Sally needed but little persuasion to consent to go home with her friend
the next day, for in addition to Sophronia's promise to show her the
supposed spy--the man who was in league with the Squire against his own
nephew--she had also promised Sally to get word to Milton Derr to come
to her house that night.
In case the young man was wounded and could not come, a trusted
messenger, either Billy West or Sophronia herself, would see that he
received Sally's message of warning.
Shortly after the two girls reached Mr. Saunders', they set out to pay a
casual visit to Mrs. Judson's, ostensibly to learn how the rag carpet
was progressing, but chiefly that Sally might see and hear the master of
the place, and so decide if Steve Judson were really the man she had
overheard plotting with the Squire.
The edge of the ravine was reached, and Sally was taken to the clump of
cedar bushes from behind which her friend had covertly watched the
secret burial of the jar containing the money.
"I wonder if the money's still there?" asked Sally in a low tone, as the
tree was pointed out to her.
"I reckon so," answered Sophronia. "We might go look, only there's a
possible danger of his coming upon us in the act. Hush! listen!" she
cautioned, almost in the same breath, warningly pressing her companion's
arm. "I hear somebody comin' up the ravine, now. Don't move! I shouldn't
be surprised if it wasn't Steve himself," she added in a whisper. "He's
comin' to see if his Judas money is safe!"
"Suppose he should spy us?" asked Sally in sudden trepidation.
"But he can't, these bushes will hide us securely." "Yes, it's him," she
continued softly, as she cautiously parted the thick foliage and peered
through; "he's comin' up the ravine, an' he's got his arm in a sling,"
she added a minute or two later as she withdrew her face from the
opening and signalled Sally to take her place.
Thus the two, alternating their keen watch, saw Steve reach the spot
Sophronia had pointed out but the moment before, as the secret burial
place of the treasure, and when he had reached it he immediately began
to dig with one hand in the ground to unearth the glass jar.
He was some little time in doing this, hampered as he was with one arm
in a sling, but at last the job was happily accomplished, and holding
the jar between his knees, as Sophronia remembered also to have done, he
unscrewed the lid with his free hand, and was soon deeply engaged in
counting over the bills.
"Hello! Steve! what in the devil air you doin'?"
So intent was Judson in his pleasant and unusual occupation, and so
interested the two spectators behind the cedar bushes, that the presence
of a fourth party was quite unknown and unsuspected by all until a voice
broke abruptly and startlingly on the quiet of the spot.
Steve gave a nervous start, as if he had received an electric shock,
and almost dropped the roll of bills that was spread out on his knee,
while the quick move he made overturned the jar at his feet, and sent it
rolling down the declivity, until it broke with a sharp crash on the
rocks in the dry bed of the stream below.
Even the two girls came near betraying their presence by a cry of
surprise at the unexpected intrusion. Close upon the words of the
new-comer, and before Steve could gather up his money and hide it, the
bushes on the opposite side of the ravine, right above Steve, were
parted, and a man caught hold of a wild grape-vine hanging from a tree,
jutting out over a ledge, and lightly swung himself down to within a few
feet of where Steve sat. It was Jade Beddow.
"I went to your house huntin' you, an' your wife said you was down in
this direction somewheres. How's your arm gettin'?" the speaker suddenly
caught sight of the bank bills on Steve's knee, and broke into a low
whistle of astonishment.
"Well,--great--Je--ru--sa--_lem_! where'd you git all that money?" he
asked in frank surprise.
"I--I--I've been savin' it up for a rainy day," stammered Steve,
nervously clutching the bills in his one hand, and crushing them into
his broad palm, as if to hide them from Jade's keen eyes.
"How much 've you got there?" questioned his companion curiously.
"I don't know," answered Steve, hurriedly. "Not much, though--I was just
countin' it when you come."
"It rather surprised you, didn't it?" asked Jade with a laugh.
"I should think so," acknowledged Steve. "You must have slipped down
here mighty quiet."
"I did," admitted Jade. "I wanted to see what mischief you was up to. I
didn't expect to catch you countin' money like some banker. What's this
hole in the ground? Been buryin' it, you d--n miser?"
"It's safer than riskin' it in a bank, where you don't know who's going'
to steal it."
"That's true," agreed Jade, stooping to pick up the scrap of paper which
had been wrapped around the money, and had now dropped on the ground at
Steve's side. It was the identical scrap that had given Sophronia a
clue as to how this money had come into Steve's possession, and when
Jade picked it up, she waited anxiously to see if he would also make a
similar discovery.
At first the intruder glanced at it carelessly and seemed about to
crumple it up in his hand, then suddenly the whole expression of his
face changed as his eyes fell on the printed matter. He read it hastily,
and quickly turned on Steve in accusing anger.
"You scoundrel!" he cried, shaking the scrap of paper in his companion's
face. "You got this money by sellin' out. You've betrayed us!"
"I haven't," Steve stoutly denied, although his face turned a sallow
white as he spoke. "Who says I told on the band?"
"The proof's right here," affirmed Jade, again shaking the scrap of
paper violently in Steve's face. "Here's the reward offered for
information concernin' the riders. You're the traitor, and you alone!"
"I'm not!" persisted the accused, though his voice seemed less assertive
than before, and held in its tone a quality of fear. "You've no right
to say so. I picked up that scrap of paper on the side of the road the
other day."
"Yes, an' you also picked up the traitor's price along with it," sneered
Jade Beddow. "I'll just save this for future use," he added, folding the
paper and thrusting it in his pocket.
"What use?" asked Steve nervously.
"As evidence when you come to be tried for a spy," answered Jade calmly.
"You haven't forgot this soon the penalty of betrayin' our band, have
you?" he continued in a sterner voice, fixing his cold, piercing eyes
full upon his companion.
"I never done it," muttered Steve, letting his eyes drop before the
close scrutiny of Jade's gaze. "You cain't prove it."
A sudden thought came to the accuser as he stood looking at the culprit,
who squirmed about uneasily under the penetrating eyes, and the tones
that Jade next employed suggested rather an argument than a threat. His
voice dropped into almost a persuasive key.
"Now look here, Steve!" he said quietly, "I've caught you dead to
rights, an' you cain't squirm our of it, so you needn't try. You sold
yourself for this money, don't deny it. You haven't saved up fifty cents
in the last ten years, you know it, yet here you sit with a handful of
crisp new bank-notes, tellin' me you earned 'em honestly. Ha! ha! that's
a good one! The devil himself would laugh at a joke like that."
Jade Beddow folded his arms and looked down on the poor wretch at his
feet, who gave no evidence of the humor of the situation.
"Now see here, Steve! you're in a tight fix, sure an' certain, but if
you'll do just as I tell you, I'll promise to get you out."
"How?" asked Steve hoarsely, a growing sign of weakness manifest.
"By fixin' the deed on somebody else."
"Who?"
"Milt Derr."
Steve remained silent.
"Fix it on him, an' it saves you. You'll have to lie a bit, but you're
good at that."
"I cain't put it on him--don't ask me!" cried Steve sharply. "He done me
a good turn only the other night. I cain't lie on him now."
Jade gave a sudden, short, harsh laugh. "Your conscience is gittin'
mighty tender, all of a sudden," he said derisively.
"He stopped an' took me up behind him, after the rest of you had rid
off. But for him I'd be in jail, right now."
"All right! you can do as you please about the matter," answered Jade
coolly. "Only there's a much hotter plac'n the jail, they say, which you
stand a mighty good chance of reachin', an' d--n quick, too. If you want
to suffer a traitor's fate, you can do so, I'll see that you get your
just desserts, an' quickly. I've showed you an easy way to escape. You
can take it or leave it, just as you choose."
He turned as if to go, while Steve caught at him, as a drowning man at a
straw.
"I'll testify ag'in him!" cried Steve despairingly.
"Very well! That's a bargain. We're goin' to have a meetin' to-night, at
the old stone quarry near the bridge. Be on hand without fail, an'
remember, that it's _him_ or _you_," he added significantly.