The Santa Fé trail was far too exposed to be safely travelled alone
and in broad daylight, but Keith considered it better to put sufficient
space between himself and those whom he felt confident were still
watching his movements from across the river. How much they might
already suspicion his discoveries he possessed no means of knowing, yet,
conscious of their own guilt, they might easily feel safer if he were
also put out of the way. He had no anticipation of open attack, but must
guard against treachery. As he rode, his eyes never left those far-away
sand dunes, although he perceived no movement, no black dot even which
he could conceive to be a possible enemy. Now that he possessed ample
time for thought, the situation became more puzzling. This tragedy which
he had accidentally stumbled upon must have had a cause other than blind
chance. It was the culmination of a plot, with some reason behind more
important than ordinary robbery. Apparently the wagons contained nothing
of value, merely the clothing, provisions, and ordinary utensils of an
emigrant party. Nor had the victims' pockets been carefully searched.
Only the mules had been taken by the raiders, and they would be small
booty for such a crime.
The trail, continually skirting the high bluff and bearing farther
away from the river, turned sharply into a narrow ravine. There was a
considerable break in the rocky barrier here, leading back for perhaps a
hundred yards, and the plainsman turned his horse that way, dismounting
when out of sight among the bowlders. He could rest here until night
with little danger of discovery. He lay down on the rocks, pillowing
his head on the saddle, but his brain was too active to permit sleeping.
Finally he drew the letters from out his pocket, and began examining
them. They yielded very little information, those taken from the older
man having no envelopes to show to whom they had been addressed. The
single document found in the pocket of the other was a memorandum of
account at the Pioneer Store at Topeka, charged to John Sibley, and
marked paid. This then must have been the younger man's name, as the
letters to the other began occasionally “Dear Will.” They were missives
such as a wife might write to a husband long absent, yet upon a mission
of deep interest to both. Keith could not fully determine what this
mission might be, as the persons evidently understood each other so
thoroughly that mere allusion took the place of detail. Twice the name
Phyllis was mentioned, and once a “Fred” was also referred to, but in
neither instance clearly enough to reveal the relationship, although the
latter appeared to be pleaded for. Certain references caused the belief
that these letters had been mailed from some small Missouri town, but no
name was mentioned. They were invariably signed “Mary.” The only other
paper Keith discovered was a brief itinerary of the Santa Fé trail
extending as far west as the Raton Mountains, giving the usual camping
spots and places where water was accessible. He slipped the papers back
into his pocket with a distinct feeling of disappointment, and lay back
staring up at the little strip of blue sky. The silence was profound,
even his horse standing motionless, and finally he fell asleep.
The sun had disappeared, and even the gray of twilight was fading out
of the sky, when Keith returned again to consciousness, aroused by his
horse rolling on the soft turf. He awoke thoroughly refreshed, and eager
to get away on his long night's ride. A cold lunch, hastily eaten, for a
fire would have been dangerous, and he saddled up and was off, trotting
out of the narrow ravine and into the broad trail, which could be
followed without difficulty under the dull gleam of the stars. Horse
and rider were soon at their best, the animal swinging unurged into the
long, easy lope of prairie travel, the fresh air fanning the man's face
as he leaned forward. Once they halted to drink from a narrow stream,
and then pushed on, hour after hour, through the deserted night. Keith
had little fear of Indian raiders in that darkness, and every stride of
his horse brought him closer to the settlements and further removed from
danger. Yet eyes and ears were alert to every shadow and sound. Once, it
must have been after midnight, he drew his pony sharply back into a rock
shadow at the noise of something approaching from the east. The stage
to Santa Fé rattled past, the four mules trotting swiftly, a squad of
troopers riding hard behind. It was merely a lumping shadow sweeping
swiftly past; he could perceive the dim outlines of driver and guard,
the soldiers swaying in their saddles, heard the pounding of hoofs, the
creak of axles, and then the apparition disappeared into the black void.
He had not called out--what was the use? Those people would never pause
to hunt down prairie outlaws, and their guard was sufficient to prevent
attack. They acknowledged but one duty--to get the mail through on time.
The dust of their passing still in the air, Keith rode on, the noise
dying away in his rear. As the hours passed, his horse wearied and had
to be spurred into the swifter stride, but the man seemed tireless. The
sun was an hour high when they climbed the long hill, and loped into
Carson City. The cantonment was to the right, but Keith, having no
report to make, rode directly ahead down the one long street to a livery
corral, leaving his horse there, and sought the nearest restaurant.
Exhausted by a night of high play and deep drinking the border town was
sleeping off its debauch, saloons and gambling dens silent, the streets
almost deserted. To Keith, whose former acquaintance with the place
had been entirely after nightfall, the view of it now was almost a
shock--the miserable shacks, the gaudy saloon fronts, the littered
streets, the dingy, unpainted hotel, the dirty flap of canvas, the
unoccupied road, the dull prairie sweeping away to the horizon, all
composed a hideous picture beneath the sun glare. He could scarcely find
a man to attend his horse, and at the restaurant a drowsy Chinaman had
to be shaken awake, and frightened into serving him. He sat down to the
miserable meal oppressed with disgust--never before had his life seemed
so mean, useless, utterly without excuse.
He possessed the appetite of the open, of the normal man in perfect
physical health, and he ate heartily his eyes wandering out of the open
window down the long, dismal street. A drunken man lay in front of the
“Red Light” Saloon sleeping undisturbed; two cur dogs were snarling at
each other just beyond over a bone; a movers' wagon was slowly coming in
across the open through a cloud of yellow dust. That was all within the
radius of vision. For the first time in years the East called him--the
old life of cleanliness and respectability. He swore to himself as
he tossed the Chinaman pay for his breakfast, and strode out onto the
steps. Two men were coming up the street together from the opposite
direction--one lean, dark-skinned, with black goatee, the other heavily
set with closely trimmed gray beard. Keith knew the latter, and waited,
leaning against the door, one hand on his hip.
“Hullo, Bob,” he said genially; “they must have routed you out pretty
early to-day.”
“They shore did, Jack,” was the response. He came up the steps somewhat
heavily, his companion stopping below. “The boys raise hell all night,
an' then come ter me ter straighten it out in the mawnin'. When did ye
git in?”
“An hour ago; had to wake the 'chink' up to get any chuck. Town looks
dead.”
“Tain't over lively at this time o' day,” permitting his blue eyes to
wander up the silent street, but instantly bringing them back to Keith's
face, “but I reckon it'll wake up later on.”
He stood squarely on both feet, and one hand rested on the butt of a
revolver. Keith noticed this, wondering vaguely.
“I reckon yer know, Jack, as how I ginerally git what I goes after,”
said the slow, drawling voice, “an' that I draw 'bout as quick as any o'
the boys. They tell me yo're a gun-fighter, but it won't do ye no good
ter make a play yere, fer one o' us is sure to git yer--do yer sabe?”
“Get me?” Keith's voice and face expressed astonishment, but not a
muscle of his body moved. “What do you mean, Bob--are you fellows after
me?”
“Sure thing; got the warrant here,” and he tapped the breast of his
shirt with his left hand.
The color mounted into the cheeks of the other, his lips grew set and
white, and his gray eyes darkened.
“Let it all out, Marshal,” he said sternly, “you've got me roped and
tied. Now what's the charge?”
Neither man moved, but the one below swung about so as to face them, one
hand thrust out of sight beneath the tail of his long coat.
“Make him throw up his hands, Bob,” he said sharply.
“Oh, I reckon thar ain't goin' ter be no trouble,” returned the marshal
genially, yet with no relaxation of attention. “Keith knows me, an'
expects a fair deal. Still, maybe I better ask yer to unhitch yer belt,
Jack.”
A moment Keith seemed to hesitate, plainly puzzled by the situation
and endeavoring to see some way of escape; then his lips smiled, and he
silently unhooked the belt, handing it over.
“Sure, I know you're square, Hicks,” he said, coolly. “And now I've
unlimbered, kindly inform me what this is all about.”
“I reckon yer don't know.”
“No more than an unborn babe. I have been here but an hour.”
“That's it: if yer had been longer thar wouldn't be no trouble. Yo're
wanted for killin' a couple o' men out at Cimmaron Crossin' early
yesterday mornin'.”
Keith stared at him too completely astounded for the instant to even
speak. Then he gasped.
“For God's sake, Hicks, do you believe that?”
“I'm damned if I know,” returned the marshal, doubtfully. “Don't seem
like ye'd do it, but the evidence is straight 'nough, an' thar ain't
nothin' fer me ter do but take ye in. I ain't no jedge an' jury.”
“No, but you ought to have ordinary sense, an' you've known me for three
years.”
“Sure I have, Jack, but if yer've gone wrong, you won't be the first
good man I've seen do it. Anyhow, the evidence is dead agin you, an' I'd
arrest my own grand-dad if they give me a warrant agin him.”
“What evidence is there?”
“Five men swear they saw ye haulin' the bodies about, and lootin' the
pockets.”
Then Keith understood, his heart beating rapidly, his teeth clenched to
keep back an outburst of passion. So that was their game, was it?--some
act of his had awakened the cowardly suspicions of those watching him
across the river. They were afraid that he knew them as white men. And
they had found a way to safely muzzle him. They must have ridden hard
over those sand dunes to have reached Carson City and sworn out this
warrant. It was a good trick, likely enough to hang him, if the fellows
only stuck to their story. All this flashed through his brain, yet
somehow he could not clearly comprehend the full meaning, his mind
confused and dazed by this sudden realization of danger. His eyes
wandered from the steady gaze of the marshal, who had half drawn his gun
fearing resistance, to the man at the bottom of the steps. Suddenly it
dawned upon him where he had seen that dark-skinned face, with the black
goatee, before--at the faro table of the “Red Light.” He gripped his
hands together, instantly connecting that sneering, sinister face with
the plot.
“Who swore out that warrant?”
“I did, if you need to know,” a sarcastic smile revealing a gleam of
white teeth, “on the affidavit of others, friends of mine.”
“Who are you?”
“I'm mostly called 'Black Bart.'”
That was it; he had the name now--“Black Bart.” He straightened up so
quickly, his eyes blazing, that the marshal jerked his gun clear.
“See here, Jack,” shortly, “are yer goin' to raise a row, or come along
quiet?”
As though the words had aroused him from a bad dream, Keith turned to
front the stern, bearded face.
“There'll be no row, Bob,” he said, quietly. “I'll go with you.”