TAKING THE TRAIL
Kathleen returned to her room and dressed herself fully. It was only a
matter of time until pursuit would be organized, would arrive, and she
would be questioned. She would tell nothing. Her brothers should have
their fighting chance.
Already her mind, recovering from the shock of the unexpected, was busy
with the future. A sister of outlaws! Well, she would go away, adopt
some other name, and wait till she heard from Gavin.
With a swift pang of pain she thought of Angus Mackay. How badly was he
hurt? With daylight she would see, she would offer to do what she could.
Of course Faith and Jean would shrink from Blake's sister. She could not
help that. She would take her medicine. There would be much bitter
medicine to take.
She went downstairs and began to put away things that her brothers had
at first selected and then discarded. It would not be long, now, till
something happened. She picked up a coat of Larry's, turned with it in
her hand, and saw Angus Mackay.
She had heard no sound. Yet he stood in the doorway. His head was
bandaged. A six-shooter in his hand advertised his purpose.
"Angus!" she cried. He raised his hand in a warning gesture.
"Don't make a noise! I didn't expect to see you. I'm sorry. I'll go
away."
"You are looking for Blake!"
He nodded silently.
"He isn't here, Angus. He has gone. I want to know what happened."
"It will not be pleasant for you to hear."
"I must know."
As he told her, her face grew white with anger.
"I knew he was a brute--a cur!" she said. "But this is too much."
"Yes, it is too much," he agreed gravely. "I am sorry, because he is
your brother, but it has come to a finish between Blake and me."
"I understand," she said with equal gravity. "I do not feel that he is
my brother. But they have all gone together, and I may as well tell you
why."
He listened, frowning. He did not care about Braden, to whom he
attributed the attempt of Blake and Garland to recover Faith's deeds.
But if Blake had gone with the other boys it meant that they would all
stand together. It was feud, then, at last, unavoidable. But his purpose
was unchanged.
"They don't know," Kathleen said, "that Blake laid hands on Faith. If
they had known, they would not help him. They are bad enough but at
least they are men."
He nodded silently. There was no doubt of that. Kathleen raised her
head, listening. He became aware of a distant sound.
"That is--the law," she said. "Perhaps you would rather not be seen
here--with me."
"I am glad to be here. I will see them. You shouldn't be alone. If you
will go to Faith in the morning, and say that I asked you to stay with
her--"
"No, no!" she cried. "It is kind of you. You are a good man, Angus. But
I can't do that."
"You would be welcome."
"Still I cannot do it."
But the hoof-beats swelled in volume and clattered to a halt in front of
the house. Angus went to the front door and opened it. He found himself
confronted by a long, lean, grizzled gentleman who held a gun of
orthodox proportions in readiness for action. But as he recognized Angus
he lowered it with a grunt of surprise.
"Didn't expect to see _you_! Any of the French boys in the house?"
"They've pulled out. Their sister is alone."
The grizzled gentleman grunted again. His name was Bush, and he was the
sheriff's deputy. As the sheriff was old and carried much weight for
age, the rough jobs fell to Jake Bush, who did them well. He possessed
much experience, a craw full of sand, and a thorough understanding of a
gun. Behind him, with horses, Angus saw men he knew--Bustede, Drury,
Fanning, McClintock--all men of the hills and of their hands.
"Yeh, I figgered them boys would pull out ahead of me," Bush admitted
placidly. "And of course they'll p'int out north for the hills, where
they ain't no wires. They know the country darn well, too. So I called
in at your ranch and rousted out Dave. He's a wise old ram in them
hills. Your brother wanted to come, and he bein' a useful kid I swore
him in, too. I wanted you, but when I found out where you was I sent
Dave and the kid after you, and come right along here. But I had a hunch
it'd be too late. Still, it's a s'prise to see you."
"And you want to know why I'm here?"
"Well--yes. It might have some bearin' on the case."
Angus told him why, and Bush's eyebrows drew together.
"Now I'm free to say that for a low-down skunk this here Blake French
is some pumpkins. I sure thought he was with his brothers, but this
gives him a alibi, I s'pose. And I s'pose, also, you're out to git him.
Is that right?"
"That's right."
"I don't say he don't need killin'," said the deputy. "But the darn
law--nowadays--sorter discourages these here private executions. And I'm
an officer of the law."
"You and the law, Jake," Angus said deliberately, "can both go to hell!"
"Now don't be so darn hair-trigger!" the deputy protested. "Here's the
proposition: You've give me information which justifies me in arrestin'
him for murderous assault on your wife, and shootin' you with intent to
kill. His brothers is wanted for robbery and murder, and they're all
stringin' their chips together. I figger they'll resist arrest, and I
don't believe in allowin' my officers to be shot up. So if you was sworn
in, and was to kill Blake resistin' arrest, it would be all reg'lar.
Savvy?"
"But suppose he doesn't resist arrest?"
"Never cross a bridge till you come to it," said Bush wisely. "You got
to come along with us to find him, anyhow. So I'll swear you in and
we'll hope for the best."
Bush's questioning of Kathleen was perfunctory. He grinned at her
refusal to give information. "I wouldn't think much of you if you did,"
he admitted, and went on a tour of investigation, from which he drew
some very accurate deductions.
Turkey and Rennie arrived, and for the first time Angus heard of
Braden's dying declaration that Gavin French was responsible for the
killing of Adam Mackay. But beyond the bare statement there were no
details. Braden's end had come before he had been able to amplify it.
"Do you suppose it's so?" Turkey queried. "Or was he just trying to hang
something on Gavin?"
Angus did not know. There were times, in the years, when he had been
puzzled by Gavin's peculiar regard for him. There had always been
something in the big man's eyes which he could not read, something
veiled, inscrutable. He alone of the brothers had been reluctant to take
up their father's quarrel with Angus. This might be the reason.
"If he killed father," said Turkey grimly, "he's got it coming to him.
You take Blake, and I'll take him."
"There is nothing to go on but what Braden said," Angus pointed out. But
he thought of his father's dying words. His father had not wished to lay
a feud upon him. It fitted.
At dawn, acting on Bush's theory, they headed north for the pass. When
they struck it there were fresh footprints, many of them, heading into
the hills.
"That's them," said Bush. "Hey, Dave?"
"Sure," said Rennie. "It ain't Injuns. These horses is shod."
A mountain pass is not a road. It merely represents the only practicable
way of winning through the jumbled world of hills. Railway construction
in the mountains follows the pass, but persons who admire scenery from
vestibuled coaches know nothing of the old pass of the pack-trail, the
binding brush, the fallen timber, the slides, the swift creeks, the
gulches, the precipices to which the trail must cling.
The trail itself--the original trail--is invariably the line of least
resistance. It proceeds on the theory that it is easier to go around
than through or over. If traveling on the other side of a creek is
easier it crosses. When conditions are reversed, it comes back. It
wanders with apparent aimlessness, but eventually gets there, at the
cost of time, but without much work. To natural obstacles the wild
animals and the equally wild men who first trod the passes opposed
patience and time, of which they had great store. Later the pioneer
brought the ax. He slashed out the brush, so that he and his might get
by without trouble; but he followed the windings of the trail.
The pass upon which the pursuit entered was a good trail. It led
gradually and almost imperceptibly upward, following the general course
of a creek. The hills sloped back on either hand. Into them led wide
draws, timbered, little valleys in themselves. But this pass was merely
a vestibule. It reached the summit of the first range of hills, and
there was a way down the other side. The trail had been cut out. But
beyond were hundreds of square miles of mountains in which what few
trails there were had never known an ax.
In the afternoon they reached the summit of the first divide. It was
comparatively low, and timbered. There was a lake, scarcely more than a
pond. There the fugitives had halted.
Rennie and Bush nosed among the signs like old hounds, not looking for
anything in particular, but because they could not help it.
"I sh'd say they got two pack ponies," Bush decided. "There's the four
French boys, and maybe Garland."
"Garland ain't with 'em," Rennie returned with conviction. "He's too
darn wise. He knows Angus would go after Blake, or if he didn't me or
Turkey would. So he'd quit Blake right away and pull out by himself.
I'd bet money on it."
"Not with me," Bush grinned. "I guess you're right."
They were standing by the little lake, and Rennie pointed to a moccasin
track that lay in the soft ground. The foot that made it was shapely,
rather small, and straight along the inner line. The toes were spread
widely, naturally.
"That's funny," said Rennie.
"Why?" Bush asked. "It's some Injun. He jumped from there onto that log.
I s'pose he wanted water without wettin' his feet."
"What's an Injun doin' here?"
"What's an Injun doin' any place?" Bush countered with the scorn of the
old-timer. "S'pose you loosen up some. You know as much about Injuns as
I do."
"Well, we ain't met this Injun," said Rennie, "so he's travelin' the
same way we are. Maybe he's just one of a bunch that's in here huntin'.
But I was tellin' you about how old Paul Sam come to Angus' wife's place
last night. He was lookin' for Blake. 'Course you heard what was said
about Blake and his granddaughter. I just wondered."
Bush removed his hat and scratched his head.
"By gosh, I wonder!" he observed. "He's mighty old, but it might be. He
ain't no fish-eatin' flat-face Siwash. He's a horse Injun--one of the
old stock. But he is darn old."
"He thought a heap of the girl," said Rennie. "He sent her to school. He
was goin' to make her all same white girl."
"Uh-huh!" Bush growled. "A lot of darn fools think they can do tricks
like that. But she's a job for the Almighty. Well, if this is the old
buck, he couldn't go on a better last war-trail, and I wish him a heap
of luck. Now let's get goin'."
Night found them at the foot of the range they had crossed. They were
now in the valley of the Klimminchuck, a fast stream of the proportions
of a river, fed by tributary creeks. Across it rose mountains, range on
range, nameless, cut by valleys, pockets, basins and creeks. Their area
resembled a tumbled sea. It was a mountain wilderness, little known,
unmapped, much as it came from the hands of the Creator.
And yet in this wilderness there were trails. Up tributary creeks
hunters had made them for short distances, but they soon petered out.
Beyond, into the heart of the hills, were other faintly marked routes,
scarcely trails but ways of traverse, by which at various and widely
separated times man had penetrated into these solitudes and even crossed
them entirely.
All the men knew something of this mountain area, but Rennie's knowledge
was the most extensive. His was the restlessness, the desire to see
something of what lay beyond, of the pioneer. He had made long
incursions, alone. Bush leaned on this knowledge. Around the fire that
night, pipes alight, they held council.
"They've turned up river," said Bush. "If they keep on for the head
waters they get into mighty bad country, hey, Dave?"
"Mighty bad," Rennie agreed. "They couldn't get no place."
"And they ain't outfitted to winter. Do they know she's bad up there?"
"Sure they know. Anyhow, Gavin does. My tumtum is they'll ford above
here and try for a clean get-away, maybe up Copper Creek, right across
the mountains."
"Can they make it?"
"They might. Depends on what they know of the country, and what luck
they have."
"With horses?"
"Well, they might."
"How far have you ever gone yourself?"
"I been up to where the Copper heads and over the divide and on a
piece."
"Good travelin'?"
"No, darn mean."
"Trail?"
"Only a liar would call it a trail. Still, you can get along if you're
careful."
"Could they have gone farther?"
"Sure."
"Did you ever hear of anybody gettin' plum' through, say to Cache River,
that way?"
"I've heard of it--yes. Old Pete Jodoin claimed he made her. And one
time I run onto an old Stoney buck and he told me how, long ago, his
people used to come down huntin' onto this here Klimmin, but they don't
do it no more."
"Pete Jodoin was an old liar," said Bush, "and so's any Stoney, on
gen'ral principles. But it's funny the places you can go if you know
how. Think these French boys would know enough to make a trip like
that?"
"Gavin knows a lot about these hills," Rennie replied. "He's hunted in
'em a lot by himself. He can pack near as much as a pony, and it's darn
hard to say where he went and didn't go."
"Well," said Bush, "I only hope we don't lose their trail."
So far the trail had been plain, the hoof marks on it visible. But on
bad ground this would not be the case. There would be no trail, in the
sense of a path, and the trail in the sense of hoof-marks might
disappear entirely. Therefore it was important to ascertain if they
could the line of flight, so that if signs temporarily ceased there
might be a possibility of finding them again further on.
But in the morning the trail of the fugitives led straight to the ford,
crossed it and held up the farther side. They came to the mouth of
Copper Creek, a delta with much gravel wash, but the trail of the
fugitives, in place of turning the Copper, led straight on up the valley
trail. A couple of miles on, just after crossing a patch of rocky
ground, Turkey who was in the lead pulled up and dismounted.
"What's the matter, kid?" Bush asked.
"Matter!" Turkey exclaimed. "Why there isn't a shod horse in this bunch
of tracks we're following."
Investigation showed that Turkey was right. They had been riding on the
tracks of unshod horses, presumably of an Indian hunting party. And as
they had trampled on these with their own shod horses it was going to be
hard to ascertain just how far they had gone on this false trail. But
Rennie had his own idea of a short cut.
"They made the side jump somewheres on these here rocks," he said. "They
figgered we'd go hellin' along on the tracks of them barefoots. Now this
bad ground is the end of that there shoulder you see, and she runs back
and dips down on the other side to the Copper."
"Sounds reas'nable," Bush admitted, "Then we go back to the Copper."
The two were standing together apart from the others.
"Look over there," said Rennie, "and line up this rock with that lone
cottonwood. What do you see?"
Bush looked along the line indicated. "By gosh," he ejaculated, "that
cottonwood's _blazed_!"
"Blazed both sides," Rennie informed him. "I been there. And further on
there's another tree blazed. Fresh."
"Lord--ee!" said Bush. "Them French boys wouldn't do that. You think
it's the old buck?"
Rennie nodded. "He's wiser 'n we are; also closer to 'em. He's playin' a
lone hand, so he has to wait his chance at Blake. He figgers Angus will
be after Blake, and as he may run into bad luck himself he wants to make
sure somebody lands him. He don't know why the other boys are there, but
he knows there must be some good reason, because they're in a hurry and
tryin' to hide their trail. So on gen'ral principles he blazes that
cottonwood where he strikes their tracks where they've turned off, and
keeps goin'."
"Uh-huh!" Bush agreed. "I guess we better not tell them Mackay boys
about the Injun. They'd be for crowdin' things, and likely mess 'em up.
They don't want nobody to get ahead of 'em. I wish I hadn't told 'em
what old Braden said. But it seemed right they should know."
"So it is right," said Rennie. "Adam Mackay hadn't no gun. She was
murder. Only thing, I don't savvy it bein' Gavin French. Givin' the
devil his due, he's all _man_. And Braden was such a darn liar. Well,
there's many a card lost in the shuffle turns up in the deal."