The backwoodsman, after emerging from the thicket, proceeded as
leisurely along the trail, as if he had the whole day before him, and no
particular motive for making haste.
And yet, one closely scrutinising his features, might there have
observed an expression of intense eagerness; that accorded with his
nervous twitching in the saddle, and the sharp glances from time to time
cast before him.
He scarce deigned to look upon the "sign" left by Calhoun. It he could
read out of the corner of his eye. As to following it, the old mare
could have done that without him!
It was not this knowledge that caused him to hang back; for he would
have preferred keeping Calhoun in sight. But by doing this, the latter
might see _him_; and so frustrate the end he desired to attain.
This end was of more importance than any acts that might occur between;
and, to make himself acquainted with the latter, Zeb Stump trusted to
the craft of his intellect, rather than the skill of his senses.
Advancing slowly and with caution--but with that constancy that ensures
good speed--he arrived at length on the spot where the _mirage_ had made
itself manifest to Calhoun.
Zeb saw nothing of this. It was gone; and the sky stretched down to the
prairie--the blue meeting the green in a straight unbroken line.
He saw, however, what excited him almost as much as the spectre would
have done: two sets of horse-tracks going together--those that went
after being the hoof-marks of Calhoun's new horse--of which Zeb had
already taken the measure.
About the tracks _underneath_ he had no conjecture--at least as regarded
their identification. These he knew, as well as if his own mare had
made them.
"The skunk's hed a find!" were the words that escaped him, as he sate
gazing upon the double trail. "It don't foller from thet," he
continued, in the same careless drawl, "thet he hez made a catch. An'
yit, who knows? Durn me, ef he moutn't! Thur's lots o' chances for his
doin' it. The mowstang may a let him come clost up--seein' as he's
ridin' one o' its own sort; an ef it dud--ay, ef it dud--
"What the durnation am I stannin' hyur for? Thur ain't no time to be
wasted in shiller-shallerin'. Ef he shed grup thet critter, an git what
he wants from it, then I mout whissel for what I want, 'ithout the ghost
o' a chance for gettin' it.
"I must make a better rate o' speed. Gee-up, ole gurl; an see ef ye
can't overtake that ere grey hoss, as scuttled past half-a-hour agone.
Now for a spell o' yur swiftness, the which you kin show along wi' any
o' them, I reckon--thet air when ye're pressed. Gee-up!"
Instead of using the cruel means employed by him when wanting his mare
to make her best speed, he only drove the old spur against her ribs, and
started her into a trot. He had no desire to travel more rapidly than
was consistent with caution; and while trotting he kept his eyes sharply
ranging along the skyline in front of him.
"From the way his track runs," was his reflection, "I kin tell pretty
nigh whar it's goin' to fetch out. Everything seems to go that way; an
so did he, poor young fellur--never more to come back. Ah, wal! ef
t'aint possible to ree-vive him agin, may be it air to squar the yards
wi' the skunk as destroyed him. The Scripter sez, `a eye for a eye, an
a tooth for a tooth,' an I reckin I'll shet up somebody's daylights, an
spoil the use o' thur ivories afore I hev done wi' him. Somebody as
don't suspeeshun it neyther, an that same--. Heigh! Yonner he goes!
An' yonner too the Headless, by Geehosophat! Full gallup both; an durn
me, if the grey aint a overtakin' him!
"They aint comin' this way, so 'tain't no use in our squattin', ole
gurl. Stan' steady for all that. He _mout_ see us movin'.
"No fear. He's too full o' his frolic to look anywhar else, than
straight custrut afore him. Ha! jest as I expected--into the openin'!
Right down it, fast as heels kin carry 'em!
"Now, my maar, on we go agin!"
Another stage of trotting--with his eyes kept steadfastly fixed upon the
chapparal gap--brought Zeb to the timber.
Although the chase had long since turned the angle of the avenue, and
was now out of sight, he did not go along the open ground; but among the
bushes that bordered it.
He went so as to command a view of the clear track for some distance
ahead; at the same time taking care that neither himself, nor his mare,
might be seen by any one advancing from the opposite direction.
He did not anticipate meeting any one--much less the man who soon after
came in sight.
He was not greatly surprised at hearing a shot: for he had been
listening for it, ever since he had set eyes on the chase. He was
rather in surprise at not hearing it sooner; and when the crack did
come, he recognised the report of a yager rifle, and knew whose gun had
been discharged.
He was more astonished to see its owner returning along the lane--in
less than five minutes after the shot had been fired--returning, too,
with a rapidity that told of retreat!
"Comin' back agin--an so soon!" he muttered, on perceiving Calhoun.
"Dog-goned queery thet air! Thur's somethin' amiss, more'n a miss, I
reck'n. Ho, ho, ho! Goin', too, as if hell war arter him! Maybe it's
the Headless hisself, and thur's been a changin' about in the chase--tit
for tat! Darn me, ef it don't look like it! I'd gie a silver dollar to
see thet sort o' a thing. He, he, he, ho, ho, hoo!"
Long before this, the hunter had slipped out of his saddle, and taken
the precaution to screen both himself and his animal from the chance of
being seen by the retreating rider--who promise soon to pass the spot.
And soon did he pass it, going at such a gait, and with such a wild
abstracted air, that Zeb would scarce have been perceived had he been
standing uncovered in the avenue!
"Geehosophat!" mentally ejaculated the backwoodsman, as the
passion-scathed countenance came near enough to be scrutinised. "If
hell ain't _arter_, it's _inside_ o' him! Durn me, ef thet face ain't
the ugliest picter this coon ever clapped eyes on. I shed pity the wife
as gets him. Poor Miss Peintdexter! I hope she'll be able to steer
clur o' havin' sech a cut-throat as him to be her lord an master.
"What's up anyhow? Thar don't 'pear to be anythin' arter him? An' he
still keeps on! Whar's he boun' for now? I must foller an see.
"To hum agin!" exclaimed the hunter, after going on to the edge of the
chapparal, and observed Calhoun still going at a gallop, with head
turned homeward. "Hum agin, for sartin!
"Now, ole gurl!" he continued, having remained silent till the grey
horse was nearly out of sight, "You an me goes t'other way. We must
find out what thet shot wur fired for."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
In ten minutes after, Zeb had alighted from his mare, and lifted up from
the ground an object, the stoutest heart might have felt horror in
taking hold of--disgust, even, in touching!
Not so the old hunter. In that object he beheld the lineaments of a
face well known to him--despite the shrivelling of the skin, and the
blood streaks that so fearfully falsified its expression--still dear to
him, despite death and a merciless mutilation.
He had loved that face, when it belonged to a boy; he now cherished it,
belonging not to anybody!
Clasping the rim of the hat that fitted tightly to the temples--Zeb
endeavoured to take it off. He did not succeed. The head was swollen
so as almost to burst the bullion band twisted around it!
Holding it in its natural position, Zeb stood for a time gazing tenderly
on the face.
"Lord, O Lordy!" he drawlingly exclaimed, "what a present to take back
to _his_ father, to say nothin' o' the sister! I don't think I'll take
it. It air better to bury the thing out hyur, an say no more abeout it.
"No; durn me ef I do! What am I thinkin' o'? Tho' I don't exackly see
how it may help to sarcumstantiate the chain o' evvydince, it may do
somethin' torst it. Durned queery witness _it_ 'll be to purduce in a
coort o' justis!"
Saying this, he unstrapped his old blanket; and, using it as a wrapper,
carefully packed within it head, hat, and all.
Then, hanging the strange bundle over the horn of his saddle, he
remounted his mare, and rode reflectingly away.