THE RED TIDE OF ANARCHY
Betty and her uncle spent the next few hours in preparing for
eventualities. They explored the storeroom and armory, and in the
latter they found ample provision for a stout defense. There were
firearms in plenty, and such a supply of ammunition as should be
sufficient to withstand a siege. The store of dynamite gave them some
anxiety. It was dangerous where it was, in case of open warfare, but it
would be still more dangerous in the hands of the strikers. Eventually
they concealed it well under a pile of other stores in the hopes, in
case of accident, it might remain undiscovered.
During their preparations several more stones crashed against the walls
and the door of the building. They were hurled at longish intervals,
and seemed to be the work of one person. Then, finally no more were
thrown, and futile as the attack had been, its cessation brought a
certain relief and ease of mind. To the man it suggested the work of
some drunken lumber-jack--perhaps the man who had been so forcibly
rebuffed by Betty earlier in the evening.
It was one o'clock when Chepstow took a final look round his
barricades. Betty was sitting at the table with a fine array of
firearms spread out before her. She had just finished loading the last
one when her uncle came to her side. She looked up at him with quiet
amusement in her eyes.
"I was wondering," she said, with just a suspicion of satire in her
manner, "whether we are in a state of siege, or--panic?"
But her uncle's sense of humor was lacking at the moment. He saw only
the gravity of his responsibility.
"You'd best get to bed," he said a little severely. "I shall sit up.
You must get all the rest you can. We do not know what may be in store
for us."
Betty promptly fell in with his mood.
"But the sick?" she said. "We must visit them to-morrow. We cannot let
them suffer."
"No. We must wait and see what to-morrow brings forth. In the
meantime----"
He broke off, listening. Betty too had suddenly turned her eyes upon
the barred door. There was a long pause, during which the murmur of
many voices reached them, and the faint but distinct sound of tramping
feet. The man's eyes grew anxious, his lean face was set and hard. It
was easy enough to read his thoughts. He was weighing the possibilities
of collision with these strikers, and calculating the chances in his
favor. Betty seemed less disturbed. Her eyes were steady and interested
rather than alarmed.
"There's a crowd of them," said her uncle in a hushed voice.
The girl listened for something which perhaps her uncle had forgotten.
Sober, she did not expect much trouble from these people. If they had
been drinking it would be different.
The voices grew louder. The shuffling, clumping footsteps grew louder.
They drew near. They were within a few yards of the building. Finally
they stopped just outside the door. Instantly there was a loud
hammering upon it, and a harsh demand for admittance.
Neither stirred.
"Open the door!" roared the voice, and the cry was taken up by others
until it grew into a perfect babel of shouting and cursing.
Betty moved to her uncle's side and laid a hand upon his arm. She
looked up into his face and saw the storm-clouds of his anger gathering
there.
"We shall have to open it, uncle," she said. "That's--that's Tim
Canfield's voice."
He looked down into her eager young face. He saw no fear there. He
feared, but not for himself: it was of her he was thinking. He wanted
to open the door. He wanted to vent his anger in scathing defiance, but
he was thinking of the girl in his charge. He was her sole protection.
He knew, only too well, what "strike" meant to these men. It meant the
turning of their savage passions loose upon brains all too untutored to
afford them a semblance of control. Then there was the drink, and drink
meant--
The clamor at the door was becoming terrific. He stirred, and, walking
swiftly across the room, put his mouth to the jamb.
"What do you want?" he shouted angrily. "What right have you to come
here disturbing us at such an hour?"
Instantly the noise dropped. Then he heard Tim's voice repeating his
words to the crowd, and they were greeted with a laugh that had in it a
note of rebellion.
The laugh died out as the spokesman turned again to the door.
"Open this gorl-durned door, or we'll bust it in!" he shouted. And a
chorus of "Break it in!" was taken up by the crowd.
The parson's anger leapt. His keen nerves were on edge in a moment.
Even Betty's gentle eyes kindled. He turned to her, his eyes blazing.
"Hand me a couple of guns!" he cried, in a voice that reached the men
outside. "Get hold of a couple yourself! If there's to be trouble we'll
take a hand!" Then he turned to the door, and his voice was thrilling
with "fight." "I'll open the door to no one till I know what you want!"
he shouted furiously. "Beat the door in! I warn you those who step
inside will get it good and plenty! Beat away!"
His words had instant effect. For several seconds there was not a sound
on the other side of the door. Then some one muttered something, and
instantly the crowd took up a fierce cry, urging their leaders on.
But the men in front were not to be rushed into a reckless assault, and
a fierce altercation ensued. Finally silence was restored, and Tim
Canfield spoke again, but there was a conciliatory note in his voice
this time.
"You ken open it, passon," he said. "We're talkin' fair. We ain't
nuthin' up agin you. We're astin' you to help us out some. Ef you open
that door, me an' Mike Duggan'll step in, an' no one else. We'll tell
you what's doin'. Ther' don't need be no shootin' to this racket."
The churchman considered. The position was awkward. His anger was
melting, but he knew that, for the moment, he had the whip hand.
However, he also knew if he didn't open the door, ultimately force
would certainly be used. These were not the men to be scared easily.
But Betty was in his thoughts, and finally it was Betty who decided for
him.
"Open it," she whispered. "It's our best course. I don't think they
mean any harm--yet."
The man reluctantly obeyed, but only after some moments' hesitation. He
withdrew the bars, and as the girl moved away beyond the stove, and sat
down to her sewing, he stepped aside, covering the doorway with his two
revolvers.
"Only two of you!" he cried, as the door swung open.
The two men came in and, turning quickly, shut the rest of the crowd
out and rebarred the door.
Then they confronted the churchman's two guns. There was something
tremendously compelling in Chepstow's attitude and the light of battle
that shone in his eyes. He meant business, and they knew it. Their
respect for him rose, and they watched him warily until presently he
lowered the guns to his side.
He eyed them severely. They were men he knew, men who were real
lumber-jacks, matured in the long service of Dave's mills, men who
should have known better. They were powerfully built and grizzled, with
faces and eyes as hard as their tremendous muscles. He knew the type
well. It was the type he had always admired, and a type, once they were
on the wrong path, he knew could be very, very dangerous.
"Well, boys," he demanded, in a more moderate tone, yet holding them
with the severity of his expression. "What's all this bother about?
What do you mean by this intolerable--bulldozing?"
The men suddenly discovered Betty at the far side of the stove. Her
attitude was one of preoccupation in her sewing. It was pretense, but
it looked natural. They abruptly pulled off their caps, and for the
moment, seemed half abashed. But it was only for the moment. The next,
Canfield turned on the churchman coldly.
"You're actin' kind o' foolish, passon," he said. "It ain't no use
talkin' gun-play when ther' ain't no need whatever. It's like to make
things ridic'lous awkward, an' set the boys sore. We come along here
peaceful to talk you fair----"
"So you bring an army," broke in Chepstow, impatiently, "after holding
a meeting at the store, and considering the advisability of making
prisoners of my niece and me."
"Who said?" demanded Tim fiercely.
"I did," retorted Chepstow militantly.
The promptness of his retort silenced the lumberman. He grinned, and
leered round at his companion.
"Well?" The parson's voice was getting sharper.
"Well, it's like this, passon. Ther' ain't goin' to be no
prisoner-makin' if you'll act reas'nable. Ther' ain't nuthin' up to you
nor the leddy but wot's good an' clean. You've see to our boys who's
sick, an' just done right by us--we can't say the same fer others. We
just want you to come right along down to the camp. Ther's a feller bin
shot by that all-fired skunk Mason, an' I guess he's jest busy bleedin'
plumb to death. Will you come?"
"Who is it?"
The shortness of Chepstow's tone was uncompromising.
The lumber-jack stirred uneasily. He glanced round at his companion.
The churchman saw the look and understood.
"Come on, Mike Duggan, out with it. I'm not going to be played with,"
he said. "Your mate doesn't seem easy about it. I suppose it's one of
the ringleaders of your strike, and you want me to patch him up so he
can go on with his dirty work. Well? I'm waiting."
Duggan's eyes flashed.
"Easy, passon," he said sharply. "The feller's name is Walford. You
ain't like to know him fer sure. He's kind o' runnin' things fer us.
He's hit in the shoulder bad."
"Ah, it's that fellow who was speaking at your meeting. So he's got his
medicine. Good. Well, you want me to fix him up?"
The lumber-jacks nodded.
"That's it," said Duggan cheerfully.
Chepstow considered for a moment. Then he glanced over at Betty. Their
eyes met, and his had a smile of encouragement in them. He turned back
at once to the waiting men.
"I'll help you, but on one or two conditions. I demand my own
conditions absolutely. They're easy, but I won't change them or
moderate them by a single detail."
"Get to it, passon," said Canfield, as he paused. "Make 'em easy, an'
ther' won't be no kick comin'."
"You must bring the fellow here, and leave him with us until he is
sufficiently recovered. Any of you can come and see him, if he's not
too sick. Then you must give me a guarantee that my niece and I can
visit the sick camp to tend the boys up there without any sort of
molestation. You understand? You must guarantee this. You must
guarantee that we are in no way interfered with, and if at any time we
are out of this hut, no one will enter it without our permission. We
are here for peace. We are here to help your sick comrades. Your
affairs with your employers have nothing to do with us. Is it a deal?"
"Why sure, passon," replied Duggan. And Tim nodded his approval.
"It's folks like you makes things easy fer us," added the latter, with
hearty good-will. "Guess we'll shake on it."
He held out his hand, and Chepstow promptly gripped it. He also shook
the other by the hand.
"Now, boys," he said genially, "how about those others outside? How
will you guarantee them?"
"We'll fix that quick. Say, Mike, just open that door." Canfield turned
again to Chepstow, while Mike obeyed orders. "I'll give 'em a few
words," he went on, "an' we'll send right off for Walford. He's mighty
bad, passon. He's----"
The door was open by this time, and the two men hurried out. Chepstow
secured it behind them, and stood listening for what was to happen. He
heard Canfield haranguing the crowd, and his words seemed to have the
desired effect, for presently the whole lot began to move off, and in
two minutes the last sound of voices and receding footsteps had died
out. Betty drew a sigh of relief.
"Uncle," she said, smiling affectionately across at him as he left the
door and came toward the stove, "you are a genius of diplomacy."
The man laughed self-consciously.
"Well, we have gained a point," he said doubtfully.
Betty let her eyes fall upon her sewing again.
"Yes, we have gained a point. I wonder how long that point will hold
good, when--when the drink begins to flow."
"That's what I'm wondering."
And their question was answered in less than twenty-four hours.
Half an hour later the wounded strike-leader was brought to the hut. He
was in a semi-conscious state, and a swift examination showed him to be
in a pretty bad way. The bullet had ploughed its way through the
shoulder, smashing both the collar-bone and the shoulder-blade. Then,
though no vital spot had been touched, the loss of blood had been
terrific. He had been left lying at the store ever since he was shot by
Mason, with just a rough bandage of his own shirt, which had been quite
powerless to stop the flow of blood.
It took Chepstow nearly two hours to dress the wound and set the bones,
and by that time the man's weakness had plunged him into absolute
unconsciousness. Still, this was due solely to loss of blood, and with
careful nursing there was no real reason why he should not make a
satisfactory recovery.
The rest of the night was spent at the sick man's bedside. Betty and
her uncle shared the vigil in reliefs, and, weary work as it was, they
never hesitated. A life was at stake, and though the man was the cause
of all the trouble, or instrumental in it, they were yet ready to spare
no effort on his behalf. With the parson it was sheer love of his duty
toward all men that gave him inspiration. With Betty there may have
been a less Christian spirit in her motives. All this man's efforts had
been directed against the man she loved, and she hated him for it; but
a life was at stake, and a life, to her, was a very sacred thing.
The next day was spent between care for the sick at the fever camp and
the wounded man in their own quarters, and the guarantee of the
strikers was literally carried out. There were one or two visits to
their sick leader, but no interference or molestation occurred. Then at
sundown came the first warning of storm.
Betty was returning to the dugout. She was tired and sick at heart with
her labors. For both it had been a strenuous day, but it had found her
strength out a good deal more than it had her uncle's. Ahead of her she
knew there yet lay a long night of nursing the wounded man.
It was a gorgeous evening. The fog had quite passed away. A splendid
sunset lit the glittering peaks towering about her with a cloak of
iridescent fire. The snow caps shone with a ruddy glow, while the
ancient glaciers suggested molten streams pouring from the heart of
them to the darkling wood-belts below. The girl paused and for a moment
the wonder of the scene lifted her out of her weariness. But it was
only momentary. The whole picture was so transient. It changed and
varied with kaleidoscopic suddenness, and vanished altogether in less
than five minutes. Again the mountains assumed the gray cold of their
unlit beauties. The sun had gone, and day merged into night with almost
staggering abruptness. She turned with a sigh to resume her journey.
It was then that her attention was drawn elsewhere. In the direction of
the lumber camp, in the very heart of it, it seemed, a heavy smoke was
rising and drifting westward on the light evening breeze. It was not
the haze of smoke from campfires just lit, but a cloud augmented by
great belches from below. And in the growing dusk she fancied there was
even a ruddy reflection lighting it. She stared with wide-open,
wondering eyes.
Suddenly a great shaft of flame shot up into its midst, and, as it lit
the scene, she heard the shouting of men mingling with the crash of
falling timber. She stood spellbound, a strange terror gripping her
heart. It was fear of the unknown. There was a fire--burning what? She
turned and ran for the dugout.
Bursting into the hut, she poured out her tidings to her uncle, who was
preparing supper. The man listening to her hasty words understood the
terror that beset her. Fire in those forest regions might well strike
terror into the heart. He held a great check upon himself.
"Sit down, child," he said gently, at the conclusion of her story. "Sit
down and have some food. Afterward, while you see to Walford, I'll cut
through the woods and see what's doing."
He accomplished his object. Betty calmed at once, and obediently sat
down to the food he set before her. She even forced herself to eat, and
presently realized she was hungry. The churchman said nothing until
they had finished eating. Then he lit his pipe.
"It's drink, I expect," he said, as though he had been striving to
solve the matter during supper. "Likely they're burning the camp. We
know what they are."
Betty took a deep breath.
"And if they're doing that here, what about the outlying camps?"
She knew that such an event would mean absolute ruin to Dave, and again
her terror rose. This time it was for Dave, and the feeling sickened
her.
Her uncle put on his hat. He had no answer for her. He understood what
was in her mind.
"Don't leave this place, Betty," he said calmly. "Redress Walford's
wound the way I showed you. Keep this door barred, and don't let any
one in. I'll be back soon."
He was gone. And the manner of his going suggested anything but the
calmness with which he spoke.
Once outside, the terror he had refused to display in Betty's presence
lent wings to his feet. Night had closed in by the time he took to the
woods. Now the air was full of the burning reek, and he tried to
calculate the possibilities. He snuffed at the air to test the smell,
fearful lest it should be the forest that was burning. He could not
tell. He was too inexperienced in woodcraft to judge accurately. In
their sober senses these lumber-jacks dreaded fire as much as a sailor
dreads it at sea, then there could be little doubt as to the cause of
it now. The inevitable had happened. Drink was flowing, scorching out
the none too acute senses of these savages. Where would their orgy lead
them? Was there any limit that could hold them? He thought not. If he
were inexperienced in the woodsman's craft, he knew these woodsmen, and
he shuddered at the pictures his thoughts painted.
As he drew nearer the camp the smoke got into his lungs. The fire must
be a big one. A sudden thought came to him, and with it his fears
receded. He wondered why it had not occurred to him before. Of course.
His eyes brightened almost to a smile. If what he suspected had
happened, perhaps it was the hand of Providence working in Dave's
interest. Working in Dave's, and---- Perhaps it was the cleansing fires
of the Almighty sent to wipe out the evil inspired by the erring mind
of man.
He reached the fringe of woods which surrounded the clearing of the
camp, and in another few seconds he stood in the open.
"Thank God," he exclaimed. Then, in a moment, the horror of a pitying
Christian mind shone in his eyes. His lips were tight shut, and his
hands clenched at his sides. Every muscle strung tense with the force
of his emotions.
In the centre of the clearing the sutler's store was a blazing pile.
But it was literally in the centre, with such a distance between it and
the surrounding woods as to reduce the danger of setting fire to them
to a minimum. It was this, and the fact that it was the store where the
spirits were kept, that had inspired his heartfelt exclamation. But his
horror was for that which he saw besides.
The running figures of the strikers about the fire were the figures of
men mad with drink. Their shoutings, their laughter, their antics told
him this. But they were not so drunk but what they had sacked the store
before setting it ablaze. Ah, he understood now, and he wondered what
had happened to the Jew trader.
He drew nearer. He felt safe in doing so. These demented savages were
so fully occupied that they were scarcely likely to observe him. And if
they did, he doubted if he were running much personal risk. They had no
particular animosity for him.
And as he came near, the sights he beheld sickened him. There were
several fights in progress. Not individual battles, but drunken brawls
in groups; mauling, savaging masses of men whose instinct, when roused,
it is to hurt, hurt anyhow, and if possible to kill. These men fought
as beasts fight, tearing each other with teeth and hands, gouging,
hacking, clawing. It was a merciless display of brute savagery inspired
by a bestial instinct, stirred to fever pitch by the filthy spirit
served in a lumber camp.
At another point, well away from the burning building, the merchandise
was piled, tossed together in the reckless fashion only to be expected
in men so inspired. Around this were the more sober, helping themselves
greedily, snatching at clothing, at blankets, at the tools of their
craft. Some were loaded with tin boxes of fancy biscuits and canned
meats, others had possessed themselves of the cheap jewelry such as
traders love to dazzle the eyes of their simple customers with. Each
took as his stomach guided him, but with a gluttony for things which
can be had for nothing always to be found in people of unbridled
passions. It was a sight little less revolting than the other, for it
spoke of another form of unchecked savagery.
Not far from this, shown in strong relief by the lurid fires, was
gathered a shouting, turbulent crowd round a pile of barrels and cases.
Three barrels were standing on end, apart from the rest, and their
heads had been removed, and round these struggled a maddened crew with
tin pannikins. They were dipping the fiery spirit out of the casks, and
draining each draught as hurriedly as the scorching stuff could pass
down their throats, so as to secure as much as possible before it was
all gone. The watching man shuddered. Truly a more terrible display was
inconceivable. The men were not human in their orgy. They were wild
beasts. What, he asked himself, what would be the result when the
liquor had saturated the brains of every one of them? It was too
terrible to contemplate.
The roar of the blazing building, the babel of shouting, the darkly
lurid light shining amidst the shadows of surrounding woods, the
starlit heavens above, the stillness of mountain gloom and solitude;
these things created a picture so awful of contemplation as to be
unforgettable. Every detail drove into the watching man's heart as
though graven there with chisel and hammer. It was a hellish picture,
lit with hellish light, and set in the midst of gloom profound. The men
might have been demons silhouetted against the ruddy fire; their
doings, their antics, had in them so little that was human. It was
awful, and at last, in despair, the man on the outskirts of the
clearing turned and fled. Anything rather than this degrading sight; he
could bear it no longer. He sickened, yet his heart yearned for them.
There was nothing he could do to help them or check them. He could only
pray for their demented souls, and--see to the safeguarding of Betty.
Betty heard her uncle's voice calling, and flung down the bars of the
door. She looked into his ghastly face as he hurried in. She asked no
question, and watched him as with nervous hands he closed and secured
the door behind him. Her eyes followed his movements as he crossed to
the stove and flung himself into a chair. She saw his head droop
forward, and his hands cover his eyes in a gesture of despair. Still
she waited, her breath coming more quickly as the moments passed.
She moved a step toward him, and slowly he raised a drawn haggard face,
and his horrified eyes looked into hers.
"You must not leave this hut on any pretense, Betty," he said slowly.
Then he raised his eyes to the roof. "God have pity on them! They are
mad! Mad with drink, and ready for any debauchery. I could kill the
men," he went on, shaking his two clenched fists in the air, "who have
driven them----"
"Hush, uncle!" the girl broke in, laying a restraining hand upon his
upraised arms. "One of them lies over there, and--and he is wounded. We
must do what we can to help."