ANTAGONISTS
Fyles endured perhaps the most anxious time that had ever fallen to
his lot, during the few days following his momentous interview with
Kate. An infinitesimal beam of daylight had lit up the black horizon
of his threatened future. It was a question, a painfully doubtful
question, as to whether it would mature and develop into a glorious
sunlight, or whether the threatening clouds would overwhelm it, and
thrust it back into the obscurity whence it had sprung.
He dared not attempt to answer the question himself. Everything hung
upon that insecure thread of official amenability. Such was his own
experience that he was beset by the gravest doubts. His only hope lay
in the long record of exceptional work he possessed to his credit in
the books of the police. This, and the story he had to tell them of
future possibilities in the valley of Leaping Creek.
Would Jason listen? Would he turn up the records, and count the
excellence of Inspector Fyles's past work? Or would he, with that
callous severity of police regulations, only regard the failures, and
turn a deaf official ear to the promise of the future? Supersession
was so simple in the force, it was the usual routine. Would the
superintendent in charge interest himself sufficiently to get away
from it?
These were some of the doubts with which the police officer was
assailed. These were some of the endless pros and cons he debated with
his lieutenant, Sergeant McBain, when they sat together planning their
next campaign, while awaiting Amberley's reply to both the report of
failure, and plea for the future.
But Fyles's anxieties were far deeper than McBain's, who was equally
involved in the failure. He had far more at stake. For one thing he
belonged to the commissioned ranks, and his fall, in conjunction with
his greater and wider reputation, would be far more disastrous. For
McBain, reduction in rank was of lesser magnitude. His rank could be
regained. For Fyles there was no such redemption. Resignation from the
force was his alternative to being dismissed, and from resignation
there was no recovery of rank.
At one time this would have been his paramount, almost sole anxiety.
It would have meant the loss of all he had achieved in the past. Now,
curiously enough, it took a second place in his thoughts. A greater
factor than ambition had entered into his life, a factor to which he
had promptly become enslaved. Far above all thoughts of ambition, of
place, of power, of all sense of duty, the figure of a handsome
dark-eyed woman rose before his mind's eye. Kate Seton had become his
whole world, the idol of all his thoughts and ambitions, and longings,
which left every other consideration lost in the remotest shadows far
below.
His earlier love for her had suddenly burst into a passionate flame
that seemed to be devouring his very soul. And he had a chance of
winning her. A chance. It seemed absurd--a mere chance. It was not his
way in life to wait for chances. It was for him to set out on a
purpose, and achieve or fail. Here--here, where his love was
concerned, he was committing himself to accepting chances, the
slightest chances, when the winning of Kate for his wife had become
the essence of all his hopes and ambitions.
Chance? Yes, it was all chance. The decision of Superintendent Jason.
The leadership of this gang. His success in capturing the man, when
the time came. In a moment his whole life seemed to have become a
plaything to be tossed about at the whim of chance.
So the days passed, swallowed up by feverish work and preparation.
It was work that might well be all thrown away should his recall be
insisted upon at Amberley, or, at best, might only pave the way to his
successor's more fortunate endeavors. It was all very trying, very
unsatisfactory, yet he dared not relax his efforts, with the knowledge
which he now possessed, and the thought of Kate always before him.
Several times, during those anxious days, he sought to salve his
troubled feelings by stealing precious moments of delight in the
presence of this woman he loved. But somehow Fate seemed to have
assumed a further perverseness, and appeared bent on robbing him of
even this slight satisfaction.
At such times Kate was never to be found. Small as was that little
world in the valley, it seemed to Fyles that she had a knack of
vanishing from his sight as though she had been literally spirited
away. Nor for some time could he bring himself to realize that she was
deliberately avoiding him.
She was never at home when he rode up to the house on the back of his
faithful Peter. And, furthermore, at such times as he found Helen
there, she never by any chance knew where her sister was. Even when he
chanced to discover Kate in the distance, on his rare visits to the
village, she was never to be found by the time he reached the spot at
which he had seen her. She was as elusive as a will-o'-th'-wisp.
But this could not go on forever, and, after one memorable visit to
the postoffice, where he found a letter awaiting him from
headquarters, Fyles determined to be denied no longer.
His task was less easy than he supposed, and it was not until evening
that he finally achieved his purpose.
It was nearly eight o'clock in the evening. Up to that time his search
had been utterly unavailing, and he found himself riding down the
village trail at a loss, and in a fiercely impatient mood.
He had just reached the point where the trail split in two. The one
way traveling due west, and the other up to the new church, and on,
beyond, to the Meeting House.
The inspiration came to him as Peter, of his own accord, turned off up
the hill in the direction of the church. Then he remembered that the
day was Saturday, and on Saturday evening it was Kate's custom to put
the Meeting House in order for the next day's service.
In a moment he bustled his faithful horse, and, taking the grassy side
of the trail for it, to muffle his approach, hurried on toward the
quaint old building.
To his utmost delight he realized that, for once, Fate had decided to
be kind to him. There was a light in one of the windows, and he knew
that nobody but Kate had access to the place at times other than the
hours of service.
In that moment of pleasant anticipation he was suddenly seized by an
almost childish desire to take her unawares. The thought appealed to
him strongly after his long and futile search, and, with this object,
he steadied his horse's gait lest the sound of its plodding hoofs
should betray his approach. Twenty yards from the building he drew up
and dismounted.
Once on foot he made his way across the intervening space and reached
the window. A thin curtain, however, was drawn across it, and, though
the light shone through, the interior remained hidden. So he pressed
on toward the door.
Here he paused. And as he did so the sound of something heavy falling
reached him from within. Kate was evidently moving the heavy benches.
He hesitated only for an instant, then he placed his hand cautiously
on the latch and raised it. In spite of his precautions the heavy old
iron rattled noisily, and again he hesitated. Then, with a thrust, he
pushed the aged door open and passed within.
He stood still, his eyes smiling. Kate was at the far end of the room
on her knees. She was looking round at him with a curious, startled
look in her eyes, which had somehow caught the reflection of the light
from the oil bracket lamp on the floor beside her, and set them
glowing a dull, golden copper. The long strip of coco-matting was
rolled back from the floor, and she seemed to be in the act of
resetting it in its place.
Just for a moment they remained staring at each other. Then Kate
turned back to her work, and finished rolling out the matting.
"I'll be glad, mighty glad, when--when we discontinue service in this
place," she said. "The dirt's just--fierce."
Fyles moved up toward her. The matting was in its place.
"Is it?" he said. Then, as he came to a halt, "Say, I've been chasing
the village through half the day to find you, Kate. Then Peter led me
here, and I remembered it was Saturday. I guessed I'd have a surprise
on you, and I thought I'd succeeded. But you don't 'surprise' worth a
cent. Say, I'm to remain here till--after Monday."
Kate slowly rose to her feet. She was clad in a white shirtwaist and
old tailored skirt. She made a perfect figure of robust health and
vigorous purpose. Her eyes, too, were shining, and full of those
subtle depths of fire which held the man enthralled.
"Monday?" she said. Then in a curiously reflective way she repeated
the word, "Monday."
Fyles waited, and, in a moment, Kate's thought seemed to pass. She
looked fearlessly up into the man's eyes, but there was no smile in
response to his.
"I'm--going away until after--Monday," she said.
"Going away?"
The man's disappointment was too evident to be mistaken. "Why?" he
asked, after a moment's pause.
Quite suddenly the woman flung her arms out in a gesture of
helplessness, which somehow did not seem to fit her.
"I can't--bear the strain of waiting here," she said, with an
impatient shrug. "It's--it's on my nerves."
The man began to smile again. "A wager like ours takes nerve to make,
but a bigger nerve to carry through. Still, say, I can't see how
running from it's going to help any. You'll still be thinking.
Thoughts take a heap of getting clear of. Best stop around. It'll be
exciting--some. I'm going to win out," he went on, with confidence,
"and I guess it'll be a game worth watching, even if you--lose."
Kate stooped and picked up the lamp. As she straightened up she sighed
and shook her head. It seemed to the man that a grave trouble was in
her handsome eyes.
"It's not that," she cried, suddenly. "Lose my wager? I'm not going to
lose, but even if I were--I would pay up like a sportsman. No, it's
not that. It's these foolish folk here. It's these stupid creatures
who're just ready to fly at the throat of Providence and defy all--all
superstition. Oh, yes, I know," she hurried on, as the man raised his
strongly marked brows in astonishment. "You'll maybe think me a fool,
a silly, credulous fool. But I know--I feel it here." She placed her
hands upon her bosom with a world of dramatic sincerity.
"What--what's troubling you, Kate? I don't seem to get your meaning."
It was the woman's turn to express surprise.
"Why, you know what they're going to do here, practically on Monday
night. You've heard? Why, the whole village is talking of it. It's the
tree. The old pine. They're going to cut it down." Then she laughed
mirthlessly. "They'll use it as a ridge pole for the new church. That
wicked old, cursed pine."
"Wicked--cursed? I don't understand," Fyles said perplexed. "I heard
about the felling of it all right--but, the other I don't understand."
Kate set the lamp down on one of the benches.
"Listen. I'll tell you," she cried. "Then maybe you'll understand my
feelings--since making my wager with you. Oh, the old story wouldn't
matter so much to me, only--only for that wager. Listen."
Then she hurriedly told him the outline of the curse upon the tree,
and further added an analysis of the situation in conjunction with the
matter which stood between themselves. At the finish she pointed her
argument.
"Need I say any more? Need I tell you that no logic or reason of any
kind can put the conviction out of my mind that here, and now, we are
to be faced with some dreadful tragedy as the price we must pay for
the--the felling of that tree? I can't help it--I know calamity will
befall us."
Fyles shook his head. The woman's obvious convictions left him quite
untouched. Had it been any other who spoke of it he would have derided
the whole idea. But since it was Kate's distress, Kate's belief in the
old legend, he refrained.
"The only calamity that can affect you, Kate, is a calamity for young
Bryant," he said seriously. "And yet you refuse to believe him
concerned with the affairs of--Monday night. Surely you can have no
misgivings on that score?"
Kate shook her head.
"Then what do you fear?" Fyles went on patiently.
Quite slowly the woman raised her big eyes to her companion's face.
For some moments they steadily looked into his. Then slowly into her
gaze there crept an inscrutable expression that was not wholly without
a shadow of a smile.
"It is your reason against my--superstition," she said slowly. "On
Monday night you will capture, or fail to capture, the gang you are
after. Maybe it will be within an hour of the cutting down of that
tree. Disaster will occur. Blood will flow. Death! Any, or all of
these things. For whom? I cannot--will not--wait to see. I shall leave
to-morrow morning after service--for Myrtle."
* * * * *
Kate locked the door of the Meeting House behind them. Then she held
out her hand. Fyles took it and pressed it tenderly.
"Why," he asked gently, almost humbly, "have you so deliberately
avoided me lately?"
The woman stroked Peter's brown head as it was pushed forward beside
the man's shoulder.
"Why?" she echoed. Then she smiled up into the man's face. "Because we
are--antagonists--until after Monday. Good-bye."