The team trotted on to the bridge, and then slowed down to a walk. Above
the dull reverberation of hoofs the listeners below could hear the sound
of voices, and an echo of rather forced laughter. Then the carriage
emerged into full view. Beside the driver it contained three
passengers--Beaton on the front seat, his face turned backward toward the
two behind, a man and a woman. Westcott and Miss Donovan, peering
through the screen of leaves, caught only a swift glimpse of their
faces--the man middle-aged, inclined to stoutness, with an unusually red
face, smoking viciously at a cigar, the woman young and decidedly blonde,
with stray locks of hair blowing about her face, and a vivacious manner.
The carriage rolled on to the smooth road, and the driver touched up the
horses with his whip, the lowered back curtain shutting off the view.
The girl seized Westcott's arm while she directed his gaze with her free
hand. "Look!" she cried. "The woman is La Rue. And the man--the man is
Enright! He is the lawyer I told you of, the one whose hand is not clear
in this affair. And he is here!"
"Good!" Westcott exclaimed. "I'm glad they're both here. It means that
there will be more to observe, and it means that there will be
action--and that, too, quick! They are out here for a definite purpose
which must soon be disclosed. And, Miss Donovan, I may be a little
rock-worn and a little bit out of style, but I think their presence here
has something to do with the whereabouts of Fred Cavendish."
The girl looked straight into his honest, clear eyes. His remark opened
a vast field for speculation. "You think he is alive then?" she said
earnestly. "It is an interesting hypothesis. Perhaps--perhaps he may be
in this neighbourhood, even. And that," she added, her Irish eyes
alight, "would be more interesting still."
"I hadn't finished my argument when that carriage appeared," Westcott
answered. "Do you remember? Well, that might be the answer. Beaton has
been in this neighbourhood ever since about the time of that murder in
New York. Nobody knows what his business is, but he is hand-in-glove
with Bill Lacy and his gang. Lacy, besides running a saloon, pretends to
be a mining speculator, but it is my opinion there is nothing he wouldn't
do for money, if he considered the game safe. And now, with everything
quiet in the East, and no thought that there is any suspicion remaining,
Beaton sends for the woman to join him here. Why? Because there is some
job to be done too big for him to tackle alone. He's merely a gunman; he
can do the strong-arm stuff, all right, but lacks brains. There is a
problem out here requiring a little intellect; and it is my guess it is
how to dispose of Cavendish until they can get away safely with the swag."
"Exactly! That would be a stake worth playing for."
"It certainly would; and, as I figure it out, that is their game. John
Cavendish is merely the catspaw. Right now there is nothing for them to
do but wait until the boy gets full possession of the property; then
they'll put the screws on him good and proper. Meantime Frederick must
be kept out of sight--must remain dead."
"I wonder how this was ever planned out--if it be true?"
"It must have originated in some cunning, criminal brain," he admitted
thoughtfully. "Not Beaton's, surely; and, while she is probably much
brighter, I am inclined to think the girl is merely acting under orders.
There is somebody connected with this scheme higher up--a master
criminal."
Miss Donovan was no fool; newspaper work had taught her to suspect men of
intellect, and that nothing, however wicked, low or depraved, was beyond
them.
"Enright!" she said definitely. "Obviously now. I've thought so from
the first. But always he worked so carefully, so guardedly, that
sometimes I have doubted. But now I say without qualifications--Enright,
smooth Mr. Enright, late of New York."
"That's my bet," Westcott agreed, his hand on her shoulder, forgetful of
his intense earnestness, "Enright is the only one who could do it, and he
has schemed so as to get John into a hole where he dare not emit a sound,
no matter what they do to him. Do you see? If the boy breathes a
suspicion he'll be indicted for murder. If they can only succeed in
keeping Frederick safely out of sight until after the court awards the
property to his heir, they can milk John at their leisure. It's a
lawyer's graft, all right."
"Then Frederick may be confined not far away?"
"Likely enough; it's wild country. There are a hundred places within
fifty miles where he might be hidden away for years. That is the job
which was given to Beaton; he had the dirty work to perform, while the
girl took care of John. I do not know how he did it--knockout drops,
possibly, in a glass of beer; the blow of a fist on a train-platform at
night; a ride into the desert to look at some thing of interest--there
are plenty of ways in which it could be quietly done by a man of Mr.
Beaton's expert experience."
"Yes, but he does not know this country--if it was only New York now."
"But Bill Lacy does, and these fellows are well acquainted--friends
apparently. Lacy and I are at daggers-points over a mining claim, and he
believes my only chance is through the use of money advanced by Fred
Cavendish. He'd ride through hell to lick me. Why, look here, Miss
Donovan, when Bill Lacy had me stuck up against the wall last night at
the hotel with a gun at my head, he lost his temper and began to taunt me
about not getting any reply from my telegrams and letters. How did he
know about them? Beaton must have told him. There's the answer; those
fellows are in cahoots, and if Fred is actually alive, Bill Lacy knows
where he is, and all about it."
She did not answer. Westcott's theory of the situation, his quick
decision that Frederick Cavendish still lived, completely overturned her
earlier conviction. Yet his argument did not seem unfair or his
conclusion impossible. Her newspaper experience had made her aware that
there is nothing in this world so strange as truth, and nothing so
unusual as to be beyond the domain of crime.
"What do you think?" he asked quietly.
"Oh, I do not know; it all grows less comprehensible every moment. But
whatever is true I cannot see that anything remains for us to do, but
wait and watch the actions of these people; they are certain to betray
themselves. We have been here together now longer than we should, and I
must return to the hotel."
"You expect Beaton to seek you?"
She smiled.
"He appeared very devoted, quite deeply interested; I hope it continues."
"So do I, now that I understand," earnestly. "Although I confess your
intimacy was a shock to me this noon. Well, I am going to busy myself
also and take a scouting trip to La Rosita."
"Is that Lacy's mine?"
"Yes; up the gulch here about two miles. I may pick up some information
worth having. I am to see you again--alone?"
"We must have some means of communication; have you any suggestion?"
"Yes, but we'll take for our motto, 'Safety first.' We mustn't be seen
together, or suspected in any way of being friends. The livery-stable
keeper has a boy about twelve, who is quite devoted to me; a bright,
trustworthy little fellow. He is about the hotel a good deal, and will
bring me word from you any time. You need have no fear that I shall fail
to respond to any message you send."
"I shall not doubt." She held out her hand frankly. "You believe in me
now, Mr. Westcott?"
"Absolutely; indeed I think I always have. That other thing hurt, yet I
kept saying to myself, 'She had some good reason.'"
"Always think so, please, no matter what happens. I was nearly wild
until I got the note to you; I was so afraid you would leave the hotel.
We must trust each other."
He stood before her, his hat in hand, a strong, robust figure, his
bronzed face clearly revealed; the sunlight making manifest the grey hair
about his temples. To Miss Donovan he seemed all man, instinct with
character and purpose, a virile type of the out-of-doors.
"To the death," and his lips and eyes smiled. "I believe in you utterly."
"Thank you. Good-bye."
He watched her climb the bank and emerge upon the bridge. He still stood
there, bare-headed, when she turned and smiled back at him, waving her
hand. Then the slender figure vanished, and he was left alone. A moment
later, Westcott was striding up the trail, intent upon a plan to entrap
Lacy.
They would have felt less confident in the future could they have
overheard a conversation being carried on in a room of the Timmons House.
It was Miss La Rue's apartments, possessing two windows, but furnished in
a style so primitive as to cause that fastidious young lady to burst into
laughter when she first entered and gazed about. Both her companions
followed her, laden with luggage, and Beaton, sensing instantly what had
thus affected her humour, dropped his bag on the floor.
"It's the best there is here," he protested. "Timmons has held it for
you three days."
"Oh, I think it is too funny, Ned," she exclaimed, staring around, and
then flinging her wraps on the bed. "Look at that mirror, will you, and
those cracks in the wall? Say, do I actually have to wash in that tin
basin? Lord! I didn't suppose there was such a place in the world.
Why, if this is the prize, what kind of a room have you got?"
"Tough enough," he muttered gloomily, "but you was so close with your
money I had to sing low. What was the matter with you, anyhow?"
"Sweetie wouldn't produce, or couldn't, rather. He hasn't got his hands
on much of the stuff yet. Enright coughed up the expense money, or most
of it. I made John borrow some, but I needed that myself."
"Well, damn little got out here, and Lacy pumped the most of that out of
me. However, if you feel like kicking about this room, you ought to see
some of the others--mine, for instance, or the one Timmons put that other
woman in."
"Oh, yes," she said, finding a seat and staring at him. "That reminds
me. Did you say there was a girl here from New York? Never mind
quarrelling about the room, I'll endure it all right; it makes me think
of old times," and she laughed mirthlessly. "Sit down, Mr. Enright, and
let's talk. How's the door, Ned?"
He opened it and glanced out into the hall, throwing the bolt as he came
back.
"All right, Celeste, but I wouldn't talk quite so loud; the partitions
are not very tight."
"No objections to a cigarette, I suppose," and she produced a case.
"Thanks; now I feel better--certainly, light up. Well, Ned, the first
thing I want to know is, who is this other New York skirt, and how did
she happen to blow in here just at this time?"
Beaton completed the lighting of his cigar, flinging the match carelessly
out of the window.
"Oh, she's all right," he said easily. "Just an innocent kid writer for
_Scribbler's_ who's trying to make good writing about the beautiful
scenery around here. I was a bit suspicious of her at first myself, but
picked her up this morning an' we had quite a talk. Mighty pretty little
girl."
Miss La Rue elevated her eyebrows, watchfully regarding him through smoke
wreaths.
"Oh, cut it, Ned," she exclaimed curtly. "We all know you are a perfect
devil with the women. The poor thing is in love with you, no doubt, but
that doesn't answer my question, who is she?"
"Her name is Donovan."
"That sounds promising; what do you make it, shanty Irish?"
"I should say not," warmly. "She's a lady, all right. Oh, I know 'em,
if I don't meet many of that kind. We got chummy enough, so she told me
all about herself--her father's a big contractor and has money to burn."
"Did you ever hear the beat of that, Enright? Neddy is about to feather
his nest. Well, go on."
"That's about all, I guess, only she ain't nothin' you need be afraid of."
"Sure not, with a watch-dog like you on guard. But if you ask me, I
don't like the idea of her happening in here just at this time. This is
no place for an innocent child," and she looked about, her lip curling.
"Lord, I should say not. Do you happen to remember any New York
contractor by that name, Mr. Enright?"
The rotund lawyer, his feet elevated on the window-sill, a cigar between
his lips, shook his head in emphatic dissent.
"Not lately; there was a Tim Donovan who had a pull in the subway
excavation--he was a Tammany man--but he died, and was never married.
There may have been others, of course, but I had tab on most of them.
Did she mention his name, Beaton?"
"No; anyhow, I don't remember."
"What's the girl look like?"
"Rather slender, with brown hair, sorter coppery in the sun, and grey
eyes that grow dark when she's interested. About twenty-three or four, I
should say. She's a good-looker, all right; and not a bit stuck up."
"Did you get her full name?"
"Sure; it's on the register--Stella Donovan."
Enright lowered his feet to the floor, a puzzled look un his face, his
teeth clinched on his cigar.
"Hold on a bit till I think." he muttered. "That sounds mighty
familiar--Stella Donovan! My God, I've heard that name before somewhere;
ah, I have it--she's on the New York _Star_. I've seen her name signed
to articles in the Sunday edition." He wheeled and faced Miss La Rue.
"Do you remember them?"
"No; I never see the _Star_."
"Well, I do, and sometimes she's damn clever. I'll bet she's the girl."
"A New York newspaperwoman; well, what do you suppose she is doing out
here? After us?"
Enright had a grip on himself again and slowly relit his cigar, leaning
back, and staring out the window. His mind gripped the situation coldly.
"Well, we'd best be careful," he said slowly. "Probably it's merely a
coincidence, but I don't like her lying to Beaton. That don't look just
right. Yet the _Star_ can't have anything on us: the case is closed in
New York; forgotten and buried nearly a month ago. Even my partner don't
know where I am."
"I had to show John the telegram in order to get some money."
"You can gamble he won't say anything--there's no one else?"
"No; this game ain't the kind you talk about."
"You'd be a fool to trust anybody. So, if there's no leak we don't need
to be afraid of her, only don't let anything slip. We'll lay quiet and
try the young lady out. Beaton here can give her an introduction to Miss
La Rue, and the rest is easy. What do you say, Celeste?"
"Oh, I'll get her goat; you boys trot on now while I tog up a little for
dinner; when is it, six o'clock?"
"Yes," answered Beaton, still somewhat dazed by this revealment of Miss
Donovan's actual identity. "But don't try to put on too much dog out
here, Celeste; it ain't the style."
She laughed.
"The simple life, eh! What does your latest charmer wear--a skirt and a
shirtwaist?"
"I don't know; she was all in black, but looked mighty neat."
"Well, I'll go her one better--a bit of Broadway for luck. So-long, both
of you, and, Enright, you better come up for me; Ned, no doubt, has a
previous engagement with Miss Donovan."
Mr. Enright paused at the door, his features exhibiting no signs of
amusement.
"Better do as Beaton says, make it plain," he said shortly. "The less
attention we attract the less talk there will be, and this is too damn
serious an affair to be bungled. You hear?"
She crossed over and rested her hands on his arm.
"Sure; I was only guying Ned--it's a shirt-waist for me. I'll play the
game, old man."