THE WORK OF AN ENEMY
Whatever action the police took concerning Lane's descent upon Crane
Valley was not apparent, and Thorn may have been justified in deciding
that they took none at all. However that may have been, Lane left us in
peace for a while, and it was not by his own hands that the next bolt
was launched against me. He preferred, as a rule, to strike through
another person's agency, and usually contrived it so that when trouble
resulted the agent bore the brunt of it.
I was tramping behind the seeder one fine morning, alternately watching
the somewhat unruly team and the trickle of golden grain into the good
black loam, when two horsemen appeared on the prairie. They headed for
the homestead, and living in a state of expectancy, as we then did, I
shared the misgivings of Thorn. "They're coming our way in a hurry,
sure; and the sight of anyone whose business I don't know worries me
just now," he said.
"If it's bad news we'll learn it soon enough," I said. "Go on to the end
of the harrowing. That we'll have a frost-nipped harvest if we're not
through with the sowing shortly is the one thing certain."
The two horsemen drew nearer, and it appeared that both wore uniform,
while I caught the glint of carbines. This in itself was significant,
and I wondered whether Mackay had discovered the identity of Boone.
Shortly I recognized the sergeant and Cotton, who a little later drew
bridle beside the seeder. Mackay's face was expressionless, but Cotton
looked distinctly unhappy, and once more I felt sorry for Boone.
"I have a word for ye. Will ye walk to the house with me?" said the
former. I glanced at Cotton, who, stooping, pretended to examine his
carbine. Thorn appeared suspicious, for he dropped the lines he held,
and his eyes grew keen.
"I'm sorry that is the one thing I can't do just now, when every moment
of this weather is precious," I said. "If you can't wait until we stop
at noon, there's no apparent reason why you shouldn't state your
business here."
"Ye had better come," said Mackay, looking very wooden. "Forby, I'm
thinking ye will sow no more to-day."
"I'm not in the humor for joking, and intend to continue sowing until it
is too dark to see," I answered shortly. "Have you any authority to
prevent me?"
"I have," said the sergeant. "Well, if ye will have it--authority to
arrest ye on a charge of unlawfully burning the homestead of Gaspard's
Trail."
Astonishment, dismay, and anger held me dumb between them for a few
moments. Then, as the power of speech returned, I said: "Confound you,
Mackay! You don't think I could possibly have had any hand in that?"
"It's no' my business to think," was the dry answer; "I'm here to carry
out orders. What was it ye were observing, Foreman Thorn?"
"Only that Niven or Lane was a mighty long time finding this thing out;
and that, while nobody expects too much from the police, we never
figured they were clean, stark, raging lunatics," said Thorn.
"I'm no' expecting compliments," said Mackay. "Ye will do your duty,
Corporal Cotton."
"You can put that thing back. I'm not a wild beast, and have sense
enough to see that I must wait for satisfaction until some of your
chiefs at headquarters hear of your smartness," I said. Then Cotton
positively hung his head as he let the carbine slip back into its
holster, while Mackay stared after the departing Thorn, who made for the
homestead as fast as he could run.
"What is his business?" he said.
"His own!" I answered shortly. "Unless you have also a warrant for his
arrest, it would be injudicious of you to stop him. Thorn has an ugly
temper, and would be justified in resenting the interference. What is
your program?"
"To ride in to the railroad whenever ye are ready, and deliver ye safely
in Empress City."
"I suppose one can only make the best of it; but considering that you
were probably consulted before a warrant was issued, I can't help
feeling astonished," I said. "However, there is no use in wasting words,
and an hour will suffice me to get ready in."
I left the team standing before the seeder, careless as to what became
of them, for, even if acquitted, I felt that my career was closed at
last. No forced labor could make up for time lost now, and, because
justice in the West is slow, it was perfectly clear why the charge had
been made. There was a scene with Sally when we reached the homestead,
and Cotton fled before her biting comments on police sagacity. Even
Mackay winced under certain allusions, and when I asked him: "Am I
permitted to talk to my housekeeper alone?" assented readily.
"Ye may," he said, "and welcome; I do not envy ye."
If Sally's tongue could be venomous, her brain was keen, and, as Steel
was absent, it was with confidence I left instructions with her. Thorn
had vanished completely, and the girl only looked mysterious when
questioned concerning him. At length all was ready, and turning in the
saddle as we rode away, I waved my hat to Sally, who stood in the
doorway of the homestead with eyes suspiciously dim. I wondered, with a
strange lack of interest, whether I should ever see either it or her
again. Cotton also saluted her, and the girl suddenly moved forward a
pace, holding up her hand.
"Make sure of your prisoner, Sergeant," she said. "What's the use of
talking justice to the poor man when he's ground down by the thief with
capital? We're getting tired--we have waited for that justice so
long--and I give you and the fools or rogues behind you warning that if
you jail Ormesby, the boys will come for him with rifles a hundred
strong."
Mackay touched his beast with the spurs, and as we passed out of
earshot, said to me: "If the boys have her spirit I'm thinking it's not
impossible. Your friends are not judicious, Henry Ormesby."
"They are stanch, at least, and above being bought," I said; and Mackay
stiffened.
"What were ye meaning?"
"I think my meaning was plain enough," I answered him.
Many leagues divided us from the railroad, and the way seemed very long.
The dejection that settled upon me brought a physical lassitude with it,
and I rode wearily, jolting in the saddle before the journey was half
done. Since the memorable night at Bonaventure, when I first met Boone,
trouble after trouble had crowded on me, and, supported by mere
obstinacy when hope had gone, I still held on. Now it seemed the end had
come, and, at the best, I must retire beaten to earn a daily wage by the
labor of my hands if I escaped conviction as a felon. Lane would absorb
Crane Valley, as he had done Gaspard's Trail. As if in mockery the
prairie had donned its gayest robe of green, and lay flooded with
cloudless sunshine.
Mackay made no further advances since my last repulse, but rode silently
on my right hand, Cotton on my left, holding back a little so that I
could not see him, and so birch bluff, willows, and emerald levels
rolled up before us and slid back to the prairie's rim until, towards
dusk on the second day, cubes of wooden houses and a line of gaunt
telegraph poles loomed up ahead.
"I'm glad," said Corporal Cotton, breaking into speech at last. "I don't
know if you'll believe it, Ormesby, but this has been a sickening day to
me. I'm tired of the confounded service--I'm tired of everything."
"Ye're young and tender on the bit, and without the sense to go canny
when it galls ye. What ails ye at the service anyway?" interposed the
sergeant.
"I'll say nothing about some of the duties. They're a part of the
contract," answered Cotton. "Still, I never bargained to arrest my best
friends when I became a policeman."
"Friends!" said Mackay. "Who were ye meaning?" and Cotton turned in my
direction with the face of one who had narrowly escaped a blunder.
"Aren't you asking useless questions? I mean Rancher Ormesby."
"I observed ye used the plural," said Mackay.
Cotton answered shortly: "When one is going through a disgusting duty to
the best of his ability, he may be forgiven a trifling lapse in
grammar."
The light was failing as we rode up to the station some time before the
train was due, and looking back, I saw several diminutive objects on the
edge of the prairie. They were, I surmised, mounted settlers coming in
for letters or news, but except that the blaze of crimson behind them
forced them up, it would have been hard to recognize the shapes of men
and beasts. Round the other half of the circle the waste was fading into
the dimness that crept up from the east, and feeling that I had probably
done with the prairie, and closed another chapter of my life, I turned
my eyes towards the string of giant poles and the little railroad
station ahead.
There were fewer loungers than usual about it, but when we dismounted,
Cotton started as two feminine figures strolled side by side down the
platform, and said something softly under his breath.
"What has surprised you?" I asked, and he pointed towards the pair.
"Those are Haldane's daughters, by all that is unfortunate!"
There was no avoiding the meeting. Darkness had not settled yet, and
Mackay, who failed to recognize the ladies, was regarding us
impatiently. "I'll do my best, and they may not notice anything
suspicious," the corporal said.
We moved forward, Mackay towards the office, Cotton hanging behind me,
but, as ill-luck would have it, both ladies saw us when we reached the
track, and before I could recover from my dismay, I stood face to face
with Beatrice Haldane. She was, it seemed to me, more beautiful than
ever, but I longed that the earth might open beneath me.
"It is some time since I have seen you, and you do not look well," she
said. "You once described the Western winters as invigorating; but one
could almost fancy the last had been too much for you."
"I cannot say the same thing, and if we had nothing more than the
weather to contend with, we might preserve our health," I said. "I did
not know you were at Bonaventure, or I should have ridden over to pay my
respects to you."
Beatrice Haldane did not say whether this would have given her pleasure
or otherwise. Indeed, her manner, if slightly cordial, was nothing more,
and I found it desirable to study a rail fastening when I saw her sister
watching me.
"I arrived from the East only a few days ago, and we are now awaiting my
father, who had some business down the line. Are you going out with the
train?"
"I am going to Empress," I said; and Lucille Haldane interposed: "That
is a long way; and the last time he met you, you told father you were
too busy to visit Bonaventure. Who will see to your sowing--and will you
stay there long?"
I heard Corporal Cotton grind his heel viciously into the plank beneath
him; and I answered, in desperation:
"I do not know. I am afraid so."
Perhaps the girl noticed by my voice that all was not well. Indeed,
Beatrice also commenced to regard the corporal and myself curiously.
"What has happened, Mr. Ormesby? You look positively haggard?" the
younger sister said. "Why are you keeping in the background, Corporal
Cotton? Have you done anything to be ashamed of?" Then she ceased with a
gasp of pained surprise, and I read consternation in her eyes.
"You have guessed aright. I am not making this journey of my own will,"
I said.
Beatrice Haldane turned with a swift movement, which brought us once
more fully face to face, and, unlike her sister, she was strangely cold
and grave.
"Is it permissible to ask any questions?" she said, and her even tone
stung me to the quick. One whisper against the speaker would have roused
me to fury.
"Everybody will know to-morrow or the next day, and I may as well tell
you now," I said, in a voice which sounded, even in my own ears, hoarse
with bitterness. "I am to be tried for burning down the homestead of
Gaspard's Trail."
Beatrice Haldane certainly showed surprise, but she seemed more
thoughtful than indignant, and still fixed me with her eyes. They were
clear and very beautiful, but I had begun to wonder if a spark of human
passion would ever burn within them.
"It is absurd--preposterous. Come here at once, Sergeant!" a clear young
voice with a thrill of unmistakable anger in it said; but Mackay seemed
desirous of backing into the station agent's office instead.
"I want you," added Lucille Haldane. "Come at once, and tell me why you
have done this."
The sergeant's courage was evidently unequal to the task, for with a
brief, "I will try to satisfy ye when I have transacted my business," he
disappeared into the office, and I turned again to Beatrice Haldane.
"You see it is unfortunately true; but you do not appear astonished," I
said.
Beatrice Haldane looked at me sharply, but without indignation, for she
was always mistress of herself, and before she could speak her sister
broke in: "Do you wish to make us angry, when we are only sorry for you,
Mr. Ormesby? Everybody knows that neither you nor any rancher in this
district could be guilty. Corporal Cotton, will you inquire if your
superior has finished his business, and tell him that I am waiting?"
"The old heathen deserves it!" said Cotton aside to me, as, with
unfeigned relief, he hurried away, and it was only by an effort I
refrained from following him. The interview was growing painful in the
extreme. Still, I was respited, for Beatrice Haldane turned from us
suddenly.
"What can this mean? There is a troop of horsemen riding as for their
lives towards the station," she said.
It was growing dark, but not too dark to see a band of mounted men
converge at a gallop upon the station, and for the first time I noticed
how the loungers stared at them, and heard the jingle of harness and
thud of drumming hoofs. None of them shouted or spoke. They came on in
ominous silence, the spume flakes flying from the lathered beasts, the
clods whirling up, until a voice cried:
"Two of you stand by to hold up the train! The rest will come along with
me!"
Amid a musical jingling, the horses were pulled up close beside the
track, and men in embroidered deerskin with broad white hats and men in
old blue-jean leaped hurriedly down. Several carried rifles, while,
guessing their purpose, I pointed towards the frame houses across the
unfenced track. "You must go at once, Miss Haldane. There may be a
tumult," I said.
Lucille seemed reluctant, Beatrice by no means hurried, and I do not
remember whether I bade either of them farewell, for as the newcomers
came swiftly into the station a gaunt commanding figure holding a
carbine barred their way, and Corporal Cotton leaped out from the
office. The station agent, holding a revolver, also placed himself
between them and me.
"What are ye wanting, boys?" a steady voice asked; and the men halted
within a few paces of the carbine's muzzle. I could just see that they
were my friends and neighbors, and I noticed that one who rode up and
down the track seemed inclined to civilly prevent the ladies from
retiring to the wooden settlement. Perhaps he feared they intended to
raise its inhabitants.
"We want Harry Ormesby," answered a voice I recognized as belonging to
Steel. "Stand out of the daylight, Sergeant. We have no call to hurt
you."
"I'm thinking that's true," said Mackay; and I admired his coolness as
he stood alone, save for the young corporal, grimly eying the crowd. "It
will, however, be my distressful duty to damage the first of ye who
moves a foot nearer my prisoner. Noo will ye hear reason, boys, or will
I wire for a squadron to convince ye? Ormesby ye cannot have, and will
ye shame your own credit and me?"
There was a murmur of consultation, but no disorderly clamor. The men
whom Thorn had raised to rescue me were neither habitual brawlers nor
desperadoes, but sturdy stock-riders and tillers of the soil, smarting
under a sense of oppression. They were all fearless, and would, I knew,
have faced a cavalry brigade to uphold what appeared their rights, but
they were equally averse to any bloodshed or violence that was not
necessary.
"There's no use talking, Sergeant," somebody said. "We don't go back
without our man, and it will be better for all of us if you release him.
You know as well as we do there's nothing against him."
Meanwhile, I could not well interfere without precipitating a crisis.
The station agent, who stated that Mackay had deputed him authority,
stood beside me with the pistol in his hand. Neither was I certain what
my part would be, for, stung to white heat by Beatrice Haldane's
coldness, which suggested suspicion, and came as a climax to a series of
injuries, I wondered whether it might not be better to make a dash for
liberty and leave the old hard life behind me. There might be better
fortune beyond the Rockies, and I felt that Lane would not have
instigated the charge of arson unless he saw his way to substantiate it.
Nevertheless, I could watch the others with a strange and almost
impersonal curiosity--the group of men standing with hard hands on the
rifle barrels ready for a rush; the grim figure of the sergeant, and the
young corporal poised with head held high, left foot flung forward, and
carbine at hip, in front of them.
"We'll give you two minutes in which to make up your mind. Then, if you
can't climb down, and anything unpleasant happens, it will be on your
head. Can't you see you haven't the ghost of a show?" said one.
Turning my eyes a moment, I noticed a fan-shaped flicker swinging like a
comet across the dusky waste far down the straight-ruled track, and when
a man I knew held up his watch beneath a lamp, I had almost come to a
decision. If the sergeant had shown any sign of weakness it is perhaps
possible that decision might have been reversed; but Mackay stood as
though cast in iron, and equally unyielding. I would at least have no
blood shed on my account, and would not leave my friends to bear the
consequences of their unthinking generosity. Meanwhile, stock-rider and
teamster were waiting in strained attention, and there was still almost
a minute left to pass when a light hand touched my shoulder, and Lucille
Haldane, appearing from behind me, said: "You must do something. Go
forward and speak to them immediately." She was trembling with
eagerness, but the station agent stood on my other side, and he was
woodenly stolid.
"Put down that weapon. I will speak to them," I said.
"You're healthier here," was the suspicious answer; and chiefly
conscious of the appeal and anxiety in Lucille Haldane's eyes, I turned
upon him.
"Stand out of my way--confound you!" I shouted.
The man fingered the pistol uncertainly, and I could have laughed at his
surmise that the sight of it would have held me then. Before, even if he
wished it, his finger could close on the trigger, I had him by the
wrist, and the weapon fell with a clash. Then I lifted him bodily and
flung him upon the track, while, as amid a shouting, Cotton sprang
forward, Mackay roared: "Bide ye, let him go!"
The shouting ceased suddenly when I stood between my friends and the
sergeant with hands held up. "I'll never forget what you have done,
boys; but it is no use," I said; and paused to gather breath, amid
murmurs of surprise and consternation. "In the first place, I can't drag
you into this trouble."
"We'll take the chances willing," a voice said, and there was a grim
chorus of approval. "We've borne enough, and it's time we did
something."
"Can't you see that if I bolted now it would suit nobody better than
Lane? Boys, you know I'm innocent----"
Again a clamor broke out, and somebody cried: "It was Lane's own man who
did it, if anybody fired Gaspard's Trail!"
"He may not be able to convict me, and if instead of rushing the
sergeant you will go home and help Thorn with the sowing, we may beat
him yet," I continued. "Even if I am convicted, I'll come back again,
and stay right here until Lane is broken, or one of us is dead."
The hoot of a whistle cut me short, the brightening blaze of a great
headlamp beat into our faces, and further speech was out of the
question, as with brakes groaning the lighted cars clanged in.
"Be quick, Sergeant, before they change their minds!" I shouted, and
Mackay and Cotton scrambled after me on to a car platform. No train that
ever entered that station had, I think, so prompt dispatch, for Cotton
had hardly opened the door of the vestibule than the bell clanged and
the huge locomotive snorted as the cars rolled out. I had a momentary
vision of the agent, who seemed partly dazed, scowling in my direction,
a group of dark figures swinging broad-brimmed hats, and Lucille Haldane
standing on the edge of the platform waving her hand to me. Then the
lights faded behind us, and we swept out, faster and faster, across the
prairie.