MAN TO MAN
[Illustration]
The Major sauntered in shortly and found Mrs. Searles standing over
Katherine's chair, trying to dry her tears and gather the reasons for
her grief. Mary's Indians not having appeared, she stood in the doorway,
with her apron raised to a sort of feminine "charge bayonets."
"What in the devil is the circus?" demanded the father.
"It's nothing, father; I am nervous, that is all."
"Now, Major Searles, I want you to sit down and keep quiet. You will
drive me frantic. Why did you run away when I clearly told you to stay
here?" Her tones were dry with formality.
Against all manner of people and happenings the Major joyfully pitted
his force and cunning. His only thought in a great crisis was his
six-shooter; but he always hesitated before anything which concerned
Mrs. Searles and a military order. These impelled obedience from the
very nature of things. "But what has happened? What must I do?"
"You must sit down," said his wife; and he sat down. Affairs of this
kind could be cleared only by women; he was conscious that he could not
hurry matters.
"Now what has happened, Katherine? Will you tell me? Who did it?"
pleaded the mother.
"Why, it is nothing, only that horrible scout wanted to marry me. Did
you ever hear anything so ridiculous?" said the girl, sitting up and
made defiant by the idea.
"Did he do anything?" and the Major again forgot his orders and rose
truculently.
"Benjamin!" said Mrs. Searles, with asperity; and he again subsided.
Like most soldiers and sailors, he was imperfectly domesticated.
"He wanted to marry you?" she continued with questioning insistence.
"Yes, he said I must marry him; that God wanted me to, and he also said
he had lost his mind--"
"Well, I think he has," observed the mother, catching this idea, which
was at least tangible to her. "Is that all, Katherine?"
"Is that all, mother? Why, isn't that enough?"
"I mean, he simply asked you to marry him--properly--he wasn't
insulting--insistent beyond--"
"No, he did nothing else, though he went about it in a most alarming
way."
"You said, No!"
"I most emphatically did, mother."
"What then?"
"Then he began mumbling Indian and scared me nearly to death. I ran to
Mary."
"Dade an' she did, mum; an' I'm afther loosin' my sinses thinkin' thim
rid-divils what do be ploughin' the land down be the river was
devastating the cantonmint for to pass the time. An' ets only some bye
afther wantin' to marry her--the swate thing."
Mrs. Searles interposed, "Mary!" and the domestic retired to the sable
silences of the rear steps, to split a joke with one Private O'Shane,
should he venture to return.
"The social savagery of this place is depressing. To think of my
daughter living in a log-cabin, cooking bear meat for a long-haired wild
man. In the future, Benjamin Searles, I trust you will not feel called
upon to introduce your fantastic acquaintances to this house. You can
sit on the corral fence to entertain them. That is where they belong. I
suppose next, an out-and-out Indian will want to be my son-in-law."
"I certainly will see that the man does not again obtrude himself. I do
not understand his nerve in this matter. Lewis thinks the boy's
ridgepole is crooked; but he is harmless and has done many good and
gallant deeds. As for his proposing, I simply think he doesn't know any
better. For my part, I think it is about time that the engagement to Mr.
Butler is announced; it will put an end to this foolishness all round,"
added the father. "I am going out to see Lewis about this fellow now."
"Ben Searles, I hope you are not going to do anything rash," pleaded the
mother.
"Of course not, my dear; the situation doesn't call for any temperature
beyond blood-heat. I only want to put a cooling lotion on the base of
that scout's brain. He must stop this dreaming habit."
Having found Lewis at his quarters and seated himself, the Major began,
"Now, Captain, what do you think of this Ermine of yours--is he crazy?"
"Is he crazy? Why, what has he done now?"
"Well, by Gad, he came to my house this evening, and when I stepped out
for a minute he proposed marriage to my daughter--wanted her to marry
him! Now, how's that strike you? Is it just gall, or does he need a
physician?"
"Well, I will be d----d; proposed marriage, hey! Looks like he ought to
have an opiate," concluded Lewis. "You know, now that I think of it, I
have a little mistrusted him before. He has shown signs of liking your
daughter, but I never regarded the matter seriously--didn't ever credit
him with being an entire fool. The boy's queer, Searles--mighty queer,
but he never did anything wrong; in fact, he is a pretty good boy--a
heap different from most of these double-belted, sage-bush terrors.
Then, of course, he was born and raised in the wilderness, and there is
a whole lot of things he don't savvy. Probably he has lost his head over
your daughter and he can't see why he hasn't a chance. I will send for
him, and we will make a big talk, and I'll send him away to Harding."
Turning, the Captain yelled, "Orderly! Jones! Oh, Jones!"
"Yes, sir," responded Jones, as he appeared in the doorway.
"Go find the scout Ermine, if you can, and tell him to report to me
immediately. If you don't find him in half an hour, let it go until
to-morrow--understand?
"As I was saying, you see, Major, if this thing wasn't vinegar, it would
be sugar. When I think of him proposing--say, I have to laugh. There is
one thing about him which kept me guessing: it is the Indian reserve of
the fellow. He goes round here like a blue-moon, and if you should hit
him over the head with an axe, I don't think he would bat an eye. He
never complains, he never questions, and when you are right up against
it, as we were a half-dozen times last winter, he is Johnny-on-the-spot.
So you see, if he fell in love, no one would hear the splash. Now that
he is in love, we want to tighten the curb chain; he might--well, he
might take it into his head to do something, and that something might be
just what we would never think of."
Thus the two speculated until the sandpaper grating of Ermine's
moccasins on the porch warned them, and looking up they beheld the
scout, standing with his rifle in the hollow of his left arm. This was
unusual and produced several seconds of very bad silence. Captain Lewis
held up his hand in mockery of the "peace sign," and said: "I see you're
fixed for war, Ermine. Sit down over there. I want to talk to you."
The scout removed his hat and sat down, but with the ominous rifle in
place. He had been told by the orderly whom he was to encounter; and it
had come over him that wanting to marry Katherine Searles might be some
crime against the white man's law. He had seen very natural actions of
men punished under those laws during his sojourn in camp.
"Ermine, I understand that during the temporary absence of her father
this evening, you asked Miss Searles to marry you."
"I did, sir."
"Very well. Don't you think you took an unfair advantage of her father's
absence?"
"I don't know, sir. A man doesn't speak to a woman before other men,"
replied Ermine, dubiously.
The Captain emitted a slight cough, for the blow had staggered him a
little. He knew the law of convention, and he knew the customs of men;
but they did not separate readily in his mind.
"In any event, Ermine, the young lady had given you no encouragement
which would warrant you in going to the length of proposing marriage to
her."
This was an assertion which Ermine did not care to discuss. His views
would not coincide, and so he fumbled his hat and made no reply.
"I may state that you are not warranted in aspiring to the hand of Miss
Searles for many reasons; further, that she distinctly doesn't want
attention of any kind from you. To this I will add, her father and
mother forbid you all association in the future--do you understand?"
This, also, failed to break the scout's silence.
"And," interpolated the father, "I may add that my daughter is already
engaged to be married to Lieutenant Butler, which will end the matter."
If the evening's occurrences had set the nerves of the Searles family on
edge, it had torn the scout's into shreds; but he managed his stoicism.
"Now, my boy," continued Captain Lewis, with a sense of benevolence, "we
do not mean to be hard on you. We all, including Miss Searles, feel a
great pity for you in this matter."
"Pity--pity--what is pity?" saying which the boy's eyes took on an
unnatural glow and he rose to his feet. Lewis quickly added, "I mean
that we feel for you."
"I know what you feel for me, Captain Lewis, and Major Searles," and it
was evident that Ermine was aroused. "You feel that I am an uneducated
man, without money, and that I do not wear a white shirt; that I tuck my
pants in my leggings and that I sleep among the Indians. I know you
think I am a dog. I know Miss Searles thinks I belong in the corral
with the mules; but, by G----, you did not think I was a dog when the
Sioux had your wagon-train surrounded and your soldiers buffaloed; you
did not think I was a dog when I stood beside the Colonel, and neither
did Sitting Bull. You did not think I was a dog when I kept you all from
freezing to death last winter; but here among the huts and the women I
am a dog. I tell you now that I do not understand such men as you are.
You have two hearts: one is red and the other is blue; and you feel with
the one that best suits you at the time. Your blue heart pities me. Me,
a warrior and a soldier! Do you give pity with your coffee and
sow-belly? Is that what you feed a soldier on? Hum-m--G----!" And the
scout slapped his hat on his head.
"Steady, steady, my boy; don't you go up in the air on us," said Lewis,
persuasively. "I did not mean to offend you, and we want to be friends;
but you keep your feet on the ground and don't go raring and pitching,
or we may forget you."
"Yes; that is it,--forget me; you may forget me. What's more, you can do
it now. I am going far away, so that your eyes will not remind you."
"You are going to make your word good to Mr. Harding, are you not?"
asked the chief of scouts.
"What good is a dog's word?" came the bitter reply.
The Major said little, but remained steadily studying the face of the
scout; rising, he approached him with extended hand. "If you are going
away, let us part friends, at least. Here is my hand, and I shall not
forget you; I shall not forget your services to me or mine, and I do not
think you are a dog. When you calm down you may find that you have been
unjust to Captain Lewis and myself."
The scout took the Major's hand mechanically, and also that of Lewis,
which the latter offered in turn, saying:--
"In the morning I will see that you get your pay, and if you conclude to
return, I will find you employment."
"Thank you, sir; I care nothing for the pay. I did not come here for
money; I came here to help you fight the Sioux, and to be a man among
white men." And once more the young man relapsed into the quiet of his
ordinary discourse.
"You certainly have shown yourself a man among men; no one has ever
questioned that," said the Major.
"Then why is it wrong for a man among men to want your daughter to be
his wife?"
"It is not wrong, but you have gone about the matter wrong. I have tried
to make it plain that her hand is promised to Mr. Butler."
As this was said, two horses trotted up to Captain Lewis's quarters. A
man dismounted, gave his horse to the other, and Butler himself strode
heavily into the room. He was quite gray with dust, with a soiled
handkerchief about his neck, unshaven, booted, and armed.
"Hello, Major! Hello, Lewis! I'm just in with my troop, and if you will
pardon me, I will have a word with Mr. Ermine here." His manner was
strained, and knowing the situation as they all did, the two older
officers were alarmed.
"Hold up there, Butler; never mind your word to-night; wait until
morning."
Butler paid no attention, but addressed the scout with icy directness.
"May I ask, Mr. Ermine, if you have in your possession a photograph of
Miss Searles?"
"I have."
"Have you it about your person at present?"
"I have, sir."
"Then, Mr. Ermine, I have the word of Miss Searles for it, that the
photograph in question was one she had taken, of which there is only one
copy in the world; and which was given to me, and lost by myself,
somewhere on the road between here and Fort Ellis. It must be my
property. If you will let me see it, I can soon identify it. In which
case I demand that you hand it over to me."
"Mr. Butler, you will only get that photograph from off my dead body.
You have Miss Searles; is not that enough?"
"I will then take it by force from you!" A tremendous bang roared around
the room, and the little group was lost in smoke.
[Illustration: "A TREMENDOUS BANG ROARED AROUND THE ROOM."]
Butler turned half round, his six-shooter going against the far wall
with a crash. He continued to revolve until caught in the Major's
arms. Lewis sprang to his desk, where his pistol lay, and as he turned,
the smoke lifted, revealing Butler lying against the Major's chest,
wildly waving his left arm and muttering savagely between short breaths.
Ermine was gone.
"Fire on that man!" yelled Lewis to the orderly outside, taking one shot
himself at the fleeing figure of the scout.
The soldier jerked his carbine and thrashed about the breech-block with
a cartridge. "I can't see him, Captain!" he shouted.
"Fire at him, anyway! Fire, I tell you!" And the man discharged his
rifle in the direction in which Ermine's figure had disappeared.
Simultaneously with the shots, the garrison bugles were drawling "Taps,"
but they left off with an expiring pop. The lights did not go out in
quarters, and the guard turned out with much noise of shoe leather and
rattle of guns. This body soon arrived, and Lewis spoke from the porch
of his quarters.
"The scout, Ermine, has just shot Lieutenant Butler in the arm! He ran
that way! Chase him! Go quickly, or he will get away. Shoot instantly if
he resists; and he will, I think."
The guard shuffled off in the darkness and beat up the camp to no
purpose. The soldiers stood about, speculating in low voices and
gradually quieting as the word passed about on the uneasy wings of
gossip that Ermine had shot Butler in the arm, wounding him badly, and
that the scout had gone into the earth or up in the air, for divil the
hide nor hair of him could the guard find.
When the orderly had come for Ermine and told him who wanted to see him,
the scout scented trouble ahead. According to the immemorial practices
of the desert at such times, he had saddled his pony, tying him in the
darkest and most unlikely place he could find, which was between two
six-mule wagons outside the corral. He armed himself and obeyed the
summons, but he intended never to let a hand be placed on his shoulder;
and he chose death rather than the military court which sat so gravely
around the long table at headquarters. He fully expected to depart for
the mountains on the morrow, but his hand was forced. The quick episode
of Butler, ending in the shot and his flight, had precipitated matters.
Shortly he found himself seated on his horse between the wagons, while
the denizens of the cantonments swarmed around. A group searched the
corral with lanterns, and he heard one soldier tell another what had
happened, with the additional information that Butler was not seriously
injured. Armed men passed close to him, and he knew that discovery meant
probable death, because he would not hold up his hands. Despite the
deadly danger which encompassed him, he found time for disappointment in
the news that Butler was only wounded. Even now he would go to his enemy
and make more sure, but that enemy was in the hospital surrounded by
many friends. She, too, was probably there, weeping and hating the
responsible one,--a fugitive criminal driven into the night. The silken
robes of self-respect had been torn from Ermine, and he stood naked,
without the law, unloved by women, and with the hand of all men turned
against him. The brotherhood of the white kind, which had promised him
so much, had ended by stealing the heart and mind of the poor mountain
boy, and now it wanted his body to work its cold will on; but it could
have that only dead. This he knew as he loosed five cartridges, putting
them between his teeth and clutching his loaded rifle. Would the search
never cease? The lanterns glided hither and yon; every garrison cur ran
yelping; the dull shuffling of feet was coming directly to the wagons
which stood apart from other objects, and a dog ran under the wagon.
With their eyes on the ground, an officer and two men towered above the
light of a lantern. They were coming directly to the wagons. He kicked
the pony and galloped softly out. Instantly the men began calling,
"Halt! halt! G---- d---- you, halt!" but the ghostly pony only answered
feebly the lantern light. "Bang! bang! bang!" came the shots, which
"zee-weeped" about his ears. He doubled quickly in the dark and trotted
to the edge of the camp, which buzzed loudly behind him. He knew he must
pass the sentries, but he took the chance. His apprehensions were
quickly answered. "Halt!"--the man was very near, but it was very dark.
"Bang!"--it missed, and he was away. He stopped shortly, dismounted,
and ran his hand completely over the body of the pony; it was dry.
"Good!" For a half-hour he walked over the herd-grounds, crossing,
circling, and stopping; then back as near to the post as he dared. At
last he turned and rode away. He was thoroughly familiar with the
vicinity of the camp, and had no trouble so long as the post lights
guided him.
The mountain boy had brought little to the soldier camp but the
qualities of mind which distinguished his remote ancestors of the north
of Europe, who came out of the dark forests clad in skins, and bearing
the first and final law of man, a naked sword on a knotted arm. An
interval of many centuries intervened between him and his fellows; all
the race had evolved, all the laws which they had made for the
government of society, all the subtle customs which experience had
decreed should circumscribe associates, were to him but the hermit's
gossip in idle hours at the cabin. The bar sinister was on his shield;
his credentials were the advice of an unreal person to fight in common
with the whites. He came clad in skins on a naked horse, and could
barely understand English when it was in the last adulteration; and
still he had made his way without stumbling until the fatal evening. Now
he was fleeing for life because he had done two of the most natural
things which a man can do.
"Good-by, good-by, white men, and good-by, white woman; the frost is in
your hearts, and your blood runs like the melting snow from the hills.
When you smile, you only skin your fangs; and when you laugh, your eyes
do not laugh with you. You say good words which mean nothing. You stroke
a man's back as a boy does a dog's, and kick him later as a boy does.
You, woman, you who pick men's hearts and eat them as a squaw does wild
plums, I want no more of you. You, Butler, I wish were out here in the
dark with me; one of us would never see the sun rise. You would force
me!" and the scout vented himself in a hollow laugh which was chill with
murder.
The lights were lost behind the rise of the land, and the pony trotted
along. No horse or man not raised on the buffalo range could travel in
that darkness; but both of them made steady progress.
"Those Indians will have to crawl on their knees a whole day to pick up
my pony tracks on the herd ground. The Crows will never try to follow
me; the Shoshone may when the white men offer a reward. That fool of a
boy may see his chance to even up the insult which I gave before the
woman. He can shake her hand now for all I would do. I will ride for two
hours before the sun comes, and then let the pony feed."
Patting his horse's neck, he added: "And then, my boy, we will blind our
trail in some creek. I will rub the medicine on your heels, you shall
gallop until dark, and no horse in that camp will get near enough to
spoil my sleep."
Keeping along the river flats, floundering occasionally and dismounting
to lead through the dry washes, he kept steadily on, impelled by the
fear that the Indian scouts and cavalry might not stop for his trail,
but deploy out at daybreak, and ride fast to the west, in the hopes that
he had not yet made a long start in the darkness. There was only the
danger that his horse might lame himself in the night; but then he could
go back in the hills and make a skulk on foot. Even to be brought to bay
had no great terror; Ermine held his life lightly in the hollow of his
hand.
He mused as he rode: "They took my hair out of the braids and let it
flow in the wind; then they said I was a white man. I may be one; but I
wish now I had forgotten my color and I would not be so empty-handed
this night. If I had followed my Indian heart, I could have stolen that
girl out from under the noses of those soldiers, and I may do it yet.
When she was riding, I could have taken her away from the hunting-party,
rawhided her on to her horse, and left no more sign than a bird behind
us; but when she looked at me, my blood turned to water. O Sak-a-war-te,
why did you not take the snake's gaze out of her eyes, and not let poor
Ermine sit like a gopher to be swallowed? God, God, have you deserted
me?"