inn, the _Falken_, and the stream that runs in front of it reminded me
of this, and made me quite lonesome for the ranch. Of course, you had
the river opposite you at the _Thunerhof_, but there the river is half a
dozen times as wide as the branch that runs past the _Falken_. I used to
sit out on the terrace watching that stream, murmuring to its
accompaniment 'Home, sweet Home.'"
"You are by way of being a traveller, then?"
"Not a traveller, Mr. Stranleigh," said the girl, laughing a little,
"but a dabbler. I took dabs of travel, like my little visit to Thun. For
more than a year I lived in Lausanne, studying my profession, and during
that time I made brief excursions here and there."
"Your profession," asked Stranleigh, with evident astonishment.
"Yes; can't you guess what it is, and why I am relating this bit of
personal history on such very short acquaintance?"
The girl's smile was beautiful.
"Don't you know Europe?" she added.
"I ought to; I'm a native."
"Then you are aware that Lausanne is a centre of medical teaching and
medical practice. I am a doctor, Mr. Stranleigh. Had your wound been
really serious, which it is not, and you had come under the care of
either physician in Bleachers, he would have sent for me, if he knew I
were at home."
"What you have said interests me very much, Miss Armstrong, or should I
say Doctor Armstrong?"
"I will answer to either designation, Mr. Stranleigh, but I should
qualify the latter by adding that I am not a practising physician.
'Professor,' perhaps, would be the more accurate title. I am a member of
the faculty in an eastern college of medicine, but by and by I hope to
give up teaching, and devote myself entirely to research work. It is my
ambition to become the American Madame Curie."
"A laudable ambition, Professor, and I hope you will succeed. Do you
mind if I tell you how completely wrong you are in your diagnosis of the
subject now before you?"
"In my surgical diagnosis I am not wrong. Your wound will be cured in a
very few days."
"Oh, I am not impugning your medical skill. I knew the moment you spoke
about your work that you were an expert. It is your diagnosis of me that
is all astray. I have no such disbelief in the capacity of woman as you
credit me with. I have no desire to place myself under the ministrations
of either of those doctors in Bleachers. My desire for the metropolitan
delights of that scattered town is of the most commonplace nature. I
must buy for myself an outfit of clothes. I possess nothing in the way
of raiment except what I am wearing, and part of that you've cut up with
your scissors."
"Surely you never came all this distance without being well provided in
that respect?"
"No; I had ample supplies, and I brought them with me safely to a point
within sight of this house. In fact, I came hither like a sheik of the
desert, at the head of a caravan, only the animals were mules instead of
camels. All went well until we came to the edge of the forest, but the
moment I emerged a shot rang out, and it seemed to me I was stung by a
gigantic bee, as invisible as the shooter. The guide said there was a
band of robbers intent on plunder, and he and the escort acted as
escorts usually do in such circumstances. They unloaded the mules with
most admirable celerity, and then made off much faster than they came. I
never knew a body of men so unanimous in action. They would make a
splendid board of directors in a commercial company that wished to get
its work accomplished without undue discussion."
The girl had risen to her feet.
"And your baggage?" she asked.
"I suppose it is in the hands of the brigands by this time. I left it
scattered along the trail."
"But, Mr. Stranleigh, what you say is incredible. There are no brigands,
thieves or road agents in this district."
"The wound that you dressed so skilfully is my witness, and a witness
whose testimony cannot be impugned on cross-examination."
"There is a mistake somewhere. Why, just think of it; the most energetic
bandit would starve in this locality! There is no traffic. If your
belongings were scattered along the trail, they are there yet."
"Then why shoot the belonger of those belongings?"
"That's just what I must discover. Excuse me for a moment."
She passed through the house, and the young man heard a shrill whistle
blown, which was answered by a call some distance away. The girl
returned, and sat down again, her brow perplexed, and presently there
came on to the platform a stalwart, good-natured looking man, dressed in
what Stranleigh took to be a cowboy costume; at least, it was the kind
of apparel he had read about in books of the Wild West. His head was
covered with a broad-brimmed slouch hat, which he swept off in deference
to the lady.
"Jim," she said, "did you hear any shooting out by the Bleachers trail
about an hour ago?"
"No, Ma'am; I can't say that I did, except a rifle I shot off."
"That _you_ shot off! What were you shooting at?"
"Well," said Jim, with a humorous chuckle, "I guess perhaps it was this
gentleman."
"Why did you wish to murder _me_?" asked Stranleigh, with pardonable
concern.
"Murder you, sir? Why, I didn't try to murder you. I could have winged
you a dozen times while you were riding down to the house, if I'd wanted
to. Where were you hit?"
"In the left shoulder."
"Then that's all right. That's what I aimed to do. I just set out to nip
you, and scare you back where you came from."
"But why?" insisted the perplexed Stranleigh.
"You came along with a posse behind you, and I thought you were the
sheriff, but I wouldn't kill even a sheriff unless I had to. I'm the
peaceablest man on earth, as Miss Armstrong there will tell you."
"If that's your idea of peace," said Stranleigh, puzzled, "I hope next
time I'll fall among warlike people."
Jim grinned. It was Miss Armstrong who spoke, and, it seemed to
Stranleigh, with unexpected mildness, considering she knew so much of
the Eastern States and Europe.
"I understand," she said, "but next time, Jim, it will be as well merely
to fire the gun, without hitting anybody."
"Oh," explained Jim, in an off-hand manner, "our folk don't pay any
attention to the like of that. You've got to show them you mean
business. If this gentleman had come on, the next shot would have hit
him where it would hurt, but seeing he was peaceable minded, he was safe
as in a church."
"Is the baggage where he left it?"
"Certainly, Ma'am; do you wish it brought here?"
"Yes; I do."
"All right, Ma'am; I'll see to that. It's all a little mistake, sir," he
said amiably, as he turned to Stranleigh. "Accidents will happen in the
best regulated family, as the saying goes," and with a flourish of the
hat he departed.
Miss Armstrong rose as if to leave the verandah. As she did so
Stranleigh said in a tone of mild reproach:
"I confess I am puzzled."
"So am I," replied the girl, brightly. "I'm puzzled to know what I can
offer you in the way of books. Our stock is rather limited."
"I don't want to read, Miss Armstrong, but I do want to know why there
is such a prejudice here against a sheriff. In the land I came from a
sheriff is not only regarded with great respect, but even with
veneration. He rides about in a gilded coach, and wears magnificent
robes, decorated with gold lace. I believe that he develops ultimately
into a Lord Mayor, just as a grub, if one may call so glorious a
personage as a sheriff a grub, ultimately becomes a butterfly. We'd
never think of shooting a sheriff. Why, then, do you pot at sheriffs,
and hit innocent people, out here?"
The girl laughed.
"I saw the Lord Mayor of London once in his carriage, and behind it were
two most magnificent persons. Were they sheriffs?"
"Oh, dear no; they were merely flunkeys."
"_Our_ sheriffs are elected persons, drawn from the politician class,
and if you know America, you will understand what that means. Among the
various duties of a sheriff is that of seizing property and selling it,
if the owner of that property hasn't paid his debts."
"They act as bailiffs, then?"
"Very likely; I am not acquainted with legal procedure. But I must go,
Mr. Stranleigh, for whatever the position of a sheriff may be, mine is
that of assistant to my mother, who is just now preparing the dinner, a
meal that, further East, is called lunch. And now, what would you prefer
to read? The latest magazine or a pharmaceutical journal?"
"Thank you, Miss Armstrong; I prefer gazing at the scenery to either of
them."
"Then good-bye until dinner time," whereupon she disappeared into the
house.
The meal proved unexpectedly good. There was about it an enticing
freshness, and a variety that was surprising when the distance from the
house to the nearest market was considered. Stranleigh could not
remember any repast he had enjoyed so much, although he suspected that
horseback exercise in the keen air had helped his appreciation of it.
When he mentioned his gratification at so satisfactory a menu, the girl
smiled.
"Plain living and lofty thought is our motto on the ranch," she said.
"This is anything but plain living," he replied, "and I consider myself
no mean judge in such matters. How far away is your market town?"
"Oh, a market is merely one of those effete contrivances of
civilisation. What you buy in a market has been handled and re-handled,
and artificially made to look what it is not. The basis of our provender
is the farm. All round us here is what economists call, in a double
sense of the term, raw material. Farm house fare is often what it should
not be because art belongs to the city while nature belongs to the farm.
To produce a good result, the two must be united. We were speaking just
now of Thun. If, leaving that town, you proceed along the left hand road
by the lake, you will arrive at a large institution which is devoted
entirely to the art of cookery. The more I progressed with my studies at
Lausanne, the more I realised that the basis of health is good food,
properly prepared. So I interrupted my medical studies for a time,
entered that establishment, and learned to cook."
"Miss Armstrong, you are the most efficient individual I ever met."
"You are very complimentary, Mr. Stranleigh, because, like the various
meals you have enjoyed in different parts of the world, you must have
met a great many people. To enhance myself further in your eyes, I may
add that I have brought another much-needed accomplishment to the farm.
I am an expert accountant, and can manage business affairs in a way that
would startle you, and regarding this statement of mine, I should like
to ask you, hoping you won't think I am impertinent, are you a rich
man?"
Stranleigh was indeed startled--she had succeeded in that--and he
hesitated before he answered--
"I am considered reasonably well off."
"I am very glad to hear it, for it has been the custom of my father, who
is not a good business man, to charge boarders two or three dollars a
week when they come with their guns and fishing tackle. Now, we are in a
unique position. We have the advantage of being free from competition.
The hotels of New York are as thick as blackberries. They meet
competition in its fiercest form, yet the prices they charge are much
more per day than we charge for a month. I am determined that our prices
shall be equal to New York prices, but I think it is only fair to let
any customer know the fact before he is called upon to pay his bill."
"A very excellent arrangement," said Stranleigh, heartily, "and in my
case there will be an additional account for medical services. Will that
be on the basis of professional charges in London, New York, Vienna,
Berlin, or Lausanne?"
"Not on the basis of Lausanne, certainly, for there an excellent doctor
is contented with a fee of five francs, so if you don't object, I'll
convert francs into dollars."
"My admiration for your business capacity is waning, Miss Armstrong. If
this is to be an international matter, why choose your own country
instead of mine? Transpose your francs into pounds, Professor. There are
five francs in a dollar, but five dollars in a pound sterling. Let me
recommend to you my own currency."
"A very good idea, Mr. Stranleigh," rejoined Miss Armstrong, promptly.
"I shall at once take it into consideration, but I hope you won't be
shocked when the final round-up arrives."
"I shall have no excuse for astonishment, being so honestly forewarned,
and now that we are conversing so internationally, I'd like to carry it
a little further. In Italy they call an accident a 'disgrazia,' and when
you read in an Italian paper that a man is 'disgraced,' you realise that
he has met with an accident. Then the account ends by saying that the
patient is guaranteed curable in two days, or a week, or a month, as the
case may be. How long, then, doctor, must I rest under this 'disgrace'?"
"I should say a week, but that's merely an off-hand guess, as I suppose
is the case with the estimate of an Italian physician."
"I hope your orders won't be too strict. By the way, has my luggage
arrived?"
"It is all in the large room upstairs, but if you have any designs upon
it, you are disobeying orders."
"I must get at a portmanteau that is in one of the bundles."
"I will fetch what you want, so don't worry about that, but come and sit
on the verandah once more."
Stranleigh protested, and finally a compromise was arrived at. Miss
Armstrong would whistle for Jim, and he would do the unpacking. She saw
a shade of distrust pass over Stranleigh's face, and she reassured him
that Jim was the most honest and harmless man in the world, except,
perhaps, where sheriffs were concerned.
"Now," she continued, when he had seated himself, "you have talked
enough for one day, so you must keep quiet for the rest of the
afternoon. I will do the talking, giving you an explanation of our
brigandish conduct."
"I shall be an interested listener," said Stranleigh, resignedly. "But
permit me, before silence falls, to ask what you may regard an
impertinent question. Do you smoke?"
"Goodness, no!" she replied, with widely opened eyes.
"Many ladies do, you know, and I thought you might have acquired the
habit during your travels abroad. In that case, I should have been
delighted to offer you some excellent cigarettes from my portmanteau."
Jumping up, the girl laughed brightly.
"Poor man! I understand at last. You shall have the cigarettes in less
than five minutes. Give me your keys, please."
"That particular piece of luggage is not locked. I am so sorry to
trouble you, but after such a memorable dinner----"
"Yes, yes; I know, I know!" she cried, as she vanished.
"Interesting girl, that," murmured Stranleigh to himself, "and unusually
accomplished."
He listened for a whistle, but the first break in the silence was the
coming of Miss Armstrong, holding a box of cigars in one hand and a
packet of cigarettes in the other.
"Then you didn't call for help, after all," said Stranleigh, a shade of
reproach in his tone.
"Oh, it was quite easy. By punching the bundles I guessed what they
contained, and soon found where the portmanteau was concealed. Now,
light up," she continued, "lean back, and smoke. I'll do the talking.
My father, as I've told you, is a very poor business man, and that is
why I endeavoured to acquire some knowledge of affairs. He is generous
and sympathetic, believing no evil of anyone, consequently he is often
imposed upon to his financial disadvantage. Our position as father
and daughter is the reverse of what is usual in such relationships. I
attempt to guide him in the way he should go, and as a general thing
he accepts my advice and acts upon it, but on the occasion of which I
speak, I was at work in New York, and knew nothing of the disastrous
contract into which he had entered, until it was too late.
"I always come West and spend the vacation on the ranch, and this time
brought with me all the money I had saved, but it proved insufficient
to cope with the situation. In his early days my father was a mining
engineer. He was successful, and might have been a very rich man to-day
if---- But that 'if' always intervened. Nevertheless, he accumulated
money, and bought this ranch, determined to retire.
"The lower part of the ranch is good grazing ground, but the upper or
western part is rocky, rising to the foothills. My father was not a
success as a rancher, partly because we are too far from the markets,
and partly because he chose as cowboys men who did not understand their
business. I told you that my father is a sympathetic man. No one ever
appealed to him in vain. He has always been very popular, but it seems
to me that his friends are always poorer than himself. Thus it came
about that miners who knew him, and were out of work, applied for
something to do, and he engaged them as cowboys, until he had half a
dozen on his pay roll, and thus began the gradual loss of his money.
These men were excellent as miners, but useless as cowboys, and there
was no one here to teach them their duties, my father being himself a
miner. It seemed, then, a dispensation of Providence that as he rambled
over the western part of his property he struck signs of silver. He was
not mistaken in his prospecting. He and the cowboys took hilariously to
their old trade, and worked away at the rocks until all his money was
gone."
"Did they find any real silver?" asked Stranleigh, interested.
"Oh yes, plenty of it," answered the girl. "It is evident they have
opened a very rich mine."
"Then where is the difficulty?"
"The difficulty is the want of machinery, which there is no capital to
purchase. My father tried to get that capital in this district, but
there is very little ready money to be obtained out here. He enlisted
the interest of Mr. Ricketts, a lawyer in Bleachers, and reputed the
only rich man in the town. Ricketts came to the ranch with a mining
engineer, and they examined the opening. Seemingly they were not
impressed with the contents, and Ricketts advised my father to go East
and form a company.
"My father explained his financial situation, and Ricketts, with
apparent generosity, offered to lend him five thousand dollars on his
note, to be paid on demand, with the ranch as security. Thus my father
put himself entirely in the other's power. Ricketts gave him the
address of a lawyer in Chicago, who, he said, would be of assistance to
him. The latest word we received from my father is that this lawyer, in
one way or another, has got hold of all his money. Father telegraphed to
Ricketts for help, which was refused. So he left Chicago on foot,
determined to walk home, since he had not even money enough left to pay
his fare home. Where he is at present, we have no idea, except that he
is making for this ranch.
"Ricketts at once took action to sell the ranch. Apparently he is quite
within his legal rights, but there are formalities to be gone through,
and one of these is the arrival of the sheriff to seize the property.
That arrival the men, headed by Jim, are determined to prevent, and now,
perhaps, you understand why you rode into danger when you came from
Bleachers this morning.
"When I learnt of my father's predicament, I went out to Bleachers to
see Mr. Ricketts, offering him what money I had brought from New York if
he would hold his hand for a year. He refused, and from his conversation
I realised he was determined to secure the ranch for himself, and I
believe the whole transaction is a plot toward that end."
"Then the mine must be a valuable one?"
"I am sure it is; indeed, my father could make no mistake in that
matter."
"Well, the position seems very simple after all. What you need, Miss
Armstrong, is a change of creditors. You want a creditor who is not in a
hurry for his money. In other words, if you could transfer that debt,
you would be out of immediate danger. Would you allow me to go into
Bleachers to-morrow, and see Mr. Ricketts?"
"Most decidedly not!"
"How much money did you bring with you from New York?"
"Two thousand dollars."
"I brought just twice that amount, so I think the affair may be
arranged, and you can go to Ricketts to-morrow, and take up the note. I
think perhaps you had better have five thousand five hundred dollars
with you, as there will certainly be some interest and expenses to pay,
for if the case is as you state it, Ricketts will be reluctant to part
with the document. Is there another lawyer in Bleachers?"
"Yes."
"Well, get him to accompany you, and make formal tender of the money."
The girl had reddened while he was speaking, and now she said, in tones
of distress--
"I fear you completely misunderstood my object in telling you of my
difficulties. My object was not to borrow money, but to explain why Jim
Dean shot at you."
"Oh, I understand perfectly why you spoke as frankly as you did, and I
am very much obliged to you for doing so, but you must have no
diffidence in accepting the money. It is purely a business transaction,
and, as you say, you are a business woman. Therefore, as a matter of
business, it would be folly to reject an offer that is to our mutual
advantage. The security is ample."
"That is true, Mr. Stranleigh, but, you see, I have no power, no
authority, to give this ranch as security; it belongs to my father."
"True; but you are not nearly so competent a business woman as you would
have me believe. You will receive from Ricketts your father's promissory
note. That you will hand to me, then I shall be your debtor for two
thousand dollars. Those two thousand dollars I shall pay as soon as I
get some money from New York, and your father will become my debtor for
five thousand dollars. All perfectly simple, you see. In the first
instance I trust you for three thousand dollars, and in the second
instance you trust me for two thousand dollars. After I have paid you
the two thousand dollars, I hold the note, and can sell you up whenever
I please. I give you my word I won't do that, though even if I did you
would be no worse off than you are now."
"Very well, Mr. Stranleigh; I will take the money."
It was several days later when Miss Armstrong returned from Bleachers.
Her first interest was to satisfy herself of the patient's progress. He
had been getting on well.
"You are an admirable physician, Miss Armstrong," he said. "Now let me
know whether you are equally capable as a financier."
"I have failed completely," she answered, dejectedly. "Mr. Ricketts has
refused the money."
"Did you take the other lawyer with you?"
"Yes."
"What did he say?"
"He said Ricketts had no right to refuse, but a different question has
arisen. The guide who accompanied you to the ranch brought back news of
the shooting. Ricketts guessed at once why you were shot at, and the
sheriff has signed an affidavit, or some such instrument, to show that
his life, and his men's lives, are in danger if they go to seize the
property, so this complication has been overcome by some order from the
legislature, and the personal seizure is waived. The sale is announced
to take place in Bleachers two weeks from to-day. Mr. Timmins--that is
the other lawyer--fears that Ricketts is within his rights in refusing
the money at this stage."
"This is all very interesting, Miss Armstrong, but we have a fortnight
to turn round in."
"Yes; that is so."
"I am delighted, for now I shall have the pleasure of trying a fall with
the estimable Mr. Ricketts."
VI.--THE BUNK HOUSE PRISONER.
As the wound in his shoulder healed, Stranleigh began to enjoy himself
on the ranch. He was experiencing a life entirely new to him, and being
always a lover of waving woods and rushing waters, even in the tamed
state which England presents, he keenly appreciated these natural
beauties in the wilderness, where so-called human improvements had not
interfered with them. Without attempting to indulge in the sport for
which he had come, he wandered about the ranch a good deal, studying its
features, and at the same time developing an appetite that did justice
to the excellent meals prepared for him. He visited Jim Dean, who had
shot him, and tried to scrape acquaintance with his five aiders and
abettors in that drastic act, but they met his advances with suspicion,
naturally regarding him as a tenderfoot, nor were they satisfied that
his long residence among them was as friendly as he evidently wished it
to appear.