THE CAPTAIN'S CHARGE
Captain Wigmore lit a lamp in the sitting room, and then went upstairs
to dress. As soon as he was gone, the trapper commenced a noiseless tour
of the room, of the hall, and of the rooms in the front of the house. He
even searched beneath articles of furniture and behind every open door.
He explored the kitchen, the pantry, and the pot closet behind the
stove.
"Guess I'm on the wrong track this time," he admitted at last, and when
Wigmore came down he was sitting patiently on the edge of his chair,
with his toes turned demurely inward and his hands on his knees. The
captain eyed him keenly for a moment.
"Want anything?" he asked. "A drink, or anything?"
"No; thanks all the same, captain," returned the trapper.
"I heard you wandering around," said Wigmore. "I thought that perhaps
you were looking for something. You were admiring my pictures, I
suppose?"
The trapper's face flushed swiftly. "Guess again," he answered calmly.
His gaze met the old man's, and did not waver. The captain was the first
to look away. He sighed as he did so.
"I am afraid you do not trust me entirely," he said. "But we must go and
look for poor Banks. He may be freezing to death somewhere. Come along,
Richard. There is no time to lose."
As the two passed from the house, Goodine was in front, and for a moment
his back was turned fairly to the captain. He heard a little gasp, and
turned swiftly. The captain withdrew a hand quickly from an inner
pocket, and stooped to lock the door.
"What's the trouble?" asked Dick.
"A twinge in my knee. I am growing old," answered Wigmore in pathetic
tones. And to this day, the trapper has never fully realized how near he
was at that moment to a sudden and choking oblivion.
The old man began to limp after half an hour of tramping the frozen
roads and scrambling through underbrush and deep snow. At last he sat
down on a hemlock stump and confessed that he had reached the end of his
endurance and must go home. He was sorry; but it was better to drag
himself home now than keep at it a few minutes longer and then have to
be carried. Goodine agreed with him; and after a short rest the old man
set out on his homeward journey. As long as he was in range of the
trapper's vision he staggered wearily; but once beyond it he scuttled
along like a little dog. He was anxious to get home and assure himself
that none of his neighbors were exploring his house during his absence.
Dick Goodine continued his unsuccessful searching of woods, roads, and
fields until dawn. He crossed the trails of other searchers several
times, but not once the trail of Mr. Banks' big and familiar hunting
boots. Upon returning to Rayton's, he found Jim Harley, Benjamin Samson,
Doctor Nash, and several other men drinking coffee in the kitchen.
Reginald had been driven off to his bed by Nash only a few minutes
before. An air of gloom and mystery pervaded the room. Doctor Nash alone
showed an undaunted bearing. He talked loudly, and slammed the back of
his right hand into the palm of his left continually.
"Banks is no fool!" he exclaimed, for the tenth time. "Do you think
he'd walk out of this house and lose himself on a night like this? Rot!
Tell me who set fire to Davy Marsh's camp, who tied old Fletcher up in
that blanket, and who shot Rayton, and I'll tell you who knows where
Banks is. It may be one man, or it may be a gang doing the work; but
there's one man at the back of it all. Same with the marks on the cards.
At first I put it all down to you, Jim; but I couldn't see why you
should tie up old Fletcher. Now, I see it pretty straight. That Fletcher
business was all a bluff. He _let_ somebody tie him up--and, as I've
told you a dozen times, that somebody is old Wigmore. What do you say,
Dick?"
The others all turned and stared at the trapper with anxious,
sleep-shadowed eyes.
"I ain't sayin' yes or no yet a while, doc," replied Goodine. "What you
say sounds pretty reasonable; but I wouldn't swear to it. I ain't a
fancy detective, but when I see a lot of smoke I can guess at fire as
well as the next man. Old Fletcher's vanished, anyhow--an' so has Mr.
Banks. I don't hold that what happened to Reginald has anything to do
with the other queer business. Accidents will happen! But I guess
Captain Wigmore is lyin' when he says Tim Fletcher went to New York;
an' I guess he was actin' the goat when he let on as how he thought Doc
Nash marked them cards. But guessin' won't find Mr. Banks!"
"Of what do you accuse Captain Wigmore?" asked Jim Harley, gripping
Dick's arm. "I've heard a lot of hinting, but no straight charge. Speak
up like a man and be done with it. Say what you mean. I'm sick of
listening to hints against the old man behind his back."
In the silence that followed, the trapper looked steadily into Harley's
eyes, and gently but firmly unfastened the grip of the fingers on his
arm.
"Keep cool, Jim," he said. "Keep a tally on yer words."
"I'll keep cool enough, Dick. Don't worry about me," retorted Jim. "But
answer a few questions, will you? A few straight questions?"
The trapper nodded.
"Do you think Captain Wigmore had anything to do with the marks on the
cards?" asked Harley. "Give me a straight yes or no to that."
"A straight yes or no! Right you are! Yes, I do!"
"You do! Why?"
"Because I do, that's all. Ask your other questions, an' be darned
quick about it. My temper's short."
"Have you any proof that he marked the cards?"
"No. And you haven't any proof that he didn't, neither."
The others crowded close around Dick Goodine and Jim Harley.
"And do you think he had anything to do with Davie Marsh's troubles?"
"Can't say. Don't know."
"Do you think he shot old Reginald Rayton?"
"No, I don't."
"Why don't you?"
"Because I shot him myself."
A gasp went up from the group of anxious and astonished men.
"You!" exclaimed Harley. "I don't believe it."
"It's the truth, anyhow. I mistook him for a buck. He knows all about
it."
"Took him for a buck?"
"That's what I said; an' if any man here thinks I'm lyin' he'd better
not say so, or he'll get his face pushed in."
"It's a mistake that's bin made before," said Samson.
Others nodded.
"Well, there you are!" said Harley. "If you hadn't wounded Rayton
yourself, you'd say that Captain Wigmore did it. But all this talk won't
help Banks. What are we to do next?"
"Have some breakfast and a nap, an' then start in huntin' him again,"
said Benjamin Samson. "We simply got to find him, or there'll be
terrible things printed in the New York papers about this here
settlement."
All left the house for their own homes except Goodine and Doctor Nash.
As Goodine busied himself at the stove, preparing breakfast, Nash said:
"That was a startler, Dick. Is it straight that you plugged Rayton in
the shoulder?"
"Just as I said, doc," replied the trapper.
"Does Wigmore know you did it?"
"Guess not, or he would have said so before this. He put it onto you."
"He did, the old skunk. But he knew he was lyin' when he said it. If it
wasn't you, Dick, I'd think Wigmore had paid some one to take a shot at
Rayton. My idea is that he works the cards and then gets some one else
to make the trouble."
"Maybe so. He didn't get me to do that shootin', anyhow. I guess he's
the man who works the cards, all right; but I'd like to know what he
does it for."
"My idea is that he had heard that story about the cards before and is
trying to scare people away from Nell Harley. The old fool is soft as
mush on her himself, you know."
"Well, doc, what we'd best do now is to eat a snack an' then turn in an'
get a couple of hours' sleep; an' if we don't find Mr. Banks to-day
we'll just up an' ask old Wigmore the reason why."
Two hours later Captain Wigmore himself arrived at Rayton's house. Nash,
Goodine, and young Bill Long were in the kitchen, pulling on their
moccasins and overcoats. The captain looked exceedingly tired, but very
wide awake.
"I've found a clue!" he exclaimed. "Look at this knife! Did you ever see
it before, any of you?"
He placed a big clasp knife on the table.
"Why, it's Banks' knife," cried Doctor Nash. "I've seen it several
times. I'd swear to it."
"Yes, it's his. And there's H. P. B. cut on the handle," said Dick.
"I found it this morning, on the Blue Hill road," said the captain.
"On the Blue Hill road? How far out?"
"About three miles from my place. I've been hunting for Banks since
sunrise, and this is all I've found."
"What in thunder would he be doing out there?"
"That's what we must find out," said the captain. "Perhaps he was drunk
and didn't know where he was going. Or perhaps he was bound for Blue
Hill station to catch a train. Heaven only knows!"
"How is the road?"
"Very fair, as far as I went."
"Then I'll hitch the horses into the sled, and we'll light out on his
trail," said the trapper.
And that is what happened. Goodine and Doctor Nash set off at a brisk
trot in the sled, taking Captain Wigmore along with them as far as his
own gate. He gave them some exact information as to the place where he
had picked up the knife. He said that he was sorry that he could not go
along with them, but he was an old man and very tired. So they drove on
without him. Several teams had been hauling timber and cordwood that
way since the snow, so the road was in very good condition.
They reached the spot--or as near it as they could tell--where Wigmore
claimed to have found the knife, and spent half an hour in searching the
woods on both sides of the road. Needless to say, they found no further
trace of Mr. Banks. Then they went on all the way to Blue Hill Corner
and the railway station. The distance was fourteen miles--fourteen long
miles. At the village and the station they made inquiries, but no one
there had seen the big New Yorker. He had not left by the morning train.
They remained to dinner at Blue Hill Corner, searched the surrounding
country after dinner, then set out on the homeward road, making frequent
stops to hunt about in the woods. It was close upon sunset when they
reached Samson's Mill Settlement. Dick Goodine was depressed, and Doctor
Nash was in a bad temper.
"Darn this country, anyway!" exclaimed Nash. "It's full of a lot of
savages--and crooks. And what's to become of my practice if I have to
spend all my time hunting round for Banks? To hell with it!"
Early in the afternoon of the same day, Nell Harley received an
unexpected visit. It was from Maggie Leblanc. Jim was away, still
searching for the lost New Yorker, and Kate was busy in the sewing room
upstairs.
"I wanter tell'e somethin' very particular," said Maggie, in a faint
voice and with a flurried manner. "Let me tell ye all by yerself. It--it
be mighty particular."
"Is it about Mr. Banks? Do you know where he is?" asked Nell anxiously.
"No, it ain't about him," replied Maggie Leblanc. "I don't know nothin'
about him."
Nell led the way to the sitting room, and motioned her visitor to a
chair by the fire.
"Has--has anything happened to--Mr. Rayton?" she asked.
Maggie shook her head. "No! No! It is about me--an' Dick Goodine." She
brushed her eyes furtively with the back of her hand. "I liked Dick,"
she continued unsteadily; "but he didn't seem to care. Then I--begun to
feel's if I hated him. I knew him an' Davy Marsh was bad friends, so I
begun to try to get Dick inter trouble with Davy--an' maybe with the
law. After Davy's canoe upsot in the rapids that day, I went an' found
the broken pole in the pool, an' fixed an end of it so's it looked like
it had been cut halfway through. Then I put it up on a rock so's it
would be found.
"I knowed folks would think Dick done it because he an' Davy wasn't good
friends, an' he was the last man Davy seen afore he started upstream
that day. Dick helped Davy to load the canoe. Then--then _I_ sot fire to
Davy's camp. But when Dick said as how he didn't fire the camp nor cut
the pole, most every one seemed to believe him. I was feelin' different
about Dick by that time--mighty sorry I tried to hurt him. But I was
afeared to tell anybody what I done. Davy Marsh is that mean an' small,
he'd have the law on me. Then Mr. Rayton, he got shot--an' then Mr.
Banks, he got lost; an' this mornin' Dick Goodine up an' tells yer
brother, an' Doc Nash, an' a whole bunch more, as how it was him shot
Mr. Rayton."
"Yes. Jim told me of it. He mistook Mr. Rayton for a deer," said Nell.
"But some folks don't believe as how he took him for a deer," said
Maggie. "It's the talk all over the settlement now--an' old Captain
Wigmore, he be makin' a terrible story of it all. He has started up
talk about what happened to Dave Marsh ag'in. He's makin' it look 'sif
Dick done everything--an' like 'sif he done something to Mr. Banks, too.
An' there be plenty of fools in this settlement to listen to him. So I'm
tellin' ye the truth about who sot fire to Davy Marsh's camp. Davy don't
know it himself. He says Dick done it--when Dick ain't lookin'. But I
done it--an' 'twas me doctored that piece of canoe pole that broke by
accident first of all--an' I'm willin' to swear to it on the book!"
"You need not swear it to me," said Nell Harley. "I believe what you
have told me--every word of it--though it is a terrible thing! And I
believe whatever Dick Goodine says. What can I do to help Dick?"
"I guess you like Dick pretty well," said Maggie Leblanc, with a swift,
sidewise glance of her black eyes. "An' Dick likes you. That's why I got
mad at him, an' Wigmore an' some other folks say that's why he shot at
Mr. Rayton."
"Surely not!" cried Nell, in distress. "How can he say such things? Oh!
I am growing to detest that old man--with his everlasting smile. As for
Dick--why, he scarcely knows me. And he is Reginald's friend. And he
knows--of course he knows--that--that Reginald and I--love each other."
Maggie Leblanc nodded her head vigorously and smiled.
"Don't you fret yerself," she said. "If he don't know it, then I'll tell
him."
Her eyes clouded again instantly. "I guess ye can help Dick by just
tellin' yer brother Jim what I told ye. Then he'll stand up fer
Dick--him and Mr. Rayton will--an' what old Cap'n Wigmore says won't
harm him much, I guess."
"I will tell him. He will be on Dick's side, of course," said Nell. And
then, "But why is Captain Wigmore trying to get Dick into trouble? What
has he against Dick?"
"Maybe he's just tryin' to keep folks from lookin' too close at his own
doin's," said Maggie.
Nell Harley nodded, but said neither yes nor no. The thought was in her
own mind. Captain Wigmore, the recent troubles and mysteries, and the
marked cards had been associated in her thoughts of late.
Jim Harley got home in time for supper. He told of a fruitless search;
and then Nell told of Maggie Leblanc's amazing confession. Jim sighed as
if with sudden relief. After a minute of reflective silence, he said:
"But, still, the accidents followed the cards--except in this last case.
How are we to explain that--and the cards themselves? First, it was Davy
Marsh, and then Rayton; but the card was never dealt to Mr. Banks!"
"Which shows that your foolish old curse is going all wrong," said his
wife.
"Reginald does not believe in the curse--and neither do I," said Nell.
"Whoever did the injuries, and whoever dealt the cards, the injuries
have followed the dealing of the cards," said Jim gloomily.
"Except in this last case," said his wife. "It looks to me as if Fate,
or whatever you call it, is getting itself mixed up."
After supper, Jim, and his wife, and sister, all went over to see
Reginald Rayton. A fresh force of men had taken up the hunt for Mr.
Banks, and parties had started for every village and settlement within a
radius of thirty miles. The Harleys found Reginald in the sitting room,
in company with Dick Goodine and Doctor Nash. Rumor of old Wigmore's
campaign against the trapper had already reached them, and they were
talking it over. Nash was bitter.
"The old devil tried to put it on me," he said, "and maybe he would
have succeeded if Dick hadn't confessed. Just wait till I see him! Dick
shot Rayton; but it was Wigmore himself who fired Marsh's camp--yes, and
who's at the bottom of many more of these tricks!"
Then Nell Harley told them what Maggie Leblanc had confessed to her. The
silence that followed the story was broken by Dick Goodine.
"She told you that!" he exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "She told it
herself? To save me? Where is she now?"
He was about to leave the room when the door opened and he was
confronted by Captain Wigmore.