A CLEAN-UP
A cool breeze drew down through Emigrant Wash and soothed the fever heat
of Death Valley, and as the morning star rose up like a blazing beacon,
Wiley carried Virginia to Stovepipe. They had sat for hours on the
crest of a sand-hill, looking out over the sea of waves that seemed to
ride on and mingle in the moonlight, and with no one to listen they had
talked out their hearts and pledged the future in a kiss. Then they had
gazed long and rested, looking up at the countless stars that obscured
the Milky Way with their pin-points; and when the Colonel had found them
Wiley was carrying her in his arms as if her weight were nothing.
They camped at Stovepipe that day while Virginia gained back her
strength, and at last they came in sight of Keno. She was riding now and
Wiley was walking, with his head bowed down in thought; but when he
looked up she reached out, smiling wistfully, and touched him with her
hand. But the Colonel strode ahead, his head held high, his eagle eyes
searching the distance; and when people ran out to greet him he thrust
them aside, for he had spied Samuel Blount in the crowd.
Blount was standing just outside the Widow's gate and a voice,
unmistakable, was demanding in frantic haste the return of certain
shares of stock. It was hardly the time for a business transaction, for
her husband was returning as from the dead, but a sudden sense of her
misused stewardship had driven the Widow to distraction.
"What now?" demanded the Colonel, as he appeared upon the scene and his
wife made a rush to embrace him. "Is this the time for scolding? Why,
certainly I was alive--why should anybody doubt it? You may await me in
the house, Aurelia!"
"But Henry!" she wailed. "Oh, I thought you were dead--and this devil
has robbed me of everything!"
She pointed a threatening finger at Blount, who stepped forward, his
lower lip trembling.
"Why, how are you, Colonel!" he exclaimed with affected heartiness.
"Well, well; we thought you were dead."
"So I hear!" observed the Colonel, and looked at him so coldly that
Blount blushed and withdrew his outstretched hand. "So I hear, sir!" he
repeated, "but you were misinformed--I have come back to protect my
rights."
"He took all your stock," cried the Widow, vindictively, "on a loan of
eight hundred dollars. And now he won't give it back."
"Never mind," returned the Colonel. "I will attend to all that if you
will go in and cook me some dinner. And next time I leave home I would
recommend, Madam, that you leave my business affairs alone."
"But Henry," she began, but he gazed at her so sternly that she turned
and slipped away.
"And you, sir," continued the Colonel, his words ringing out like pistol
shots as he unloosed his wrath upon Blount, "I would like to inquire
what excuse you have to offer for imposing on my wife and child? Is it
true, as I hear, that you have taken my stock on a loan of eight hundred
dollars?"
"Why--why, no! That is, Colonel Huff----"
"Have you the stock in your possession?" demanded the Colonel
peremptorily. "Yes or no, now; and no 'buts' about it!"
"Why, yes; I have," admitted Blount in a scared voice, "but I came by it
according to law!"
"You did not, sir!" retorted the Colonel, "because it was all in my name
and my wife had no authority to transfer it. Do you deny the fact? Well,
then give me back my stock or I shall hold you, sir, personally
responsible!"
Blount started back, for he knew the import of those dread words, and
then he heaved a great sigh.
"Very well," he said, "but I loaned her eight hundred dollars----"
"Wiley!" called the Colonel, beckoning him quickly from the crowd. "Give
me the loan of eight hundred dollars."
And at that Blount opened up his eyes.
"Oho!" he said, "so Wiley is with you? Well, just a moment, Mr. Huff."
He turned to a man who stood beside him. "Arrest that man!" he said. "He
killed my watchman, George Norcross."
"Not so fast!" rapped out the Colonel, fixing the officer with steely
eyes. "Mr. Holman is under my protection. Ah, thank you, Wiley--here is
your money, Mr. Blount, with fifty dollars more for interest. And now I
will thank you for that stock."
"Do you set yourself up," demanded Blount with sudden bluster, "as being
above the law?"
"No, sir, I do not," replied the Colonel tartly. "But before we go any
further I must ask you to restore my stock. Your order is sufficient, if
the certificates are elsewhere----"
"Well--all right!" sighed Blount, and wrote out an order which Colonel
Huff gravely accepted. "And now," went on Blount, "I demand that you
step aside and allow Wiley Holman to be taken."
The Colonel's eyes narrowed, and he motioned the officer aside as he
laid his own hand on Wiley's shoulder.
"Every citizen of the state," he said with dignity, "has the authority
to arrest a fugitive--and Mr. Holman is my prisoner. Is that
satisfactory to you, Mr. Officer?"
"Why--why, yes," stammered the Constable and as the Colonel smiled
Blount forgot his studied repose. He had been deprived in one minute of
a block of stock that was worth a round million dollars and the sting of
his great loss maddened him.
"You may smile, sir," he burst out, "but as sure as there's a law I'll
put Wiley Holman in the Pen. And if you knew the truth, if you knew what
he has done; I wonder, now, if you would go to such lengths? You might
ask your wife how she has fared in your absence--or ask Virginia there!
Didn't he send her as his messenger, to make a fake payment that would
have deprived her and her mother of their rights? If it hadn't been for
me your two hundred thousand shares wouldn't be worth two hundred cents.
I ask Virginia now--didn't he send you to my bank----"
"What?" demanded the Colonel, suddenly whirling upon his daughter, but
Virginia avoided his eyes.
"Yes," she said, "he did send me down--and I betrayed my trust. But it's
just because of that that we'll stand by him now----"
"Virginia!" said the Colonel, speaking with painful distinctness. "Do I
understand that you were--that woman? And did Mr. Blount here, by any
means whatever, persuade you to violate your trust?"
"Yes, he did!" cried out Virginia, "but it was all my fault and I don't
want Mr. Blount blamed for it. I did it out of meanness, but I was sorry
for it afterwards and--oh, I wonder if I've got any mail." She broke
away and dashed into the house and the Colonel brushed back his hair.
"A Huff!" he murmured. "My God, what a blow! And Wiley, how can we ever
repay you?"
"Never mind," answered Wiley as he took the old man's hand. "I don't
care about the money."
"No, but the wrong, the disgrace," protested the Colonel, brokenly, and
then he flared up at Blount.
"You scoundrel, sir!" he cried. "How dared you induce my daughter to
violate her sacred trust? By the gods, Sam Blount, I am greatly
tempted----"
"It's come!" called Virginia, running gayly down the steps, but at sight
of her father she stopped. "Well, there it is," she said, putting a
paper in his hand. "It shows that I was sorry, anyway."
"What is this?" inquired the Colonel, fumbling feebly for his glasses,
and Virginia snatched the paper away.
"It's a letter from my lawyers!" she said, smiling wickedly. "And we'll
show it to Mr. Blount."
She took it over and put it in Blount's hands, and as he read the first
line he turned pale.
"Why--Virginia!" he gasped and then he clutched at his heart and reached
out quickly for the fence. "Why--why, I thought that was all settled! I
certainly understood it was--and what authority had you to interfere?"
"Wiley's power of attorney," she answered defiantly, "I fired that
crooked lawyer, after you'd got him all fixed, and hired a good one with
my stock."
"My Lord!" moaned Blount, "and after all I'd done for you!" And then he
collapsed and was borne into the house. But Wiley, who had been so calm,
suddenly leapt for the letter and read it through to the end.
"Holy--jumping--Judas!" he burst out, running over to the Colonel who
was standing with lack luster eyes. "Look here what Virginia has done!
She's bought all Blount's stock, under that option I had, and cleaned
him--down to a cent. She's won back the mine, and we can all go in
together----"
"Virginia!" spoke up the Colonel, beckoning her sternly to him. "Come
down here, I wish to speak to you."
She came down slowly and as her father began to talk the tears rose
quickly to her eyes, but when Wiley took her hand she smiled back
wistfully and crept within the circle of his arm.
THE END