance, the luck and glory of having discovered it might fall to +their lot. But it was all of no avail. The room was absolutely empty +of all trace of its recent occupant, as only an hotel room can become. + +With the excitement the daily west-bound passenger train was forgotten, +and by the time it was signaled in, the little depot was almost +deserted. There were one or two rigs backed up to it on the town side, +and perhaps a dozen townspeople were present. But the usual gathering +was nowhere about. + +Amongst the few present were Hazel Mallinsbee and Gordon. They had +driven up in a democrat wagon with a particularly fine team, and having +backed the vehicle up to the boarded platform, they stood talking +earnestly and quite unnoticed. Hazel was dressed in an ordinary suit +that possessed nothing startling in its atmosphere of smartness. Her +skirt was of some rather hard material, evidently for hard wear, and +the upper part of her costume was a white lawn shirtwaist under a short +jacket which matched her skirt. Her head was adorned by her customary +prairie hat, which, in Gordon's eyes, became her so admirably. + +Gordon was holding up a picture for the girl's closest inspection. + +"Say, it's sheer bull-headed luck I got this with me," he was saying. +"I found it amongst my old papers and things when I left New York, and +I sort of brought it along as a 'mascot.' The old dad's older than +that now, but you can't mistake him. It's a bully likeness. Get it +into your mind anyway, and then keep it with you." + +Hazel gazed admiringly at the portrait of the man who claimed Gordon as +his son. For the moment she forgot the purpose in hand. + +"Isn't he just splendid?" she exclaimed. "You're--you're the image of +him. Why, say, it seems the unkindest thing ever to--to play him up." + +Gordon laughed. + +"Don't worry that way. We're going to give him the time of his life." +Then he glanced swiftly about him, and noted the emptiness of the +depot. "I guess Peter's keeping the folks busy. He's a bright feller. +I surely guess he's working overtime. Now you get things fixed right, +Hazel. The train's coming along." + +The girl nodded. + +"You can trust me." + +"Right." Gordon sighed. "I'll make tracks then. But I'll be around +handy to see you don't make a mistake." + +He left the depot and disappeared. Hazel stood studying the picture in +her hand, and alternating her attention with the incoming train. She +was in a happy mood. The excitement of her share in Gordon's plot was +thrilling through her veins, and the thought that she was going to meet +his father, the great multi-millionaire, left her almost beside herself +with delighted interest. + +She wondered how much she would find him like Gordon. No, she thought +softly, he could never be really like Gordon. That was impossible. A +multi-millionaire could never have his son's frank enthusiasm for life +in all its turns and twistings of moral impulse. Gordon faced life +with a defiant "don't care." That glorious spirit of youth and moral +health. His father, for all his physical resemblance, would be a hard, +stern, keen-eyed man, with all experience behind him. Then she +remembered Gordon's injunctions. + +"Be just yourself," he had said. Then he had added, with a laugh, "If +you do that you'll have the dear old boy at your feet long before the +day's had time to get cool." + +It was rather nice Gordon talking that way, and the smile which +accompanied her recollection was frankly delighted. Anyway she would +soon know all about it, for the train was already rumbling its way in. + + +James Carbhoy had done all that had been required of him by his agent's +message. He had not welcomed the abandonment of his private car in +favor of the ordinary parlor car and sleeper. Then, too, the purchase +of a ticket for his journey had seemed strange. But somehow, after the +first break from his usual method of travel, he had found enjoyment in +the situation. His fellow passengers, with whom he had got into +conversation on the journey, had passed many pleasant hours, and it +became quite absorbing to look on at the affairs of the world through +eyes that, for the time being, were no longer those of one of the +country's multi-millionaires. + +However, the journey was a long one, and he was pleased enough when he +reached his destination all unheralded and unrecognized. It amused him +to find how many travelers in the country knew nothing about James +Carbhoy and his vast financial exploits. + +As the train slowed down he gathered up his simple belongings, which +consisted of a crocodile leather suitcase, a stout valise of the same +material; and a light dust coat, which he slung over his arm. Armed +with these, he fell in with the queue making its way towards the exit +of the car. He frankly and simply enjoyed the situation. He told +himself he was merely one of the rest of the get-rich-quick brigade who +were flocking to the Eldorado at Snake's Fall. + +He was the last to alight, and he scanned the depot platform for the +familiar figure of his confidential agent. As he did so the locomotive +bell began to toll out its announcement of progress. The train slowly +slid out of the station behind him. + +David Slosson was nowhere to be seen, and he had just made up his mind +to search out a hotel for himself when he became aware of the tailored +figure of a young girl standing before him, and of the pleasant tones +of her voice addressing him. + +"Your agent, David Slosson, Mr. Carbhoy, has been detained out beyond +the coalfields on your most urgent business," she said. "So I was sent +in with the rig to drive you out to your quarters." + +The millionaire was startled. Then, as his steady eyes searched the +delightful face smiling up at him, his start proved a pleasant one. +There was something so very charming in the girl's tone and manner. +Then her extremely pretty eyes, and--Gordon's father mechanically bared +his head, and Hazel could have laughed with joy as she beheld this +strong, handsome edition of the Gordon she knew. + +"Well, come, that was thoughtful of Slosson," he said kindly. "He +certainly has shown remarkable judgment in substituting your company +for his own. My dear young lady, Slosson as a man of affairs is +possible, but as a companion on a journey, however short--well, I---- +And you are really going to drive me to my hotel. That's surely kind +of you." + +Hazel flushed. She felt the meanest thing in the world under the great +man's kindly regard. However, she reminded herself of the great and +ultimate object of the part she was playing and steeled her heart. + +"The team's right here, sir." She felt justified in adding the "sir." +She felt that she must risk nothing in her manner. "I'll just take +your baggage along." + +She was about to relieve the millionaire of his grips, but he drew back. + +"Say, I just couldn't dream of it. You carry my grips? No, no, go +right ahead, and I'll bring them along." + +In a perfect maze of excitement and confusion the girl hastily crossed +over to her team. Somehow she could no longer face the man's steady +eyes without betraying herself like some weak, silly schoolgirl. This +was Gordon's father, she kept telling herself, and--and she was there +to cheat him. It--it just seemed dreadful. + +However, no time was wasted. She sprang into the driving-seat of the +democrat spring rig, and took up the reins. The millionaire deposited +his grips in the body of the vehicle, and himself mounted to the seat +beside her. In a moment the wagon was on the move. + +As they moved away, out of the corners of her eyes Hazel saw the +grinning face of Gordon peering out at them from the window of Steve +Mason's telegraph office, smiling approval and encouragement. +Curiously enough, the sight made her feel almost angry. + +They moved down Main Street at a rattling pace, and, in a few moments, +turned off it into one of those streets which only the erection of +dwelling-houses marked. There were no made roads of any sort. Just +beaten, heavy, sandy tracks on the virgin ground. + +Hazel remained silent for some time. She was almost afraid to speak. +Yet she wanted to. She wanted to talk to Gordon's father. She wanted +to tell him of the mean trick she was playing upon him, for, under the +influence of his steady eyes and the knowledge that he was Gordon's +father, a great surge of shame was stirring in her heart which made her +hate herself. + +For some time the man gazed about him interestedly. Then, as they lost +themselves among the wooden frame dwelling-houses, he breathed a deep +sigh of content and drew out one of those extravagant cigars which +Gordon had not tasted for so many weeks. + +"Say, will smoke worry you any, young lady?" he inquired kindly. + +Hazel was thankful for the opportunity of a cordial reply. + +"Why, no," she cried. Then on the impulse she went on, "I just love +the smell of smoke where men are." She laughed merrily. "I guess men +without smoke makes you feel they're sick in body or conscience." + +Gordon's father laughed in his quiet fashion as he lit his cigar. + +"That way I guess folks of the Anti-Tobacco League need to start right +in and build hospitals for themselves." + +The girl nodded. + +"Anti-Tobacco?" she said. "Why, 'anti' anything wholesomely human must +be a terrible sick crowd. I'd hate to trust them with my pocket-book, +and, goodness knows, there's only about ten cents in it. Even that +would be a temptation to such folks." + +Again came the millionaire's quiet laugh. + +"That's the result of the healthy life you folks live right out here in +the open sunshine," he said, noting the pretty tanning of the girl's +face. "I don't guess it's any real sign of health, mentally or +physically, when folks have to start 'anti' societies, eh?" + +"No, sir," replied the girl. "Did you ever know anybody that was +really healthy who started in to worry how they were living? It's just +what I used to notice way back at college in Boston. The girls that +came from cities were just full of cranks and notions. This wasn't +right for them to eat, that wasn't right for them to do. And it seemed +to me all their folks belonged to some 'anti' society of some sort. If +the 'anti' wasn't for themselves it was for some other folks who +weren't worried with the things they did or the way they lived. It +just seems to me cities are full of cranks who can run everything for +other folks and need other folks to run everything for them. It's just +a sort of human drug store in which every med'cine has to be able to +cure the effects of some other. Out here it's different. We got green +grass and sunshine, the same as God started us with, and so we haven't +got any use for the 'anti' folks." + +"No." James Carbhoy had forgotten the journey and its object. He was +only aware of this fresh, bright young creature beside him. He stirred +in his seat and glanced about him from a sheer sense of a new interest, +and in looking about he became aware of a horseman riding on the same +trail some distance behind them. + +"You said Boston just now," he said curiously. "You were educated in +Boston?" + +Hazel nodded. + +"Yes, my poppa sent me to Boston. He just didn't reckon anything but +Boston was good enough. But I was glad to be back here again." + +The millionaire would have liked to question her more closely as to how +she came to be driving a team at Slosson's command. He had no great +regard for his agent outside of business, But somehow he felt it would +be an impertinence, and so refrained. Instead, he changed the subject. + +"How far out are the coalfields?" he inquired. + +"About five miles." The memory of her purpose swept over the girl +again, and her reply came shortly, and she glanced back quickly over +her shoulder. + +As she did so she became sickeningly aware that two horsemen were on +the trail some distance behind them. How she wished she had never +undertaken this work! + +"I suppose there's quite a town there now?" was the millionaire's next +inquiry. + +"Not a great deal, but there's comfortable quarters the other side of +it. It's going to be a wonderful, wonderful place, sir, when the +railroad starts booming it." + +Hazel felt she must get away from anything approaching a +cross-examination. + +"I don't just get that," said Carbhoy evasively. + +"Well, it's just a question of depot. You see, there's coal right here +enough to heat the whole world. That's what folks say. And when the +railroad fixes things so transport's right, why, everybody 'll just +jump around and build up big commercial corporations, and--there'll be +dollars for everybody." + +"I see--yes." + +"Mr. Slosson is working that way now," the girl went on. Then she +added, with a shadowy smile, "That's why he couldn't get in to meet +you, I guess." + +"He must be very busy," said the millionaire dryly. "However, I'm +glad." And Hazel turned in time to discover his kindly smile. + +Carbhoy gazed about him at the open plains with which they were +surrounded. The air, though hot, was fresh, and the sunlight, though +brilliant, seemed to lack something of that intensity to be found in +the enclosed streets of a city. He threw away his cigar stump, and in +doing so he glanced back over the trail again. He remained gazing +intently in that direction for some moments. Then he turned back. + +"I guess those fellers riding along behind are just prairie men," he +said. + +Hazel started and looked over her shoulder. There were four men now +riding together on the trail. They were steadily keeping pace with her +team some two hundred yards behind. + +It was some moments before the man received his answer. Hazel was +troubled. She was almost horrified. + +"Yes," she said at last, with an effort. "They're just prairie men." +Then she smiled, but her smile was a further effort. "They're pretty +tough boys to look at, but I'd say they're all right. Maybe you're not +used to the prairie?" + +The millionaire smiled. + +"I've seen it out of a train window," he said. + +"Through glass," said Hazel. "It makes a difference, doesn't it? It's +the same with everything. You've got to get into contact to--to +understand." + +"But there hasn't always been glass between me and--things." + +Hazel's smile was spontaneous now as she nodded her appreciation. + +"I'm sure," she said. "You see, you're a millionaire." + +Carbhoy smiled back at her. + +"Just so." This girl was slowly filling him with amazement. + +"It's real plate-glass now," Hazel went on. + +"And plate-glass sometimes gets broken." + +"Yes, I s'pose it does. But you can fix it again--being a millionaire." + +"Yes----" + +The millionaire broke off. There was a rush of hoofs from behind. The +horsemen were close up to them, coming at a hard gallop. Carbhoy +turned quickly. So did Hazel. The millionaire's eyes were calmly +curious. He imagined the men were just going to pass on. Hazel's eyes +were full of a genuine alarm. She had known what to expect. But now +that the moment had come she was really terrified. What would Gordon's +father do? Had he a revolver? And would he use it? This was the +source of her fear. + +It was a breathless moment for the girl. It was the crux of all +Gordon's plans. She was the center of it. She, and these men who were +to execute the lawless work. + +She was given no time to speculate. She was given no time but for that +dreadful wave of fear which swept over her, and left her pretty face +ghastly beneath its tanning. A voice, harsh, commanding, bade her pull +up her team, and the order was accompanied by a string of blasphemy and +the swift play of the man's gun. + +"Hold 'em up, blast you! Hold 'em, or I'll blow the life right out o' +you!" came the ruthless order. + +At the same time James Carbhoy was confronted with a gun from another +direction, and a sharp voice invited him to "push his hands right up to +the sky." + +Both orders were obeyed instantly, and as Hazel saw her companion's +hands thrown up over his head a great reaction of relief set in. She +sat quite still and silent. Her reins rested loosely in her lap. She +no longer dared to look at her companion. Now that all danger of his +resistance was past she feared lest an almost uncontrollable +inclination to laugh should betray her. + +She kept her eyes steadily fixed upon these men, every one of whom she +had known since her childhood, and to whom she fully made up her mind +she intended to read a lecture on the subject of the use of oaths to a +woman, sometime in the future. As she watched them her inclination to +laugh grew stronger and stronger. They had carried out their part with +a nicety for detail that was quite laudable. Each man was armed to the +teeth, and was as grotesque a specimen of prairie ruffianism as clothes +could make him--the leader particularly. And he, in everyday life, she +knew to be the mildest and most quaintly humorous of men. + +But his work was carried out now without a shadow of humor. He looked +murder, or robbery, or any other crime, as he ordered her out of the +driving seat, and waited while she scrambled over the back of the seat +to one of those behind with a movement well-nigh precipitate. Then, at +a sign, one of the other men took her place, and, at another short +command to "look over" the millionaire, the same man proceeded to +search Gordon's father for weapons. The production of an automatic +pistol from one of his coat pockets filled Hazel with consternation at +the thought of the possibilities of disaster which had lain therein. + +But the four assailants gave no sign. Their work proceeded swiftly and +silently. The millionaire's feet were secured, and he was left in his +seat. Then, under the hands of the man who had replaced Hazel, the +journey was continued with the escort beside and behind the vehicle. + +As they drove on Hazel wondered. Her eyes, very soft, very regretful, +were fixed on the iron-gray head of the man in the front seat. She +registered a vow that if he were hurt by the bonds that held his ankles +fast some one was going to hear about it. Now that the whole thing was +over and done with she felt resentful and angry with anybody and +everybody--except the victim of the outrage. She was even mad with +herself that she had lent assistance to such a cruel trick. + +But the millionaire gave no sign. Hazel longed to know something of +his feelings, but he gave neither her nor his assailants the least +inkling of them for a long time. At last, however, a great relief to +the girl's feelings came at the sound of his voice, which had lost none +of its even, kindly note. + +"Say," he observed, addressing the ruffian beside him, who was busily +chewing and spitting, "you don't mind if I smoke, do you?" + +Then Hazel made a fresh vow of retribution for some one as the answer +came. + +"You can smoke all the weed you need," the man said, with a fierce +oath, "only don't try no monkey tricks. You're right fer awhile, +anyways, if you sit tight, I guess, but if you so much as wink an eye +by way of kickin', why, I'll blow a whole hurricane o' lead into your +rotten carcase." + + +It was a long and weary journey that ended somewhere about midnight. +Nor was it until the teamster drew up at the door of a small, squat +frame house that James Carbhoy's bonds were finally released. He was +thankful enough, in spite of his outward display of philosophic +indifference. He knew that he was the victim of a simple "hold-up," +and had little enough fear for his life. The matter was a question of +ransom, he guessed. It was one of those things he had often enough +heard of, but which, up to now, he had been lucky enough to escape. He +only wondered how it came about that these "toughs" had learned of his +coming. He felt that it must have been Slosson's fault. He must have +opened his mouth. Well, for the time, at least, there was little to do +but hope for the best and make the best of things generally. + +He was given no option now but to obey. His captors ordered him out of +the wagon in the same rough manner in which they ordered Hazel. And +the leader conducted them both into the house. + +There was a light burning in the parlor, and the millionaire looked +about him in surprise at the simple comfort and cleanliness of the +place. He had expected a mere hovel, such as he had read about. He +had expected filth and discomfort of every sort. But here--here was a +parlor, neatly furnished and with a wonderful suggestion of homeness +about it. He was pleasantly astonished. But the leader of the gang +was intent upon the business in hand. + +He turned to Hazel first and pointed at the door which led into the +kitchen. + +"Say, you!" he cried roughly. "You best get right out wher' you'll +belong fer awhiles. We ain't used to female sassiety around this +layout, an' I don't guess we need any settin' around now. Say, you'll +jest see to the vittles fer this gent an' us. Ther's a Chink out back +ther' what ain't a circumstance when it comes to cookin' vittles. +You'll see he fixes things right--seein' we've a millionaire fer +company. Get busy." + +Hazel departed, but a wild longing to box the fellow's ears nearly +ruined everything. There certainly was a reckoning mounting up for +some one. + +The moment she had departed the man turned his scowling, repellent eyes +upon his male prisoner. + +"Now, see here, Mister James Carbhoy. I guess you're yearning for a +few words from me. Wal, I allow they're goin' to be mighty few. See?" +he added brutally. "I ain't given to a heap of talk. There's jest +three things you need to hear right here an' now. The first is, it's +goin' to cost you jest a hundred thousand dollars 'fore you get into +the bosom o' your family again. The second is, even if you got the +notion to try and dodge us boys, you couldn't get out o' these +mountains without starvin' to death or breakin' your rotten neck. +You're jest a hundred miles from Snake's Fall, and ninety o' that is +Rocky Mountains an' foothills. You ain't goin' to be locked in a +prisoner here. There ain't no need. You can jest get around as you +please--in daylight--and one of the boys 'll always be on your track. +At night you're just goin' to stop right home--in case you lose +yourself. The third is, if you kick any or try to get away--well, I +don't guess you'll try much else on this earth. The room over this is +your sleep-room, an' I guess you can tote your baggage right there now. +So long." + +Without waiting for a reply the man beat a retreat out through the +front door, which he locked behind him with considerable display. + +Once outside, the man hurried away round to the back of the house, +where, to his surprise, he found Hazel waiting for him. + +She addressed him by name in a sharp whisper. + +"Bud!" she commanded. "Come right here!" + +Then, as the man obeyed her, she led him silently away from the house +in the direction of the corrals. Once well out of earshot of the house +she turned on him. + +"Now see here, Bud," she cried. "I've had all I'm yearning for of you +for the next twenty-four years. Now you're going to light right out +back to the ranch right away, and don't you ever dare to come near here +again--ever. My! but your language has been a disgrace to any New York +tough. I've never, never heard such a variety of curse words ever. If +I'd thought you could have talked that way I'd have had you go to +Sunday school every Sunday since you've been one of our foremen." + +"'Tain't just nothin', Miss Hazel," the man deprecated. "I ken do +better than that on a round-up when the boys get gay. Say, it just did +me good talkin' to a multi-millionaire that way. I don't guess I'll +ever get such a chance again." + +"That you won't," cried Hazel, smiling in the darkness, in spite of her +outraged feelings. + +"But I acted right, Miss," protested the man. "I don't guess he'd have +located me fer anything but a 'hold-up.' Say, we'd got it all fixed. +We just acted it over. I was plumb scared he'd shoot, though. You +never can tell with these millionaires. I was scared he wouldn't know +enough to push his hands up. Say, we'd have had to rush him if he +hadn't, an' maybe there'd have been damage done." + +Hazel sighed. + +"There's enough of that done already. Say, you're sure you didn't hurt +his poor ankles. You see," she explained, "he's Mr. Gordon's father." + +The man began to laugh. + +"Say, don't it beat all, Miss Hazel, stealin' your own father? How 'ud +you fancy stealin' Mr. Mallinsbee? Gee! Mr. Gordon's a dandy. He +sure is. He's a real bright feller, and I like him. What's the next +play, Miss?" + +"Goodness only knows," cried Hazel. Then she began to laugh. "Some +harebrained, mad scheme, or it wouldn't be Gordon's. Anyway, you made +it plain I'm to look after the--prisoner?" + +"Sure. I also told him it would cost him a hundred thousand dollars +before he gets out of here." + +Hazel nodded and laughed. + +"It'll do that." Then she sighed. "It'll take me all my wits keeping +him from guessing I'm concerned in it. I don't know. Well, +good-night, Bud. You're going back to the ranch now. You've only one +of the boys here? That's right. Which is it? Sid Blake?" + +"Yes, Miss. I left Sid. You see, he's bright, and up to any play you +need. I'll get around once each day. Good-night, Miss." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE BOOM IN EARNEST + +It was late in the evening. The lonely house at Buffalo Point stood +out in dim relief against the purpling shades of dusk. At that hour of +the evening the distant outline of Snake's Fall was lost in the gray to +the eastwards. South, there were only the low grass hillocks, now +blended into one definite skyline. To the westward, the sharp outline +of the mountains was still silhouetted against the momentarily dulling +afterglow of sunset. The evening was still, with that wonderful +silence which ever prevails at such an hour upon the open prairie. + +A light shone in the window of the hitherto closed office at Buffalo +Point, and, furthermore, a rig stood at the door with a team of horses +attached thereto, which latter did not belong to Mike Callahan. + +An atmosphere not, perhaps, so much of secrecy as of portent seemed to +hang about the place. The solitary light in the surroundings of +gathering night seemed significant. Then the team, too, waiting ready +to depart at a moment's notice. But above all, perhaps, this was the +first time a sign of life had been visible in the house since the +closing down at the moment when Slosson's sudden plunge into the real +estate world of Snake's Fall had apparently swept all rivalry from his +triumphant path. + +Of a truth, a portentous moment had arrived in the affairs of those +interested in Buffalo Point. And the significance of it was displayed +in the earnest faces of the four men gathered together in the office. +Silas Mallinsbee sat smoking in his own armchair, and with a profound +furrow of concentration upon his broad forehead. His usually thrusting +chin-beard rested upon the front of his shirt by reason of the intent +inclination of his great head. Mike Callahan was seated on a small +chair his elbows resting upon his parted knees, and his chin supported +upon the knuckles of his locked fingers. His eyes were intently fixed +upon the desk, behind which Gordon was frowning over a sheet of paper, +upon which the scratching of his pen made itself distinctly audible in +the silence. Peter McSwain, the fourth conspirator, was still +suffering from a fictitious heat, and was comfortably, but wakefully, +snoring under its influence, with a sort of nasal ticking noise which +harmoniously blended with the scratching of Gordon's pen. + +It was fairly obvious that the work Gordon was engaged upon was the +central interest of all present, for every eye was steadily, almost +anxiously, riveted upon the movement of his pen. + +After a long time Gordon looked up, and a half smile shone in his blue +eyes. + +"Give us a light, some one," he demanded, as he turned his sheet of +paper over on the blotting-pad, and drew his code book from an inner +pocket and laid it beside it. + +Mike Callahan produced and struck the required match. He held it while +Gordon re-lit his half-burned cigar, which had gone out under the +pressure of thought its owner had been putting forth. + +"Good," the latter exclaimed, as the tobacco glowed under the draught +of his powerful lungs. Then he turned the paper over again. "Guess I +got it fixed. I haven't coded it yet, but I'll read it out. It's to +Spenser Harker, my father's chief man." + + +"Cancel all previous arrangements made through Slosson for Snake's +Fall. Take following instructions. Have bought heavily at Buffalo +Point, which is right on the coal-fields. Depot to be built at once at +Buffalo Point. Make all arrangements for dispatch of engineers and +surveyors at once. There must be no delay in starting a boom. My son, +Gordon, is here to represent our interests. Put this to the general +manager of the Union Grayling and Ukataw, and yourself see no delay. +Am going on to coast on urgent affairs. Gordon has the matter well in +hand and will control at this end. This should be a big coup for us. + +"JAMES CARBHOY." + + +As Gordon finished reading he glanced round at his companions' faces +through the smoke of his cigar. Mike was audibly sniggering. +Mallinsbee's eyes were smiling in that twinkling fashion which deep-set +eyes seem so capable of. As for Peter McSwain, from sheer force of +habit he drew forth a colored handkerchief and mopped his grinning eyes. + +"You ain't going to send that?" he said incredulously. + +"Why not?" + +"But--that piece about yourself?" grinned Mike. "You darsen't to do +it." + +"I think I get his point," nodded Mallinsbee, his broad face beaming +admiration. "Sort of local color, I guess." + +Gordon twisted his cigar from one corner of his mouth to the other. +His blue eyes were shining with a sort of earnest amusement. His sharp +white teeth were gripping the mangled end of his cigar firmly. + +"Say, fellows," he said, after a moment's thought, "I'm kind of +wondering if you get just what this thing means to me. It just needs a +sum in dollars to get its meaning to you. But for me it's different. +I need to make dollars, too. But still it's different. You see, some +day I've got to sit right in my father's chair, and run things with a +capital of millions of dollars. But before I do that I've got to get +right up and convince my father I can handle the work right. He +doesn't figure I can act that way--yet. So it's up to me to show him I +can. Well, I've started in, and I'm going to see the game through to +the end. I've backed my wits to push this boat right into harbor safe. +And in doin' that I've got to squeeze the biggest financier in the +country. When I've done it right, that financier will know he can hand +over his particular craft to my steering without fear of my running it +on the rocks. The dollars I need to make out of this are just a +circumstance. They are the outward sign of my fitness for my father's +edification. That piece about my representing my father isn't just +local color either. I actually intend to assume that character, and, +from now on, I intend to work direct with headquarters, ordering the +whole transaction for the railroad myself in _my own name_. Do you get +me? From now on I _am_ my father's representative. If Spenser Harker +chooses to come right along here, if the general manager of the Union +Grayling chooses to come along, I shall meet them, and insist that the +work goes through. You see, I am my father's son, I am still his +secretary, and they have word in private code _from my father_ that I +represent him. There can be no debate. All they know of me is that I +left New York on confidential work for my father. Well, this, I guess, +is the confidential work. Gentlemen, we've simply got to sit right +back and help ourselves to our profits. And while we're doing that, +why, I guess the dear old dad is taking his well-earned vacation in the +hills, while David Slosson is feeling a nasty draught through the +chinks in an old adobe and log shack which I hope will blow the foul +odors out of his fouler mind. You can leave the after part of this +play safely in my hands. Meanwhile, if you'll just give me five +minutes I'll code this message. Then we'll drive right into town and +send it over the wire." + + +Sunday in an obscure country hotel on the western plains is usually the +dullest thing on earth. The habit of years is a whitewash of +respectability and a moderation of tone, both assumed through the +medium of a complete change of attire from that worn during the week. +There is nothing on earth but the loss by fire, or the definite +destruction of them, which will stop the citizen, who possesses such +things, from arraying himself in a "best suit." It is the outward sign +of an attempted cleansing of the soul. There can be no doubt of it. +That suit is not adjusted for the purpose of holiday enjoyment. That +is quite plain. For each man is as careful not to do anything that can +destroy the crease down his trousers, as he is not to sit on the tails +of his well-brushed Prince Albert coat. + +The day is spent in just "sitting around." The citizen will talk. +That is not calculated to spoil his suit. He will even write his mail +after a careful adjustment of the knees of his trousers. He will sneak +into the bar by a back door to obtain an "eye-opener." This, again, +will involve no great risk to his suit. Then he will dine liberally +off roast turkey and pie of some sort. If the hotel is fairly well +priced he will even get an ice-cream with his midday dinner. In the +afternoon he will again sit around and talk. He may even venture a +walk. Then comes the evening supper. It is the worst function of a +dreary day--a meal made up of cakes, preserves, tea or coffee, and any +cold meats left over during the week. + +After that the "best suits" somehow seem to fade out of sight, and a +generally looser tone prevails. + +Such had been the Sundays in Snake's Fall since ever the town had +boasted an hotel with boarding accommodation. No guest had ever dared +to break through the tradition. It would have required heroic courage +to have done so. But now changes in the town were rapidly taking +place. So rapidly, indeed, that the times might well have been +characterized as "breathless." + +On this particular Sunday a perfect revolution was in progress. +Amongst the older inhabitants who managed to drift to the vicinity of +the hotel a feeling of unreality took possession of them, and they +wondered if it were not some curious and not altogether pleasant dream. +The hotel was thronged with a blending of strangers and townspeople, +clad, regardless of the day, in a state of excitement such as might +only have been expected at the declaration of a world war, or a +presidential election. + +It was the culmination of the excitement inspired originally by the +news of Slosson's defection, and which, in the course of less than a +week, had been augmented by happenings in swift and rapid succession, +such as set sober business men wondering if they were living on a +volcano instead of a coalmine, or if the days of miracles had indeed +returned upon the world. + +Well before the excitement over Slosson had died down it became known +that the Buffalo Point interests were at work again. Mallinsbee's +office was opened once more. Furthermore, he had acquired two clerks, +and was securing others from down east. This was more than +significant. It attracted every eye in the new direction. Men strove +to solve the question with regard to its relationship to Slosson's +going. The thought which promptly came to each mind was that Slosson's +going was less a miracle than a natural disappearance. His wild buying +had inspired doubt from the first. The man had gone crazy, and his +employers had turned him down. So he had bolted. The opening of +Buffalo Point warned them that the railroad had in consequence come to +terms with Mallinsbee. So there had been a fresh rush for information +in that direction. + +But this rush received no encouragement and less information, and the +sorely tried speculators were once more flung back into their own outer +darkness. + +Then came the next, the culminating excitement. The news drifted into +the place from outside sources. It came from agents and friends in the +east. Surveyors and engineers and construction gangs were about to be +sent to _Buffalo Point_! The news was quite definite, quite decided. +It was more. It was accompanied by peremptory orders and urgent +requests that those who were on the spot should get in on the Buffalo +Point township without a moment's delay, and price was not to hinder +them. + +Had it been needed, there were no two people in the whole of Snake's +Fall better placed for the dissemination and exaggeration of the news +than Peter McSwain at the hotel and Mike Callahan at the livery barn. +Nor were they idle. Nor did they miss a single opportunity. + +In the office of the hotel, while service was on at the little church, +and all the womenfolk and children were singing their tender hearts out +in an effort to get an appetite for Sunday's dinner, Peter was the +center of observation amidst a crowd of bitterly complaining commercial +sinners, each with his own particular ax to grind and a desperate +grievance against the crooks who were rigging the land markets in the +neighborhood for their own sordid profit. He was holding forth, +debating point for point, and, as he would have described it himself, +"boosting the old boat over a heavy sea." + +Some one had suggested that Buffalo Point had been in league with +Slosson to hold up the situation, while the former completed their own +arrangements to the detriment of the community. Peter promptly jumped +in. + +"Say, youse fellers are all sorts of 'smarts,' anyway," he said, with a +pitying sort of contempt. "What you need is gilt-edged finance. +You're scared to death pulling the chestnuts out o' the fire. You're +mostly looking for a thousand per cent. result, with only a five per +cent. courage. That's just about your play. What's the use in settin' +around here talking murder when the plums are lyin' around? Pick 'em +up, I says. Pick 'em right up an' get your back teeth into 'em so the +juice jest trickles right over your Sunday suits. They're there for +you. Just grab. I'm tired of talk. The truth is, some o' youse +feelin' you've burnt your fingers over Slosson. Slosson was the +railroad's agent. Your five per cent. minds saw the gilding in +following Slosson. When he skipped out with my team you were stung +bad. You've got stakes in Snake's, while you're finding out now the +railroad ain't moved that way. An' so you're just scared to death to +show the color of your paper till you see the depot built and the +locomotives passing this place ringing a chorus of welcome for Buffalo. +Then where are you? You're going to pay sucker prices then, or get +right back east with a big debit for wasted board and time. I'm takin' +a chance myself, and it ain't with any five per cent. courage. I got a +big stake in both places, and I don't care a continental where they +build the depot." + +Mike Callahan was talking in much the same strain in the neighborhood +of his barn, which somehow always became a sort of Sunday meeting-place +for loungers seeking information. But Mike, acting on instructions, +went much further. He spoke of the reports of the movements of the +railroad's engineers and surveyors. He assured his hearers he had had +definite word of it himself, and then added a hint that started +something in the nature of a panic amongst his audience. + +"It ain't no use in guessing," he said from his seat on an upturned +bucket at the open door of his barn. "I ain't got loose cash to fling +around. Mine is just locked right up in hossflesh and rigs, so I ain't +got no ax needs sharpening. But I drive folks around and I hear them +yarning. I drove a crowd out to Mallinsbee's place--the office at +Buffalo Point yesterday. They were guests of his. They were talkin' +depots and things the whole way. Say, ever heard the name of Carbhoy? +Any of youse?" + +Some one assured him that Carbhoy was President of the Union road, and +Mike winked. + +"Jest so," he observed. "As sure as St. Patrick drove the snakes out +of Ireland, one of that gang was called 'Carbhoy.' I heard one of 'em +use the name. And I heard the feller called 'Carbhoy' tell him to +close his map. Not just in them words, but the sort of words a +millionaire might use. That gang are guests of Mallinsbee. Wher' they +are now I can't say. I didn't drive 'em back." + +It was small enough wonder that the conflagration of excitement fairly +swallowed up the town of vultures. The Buffalo Point interests +intended it to do so. Nor could their agents have been better +selected. They were established citizens who came into contact with +the whole floating population of the place. They were above suspicion, +and they just simply laughed and talked and pushed their pinpricks +home, preparing the way for the _denouement_. + +On the Monday following, the effect of their work began to show itself. +Amongst other visitations Mallinsbee was invaded by a deputation +representing large real-estate interests. + +Under Gordon's management the office had been entirely converted. Now +the original parlor office had been turned over to the use of the +clerical staff. The bedroom Gordon had occupied had become +Mallinsbee's private office, and the other bedroom had been made into +an office for Gordon himself. There was no longer any appearance of a +makeshift about the place. It was an organized commercial +establishment ready for the transaction of any business, from battling +with a royal eagle of commerce down to the plucking of the half-fledged +pigeon. + +The deputation arrived in the morning, and consisted of Mr. Cyrus P. +Laker and Mr. Abe Chester. These two men represented two Chicago +real-estate corporations who were prepared to shed dollars that ran +into six figures in a "right" enterprise. + +The rancher had been notified of their coming, and had sat in +consultation with Gordon for half an hour before their arrival. When +the clerk showed them into Mallinsbee's private office they found him +fully equipped, with his hideous patch over one eye, and Gordon sitting +near by at a small table under the window. + +Abe Chester overflowed the chair the clerk set for him, and Laker +possessed himself of another. They were in sharp contrast, these two. +One was lean and tall, the other was squat and breathed asthmatically. +But both were men of affairs, and equal to every move in a deal. + +The tall man opened the case, with his keen eyes searching the baffling +face of the rancher. Just for one moment he had doubtfully eyed +Gordon's figure, so intently bent over his work, but Mallinsbee had +reassured him with the words, "My confidential secretary." + +Mr. Laker assumed an air of simple frankness. + +"Our errand is a simple one, Mr. Mallinsbee," he began in hollow tones +which seemed to emanate from somewhere in the region of his highly +shined shoes. Then he smiled vaguely, a smile which Gordon mentally +registered as being "childlike," as he observed it out of the corners +of his eyes. "We are looking for two little pieces of information +which you, as a business man, will appreciate as being a justifiable +search on our part. You see, we are open to negotiating a deal of +several hundred thousand dollars, of course depending on the +information being satisfactory." + +"There's several rumors afloat that maybe you can confirm or deny," +broke in Abe Chester shortly. His _confrere's_ "high-brow" methods, as +he termed them, irritated him. + +"Just so," agreed Laker suavely. "Two rumors which affect the +situation very nearly. The first is, is it a fact that the President +of the Union Grayling and Ukataw Railroad is your guest at the present +moment? The second is, there is a rumor afloat that the railroad +company are actually preparing to build their depot here. Is this so?" + +Mallinsbee's expression was annoyingly obscure. Mr. Laker felt that he +was smiling, but Abe Chester was convinced that a smile was not within +a mile of his large features. Both men were agreed, however, that they +distrusted that eye-patch. + +Gordon awaited the rancher's reply with amused patience. It came in +the rumbling, heavy voice so like an organ note, after a duly +thoughtful pause. + +"Well, gentlemen," he said, with the air of a man who has bestowed a +weight of consideration upon his answer, "you have put what a legal +mind maybe 'ud consider 'leading' questions. Not having a legal mind, +but just the mind of an _honest_ trader, I'll say they certainly are +_some_ questions. However, it don't seem to me they'll prejudice a +thing answering 'em straight. You are yearning to deal--well, so am I; +an' if my answer's going to help things that way, why, I thank you for +asking. Mr. Carbhoy is my guest at this moment. How long he'll remain +my guest I can't just say. You see, he's going along to the coast when +we're through fixing things right for Buffalo Point. That answers your +first question, I guess. The second's even easier. The railroad's +engineers will be right here with plans and specifications and +materials and workers for building the depot at Buffalo Point on +_Wednesday noon_." + +Abe Chester drew a short asthmatical breath. His leaner companion +smiled cadaverously. + +"Then it will give us both much pleasure to talk business," said the +latter. + +"Sure," agreed Chester, sparing words which cost him so much breath, of +which he possessed such a small supply. + +Mallinsbee pushed cigars towards them. He felt the occasion needed +their moral support. + +"Help yourselves, gentlemen," he said. "Guess it'll make us talk +better. There's a whole heap of talk coming." + +The two men helped themselves, tenderly pressing the cigars and +smelling them. The rancher took one himself, with the certainty of its +quality, and lit it. + +"A lot to talk about?" inquired Mr. Laker, not without misgivings. + +"Why, yes." The rancher pulled deeply at his cigar and examined the +ash thoughtfully. "Yes," he went on after a moment, "I guess I'll have +to say quite a piece before you talk money. You see, I'd just like you +to understand the position. It's perhaps a bit difficult. This scheme +has been lying around quite a time, inviting folks to put money into it +at a profitable price to themselves. A number of wise friends of mine +have taken the opportunity and are in, good and snug. There's a number +of others hadn't the grit. Maybe I don't just blame them. You see, it +was some gamble, and needed folks who could take a chance. Wall, those +days are past. There's no gamble now. It's as good as American double +eagles. You see, Snake's will just become a sort of flag station, +while Buffalo Point will sit around in a halo of glory with a brand-new +swell depot. It's been some work handling this proposition, and the +folks interested, including the Bude and Sideley Coal Company, need a +deal of compensation for their work. Personally, I am not selling a +single frontage now until the depot is well on the way. In short, I +need a fancy price. In conclusion, gentlemen, let me say quite plainly +that what I would have sold originally for three figures will now, or +rather when the time comes, cost four--and maybe even five." + +"You mean to shut us out," snapped Abe Chester. + +"Is it graft?" inquired Laker, with something between a sneer and anger. + +"Call it what you like," said Mallinsbee coldly. "I've told you the +plain facts, as I shall tell everybody else. Those who want to get in +on the Buffalo Point boom will have to pay money for it--good money. I +think that is all I have to say, gentlemen." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +A TRIFLE + +Few men were less given to dreaming than James Carbhoy. Usually he had +no spare time on his hands for such a pastime. Dreams? Well, perhaps +he occasionally let imagination run riot amidst seas of amazing +figures, but that was all. All other dreams left him cold. Now it was +different. + +He was reclining in an old-fashioned rocker chair outside the front +door of his prison. The air of the valley was soft and balmy, the sun +was setting, and a wealth of ever-changing colors tinted the distant +mountain-tops; a wonderful sense of peace and security reigned +everywhere. So, somehow, he found himself dreaming. + +He filled the chair almost to overflowing and reveled in its comfort, +just as he reveled in the comfort even of his prison. His hands were +clasped behind his iron-gray head, and he drank deeply of the pleasant, +perfumed air. His captivity had already exceeded three weeks, and the +first irritation of it had long since passed, leaving in its place a +philosophic resignation characteristic of the man. He no longer strove +seriously to solve the problem of his detention. During the first days +of his captivity he had thought hard, and the contemplation of possible +disaster to many enterprises resulting from this enforced absence had +troubled him seriously, but as the days wore on and no word came from +his captors his resignation quietly set in, and gradually a pleasant +peace reigned in place of stormy feelings. + +James Carbhoy possessed a considerable humor for a man who spent his +life in multiplying, subtracting and adding numerals which represented +the sum of his gains and losses in currency, and perhaps it was this +which so largely helped him. His temperament should undoubtedly have +been at once harsh, sternly unyielding and bitterly avaricious. In +reality it was none of these things. It was his lot to cause money to +make money, and the work of it was something in the nature of an +amusement. He was warm-hearted and human; he loved battle and the +spirit of competition. Then, too, he possessed a deplorable love for +the knavery of modern financial methods. This was the underlying +temperament which governed all his actions, and a warm, human +kindliness saved him from many of the pitfalls into which such a +temperament might well have trapped him. + +As he sat there basking in the evening sunlight he felt that on the +whole he rather owed his captors a debt of gratitude for introducing +him to a side of life which otherwise he might never have come into +contact with. He knew at the same time that such a feeling was just as +absurd as that the spirit of fierce resentment had so easily died down +within him. All his interests were dependent upon his own efforts for +success, and here he was shut up, a prisoner, with these very affairs, +for all he knew, going completely to the dogs. + +His conflicting feelings made him smile, and here it was that his humor +served him. After all, what did it matter? He knew that some one had +bested him. It was not the first time in his life that he had been +bested. Not by any means. But always in such cases he had ultimately +made up the leeway and gained on the reach. Well, he supposed he would +do so again. So he rested content and submitted to the pleasant +surroundings of his captivity. + +There was one feature of his position, however, which he seriously did +resent. It was a feature which even his humor could not help him to +endure with complacency. It was the simple presence of a Chinaman near +him. He cordially detested Chinamen--so much so that, in all his great +financial undertakings, he did not possess one cent of interest in any +Chinese enterprise. + +Hip-Lee was maddeningly ubiquitous. There was no escape from him. If +the millionaire's fellow prisoner, the pretty teamstress, entered his +room to wait on him--and their captors seemed to have forced such +service upon her--Hip-Lee was her shadow. If he himself elected to go +for a walk through the valley--a freedom accorded him from the +first--there was not a moment but what a glance over his shoulder would +have revealed the lurking, silent, furtive figure in its blue smock, +watchful of his every movement, while apparently occupied in anything +but that peculiar form of pastime. James Carbhoy resented this +surveillance bitterly. Nor did he doubt that beneath that simple blue +smock a long knife was concealed, and, probably, a desire for murder. + +However, nothing of this was concerning him now. The hour was the hour +of peace. The perfection of the scene he was gazing upon had cast its +spell about him, and he was dreaming--really dreaming of nothing. The +joy of living was upon him, and, for the time being, nothing else +mattered. + +In the midst of his dreaming the sound of a footstep coming round the +angle of the building to his right roused him to full alertness. He +glanced round quickly and withdrew his hands from behind his head. +Mechanically he drew his cigar-case from an inner pocket and selected a +cigar. But he was expectant and curious, his feelings inspired by his +knowledge that Hip-Lee always moved soundlessly. + +His eyes were upon the limits of the house when the intruder +materialized. Promptly a wave of pleasurable relief swept over him as +he beheld the pretty figure of his fellow captive. But he gave no +sign, for the reason that the girl was obviously unaware of his +presence, and it yet remained to be seen if the yellow-faced reptile, +Hip-Lee, was at hand as usual. + +He watched her silently. He was struck, too, by her expression of rapt +appreciation of the scene before her, which added further to his +reluctance to break the spell of her enjoyment. But as the hated blue +smock did not make its appearance, the man could no longer resist +temptation. The opportunity was too good to miss. + +"It's some scene," he said in a tone calculated not to startle her, his +gray eyes twinkling genially. + +But Hazel was startled. She was startled more than she cared about. +Her one object was always to avoid contact with Gordon's father, except +under the watchful eyes, of Hip-Lee. She feared that keen, incisive +brain she knew to lie behind his steady gray eyes. She feared +questions her wit was not ready enough to answer without disaster to +the plans of her fellow conspirators. + +She hated the part she was forced to play, but she was also determined +to play it with all her might. She must act now, and act well. So, +with a resolute effort, she faced her victim. + +"I--I just didn't know you were here, sir," she said truthfully, while +her eyes lied an added alarm. "But--but talk low, or the----" + +"You're worrying over that mongrel Chink," said Carbhoy quickly. "I +expected to see his leather features following you around. I guess +he's got ears as long as an ass, and just about twice as sharp. Say, +I'm going to kill that mouse-colored serpent one of these times if he +don't quit his games. Say----" + +He broke off, studying the girl's pretty face speculatively. There was +no doubt her eyes wore a hunted expression--she intended them to. + +"They treating you--right?" he demanded. + +Hazel's effort was better than she knew as she strove for pathos. + +"Oh, yes, I s'pose so," she said hopelessly. "I'm let alone, and--I +get good food. It--it isn't that." + +"What is it?" + +The man's question came sharply. + +Hazel turned her face to the hills and sighed. The movement was well +calculated. + +"It's my folks." Then, with a dramatic touch, "Say, Mr. Carbhoy, do +you guess we'll ever--get out of this? Do you think we'll get back to +our folks? Sometimes I--oh, it's awful!" + +Her words carried conviction, and the man was taken in. + +"Say," he said quickly, "I'm making a big guess we'll get out +later--when things are fixed. This is not a ransom. But it +means--dollars." + +He lit his cigar, and its aroma pleasantly scented the air. + +Hazel sighed with intense feeling--to disguise her inclination to laugh. + +"Yes, sir," she said hopelessly. "One hundred thousand dollars." + +Gordon's father smiled back at her. + +"I'd hate to think I was held up for less," he said. "It would sort of +wound my vanity." + +The girl could have hugged him for the serenity of his attitude. +Nothing seemed to disturb him. She felt that Gordon had every reason +for his devotion to his father, and ought to be well ashamed of himself +for submitting him to the outrage which had been perpetrated. + +"Who--who do you think has done this?" she hazarded hesitatingly. +"Slosson?" + +"Maybe. Though----" + +"Slosson should have met you himself," the girl declared emphatically. + +"He certainly should," replied Carbhoy, with cold emphasis. "He'll +need to explain that--later. Say, how did you come to be driving me?" + +Hazel suddenly felt cold in the warm air. + +"I was just engaged to, because Mr. Slosson couldn't go himself. You +see, father has a spare team, and I do a goodish bit of driving. You +see, we need to do 'most anything to get money here." + +"Yes, that's the way of things." The man's eyes were twinkling again, +and Hazel began to hope that she was once more on firm ground. + +Nor was she disappointed when the man went on. + +"I guess we're all out after--dollars," he said reflectively. Then he +removed his cigar and luxuriously emitted a thin spiral smoke from +between his pursed lips. "It don't seem the sort of work a girl like +you should be at, though. Still, why not? It's a great play--chasing +dollars. It's the best thing in life--wholesome and human. I've +always felt that way about it, and as I've piled up the years and got a +peek into motives and things I've felt more sure that +competition--that's fixing things right for ourselves out of the +general scrum of life--is the life intended for us by the Creator." + +Hazel nodded. + +"Life is competition," she observed, with a wise little smile. + +"Sure. That's why human nature is dishonest--has to be." + +There was a question in the girl's eyes which the millionaire was +prompt to detect. + +"Sure it's dishonest. Can you show me a detail of human nature which +is truly honest? Say, I've watched it all my life, I've built every +sort of construction on it. Wherever I have built in the belief that +honesty is the foundation of human nature things have dropped with a +smash. Now I know, and my faith is none the less. Human nature is +dishonest. It's only a question of degree. I'm dishonest. You're +dishonest. But in your case it's only in the higher ethical sense. +You wouldn't steal a pocket-book. You wouldn't commit murder. But put +yourself into competition with a girl friend baking a swell layer cake, +calculated to disturb the digestion of an ostrich. Say, you'd resort +to any old trick you could think of to fix her where you wanted her." + +Hazel laughed. + +"I wouldn't shoot her up, but--I'd do all I knew to beat her." + +"Just so." + +"After what's happened to us here I guess human nature isn't going to +find a champion in me," Hazel went on. "Still, it's pretty hard to +lose your faith in human nature that way." + +"Lose? Who said 'lose'?" cried the man, with a cordial laugh. "Not I. +If I suddenly found it 'honest,' why, I'd hate to go on living. Human +nature's got to be just as it is. Honesty lies in Nature. That's the +honesty that folks talk about and dream about. It isn't practicable in +human life. Dishonesty is the leavening that makes honesty, in the +abstract, palatable. Say, think of it--if we were all honest like +idealists talk of. What would we have worth living for? Do you know +what would happen? Why, we'd all be sitting around making hymns for +everybody else to sing, till there was such an almighty hullabaloo we'd +all get crazy and have to sign a petition to get it stopped. We'd all +be fixed up in a sort of white suit that wouldn't ever need a laundry, +and every blamed citizen would start right in to turn the world into a +sort of hell by always telling the truth. Just think what it would +mean if you had to tell some friend of yours what you thought of her +for sneaking your latest beau." + +"It certainly would be liable to cause a deal of trouble," laughed +Hazel. + +"Trouble? I should say." The millionaire chuckled softly as he +returned his cigar to his mouth. "Say, I was reading the obituary of a +preacher--my wife's favorite--the other day. He lost his grip on life +and fell through. That reporter boy was bright, and I wondered when I +was reading what he'd have said if he'd spoke the truth as he saw it. +To read that obituary you'd think that preacher feller was the greatest +saint ever lived. I felt I could have wept over that poor feller, the +talk was so elegant and poetic. I just felt the worst worm ever lived +beside that preacher. I felt I ought to spend the last five dollars I +had to fix his grave up with pure white lilies, if I had to go without +food to do it. It was fine. But the writer never said a word about +that preacher living in a swell house in Fifth Avenue, and the $20,000 +he took every year for his job, and the elegant automobile he chased +around to the houses of his rich congregation in. If he'd died in the +slums on the east side I guess that newspaper wouldn't ever have heard +of him, and that writer wouldn't have got dollars for the pretty +language it was his job to scratch together for such an occasion." + +"It doesn't sound nice put that way," sighed Hazel. "I suppose it's +all competition even trying to make folks live right. I suppose that +preacher was successful in his calling--the same as you are in yours. +I suppose his human nature was no different to other folks'." + +"That's it. Life's splendidly dishonest and a perfect sham. Come to +think of it, Ananias must have been all sorts of a great man to be +singled out of a world of liars. On the other hand, he'd have had some +rival in the feller who first accused George Washington of never lying. +Psha! life's a great play, and I'd hate it to be different from what it +is. We're all just as dishonest as we can be and still keep out of +penitentiary: which makes me feel mighty sorry for them that don't. +From the fisherman to the Sunday-school teacher we're all liars, and if +you charged us with it we'd deny it, or worse, and thereby add further +proof to the charge. I've thought a deal over this hold-up, and it +seems to me those guys bluffed us some." + +"You mean about the--ransom," said Hazel, the last sign of amusement +dying swiftly out of her eyes. + +"Why, yes." The millionaire smoked in silence for some moments. Then +quite suddenly he removed the cigar from between his lips. "Maybe you +don't know I'm working on a big land scheme in these parts. It seems +to me some bright gang intend to roll me for my wad. I don't guess +Slosson's in it." + +"Then who is it, sir?" demanded the girl, with unconscious sharpness. + +The man's steady eyes surveyed her through their half-closed lids. He +shook his head. + +"I can't just say--yet. We'll find out in good time." His smile was +quietly confident. "Anyway, for the moment some one's got the drop on +me, and I'll just have to sit around. But--it's pretty tough on you, +Miss--Miss----" + +"Mallinsbee," said Hazel, without thinking. + +"Mallinsbee?" + +The man's gray eyes became suddenly alert, and Hazel felt like killing +herself. She believed, in that one unguarded moment, she had ruined +everything. She held her breath and turned quickly towards the setting +sun, lest her face should betray her. + +Then her terror passed as she heard the quiet, kindly laugh of the man +as he began speaking again. + +"Well, Miss Mallinsbee, here we are, and here we've just got to stay. +I came here to get the best of a deal. We're all out to do some one or +something, somehow or somewhere. It don't much matter who. And when a +man acts right he don't squeal when the other feller's on top. He just +sits around till it's his move, and then he'll try and get things back. +I'm not squealing. It's my turn to sit around--that's all. Meanwhile, +with the comforts at my disposal--good wines, good cigars and mountain +air--I'm having some vacation. If it weren't for that darned Chink +with his detestable blue suit I'd----" + +"Hush!" Hazel had turned and held up a warning finger. + +In response the man glanced sharply about him. There, sure enough, +standing silent and immovable at the corner of the building, was the +hated vision of blue with its crowning features of dull yellow. + +James Carbhoy flung himself back in his rocker. All the humor and +pleasure had been banished from his strong face, and only disgust +remained. + +"Oh, hell!" he exclaimed, and flung his cigar with all his force in the +direction of the intruder. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +ON THE TRAIL + +It was a night to remember, if for nothing else for the exquisite +atmospheric conditions prevailing. The moon was at its full, like some +splendid jewel radiating a silvery peace upon a slumbering world. The +jeweled sky suggested the untold wealth of an infinite universe. The +perfumed air filled lungs and nostrils with a beatific joy in living, +and the darkened splendor of the crowding hills inspired a reverence in +the human heart so profound, that it left scarce a place for the +smallness of mundane hopes and yearnings. The splendor, the breadth of +beauty sank into the human soul and left the spirit straining at its +earthly bonds, and gazing with longing towards the infinite power which +ordered its existence. + +For ten miles of the journey from the old ranch-house Hazel rode under +the sublime influence of feelings so inspired. Nothing of the +conditions were new to her. The mountain nights in summer were as much +a part of her existence as was the ranching life of her home. She knew +them as she knew the work that filled her daylight hours. But their +effect upon her never varied--never weakened. No familiarity with them +could change that feeling of the infinite sublimity somewhere beyond +the narrow confines of human life. She drank in the deep draughts of +perfect life, she gazed abroad with shining eyes of simple happiness on +the splendid world, and a superlative thankfulness to the Creator of +all things that life had been thus vouchsafed her uplifted her heart +and all that was spiritual within her. + +The journey to her home was twenty miles, but her favorite mare +possessed wings so far as its mistress was concerned. The distance was +all too short for the splendid young body, and that youthful mood of +delight. Hazel reveled in the expenditure of the energy required, as +the mare, beneath her, seemed to revel in the physical effort of the +journey. + +For the greater part of the road the cobwebs of affairs she was engaged +upon left Hazel indifferent. The delight of life left no room for +them. But after the half way had been passed there came to her flashes +of thought which reduced her feelings to a more human mood. + +Nor was that mood of the easiest. She experienced feelings of +disquiet, even alarm. She felt vexed, and a great resentment, and even +genuine anger, began to take possession of her. But these were +interspersed with moments when a certain irresponsibility and humor +would not be denied, and underlying all and every other emotion was a +great passionate longing, which she scarcely admitted even to herself. + +Her mind was fixed upon two men: father and son. For the time at +least, they were the pivot of all things worldly for her. In her +thoughts the son possessed attributes little short of a demi-god, while +the father had become a being endowed with a deep, reflected regard. +There was room in her woman's heart for both in their respective +places. She knew she loved them, and her variations of mood were +inspired by the cruelly farcical atmosphere of the position surrounding +them both. She was angry with Gordon, bitterly angry at one moment, at +the next she reveled in the exquisite impudence of his daring. At one +moment her woman's tender pity went out to the big-hearted man who had +been submitted to such indignities by his own son and herself, and all +those concerned in the conspiracy, and, at the next, she found herself +smiling at the humor of his attitude towards his persecutors. Then, +too, over all these complications of feeling she was stirred with alarm +at that painful memory of the unguarded moment, when, lulled by her +interest in the millionaire's talk, she had admitted her name to him. +Visions of hideous possibilities rose before her eyes. If he should +chance to know her father's name. Why not? Surely he knew. But after +that one sharp interrogation he had given no sign. + +She sighed a sort of half-hearted relief, but remained unconvinced. It +was this last contingency which had inspired her night journey home. +She had ridden out the moment she had been certain that their captive +had retired for the night. + +There were still some eight miles to go before the ranch would be +reached when Hazel experienced a fright, which left her ready to turn +and flee back over the way she had come as swiftly as the legs of her +mare could carry her. + +On clearing a bluff of spruce, around which her course lay, in the full +radiance of the moon's high noon, she suddenly beheld a horseman riding +towards her, a ghostly figure moving soundlessly over the high grass. + +Such was the effect of this vision upon her, that, beyond being able to +bring her mare to an abrupt halt, panic left her paralysed. In all her +years she had never encountered a horseman riding late at night in the +mountains. Who was he? Who could he be? And an eerie feeling set her +flesh creeping at the ghostliness and noiselessness of his coming. + +She sat there stupidly, her pretty cheeks ashen in the moonlight. And +all the time the man was coming nearer and nearer, traveling the same +trail she would have done had she pursued her course. Then an abject +terror surged upon her. He must meet her! + +In an instant her paralysis left her, and she gathered her reins to +turn her mare about. But the maneuver was never effected. She had +suddenly recognized the horse the man was riding. It was Sunset. The +next moment she further recognized the broad shoulders of the man in +the saddle, and a glad cry broke from her, and she urged her mare on to +meet him. + +"Gordon!" she cried, in a world of delight and relief as she came up +with him. + +"You, Hazel?" came the joyous response of her ghostly visitor. + +"You just scared me all to death," protested the girl, as the big +chestnut ranged up beside her. + +"I did?" Gordon was smiling tenderly down at the pretty figure, so +fascinating in the moonlight as it sat astride the brown mare. + +"My, but I thought--I--oh, I don't know what I thought. But what are +you doing around--now?" + +The girl was smiling happily enough. Even in the silver of the +moonlight it was obvious that the color had returned to her cheeks. + +"I was going to ask you that," returned Gordon. "But I guess I best +tell you things first." Then he began to laugh. "I was coming out to +see you, but--not you only. Say, I'm just the weakest conspirator ever +started out to trap a mouse. Look at me. Say, get a good look. It +isn't the sort of thing you'll see every time you open your eyes. I +was sick to death feeling the old dad was shut up a prisoner, and I +felt I must get along, even if it was only just to get a peek, and be +sure he wasn't suffering." + +Hazel's eyes were tenderly regarding the great creature in the bright +moonlight. She had been so recently angry at this son's heartless +action, that his expression of contrition made her feel all the more +tender towards him. + +"He's in bed, and--I'd guess he's snoring elegantly by now," she said, +with a smile. "I--I waited to start out till he was in bed." Then her +eyes met his. "What were you coming to--see me for?" + +The direct challenge very nearly precipitated matters. Gordon had +excuses enough for seeing her, but only one real purpose. He hesitated +before replying. + +"We've made good," he said at last, by way of subterfuge, and the girl +drew a deep breath of joyous content. + +"You've--made--good?" she questioned, more in the way of reassuring +herself than desiring a reply. + +Gordon moved his horse so that she could turn about. + +"Let's go back to the--prison," he said, his words charged with the +excited delight stirring within him. + +"Yes, we've made good." The girl turned her mare about and the two +moved on the way she had already come, side by side. "Listen, while I +tell you. Say, I could sort of shout it around the hill-tops--if they +weren't so snowy and cold. Snake's Fall is just a surging land market +for us at Buffalo. There are real estate offices opening everywhere, +and everybody you meet on the sidewalk is a broker of some sort. The +Bude and Sideley folk turned their holdings loose directly we got the +surveyors and engineers of the railroad up, and the folks all jumped. +Then the men at Snake's, who held in ours, followed suit. But your +father, bless him, held tight. The boom fairly rose to a shriek, and +we've been fighting to sit tight, and let the prices go up skywards. +Then we had a meeting, and your father loosened up a bit. Just to keep +the spurt on. Meanwhile I've handled things down east, and kept the +wires singing. The railroad have started a great advertising campaign +at my orders. The coal company, too, are talking Snake's Fall, and +Buffalo Point. In a month there'll be such a rush as only America, and +this continent generally knows how to make. Even now sites are +changing hands at ridiculous prices. Meanwhile I've got the railroad +busy. Already ten construction trains have come through, and they've +started on the new depot." He drew a deep sigh of satisfaction. Then +in a sort of shamefaced manner he went on. "But I've had to weaken in +the old dad's direction. I can't make good and leave him out all +together. You see, that play of Slosson's in Snake's will have to be +made good, and my father will have to make it that way. So I've got +your father to give me a six months' option on a stretch of land +adjoining the coalpits which he hadn't ceded to the Bude people. You +see, if there's coal there it'll put my father right with the game, and +we shan't have hurt him any. Meanwhile things will go on, and we'll +have to keep the old dad for another month. Then I sell, and----" + +"You'll have won out," broke in Hazel, her eyes shining in the +moonlight. Then a shadow crossed her face. "But when your father +knows what you've done? What then?" + +Gordon seemed to consider his reply carefully. + +"You can leave that to me, Hazel," he said at last, with a whimsical +smile. "There's surely got to be a grand finale to this, and when it +comes I'll still need your help. Say, why were you riding in to the +ranch--at dead of night?" + +The abrupt question shocked the girl out of her delighted content. The +memory of her trouble came overwhelmingly upon her. But Gordon was +waiting. + +"You're making good, but I've made pretty bad," she said, thrusting a +desire to burst into tears resolutely from her. "I'm just every sort +of fool and I--don't know how much damage I haven't done. Everything's +gone right until this evening. Hip-Lee has just been as near perfect +as a Chinaman can be. We've carried out all our plans right through, +and I've never been near your father without Hip-Lee looking on. That +is--until this evening." The girl sighed. The confession of her +blundering was hard to make. "It was this way," she went on presently. +"Your father was out walking. I hadn't seen him return. I was in the +kitchen fixing his supper, and it was sticky hot, and I just hated the +flies, so I went out for a breath of air. Hip-Lee had been playing his +spy game on your father. Well, I just stood out front of the house +taking a look at the hills, and wishing I was amongst their snows, when +your father spoke. He had got back, and was sitting outside the house, +and, maybe, like me he was yearning for that snow. Well, I just +couldn't run away--so we talked. I guess we'd talked quite awhile, and +I'd kind of forgotten things, and in the middle of his talk he started +to address me by my name, and got as far as 'Miss.' Then, without a +thought, I spoke my name. He just seemed startled, but never said a +word about it, and now I'm worried to death. Was there ever such----" + +The girl broke off, and it seemed to Gordon, in spite of her attempted +smile, she was very near tears. Instantly he smothered his own +feelings of alarm at her story and endeavored to console her. He +laughed, but in Hazel's hyper-sensitive condition of anxiety, his laugh +lacked its usual buoyancy. + +"That's nothing to worry over," he said. "I'd say if your name had +meant anything to him he wouldn't have given you breathing time before +you'd learned a heap of things that wouldn't have sounded pretty. +Dad's no end of a sport, but when he gets a punch, and the fellow who +gives it him don't vanish quick, he's got a way of hitting back mighty +hard. I don't guess that break's going to figure any in our play. He +never said a word?" + +"Not a word." Hazel tried to take comfort, but still remained +unconvinced. "Anyway what could he do?" + +Gordon remained serious for some moments. Then his eyes lit again. + +"Not a thing," he said emphatically, and Hazel knew he meant it. + +For some time they rode on in silence, and thought was busy with them +both. Hazel was thinking of so many things, all of which somehow +focussed round the man at her side, and her ardent desire to obey his +lightest commands in the schemes of his fertile brain. Gordon had +dismissed every other thought from his mind but the delightful +companionship of this ride, which had come all unexpectedly. The +girl's mare led slightly, and the sober chestnut kept his nose on a +level with her shoulder, and thus Gordon was left free to regard the +girl he loved without fear of embarrassment to her. But somehow Hazel +was not unaware of his regard. A curious subconsciousness left her +with the feeling that her every movement was observed, and a pleasant, +excited nervousness began to stir her. She hastily broke the silence. + +"You said you'd still need my help when--the grand finale came," she +demanded. + +"Sure," came the prompt reply. Then very slowly the man added; "I +can't do anything without your help--now." + +The girl glanced round quickly. + +"You mean--with your father a prisoner?" + +The man's smile deepened, and his blue eyes gazed thoughtfully, +ardently, into the hazel eyes, which, in a moment, became hidden from +him. + +"I don't think I meant--quite that," he said. + +The girl offered no reply, and the man went on. + +"You see, we have become sort of partners in most everything, haven't +we? I don't seem to think of anything without you being in it." Then +he laughed, a little nervous laugh. "I don't try to either. Say, I +went out to the cattle station, and had a look at Slosson the other +day. The boys have got him pretty right, and--I felt sorry for him." + +"Why?" Hazel asked her question without thinking. She somehow felt +incapable of thought just now. She felt like one drifting upon some +tide which was beyond her control, and the only guiding hand that +mattered was this man's. + +Gordon gave one of his curious short laughs, which might have meant +anything. + +"I don't know," he said. Then: "Yes, I do though. Think of a fellow +who's had his business queered, who's staked a big gamble and lost, not +only that, but the girl he's crazy about, and meanwhile is rounded up +in a shack that wouldn't keep a summer shower out, and seems as though +it was set up on purpose by some crazy genius as a sort of playground +for every sort of wind ever blew. Say, if I lost my partner now, +I'd---- Guess our partnership ought to expire in a month. This play +will be through then." + +"Yes." + +With all her desire to talk on indifferently, Hazel could find no word +to add to the monosyllable. She was trembling with a delightful +apprehension she could not check. And somehow she had no desire to +check it. This man was all powerful to sway her emotions, and she knew +it. The moments were growing almost painful in the tenseness of her +emotions. + +"Another month. It's--awful for me to think of." + +"Is it?" + +The inanity of her remark would have made Hazel laugh at any other +time. Now, it passed her by, its meaninglessness conveying nothing +with the submerging of her humor in the sea of stronger emotions. + +Gordon urged his horse to draw level with the mare. Then he +deliberately drew it down to a walk on the rustling grass, and Hazel +followed his example without protest. All about them was the delicate +silver tracery of the moonlight through the trees. The warmth of the +perfumed night air possessed a seductiveness only equaled by the night +beauties of the scene about them. It was such a moment when the most +timorous lover must become emboldened, and emulate the bravest. But +Gordon knew no timidity. His only fear was for failure. Had he +realized the tumult which his words had stirred within this girl's +bosom he might well have flung all hesitation to the winds. As it was +he threw the final cast with all the strength of his virile, impetuous +nature. + +"Another month. Must it end then, Hazel?" He reached out and seized, +with gentle firmness, the girl's bridle hand. "Must it? Say, can't it +be partners--for life?" His eyes were very tender, but their humor was +still lurking in their depths. He leaned towards her and the girl's +hand remained unresistingly in his. "D'you know, dear, I sort of feel +to-night I'd like to have a dozen Slossons standing around waiting, +while I scrapped 'em all in turn for you. Maybe that don't tell you +much. It can't mean anything to you. It means this to me. It means I +just want to be the fellow who's got to see to it that life runs as +smooth as the wheels of a Pullman for you. It means I don't care a +thing for anything else in the world but you, not even this play we're +at now. I guess I just loved you the day I first saw you, and have +gone on loving you worse and worse ever since, till I don't guess +there's any doctor, but having you always with me, can save me from an +early grave." Somehow the two horses had come to a standstill. Nor +were they urged on. "I just want you, Hazel, all the time," Gordon +went on, more and more tenderly. "You'll never get to know how badly I +want you. Will you--shall it be--partners--always?" + +The girl was gazing out over the moonlight scene so that Gordon could +see nothing of the light of happiness shining in her pretty eyes. All +he knew was the trembling of the hand he still held in his. Then, +suddenly, while he waited, he felt the girl's other hand, soft, warm, +full of that quiet strength which he knew to be hers, close over his, +and a wild thrill swept through his whole body. + +"Is it 'yes'?" he demanded, with a passionate pressure of his hand, and +a great light burning in his eyes. "Mine! Mine! For--as long as we +live?" + +The girl still made no verbal reply, but she bowed her head and gently +raised his hand, and tenderly pressed it to her soft bosom. In an +instant she lay crushed in his arms while the two horses, with heads +together, seemed lost in a friendly discussion of the extraordinary +proceedings going on between their riders. + +What they thought about them was apparently on the whole favorable, for +presently, with mute expressions of good will, their handsome heads +drew apart and lowered significantly. The next moment they were +enjoying a pleasant siesta, such as only a four-footed creature can +accomplish standing without risk to life and limb. + +Half an hour later they were wide awake and full of bustling activity. +The closed heels on their saddle cinchas warned them that even lovers' +madness has its limits of duration, and that the practical affairs of +life must inevitably become paramount in the end. + +So they answered the call, and raced down the trail in the cool of the +night. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +IN NEW YORK + +Mrs. James Carbhoy had endured anything but a happy time for several +weeks. She had received no news from her beloved son; her husband had +spirited himself away on business and left her without a word of +definite information as to his whereabouts; while even the trying +presence of her young daughter was denied her, since she had been +forced to dispatch that personification of childish willfulness to +their estate at Tuxedo, that she might be put through a course of +disciplining by her various governesses. + +She was alone, she reminded herself not less than three times a day, +and to be alone in her great mansion at Central Park was the limit of +earthly punishment as she understood it. She detested it. She hated +the hot summer landscape of the park; she was worried to death by the +chorus of automobile hooters as the cars sped up and down the great +asphalt way; she felt that the red-and-white stone palaces with which +she was surrounded were the ugliest things ever hidden from blind eyes, +and an army of servants could be, and was, the most nerve-racking thing +she had ever been called upon to endure. For two peas she would pack a +bag--no, her maid would have to pack it; she was denied even that +pleasure--and hie herself to Europe. + +This was something of the condition of mind to which she was reduced, +when one morning two events happened almost simultaneously which +changed the whole aspect of things, and created in her something +approaching a desire to continue the dreary monotony of life. + +The first was the advent of her mail, with a long letter from her son +_dated at Buffalo Point_, and the second was an urgent request from her +husband's manager, Mr. Harker, desiring permission to wait upon her, as +he had the most encouraging news from the long-lost Gordon and her +husband's affairs generally. + +Gordon's mother did not read her son's letter at once. She saw the +heading and glanced at the opening paragraph. The satisfaction so +inspired caused her to set it aside for careful perusal after her +breakfast. Mr. Harker would be up to see her at about eleven o'clock. +That would give her ample time to have digested its contents before he +arrived. + +For the first time in weeks she ate an ample breakfast at her customary +early hour. She further forgot to make her maid's life a burden during +the process of dressing, and she even enjoyed glancing over the +advertisements of the daily newspapers. Then came the hour of +seclusion in her boudoir when she yielded herself to the perusal of her +boy's letter. + + +"BUFFALO POINT, + Near Snake's Fall. + +"DEAREST MUM: + +"It seems so long since I sent you any mail, and I seem to have so much +news to tell you, and I've so completely forgotten what I have already +told you, that I hardly know where to begin. However, you'll see by +the heading of this letter I am at Buffalo Point, and am glad to say I +have received a visit from the dear old Dad, who is just as happy as +any man of his devotion to work can be--on vacation. His visit to me +here has placed me in a position of great trust in his affairs in the +neighborhood, and I am very proud that, through my own efforts, I have +been so placed. After this I feel that the dear old Dad will never +have cause to question my ability in dealing with big affairs. I feel +he will acknowledge that the seed of his example has really fallen on +fruitful soil, and that, after all, perhaps I shall yet prove a worthy +son of a great father. + +"This, I guess, brings me to the discussion of a subject which has kind +of interested me some these last days. It is the modern understanding +of filial duty. I s'pose even such a duty changes in its aspect, as +everything else seems to change, with the passage of time. Chasing +around in the dark days of pre-civilized times filial duty seemed +pretty clearly marked. One of the first duties of a son was, when his +mother wasn't around to claim the privilege, to get in the way when his +father wanted to hit something with his club. He was also kind of +handy as a sacrifice, either well broiled or minced into fancy chunks, +to make his father's Gods feel good and get benevolent. Then he was +mighty useful doing chores around the home, so his father didn't have +to do more work than it took him filling his stomach with Saurian +steaks and Pterodactyl cutlets, and getting drunk on a sort of beer, +which his wife had contracted the habit of making for him in the +intervals between being laid out cold with a stone club. + +"There don't seem to be much doubt about those days. A son's filial +duty lasted just as long as his father could enforce it with physical +discipline. When he couldn't do it that way any longer, then the son +and father generally made a big talk together, and whatever odds and +ends of the father could be collected at the finish of the pow-wow were +handed over to some local soup kitchen to make stock. + +"Then the son usually took a wife, and so the same old play went on. + +"With variations and moderations these things seem to have gone on, on +some such general lines, right down to our present day. In some grades +of present-day life I don't think there's such a heap of change as +you'd guess. The conditions prevail, only the weapons and things are +different. However, that's by the way. The thing that requires +careful study is how far filial duty is justified. + +"Filial duty is a pretty arbitrary thing when a man who can really +think looks into it. I maintain that obligation is too much imposed +upon offspring. I contend they don't owe a thing to their parents. +It's the parents who owe to the offspring. This may shock you, but I +hope you will put all personal feeling aside and regard it in the +nature of an academic discussion. First of all, the fact of life is +dependent upon the whim of parents to impose it. It is not a thing +which a child owes gratitude for. Say, take a feller who can't swim, +tie half a ton of lead around his neck and boost him into a whirlpool +full of rocks and things, and ask him for gratitude. I'm open to +gamble when he gets his breath he won't say a thing--not a thing--about +gratitude. Maybe he'll remember every other emotion ever given to +erring humanity, but I don't guess he'd be able to spell the word +gratitude, let alone talk it. + +"We'll pass the subject of life for the moment. We've got it. We +didn't want, but we got. And all the kicking won't alter it. Now +filial duty demands obedience, and parents start right in from the +first to make a kid's life a burden that way. Say, we'll take that +whirlpool racket again. It's like two folks standing high and dry on a +rock above it, and firing stones all around the poor darned fool +struggling to win out. It don't matter which way he turns he's headed +off with a rock dropped plumb ahead of him. Those rocks are labeled +'obey.' Say, after about twenty years of dodging those rocks parents +'ll tell that feller of all they did for him in his youth, and say he's +ungrateful just because he's learned enough sense to realize his +parents are fools, anyway, and ought to be petrified mummies in a +public museum. + +"One of the worst sins of parents toward children is the fact that as +soon as they take to sitting around in rockers, and their hinges start +to creak when they get up, they don't ever seem to remember the time +when their joints didn't have to make queer noises. When folks get +that way they reckon it's the duty of all offspring just to sit around +and gape in fool credulity, while they tell 'em what wonderful folk +their parents--used to be, and how they--the children--if they lived a +century, could never hope to be half as wonderful. A really bright kid +generally hopes that for once his parent is talking truth. I say it +with all respect that the gentlest, most harmless, most inoffensive +father would resort to any subterfuge to have his son think he could +lick creation if he fancied that way; and there isn't a woman so +almighty plain but what she'll contrive to get her daughters--while +they're still children--crazy enough to believe she was the beauty of +her family, and that all their good looks are due to her side of the +matrimonial contract. + +"Of course, it isn't a desirable thought to picture your mother playing +at holding hands in dark corners with fellers who never had a +hundred-to-one chance of being your father; also it isn't just pleasant +to speculate on the tricks she had to play to get your father to the +jumping-off mark; neither do you care to dwell on what she thought of +the chorus girls your father was in the habit of buying wine for, and +decorating up with fancy clothes and jewels in his spare moments. You +don't feel it's a nice thing to think of the numbers of times some one +else has had to take off your father's boots for him overnight, and +bathe his aching head with ice-water to get him down town in the +morning to his office. But it wouldn't hurt you a thing if parents +made a point of remembering all these things for themselves, and would +give up making you quit playing parlor games during sermon in church on +Sundays and inventing your own words to the hymn tunes. + +"Now let's jump to what I call the breaking-point of filial duty. It's +the point when a kid gets old enough to master the inner meaning of the +expression 'damn fool,' which has probably been liberally applied to +him for years. It's the moment when physical discipline can no longer +obtain for--physical reasons. It's the point when two real live men, +or two real live women, face each other with a contentious situation +lying between them. Where does obligation lie? Does it remain--anyway? + +"In Nature it does not. In human nature it remains--chiefly because of +undue sentimentalism. Now sentimentalism should be a luxury, and not a +law. This is obvious to any mind not suffocated by the gases of +decadence. I'd like to say Nature's laws are sane and just, and, since +they are inspired by a great and wise Providence, it's not reasonable +to guess they can be improved upon by a psalm-smiting set of folks, who +spend their whole lives in wrapping 'emselves around with cotton batten +to keep out the wholesome draughts of Nature's lungs. + +"So I feel that when the breaking-point of filial duty is reached it is +no longer mother and daughter, father and son, in the practicalities of +life. Take commerce. Father and son are in competition. Each is +fighting for his own. How far is a son justified in emptying an +automatic pistol into his father's food depot, when that mistaken +parent guesses he's yearning to storm his son's stronghold of +commercial enterprise? How far is that father justified in doping his +son's liquor, so he won't lie awake at nights planning to roll him for +his wad next morning? Take a daughter and her momma. Most mothers act +as though they had to live all their lives with their daughters' +husbands. And most daughters act as though they preferred their mommas +should. I ask: how far has a mother right to butt in to run her +daughter's home doings, and so muss up for some one else what she was +never able to do right for herself? Why shouldn't a daughter be +allowed to make her own mess of things, and later on, when she collects +sense, clean it up again the best she knows? + +"These are questions in my mind. These are questions I don't just seem +able to answer right myself, and sort of feel they'd have given old Sol +some insomnia, in spite of all his glory over the baby episode he made +such a song about. Well, I put 'em down here, and maybe you can tell +me about 'em, and, anyway, they make some problem. + +"Maybe I haven't set out my news to the best advantage, but my mind is +very busy with fixing things as they should go. You see, I'm working +hard in the old Dad's interest, and am hoping soon to get that little +word of approval from him which means so much, coming from so great a +man. I am looking forward to seeing you again soon, and hope to see +your dear, smiling face and pretty eyes just as bright and happy as I +always remember them. Give my love to our Gracie, and tell her that +the only way to get rid of those peculiarly spindle lower legs, which +have always been one of her worst physical defects, is to adopt ankle +exercises. It's a defect, like many others in her character, which can +be improved with conscientious effort and patience. + +"Your loving son, + "GORDON. + +"P.S.--Your future daughter-in-law is just crazy to be taken into your +motherly fold. + +"G." + + +Mr. Harker's face was wreathed in smiles at the thought of the pleasant +news it was his good fortune to be conveying to the wife of his chief. +His smile remained until he heard the trim maid's announcement at the +door of Mrs. Carbhoy's boudoir. Then the smile vanished, as though it +had never been, and his well-nourished features became an assortment of +troubled bewilderment. Furthermore, within five minutes of his +ushering into the lady's presence he had registered a solemn vow that +celibacy should remain his lot, until the day that saw his ample +remains become a subject for cooking operations by the crematorium +experts. + +Mr. Harker was certainly unfortunate in his selection of the moment at +which to pay his call. Mrs. James Carbhoy had had half an hour since +reading her son's letter, in which to pursue that hateful hyphenated +word "daughter-in-law" through every darkened channel of her somewhat +limited mental machinery. + +Daughter-in-law! It was everywhere. She could not lose sight of it. +She could not escape its haunting meaning. It pursued her wherever she +went. It was there, lurking amidst the folds of her gowns if she +peered inside the great hanging wardrobes. It danced like a +will-o'-the-wisp in every mirror which her troubled eyes chanced to +encounter. It was interwoven with the patterns of the carpets; and the +wall-paperings found a lurking-place for it amidst the unreal foliage +which adorned them. It laughed at her when she angrily turned away to +avoid it, and when she endeavored to defy it its mocking only +increased. So it was that the unoffending Harker encountered the full +tide of her angry alarm and maternal despair. + +Mr. Harker had prepared a well-turned opening for his excellent news. +But it was never used. Even as his lips moved to speak they remained +sealed, held silent by the bitter cry of outraged maternal pride. + +"He's married!" she cried. "Married--and I--I have never been +consulted!" + +Mr. Harker felt as though he had been caught up in the whirl of a +physical encounter in which his opponent held all the advantage. + +Mrs. Carbhoy waited for no comment. She rushed headlong, following up +her advantage, smashing in "lefts" and "rights" indiscriminately. + +"It's disgraceful--terrible! The ingratitude of it! After all his +father and I have done for him! To think how we've always guided and +taught him! The callous selfishness! The moment he's out of our +sight--this--this is what happens. He's picked up with some wicked, +designing female, whose father's certain to be a--a--gaolbird--or, +anyway, ought to be. Not a word to a soul. We--we don't know who she +is--or--or what. He don't even say her name. Daughter-in-law! +It's--it's---- Mr. Harker, I'm just wondering when I'll come over all +crazy." + +Mr. Harker welcomed the pause. + +"You say Mr. Gordon's married?" he demanded incredulously. + +"Yes--no. That is, he--he says 'your future daughter-in-law'!" + +Mr. Harker breathed a deep relief and strove to smile confidence upon +his chief's wife. + +"Ah, yes. Mr. Gordon was always one for the girls. But he wouldn't +make a fool of himself that way----" + +In a moment the second round of the battle was raging. + +"Fool? Fool? Every man's a fool, if some woman chooses!" cried Mrs. +Carbhoy, and promptly hurled herself into a bitter tirade against her +sex, sparing no race of monsters from likeness to it. + +Mr. Harker was forced to submit from sheer inability to compete with +the rapid flow of expression. But later on he had his opportunity at +what he considered to be the termination of the "second round," while +his opponent retired to her corner to be fanned by her seconds. + +"Anyway, ma'am, if he's not yet married there's still hope. I guess +Mr. Carbhoy's wise to what's doing with him. You see, he's been there +with him." + +"James Carbhoy!" The contemptuous emphasis on her husband's name +opened the "third round," and Mr. Harker felt that the timekeeper had +called "time" before he was ready. + +For three full minutes the scornful wife of the millionaire recited an +amplified denunciation upon husbands in general and millionaires in +particular. But even so the round had to come to its natural +conclusion, and when they were both resting once more in their +"corners," Mr. Harker achieved something almost approaching success. + +"You know, Mrs. Carbhoy, I was feeling pretty good coming along here in +my automobile. Mr. Gordon's something more to me than just your son. +We're real good friends, and I was feeling as anxious for his future as +maybe you were. Well, when I got word from your husband at Snake's +saying that he'd turned our affairs over to Mr. Gordon I was real glad, +and I felt now here was the boy's chance. Then, day after day, along +come his instructions, and I saw by the grip he'd got on things he'd +taken his chance, and was pushing it through with as much smartness as +Mr. Carbhoy himself might have shown. I was more than gratified, +ma'am. Why, only to-day I've received word of a big coal option he's +taken for us. As he's got it it's something for nothing. Nobody could +have done better, not even your husband, ma'am. I really can't think +there's going to be any mistakes about--strange females." + +The man's tribute had a mollifying effect upon the mother. But she was +still the "mother" rather than a creature of logic. She saw her boy +being led to his undoing by some designing creature of her own sex, and +her instinct warned her of the hideous dangers to millionaires' sons +inherent in so guileful a race. + +"If I could only feel that he was experienced in the world," she said +helplessly. "But what does our poor Gordon know of women?" + +Mr. Harker smiled. He was thinking with the intimacy of one man who +knows another. He knew, too, something of the way in which Gordon's +money had generally been spent. + +"We must hope the best, ma'am," he said, with a hypocritical sigh. +"He's evidently not married, so--what do you intend to do about it +while Mr. Carbhoy is on the coast?" + +"Do? Do? Why, I shall just go up to Snake's whatever-it-is, or +Buffalo what's-its-name, and--and----" + +"I should wait awhile, ma'am, if I were you," Mr. Harker interrupted +her, fearing another outburst. "I'm expecting David Slosson in the +city soon. He's one of our confidential men who's been working up at +Snake's for us. I haven't heard from him for quite a while. He's sure +to be along down soon, because he's got to make a report. Maybe he can +tell us just how things are. Anyway, I wouldn't go up there. It's a +queer, wild sort of place, and in no way fit for you." + +"Will Slosson be around soon?" + +"Sure, ma'am." + +"Then I'll wait," cried the troubled mother, without cordiality. Then +she appealed to the man who had always been something more than a mere +commercial figure in her husband's life. "You know, if anything went +wrong with my boy, Mr. Harker, it would just break my heart. I--I +couldn't bear it. But I tell you right here there's no wretched female +going to play her tricks on our Gordon with me around, and while I've +got James Carbhoy's millions to my hand. And if your man Slosson don't +give us satisfactory news of the boy, then, if Snake's what's-its-name +were the worst place on earth--I should make it." + +"If it comes to that, ma'am, there are other folks feel that way, too," +said the manager earnestly. "But meanwhile I'd say don't worry a +thing." + +"I don't!" snapped the mother sharply. "The person who'll need to do +all the worrying is that--female." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +PREPARING FOR THE FINALE + +"I'm getting scared, Gordon. Real truth, I am." + +Hazel was in the saddle. Gordon had just mounted Sunset. It was the +close of a long, arduous, triumphant day for Gordon, and he was feeling +very happy, though mentally weary. The horses moved off before he made +any reply. He had just dismissed Peter McSwain and Mike Callahan, with +whom he had been in close consultation, and Hazel's father was still +within the office to see to its closing for the night and the departure +of the clerical staff. + +The way lay towards the ranch, and the trail the horses were taking +skirted the new township, now no longer a waste of untrodden grass, but +a busy camp with a strongly flowing human tide. + +Hazel had come to meet him at her lover's urgent request, and she was +glad enough to get away from the old ranch house, where the charge of +her captive there was seriously beginning to trouble her. Now she had +at last voiced something of those feelings which the rapid passing of +the weeks had steadily inspired. She knew that her peace of mind +demanded some change from this worrying situation. In her loyalty she +had struggled to perform her share in the conspiracy. She knew, too, +that she had succeeded fairly well, and that her efforts were all +appreciated to their full. She had contrived that her lover's father +should never know a moment's discomfort. That his life in captivity +should be made as easy and pleasant as possible. There were no signs +that it had been otherwise, but now, seven weeks had elapsed since his +arrival, and what had just seemed a scandalous joke to her originally, +had become a sort of painful nightmare which she was longing to throw +off. The moment she and Gordon were actually alone, she had been +impelled to break the silence which was steadily undermining her nerve. + +Gordon's horse was close abreast of the brown mare, and its rider +smiled down from his great height upon the pretty tailored figure of +the girl who had become all the world to him. + +"I know," he said sympathetically. "It's sort of that way with me, +too. I don't just mean I'm scared. There's nothing for me to be +scared about. It's--sort of conscience with me. As for your +father--say"--his smile broadened--"he's taken to his eye-patch with +everybody--me, too. I guess that means he's worried no end." + +"What--what are you going to do--then?" + +Hazel eagerly watched that big, open, ingenuous face with its widely +smiling blue eyes. And, watching it, she discerned added signs of a +growing humor. Finally he laughed outright. + +"Say, we're just the limit for a bunch of conspirators. Yes--the +limit. You're the only one of us who's had the moral courage to put +your feelings into words. We're all scared. We've all been scared +these weeks. Your father's scared, so he can't look at any man with +two eyes. Peter's all of a shiver every time he comes within hailing +distance of the sheriff. As for Mike--well, Mike's sold all his +holdings, and is bursting to sell his livery business, all but one +team, so he'll have the means of skipping the border at a minute's +notice. Say, have you figured out how we stand? How I stand? Well, +from a point of law I guess I'm a good candidate for ten years' +penitentiary. I've kidnapped two men; one's a dirty dog, anyway, and +the other's one of the biggest millionaires in the country. I've +fraudulently played up a railroad. I've started this boom on the +biggest fraud ever practiced. I've--say, ten years! Why, I guess the +tally of this adventure looks to me like twenty in the worst +penitentiary to be found in the country. It--makes me perspire to +think of it." + +He was laughing in a perfectly reckless fashion, and, in spite of her +very real fears, Hazel perforce found herself joining in. + +"It's desperate, Gordon," she cried. "And as for you, who worked it +all out, and led it, you--you are the dearest blackguard ever +breathed." Then quite suddenly her eyes sobered, and her apprehension +returned with a rush. "But how long is--it to last? I--I can't go on +much longer, and your father's getting restive and suspicious." + +Gordon reached down and patted Sunset's crested neck. + +"It's finished now. That's why I asked you to come and meet me. I've +sold." + +"You've sold?" + +In a moment the last shadow of fear had passed out of the girl's pretty +eyes. Now she was agog with excited admiration. + +"Yes." The man nodded. "It had to be done carefully. I've been +selling quietly for days and now it's finished. I didn't get the +prices I hoped quite, but that was because I felt I dared not wait +longer to clear up the general mess I'd made. Your father helped me, +and I now sit here with a roll of precisely one hundred and five +thousand dollars, and a definite promise to your father to fix things +with the great James Carbhoy so no trouble is coming to any one--not +even Slosson. I don't know. Now it's all over I'm sort of sorry. You +know this sort of thing--the excitement of beating folks--is a great +play. I want to be at it all the time." + +"You've got to meet your father yet," said the girl warningly. + +"The old dad? Why, yes, I s'pose I have." Gordon chuckled. "Say, I +don't wonder folks taking to crooked ways. They just set your blood +tingling like--like a glass of champagne on an empty stomach. Just +look out there." He pointed at the new township. "Say, isn't it +wonderful? All in a few weeks. And all the result of one man's +crookedness." + +"And your father has been a--prisoner--the whole time. Over seven +weeks," rebuked the girl. + +"But it's only three weeks since I met you that night on the trail, +Hazel. No other time concerns me. Not even the dear old dad's +captivity. That was the beginning of all things that matter for me." + +"You seem to date everything around that--ridiculous episode," said +Hazel slyly. "I----" + +"I do." + +"Don't interrupt me, sir. I was going to assure you that your proper +spirit should be one of contrition for what you have made your father +endure." + +"It is." + +"You said you didn't care." + +"I don't." + +"Then----" + +Gordon burst out into a happy laugh. + +"Don't you see, dear? I just don't care for, or think about anything +else in the world. You--you--you are just mine, so what's the use of +talking of the old dad." + +"Really? True? True?" The girl's tender eyes were melting as they +gazed up into her lover's. "More to you than all--this?" She +indicated the busy life on the new township. The miracle, as she +regarded it, which he had worked. The man smiled, his eyes full of a +great, tender love. "I'm glad," the girl sighed. "It isn't always so +with men--where the making of money is concerned, is it?" She breathed +a great contentment and happiness. "Yes, I'm--so glad. It's the same +with me, but--I want all this to go on right--because of you. I want +your success. I want your success as a man, and--with your father. +I'm very jealous for those things now. You see, you belong to me, +don't you?" She turned and gazed away across the plain. "Oh, it's +good to see it all--to see all the busy work going on. Look there--and +there," she pointed quickly in many directions. "Buildings going up. +Temporary buildings. The substantial structures to come later. Then +the road gangs at work. The carpenters at the sidewalks. The +surveyors. The teams and wagons. Above all, that depot being built +with all expedition by--your father." She laughed happily and clapped +her hands. "It's all growing every day. A mushroom town. And +you--you have made that money your great father dared you to make. +Dared you--you, and you have made it out of him! Oh, dear! the humor +of it is enough to make a cat laugh. Here you, by sheer audacity and +roguery, have held up a railroad and coolly played the highwayman on +your own father!" + +Gordon shook his head. + +"Call it grabbing opportunity. It was an opportunity which came my way +through the trifling oversight of forgetting to return the private code +book which the old dad had entrusted to my care. Say, I can never +thank the dad enough for that half-hour talk in his office which sent +me out into the wilderness. If he hadn't handed it to me, I should +never have blundered into Snake's; and if I hadn't blundered into +Snake's I shouldn't have found you. I guess my parent's just one of +the few to whom a son owes anything. He gave me life, but didn't stop +at that. He gave me you." + +Hazel's eyes were smiling happily. + +"And in return you lay violent hands on him, and incarcerate him while +you do your best to rob him." + +"It sounds pretty bad." + +"If I didn't know you I'd say that gratitude fell out of your cradle +and killed herself when the fairies got around at your birth. But you +didn't ask me to ride all these miles in to--to say just all these nice +things to me, Gordon? Besides, now you've completed your--graft, what +about your poor long-suffering prisoners? How are you going to save us +all from the consequences of your evil ways? Your father will hate +me." The girl sighed in pretended despair. "He'll never consent +to--to----" + +"Our marriage? Say, if I'm a judge of things I'll have to stand by so +he don't embrace you too often, himself." + +They both laughed like the two happy children they were. There was no +cloud that could mar the sun of their delight now. Hazel, for all her +fears, had perfect faith in this great reckless creature. She had +never been able to obscure the memory of his battle with Slosson on her +behalf. Her faith was unbounded. + +So they rode on, leaving the busy new world the man had created behind +them, as they made their way on towards the ranch. They were leaving +everything behind them, the shadows and sunlight of past strenuous +days, which is the way of youth. They gazed ahead towards the future +with every confidence, and lived in a perfect present which contained +only their two selves. + +It was not until they had nearly reached the ranch, and the wide +pasture stocked with grazing cattle came into view, that the girl was +able to pin her lover down to the urgent matters which lay ahead of +him. Then she received from that simple creature the brief account of +his intentions. For a moment she was staggered. Then, after a brief +digestion of the details, she began to laugh. The rank absurdity and +impudence of them took her fancy, and she found herself caught in the +humor of it all, and ready again to carry out his lightest wish. + +"It's still the same, you see," Gordon finished up. "I still want you, +and your precious help, the same as I always shall. I just can't do a +thing without you, and as long as you are with me, why, I don't guess +failure's got a chance of getting its nose in front. I've got it all +fixed, if you'll play your part. All I ask is, for the Lord's sake +don't start in to laugh at the critical time. I want you scared to +death till I appear, and then you'll just need to chase up an attack of +hysterics or something, throw your heels around and yell blue murder, +and finish up by grabbing me around the neck, and fainting dead away +with happiness. The rest I'll see to. It's some situation for you, +but don't worry when the limelight leaves you in the dark and finds its +way to me. It's just the sort of thing you can find in any old dime +novel. The heroines always act that way, and the hero, too. When you +get back, start right in to think about every dime story you've ever +read. Remember all the things the heroines ever did, and then do 'em +all yourself. See? Guess that isn't as clear as it might be, but when +you've filtered it through that bright little head of yours it'll be +like spring water in a moss-grown mountain creek." + +"Whatever will he say when he knows?" laughed the girl. + +"Say? well, that's not an easy guess," retorted Gordon, with a +responsive laugh. "But, anyway, it's dead sure he'll think a heap +more. Say, there's just one thing more. When you come-to out of that +joyous faint, you got to leave us together for half an hour. Maybe +you'll have some sort of preparation to make, or something. Sort of +stagger out of the room supported by me, and if Hip-Lee attempts to +butt in during that half hour--kill him." + +"You really want me to do--all this?" Hazel's laughing eyes were +raised questioningly. + +"Everything, but--the killing." + +"The fainting--really?" + +"Sure." The man's eyes opened wide. "It's the picture. It's the +reality. It's the local color." + +"Oh, dear!" laughed Hazel, as they rode up to the ranch house. "I +suppose I've got to do it." + +"You will?" + +Gordon flung himself out of the saddle. Hazel laughingly held out her +hand in assurance. + +"My hand on it, Gordon, dear," she cried. + +The man seized it in both of his. Then, regardless of what sharp eyes +might be peeping in their direction, he reached up, and, catching her +about the waist, drew her down towards him till her head was level with +his, and kissed her rapturously. + +"Say, you're the greatest little woman on earth, and--I love you to +death." + +Hazel hastily drew herself out of his strong arms, and, with flushed +face, straightened herself up in the saddle. + +"And you are the greatest and most ridiculous creature ever let loose +to roam this world--and I--love you for it." + +The man laughed. Hazel's laugh joined in. + +"Then--to-night?" + +Hazel nodded. + +"Good-by, dear--till to-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE RESCUE + +It was nearly midnight. The house was quiet. It was so still as to +suggest no life at all within its simple, hospitable walls. It was in +darkness, too, at least from the outside, for all curtains had been +drawn for the night, with as much care as though it were a dwelling +facing upon some busy thoroughfare in a city. + +But, late as the hour was, the occupants of the old ranch house were +not in bed. Hazel was awake, and sitting expectantly waiting in her +bedroom, while somewhere within the purlieus of the kitchen Hip-Lee sat +before an open window in the darkness, doubtless dreaming wakefully of +some flea-ridden village up country in his homeland. + +Upstairs, too, there were no signs of those slumbers which were so long +overdue. Mr. James Carbhoy was seated in a comfortable rocker-chair +adjacent to his dressing bureau, making an effort to become interested +in the "History of the Conquest of Mexico" by the light of a +well-trimmed oil lamp. + +Not one word, however, of the pages he had read had conveyed interest +to his preoccupied mind. It is doubtful if their meaning had been +conveyed with any degree of continuity. He was irritable--irritable +and a shade despondent. + +He had been a captive in that valley for over seven weeks, and the +imprisonment had begun to tell upon his stalwart hardihood. Seven long +weeks of his own company, under easy and even pleasant circumstances. +Even Hazel's company, shadowed as she was by the hated Hip-Lee, had +been denied him. Had it been otherwise he might have felt less +dispirited, for he liked and admired her; and, in spite of the fact +that on that one memorable occasion when he had talked to her alone she +had betrayed, what he now was firmly convinced was her own perfidious +share in his kidnapping, he was human enough to disregard it, and only +remember that she was an extremely pretty and wholly charming creature. + +Yes, he knew now that he had been duped by this daughter of Mallinsbee, +whom he knew owned Buffalo Point, and the whole thing had been a +financial coup engineered by the "smarts" who belonged to his faction. +He had solved the whole problem of his captivity in one revealing +flash, the moment he had learned that this girl was the daughter of +Mallinsbee. He had needed no other information. His keenly trained +mind, with its wide understanding of the methods of financial +interests, had driven straight to the heart of the matter. It was only +the details which had been lacking. But even these had, in a measure, +been filled in during his long hours of solitude and concentrated +thought. + +It was some of the obscured riddles which beset him now, as they had +beset him for days. He could not account for his own confidential +agent Slosson in the matter. Had he been bought over? It seemed +impossible, since Slosson had advised the depot remaining at Snake's +Fall, which was against Mallinsbee's interests. Had he been dealt +with, too? It seemed more likely. But if this were so it made the +daring or desperation of the whole coup suggest to his mind that he was +dealing with men of unusual caliber, and consequently the situation +possessed for him possibilities of a most unpleasant character. + +Then, again, the fact that they were content to leave him unapproached +in his captivity puzzled and disquieted him even more. What could they +achieve with regard to the railroad without his authority? Nothing, +positively nothing, he assured himself. Then what was the purpose to +be served? He could not even guess, and the uncertainty of it all +annoyed, irritated, worried him as the time went on. + +His mind was full of all these concerns as he sat reading the romantic +story of a people with impossible names, and so he lost all the +beauties of one of the most perfect romances in the world. Finally, he +set the book aside and prepared for bed and more hours of worried +sleeplessness. + +James Carbhoy was a typical New Yorker of the best type. In an +unexaggerated way he was fastidious of his appearance and gave a +careful regard to his bodily welfare. He was a man who luxuriated in +cleanly habits of living, and his linen was a sort of passion with him. +In his captivity he had been well cared for in this respect, and the +only cause he had for complaint was the absence of his daily bath, +which he seriously deplored. + +Now he went to the old-fashioned washstand, prepared for his nightly +ablutions, and laid himself out a clean suit of pyjamas. Then he +divested himself of some of his upper garments. He had just started to +remove his shirt, and one arm still remained in its sleeve as he +proceeded to remove it coatwise, when all further action was quite +suddenly suspended and he stood listening. + +A sound had reached his quick ears, a curious sound which, at that hour +of the night, was quite incomprehensible to him. After some breathless +moments he abandoned the divestment of his clothing and swiftly +restored his coat and vest. Then he extinguished his light and drew +the curtains from before the window and opened it further. He sat down +on his bedstead and, resting an elbow on the window-ledge, gazed out +into the starlit, moonless night. + +The sound which had held his attention was still evident. It was the +sound of galloping horses in the distance, the soft plod of many hoofs +over the rich grass of the valley. It was faint but distinct, and, to +this man's inexperienced ears, suggested a large party of horses, +probably horsemen, approaching his prison. With what object? he +wondered, and, wondering, a feeling of excitement took possession of +him. + +Five minutes later his attention was distracted to another direction. +Other sounds reached him, sounds which emanated from close about his +prison itself. There was a movement going on just below him, and +horses were moving about, apparently somewhere in front, where he knew +the corrals to be. His excitement increased. In all his long weeks of +imprisonment he had seen nothing of his captors and no signs of them. +Now, apparently, they were below him, possibly keeping guard, and he +wondered if they had been there every night, silent warders, whose +presence had been all undiscovered by himself. + +It was difficult, difficult to understand or to believe. Yet there was +no doubt that men were gathered below; he could faintly hear their +voices talking in hushed tones, and, equally, he could plainly hear the +sound of their horses. He wished there was a moon to give him light +enough to see what was going on. + +But now the more distant sounds had grown louder, and as they grew the +voices below spoke in less guarded tones. And from the manner of their +speech the listening man knew that something serious was afoot. + +A sudden resolve now formulated in his mind, and he left his place at +the window and stood up. Then he moved swiftly to his door and opened +it. The house seemed wrapped in silence, and he moved out to the head +of the small flight of stairs leading to the floor below. He passed +down and reached the door of the parlor. + +Here he paused for a moment listening. All was still within, and he +cautiously opened the door. The lamp was lit, and, standing beside the +table, upon which the breakfast things were already set, he discovered +the figure of the daughter of Mallinsbee with her back turned towards +him. There was another figure present, too, and, to his intense +chagrin, the millionaire beheld the yellow features of Hip-Lee near the +curtained window. + +However, he passed into the room, and Hazel turned confronting him. He +gazed intently into her face, so serious and apparently troubled. The +yellow lamplight imparted a curious hue, and the man fancied she looked +seriously frightened. + +"What's happening?" he demanded, and an unusual brusqueness was in his +tone. + +The girl's eyes surveyed his expression swiftly. She looked for +something she feared to discover there, and the faintest sigh of relief +escaped her as she realized that her fears were unfounded. + +"That's what we--are trying to find out," she replied, her words +accompanied by a glance of simple, half-fearful helplessness. + +The man checked the reply which promptly rose to his lips. He +remembered in time that this girl was the daughter of Mallinsbee and +that she was exceedingly pretty. To the former he had no desire to +give anything away, while to the latter he desired to display every +courtesy. + +"Our guards seem to be on the alert, and--somebody is approaching," +said the millionaire, with a baffling smile. "If it weren't such a +peaceful spot I'd say there was an atmosphere of--trouble." + +"I--I sort of feel that way, too," said Hazel in a scared manner. She +had gathered all her histrionic abilities together, and intended to use +them. "I wonder what trouble it is?" + +"Seems as if it was for the men who--took us," observed Carbhoy, with a +dryness he could not quite disguise. + +"You--mean our folks have located our whereabouts and--are going to +rescue us?" + +The millionaire smiled into the innocent, questioning eyes, which, he +knew, concealed a humorous guile. + +"I didn't just mean that," he said. "Maybe the trouble won't come +yet." He glanced at the Chinaman standing sphinx-like at the curtains. +"Must he remain?" he said, appealing directly to the girl. + +Hazel felt the necessity for a bold move. + +"Don't let him worry you. We can't help ourselves. I dare not risk +offending him." She conjured a well-feigned shudder. + +The millionaire laughed, and his laugh left the girl troubled and +disconcerted. She would have liked to know what lay behind it. +However, she kept to her attitude of fear. She must play her part to +the end. + +"Hark!" Carbhoy turned his head, listening intently. The girl +followed his example. "Say----" The millionaire broke off, and his +smile was replaced by a look of puzzled incredulity. + +A shot had been fired. It was answered by a shot from somewhere close +to the house. A look of doubt sprang into his gray eyes, and he darted +to the window and unceremoniously brushed the hated Chinaman aside. He +drew the curtain cautiously aside and peered out into the bight. Hazel +beheld the change of expression and his quick, alert movements with +satisfaction. She knew that the sounds of the shots had disconcerted +him. He was more than impressed. He was convinced. + +Then followed a portentous few moments. The two single shots were +converted into something like a rattle of musketry. And intermingled +with it came the hoarse, blasphemous cries of men, and the pounding of +horses' hoofs racing hither and thither. The man at the window +remained silent, his eyes glued to the crack of the divided curtains. +He saw flashes of gunfire and the dim outline of moving figures. But +the details of the scene were hidden from him by the darkness. Hazel, +standing close behind him, rose to a great effort. One hand was laid +abruptly upon his arm, and her nervous fingers clutched at his +coat-sleeve as though she were seeking support. She caught a sharp +breath. + +"My God!" she cried in a tense whisper, while somehow her whole body +shook. + +Carbhoy gave one glance in her direction. His eyes and features had +become tense with excitement. With his disengaged hand he patted the +girl's with a reassuring gentleness, and finally it remained resting +upon her clutching fingers. + +"It's a scrap up all right," he said, with conviction that had no fear +in it. "But it's their game, not----" + +But his words were cut short by the great shouting that went up outside +the house. Then came more firing, and the sharp plonk of bullets as +they struck the building were plainly heard by the watchers. Hazel +urged the man at the curtains-- + +"Come away. For goodness' sake come away. A stray shot! That window! +You----" + +She strove to drag the man away in a wild assumption of panic. But the +millionaire intended to miss nothing of what was going on. The danger +of his position did not occur to him. He firmly released himself from +her clutch. + +"You sit right down, my dear," he said kindly. "Just get right out of +line with this window. I want to see this out. Say, hark! They're +hitting it up good, eh?" + +His eyes were alight with the excitement of battle, and Hazel, watching +him, with fear carefully expressed in her eyes, could not help but +admire the spirit of her lover's father, and more than ever regret the +part she was forced to play. + +She withdrew obediently as the sounds of battle waxed and the cries of +the combatants made the still night hideous. The firing had become +almost incessant, and the bullets seemed to hail upon the building from +every direction. Then, too, the galloping horses added to the tumult, +and it was pretty obvious the defenders were charging their opponents. + +"There seems to be about two to one attacking," said the millionaire +over his shoulder presently. + +As he turned he surveyed with pity the strong look of terror the girl +had contrived. He never once looked in the detested Chinaman's +direction. In his heart he would not have regretted a chance shot +disturbing those yellow, immobile features. + +Then, turning back again quickly-- + +"I wonder!" + +Now that the battle seemed to be at its height, and whilst awaiting its +issue, he had time for conjecture. What was the meaning of it? And +who were the attacking party? Was Slosson at its head? Had Harker +sent up and was this a sheriff's posse? Both seemed possible. Yet +neither, somehow, convinced him. Whoever were attacking, it was pretty +certain in his mind that his release was the object. + +But the moment passed, and he became absorbed once more in the battle +itself. It seemed miraculous to his twentieth-century ideas that such +a condition of things could prevail. Why, it was like the old romantic +days of the hard drinking, hard swearing "bad men," and a sort of +boyish delight in the excitement of it all swept through his veins. He +had no time or thought for the part the now terror-stricken girl had +played in his captivity. All he felt was a large-hearted, chivalrous +regret for her present condition, of which no doubt remained in his +mind. + +A rush of horsemen charged up to the building. The watching man saw +their outline distinctly. There seemed to him at least eight or ten. +He saw another crowd, smaller numerically, charge at them, and then the +revolvers spat out their vicious flashes of ruddy fire. The crowd +dispersed and gathered again. Another fusillade. Then something +seemed to happen. The whole crowd swept away in the darkness, and the +sounds of shooting and the cries of men died away into the distance. + +He waited awhile to assure himself that, so far as their position was +concerned, the battle was at an end. Then he turned away from the +window. + +"They've cleaned 'em out," he said sharply. "I can't tell whose outed. +They've ridden off at the gallop, firing and cursing as they went. +Maybe our captors have driven the others off. Maybe it's the other +way. We'll--hark!" + +He was back at the window again in a second. + +"They're coming back," he cried. "Say----" + +Hazel was at his side in a moment. + +"Are they the----?" + +"Can't say who," cried Carbhoy, peering intently. "A big bunch of 'em." + +"Our men were only four," said Hazel quickly. + +The millionaire was too intent to look round, and so he missed the +girl's smile over at Hip-Lee. But the tone of her voice was +unmistakable in its anxiety. + +"There's eight or more here," he cried. "Say, they're dismounting! +They're----" + +"They're coming into the house!" cried Hazel in an extravagant panic. +"They----" + +At that instant a loud voice beyond the door of the room was heard +shouting to the men outside-- + +"Keep a keen eye while I go through the house! Don't let a soul +escape. If they've hurt one hair of her head somebody's going to pay, +and pay dear." + +The millionaire was standing stock still in the middle of the room. A +curious look was gleaming in his steady eyes. Hazel, in the midst of +her pretended panic, beheld it and interpreted it. She read in it a +recognition of the speaker's voice, but she also read incredulity and +amazement. + +But at that instant the door burst open and a great figure rushed +headlong into the room. As the girl beheld it she flung wide her arms +and, with a cry, ran towards the intruder. + +"Gordon! Gordon! At last, at last!" she cried. "Oh, I thought you +would never find me! Never, never!" + +Her final exclamations were lost in the bosom of his tweed coat, as she +flung herself into his arms and burst into a flood of hysterical +weeping and laughter. + +"Hazel! My poor little Hazel! Say, I've been nearly crazy. I----" + +Gordon broke off, the girl still lying in his arms. His eyes had +lifted to the face of his father, and their keen, steady glance became +instantly absorbed by the gray speculation behind the other's. + +"Dad! You?" + +The astonishment, the incredulity were perfect. They might well have +deceived anybody. + +"Sure," said the millionaire dryly. Then, "I don't guess they've hurt +her any, though. Maybe you best hand her over to her father," he went +on, pointing at the burly figure of Silas Mallinsbee, who, with his +patch well down over his eye, had appeared at that moment in the +doorway. "Guess he'll know how to soothe her some. Meanwhile you'll +maybe tell me how you lit on our trail." + +The man's smile was disarming, yet Gordon fancied he detected a shadow +of that lurking irony which he knew so well in his father. + +He turned about, however, and passed Hazel over to the rancher, while +he added tender injunctions-- + +"Say, Mr. Mallinsbee, she's scared all to death. You best get her to +bed. Poor little girl! Say, I'd like----" + +But he did not complete his sentence. Instead he turned to his father, +as Hazel, with difficulty restraining her laughter, was led from the +room by her solemn-faced, fierce-eyed parent. + +"Say, Dad, what in the name of all creation has brought you here?" + +The millionaire turned, and a cold eye of hatred settled upon the +background which Hip-Lee formed to the picture. + +"Do we need that yellow reptile present?" he said unemotionally. + +"I guess not," said Gordon readily. Then he pointed the door to the +Mongolian. "Get!" he ejaculated. And the injunction was acted upon +with silent alacrity. + +Then the two men faced each other. + +"Well?" demanded the father. + +The son smiled amiably. + +"Well?" he retorted. And both men sat down. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +CASHING IN + +Gordon's eyes were alight with a wonder that somehow lacked reality as +he dropped into the chair beside the table. + +"You? You?" he murmured. Then aloud: "It--it's incredible!" Then, +with an impulsive gesture. "In the name of all that's crazy +what's--what's the meaning of it? How in the world have you got into +the hands of these ruffians?" + +His father selected one of the two remaining cigars in his case, and +passed the other across. + +"Try again," he said quietly, as he bit the end off his. + +But Gordon did not "try again." He took the proffered cigar, and sat +devouring the silent figure and sphinx-like face of the other, while he +felt like one who had received a douche of ice-cold water from a pail. +His acting had missed fire, and he knew it. He wondered how much else +of his efforts had missed fire with this abnormally acute man. He had +intended this to be the moment of his triumph. He had intended to lay +before his father his talent of silver, doubled and redoubled an +hundredfold. He had intended, with all the enthusiasm of youthful +vanity, to display the triumph of his understanding of the modern +methods of dealing with the affairs of finance. He was going to prove +his theories up to the hilt. + +Now, somehow, he felt that whatever victory he had achieved the clear, +keen brain behind his father's steady gray eyes saw through him +completely, right down into the deepest secrets which he had believed +to be securely hidden. Face to face with this man, who had spent all +the long years of his life studying how best to beat his fellow man, +his acting became but a paltry mask which obscured nothing. "Try +again." Such simple words, but so significant. No, it was useless to +"try again" with this dear, shrewd creature he was so futilely +endeavoring to deceive. + +The cold of the gray eyes had changed. It was only a slight change, +but to Gordon, who understood his father so well, it was clearly +perceptible and indicative of the mood behind. There was a suggestion +of a smile in them, an ironical, half-humorous smile that scattered all +his carefully made plans. + +The millionaire struck a match and held it out to light his son's +cigar, and, as Gordon leaned forward, their eyes met in a steady regard. + +"Nothing doing?" inquired the father, as he carefully lit his own cigar +from the same match. + +Gordon shook his head, and his eyes smiled whimsically. + +"Then I best do first talk." The millionaire leaned back in his chair +and breathed out a thin spiral of smoke. Then he sighed. "Good smokes +these. Mallinsbee's a man of taste." + +"Mallinsbee?" + +"Sure." + +"Go on." + +"He's kept me well supplied. Also with good wine. I owe him quite a +debt--that way. Say----" The millionaire paused reflectively. Then +he went on in the manner of a man who has arrived at a complete and +definite decision: "Guess it would take hours asking questions and +getting answers. It's not my way, and I don't guess I'm a lawyer +anyway, and you aren't a shady witness. We know just how to talk out +straight. I've had over seven weeks to think in--and thinking with me +is--a disease. Let's go back. I had a neat land scoop working up +here. Slosson was working it. He's been a secret agent of mine for +years. I've no reason to distrust him. He fixes things right for us +and sends word for me to come along. That's happened many times +before. It's not new, or--unusual. When I get here I'm met by a very +charming young girl with a rig and team. Her excuse for meeting me is +reasonable. The rest is easy. We are both held up, and brought +here--captives. Then I start in to think a lot. Argument don't carry +me more than a mile till that same charming girl, who's just done all +she knew to make things right for me, makes her first break. When I +found out she was the daughter of Mallinsbee I did all the thinking +needed in half an hour. I knew I was to be rolled on this land deal by +Mallinsbee's crowd, and, judging by the methods adopted, to be rolled +good. You see we'd had negotiations with Mallinsbee about his land at +Buffalo Point before. See?" + +Gordon silently nodded. + +His father breathed heavily, and, with a wry twist of his lips, rolled +his cigar firmly into the corner of his mouth. + +"Now, when I'd done thinking it just left me guessing in two +directions. One of 'em I answered more or less satisfactorily. This +was the one I answered. What had become of Slosson? Had he been +handled by these folk, or had he doubled? The latter I counted out. +I've always had him where I wanted him. He wouldn't dare. So I said +he'd been 'handled.' The other was how could they hope to deal with +the Union Grayling without my authority? That's still unanswered, +though I see a gleam of daylight--since meeting you here. However, +Gordon boy, you've certainly given me the surprise of my life--finding +you associated with Mallinsbee--and taken to play-acting. That was a +pretty piece outside with guns. I allow it got me fine. But you +overdid it showing in here. That also told me another thing. It told +me that a feller can spend a lifetime making a bright man of himself, +while it only takes a pretty gal five seconds yanking out one of the +key-stones to the edifice he's built. I guess I've been mighty sorry +for your lady friend. I guessed she was pining to death for her folks, +and was scared to death of that darnation Chink. However, I'm relieved +to find she's just a bunch of bright wits, and don't lack in natural +female ability for play-acting. Maybe you can hand me some about those +directions I'm still guessing in. I'll smoke while you say some." + +Father and son smiled into each other's faces as the elder finished +speaking. But while Gordon's smile was one of genuine admiration, his +father's still savored of that irony which warned the younger that all +was by no means plain sailing yet. + +"I'm glad you feel that way about Hazel, Dad," cried Gordon, his face +flushing with genuine pleasure. "She's some girl. I guess I'm the +luckiest feller alive winning her for a wife, eh?" + +"You're going to--marry her?" + +"Why, yes. She's the greatest, the best, the----" + +"Just so. But we're not both going to marry her." + +Gordon flung back in his chair with a great laugh. But his father's +eyes still maintained their irony. + +"Say, I'm sort of sorry talking that way now. There's other things." +Gordon fumbled in his pocket while he went on. "Slosson? Why +Slosson's trying to stave off pneumonia in a disused, perforated shack +way up on Mallinsbee's ranch. He's a skunk of a man anyway, and I had +to let him know I thought that way. I haven't heard about the +pneumonia yet, but if he got it I don't guess it would give me +nightmare." Then he handed across a small volume in morocco binding +which he had taken from his pocket. "I don't seem to think you'll need +much explanation about the other. That's your code book, which I +forgot to return in the hurry of quitting New York." + +The millionaire turned the cover, closed it again, and quietly bestowed +it in his pocket. + +"Guess I'll keep this," he said without emotion. "Yes, it tells me a +lot. It tells me I've credited Mallinsbee and his crowd with the work +of my son. It tells me that my own son is solely responsible for the +idea, and execution, of rolling his father on this land deal. It tells +me that the principles of big finance must have a fertile resting place +somewhere in my son. Well, there's quite a lot of time before +daylight." + +It had been an anxious moment for Gordon when he handed back the +private code book, and he had watched his father closely. He was +seeking any sign of anger, or regret, or even pain, as his own actions +became apparent to the other. There were no such signs. There was +only that non-committal half smile, and it left him still uncertain. + +His father's patience seemed inexhaustible. Had Gordon only realized +it this was the very sign he should have looked for in such a man. +James Carbhoy loved his son as few men regard their offspring, but he +wanted his son to be something more than a mere object of his +affection. He wanted him to be an object upon which he could bestow +all the enormous pride of a self-made man. He wanted to feel that +exquisite thrill of triumph resulting to his vanity, that Gordon was +his son--the son of his father. + +"Yes, there's quite a while before daylight, Dad, and I'm glad." +Gordon ran his fingers through his hair. "So I'd better hand it you +from the beginning. I want you to get a right understanding of my +motives. It was opportunity. That thing you've always taught me fools +most always try to dodge, and most good men generally miss." + +His father nodded and Gordon settled himself afresh in his chair. + +"Yes, I'm in this thing, Dad," he went on, after the briefest of +pauses. "In it right up to my neck," he added, with a whimsical smile. +"It was the opportunity I needed to make good. Being neither a fool +nor a good man I took it, and now I sit with a wad of one hundred and +five thousand dollars in good United States currency. It's here in my +pocket, and I'm ready to hand it over to you in payment for those old +debts. You will observe I have still eight weeks of my six months to +run. I want to say, as you'll no doubt agree when you've heard my +story, that I've made, or acquired it, through graft and piracy, such +as I talked about to you awhile back, and, as far as I can see, my +method has been as completely dishonest as an honest man could adopt. +Dad, I've always regarded your sense of humor as one of your greatest +attributes, but whether it'll stand for the way I've treated you, even +with my intimate knowledge of you, I'm not prepared to guess. This is +the yarn." + +Gordon plunged into the story without further preamble while his father +sat and smoked on with that half smile still fixed in his gray eyes. +The younger man watched the still, inscrutable, sphinx-like figure with +eyes of grave speculation. He missed no detail in the story of his +irresponsibility and haphazard adventure. He started at the moment +when he booked his passage for Seattle, and carried it on right down to +the melodramatic moment when he burst into that parlor to rescue the +girl he loved from a peril which he knew had never threatened her. He +told it all with a detail that spared neither himself, nor the +confidential agent Slosson, nor any one else concerned. He showed up +the spirit of graft which actuated every step of his progress, and did +not hesitate to apply the lash with merciless force upon the railroad +organization his father controlled. + +And right through, from beginning to end, the millionaire listened +without sign or comment. He wanted to hear all this boy--his boy--had +to say. And as he went on that pride, parental pride, in him grew and +grew. + +At the end of the story Gordon added a final comment-- + +"I want to say, Dad, I haven't done this all myself. I've had the help +of two of the most cheerful, lovable rascals I've ever met. Also the +help of one honest man. But above all, through the whole thing, I've +been supported by the smile of the sweetest and best woman in the +world, the girl who's done her best to care for your comfort here. +She's sacrificed all scruples to help me out, while her father, bless +him, has never approved any of my dirty schemes. There you are, Dad, +that's the yarn. I don't guess it'll make you shout for joy, but, +anyway, you started me out to make good--anyway I chose--and I've made +good. Furthermore, I've made good within the time limit, and, in +making good, I'm bringing back a wife to our home city. I'm standing +on my own legs now, as you always guessed you wanted me to, and if you +don't just fancy the gait I travel--why, it's up to you. That's +mine--now you say." + +The fixity of his father's attitude had driven Gordon to say more than +he had intended, but he meant it, every word, nor did he regard his +parent with any less affection for it. But now, as he awaited a +response, a certain unease was tugging at his heartstrings. + +At last the millionaire rose from his seat and crossed to the curtained +window. He drew the curtains aside, and, raising the sash, flung out +his cigar stump. Then for a moment he gazed out at the moonless night. +While he stood thus the smile in his thoughtful eyes deepened. + +At last, however, he turned back, and the face that confronted the son +he loved wore the sharp, hawk-like look which his opponents in the +business world of New York were so familiar with. + +"That's all right," he said sharply. "But--you've forgotten something." + +Gordon became extremely alert. + +"Have I?" Then he laughed. "It 'ud be a miracle if I hadn't." + +"Sure. Most folks forget something. I forgot that code book." + +"Yes." + +Their eyes met. + +"You've forgotten that I can stop the work at Buffalo Point. You've +forgotten that you've passed out of the realms of simple graft and +plunged into criminal proceedings, which brings you within the shadow +of the law. You've forgotten that I can smash your schemes, break you, +and send you to penitentiary--you and your entire gang." + +The steady eyes were deadly as they coldly backed the sharp +pronouncement of the words. Gordon was caught by the painful emotion +which the harshness of them inspired. He knew that his father had +spoken the simple truth. He knew that in the eyes of the world he was +a plain criminal. The unpleasant feeling was instantly thrust aside, +however. He had not embarked upon this affair without intending to +carry it through to the end he desired. + +"I haven't forgotten those things, Dad," he said, with a sharpness +equal to the other's. "I thought of 'em all--and prepared for 'em. +I'm not playing. You put this thing up to me. I'm here to see it +through." + +"And then?" There was a shade of sarcasm in the millionaire's tone. + +"Then? Why, I could tell you lots of reasons why you can't do any of +these things. There's arguments that I don't guess you've missed +already. But, anyway, just one little fact 'll be sufficient to go on +with. You're here a captive, and you can't get away till I give the +word." + +For one of the very few times in his life James Carbhoy was seriously +disconcerted. Choler began to rise, and a hot flush tinged his cheeks +and his eyes sparkled. + +"You--would keep me here a prisoner--indefinitely?" he exploded. + +"I'm not playing, Dad," Gordon warned. + +Gordon had risen from his chair, and the two stood eye to eye. It was +a tense moment, full of potent possibilities. One of them must give +way, or a clash would inevitably follow, a clash which would probably +destroy forever that perfect devotion which had always existed between +them. + +For Gordon it was a moment of extreme pain. But in him was no thought +of yielding. From his father it was his invincible determination to +force an acknowledgment of fitness in human affairs as he understood +them. + +At that moment there was no humor in the situation for him. + +In the older man, however, humor was perhaps more matured. Parental +affection, too, is perhaps a bigger, wider, deeper thing than the +filial emotions of youth. He had only intended to test this son of +his. His challenge had been intended to try him, to confound. But the +confounding had been with him in the shock of his son's irrevocable +determination. + +That moment of natural resentment passed as swiftly as it had arisen. +Gordon was all, and even more, he told himself dryly, than he had +hoped. And so the moment passed, and the hard, gray eyes melted to a +kindly, whimsical smile which had not one vestige of irony in it. + +"You're a blamed young scamp," he said cordially; "but--I'm afraid I +like you all the better for it. Say, do you think that little girl of +yours and her father have gone to bed yet?" + +Gordon reached across, holding out his hand. + +"Dear old Dad," he cried, "I'm dead sure we'll find 'em both not a mile +the other side of that door. The game's played out, and--we quit?" + +The father caught his son's hand and wrung it. + +"It's played out, boy; and God bless you!" They stood for a moment +hand gripped in hand. Then the millionaire pointed at the door. + +"I'd like to see 'em before--daylight." + +With a delighted laugh Gordon turned away to the door and flung it open. + +"Say," he called, "Hazel! Ho! Mr. Mallinsbee!" + +In a moment Hazel had darted to her lover's side, and was followed more +decorously by the burly rancher, with his patch well down over one eye. +Gordon pointed at it. + +"Guess you can do without that, Mr. Mallinsbee. You're not going to +face an opponent; you're going to meet a--friend." + +He slid his arm about the girl's waist and drew her gently forward +towards his father standing waiting to receive her with humorously +twinkling eyes. + +[Illustration: He Drew Her Gently Towards His Father] + +"So you're to be my little daughter," cried the millionaire kindly. +"Well, my dear, I'm glad. I like grit, and you've got it plenty. I +like a pretty face, and--but I guess Gordon's told you all about that. +Seeing you're to be my daughter--and Gordon's left me no choice in the +matter, the same as he left me no choice in other things--I feel I've +the right to tell you you're a pair of--as impertinent young rascals as +I've ever had the happiness to claim relationship with. Let me see, +just come here, and--Gordon owes me for many nights of anxiety, and I +guess I've a right to make him pay. I'll be satisfied with the payment +of a kiss from you." + +He held out his arms, and Hazel, with a joyous laugh and blushing +cheeks, ran to them. + +"Thank you, my dear," laughed the millionaire, as the girl frankly +kissed him. "And that's the change." He closed his arms about her and +returned her kiss. + +Then, when he had released her, he turned to Mallinsbee and held out +his hand. + +"I can always make friends with the fellow who licks me, Mr. +Mallinsbee. I'm glad to meet you--with that patch removed from your +eye. The game's played and you've won, and I promise you all that's +been done in my name by my son goes. You see, henceforth he's my +partner now, so he's the right to act in my name. I'm trusting him +with my dollars, but you are trusting him with something far more +precious. I hope he'll prove as good a son to you as, I'm glad to say, +I consider he's been to me." + +Mallinsbee smiled a little sadly, and his eyes gazed tenderly in +Hazel's direction. + +"Directly that boy of yours come around, Mr. Carbhoy, I felt the chill +of winter beating up. I'm glad he come, though--I like him. But," he +added, with a sigh, "I'll sure need to bank those furnaces some." + +Hazel left the millionaire's side and crossed to her father, and passed +her arm about his vast waist. + +"Don't start yet, Daddy," she said, smiling up at the rugged face. "I +haven't left you yet, and when I do it's only going to be for a small +piece at a time." + +Silas Mallinsbee shook his head. + +"Don't you worry, little gal," he said gently. "I guess this winter's +goin' to be a mild one. You see, I'm goin' to have a son as well as a +daughter, and--who knows?--maybe grandsons----" + +But Hazel had quickly pressed one hand over his lips and stifled the +possibilities he was about to enumerate. + +Gordon laughed, and his father smiled over at the other father. + +"See, Mr. Mallinsbee, we don't need to worry with the summer," Gordon +cried. "Summer generally fixes things right for itself. Meanwhile +we'll just make the winter as easy as we can. You've given your little +girl to me, and she's all you care for in the world. Well, that's a +trust that demands all the best I can give. I won't fail you. I won't +fail her. And you, Dad, I won't fail you." + +"Good boy," said the millionaire, with a glow of pride. "I just know +it, and--I know it for Mr. Mallinsbee and Hazel, too, if they don't +know it for themselves. Say----" + +For a moment his eyes grew serious. Then into them crept a gleam of +twinkling humor which found reflection on the faces of both Gordon and +Hazel, who waited for him to complete what he had to say. + +"You've told your mother, Gordon?" he inquired. "Seems to me you've +told her 'most everything in those--chatty--letters of yours." + +Gordon grinned and shook his head, while Hazel waited--not without some +apprehension. His father's smile gave way to a quaint expression of +awe at such negligence. + +"I'd say she'd be pleased, of course," the millionaire said, without +conviction. "It's a mercy not always bestowed on a boy to get a wife +like--Hazel. Your mother's a mighty good woman, Gordon, and I'll allow +she's got her ways about things. But she's good, and I guess she'll +just take to Hazel right away." + +There was no confidence in his manner, in spite of the bravery of his +words. But Gordon quickly cleared the atmosphere with his cheery +confidence. + +"You leave the dear old mater to me, Dad," he cried. "You see, you +only married her--she raised me. I'll write her to-night, and--say, +that reminds me," he added, glancing at his watch. "Daylight'll be +around directly. Hazel needs her rest. Hadn't we----" + +Hazel laughed. She had no real desire for bed, but she was tired, +weary with the strain of all the swiftly moving events. She caught at +his suggestion and demanded compliance. + +"Yes," she cried. "There's another day to-morrow. Oh, that wonderful +to-morrow! A long, bright, happy day in which we have nothing to +conceal, no wicked schemes to be worked out. A day of real happiness, +when we can just be our real selves. Let's all go to bed and dream our +dreams with the full certainty that, however happy our to-day is, +to-morrow has always the possibility of being happier." + + +But Gordon did not write the promised letter that night. He held long +communion with himself, and decided to send a telegram. He realized +that diplomacy must be brought to bear, for his mother, with all her +exquisite qualities, possessed a slightly arbitrary side to her +character where her home and belongings were concerned. Therefore he +decided on a bold stroke. + +He sacrificed his own rest that night, and in doing so sacrificed that +of certain others. Sunset was roused from his equine slumbers, as also +was Steve Mason disturbed out of a portion of his night's rest. + +Gordon rode hard into Snake's Fall. He wished to make the return +journey before breakfast. On arrival at the township he ignored every +protest from the operator. He overruled him on every point, and was +prepared to back his overruling with physical force. + +Steve Mason was literally scrambled into his clothes and set to work at +those hated keys, and the New York call was sent singing over the wires. + +Meanwhile Gordon was left at work upon a sheet of paper upon which, +after considerable thought, his diplomatic effort resolved itself into +a piece of superlative effrontery. + +And this was the message which startled his mother over her morning +coffee and rolls, and incidentally sent a current of furious feminine +excitement through the entire Carbhoy establishment at Central Park, +like a sharp electric storm. + + +"_Mrs. James Carbhoy,_ + "_New York._ + +"Gordon's work here beyond praise. Boy has done wonders. When you +hear all you will be proud of him. I am with him here now. Great +events developing. Am most anxious to form alliance with certain +people for financial reasons. Your influence required on social side. +You will understand when I say rich, desirable heiress. Gordon needs +persuasion. Come at once. Special to Snake's Fall. Will meet you at +latter depot. + +"JAMES CARBHOY." + + +When this message was handed to the impatient operator and he had +carefully read it over, the man looked up with what Gordon regarded as +an impertinent grin. + +His resentment promptly leaped. + +"Say," he cried in a threatening tone, "there's some faces made for +grinning, and others that couldn't win prizes that way amongst a crowd +of fool-faced mules. Guess yours was spoiled for any sort of chance +whatever, so cut out trying to make it worse than your parents made it +for you. Get me? Just play about on those fool keys and set the tune +of that message right, or Mr. James Carbhoy's going to hear things +quick." + +The threat of the President of the railroad was sufficient to enforce +compliance, but Steve Mason was no respector of persons outside that +authority, and his retort came glibly. + +"You wrote this, Mister, and--you ain't Mr. James Carbhoy," he said, +with a sneer and a half-threat. + +But Gordon was in no mood for trifling about anything. He was anxious +to be off back to the ranch. + +"Mr. James Carbhoy is my father," he cried sharply, "and if that don't +penetrate your perfectly ridiculous brain-box I'll add that I'm the son +of my father--Mr. James Carbhoy. Are you needing anything, or--will +you get busy?" + +Steve Mason decided to "get busy," and so the message winged its way +over the wires. + + + + +THE END + + + + + BY THE SAME AUTHOR + + The Son of His Father + The Men Who Wrought + The Golden Woman + The Law-Breakers + The Way of the Strong + The Twins of Suffering Creek + The Night-Riders + The One-Way Trail + The Trail of the Axe + The Sheriff of Dyke Hole + The Watchers of the Plains + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Son of his Father, by Ridgwell Cullum + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SON OF HIS FATHER *** + +***** This file should be named 36170.txt or 36170.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/1/7/36170/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +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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