SHANDON TAKES HIS STAND
Dart had been quite right concerning the actions of Garth Conway. It
hardly required a clairvoyant mother for any man who knew both Conway
and Wayne Shandon to predict the haste with which Conway saddled and
left the Bar L-M, nor the direction he went.
"Old Mart's going to sleep restless to-night," mused Dart, to whom the
adventures of a guy named Jupiter, and a skirt who shall be nameless,
no longer appealed. "Them haymakers don't know enough to walk crooked
and cover their tracks the same time. Now with Red on the war path,
and me shaping his play right along--"
He grew deeply thoughtful over the delightful possibilities unfolding
to his highly coloured imagination. There was going to be something
doing now that would put an edge to this dull life. With what was
equivalent to a lining up of forces and an open declaration of
hostilities, with Red on the one hand pitted against the trio whom Dart
called the Haymakers, with a murder mystery to untangle, a robbery to
solve, and--not to be forgotten--Little Saxon guarded through the
winter months so that a winning horserace could be run in the spring,
Mr. Dart looked forward happily to a very busy time. Then there was
the Dry Valley irrigation scheme of which his limited knowledge must be
enlarged immediately, in order that he might "scrape up a few beans and
get them down while the game was wide open." And there was Helga
Strawn.
"I wouldn't have missed this here," said Mr. Dart solemnly, nodding his
head at a picture in his book of a lady without arms or superfluous
clothing, "not for the boodle of a U. S. senator."
He went to the bunk house door in time to see Garth riding out of the
corral, his horse floundering awkwardly in the drifts that were
steadily piling higher. Dart spat contemptuously.
"A measly little cur," he declared softly. "Crooked just because he
ain't got the guts to go straight. Them's the worst kind. They get
scared stiff and shoot you when you come in late, thinking you're a
second-story artist, and then they're sorry. Chances are he's
repenting right now and wishing he was dead and by morning he'll be
doing the knife act some more."
While Dart meditated, planned and philosophised, Wayne Shandon prepared
a quick meal for Helga Strawn.
"I know you're done up already," he said, "but it can't be helped.
You've got to get back to the Echo Creek to-night, if for no other
reason because it may be the last chance you'll have to get out at all."
"You mean the snow?"
"Yes. A horse can carry you through to-night; to-morrow, if this keeps
up, the poor brute would have his work cut out to get through alone.
If you'll help yourself and see that your clothes are good and dry I'll
go out and get the horses ready."
"Horses? You are going with me?"
"No," he said emphatically. "I haven't been going to Mr. Leland's home
for a long time. After what I have learned to-night I suppose that
I'll never go there again. I am going to send Dart with you."
"What have you learned?" she asked quickly. "You mean what I have told
you?"
"No. It is something which I am afraid I can't talk about just yet,
Miss Strawn. Now, if you will excuse me a minute?"
He went down to the stable, saw that both Helga's horse and Old Bots
had a feeding of barley, and fed his own saddle animal.
"I'll have to fight my way out on webs tomorrow," he mused. "I can
lead you until we get across the ridge where the snow will be lighter."
Then he went to Dart in the bunk house.
"Dart," he called abruptly, "you'd better come up to the house and get
something to eat. Then you've got to get ready to ride."
"Ride?" demanded Dart, a little anxiously. "You mean me and Old Bots
and the chariot?"
"You can't make it," Shandon told him positively. "I don't know how
you managed to get back from the Echo Creek with the cart. You'll have
to go on horseback now, whether you like it or not."
"Where am I going, Chief?"
"To the Leland's. Miss Hazleton is going back and I want you to go
with her. You'd have to go in the morning anyway and it will be easier
if you go right away. And I want you to do something for me."
"Love's little messenger again?" grinned Dart. "Gee, Red, I'm turning
into a regular carrier pigeon."
"I am going to write a short note to Miss Leland," Shandon went on
quietly. "I want you to give it to her to-night. And I don't want
anybody to see you do it. Will you do that for me?"
"Did I ever turn a pal down?" reproachfully. "But, say, Red; I'm just
healed up good from my ride in here last summer. Can't I walk?"
Shandon laughed and the two men hurried together back to the house.
Helga, who was still eating, looked up at them with frank curiosity as
they came in. Her eyes rested longest upon Dart; her contempt for him
had passed or else she had resolved to hide it and appear friendly.
Through the brief meal he strove constantly to be entertaining, and his
little sallies which had formerly elicited nothing beyond her silent
contempt now provoked her ready laughter.
"It ain't a little jolt of brandy that made the difference, either,"
Dart informed himself thoughtfully in the midst of an enthusiastic
recital of the gallant way in which his pal, Red, had saved him from a
horrible death in some wonderful land whose geographical location he
failed to make perfectly clear. "She's wise I'm the gent with a noodle
full of things she's dying to know. Red ain't told her what I told
him. We're sure going to have an awful chummy time on our jingle bell
party back to old Mart's."
And he went on with his tale until Wayne returning from the kitchen
stopped him.
Shandon had written his note and gave it to Dart as the two men went
out to saddle the horses. Ten minutes later Helga Strawn and her guide
left the Bar L-M. During the long ride, although Dart seemed the most
ingenuous of creatures, Helga Strawn obtained no satisfactory report of
the news which he had brought and which had so obviously steeled
Shandon's will.
An hour before they came to the Echo Creek the snow ceased abruptly and
it began to rain.
When at last they reached the ranch house the girl was clinging wearily
to the horn of her saddle, drenched to the skin, her face pinched and
white and drawn from cold and the hardest day's physical work her
woman's body had ever buffeted through. When Dart glanced at her in
the lamplight of the living room he filed a swift mental note of the
fact that what Helga Strawn set out to do she was very likely to
accomplish. For her eyes, their brilliancy undimmed, their calculating
penetration unaltered, told of a fighting spirit which no bodily
fatigue could touch.
There had been only two lights burning in the house; one in Martin's
private room from which came the voices of Garth Conway and Leland
himself; one in Wanda's bedroom. But at Dart's knock both Wanda and
her mother hastened to receive them, replenished the fireplace until it
roared lustily in its deep throat, found warm, dry clothing and hot
drinks, and made them comfortable for the night. If Wanda were "sore"
as Dart had expressed it, she did not in any way give evidence of it.
"Them ginneys that go chasing off to climb the North Pole," was Dart's
cheery comment as he reappeared from a brief absence in the kitchen,
"ain't going to find me choking up the trail in front of 'em. This
here is good enough for me."
In the kitchen he had changed his own outer, soaked clothing for a suit
of Martin's which Mrs. Leland had given him, and now the general effect
of his appearance was that of a very small boy in a very large hat.
But he had not forgotten to transfer Wayne's note with the transfer of
garments. And when Wanda left the room presently for the sandwich Dart
had requested he followed her, his coat and trousers seeming to flow
about him and after him with a will of their own.
"Love and kisses from Red," he whispered, handing her the note.
And be it said to the credit of Mr. Willie Dart that, although he had
been perfectly aware that there was a steaming kettle of water on the
kitchen stove, his haste had been so great to deliver the message that
he had not taken time to avail himself of the opportunity.
That night Wanda went quietly about her preparation for to-morrow. Her
skis, gathering dust in the attic, were brought down, cleaned and given
the thin coat of shellac which, drying by morning, would put them in
shape. A glance outdoors showed her that it had stopped raining and
was clear and cold. There would be a good crust formed during the
night. Shandon's note, which she read more than once, ran:--
"Dear Wanda--Will you try to meet me at your cliff to-morrow? I have
something which I must tell you.
"WAYNE."
All night, waking or sleeping, Wanda was restless and worried. She had
guessed swiftly that the thing Wayne was going to tell her had
something to do with Helga Strawn; it might also have something to do
with Garth and Martin Leland. Garth had been strangely agitated when
he burst into the house. Then he and her father were closeted for a
long time in the study, their voices at times raised in what sounded
like anger, at times lowered almost to whispers. She knew that Martin
had gone out to the men's quarters, that Jim had saddled his horse and
ridden away upon some errand which must have been born of Garth's
coming. She felt that it all was in some way connected with Wayne
Shandon and she was a little afraid.
In the morning, as Wanda made her early breakfast alone, a glance
outside at the white world showed her that where there had been jagged
rocks and logs strewn upon the hillsides, now there were only smooth
mounds. Tree stumps and fences, their identity already lost, were
hooded things that in another two days would be completely covered and
hidden.
The girl buckled her arctics upon her warmly stockinged feet, drew her
hood down over her ears, strapped on her skis and slipped on her
mittens before she left the kitchen. From the back door which in
summer was three feet above ground she pushed her way out upon the
level snow. Then, through a white world of silence she moved quietly
through the clear, crisp morning.
She arrived early at the cliffs, but already Shandon, although he had
travelled further, was before her. For the last quarter of a mile she
had travelled in the deeper tracks, which his broader skis and heavier
weight had made. Already he had gone ahead of her up the great cedar,
as she saw by the branches from which he had scraped the snow. And
when she came to the top and peeped into the cave she saw him piling
wood upon the fire he had blazing to welcome her.
"God bless you," he said tenderly. "You came."
"Of course I came," she answered. "Now tell me, Wayne. What is it?"
First he made her draw off her sweater and arctics and take the stool
he placed at the fire for her.
"Wanda," he began, at last, "I've got something to tell you that's
going to be hard telling. I have hoped all along that things would
smooth themselves out for us, that in due time your father would come
to see that neither he nor any other man has the right to stand in the
way of our happiness. But now, dear, there is no hope of that.
Matters are bad enough now, God knows. And they are going to get
worse. Do you love me very much, Wanda?"
"You know that I do," she answered simply.
"So much that you could cleave to me through everything? Even when the
unpleasantness which already exists between your father and me grows
into positive, hard, open opposition? On my part as well as his?"
"Is it so bad as that, Wayne?" she asked, her eyes darkening a little.
"Yes," he answered bitterly. "It is worse than you know. You will
find it as hard to believe as I found it."
"Tell me." She looked up at him bravely enough, but he knew how this
thing hurt her, and how it was going to hurt her when he told
everything. Hastily, to have it over with, he repeated Dart's story
and told of the quarrel with Garth.
"I believe," he said slowly, "that Dart told me the truth throughout.
I don't know how he found it out, but in part I know he was right.
Arthur mortgaged the Bar L-M to your father for twenty-five thousand
dollars. You know how I went away then, how I authorised Garth to act
for me just as though he were the actual owner of the property. Dart
says that three months ago the mortgage was foreclosed. That was just
before I came home. I heard nothing of it. He swears that he saw the
sheriff's certificate of sale to your father. In California law due
notice must be served upon a man whose property is threatened with sale
to satisfy the holder of the mortgage. From the date of that sale
until a year later the original owner has what is termed a year of
redemption during which, at any time, upon his paying the amount of the
mortgage and all costs, he may regain his property. Do you follow me,
Wanda?"
"Yes. Go on, Wayne."
"Had I not been away, had I not furthermore given to Garth my power of
attorney, that first service of notice of foreclosure would have come
to me. It came to Garth instead; it had to come to him. By his simply
ignoring the matter, failing to appear in court or to be represented by
a lawyer when the matter was called, he allowed the Bar L-M to be sold
to pay the promissory note of twenty-five thousand given by Arthur to
your father. Your father bought in the property himself. It is now
his and not mine; it would become absolutely his, with clear title, if
I should allow this year of redemption to pass without paying off the
twenty-five thousand and costs. And that is certainly what would have
happened if I had not learned of the whole wretched deal, through Dart,
last night."
For a long time she did not answer. Even Wayne Shandon, who thought
that he knew how the girl loved and venerated her father, could not
guess how deeply this thing cut her. Presently, steadying her voice,
she said:
"You are absolutely sure of this, Wayne?"
"No. Not in every detail. But in enough to make me more than ready to
believe it, Wanda. Garth himself admitted the mortgage, and confessed
that he had known of it all along from the day it was made, and said he
knew that your father held it. Why didn't he tell me? Why didn't Mr.
Leland tell me? Why have they gone on with their plan of irrigation
without making me an offer for the water right without which their
whole plan falls to pieces?"
"There is only one thing to do, Wayne. You must come back with me. We
must go straight to papa and ask him."
"Wanda," he answered gently, "I have fought this out all night. I hope
that never in our lives will there come a time when you ask me to do a
thing that I cannot do. Will you try to see this from my point of
view? My first thought was to go to your father and to ask him for an
explanation, just as it is your first thought. But what good could it
do? In a few days now I shall go to the court house in El Toyon. If
there was a mortgage, as Dart swears and Garth himself admits, it will
be on record there. If notice of foreclosure were properly served, and
foreclosure were then made in default of my appearance, or because
Garth did not go or send a representative, if the sheriff's certificate
of sale was made, the whole transaction will have been placed on
record. _If_ all of this is true, Wanda, and I am very much afraid
that it is, then, girl of mine, is there any reason in the world why I
should go to Martin Leland with it?" His voice had hardened, and
though he did not know it, Wanda had noticed the change in tone.
"Can't you see," he went on deliberately, "that after the way I have
been treated I have the right to expect your father to come to me if
there is any explaining to do?"
"I can't believe it," she said faintly, though belief was already
strong within her. "Why should my father do a thing like that? Do you
know, Wayne, that you are accusing him of a very ugly thing?"
"Yes," he said, his tone suddenly gentle again. "I am sorry for you,
Wanda. But can't you see that if this is true there is only one thing
in the world for me to do?"
"But," and the question uppermost in her mind demanded repetition, "why
should my father so soil his hands."
"Aren't there many reasons? If he really believes that I killed
Arthur, if for lack of evidence or for some other reason he feels that
the law cannot touch me, wouldn't he come to tell himself--"
"Oh," she cried impetuously, "that would be mean and cowardly! For him
to tell himself that robbing you would be justifiable because he was
punishing a man he deemed guilty! It would be braver, more like a man,
to do it for the hot reason of hatred."
After the silence with which Wayne answered her it was Wanda who again
spoke.
"Wayne," she asked quietly, "is this all you have to tell me?"
"No. I want you to understand what I am going to do, what I must do,
if this is all true. It is what they have driven me to do, unless I
prove myself to be what your father thinks me, a weak willed, worthless
do-nothing. You don't want me to be that, Wanda?"
"No," she replied thoughtfully. "I want you to be a man."
"Then," he cried sharply, "there is man's work cut out for me! I have
twenty-five thousand dollars and more to raise in a very short time. I
have my reply to make to men who have used me as a fool! I have the
water that the Dry Valley needs. I can go on with the thing which they
have tried to do, I can whip them at their own game, playing mine open
with the cards on the table. I can refuse to be the toad under the
stone; I can make my fight to have my rights. Against opposition that
has been underhanded I can offer opposition that is a man's answer to a
challenge. It is they, not I, who began the trouble. Had Martin
Leland come to me and asked for a water right, I should have given it
to him freely as you know. Why, the woman who came to you last night--"
"Miss Hazleton?" she said very quietly, though the girl's heart was
beating hard as she waited for his answer.
"Helga Strawn," he answered bluntly. "Hume's cousin."
Her smile, a little wistful but with a quick flash of gladness,
surprised him. And he did not understand when she rose swiftly and
came to him and put her arms round his neck.
"I am afraid that I have been naughty, Wayne," she whispered. "No,
I'll tell you some other time. Tell me about her."
He told her Helga's vague plan, showed her the chance for him with
Ettinger, Norfolk and the stragglers lined up with him.
"I love you, Wanda," he said suddenly at the end. "So much that what
you want done is the thing that I must do. But you must see very
clearly that the time has come when I must play the man's part or the
weakling's."
"First you are going to be very sure? Sure that papa has done this?"
"Yes, dear."
"Then," she said, lifting her face to his, her eyes shining, "if you
find it true I want you to do the man's part, Wayne. You knew that I
would, didn't you, Wayne?"
"Yes," he whispered. "God bless you, yes."
"And, Wayne, dear--"
"Yes?"
"Do you think that Helga Strawn is very beautiful?"
Whereupon he laughed happily at her, and despite the cloud in their sky
which had grown suddenly bigger and blacker so that the shadow of it
lay across their lives, they were very gay together.