AN APPEAL TO CHARLEY
What is a kiss waved by a drunken hand, to a man whose love is like the
hills? And yet that kiss, wafted so amorously to Virginia, stirred up a
rage in Wiley Holman's heart. Was it not enough to wait on the table,
without cultivating the acquaintance of her boarders? And this foolish
affair, whatever it was, had cost him at least ten thousand dollars. It
would come to that before he was through with it--in lost time and new
machinery and unearned profits--and all because Virginia had smiled at
this drunken engineer, who had promptly sent his overalls through the
driving-gear. Yet that was the natural result of letting his men board
in town where they could hear the Widow's ravings against him.
In the midst of his telephoning and giving directions to his mill-crew,
who were still rushing their work on the mill, Wiley turned the matter
over in his mind and it left him sick with doubts. He had counted upon
the opposition of Blount, but Virginia's almost staggered him. It would
make a difference, before his six months was up, if she set all his men
against him, and yet he could not stop her. If he withdrew his men and
boarded them himself that would only inflame the neighborhood the more,
for it would deprive the Huffs of their livelihood; and if he let things
go on it might result in more wrecks that would seriously interfere with
his plans. No, the thing to do was to see Virginia at once and come to
an understanding.
A telegram from his supply-house reported the engine an old type with
all parts out of stock, and he worked for hours making tedious
measurements before he ordered the new gear-wheel made. Then he sent an
urgent wire to rush him the new engine that had been ordered to supply
power to the mill, only to be told once more that it was held up by
previous orders and could not be delivered for a month. A month! And
with the water mounting up in his shaft like the interest on his notes.
It was no time for half measures. He leapt into his racer and burned up
the road to Vegas. Three days later he returned with an old gas engine
that he had salvaged from an abandoned mine and by the end of the week,
by working day and night, he had the pumps lifting water. And then again
he remembered Virginia.
He had thought of her, of course, when he was speeding to and fro, but
he was hardly in the mood for sentiment. There were more things to go
wrong than he had thought humanly possible in the management of a mine,
and between ordering his machinery and taking on new men he had had
scant leisure for affairs of the heart. He was young and inexperienced
and the dealers took advantage of it to foist off old stock and odd
parts, and then his engineers became fractious and disgruntled because
he expected quick results. It was all very different from what he had
expected when he had taken over the Paymaster lease, and yet it had to
be endured and muddled through somehow until the mine was safely his
own. Then out would come the engines, and all second-hand machinery and
makeshift parts, and with a superintendent who knew his job he would
lean back in comfort and learn the mining business by proxy.
Wiley shaved that evening and went down through the town, but when he
put his hand on the Widow's gate his resolution failed him. He had
placed her under bonds to keep the peace, and she had lived up to the
undertaking scrupulously, but within her own house she had certain
rights and privileges which even he dared not invade. If he stepped in
that doorway she would order him out; and unquestionably she would be
within her rights, since every man's house is his castle. So, on the
very threshold of Virginia's retreat, he drew back and went to see Death
Valley Charley.
Death Valley was drunk, but his conscience was still active and he burst
into a voluble explanation.
"No, I gave her that stock," he protested earnestly, "but she made me
take it back.
"'It ain't mine,' she says, 'and I'll work my hands off before I'll take
charity from anybody.'
"'No, you keep it,' I says, just exactly like you tole me, 'because I'm
your guardian, and all; and Wiley he says that I'm a hell of a poor one,
because I sold him that stock for nothing. No,' I says, just exactly
like you tole me, 'I want you to keep this stock.'"
"Well?" inquired Wiley, as Charley paused to take a drink, "and what did
Virginia say, then?"
"Oh, I couldn't repeat it," answered Death Valley virtuously. "She don't
seem to like you now. She says you stole her mine."
"Huh!" grunted Wiley, and looked about the cabin which was littered with
bottles and flasks. "Well, where've _you_ been?" he went on at
last, the better to change the subject, and Charley leered at him
shrewdly.
"Over across Death Valley," he chanted drunkenly, "--on the east side,
in the Funeral Range. But they put me to work on the graveyard shift so
I quit and come back to town."
"Ye-es," jeered Wiley, "you've been on a big drunk. What are you doing
with this demijohn of whiskey?"
"Why, I got it for the Colonel," replied Charley, laughing childishly,
"and I started to take it over to him, but my burros got away at
Daylight Springs, so I made camp and drunk it all up."
"But it's full!" objected Wiley.
"Yes, I refilled it," answered Charley and helped himself to another
nip. "Thas second time now I took that whiskey to the Colonel and both
times I drunk it up. Thas bad--the Colonel will kill me."
"Yes, and do a danged good job," grumbled Wiley morosely. "You sure got
me in Dutch with Virginia."
"She says you stole her mine," defended Charley stoutly. "And don't you
say nothing against Virginia. She's noblest girl the sun ever shined.
I'll _kill_ any man that says different!"
"Oh yes, sure," agreed Wiley, "I'd do that myself. But Charley, I didn't
steal her mine. I got it from Blount, and if she wants it back--say,
Charley, you tell her I want to see her!"
He leaned over eagerly and laid his hand on Charley's shoulder, but
Death Valley shook him off.
"No!" he declaimed. "The Huffs are poor but proud--they don't take
charity from no one!"
"Aw, but, Charley," he argued, "this isn't charity. We'll get it away
from Blount!"
"You're drunk!" declared Charley and turned sternly to the demijohn
which was rapidly going down.
"Well, maybe I am," admitted Wiley craftily, "but that's all right,
isn't it, between friends?"
"Sure thing--have another!" responded Charley cordially, and Wiley
poured out a generous portion.
"Here's to you," he said, "Old Chuckawalla Charley--the man that put the
Death in Death Valley. You're some desert rat, now ain't you, Charley?
You helped pack the mud to build the butte and stoped out the guest
chamber down in hell! Well, here's luck!" and he nodded his health.
"Yes, you bet I'm an old-timer," boasted Death Valley vaingloriously.
"I was at Panamint and Ballarat, and all them camps. Me and old Shorty
Harris--we used to lead every rush--we was first at Greenwater and
Skidoo. But these damned lizzies can beat us to it now--the old
burro-man is too slow."
"But crossing the sand, Charley, you've got us there; and climbing up
these rocky washes. I've got a good machine--it'll take me most
anywhere--but when it comes to crossing Death Valley, give me some burros
and old Uncle Charley." He slapped him on the back and Uncle Charley
smiled doubtfully and took another drink. "You bet," went on Wiley, with
method in his madness. "I'd like nothing better, when I get a little
time, than to have you take me out across Death Valley. What's it like,
over there, Charley? Is it very far to water? But I'll bet you know
every trail!"
"I know 'em all," announced Charley proudly, "but here's one that nobody
knows. It's the trail to the Ube-Hebes. First you go from here to
Daylight Springs, but they ain't no feed around there, so you go over
the divide and down six miles and camp at Hole-in-the-Rock. And there
they's good feed and plenty of good water and a tin house where the
freighters used to camp; and then you fill your tanks and the next day
you follow the wash till it takes you down to Stovepipe Wells. That
water is bad but the burros will drink it if you bail the hole out
first, and the next day you cross the sand-hills and the Death Valley
Sink and head for Cottonwood wash. Many is the man that has started for
that gateway and died before he reached the water, but the Colonel----"
Charley stopped abruptly and looked around for Heine and then he poured
out a drink.
"He's dead now," he concluded, but Wiley caught his eye and shook his
head disapprovingly.
"Not between friends," he said. "Ain't we drunk here together? Well,
tell me the truth now--where is he? And listen here, Charley; I'll tell
you something first that will make it all right with the Colonel. All he
has to do is to come back to Keno and I'll give him his share in the
mine. Then we can throw in together, and, when we get through, old
Blount will be left holding the sack. Do you get the idea? I'm trying to
be friends, but you've got to take me over to the Colonel!"
"The Colonel is dead!" repeated Charley doggedly and then he cocked his
head to one side. "Don't you hear 'em?" he asked, "it's them Germans or
something----"
"Never mind!" said Wiley sharply. "I'm talking about the Colonel, and
I'll tell you what I'll do. I can't give the mine to Virginia because
she won't take it; but the Colonel is a gentleman. He's reasonable,
Charley, and I'd get along with him fine; so come on, now--go over and
tell him!"
He patted him on the back and a look of indecision crept into Charley's
drink-dimmed eyes, but in the end he shook his head.
"Nope," he muttered, "the Colonel is dead!" And Wiley threw up his
hands.
"Well, then here," he ran on, "you know me Charley; and you know I'm
not trying to steal that mine. Now here's what I want you to do. You
tell Virginia I want to see her; and then some night you bring her
over and--well, maybe that will do just as well."
"Will you give her back her mine?" inquired Charley pointedly, and Wiley
rose up in a rage.
"Yes!" he yelled, "for cripes' sake, what's the matter with you? You
talk like everybody was a crook. Didn't I give her back her stock? Well
then, I'll give her back her mine! But she's got to accept it, hasn't
she?"
"That was her I heard coming," answered Charley simply, but when Wiley
looked out she was gone.