DUNLAVEY PLAYS A CARD
During the week following Ed Hazelton's departure for Chicago Hollis did
not see much of Nellie. In the few days preceding his departure she had
not allowed her brother to see how his refusal to allow her to accompany
him had hurt her, but once he had boarded the east-bound express at Dry
Bottom, she had yielded to the emotions that she had so far succeeded in
concealing. Hollis had ridden in to town with them, and not until Nellie
and he had seen Ed and Weary safely on the train--indeed, not until the
train was well under way and the two figures on the back platform could
no longer be discerned--did Nellie break down. Then Hollis turned to her
with a smile to see the sudden tears well up into her eyes. He had not
attempted to console her, feeling the awkwardness of the situation.
He was much relieved when she refused his offer to make the return trip
with her, for he was certain that a few hours alone in which to meditate
over her loss would enable her to regain her composure. But before
leaving her he secured her promise not to stop at the cabin, but to go
on to the Circle Bar. On her arrival at the ranch she was to tell Norton
to send one of the men to the cabin after the few personal effects that
she had decided to transfer. But once out of Hollis's sight Nellie
forgot her promise through fear over the safety of her things. She took
the Coyote trail, riding slowly through the clear sunshine of the
morning.
After taking leave of Nellie Hollis rode slowly down the street to the
_Kicker_ office. He looked in through the window and seeing that
Potter had not yet arrived, continued down to the court house. He talked
for a few minutes with Judge Graney. Nothing new had developed. Ben
Allen had gone to visit several small ranchers the day before and had
not returned.
Hollis returned to the _Kicker_ office. At noon Potter had arrived,
bearing the news that he had seen Nellie Hazelton on the Coyote trail,
within a few miles of the Circle Bar. She had stopped at her cabin and
there were several bundles strapped to the cantle of her saddle.
That night Hollis did not see her at all. He did not inquire for her,
but surmised that she was in her room. The next morning soon after he
had awakened and while he still debated the question of arising, he
heard her singing in the kitchen. He smiled, thinking how quickly she
had adapted herself to her new surroundings.
At breakfast he looked closely at her several times, searching for
evidence of her grief of yesterday. There was none. Therefore he was not
surprised when, after breakfast, she told him that she intended riding
with him as far as the cabin for the purpose of bringing the remainder
of her effects. He gravely reminded her that she had broken her promise
of yesterday, and that as a punishment he contemplated refusing her
request. But when, an hour later, he urged his pony down the river trail
she was riding beside him.
But she did not ride again that week. She did not tell Hollis the
reason; that returning that evening she had reached the Razor-Back and
was riding along its crest when she happened to glance across the
Rabbit-Ear toward the Circle Cross. On the opposite side of the river
she had seen two men, sitting quietly in their saddles, watching her.
They were Dunlavey and Yuma. She did not know what their presence there
meant, but the sight was disquieting and she feared to return to the
cabin for the few things that were still here.
But as the days went her fears were dispersed. Time and the lure of her
old home had revived her courage, and on a day about a week following
her previous trip, she herself saddled and bridled her pony and set out
over the Coyote trail toward her cabin.
She had not told Hollis of her intention to ride there, fearing that the
knowledge of what she had seen on the day of the other ride would be
revealed in her eyes. It was a good hour after noon when she stole out
of the house to her pony, mounted, and rode away toward the river.
For many days she had been wondering at Dunlavey's continued inaction.
He had been known as an energetic enemy, and though at their last
meeting in Dry Bottom he had threatened her and her brother, he had so
far made no hostile move. Uusually he would go a considerable distance
out of his way to speak to her. Perhaps, she thought, at their last
meeting she had shown him that he was wasting his time. Yet she could
not forget that day when she had seen Yuma and Dunlavey on the Circle
Cross side of the Rabbit-Ear. The sight somehow had been significant and
forbidding.
But when she reached her cabin she had forgotten Dunlavey and Yuma; her
thoughts dwelt upon more pleasant people. Had she done right in allowing
Hollis to see that she was interested in him? Would he think less of her
for revealing this interest? She could not answer these questions, but
she could answer another--one that brought the blushes to her cheeks.
Why had Hollis shown an interest in her? She had known this answer for a
long time--when she had read Ace's poem to him while sitting on the
porch beside him, to be perfectly accurate. She had pretended then to
take offense when he had assured her that Ace had succeeded in getting
much truth into his lines, especially into the first couplet, which ran:
"Woman--she don't need no tutor,
Be she school ma'am or biscuit shooter."
The language had not been graceful, nor the diction, yet she knew that
Ace had struck the mark fairly, for woman indeed needed no tutor to
teach her to understand man--woman had always understood him.
She dismounted from her pony at the edge of the porch, hitching the
animal to one of the slender porch columns. Then she went into the house
to gather up the few things that still remained there.
But for a long time after entering the cabin she sat on a chair in the
kitchen, sobbing softly, for now that Ed had gone she felt the
desolation of the country more than ever. Presently she rose and with a
start looked out of the door. The dusk had fallen; darkness was stealing
into the valley around the cabin!
Flitting here and there, she hurriedly began packing things which she
took from shelves and racks. It was an engrossing task and she was much
interested in it, so much so that she did not hear a slight sound at the
door that led out to the front porch. But when she saw a shadow darken
the doorway of the room in which she was working she stood suddenly
erect and with rapidly beating heart stole softly forward and peered
around the door-jamb. Of course it could be no one but Hollis. He had
taken the Coyote trail to-night. He would be surprised to see her.
But it was she who was surprised. Yuma stood near the table in the
center of the kitchen, looking straight at her, his insolent, evil face
drawn into a foreboding smile.
After the first gasp of horror and surprise a righteous anger stiffened
her.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded.
Yuma's evil smile grew. She had seen him often, usually at a distance,
for she had abhorred him, with his olive skin, his thin, cruel lips and
small glittering eyes. He had always seemed like an animal to her,
though she could not have told why. She thought it must be something in
his attitude, in the stoop which was almost a crouch, in the stealthy,
cat-like manner in which he walked. She had spoken to Ed about him more
than once, conveying to him her abhorrence of the man, and he had told
her that he felt the same about him. She shuddered now, thinking of what
her brother had told her of the man's cruelty. Dunlavey had often
boasted that Yuma was the most venomous and bloodthirsty of his crew of
cut-throats.
"What are you doing here?" she repeated, her anger growing.
Yuma laughed softly. "I saw you ridin' the Razor Back the other day," he
said, showing his teeth as the words came--even, smooth, burdened with a
subtle mockery. "I saw you again thees afternoon--but you not see me
like the other day--I watch you thees long." He held up three fingers to
denote that he had watched her three hours. She shuddered, suddenly
realizing the significance of his attitude that day she had seen him
from the Razor Back.
"Ed gone," he continued, watching her narrowly; "nobody here; I come. I
like you--much." He grinned, his eyes brightening. "I reckon you
know--you girl that understan'?"
She drew a slow deep breath. Curiously enough, next to the horror and
doubt that she felt over Yuma's presence at the cabin was a wonder for
the idioms of cowboy speech that were interjected with his own. He had
caught them from association, she supposed. She made a pretense of
boldness, though she felt more like screaming.
"Leave this cabin!" she commanded sharply.
Yuma did not change his position. "Leave heem?" he laughed. "I theenk
not. Dunlavey says me come here--make um love me--same as tenderfoot
noospaper man!" He laughed again, exultantly. "Dunlavey say you spark
tenderfoot--you spark me!"
She trembled, realizing that a crisis was at hand and that she must meet
it boldly. She thought of the ivory-handled weapon in the holster at her
hip and involuntarily her right hand dropped to its butt. She had
learned to shoot, but she had never yet shot at a man and she drew her
hand away from the butt of the weapon with a shudder. Yuma had been
watching her closely, his evil little eyes glittering, and when he saw
her hand drop away he laughed derisively.
"You no shoot heem!" he said. "You 'fraid. Dunlavey say he reckon you no
shoot--say you make love to um right away!"
He smiled significantly and took a step toward her. She made an
involuntary step backward and her right hand again sought the butt of
the revolver, the left closing on the edge of the door that opened into
her room. Terror had given her courage and as Yuma continued to advance
with a soft, cautious, cat-like sliding movement, she drew the revolver
and presented it, though her hand wavered a little.
"If you take another step toward me, Yuma, I will kill you!" she
declared.
She saw his little eyes glitter with decision, saw him measure the
distance between them, saw him crouch for a spring.
She fired, aiming at the lower edge of the scarf that sagged at his
throat. The smoke from the pistol blinded her; she heard his laugh,
heard the rush of his feet as he hurled himself forward. Terror stricken
over her failure to hit him, she dropped the pistol and whirled,
grasping the edge of the door and slamming it shut in his face. She felt
his weight against it, but he had been taken by surprise by the
movement; there was the strength of desperation in her body and she held
the door closed against him while she shoved the fastenings into place.
Then, suddenly overcome, she leaned weakly against the jamb, her heart
thumping hard, her nerves tingling.
For a long time she did not move, and there came no sound from the other
side of the door to tell her of Yuma's movements. There was a wild hope
in her heart that he had gone, but presently, becoming a little calmer,
she pressed her ear against the door. There was no doubt of Yuma's
presence; she could hear him stepping softly about the room. Had there
been a window in the room in which she had imprisoned herself she might
have escaped, but unfortunately there was not.
She fell to thinking of the revolver she had dropped when Yuma had
sprung upon her. It must have dropped very close to the door. Had Yuma
picked it up? There was a chance that he had not. If the weapon were
still there and she could open the door and secure it and close the door
again, she would be in a position to defend herself. She could not
defend herself without it. If Yuma should burst the door open she would
be at his mercy. She must get the revolver.
Convinced of this she stood for some little time at the door, her ear
pressed against it, listening for any sound that might tell her of the
whereabouts of Yuma in the cabin. She heard nothing. Perhaps he had
gone? But she listened a while longer, determined to be certain before
loosening the fastenings of the door. Silence--a premonitory
silence--filled the room beyond the door. She could hear nothing except
her own rapid breathing. Presently she heard a horse whinny. Was Yuma at
the horses? It seemed incredible that any man should visit the cabin
purposely to attack her. Perhaps Yuma had only intended to frighten her;
he had said that Dunlavey had told him to follow her, but she believed
that Dunlavey, in spite of his reputation for lawlessness and trickery,
was not so unmanly as to incite the half-breed to attack her. He may
have told him to steal the horses--she could believe that of him!
But for a long time, in spite of the quieting influence of these
thoughts, she kept her ear pressed against the door. Then, moved by a
sudden impulse--an accession of courage inspired by the continued
silence--she cautiously loosened the fastenings and swung the door
slowly open.
Her revolver lay close and with a swift movement she reached for it. As
her fingers grasped its butt she heard a slight sound and Yuma was upon
her from behind, pinning her arms to her sides. She felt his breath on
her neck, heard his laugh, exultant and derisive, mocking her. His right
hand, gripping hers tightly, was slipping slowly down toward the hand
that held the revolver. She struggled desperately, squirming and
twisting in his grasp, silently matching her strength against his.
Finding this hopeless and feeling his hand gradually slipping toward the
revolver, she suddenly raised her hand toward her face, bringing Yuma's
hand, still on her arm, with it. Then she dropped her head to his arm
near the wrist, and sank her teeth savagely into the flesh.
Yuma howled in anguish, loosening his hold momentarily. In an instant
she had wrenched herself free and had bounded to the center of the room,
placing the kitchen table between herself and her assailant.
But he was after her with a bound, his little eyes gleaming with a
venomous expression, his face contorted with passion. She raised the
revolver and fired. For a breathless instant she thought that she had
hit him, for he sank almost to the floor. But she saw that it was only a
trick for he was up again on the instant, a mocking smile on his face
and closer than ever. She fired again, and when she saw him sink to the
floor she pulled the trigger a second time. He had been very close to
the table when she fired the last time and before she could press the
trigger again he had lurched forward under it, raising it on his
shoulders and sending it crashing down behind him as he confronted her,
his evil face close to hers, his hands again gripping her arms.
She fought him silently, and together they reeled around the cabin. She
bit him again, and then in an outburst of savage fury he brutally
twisted the arm in which she still held the revolver, sending the weapon
crashing to the floor. While twisting her arm he had been compelled to
loosen his grasp of the other slightly, and she again wrenched herself
free and darted toward the door leading to the porch. But he bounded
forward, intercepting her, and with a last, despairing effort she raised
both hands to his face and clawed furiously at his eyes.
She heard a savage curse from him, saw the lust of murder in his little,
glittering eyes, felt his sinewy fingers at her throat. Then objects
within the cabin swam in a dizzy, blurring circle before her. She heard
a crash--seeming to come from a great distance; heard Yuma curse again.
And then, borne resistlessly forward by the weight of his body, she
tumbled to the floor in an inert heap.