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diff --git a/26951.txt b/26951.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3637a03 --- /dev/null +++ b/26951.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9571 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of 'Firebrand' Trevison, by Charles Alden Seltzer + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: 'Firebrand' Trevison + +Author: Charles Alden Seltzer + +Illustrator: P. V. E. Ivory + +Release Date: October 18, 2008 [EBook #26951] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 'FIREBRAND' TREVISON *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: INSTINCTIVELY EACH KNEW THE OTHER FOR A FOE. [Page 25]] + + + + +"FIREBRAND" TREVISON + +BY +CHARLES ALDEN SELTZER + +AUTHOR OF +THE VENGENCE OF JEFFERSON GAWNE, +THE BOSS OF THE LAZY Y, +THE RANGE BOSS, Etc. + +ILLUSTRATED BY +P. V. E. IVORY + +GROSSET & DUNLAP +PUBLISHERS--NEW YORK + +Made in the United States of America + + + + +Copyright +A. C. McClurg & Co. +1918 + +Published September, 1918 + +Copyrighted in Great Britain + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE + I The Rider of the Black Horse 1 + II In Which Hatred is Born 10 + III Beating a Good Man 30 + IV The Long Arm of Power 42 + V A Telegram and a Girl 53 + VI A Judicial Puppet 71 + VII Two Letters Go East 79 + VIII The Chaos of Creation 82 + IX Straight Talk 93 + X The Spirit of Manti 100 + XI For the "Kiddies" 109 + XII Exposed to the Sunlight 113 + XIII Another Letter 130 + XIV A Rumble Of War 137 + XV A Mutual Benefit Association 146 + XVI Wherein A Woman Lies 151 + XVII Justice Vs. Law 155 + XVIII Law Invoked and Defied 169 + XIX A Woman Rides in Vain 183 + XX And Rides Again--in Vain 192 + XXI Another Woman Rides 209 + XXII A Man Errs--and Pays 221 + XXIII First Principles 234 + XXIV Another Woman Lies 253 + XXV In the Dark 264 + XXVI The Ashes 273 + XXVII The Fight 290 + XXVIII The Dregs 310 + XXIX The Calm 321 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + PAGE + +Instinctively each knew the other for a foe. Frontispiece + +"You are going to marry me--some day. That's +what I think of you!" 97 + +"You men are blind. Corrigan is a crook who +will stop at nothing." 283 + + + + +"FIREBRAND" TREVISON + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE RIDER OF THE BLACK HORSE + + +The trail from the Diamond K broke around the base of a low hill dotted +thickly with scraggly oak and fir, then stretched away, straight and +almost level (except for a deep cut where the railroad gang and a steam +shovel were eating into a hundred-foot hill) to Manti. A month before, +there had been no Manti, and six months before that there had been no +railroad. The railroad and the town had followed in the wake of a party of +khaki-clad men that had made reasonably fast progress through the country, +leaving a trail of wooden stakes and little stone monuments behind. +Previously, an agent of the railroad company had bartered through, +securing a right-of-way. The fruit of the efforts of these men was a dark +gash on a sun-scorched level, and two lines of steel laid as straight as +skilled eye and transit could make them--and Manti. + +Manti could not be overlooked, for the town obtruded upon the vision from +where "Brand" Trevison was jogging along the Diamond K trail astride his +big black horse, Nigger. Manti dominated the landscape, not because it was +big and imposing, but because it was new. Manti's buildings were +scattered--there had been no need for crowding; but from a distance--from +Trevison's distance, for instance, which was a matter of three miles or +so--Manti looked insignificant, toy-like, in comparison with the vast +world on whose bosom it sat. Manti seemed futile, ridiculous. But Trevison +knew that the coming of the railroad marked an epoch, that the two thin, +thread-like lines of steel were the tentacles of the man-made monster that +had gripped the East--business reaching out for newer fields--and that +Manti, futile and ridiculous as it seemed, was an outpost fortified by +unlimited resource. Manti had come to stay. + +And the cattle business was going, Trevison knew. The railroad company had +built corrals at Manti, and Trevison knew they would be needed for several +years to come. But he could foresee the day when they would be replaced by +building and factory. Business was extending its lines, cattle must +retreat before them. Several homesteaders had already appeared in the +country, erecting fences around their claims. One of the homesteaders, +when Trevison had come upon him a few days before, had impertinently +inquired why Trevison did not fence the Diamond K range. Fence in five +thousand acres! It had never been done in this section of the country. +Trevison had permitted himself a cold grin, and had kept his answer to +himself. The incident was not important, but it foreshadowed a day when a +dozen like inquiries would make the building of a range fence imperative. + +Trevison already felt the irritation of congestion--the presence of the +homesteaders nettled him. He frowned as he rode. A year ago he would have +sold out--cattle, land and buildings--at the market price. But at that +time he had not known the value of his land. Now-- + +He kicked Nigger in the ribs and straightened in the saddle, grinning. + +"She's not for sale now--eh, Nig?" + +Five minutes later he halted the black at the crest of the big railroad +cut and looked over the edge appraisingly. Fifty laborers--directed by a +mammoth personage in dirty blue overalls, boots, woolen shirt, and a +wide-brimmed felt hat, and with a face undeniably Irish--were working +frenziedly to keep pace with the huge steam shovel, whose iron jaws were +biting into the earth with a regularity that must have been discouraging +to its human rivals. A train of flat-cars, almost loaded, was on the track +of the cut, and a dinky engine attached to them wheezed steam from a +safety valve, the engineer and fireman lounging out of the cab window, +lazily watching. + +Patrick Carson, the personage--construction boss, good-natured, keen, +observant--was leaning against a boulder at the side of the track, talking +to the engineer at the instant Trevison appeared at the top of the cut. He +glanced up, his eyes lighting. + +"There's thot mon, Trevison, ag'in, Murph'," he said to the engineer. +"Bedad, he's a pitcher now, ain't he?" + +An imposing figure Trevison certainly was. Horse and rider were outlined +against the sky, and in the dear light every muscle and feature of man and +beast stood but boldly and distinctly. The big black horse was a powerful +brute, tall and rangy, with speed and courage showing plainly in contour, +nostril and eye; and with head and ears erect he stood motionless, +statuesque, heroic. His rider seemed to have been proportioned to fit the +horse. Tall, slender of waist, broad of shoulder, straight, he sat loosely +in the saddle looking at the scene below him, unconscious of the +admiration he excited. Poetic fancies stirred Carson vaguely. + +"Luk at 'im now, Murph; wid his big hat, his leather pants, his spurs, an' +the rist av his conthraptions! There's a divvil av a conthrast here now, +if ye'd only glimpse it. This civillyzation, ripraysinted be this +railroad, don't seem to fit, noways. It's like it had butted into a +pitcher book! Ain't he a darlin'?" + +"I've never seen him up close," said Murphy. There was none of Carson's +enthusiasm in his voice. "It's always seemed to me that a felluh who rigs +himself out like that has got a lot of show-off stuff in him." + +"The first time I clapped me eyes on wan av them cowbhoys I thought so, +too," said Carson. "That was back on the other section. But I seen so +manny av them rigged out like thot, thot I comminced to askin' questions. +It's a domned purposeful rig, mon. The big felt hat is a daisy for keepin' +off the sun, an' that gaudy bit av a rag around his neck keeps the sun and +sand from blisterin' the skin. The leather pants is to keep his legs from +gettin' clawed up be the thorns av prickly pear an' what not, which he's +got to ride through, an' the high heels is to keep his feet from slippin' +through the stirrups. A kid c'ud tell ye what he carries the young cannon +for, an' why he wears it so low on his hip. Ye've nivver seen him up +close, eh Murph'? Well, I'm askin' him down so's ye can have a good look +at him." He stepped back from the boulder and waved a hand at Trevison, +shouting: + +"Make it a real visit, bhoy!" + +"I'll be pullin' out of here before he can get around," said Murphy, +noting that the last car was almost filled. + +Carson chuckled. "Hold tight," he warned; "he's comin'." + +The side of the cut was steep, and the soft sand and clay did not make a +secure footing. But when the black received the signal from Trevison he +did not hesitate. Crouching like a great cat at the edge, he slid his +forelegs over until his hoofs sank deep into the side of the cut. Then +with a gentle lurch he drew his hind legs after him, and an instant later +was gingerly descending, his rider leaning far back in the saddle, the +reins held loosely in his hands. + +It looked simple enough, the way the black was doing it, and Trevison's +demeanor indicated perfect trust in the animal and in his own skill as a +rider. But the laborers ceased working and watched, grouped, gesturing; +the staccato coughing of the steam shovel died gaspingly, as the engineer +shut off the engine and stood, rooted, his mouth agape; the fireman in the +dinky engine held tightly to the cab window. Murphy muttered in +astonishment, and Carson chuckled admiringly, for the descent was a full +hundred feet, and there were few men in the railroad gang that would have +dared to risk the wall on foot. + +The black had gained impetus with distance. A third of the slope had been +covered when he struck some loose earth that shifted with his weight and +carried his hind quarters to one side and off balance. Instantly the rider +swung his body toward the wall of the cut, twisted in the saddle and swung +the black squarely around, the animal scrambling like a cat. The black +stood, braced, facing the crest of the cut, while the dislodged earth, +preceded by pebbles and small boulders, clattered down behind him. Then, +under the urge of Trevison's gentle hand and voice, the black wheeled +again and faced the descent. + +"I wouldn't ride a horse down there for the damned railroad!" declared +Murphy. + +"Thrue for ye--ye c'udn't," grinned Carson. + +"A man could ride anywhere with a horse like that!" remarked the fireman, +fascinated. + +"Ye'd have brought a cropper in that slide, an' the road wud be minus a +coal-heaver!" said Carson. "Wud ye luk at him now!" + +The black was coming down, forelegs asprawl, his hind quarters sliding in +the sand. Twice as his fore-hoofs struck some slight obstruction his hind +quarters lifted and he stood, balanced, on his forelegs, and each time +Trevison averted the impending catastrophe by throwing himself far back in +the saddle and slapping the black's hips sharply. + +"He's a circus rider!" shouted Carson, gleefully. "He's got the coolest +head of anny mon I iver seen! He's a divvil, thot mon!" + +The descent was spectacular, but it was apparent that Trevison cared +little for its effect upon his audience, for as he struck the level and +came riding toward Carson and the others, there was no sign of +self-consciousness in his face or manner. He smiled faintly, though, as a +cheer from the laborers reached his ears. In the next instant he had +halted Nigger near the dinky engine, and Carson was introducing him to the +engineer and fireman. + +Looking at Trevison "close up," Murphy was constrained to mentally label +him "some man," and he regretted his deprecatory words of a few minutes +before. Plainly, there was no "show-off stuff" in Trevison. His feat of +riding down the wall of the cut had not been performed to impress anyone; +the look of reckless abandon in the otherwise serene eyes that held +Murphy's steadily, convinced the engineer that the man had merely +responded to a dare-devil impulse. There was something in Trevison's +appearance that suggested an entire disregard of fear. The engineer had +watched the face of a brother of his craft one night when the latter had +been driving a roaring monster down a grade at record-breaking speed into +a wall of rain-soaked darkness out of which might thunder at any instant +another roaring monster, coming in the opposite direction. There had been +a mistake in orders, and the train was running against time to make a +switch. Several times during the ride Murphy had caught a glimpse of the +engineer's face, and the eyes had haunted him since--defiance of death, +contempt of consequences, had been reflected in them. Trevison's eyes +reminded him of the engineer's. But in Trevison's eyes was an added +expression--cold humor. The engineer of Murphy's recollection would have +met death dauntlessly. Trevison would meet it no less dauntlessly, but +would mock at it. Murphy looked long and admiringly at him, noting the +deep chest, the heavy muscles, the blue-black sheen of his freshly-shaven +chin and jaw under the tan; the firm, mobile mouth, the aggressive set to +his head. Murphy set his age down at twenty-seven or twenty-eight. Murphy +was sixty himself--the age that appreciates, and secretly envies, the +virility of youth. Carson was complimenting Trevison on his descent of the +wall of the cut. + +"You're a daisy rider, me bhoy!" + +"Nigger's a clever horse," smiled Trevison. Murphy was pleased that he was +giving the animal the credit. "Nigger's well trained. He's wiser than some +men. Tricky, too." He patted the sleek, muscular neck of the beast and the +animal whinnied gently. "He's careful of his master, though," laughed +Trevison. "A man pulled a gun on me, right after I'd got Nigger. He had +the drop, and he meant business. I had to shoot. To disconcert the fellow, +I had to jump Nigger against him. Since then, whenever Nigger sees a gun +in anyone's hand, he thinks it's time to bowl that man over. There's no +holding him. He won't even stand for anyone pulling a handkerchief out of +a hip pocket when I'm on him." Trevison grinned. "Try it, Carson, but get +that boulder between you and Nigger before you do." + +"I don't like the look av the baste's eye," declined the Irishman. "I +wudn't doubt ye're worrud for the wurrold. But he wudn't jump a mon divvil +a bit quicker than his master, or I'm a sinner!" + +Trevison's eyes twinkled. "You're a good construction boss, Carson. But +I'm glad to see that you're getting more considerate." + +"Av what?" + +"Of your men." Trevison glanced back; he had looked once before, out of +the tail of his eye. The laborers were idling in the cut, enjoying the +brief rest, taking advantage of Carson's momentary dereliction, for the +last car had been filled. + +"I'll be rayported yet, begob!" + +Carson waved his hands, and the laborers dove for the flat-cars. When the +last man was aboard, the engine coughed and moved slowly away. Carson +climbed into the engine-cab, with a shout: "So-long bhoy!" to Trevison. +The latter held Nigger with a firm rein, for the animal was dancing at the +noise made by the engine, and as the cars filed past him, running faster +now, the laborers grinned at him and respectfully raised their hats. For +they had come from one of the Latin countries of Europe, and for them, in +the person of this heroic figure of a man who had ridden his horse down +the steep wall of the cut, was romance. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +IN WHICH HATRED IS BORN + + +For some persons romance dwells in the new and the unusual, and for other +persons it dwells not at all. Certain of Rosalind Benham's friends would +have been able to see nothing but the crudities and squalor of Manti, +viewing it as Miss Benham did, from one of the windows of her father's +private car, which early that morning had been shunted upon a switch at +the outskirts of town. Those friends would have seen nothing but a new +town of weird and picturesque buildings, with more saloons than seemed to +be needed in view of the noticeable lack of citizens. They would have +shuddered at the dust-windrowed street, the litter of refuse, the dismal +lonesomeness, the forlornness, the utter isolation, the desolation. Those +friends would have failed to note the vast, silent reaches of green-brown +plain that stretched and yawned into aching distances; the wonderfully +blue and cloudless sky that covered it; they would have overlooked the +timber groves that spread here and there over the face of the land, with +their lure of mystery. No thoughts of the bigness of this country would +have crept in upon them--except as they might have been reminded of the +dreary distance from the glitter and the tinsel of the East. The +mountains, distant and shining, would have meant nothing to them; the +strong, pungent aroma of the sage might have nauseated them. + +But Miss Benham had caught her first glimpse of Manti and the surrounding +country from a window of her berth in the car that morning just at dawn, +and she loved it. She had lain for some time cuddled up in her bed, +watching the sun rise over the distant mountains, and the breath of the +sage, sweeping into the half-opened window, had carried with it something +stronger--the lure of a virgin country. + +Aunt Agatha Benham, chaperon, forty--maiden lady from choice--various +uncharitable persons hinted humorously of pursued eligibles--found +Rosalind gazing ecstatically out of the berth window when she stirred and +awoke shortly after nine. Agatha climbed out of her berth and sat on its +edge, yawning sleepily. + +"This is Manti, I suppose," she said acridly, shoving the curtain aside +and looking out of the window. "We should consider ourselves fortunate not +to have had an adventure with Indians or outlaws. We have _that_ to be +thankful for, at least." + +Agatha's sarcasm failed to penetrate the armor of Rosalind's unconcern--as +Agatha's sarcasms always did. Agatha occupied a place in Rosalind's +affections, but not in her scheme of enjoyment. Since she _must_ be +chaperoned, Agatha was acceptable to her. But that did not mean that she +made a confidante of Agatha. For Agatha was looking at the world through +the eyes of Forty, and the vision of Twenty is somewhat more romantic. + +"Whatever your father thought of in permitting you to come out here is a +mystery to me," pursued Agatha severely, as she fussed with her hair. "It +was like him, though, to go to all this trouble--for me--merely to satisfy +your curiosity about the country. I presume we shall be returning +shortly." + +"Don't be impatient, Aunty," said the girl, still gazing out of the +window. "I intend to stretch my legs before I return." + +"Mercy!" gasped Agatha; "such language! This barbaric country has affected +you already, my dear. Legs!" She summoned horror into her expression, but +it was lost on Rosalind, who still gazed out of the window. Indeed, from a +certain light in the girl's eyes it might be adduced that she took some +delight in shocking Agatha. + +"I shall stay here quite some time, I think," said Rosalind. "Daddy said +there was no hurry; that he might come out here in a month, himself. And I +have been dying to get away from the petty conventionalities of the East. +I am going to be absolutely human for a while, Aunty. I am going to 'rough +it'--that is, as much as one can rough it when one is domiciled in a +private car. I am going to get a horse and have a look at the country. And +Aunty--" here the girl's voice came chokingly, as though some deep emotion +agitated her "--I am going to ride 'straddle'!" + +She did not look to see whether Agatha had survived this second shock--but +Agatha had survived many such shocks. It was only when, after a silence of +several minutes, Agatha spoke again, that the girl seemed to remember +there was anybody in the compartment with her. Agatha's voice was laden +with contempt: + +"Well, I don't know what you see in this outlandish place to compensate +for what you miss at home." + +The girl did not look around. "A man on a black horse, Aunty," she said. +"He has passed here twice. I have never seen such a horse. I don't +remember to have ever seen a man quite like the rider. He looks +positively--er--_heroish_! He is built like a Roman gladiator, he rides +the black horse as though he had been sculptured on it, and his head has a +set that makes one feel he has a mind of his own. He has furnished me with +the only thrill that I have felt since we left New York!" + +"He hasn't seen _you_!" said Agatha, coldly; "of course you made sure of +_that_?" + +The girl looked mischievously at the older woman. She ran her fingers +through her hair--brown and vigorous-looking--then shaded her eyes with +her hands and gazed at her reflection in a mirror near by. In deshabille +she looked fresh and bewitching. She had looked like a radiant goddess to +"Brand" Trevison, when he had accidentally caught a glimpse of her face at +the window while she had been watching him. He had not known that the lady +had just awakened from her beauty sleep. He would have sworn that she +needed no beauty sleep. And he had deliberately ridden past the car again, +hoping to get another glimpse of her. The girl smiled. + +"I am not so positive about that, Aunty. Let us not be prudish. If he saw +me, he made no sign, and therefore he is a gentleman." She looked out of +the window and smiled again. "There he is now, Aunty!" + +It was Agatha who parted the curtains, this time. The horseman's face was +toward the window, and he saw her. An expression of puzzled astonishment +glowed in his eyes, superseded quickly by disappointment, whereat Rosalind +giggled softly and hid her tousled head in a pillow. + +"The impertinent brute! Rosalind, he dared to look directly at me, and I +am sure he would have winked at me in another instant! A gentleman!" she +said, coldly. + +"Don't be severe, Aunty. I'm sure he is a gentleman, for all his +curiosity. See--there he is, riding away without so much as looking +back!" + +Half an hour later the two women entered the dining-room just as a big, +rather heavy-featured, but handsome man, came through the opposite door. +He greeted both ladies effusively, and smilingly looked at his watch. + +"You over-slept this morning, ladies--don't you think? It's after ten. +I've been rummaging around town, getting acquainted. It's rather an +unfinished place, after the East. But in time--" He made a gesture, +perhaps a silent prophecy that one day Manti would out-strip New York, and +bowed the ladies to seats at table, talking while the colored waiter moved +obsequiously about them. + +"I thought at first that your father was over-enthusiastic about Manti, +Miss Benham," he continued. "But the more I see of it the firmer becomes +my conviction that your father was right. There are tremendous +possibilities for growth. Even now it is a rather fertile country. We +shall make it hum, once the railroad and the dam are completed. It is a +logical site for a town--there is no other within a hundred miles in any +direction." + +"And you are to anticipate the town's growth--isn't that it, Mr. +Corrigan?" + +"You put it very comprehensively, Miss Benham; but perhaps it would be +better to say that I am the advance agent of prosperity--that sounds +rather less mercenary. We must not allow the impression to get abroad that +mere money is to be the motive power behind our efforts." + +"But money-making is the real motive, after all?" said Miss Benham, +dryly. + +"I submit there are several driving forces in life, and that money-making +is not the least compelling of them." + +"The other forces?" It seemed to Corrigan that Miss Benham's face was very +serious. But Agatha, who knew Rosalind better than Corrigan knew her, was +aware that the girl was merely demurely sarcastic. + +"Love and hatred are next," he said, slowly. + +"You would place money-making before love?" Rosalind bantered. + +"Money adds the proper flavor to love," laughed Corrigan. The laugh was +laden with subtle significance and he looked straight at the girl, a deep +fire slumbering in his eyes. "Yes," he said slowly, "money-making is a +great passion. I have it. But I can hate, and love. And when I do either, +it will be strongly. And then--" + +Agatha cleared her throat impatiently. Corrigan colored slightly, and Miss +Benham smothered something, artfully directing the conversation into less +personal channels: + +"You are going to build manufactories, organize banks, build municipal +power-houses, speculate in real estate, and such things, I suppose?" + +"And build a dam. We already have a bank here, Miss Benham." + +"Will father be interested in those things?" + +"Silently. You understand, that being president of the railroad, your +father must keep in the background. The actual promoting of these +enterprises will be done by me." + +Miss Benham looked dreamily out of the window. Then she turned to Corrigan +and gazed at him meditatively, though the expression in her eyes was so +obviously impersonal that it chilled any amorous emotion that Corrigan +might have felt. + +"I suppose you are right," she said. "It must be thrilling to feel a +conscious power over the destiny of a community, to direct its progress, +to manage it, and--er--figuratively to grab industries by their--" She +looked slyly at Agatha "--lower extremities and shake the dollars out of +them. Yes," she added, with a wistful glance through the window; "that +must be more exciting than being merely in love." + +Agatha again followed Rosalind's gaze and saw the black horse standing in +front of a store. She frowned, and observed stiffly: + +"It seems to me that the people in these small places--such as Manti--are +not capable of managing the large enterprises that Mr. Corrigan speaks +of." She looked at Rosalind, and the girl knew that she was deprecating +the rider of the black horse. Rosalind smiled sweetly. + +"Oh, I am sure there must be _some_ intelligent persons among them!" + +"As a rule," stated Corrigan, dogmatically, "the first citizens of any +town are an uncouth and worthless set." + +"The Four Hundred would take exception to that!" laughed Rosalind. + +Corrigan laughed with her. "You know what I mean, of course. Take Manti, +for instance. Or any new western town. The lowest elements of society are +represented; most of the people are very ignorant and criminal." + +The girl looked sharply at Corrigan, though he was not aware of the +glance. Was there a secret understanding between Corrigan and Agatha? Had +Corrigan also some knowledge of the rider's pilgrimages past the car +window? Both had maligned the rider. But the girl had seen intelligence on +the face of the rider, and something in the set of his head had told her +that he was not a criminal. And despite his picturesque rigging, and the +atmosphere of the great waste places that seemed to envelop him, he had +made a deeper impression on her than had Corrigan, darkly handsome, +well-groomed, a polished product of polite convention and breeding, whom +her father wanted her to marry. + +"Well," she said, looking at the black horse; "I intend to observe Manti's +citizens more closely before attempting to express an opinion." + +Half an hour later, in response to Corrigan's invitation, Rosalind was +walking down Manti's one street, Corrigan beside her. Corrigan had donned +khaki clothing, a broad, felt hat, boots, neckerchief. But in spite of the +change of garments there was a poise, an atmosphere about him, that hinted +strongly of the graces of civilization. Rosalind felt a flash of pride in +him. He was big, masterful, fascinating. + +Manti seemed to be fraudulent, farcical, upon closer inspection. For one +thing, its crudeness was more glaring, and its unpainted board fronts +looked flimsy, transient. Compared to the substantial buildings of the +East, Manti's structures were hovels. Here was the primitive town in the +first flush of its creation. Miss Benham did not laugh, for a mental +picture rose before her--a bit of wild New England coast, a lowering sky, +a group of Old-world pilgrims shivering around a blazing fire in the open, +a ship in the offing. That also was a band of first citizens; that picture +and the one made by Manti typified the spirit of America. + +There were perhaps twenty buildings. Corrigan took her into several of +them. But, she noted, he did not take her into the store in front of which +was the black horse. She was introduced to several of the proprietors. +Twice she overheard parts of the conversation carried on between Corrigan +and the proprietors. In each case the conversation was the same: + +"Do you own this property?" + +"The building." + +"Who owns the land?" + +"A company in New York." + +Corrigan introduced himself as the manager of the company, and spoke of +erecting an office. The two men spoke about their "leases." The latter +seemed to have been limited to two months. + +"See me before your lease expires," she heard Corrigan tell the men. + +"Does the railroad own the town site?" asked Rosalind as they emerged from +the last store. + +"Yes. And leases are going to be more valuable presently." + +"You don't mean that you are going to extort money from them--after they +have gone to the expense of erecting buildings?" + +His smile was pleasant. "They will be treated with the utmost +consideration, Miss Benham." + +He ushered her into the bank. Like the other buildings, the bank was of +frame construction. Its only resemblance to a bank was in the huge safe +that stood in the rear of the room, and a heavy wire netting behind which +ran a counter. Some chairs and a desk were behind the counter, and at the +desk sat a man of probably forty, who got up at the entrance of his +visitors and approached them, grinning and holding out a hand to +Corrigan. + +"So you're here at last, Jeff," he said. "I saw the car on the switch this +morning. The show will open pretty soon now, eh?" He looked inquiringly at +Rosalind, and Corrigan presented her. She heard the man's name, "Mr. +Crofton Braman," softly spoken by her escort, and she acknowledged the +introduction formally and walked to the door, where she stood looking out +into the street. + +Braman repelled her--she did not know why. A certain crafty gleam of his +eyes, perhaps, strangely blended with a bold intentness as he had looked +at her; a too effusive manner; a smoothly ingratiating smile--these +evidences of character somehow made her link him with schemes and plots. + +She did not reflect long over Braman. Across the street she saw the rider +of the black horse standing beside the animal at a hitching rail in front +of the store that Corrigan had passed without entering. Viewed from this +distance, the rider's face was more distinct, and she saw that he was +good-looking--quite as good-looking as Corrigan, though of a different +type. Standing, he did not seem to be so tall as Corrigan, nor was he +quite so bulky. But he was lithe and powerful, and in his movements, as he +unhitched the black horse, threw the reins over its head and patted its +neck, was an ease and grace that made Rosalind's eyes sparkle with +admiration. + +The rider seemed to be in no hurry to mount his horse. The girl was +certain that twice as he patted the animal's neck he stole glances at her, +and a stain appeared in her cheeks, for she remembered the car window. + +And then she heard a voice greet the rider. A man came out of the door of +one of the saloons, glanced at the rider and raised his voice, joyously: + +"Well, if it ain't ol' 'Brand'! Where in hell you been keepin' yourself? I +ain't seen you for a week!" + +Friendship was speaking here, and the girl's heart leaped in sympathy. She +watched with a smile as the other man reached the rider's side and wrung +his hand warmly. Such effusiveness would have been thought hypocritical in +the East; humanness was always frowned upon. But what pleased the girl +most was this evidence that the rider was well liked. Additional evidence +on this point collected quickly. It came from several doors, in the shapes +of other men who had heard the first man's shout, and presently the rider +was surrounded by many friends. + +The girl was deeply interested. She forgot Braman, Corrigan--forgot that +she was standing in the doorway of the bank. She was seeing humanity +stripped of conventionalities; these people were not governed by the +intimidating regard for public opinion that so effectively stifled warm +impulses among the persons she knew. + +She heard another man call to him, and she found herself saying: "'Brand'! +What an odd name!" But it seemed to fit him; he was of a type that one +sees rarely--clean, big, athletic, virile, magnetic. His personality +dominated the group; upon him interest centered heavily. Nor did his +popularity appear to destroy his poise or make him self-conscious. The +girl watched closely for signs of that. Had he shown the slightest trace +of self-worship she would have lost interest in him. He appeared to be a +trifle embarrassed, and that made him doubly attractive to her. He +bantered gayly with the men, and several times his replies to some quip +convulsed the others. + +And then while she dreamily watched him, she heard several voices insist +that he "show Nigger off." He demurred, and when they again insisted, he +spoke lowly to them, and she felt their concentrated gaze upon her. She +knew that he had declined to "show Nigger off" because of her presence. +"Nigger," she guessed, was his horse. She secretly hoped he would overcome +his prejudice, for she loved the big black, and was certain that any +performance he participated in would be well worth seeing. So, in order to +influence the rider she turned her back, pretending not to be interested. +But when she heard exclamations of satisfaction from the group of men she +wheeled again, to see that the rider had mounted and was sitting in the +saddle, grinning at a man who had produced a harmonica and was rubbing it +on a sleeve of his shirt, preparatory to placing it to his lips. + +The rider had gone too far now to back out, and Rosalind watched him in +frank curiosity. And in the next instant, when the strains of the +harmonica smote the still morning air, Nigger began to prance. + +What followed reminded the girl of a scene in the ring of a circus. The +horse, proud, dignified, began to pace slowly to the time of the +accompanying music, executing difficult steps that must have tried the +patience of both animal and trainer during the teaching period; the rider, +lithe, alert, proud also, smiling his pleasure. + +Rosalind stood there long, watching. It was a clever exhibition, and she +found herself wondering about the rider. Had he always lived in the West? + +The animal performed a dozen feats of the circus arena, and the girl was +so deeply interested in him that she did not observe Corrigan when he +emerged from the bank, stepped down into the street and stood watching the +rider. She noticed him though, when the black, forced to her side of the +street through the necessity of executing a turn, passed close to the +easterner. And then, with something of a shock, she saw Corrigan smiling +derisively. At the sound of applause from the group on the opposite side +of the street, Corrigan's derision became a sneer. Miss Benham felt +resentment; a slight color stained her cheeks. For she could not +understand why Corrigan should show displeasure over this clean and clever +amusement. She was looking full at Corrigan when he turned and caught her +gaze. The light in his eyes was positively venomous. + +"It is a rather dramatic bid for your interest, isn't it, Miss Benham?" he +said. + +His voice came during a lull that followed the applause. It reached +Rosalind, full and resonant. It carried to the rider of the black horse, +and glancing sidelong at him, Rosalind saw his face whiten under the deep +tan upon it. It carried, too, to the other side of the street, and the +girl saw faces grow suddenly tense; noted the stiffening of bodies. The +flat, ominous silence that followed was unreal and oppressive. Out of it +came the rider's voice as he urged the black to a point within three or +four paces of Corrigan and sat in the saddle, looking at him. And now for +the first time Rosalind had a clear, full view of the rider's face and a +quiver of trepidation ran over her. For the lean jaws were corded, the +mouth was firm and set--she knew his teeth were clenched; it was the face +of a man who would not be trifled with. His chin was shoved forward +slightly; somehow it helped to express the cold humor that shone in his +narrowed, steady eyes. His voice, when he spoke to Corrigan, had a +metallic quality that rang ominously in the silence that had continued: + +"Back up your play or take it back," he said slowly. + +Corrigan had not changed his position. He stared fixedly at the rider; his +only sign of emotion over the latter's words was a quickening of the eyes. +He idly tapped with his fingers on the sleeve of his khaki shirt, where +the arm passed under them to fold over the other. His voice easily matched +the rider's in its quality of quietness: + +"My conversation was private. You are interfering without cause." + +Watching the rider, filled with a sudden, breathless premonition of +impending tragedy, Rosalind saw his eyes glitter with the imminence of +physical action. Distressed, stirred by an impulse to avert what +threatened, she took a step forward, speaking rapidly to Corrigan: + +"Mr. Corrigan, this is positively silly! You know you were hardly +discreet!" + +Corrigan smiled coldly, and the girl knew that it was not a question of +right or wrong between the two men, but a conflict of spirit. She did not +know that hatred had been born here; that instinctively each knew the +other for a foe, and that this present clash was to be merely one battle +of the war that would be waged between them if both survived. + +Not for an instant did Corrigan's eyes wander from those of the rider. He +saw from them that he might expect no further words. None came. The +rider's right hand fell to the butt of the pistol that swung low on his +right hip. Simultaneously, Corrigan's hand dropped to his hip pocket. + +Rosalind saw the black horse lunge forward as though propelled by a sudden +spring. A dust cloud rose from his hoofs, and Corrigan was lost in it. +When the dust swirled away, Corrigan was disclosed to the girl's view, +doubled queerly on the ground, face down. The black horse had struck him +with its shoulder--he seemed to be badly hurt. + +For a moment the girl stood, swaying, looking around appealingly, startled +wonder, dismay and horror in her eyes. It had happened so quickly that she +was stunned. She had but one conscious emotion--thankfulness that neither +man had used his pistol. + +No one moved. The girl thought some of them might have come to Corrigan's +assistance. She did not know that the ethics forbade interference, that a +fight was between the fighters until one acknowledged defeat. + +Corrigan's face was in the dust; he had not moved. The black horse stood, +quietly now, several feet distant, and presently the rider dismounted, +walked to Corrigan and turned him over. He worked the fallen man's arms +and legs, and moved his neck, then knelt and listened at his chest. He got +up and smiled mirthlessly at the girl. + +"He's just knocked out, Miss Benham. It's nothing serious. Nigger--" + +"You coward!" she interrupted, her voice thick with passion. + +His lips whitened, but he smiled faintly. + +"Nigger--" he began again. + +"Coward! Coward!" she repeated, standing rigid before him, her hands +clenched, her lips stiff with scorn. + +He smiled resignedly and turned away. She stood watching him, hating him, +hurling mental anathemas after him, until she saw him pass through the +doorway of the bank. Then she turned to see Corrigan just getting up. + +Not a man in the group across the street had moved. They, too, had watched +Trevison go into the bank, and now their glances shifted to the girl and +Corrigan. Their sympathies, she saw plainly, were with Trevison; several +of them smiled as the easterner got to his feet. + +Corrigan was pale and breathless, but he smiled at her and held her off +when she essayed to help him brush the dust from his clothing. He did that +himself, and mopped his face with a handkerchief. + +"It wasn't fair," whispered the girl, sympathetically. "I almost wish that +you had killed him!" she added, vindictively. + +"My, what a fire-eater!" he said with a broad smile. She thought he looked +handsomer with the dust upon him, than he had ever seemed when polished +and immaculate. + +"Are you badly hurt?" she asked, with a concern that made him look quickly +at her. + +He laughed and patted her arm lightly. "Not a bit hurt," he said. "Come, +those men are staring." + +He escorted her to the step of the private car, and lingered a moment +there to make his apology for his part in the trouble. He told her +frankly, that he was to blame, knowing that Trevison's action in riding +him down would more than outweigh any resentment she might feel over his +mistake in bringing about the clash in her presence. + +She graciously forgave him, and a little later she entered the car alone; +he telling her that he would be in presently, after he returned from the +station where he intended to send a telegram. She gave him a smile, +standing on the platform of the car, dazzling, eloquent with promise. It +made his heart leap with exultation, and as he went his way toward the +station he voiced a sentiment: + +"Entirely worth being ridden down for." + +But his jaws set savagely as he approached the station. He did not go into +the station, but around the outside wall of it, passing between it and +another building and coming at last to the front of the bank building. He +had noted that the black horse was still standing in front of the bank +building, and that the group of men had dispersed. The street was +deserted. + +Corrigan's movements became quick and sinister. He drew a heavy revolver +out of a hip pocket, shoved its butt partly up his sleeve and concealed +the cylinder and barrel in the palm of his hand. Then he stepped into the +door of the bank. He saw Trevison standing at one of the grated windows of +the wire netting, talking with Braman. Corrigan had taken several steps +into the room before Trevison heard him, and then Trevison turned, to find +himself looking into the gaping muzzle of Corrigan's pistol. + +"You didn't run," said the latter. "Thought it was all over, I suppose. +Well, it isn't." He was grinning coldly, and was now deliberate and +unexcited, though two crimson spots glowed in his cheeks, betraying the +presence of passion. + +"Don't reach for that gun!" he warned Trevison. "I'll blow a hole through +you if you wriggle a finger!" Watching Trevison, he spoke to Braman: "You +got a back room here?" + +The banker stepped around the end of the counter and opened a door behind +the wire netting. "Right here," he directed. + +Corrigan indicated the door with a jerking movement of the head. "Move!" +he said shortly, to Trevison. The latter's lips parted in a cold, amused +grin, and he hesitated slightly, yielding presently. + +An instant later the three were standing in the middle of a large room, +empty except for a cot upon which Braman slept, some clothing hanging on +the walls, a bench and a chair. Corrigan ordered the banker to clear the +room. When that had been done, Corrigan spoke again to the banker: + +"Get his gun." + +A snapping alertness of the eyes indicated that Trevison knew what was +coming. That was the reason he had been so quiescent this far; it was why +he made no objection when Braman passed his hands over his clothing in +search of other weapons, after his pistol had been lifted from its holster +by the banker. + +"Now get out of here and lock the doors!" ordered Corrigan. "And let +nobody come in!" + +Braman retired, grinning expectantly. + +Then Corrigan backed away until he came to the wall. Reaching far up, he +hung his revolver on a nail. + +"Now," he said to Trevison, his voice throaty from passion; "take off your +damned foolish trappings. I'm going to knock hell out of you!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +BEATING A GOOD MAN + + +Trevison had not moved. He had watched the movements of the other closely, +noting his huge bulk, his lithe motions, the play of his muscles as he +backed across the room to dispose of the pistol. At Corrigan's words +though, Trevison's eyes glowed with a sudden fire, his teeth gleamed, his +straight lips parting in a derisive smile. The other's manner toward him +had twanged the chord of animosity that had been between them since the +first exchange of glances, and he was as eager as Corrigan for the clash +that must now come. He had known that the first conflict had been an +unfinished thing. He laughed in sheer delight, though that delight was +tempered with savage determination. + +"Save your boasts," he taunted. + +Corrigan sneered. "You won't look so damned attractive when you leave this +room." He took off his hat and tossed it into a corner, then turned to +Trevison with an ugly grin. + +"Ready?" he said. + +"Quite." Trevison had not accepted Corrigan's suggestion about taking off +his "damned foolish trappings," and he still wore them--cartridge belt, +leather chaps, spurs. But now he followed Corrigan's lead and threw his +hat from him. Then he crouched and faced Corrigan. + +They circled cautiously, Trevison's spurs jingling musically. Then +Trevison went in swiftly, jabbing with his left, throwing off Corrigan's +vicious counter with the elbow, and ripping his right upward. The fist met +Corrigan's arm as the latter blocked, and the shock forced both men back a +step. Corrigan grinned with malicious interest and crowded forward. + +"That's good," he said; "you're not a novice. I hope you're not a quitter. +I've quite a bit to hand you for riding me down." + +Trevison grinned derisively, but made no answer. He knew he must save his +wind for this man. Corrigan was strong, clever; his forearm, which had +blocked Trevison's uppercut, had seemed like a bar of steel. + +Trevison went in again with the grim purpose of discovering just how +strong his antagonist was. Corrigan evaded a stiff left jab intended for +his chin, and his own right cross missed as Trevison ducked into a clinch. +With arms locked they strained, legs braced, their lungs heaving as they +wrestled, doggedly. + +Corrigan stood like a post, not giving an inch. Vainly Trevison writhed, +seeking a position which would betray a weakened muscle, but though he +exerted every ounce of his own mighty strength Corrigan held him even. +They broke at last, mutually, and Corrigan must have felt the leathery +quality of Trevison's muscles, for his face was set in serious lines. His +eyes glittered malignantly as he caught a confident smile on Trevison's +lips, and he bored in silently, swinging both hands. + +Trevison had been the cool boxer, carefully trying out his opponent. He +had felt little emotion save that of self-protection. At the beginning of +the fight he would have apologized to Corrigan--with reservations. Now he +was stirred with the lust of battle. Corrigan's malignance had struck a +responsive passion in him, and the sodden impact of fist on flesh, the +matching of strength against strength, the strain of iron muscles, the +contact of their bodies, the sting and burn of blows, had aroused the +latent savage in him. He was still cool, however, but it was the crafty +coolness of the trained fighter, and as Corrigan crowded him he whipped in +ripping blows that sent the big man's head back. Corrigan paid little heed +to the blows; he shook them off, grunting. Blood was trickling thinly from +his lips; he spat bestially over Trevison's shoulder in a clinch, and +tried to sweep the latter from his feet. + +The agility of the cow-puncher saved him, and he went dancing out of +harm's way, his spurs jingling. Corrigan was after him with a rush. A +heavy blow caught Trevison on the right side of the neck just below the +ear and sent him, tottering, against the wall of the building, from which +he rebounded like a rubber ball, smothering Corrigan with an avalanche of +deadening straight-arm punches that brought a glassy stare into Corrigan's +eyes. The big man's head wabbled, and Trevison crowded in, intent on +ending the fight quickly, but Corrigan covered instinctively, and when +Trevison in his eagerness missed a blow, the big man clinched with him and +hung on doggedly until his befoggled brain could clear. For a few minutes +they rocked around the room, their heels thudding on the bare boards of +the floor, creating sounds that filtered through the enclosing walls and +smote the silence of the outside world with resonant rumblings. +Mercilessly, Trevison hammered at the heavy head that sought a haven on +his shoulder. Corrigan had been stunned and wanted no more long range +work. He tried to lock his big arms around the other's waist in an attempt +to wrestle, realizing that in that sort of a contest lay his only hope of +victory, but Trevison, agile, alert to his danger, slipped elusively from +the grasping hands and thudded uppercuts to the other's mouth and jaws +that landed with sickening force. But none of the blows landed on a vital +spot, and Corrigan hung grimly on. + +At last, lashing viciously, wriggling, squirming, swinging around in a +wide circle to get out of Corrigan's clutches, Trevison broke the clinch +and stood off, breathing heavily, summoning his reserve strength for a +finishing blow. Corrigan had been fearfully punished during the last few +minutes, but he was gradually recovering from his dizziness, and he +grinned hideously at Trevison through his smashed lips. He surged forward, +reminding Trevison of a wounded bear, but Trevison retreated warily as he +measured the distance from which he would drive the blow that would end +it + +He was still retreating, describing a wide circle. He swung around toward +the door through which Braman had gone--his back was toward it. He did not +see the door open slightly as he passed; he had not seen Braman's face in +the slight crevice that had been between door and jamb all along. Nor did +he see the banker jab at his legs with the handle of a broom. But he felt +the handle hit his legs. It tripped him, forcing him to lose his balance. +As he fell he saw Corrigan's eyes brighten, and he twisted sideways to +escape a heavy blow that Corrigan aimed at him. He only partially evaded +it--it struck him glancingly, a little to the left of the chin, stunning +him, and he fell awkwardly, his left arm doubling under him. The agonizing +pain that shot through the arm as he crumpled to the floor told him that +it had been broken at the wrist. A queer stupor came upon him, during +which he neither felt nor saw. Dimly, he sensed that Corrigan was striking +at him; with a sort of vague half-consciousness he felt that the blows +were landing. But they did not hurt, and he laughed at Corrigan's futile +efforts. The only feeling he had was a blind rage against Braman, for he +was certain that it had been the banker who had tripped him. Then he saw +the broom on the floor and the crevice in the doorway. He got to his feet +some way, Corrigan hanging to him, raining blows upon him, and he laughed +aloud as, his vision clearing a little, he saw Corrigan's mouth, weak, +open, drooling blood, and remembered that when Braman had tripped him +Corrigan had hardly been in shape to do much effective hitting. He +tottered away from Corrigan, taunting him, though afterwards he could not +remember what his words were. Also, he heard Corrigan cursing him, though +he could never remember _his_ words, either. He tried to swing his left +arm as Corrigan came within range of it, but found he could not lift it, +and so ducked the savage blow that Corrigan aimed at him and slipped +sideways, bringing his right into play. Several times as they circled he +uppercut Corrigan with the right, he retreating, side-stepping; Corrigan +following him doggedly, slashing venomously at him, hitting him +occasionally. Corrigan could not hurt him, and he could not resist +laughing at Corrigan's face--it was so hideously repulsive. + +A man came out of the front door of Hanrahan's saloon across the street +from the bank building, and stood in the street for a moment, looking +about him. Had Miss Benham seen the man she would have recognized him as +the one who had previously come out of the saloon to greet the rider with: +"Well, if it ain't ol' 'Brand'!" He saw the black horse standing in front +of the bank building, but Trevison was nowhere in sight. The man mumbled: +"I don't want him to git away without me seein' him," and crossed the +street to the bank window and peered inside. He saw Braman peering through +a half-open door at the rear of the banking room, and he heard +sounds--queer, jarring sounds that made the glass window in front of him +rattle and quiver. + +He dove around to the side of the building and looked in a window. He +stood for a moment, watching with bulging eyes, half drew a pistol, +thought better of the notion and replaced it, and then darted back to the +saloon from which he had emerged, croaking hoarsely: "Fight! fight!" + + * * * * * + +Trevison had not had the agility to evade one of Corrigan's heavy blows. +It had caught him as he had tried to duck, striking fairly on the point of +the jaw, and he was badly dazed. But he still grinned mockingly at his +enemy as the latter followed him, tensed, eager, snarling. He evaded other +blows that would have finished him--through instinct, it seemed to +Corrigan; and though there was little strength left in him he kept working +his right fist through Corrigan's guard and into his face, pecking away at +it until it seemed to be cut to ribbons. + +Voices came from somewhere in the banking room, voices raised in +altercation. Neither of the two men, raging around the rear room, heard +them--they had become insensate savages oblivious of their surroundings, +drunken with passion, with the blood-mania gripping their brains. + +Trevison had brought the last ounce of his remaining strength into play +and had landed a crushing blow on Corrigan's chin. The big man was +wabbling crazily about in the general direction of Trevison, swinging +his arms wildly, Trevison evading him, snapping home blows that landed +smackingly without doing much damage. They served merely to keep +Corrigan in the semi-comatose state in which Trevison's last hard blow +had left him. And that last blow had sapped Trevison's strength; his +spirit alone had survived the drunken orgy of rage and hatred. As the +tumult around him increased--the tramp of many feet, scuffling; harsh, +discordant voices, curses, yells of protest, threats--not a sound of which +he heard, so intent was he with his work of battering his adversary, he +ceased to retreat from Corrigan, and as the latter shuffled toward him +he stiffened and drove his right fist into the big man's face. Corrigan +cursed and grunted, but lunged forward again. They swung at the same +instant--Trevison's right just grazing Corrigan's jaw; Corrigan's blow, +full and sweeping, thudding against Trevison's left ear. Trevison's +head rolled, his chin sagged to his chest, and his knees doubled like +hinges. Corrigan smirked malevolently and drove forward again. But he +was too eager, and his blows missed the reeling target that, with arms +hanging wearily at his sides, still instinctively kept to his feet, +the taunting smile, now becoming bitterly contemptuous, still on his +face. It meant that though exhausted, his arm broken, he felt only +scorn for Corrigan's prowess as a fighter. + +Fighting off the weariness he lunged forward again, swinging the now +deadened right arm at the blur Corrigan made in front of him. Something +collided with him--a human form--and thinking it was Corrigan, clinching +with him, he grasped it. The momentum of the object, and his own weakness, +carried him back and down, and with the object in his grasp he fell, +underneath, to the floor. He saw a face close to his--Braman's--and +remembering that the banker had tripped him, he began to work his right +fist into the other's face. + +He would have finished Braman. He did not know that the man who had +greeted him as "ol' 'Brand'" had smashed the banker in the forehead with +the butt of a pistol when the banker had tried to bar his progress at the +doorway; he was not aware that the force of the blow had hurled Braman +against him, and that the latter, half unconscious, was not defending +himself. He would not have cared had he known these things, for he was +fighting blindly, doggedly, recklessly--fighting two men, he thought. And +though he sensed that there could be but one end to such a struggle, he +hammered away with ferocious malignance, and in the abandon of his passion +in this extremity he was recklessly swinging his broken left arm, driving +it at Braman, groaning each time the fist landed. + +He felt hands grasping him, and he fought them off, smashing weakly at +faces that appeared around him as he was dragged to his feet. He heard a +voice say: "His arm's bruk," and the voice seemed to clear the atmosphere. +He paused, holding back a blow, and the dancing blur of faces assumed a +proper aspect and he saw the man who had hit the banker. + +"Hello Mullarky!" he grinned, reeling drunkenly in the arms of his +friends. "Come to see the picnic? Where's my--" + +He saw Corrigan leaning against a wall of the room and lurched toward him. +A dozen hands held him back--the room was full of men; and as his brain +cleared he recognized some of them. He heard threats, mutterings, against +Corrigan, and he laughed, bidding the men to hold their peace, that it was +a "fair fight." Corrigan was unmoved by the threats--as he was unmoved by +Trevison's words. He leaned against the wall, weak, his arms hanging at +his sides, his face macerated, grinning contemptuously. And then, despite +his objections, Trevison was dragged away by Mullarky and the others, +leaving Braman stretched out on the floor, and Corrigan, his knees +sagging, his chin almost on his chest, standing near the wall. Trevison +turned as he was forced out of the door, and grinned tauntingly at his +tired enemy. Corrigan spat at him. + +Half an hour later, his damaged arm bandaged, and some marks of the battle +removed, Trevison was in the banking room. He had forbidden any of his +friends to accompany him, but Mullarky and several others stood outside +the door and watched him. + +A bandage around his head, Braman leaned on the counter behind the wire +netting, pale, shaking. In a chair at the desk sat Corrigan, glowering at +Trevison. The big man's face had been attended to, but it was swollen +frightfully, and his smashed lips were in a horrible pout. Trevison +grinned at him, but it was to the banker that he spoke. + +"I want my gun, Braman," he said, shortly. + +The banker took it out of a drawer and silently shoved it across the +counter and through a little opening in the wire netting. The banker +watched, fearingly, as Trevison shoved the weapon into its holster. +Corrigan stolidly followed his movements. + +The gun in its holster, Trevison leaned toward the banker. + +"I always knew you weren't straight, Braman. But we won't quarrel about +that now. I just want you to know that when this arm of mine is right +again, we'll try to square things between us. Broom handles will be barred +that day." + +Braman was silent and uneasy as he watched Trevison reach into a pocket +and withdraw a leather bill-book. From this he took a paper and tossed it +in through the opening of the wire netting. + +"Cash it," he directed. "It's about the matter we were discussing when we +were interrupted by our bloodthirsty friend, there." + +He looked at Corrigan while Braman examined the paper, his eyes alight +with the mocking, unfearing gleam that had been in them during the fight. +Corrigan scowled and Trevison grinned at him--the indomitable, mirthless +grin of the reckless fighting man; and Corrigan filled his lungs slowly, +watching him with half-closed eyes. It was as though both knew that a +distant day would bring another clash between them. + +Braman fingered the paper uncertainly, and looked at Corrigan. + +"I suppose this is all regular?" he said. "You ought to know something +about it--it's a check from the railroad company for the right-of-way +through Mr. Trevison's land." + +Corrigan's eyes brightened as he examined the check. They filled with a +hard, sinister light. + +"No," he said; "it isn't regular." He took the check from Braman and +deliberately tore it into small pieces, scattering them on the floor at +his feet. He smiled vindictively, settling back into his chair. "'Brand' +Trevison, eh?" he said. "Well, Mr. Trevison, the railroad company isn't +ready to close with you." + +Trevison had watched the destruction of the check without the quiver of an +eyelash. A faint, ironic smile curved the corners of his mouth as Corrigan +concluded. + +"I see," he said quietly. "You were not man enough to beat me a little +while ago--even with the help of Braman's broom. You're going to take it +out on me through the railroad; you're going to sneak and scheme. Well, +you're in good company--anything that you don't know about skinning people +Braman will tell you. But I'm letting you know this: The railroad +company's option on my land expired last night, and it won't be renewed. +If it's fight you're looking for, I'll do my best to accommodate you." + +Corrigan grunted, and idly drummed with the fingers of one hand on the top +of the desk, watching Trevison steadily. The latter opened his lips to +speak, changed his mind, grinned and went out. Corrigan and Braman watched +him as he stopped for a moment outside to talk with his friends, and their +gaze followed him until he mounted Nigger and rode out of town. Then the +banker looked at Corrigan, his brows wrinkling. + +"You know your business, Jeff," he said; "but you've picked a tough man in +Trevison." + +Corrigan did not answer. He was glowering at the pieces of the check that +lay on the floor at his feet. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE LONG ARM OF POWER + + +Presently Corrigan lit a cigar, biting the end off carefully, to keep it +from coming in contact with his bruised lips. When the cigar was going +well, he looked at Braman. + +"What is Trevison?" + +Pale, still dizzy from the effects of the blow on the head, Braman, who +was leaning heavily on the counter, smiled wryly: + +"He's a holy terror--you ought to know that. He's a reckless, +don't-give-a-damn fool who has forgotten there's such a thing as +consequences. 'Firebrand' Trevison, they call him. And he lives up to what +that means. The folks in this section of the country swear by him." + +Corrigan made a gesture of impatience. "I mean--what does he do? Of course +I know he owns some land here. But how much land does he own?" + +"You saw the figure on the check, didn't you? He owns five thousand +acres." + +"How long has he been here?" + +"You've got me. More than ten years, I guess, from what I can gather." + +"What was he before he came here?" + +"I couldn't even surmise that--he don't talk about his past. From the way +he waded into you, I should judge he was a prize fighter before becoming a +cow-puncher." + +Corrigan glared at the banker. "Yes; it's damned funny," he said. "How did +he get his land?" + +"Proved on a quarter-section. Bought the rest of it--and bought it mighty +cheap." Braman's eyes brightened. "Figure on attacking _his_ title?" + +Corrigan grunted. "I notice he asked you for cash. You're not his banker, +evidently." + +"He banks in Las Vegas, I guess." + +"What about his cattle?" + +"He shipped three thousand head last season." + +"How big is his outfit?" + +"He's got about twenty men. They're all hard cases--like him, and they'd +shoot themselves for him." + +Corrigan got up and walked to the window, from where he looked out at +Manti. The town looked like an army camp. Lumber, merchandise, supplies of +every description, littered the street in mounds and scattered heaps, +awaiting the erection of tent-house and building. But there was none of +that activity that might have been expected from the quantity of material +on hand; it seemed that the owners were waiting, delaying in anticipation +of some force that would give them encouragement. They were reluctant to +risk their money in erecting buildings on the strength of mere rumor. But +they had come, hoping. + +Corrigan grinned at Braman. "They're afraid to take a chance," he said, +meaning Manti's citizens. + +"Don't blame them. I've spread the stuff around--as you told me. That's +all they've heard. They're here on a forlorn hope. The boom they are +looking for, seems, from present conditions, to be lurking somewhere in +the future, shadowed by an indefiniteness that to them is vaguely +connected with somebody's promise of a dam, agricultural activity to +follow, and factories. They haven't been able to trace the rumors, but +they're here, and they'll make things hum if they get a chance." + +"Sure," grinned Corrigan. "A boom town is always a graft for first +arrivals. That is, boom towns _have_ been. But Manti--" He paused. + +"Yes, different," chuckled the banker. "It must have cost a wad to shove +that water grant through." + +"Benham kicked on the price--it was enough." + +"That maximum rate clause is a pippin. You can soak them the limit right +from the jump." + +"And scare them out," scoffed Corrigan. "That isn't the game. Get them +here, first. Then--" + +The banker licked his lips. "How does old Benham take it?" + +"Mr. Benham is enthusiastic because everything will be done in a perfectly +legitimate way--he thinks." + +"And the courts?" + +"Judge Lindman, of the District Court now in Dry Bottom, is going to +establish himself here. Benham pulled that string." + +"Good!" said Braman. "When is Lindman coming?" + +Corrigan's smile was crooked; it told eloquently of conscious power over +the man he had named. + +"He'll come whenever I give the word. Benham's got something on him." + +"You always were a clever son-of-a-gun!" laughed the banker, admiringly. + +Ignoring the compliment, Corrigan walked into the rear room, where he +gazed frowningly at his reflection in a small glass affixed to the wall. +Re-entering the banking room he said: + +"I'm in no condition to face Miss Benham. Go down to the car and tell her +that I shall be very busy here all day, and that I won't be able to see +her until late tonight." + +Miss Benham's name was on the tip of the banker's tongue, but, glancing at +Corrigan's face, he decided that it was no time for that particular brand +of levity. He grabbed his hat and stepped out of the front door. + +Left alone, Corrigan paced slowly back and forth in the room, his brows +furrowed thoughtfully. Trevison had become an important figure in his +mind. Corrigan had not hinted to Braman, to Trevison, or to Miss Benham, +of the actual situation--nor would he. But during his first visit to town +that morning he had stood in one of the front windows of a saloon across +the street. He had not been getting acquainted, as he had told Miss +Benham, for the saloon had been the first place that he had entered, and +after getting a drink at the bar he had sauntered to the window. From +there he had seen "Brand" Trevison ride into town, and because Trevison +made an impressive figure he had watched him, instinctively aware that in +the rider of the black horse was a quality of manhood that one meets +rarely. Trevison's appearance had caused him a throb of disquieting envy. + +He had noticed Trevison's start upon getting his first glimpse of the +private car on the siding. He had followed Trevison's movements carefully, +and with increased disquiet. For, instead of dismounting and going into a +saloon or a store, Trevison had urged the black on, past the private car, +which he had examined leisurely and intently. The clear morning air made +objects at a distance very distinct, and as Trevison had ridden past the +car, Corrigan had seen a flutter at one of the windows; had caught a +fleeting glimpse of Rosalind Benham's face. He had seen Trevison ride +away, to return for a second view of the car a few minutes later. At +breakfast, Corrigan had not failed to note Miss Benham's lingering glances +at the black horse, and again, in the bank, with her standing at the door, +he had noticed her interest in the black horse and its rider. His +quickly-aroused jealousy and hatred had driven him to the folly of +impulsive action, a method which, until now, he had carefully evaded. Yes, +he had found "Brand" Trevison a worthy antagonist--Braman had him +appraised correctly. + +Corrigan's smile was bitter as he again walked into the rear room and +surveyed his reflection in the glass. Disgusted, he turned to one of the +windows and looked out. From where he stood he could see straight down the +railroad tracks to the cut, down the wall of which, some hours before, +Trevison had ridden the black horse. The dinky engine, with its train of +flat-cars, was steaming toward him. As he watched, engine and cars struck +the switch and ran onto the siding, where they came to a stop. Corrigan +frowned and looked at his watch. It lacked fully three hours to quitting +time, and the cars were empty, save for the laborers draped on them, their +tools piled in heaps. While Corrigan watched, the laborers descended from +the cars and swarmed toward their quarters--a row of tent-houses near the +siding. A big man--Corrigan knew him later as Patrick Carson--swung down +from the engine-cab and lumbered toward the little frame station house, in +a window of which the telegrapher could be seen, idly scanning a week-old +newspaper. Carson spoke shortly to the telegrapher, at which the latter +motioned toward the bank building and the private car. Then Carson came +toward the bank building. An instant later, Carson came in the front door +and met Corrigan at the wire netting. + +"Hullo," said the Irishman, without preliminaries; "the agent was tellin' +me I'd find a mon named Corrigan here. You're in charge, eh?" he added at +Corrigan's affirmative. "Well, bedad, somebody's got to be in charge from +now on. The Willie-boy engineer from who I've been takin' me orders has +sneaked away to Dry Bottom for a couple av days, shovin' the +raysponsibility on me--an' I ain't feelin' up to it. I'm a daisy +construction boss, if I do say it meself, but I ain't enough of a fightin' +mon to buck the business end av a six-shooter." + +"What's up?" + +"Mebbe you'd know--he said you'd be sure to. I've been parleyin' wid a +fello' named 'Firebrand' Trevison, an' I'm that soaked wid perspiration +that me boots is full av it, after me thryin' to urge him to be dacently +careful wid his gun!" + +"What happened?" asked Corrigan, darkly. + +"This mon Trevison came down through the cut this mornin', goin' to town. +He was pleasant as a mon who's had a raise in wages, an' he was joshin' +wid us. A while ago he comes back from town, an' he's that cold an' polite +that he'd freeze ye while he's takin' his hat off to ye. One av his arms +is busted, an' he's got a welt or two on his face. But outside av that +he's all right. He rides down into the cut where we're all workin' fit to +kill ourselves. He halts his big black horse about forty or fifty feet +away from the ol' rattle-box that runs the steam shovel, an' he grins like +a tiger at me an' says: + +"'Carson, I'm wantin' you to pull your min off. I can't permit anny +railroad min on the Diamond K property. You're a friend av mine, an' all +that, but you'll have to pull your freight. You've got tin minutes.' + +"'I've got me orders to do this work,' I says--begging his pardon. + +"'Here's your orders to stop doin' it!' he comes back. An' I was +inspectin' the muzzle av his six-shooter. + +"'Ye wudn't shoot a mon for doin' his duthy?' I says. + +"'Thry me,' he says. 'You're trespassers. The railroad company didn't come +through wid the coin for the right-of-way. Your mon, Corrigan, has got an +idee that he's goin' to bluff me. I'm callin' his bluff. You've got tin +minutes to get out av here. At the end av that time I begin to shoot. I've +got six cattridges in the gun, an' fifty more in the belt around me +middle. An' I seldom miss whin I shoot. It's up to you whether I start a +cemetery here or not,' he says, cold an' ca'mlike. + +"The ginneys knowed somethin' was up, an' they crowded around. I thought +Trevison was thryin' to run a bluff on _me_, an' I give orders for the +ginneys to go back to their work. + +"Trevison didn't say another word, but at the end av the tin minutes he +grins that tiger grin av his an' busts the safety valve on the rattle-box +wid a shot from his pistol. He smashes the water-gauge wid another, an' +jammed one shot in the ol' rattle-box's entrails, an' she starts to blow +off steam----shriekin' like a soul in hell. The ginneys throwed down their +tools an' started to climb up the walls of the cut like a gang av monkeys, +Trevison watchin' thim with a grin as cold as a barrow ful ov icicles. +Murph', the engineer av the dinky, an' his fireman, ducks for the +engine-cab, l'avin' me standin' there to face the music. Trevison yells at +the engineer av the rattle-box, an' he disappears like a rat into a hole. +Thin Trevison swings his gun on me, an' I c'u'd feel me knees knockin' +together. 'Carson,' he says, 'I hate like blazes to do it, but you're the +boss here, an' these min will do what you tell thim to do. Tell thim to +get to hell out of here an' not come back, or I'll down you, sure as me +name's Trevison!' + +"I'm old enough to know from lookin' at a mon whether he manes business or +not, an' Trevison wasn't foolin'. So I got the bhoys away, an' here we +are. If you're in charge, it's up to you to smooth things out. Though from +the looks av your mug 'Firebrand's' been maulin' you some, too!" + +Corrigan's answer was a cold glare. "You quit without a fight, eh?" he +taunted; "you let one man bluff half a hundred of you!" + +Carson's eyes brightened. "My recollection is that 'Firebrand' is still +holdin' the forrt. Whin I got me last look at him he was sittin' on the +top av the cut, like he was intendin' to stay there indefinite. If ye +think he's bluffin', mebbe it'd be quite an idee for you to go out there +yourself, an' call it. I'd be willin' to give ye me moral support." + +"I'll call him when I get ready." Corrigan went to the desk and sat in the +chair, ignoring Carson, who watched him narrowly. Presently he turned and +spoke to the man: + +"Put your men at work trueing up the roadbed on the next section back, +until further orders." + +"An' let 'Firebrand' hold the forrt?" + +"Do as you're told!" + +Carson went out to his men. Near the station platform he turned and looked +back at the bank building, grinning. "There's two bulldogs comin' to grips +in this deal or I'm a domn poor prophet!" he said. + +When Braman returned from his errand he found Corrigan staring out of the +window. The banker announced that Miss Benham had received Corrigan's +message with considerable equanimity, and was rewarded for his levity with +a frown. + +"What's Carson and his gang doing in town?" he queried. + +Corrigan told him, briefly. The banker whistled in astonishment, and his +face grew long. "I told you he is a tough one!" he reminded. + +Corrigan got to his feet. "Yes--he's a tough one," he admitted. "I'm +forced to alter my plans a little--that's all. But I'll get him. Hunt up +something to eat," he directed; "I'm hungry. I'm going to the station for +a few minutes." + +He went out, and the banker watched him until he vanished around the +corner of a building. Then Braman shook his head. "Jeff's resourceful," he +said. "But Trevison--" His face grew solemn. "What a damned fool I was to +trip him with that broom!" He drew a pistol from a pocket and examined it +intently, then returned it to the pocket and sat, staring with unseeing +eyes beyond the station at the two lines of steel that ran out upon the +plains and stopped in the deep cut on the crest of which he could see a +man on a black horse. + +Down at the station Corrigan was leaning on a rough wooden counter, +writing on a yellow paper pad. When he had finished he shoved the paper +over to the telegrapher, who had been waiting: + + J. Chalfant Benham, B-- Building, New York. + + Unexpected opposition developed. Trevison. Give Lindman removal order + immediately. Communicate with me at Dry Bottom tomorrow morning. + Corrigan. + +Corrigan watched the operator send the message and then he returned to the +bank building, where he found Braman setting out a meager lunch in the +rear room. The two men talked as they ate, mostly about Trevison, and the +banker's face did not lose its worried expression. Later they smoked and +talked and watched while the afternoon sun grew mellow; while the somber +twilight descended over the world and darkness came and obliterated the +hill on which sat the rider of the black horse. + +Shortly after dark Corrigan sent the banker on another errand, this time +to a boarding-house at the edge of town. Braman returned shortly, +announcing: "He'll be ready." Then, just before midnight Corrigan climbed +into the cab of the engine which had brought the private car, and which +was waiting, steam up, several hundred feet down the track from the car. + +"All right!" said Corrigan briskly, to the engineer, as he climbed in and +a flare from the fire-box suffused his face; "pull out. But don't make any +fuss about it--I don't want those people in the car to know." And shortly +afterwards the locomotive glided silently away into the darkness toward +that town in which a judge of the United States Court had, a few hours +before, received orders which had caused him to remark, bitterly: "So does +the past shape the future." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A TELEGRAM AND A GIRL + + +Banker Braman went to bed on the cot in the back room shortly after +Corrigan departed from Manti. He stretched himself out with a sigh, +oppressed with the conviction that he had done a bad day's work in +antagonizing Trevison. The Diamond K owner would repay him, he knew. But +he knew, too, that he need have no fear that Trevison would sneak about +it. Therefore he did not expect to feel Trevison at his throat during the +night. That was some satisfaction. + +He dropped to sleep, thinking of Trevison. He awoke about dawn to a loud +hammering on the rear door, and he scrambled out of bed and opened the +door upon the telegraph agent. That gentleman gazed at him with grim +reproof. + +"Holy Moses!" he said; "you're a hell of a tight sleeper! I've been +pounding on this door for an age!" He shoved a sheet of paper under +Braman's nose. "Here's a telegram for you." + +Braman took the telegram, scanning it, while the agent talked on, +ramblingly. A sickly smile came over Braman's face when he finished +reading, and then he listened to the agent: + +"I got a wire a little after midnight, asking me if that man, Corrigan, +was still in Manti. The engineer told me he was taking Corrigan back to +Dry Bottom at midnight, and so I knew he wasn't here, and I clicked back +'No.' It was from J. C. He must have connected with Corrigan at Dry +Bottom. That guy Trevison must have old Benham's goat, eh?" + +Braman re-read the telegram; it was directed to him: + + Send my daughter to Trevison with cash in amount of check destroyed + by Corrigan yesterday. Instruct her to say mistake made. No offense + intended. Hustle. J. C. BENHAM. + +Braman slipped his clothes on and ran down the track to the private car. +He had known J. C. Benham several years and was aware that when he issued +an order he wanted it obeyed, literally. The negro autocrat of the private +car met him at the platform and grinned amply at the banker's request. + +"Miss Benham done tol' me she am not to be disturbed till eight o'clock," +he objected. But the telegram in Braman's hands had instant effect upon +the black custodian of the car, and shortly afterward Miss Benham was +looking at the banker and his telegram in sleepy-eyed astonishment, the +door of her compartment open only far enough to permit her to stick her +head out. + +Braman was forced to do much explaining, and concluded by reading the +telegram to her. She drew everything out of him except the story of the +fight. + +"Well," she said in the end, "I suppose I shall have to go. So his name is +'Brand' Trevison. And he won't permit the men to work. Why did Mr. +Corrigan destroy the check?" + +Braman evaded, but the girl thought she knew. Corrigan had yielded to an +impulse of obstinacy provoked by Trevison's assault on him. It was not +good business--it was almost childish; but it was human to feel that way. +She felt a slight disappointment in Corrigan, though; the action did not +quite accord with her previous estimate of him. She did not know what to +think of Trevison. But of course any man who would deliberately and +brutally ride another man down, would naturally not hesitate to adopt +other lawless means of defending himself. + +She told Braman to have the money ready for her in an hour, and at the end +of that time with her morocco handbag bulging, she emerged from the front +door of the bank and climbed the steps of the private car, which had been +pulled down to a point in front of the station by the dinky engine, with +Murphy presiding at the throttle. + +Carson was standing on the platform when Miss Benham climbed to it, and he +grinned and greeted her with: + +"If ye have no objections, ma'am, I'll be ridin' down to the cut with ye. +Me name's Patrick Carson, ma'am." + +"I have no objection whatever," said the lady, graciously. "I presume you +are connected with the railroad?" + +"An' wid the ginneys that's buildin' it, ma'am," he supplemented. "I'm the +construction boss av this section, an' I'm the mon that had the unhappy +experience av lookin' into the business end av 'Firebrand's' six-shooter +yisterday." + +"'Firebrand's'?" she said, with a puzzled look at him. + +"Thot mon, Trevison, ma'am; that's what they call him. An' he fits it +bedad--beggin' your pardon." + +"Oh," she said; "then you know him." And she felt a sudden interest in +Carson. + +"Enough to be certain he ain't to be monkeyed with, ma'am." + +She seemed to ignore this. "Please tell the engineer to go ahead," she +told him. "And then come into the car--I want to talk with you." + +A little later, with the car clicking slowly over the rail-joints toward +the cut, Carson diffidently followed the negro attendant into a luxurious +compartment, in which, seated in a big leather-covered chair, was Miss +Benham. She motioned Carson to another chair, and in the conversation that +followed Miss Benham received a comprehensive estimate of Trevison from +Carson's viewpoint. It seemed unsatisfying to her--Carson's commendation +did not appear to coincide with Trevison's performances. + +"Have you heard what happened in Manti yesterday?" she questioned. "This +man, Trevison, jumped his horse against Mr. Corrigan and knocked him +down." + +"I heard av it," grinned Carson. "But I didn't see it. Nor did I see the +daisy scrap that tuk place right after." + +"Fight?" she exclaimed. + +Carson reddened. "Sure, ye haven't heard av it, an' I'm blabbin' like a +kid." + +"Tell me about it." Her eyes were aglow with interest. + +"There's devilish little to tell--beggin' your pardon, ma'am. But thim +that was in at the finish is waggin' their tongues about it bein' a dandy +shindy. Judgin' from the talk, nobuddy got licked--it was a fair dhraw. +But I sh'ud judge, lookin' at Corrigan's face, that it was a darlin' av a +scrap." + +She was silent, gazing contemplatively out of the car window. Corrigan had +returned, after escorting her to the car, to engage in a fight with +Trevison. That was what had occupied him; that was why he had gone away +without seeing her. Well, Trevison had given him plenty of provocation. + +"Trevison's horse knockin' Corrigan down was what started it, they've been +tellin' me," said Carson. "But thim that know Trevison's black knows that +Trevison wasn't to blame." + +"Not to blame?" she asked; "why not?" + +"For the simple rayson thot in a case like thot the mon has no control +over the baste, ma'am. 'Firebrand' told me only yisterday mornin' thot +there was no holdin' the black whin somebuddy tried to shoot wid him on +his back." + +The girl remembered how Trevison had tried to speak to her immediately +after the upsetting of Corrigan, and she knew now, that he had wanted to +explain his action. Reviewing the incident in the light of Carson's +explanation, she felt that Corrigan was quite as much at fault as +Trevison. Somehow, that knowledge was vaguely satisfying. + +She did not succeed in questioning Carson further about Trevison, though +there were many points over which she felt a disturbing curiosity, for +Agatha came in presently, and after nodding stiffly to Carson, seated +herself and gazed aloofly out of a window. + +Carson, ill at ease in Agatha's presence, soon invented an excuse to go +out upon the platform, leaving Rosalind to explain his presence in the +car. + +"What on earth could you have to say to a section boss--or he to you?" +demanded Agatha. "You are becoming very--er--indiscreet, Rosalind." + +The girl smiled. It was a smile that would have betrayed the girl had +Agatha possessed the physiognomist's faculty of analyzation, for in it was +much relief and renewed faith. For the rider of the black horse was not +the brutal creature she had thought him. + + * * * * * + +When the private car came to a stop, Rosalind looked out of the window to +see the steep wall of the cut towering above her. Aunt Agatha still sat +near, and when Rosalind got up Agatha rose also, registering an +objection: + +"I think your father might have arranged to have some _man_ meet this +outlaw. It is not, in my opinion, a proper errand for a girl. But if you +are determined to go, I presume I shall have to follow." + +"It won't be necessary," said Rosalind. But Agatha set her lips tightly. +And when the girl reached the platform Agatha was close behind her. + +But both halted on the platform as they were about to descend the steps. +They heard Carson's voice, loud and argumentative: + +"There's a lady aboored, I tell ye! If ye shoot, you're a lot of damned +rapscallions, an' I'll come up there an' bate the head off ye!" + +"Stow your gab an' produce the lady!" answered a voice. It came from +above, and Rosalind stepped down to the floor of the cut and looked +upward. On the crest of the southern wall were a dozen men--cowboys--armed +with rifles, peering down at the car. They shifted their gaze to her when +she stepped into view, and one of them laughed. + +"Correct, boys," he said; "it's a lady." There was a short silence; +Rosalind saw the men gather close--they were talking, but she could not +hear their voices. Then the man who had spoken first stepped to the edge +of the cut and called: "What do you want?" + +The girl answered: "I want to speak with Mr. Trevison." + +"Sorry, ma'am," came back the voice; "but Trevison ain't here--he's at the +Diamond K." + +Rosalind reached a decision quickly. "Aunty," she said; "I am going to the +Diamond K." + +"I forbid you!" said Agatha sternly. "I would not trust you an instant +with those outlaws!" + +"Nonsense," smiled Rosalind. "I am coming up," she called to the man on +the crest; "do you mind?" + +The man laughed. "I reckon not, ma'am." + +Rosalind smiled at Carson, who was watching her admiringly, and to the +smile he answered, pointing eastward to where the slope of the hill melted +into the plains: "You'll have to go thot way, ma'am." He laughed. "You're +perfectly safe wid thim min, ma'am--they're Trevison's--an' Trevison wud +shoot the last mon av thim if they'd harm a hair av your pretty head. Go +along, ma'am, an' God bless ye! Ye'll be savin' a heap av throuble for me +an' me ginneys, an' the railroad company." He looked with bland derision +at Agatha who gave him a glance of scornful reproof as she followed after +her charge. + +The girl was panting when she reached the crest of the cut. Agatha was a +little white, possibly more from apprehension than from indignation, +though that emotion had its influence; but their reception could not have +been more formal had it taken place in an eastern drawing-room. For every +hat was off, and each man was trying his best to conceal his interest. And +when men have not seen a woman for a long time, the appearance of a pretty +one makes it rather hard to maintain polite poise. But they succeeded, +which spoke well for their manliness. If they exchanged surreptitious +winks over the appearance of Agatha, they are to be excused, for that +lady's demeanor was one of frigid haughtiness, which is never quite +impressive to those who live close to nature. + +In an exchange of words, brief and pointed, Rosalind learned that it was +three miles to the Diamond K ranchhouse, and that Trevison had given +orders not to be disturbed unless the railroad company attempted to +continue work at the cut. Could she borrow one of their horses, and a +guide? + +"You bet!" emphatically returned the spokesman who, she learned later, was +Trevison's foreman. She should have the gentlest "cayuse" in the "bunch," +and the foreman would do the guiding, himself. At which word Agatha, +noting the foreman's enthusiasm, glared coldly at him. + +But here Agatha was balked by the insurmountable wall of convention. She +had ridden horses, to be sure, in her younger days; but when the foreman, +at Rosalind's request, offered her a pony, she sniffed scornfully and +marched down the slope toward the private car, saying that if Rosalind was +_determined_ to persist she might persist without _her_ assistance. For +there was no side-saddle in the riding equipment of the outfit. And +Rosalind, quite aware of the prudishness exhibited by her chaperon, and +not unmindful of the mirth that the men were trying their best to keep +concealed, rode on with the foreman, with something resembling +thankfulness for the temporary freedom tugging at her heart. + + * * * * * + +Trevison had camped all night on the crest of the cut. It was only at dawn +that Barkwell, the foreman who had escorted Rosalind, had appeared at the +cut on his way to town, and discovered him, and then the foreman's plans +were changed and he was dispatched to the Diamond K for reinforcements. +Trevison had ridden back to the Diamond K to care for his arm, which had +pained him frightfully during the night, and at ten o'clock in the morning +he was stretched out, fully dressed and wide awake on the bed in his room +in the ranchhouse, frowningly reviewing the events of the day before. + +He was in no good humor, and when he heard Barkwell hallooing from the +yard near the house, he got up and looked out of a window, a scowl on his +face. + +Rosalind was not in the best of spirits, herself, for during the ride to +the ranchhouse she had been sending subtly-questioning shafts at the +foreman--questions that mostly concerned Trevison--and they had all fell, +blunted and impotent, from the armor of Barkwell's reticence. But a glance +at Trevison's face, ludicrous in its expression of stunned amazement, +brought a broad smile to her own. She saw his lips form her name, and then +she waited demurely until she saw him coming out of the ranchhouse door +toward her. + +He had quite recovered from his surprise, she noted; his manner was that +of the day before, when she had seen him riding the black horse. When she +saw him coming lightly toward her, she at first had eyes for nothing but +his perfect figure, feeling the strength that his close-fitting clothing +revealed so unmistakably, and an unaccountable blush glowed in her cheeks. +And then she observed that his left arm was in a sling, and a flash of +wondering concern swept over her--also unaccountable. And then he was at +her stirrup, smiling up at her broadly and cordially. + +"Welcome to the Diamond K, Miss Benham," he said. "Won't you get off your +horse?" + +"Thank you; I came on business and must return immediately. There has been +a misunderstanding, my father says. He wired me, directing me to +apologize, for him, for Mr. Corrigan's actions of yesterday. Perhaps Mr. +Corrigan over-stepped his authority--I have no means of knowing." She +passed the morocco bag over to him, and he took it, looking at it in some +perplexity. "You will find cash in there to the amount named by the check +that Mr. Corrigan destroyed. I hope," she added, smiling at him, "that +there will be no more trouble." + +"The payment of this money for the right-of-way removes the provocation +for trouble," he laughed. "Barkwell," he directed, turning to the foreman; +"you may go back to the outfit." He looked after the foreman as the latter +rode away, turning presently to Rosalind. "If you will wait a few minutes, +until I stow this money in a safe place, I'll ride back to the cut with +you and pull the boys off." + +She had wondered much over the rifles in the hands of his men at the cut. +"Would your men have used their guns?" she asked. + +He had turned to go to the house, and he wheeled quickly, astonished. +"Certainly!" he said; "why not?" + +"That would be lawlessness, would it not?" It made her shiver slightly to +hear him so frankly confess to murderous designs. + +"It was not my quarrel," he said, looking at her narrowly, his brows +contracted. "Law is all right where everybody accepts it as a governor to +their actions. I accept it when it deals fairly with me--when it's just. +Certain rights are mine, and I'll fight for them. This situation was +brought on by Corrigan's obstinacy. We had a fight, and it peeved him +because I wouldn't permit him to hammer my head off. He destroyed the +check, and as the company's option expired yesterday it was unlawful for +the company to trespass on my land." + +"Well," she smiled, affected by his vehemence; "we shall have peace now, +presumably. And--" she reddened again "--I want to ask your pardon on my +own account, for speaking to you as I did yesterday. I thought you +brutal--the way you rode your horse over Mr. Corrigan. Mr. Carson assured +me that the horse was to blame." + +"I am indebted to Carson," he laughed, bowing. Rosalind watched him go +into the house, and then turned and inspected her surroundings. The house +was big, roomy, with a massive hip roof. A paved gallery stretched the +entire length of the front--she would have liked to rest for a few minutes +in the heavy rocker that stood in its cool shadows. No woman lived here, +she was certain, because there was a lack of evidence of woman's +handiwork--no filmy curtains at the windows--merely shades; no cushion was +on the chair--which, by the way, looked lonesome--but perhaps that was +merely her imagination. Much dust had gathered on the gallery floor and on +the sash of the windows--a woman would have had things looking +differently. And so she divined that Trevison was not married. It +surprised her to discover that that thought had been in her mind, and she +turned to continue her inspection, filled with wonder that it had been +there. + +She got an impression of breadth and spaciousness out of her survey of the +buildings and the surrounding country. The buildings were in good +condition; everything looked substantial and homelike and her +contemplation of it aroused in her a yearning for a house and land in this +section of the country, it was so peaceful and dignified in comparison +with the life she knew. + +She watched Trevison when he emerged from the house, and smiled when he +returned the empty handbag. He went to a small building near a fenced +enclosure--the corral, she learned afterward--and came out carrying a +saddle, which he hung on the fence while he captured the black horse, +which she had already observed. The animal evaded capture, playfully, but +in the end it trotted mincingly to Trevison and permitted him to throw the +bridle on. Then, shortly afterward he mounted the black and together they +rode back toward the cut. + +As they rode the girl's curiosity for the man who rode beside her grew +acute. She was aware--she had been aware all along--that he was far +different from the other men of Manti--there was about him an atmosphere +of refinement and quiet confidence that mingled admirably with his +magnificent physical force, tempering it, suggesting reserve power, +hinting of excellent mental capacity. She determined to know something +about him. And so she began subtly: + +"In a section of country so large as this it seems that our American +measure of length--a mile--should be stretched to something that would +more adequately express size. Don't you think so?" + +He looked quickly at her. "That is an odd thought," he laughed, "but it +inevitably attacks the person who views the yawning distances here for the +first time. Why not use the English mile if the American doesn't +satisfy?" + +"There is a measure that exceeds that, isn't there? Wasn't there a Persian +measure somewhat longer, fathered by Herodotus or another of the ancients? +I am sure there was--or is--but I have forgotten?" + +"Yes," he said, "--a parasang." He looked narrowly at her and saw her eyes +brighten. + +She had made progress; she felt much satisfaction. + +"You are not a native," she said. + +"How do you know?" + +"Cowboys do not commonly measure their distances with parasangs," she +laughed. + +"Nor do ordinary women try to shake off ennui by coming West in private +cars," he drawled. + +She started and looking quickly at him. "How did you know that was what +happened to me?" she demanded. + +"Because you're too spirited and vigorous to spend your life dawdling in +society. You yearn for action, for the broad, free life of the open. +You're in love with this country right now." + +"Yes, yes," she said, astonished; "but how do you know?" + +"You might have sent a man here in your place--Braman, for instance; he +could be trusted. You came yourself, eager for adventure--you came on a +borrowed horse. When you were looking at the country from the horse in +front of my house, I saw you sigh." + +"Well," she said, with flushed face and glowing eyes; "I _have_ decided to +live out here--for a time, at least. So you were watching me?" + +"Just a glance," he defended, grinning; "I couldn't help it. Please +forgive me." + +"I suppose I'll have to," she laughed, delighted, reveling in this freedom +of speech, in his directness. His manner touched a spark somewhere in her, +she felt strangely elated, exhilarated. When she reflected that this was +only their second meeting and that she had not been conventionally +introduced to him, she was amazed. Had a stranger of her set talked to her +so familiarly she would have resented it. Out here it seemed to be +perfectly natural. + +"How do you know I borrowed a horse to come here?" she asked. + +"That's easy," he grinned; "there's the Diamond K brand on his hip." + +"Oh." + +They rode on a little distance in silence, and then she remembered that +she was still curious about him. His frankness had affected her; she did +not think it impertinent to betray curiosity. + +"How long have you lived out here?" she asked. + +"About ten years." + +"You weren't born here, of course--you have admitted that. Then where did +you come from?" + +"This is a large country," he returned, unsmilingly. + +It was a reproof, certainly--Rosalind could go no farther in that +direction. But her words had brought a mystery into existence, thus +sharpening her interest in him. She was conscious, though, of a slight +pique--what possible reason could he have for evasion? He had not the +appearance of a fugitive from justice. + +"So you're going to live out here?" he said, after an interval. "Where?" + +"I heard father speak of buying Blakeley's place. Do you know where it +is?" + +"It adjoins mine." There was a leaping note in his voice, which she did +not fail to catch. "Do you see that dark line over there?" He pointed +eastward--a mile perhaps. "That's a gully; it divides my land from +Blakeley's. Blakeley told me a month ago that he was dickering with an +eastern man. If you are thinking of looking the place over, and want a +trustworthy escort I should be pleased to recommend--myself." And he +grinned widely at her. + +"I shall consider your offer--and I thank you for it," she returned. "I +feel positive that father will buy a ranch here, for he has much faith in +the future of Manti--he is obsessed with it." + +He looked sharply at her. "Then your father is going to have a hand in the +development of Manti? I heard a rumor to the effect that some eastern +company was interested, had, in fact, secured the water rights for an +enormous section." + +She remembered what Corrigan had told her, and blushingly dissembled: + +"I put no faith in rumor--do you? Mr. Corrigan is the head of the company +which is to develop Manti. But of course _that_ is an eastern company, +isn't it?" + +He nodded, and she smiled at a thought that came to her. "How far is it to +Blakeley's ranchhouse?" she asked. + +"About two parasangs," he answered gravely. + +"Well," she said, mimicking him; "I could _never_ walk there, could I? If +I go, I shall have to borrow a horse--or buy one. Could you recommend a +horse that would be as trustworthy as the escort you have promised me?" + +"We shall go to Blakeley's tomorrow," he told her. "I shall bring you a +trustworthy horse at ten o'clock in the morning." + +They were approaching the cut, and she nodded an acceptance. An instant +later he was talking to his men, and she sat near him, watching them as +they raced over the plains toward the Diamond K ranchhouse. One man +remained; he was without a mount, and he grinned with embarrassment when +Rosalind's gaze rested on him. + +"Oh," she said; "you are waiting for your horse! How stupid of me!" She +dismounted and turned the animal over to him. When she looked around, +Trevison had also dismounted and was coming toward her, leading the black, +the reins looped through his arm. Rosalind flushed, and thought of Agatha, +but offered no objection. + +It was a long walk down the slope of the hill and around its base to the +private car, but they made it still longer by walking slowly and taking +the most roundabout way. Three persons saw them coming--Agatha, standing +rigid on the platform; the negro attendant, standing behind Agatha in the +doorway, his eyes wide with interest; and Carson, seated on a boulder a +little distance down the cut, grinning broadly. + +"Bedad," he rumbled; "the bhoy's made a hit wid her, or I'm a sinner! But +didn't I know he wud? The two bulldogs is goin' to have it now, sure as +I'm a foot high!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A JUDICIAL PUPPET + + +Bowling along over the new tracks toward Manti in a special car secured at +Dry Bottom by Corrigan, one compartment of which was packed closely with +books, papers, ledger records, legal documents, blanks, and even office +furniture, Judge Lindman watched the landscape unfold with mingled +feelings of trepidation, reluctance, and impotent regret. The Judge's face +was not a strong one--had it been he would not have been seated in the +special car, talking with Corrigan. He was just under sixty-five years, +and their weight seemed to rest heavily upon him. His eyes were slightly +bleary, and had a look of weariness, as though he had endured much and was +utterly tired. His mouth was flaccid, the lips pouting when he compressed +his jaws, giving his face the sullen, indecisive look of the brooder +lacking the mental and physical courage of independent action and +initiative. The Judge could be led; Corrigan was leading him now, and the +Judge was reluctant, but his courage had oozed, back in Dry Bottom, when +Corrigan had mentioned a culpable action which the Judge had regretted +many times. + +Some legal records of the county were on the table between the two men. +The Judge had objected when Corrigan had secured them from the compartment +where the others were piled. + +"It isn't regular, Mr. Corrigan," he had said; "no one except a legally +authorized person has the right to look over those books." + +"We'll say that I am legally authorized, then," grinned Corrigan. The look +in his eyes was one of amused contempt. "It isn't the only irregular thing +you have done, Lindman." + +The Judge subsided, but back in his eyes was a slumbering hatred for this +man, who was forcing him to complicity in another crime. He regretted that +other crime; why should this man deliberately remind him of it? + +After looking over the records, Corrigan outlined a scheme of action that +made the Judge's face blanch. + +"I won't be a party to any such scurrilous undertaking!" he declared when, +he could trust his voice; "I--I won't permit it!" + +Corrigan stretched his legs out under the table, shoved his hands into his +trousers' pockets and laughed. + +"Why the high moral attitude, Judge? It doesn't become you. Refuse if you +like. When we get to Manti I shall wire Benham. It's likely he'll feel +pretty sore. He's got his heart set on this. And I have no doubt that +after he gets my wire he'll jump the next train for Washington, and--" + +The Judge exclaimed with weak incoherence, and a few minutes later he was +bending over the records with Corrigan--the latter making sundry copies on +a pad of paper, which he placed in a pocket when the work was completed. + +At noon the special car was in Manti. Corrigan, the Judge, and Braman, +carried the Judge's effects and stored them in the rear room of the bank +building. "I'll build you a courthouse, tomorrow," he promised the Judge; +"big enough for you and a number of deputies. You'll need deputies, you +know." He grinned as the Judge shrank. Then, leaving the Judge in the room +with his books and papers, Corrigan drew Braman outside. + +"I got hell from Benham for destroying Trevison's check--he wired me to +attend to my other deals and let him run the railroad--the damned old +fool! You must have taken the cash to Trevison--I see the gang's working +again." + +"The cash went," said the banker, watching Corrigan covertly, "but I +didn't take it. J. C. wired explicit orders for his daughter to act." + +Corrigan cursed viciously, his face dark with wrath as he turned to look +at the private car, on the switch. The banker watched him with secret, +vindictive enjoyment. Miss Benham had judged Braman correctly--he was +cold, crafty, selfish, and wholly devoid of sympathy. He was for Braman, +first and last--and in the interim. + +"Miss Benham went to the cut--so I hear," he went on, smoothly. "Trevison +wasn't there. Miss Benham went to the Diamond K." His eyes gleamed as +Corrigan's hands clenched. "Trevison rode back to the car with her--which +she had ordered taken to the cut," went on the banker. "And this morning +about ten o'clock Trevison came here with a led horse. He and Miss Benham +rode away together. I heard her tell her aunt they were going to +Blakeley's ranch--it's about eight miles from here." + +Corrigan's face went white. "I'll kill him for that!" he said. + +"Jealous, eh?" laughed the banker. "So, that's the reason--" + +Corrigan turned and struck bitterly. The banker's jaws clacked +sharply--otherwise he fell silently, striking his head against the edge of +the step and rolling, face down, into the dust. + +When he recovered and sat up, Corrigan had gone. The banker gazed +foolishly around at a world that was still reeling--felt his jaw +carefully, wonder and astonishment in his eyes. + +"What do you know about that?" he asked of the surrounding silence. "I've +kidded him about women before, and he never got sore. He must be in +love!" + + * * * * * + +Riding through a saccaton basin, the green-brown tips so high that they +caught at their stirrups as they rode slowly along; a white, smiling sky +above them and Blakeley's still three miles away, Miss Benham and Trevison +were chatting gayly at the instant the banker had received Corrigan's +blow. + +Miss Benham had spent the night thinking of Trevison, and she had spent +much of her time during the present ride stealing glances at him. She had +discovered something about him that had eluded her the day before--an +impulsive boyishness. It was hidden behind the manhood of him, so that the +casual observer would not be likely to see it; men would have failed to +see it, because she was certain that with men he would not let it be seen. +But she knew the recklessness that shone in his eyes, the energy that +slumbered in them ready to be applied any moment in response to any whim +that might seize him, were traits that had not yet yielded to the stern +governors of manhood--nor would they yield in many years to come--they +were the fountains of virility that would keep him young. She felt the +irresistible appeal of him, responsive to the youth that flourished in her +own heart--and Corrigan, older, more ponderous, less addicted to impulse, +grew distant in her thoughts and vision. The day before yesterday her +sympathies had been with Corrigan--she had thought. But as she rode she +knew that they were threatening to desert him. For this man of heroic mold +who rode beside her was disquietingly captivating in the bold recklessness +of his youth. + +They climbed the far slope of the basin and halted their horses on the +crest. Before them stretched a plain so big and vast and inviting that it +made the girl gasp with delight. + +"Oh," she said, awed; "isn't it wonderful?" + +"I knew you'd like it." + +"The East has nothing like this," she said, with a broad sweep of the +hand. + +"No," he said. + +She turned on him triumphantly. "There!" she declared; "you have committed +yourself. You are from the East!" + +"Well," he said; "I've never denied it." + +Something vague and subtle had drawn them together during the ride, +bridging the hiatus of strangeness, making them feel that they had been +acquainted long. It did not seem impertinent to her that she should ask +the question that she now put to him--she felt that her interest in him +permitted it: + +"You are an easterner, and yet you have been out here for about ten years. +Your house is big and substantial, but I should judge that it has no +comforts, no conveniences. You live there alone, except for some men, and +you have male servants--if you have any. Why should you bury yourself +here? You are educated, you are young. There are great opportunities for +you in the East!" + +She paused, for she saw a cynical expression in his eyes. + +"Well?" she said, impatiently, for she had been very much in earnest. + +"I suppose I've got to tell you," he said, soberly. "I don't know what has +come over me--you seem to have me under a spell. I've never spoken about +it before. I don't know why I should now. But you've got to know, I +presume." + +"Yes." + +"On your head rest the blame," he said, his grin still cynical; "and upon +mine the consequences. It isn't a pretty story to tell; it's only virtue +is its brevity. I was fired out of college for fighting. The fellows I +licked deserved what they got--and I deserved what I got for breaking +rules. I've always broken rules. I may have broken laws--most of us have. +My father is wealthy. The last time I saw him he said I was incorrigible +and a dunce. I admit the former, but I'm going to make him take the other +back. I told him so. He replied that he was from Missouri. He gave me an +opportunity to make good by cutting off my allowance. There was a girl. +When my allowance was cut off she made me feel cold as an Eskimo. Told me +straight that she had never liked me in the way she'd led me to believe +she did, and that she was engaged to a _real_ man. She made the mistake of +telling me his name, and it happened to be one of the fellows I'd had +trouble with at college. The girl lost her temper and told me things he'd +said about me. I left New York that night, but before I hopped on the +train I stopped in to see my rival and gave him the bulliest trimming that +I had ever given anybody. I came out here and took up a quarter-section of +land. I bought more--after a while. I own five thousand acres, and about a +thousand acres of it is the best coal land in the United States. I +wouldn't sell it for love or money, for when your father gets his railroad +running, I'm going to cash in on ten of the leanest and hardest and +lonesomest years that any man ever put in. I'm going back some day. But I +won't stay. I've lived in this country so long that it's got into my heart +and soul. It's a golden paradise." + +She did not share his enthusiasm--her thoughts were selfishly personal, +though they included him. + +"And the girl!" she said. "When you go back, would you--" + +"Never!" he scoffed, vehemently. "That would convince me that I am the +dunce my father said I was!" + +The girl turned her head and smiled. And a little later, when they were +riding on again, she murmured softly: + +"Ten years of lonesomeness and bitterness to save his pride! I wonder if +Hester Keyes knows what she has missed?" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +TWO LETTERS GO EAST + + +After Agatha retired that night Rosalind sat for a long time writing at a +little desk in the private car. She was tingling with excitement over a +discovery she had made, and was yearning for a confidante. Since it had +not been her habit to confide in Agatha, she did the next best thing, +which was to indite a letter to her chum, Ruth Gresham. In one place she +wrote: + +"Do you remember Hester Keyes' love affair of ten years ago? You certainly +must remember it! If you cannot, permit me to brush the dust of +forgetfulness away. You cannot forget the night you met William Kinkaid? +Of course you cannot forget that, for when you are Mrs. Kinkaid--But +there! I won't poke fun at you. But I think every married person needs to +treasure every shred of romance against inevitable hum-drum days. Isn't +that a sad sentiment? But I want to get ahead with my reminder." + +There followed much detail, having to do with Hester Keyes' party, to +which neither Rosalind nor Ruth Gresham had been invited, for reasons +which Rosalind presently made obvious. She continued: + +"Of course, custom does not permit girls of fourteen to figure prominently +at 'coming-out' parties, but after one is there and is relegated to a +stair-landing, one may use one's eyes without restriction. Do you remember +my pointing out Hester Keyes' 'fellow'? But of course you didn't pay much +attention to him after Billy Kinkaid sailed into your vision! But I envied +Hester Keyes her eighteen years--and Trevison Brandon! He had the blackest +eyes and hair! And he simply adored Hester! It made me feel positively +savage when I heard shortly afterward that she had thrown him over--after +his father cut him off--to take up with that fellow Harvey--I never could +remember his first name. And she married Harvey--and regretted it, until +Harvey died. + +"Ruth, Trevison Brandon is out here. He calls himself 'Brand' Trevison. I +met him two days ago, and I did not recognize him, he has changed so much. +He puzzled me quite a little; but not even when I heard his name did I +connect him with the man I had seen at Hester's party. Ten years is _such_ +a long time, isn't it? And I never did have much of a memory for names. +But today he went with me to a certain ranch--Blakeley's--which, by the +way, _father is going to buy_--and on the way we became very much +acquainted, and he told me about his love affair. I placed him instantly, +then, and why I didn't keel over was, I suppose, because of the curious +big saddles they have out here, with enormous wooden _stirrups_ on them. I +can hear you exclaim over that plural, but there are no side-saddles. That +is how it came that I was unchaperoned--Agatha won't take liberties with +them, the saddles. Thank Heaven!" + +There followed much more, with only one further reference to Trevison: + +"He must be nearly thirty now, but he doesn't look it, he's so boyish. I +gather, though, that he is regarded as a _man_ out here, where, I +understand, manhood is measured by something besides mere appearances. He +owns acres and acres of land--some of it has coal on it; and he is sure to +be enormously wealthy, some day. But I am twenty-four, myself." + +The startling irrelevance of this sentence at first surprised Ruth +Gresham, and then caused her eyes to brighten understandingly, as she read +the letter a few days later. She remarked, musingly: + +"The inevitable hum-drum days, eh? And yet most people long for them." + +Another letter was written when the one to Ruth was completed. It was to +J. Chalfant Benham. + + "DEAR DADDY: + + "The West is a golden paradise. I could live here many, many years. I + visited Mr. Blakeley today. He calls his ranch the Bar B. We wouldn't + have to change the brand, would we? Trevison says the ranch is worth + all Blakeley asks for it. Mr. Blakeley says we can take possession + immediately, so I have decided to stay here. Mrs. Blakeley has + invited me, and I am going to have my things taken over tomorrow. + Since the Blakeley's are anxious to sell out and return South, don't + you think you had better conclude the deal at once? + + "Lovingly, + "ROSALIND." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE CHAOS OF CREATION + + +The West saw many "boom" towns. They followed in the wake of "gold +strikes;" they grew, mushroom-like, overnight--garish husks of squalor, +palpitating, hardy, a-tingle with extravagant hopes. A few, it is true, +lived to become substantial cities buzzing with the American spirit, +panting, fighting for progress with an energy that shamed the Old World, +lethargic in its smug and self-sufficient superiority. But many towns died +in their gangling youth, tragic monuments to hopes; but monuments also to +effort, and to the pioneer courage and the dreams of an empire-building +people. + +Manti was destined to live. It was a boom town with material reasons for +substantial growth. Behind it were the resources of a railroad company +which would anticipate the development of a section of country bigger than +a dozen Old-world states, and men with brains keen enough to realize the +commercial possibilities it held. It had Corrigan for an advance +agent--big, confident, magnetic, energetic, suave, smooth. + +Manti had awaited his coming; he was the magic force, the fulfillment of +the rumored promise. He had stayed away for three weeks, following his +departure on the special car after bringing Judge Lindman, and when he +stepped off the car again at the end of that time Manti was "humming," as +he had predicted. During the three weeks of his absence, the switch at +Manti had never been unoccupied. Trains had been coming in regularly +bearing merchandise, men, tools, machines, supplies. Engineers had +arrived; the basin near Manti, choked by a narrow gorge at its westerly +end (where the dam was to be built) was dotted with tents, wagons, digging +implements, a miscellany of material whose hauling had worn a rutted trail +over the plains and on the slope of the basin, continually active with +wagon-train and pack horse, and articulate with sweating, cursing +drivers. + +"She's a pippin!" gleefully confided a sleek-looking individual who might +have been mistaken for a western "parson" had it not been for a certain +sophisticated cynicism that was prominent about him, and which imparted a +distasteful taint of his profession. "Give me a year of this and I'll open +a joint in Frisco! I cleaned out a brace of bull-whackers in the _Plaza_ +last night--their first pay. Afterward I stung a couple of cattlemen for a +hundred each. Look at her hum!" + +Notwithstanding that it was midday, Manti was teeming with life and +action. Since the day that Miss Benham had viewed the town from the window +of the private car, Manti had added more than a hundred buildings to its +total. They were not attractive; they were ludicrous in their pitiful +masquerade of substantial types. Here and there a three-story structure +reared aloft, sheathed with galvanized iron, a garish aristocrat seemingly +conscious of its superiority, brazen, in its bid for attention; more +modest buildings seemed dwarfed, humiliated, squatting sullenly and +enviously. There were hotels, rooming-houses, boarding-houses, stores, +dwellings, saloons--and others which for many reasons need not be +mentioned. But they were pulsating with life, electric, eager, expectant. +Taking advantage of the scarcity of buildings, an enterprising citizen had +erected tents in rows on the street line, for whose shelter he charged +enormously--and did a capacity business. + +"A hundred came in on the last train," complained the over-worked station +agent. "God knows what they all expect to do here!" + +Corrigan had kept his promise to build Judge Lindman a courthouse. It was +a flat-roofed structure, one story high, wedged between a saloon and +Braman's bank building. A sign in the front window of Braman's bank +announced that Jefferson Corrigan, agent of the Land & Improvement +Company, of New York, had office space within, but on the morning of the +day following his return to Manti, Corrigan was seated at one side of a +flat-top desk in the courthouse, talking with Judge Lindman, who sat at +the other side. + +"Got them all transcribed?" asked Corrigan. + +The Judge drew a thin ledger from his desk and passed it over to Corrigan. +As Corrigan turned the pages and his face lighted, the Judge's grew +correspondingly troubled. + +"All right," exulted Corrigan. "This purports to be an accurate and true +record of all the land transactions in this section from the special grant +to the Midland Company, down to date. It shows no intermediate owners from +the Midland Company to the present claimants. As a document arraigning +carelessness on the part of land buyers it cannot be excelled. There isn't +a present owner that has a legal leg to stand on!" + +"There is only one weak point in your case," said the Judge, and his eyes +gleamed with satisfaction, which he concealed by bowing his head. "It is +that since these records show no sale of its property by the Midland +Company, the Midland Company can come forward and re-establish its +title." + +Corrigan laughed and flipped a legal-looking paper in front of the Judge. +The latter opened it and read, showing eagerness. He laid it down after +reading, his hands trembling. + +"It shows that the Midland Company--James Marchmont, +president--transferred to Jefferson Corrigan, on a date prior to these +other transactions, one-hundred thousand acres of land here--the Midland +Company's entire holdings. Why, man, it is forgery!" + +"No," said Corrigan quietly. "James Marchmont is alive. He signed his name +right where it is. He'll confirm it, too, for he happens to be in +something of the fix that you are in. Therefore, there being no records of +any sales on your books--as revised, of course--" he laughed; "Jeff +Corrigan is the legal possessor of one-hundred thousand acres of land +right in the heart of what is going to be the boom section of the West!" +He chuckled, lit a cigar, leaned back in his chair and looked at the +Judge. "All you have to do now is to enter that transaction on your +records." + +"You don't expect the present owners to yield their titles without a +fight, do you?" asked the Judge. He spoke breathlessly. + +Corrigan grunted. "Sure; they'll fight. But they'll lose. I've got them. +I've got the power--the courts--the law, behind me. I've got them, and +I'll squeeze them. It means a mint of money, man. It will make you. It's +the biggest thing that any man ever attempted to pull off in this +country!" + +"Yes, it's big," groaned the Judge; "it's stupendous! It's frightful! Why, +man, if anything goes wrong, it would mean--" He paused and shivered. + +Corrigan smiled contemptuously. "Where's the original record?" he asked. + +"I destroyed it," said the Judge. He did not look at Corrigan. "How?" +demanded the latter. + +"Burned it." + +"Good." Corrigan rubbed his palms together. "It's too soon to start +anything. Things are booming, and some of these owners will be trying to +sell. Hold them off--don't record anything. Give them any excuse that +comes to your mind. Have you heard from Washington?" + +"The establishment of the court here has been confirmed." + +"Quick work," laughed Corrigan. He got up, murmuring something about +having to take care of some leases. When he turned, it was to start and +stand rigid, his jaws set, his face pale. A man stood in the open +doorway--a man of about fifty apparently, furtive-eyed, slightly shabby, +though with an atmosphere about him that hinted of past dignity of +carriage. + +"Jim Marchmont!" said Corrigan. He stepped forward, threateningly, his +face dark with wrath. Without speaking another word he seized the newcomer +by the coat collar, snapping his head back savagely, and dragged him back +of a wooden partition. Concealed there from any of the curious in the +street, he jammed Marchmont against the wall of the building, held him +there with one hand and stuck a huge fist into his face. + +"What in hell are you doing here?" he demanded. "Come clean, or I'll tear +you apart!" + +The other laughed, but there was no mirth in it, and his thin lips were +curved queerly, and were stiff and white. "Don't get excited, Jeff," he +said; "it won't be healthy." And Corrigan felt something hard and cold +against his shirt front. He knew it was a pistol and he released his hold +and stepped back. + +"Speaking of coming clean," said Marchmont. "You crossed me. You told me +you were going to sell the Midland land to two big ranch-owners. I find +that you're going to cut it up into lots and make big money--loads of it. +You handed me a measly thousand. You stand to make millions. I want my +divvy." + +"You've got your nerve," scoffed Corrigan. "You got your bit when you sold +the Midland before. You're a self-convicted crook, and if you make a peep +out here I'll send you over the road for a thousand years!" + +"Another thousand now," said Marchmont: "and ten more when you commence to +cash in. Otherwise, a thousand years or not, I'll start yapping here and +queer your game." + +Corrigan's lips were in an ugly pout. For an instant it seemed he was +going to defy his visitor. Then without a word to him he stepped around +the partition, walked out the door and entered the bank. A few minutes +later he passed a bundle of greenbacks to Marchmont and escorted him to +the front door, where he stood, watching, his face unpleasant, until +Marchmont vanished into one of the saloons. + +"That settles _you_, you damned fool!" he said. + +He stepped down into the street and went into the bank. Braman fawned on +him, smirking insincerely. Corrigan had not apologized for striking the +blow, had never mentioned it, continuing his former attitude toward the +banker as though nothing had happened. But Braman had not forgiven him. +Corrigan wasted no words: + +"Who's the best gun-man in this section?" + +Braman studied a minute. "Clay Levins," he said, finally. + +"Can you find him?" + +"Why, he's in town today; I saw him not more than fifteen minutes ago, +going into the _Elk_!" + +"Find him and bring him here--by the back way," directed Corrigan. + +Braman went out, wondering. A few minutes later he returned, coming in at +the front door, smiling with triumph. Shortly afterward Corrigan was +opening the rear door on a tall, slender man of thirty-five, with a thin +face, a mouth that drooped at the corners, and alert, furtive eyes. He +wore a heavy pistol at his right hip, low, the bottom of the holster tied +to the leather chaps, and as Corrigan closed the door he noted that the +man's right hand lingered close to the butt of the weapon. + +"That's all right," said Corrigan; "you're perfectly safe here." + +He talked in low tones to the man, so that Braman could not hear. Levins +departed shortly afterwards, grinning crookedly, tucking a piece of paper +into a pocket, upon which Corrigan had transcribed something that had been +written on the cuff of his shirt sleeve. Corrigan went to his desk and +busied himself with some papers. Over in the courthouse, Judge Lindman +took from a drawer in his desk a thin ledger--a duplicate of the one he +had shown Corrigan--and going to the rear of the room opened the door of +an iron safe and stuck the ledger out of sight under a mass of legal +papers. + + * * * * * + +When Marchmont left Corrigan he went straight to the _Plaza_, where he +ordered a lunch and ate heartily. After finishing his meal he emerged from +the saloon and stood near one of the front windows. One of the hundred +dollar bills that Corrigan had given him he had "broke" in the _Plaza_, +getting bills of small denomination in change, and in his right trousers' +pocket was a roll that bulked comfortably in his hand. The feel of it made +him tingle with satisfaction, as, except for the other thousand that +Corrigan had given him some months ago, it was the only money he had had +for a long time. He knew he should take the next train out of Manti; that +he had done a hazardous thing in baiting Corrigan, but he was lonesome and +yearned for the touch and voice of the crowds that thronged in and out of +the saloons and the stores, and presently he joined them, wandering from +saloon to saloon, drinking occasionally, his content and satisfaction +increasing in proportion to the quantity of liquor he drank. + +And then, at about three o'clock, in the barroom of the _Plaza_, he heard +a discordant voice at his elbow. He saw men crowding, jostling one another +to get away from the spot where he stood--crouching, pale of face, their +eyes on him. It made him feel that he was the center of interest, and he +wheeled, staggering a little--for he had drunk much more than he had +intended--to see what had happened. He saw Clay Levins standing close to +him, his thin lips in a cruel curve, his eyes narrowed and glittering, his +body in a suggestive crouch. The silence that had suddenly descended smote +Marchmont's ears like a momentary deafness, and he looked foolishly around +him, uncertain, puzzled. Levins' voice shocked him, sobered him, whitened +his face: + +"Fork over that coin you lifted from me in the _Elk_, you light-fingered +hound!" said Levins. + +Marchmont divined the truth now. He made his second mistake of the day. He +allowed a flash of rage to trick him into reaching for his pistol. He got +it into his hand and almost out of the pocket before Levins' first bullet +struck him, and before he could draw it entirely out the second savage +bark of the gun in Levins' hand shattered the stillness of the room. +Soundlessly, his face wreathed in a grin of hideous satire, Marchmont sank +to the floor and stretched out on his back. + +Before his body was still, Levins had drawn out the bills that had reposed +in his victim's pocket. Crumpling them in his hand he walked to the bar +and tossed them to the barkeeper. + +"Look at 'em," he directed. "I'm provin' they're mine. Good thing I got +the numbers on 'em." While the crowd jostled and crushed about him he read +the numbers from the paper Corrigan had given him, grinning coldly as the +barkeeper confirmed them. A deputy sheriff elbowed his way through the +press to Levins' side, and the gun-man spoke to him, lightly: "I reckon +everybody saw him reach for his gun when I told him to fork the coin +over," he said, indicating his victim. "So you ain't got nothin' on me. +But if you're figgerin' that the coin ain't mine, why I reckon a guy named +Corrigan will back up my play." + +The deputy took him at his word. They found Corrigan at his desk in the +bank building. + +"Sure," he said when the deputy had told his story; "I paid Levins the +money this morning. Is it necessary for you to know what for? No? Well, it +seems that the pickpocket got just what he deserved." He offered the +deputy a cigar, and the latter went out, satisfied. + +Later, Corrigan looked appraisingly at Levins, who still graced the +office. + +"That was rather an easy job," he said. "Marchmont was slow with a gun. +With a faster man--a man, say--" he appeared to meditate "--like Trevison, +for instance. You'd have to be pretty careful--" + +"Trevison's my friend," grinned Levins coldly as he got to his feet. +"There's nothin' doin' there--understand? Get it out of your brain-box, +for if anything happens to 'Firebrand,' I'll perforate you sure as hell!" + +He stalked out of the office, leaving Corrigan looking after him, +frowningly. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +STRAIGHT TALK + + +Ten years of lonesomeness, of separation from all the things he held dear, +with nothing for his soul to feed upon except the bitterness he got from a +contemplation of the past; with nothing but his pride and his +determination to keep him from becoming what he had seen many men in this +country become--dissolute irresponsibles, drifting like ships without +rudders--had brought into Trevison's heart a great longing. He was like a +man who for a long time has been deprived of the solace of good tobacco, +and--to use a simile that he himself manufactured--he yearned to capture +someone from the East, sit beside him and fill his lungs, his brain, his +heart, his soul, with the breath, the aroma, the spirit of the land of his +youth. The appearance of Miss Benham at Manti had thrilled him. For ten +years he had seen no eastern woman, and at sight of her the old hunger of +the soul became acute in him, aroused in him a passionate worship that +made his blood run riot. It was the call of sex to sex, made doubly +stirring by the girl's beauty, her breeziness, her virile, alluring +womanhood--by the appeal she made to the love of the good and the true in +his character. His affection for Hester Keyes, he had long known, had been +merely the vanity-tickling regard of the callow youth--the sex attraction +of adolescence, the "puppy" love that smites all youth alike. For Rosalind +Benham a deeper note had been struck. Its force rocked him, intoxicated +him; his head rang with the music it made. + +During the three weeks of her stay at Blakeley's they had been much +together. Rosalind had accepted his companionship as a matter of course. +He had told her many things about his past, and was telling her many more +things, as they sat today on an isolated excrescence of sand and rock and +bunch grass surrounded by a sea of sage. From where they sat they could +see Manti--Manti, alive, athrob, its newly-come hundreds busy as ants with +their different pursuits. + +The intoxication of the girl's presence had never been so great as it was +today. A dozen times, drunken with the nearness of her, with the delicate +odor from her hair, as a stray wisp fluttered into his face, he had come +very near to catching her in his arms. But he had grimly mastered the +feeling, telling himself that he was not a savage, and that such an action +would be suicidal to his hopes. It cost him an effort, though, to restrain +himself, as his flushed face, his burning eyes and his labored breath, +told. + +His broken wrist had healed. His hatred of Corrigan had been kept alive by +a recollection of the fight, by a memory of the big man's quickness to +take advantage of the banker's foul trick, and by the passion for revenge +that had seized him, that held him in a burning clutch. Jealousy of the +big man he would not have admitted; but something swelled his chest when +he thought of Corrigan coming West in the same car with the girl--a vague, +gnawing something that made his teeth clench and his facial muscles cord. + +Rosalind had not told him that she had recognized him, that during the ten +years of his exile he had been her ideal, but she could close her eyes at +this minute and imagine herself on the stair-landing at Hester Keyes' +party, could feel the identical wave of thrilling admiration that had +passed over her when her gaze had first rested on him. Yes, it had +survived, that girlhood passion, but she had grown much older and +experienced, and she could not let him see what she felt. But her +curiosity was keener than ever; in no other man of her acquaintance had +she felt this intense interest. + +"I remember you telling me the other day that your men would have used +their rifles, had the railroad company attempted to set men to work in the +cut. I presume you must have given them orders to shoot. I can't +understand you. You were raised in the East, your parents are wealthy; it +is presumed they gave you advantages--in fact, you told me they had sent +you to college. You must have learned respect for the law while there. And +yet you would have had your men resist forcibly." + +"I told you before that I respected the law--so long as the law is just +and the fellow I'm fighting is governed by it. But I refuse to fight under +a rule that binds one of my hands, while my opponent sails into me with +both hands free. I've never been a believer in the doctrine of 'turn the +other cheek.' We are made with a capacity for feeling, and it boils, +unrestrained, in me. I never could play the hypocrite; I couldn't say 'no' +when I thought 'yes' and make anybody believe it. I couldn't lie and evade +and side-step, even to keep from getting licked. I always told the truth +and expressed my feelings in language as straight, simple, and direct as I +could. It wasn't always the discreet way. Perhaps it wasn't always the +wise way. I won't argue that. But it was the only way I knew. It caused me +a lot of trouble--I was always in trouble. My record in college would make +a prize fighter turn green with envy. I'm not proud of what I've made of +my life. But I haven't changed. I do what my heart prompts me to do, and I +say what I think, regardless of consequences." + +"That would be a very good method--if everybody followed it," said the +girl. "Unfortunately, it invites enmity. Subtlety will take you farther in +the world." She was smitten with an impulse, unwise, unconventional. But +the conventions! The East seemed effete and far. Besides, she spoke +lightly: + +"Let us be perfectly frank, then. I think that perhaps you take yourself +too seriously. Life is a tragedy to the tragic, a joke to the humorous, a +drab canvas to the unimaginative. It all depends upon what temperament one +sees it through. I dare say that I see you differently than you see +yourself. 'O wad some power the giftie gi'e us to see oursel's as ithers +see us'," she quoted, and laughed at the queer look in his eyes, for his +admiration for her had leaped like a living thing at her bubbling spirits, +and he was, figuratively, forced to place his heel upon it. "I confess it +seems to me that you take a too tragic view of things," she went on. "You +are like D'Artagnan, always eager to fly at somebody's throat. Possibly, +you don't give other people credit for unselfish motives; you are too +suspicious; and what you call plain talk may seem impertinence to +others--don't you think? In any event, people don't like to hear the truth +told about themselves--especially by a big, earnest, sober-faced man who +seems to speak with conviction, and, perhaps, authority. I think you look +for trouble, instead of trying to evade it. I think, too," she said, +looking straight at him, "that you face the world in a too physical +fashion; that you place too much dependence upon brawn and fire. That, +following your own method of speaking your mind, is what I think of you. I +tremble to imagine what you think of me for speaking so plainly." + +He laughed, his voice vibrating, and bold passion gleamed in his eyes. He +looked fairly at her, holding her gaze, compelling it with the intensity +of his own, and she drew a deep, tremulous breath of understanding. There +followed a tense, breathless silence. And then-- + +"You've brought it on yourself," he said. "I love you. You are going to +marry me--someday. That's what I think of you!" + +[Illustration: "YOU ARE GOING TO MARRY ME--SOME DAY. THAT'S +WHAT I THINK OF YOU!"] + +She got to her feet, her cheeks flaming, confused, half-frightened, though +a fierce exultation surged within her. She had half expected this, half +dreaded it, and now that it had burst upon her in such volcanic fashion +she realized that she had not been entirely prepared. She sought refuge in +banter, facing him, her cheeks flushed, her eyes dancing. + +"'Firebrand,'" she said. "The name fits you--Mr. Carson was right. I +warned you--if you remember--that you placed too much dependence on brawn +and fire. You are making it very hard for me to see you again." + +He had risen too, and stood before her, and he now laughed frankly. + +"I told you I couldn't play the hypocrite. I have said what I think. I +want you. But that doesn't mean that I am going to carry you away to the +mountains. I've got it off my mind, and I promise not to mention it +again--until you wish it. But don't forget that some day you are going to +love me." + +"How marvelous," said she, tauntingly, though in her confusion she could +not meet his gaze, looking downward. "How do you purpose to bring it +about?" + +"By loving you so strongly that you can't help yourself." + +"With your confidence--" she began. But he interrupted, laughing: + +"We're going to forget it, now," he said. "I promised to show you that +_Pueblo_, and we'll have just about time enough to make it and back to the +Bar B before dark." + +And they rode away presently, chatting on indifferent subjects. And, +keeping his promise, he said not another word about his declaration. But +the girl, stealing glances at him, wondered much--and reached no +decision. + +When they reached the abandoned Indian village, many of its houses still +standing, he laughed. "That would make a dandy fort." + +"Always thinking of fighting," she mocked. But her eyes flashed as she +looked at him. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE SPIRIT OF MANTI + + +The Benham private car had clacked eastward over the rails three weeks +before, bearing with it as a passenger only the negro autocrat. At the +last moment, discovering that she could not dissuade Rosalind from her mad +decision to stay at Blakeley's ranch, Agatha had accompanied her. The +private car was now returning, bearing the man who had poetically declared +to his fawning Board of Directors: "Our railroad is the magic wand that +will make the desert bloom like the rose. We are embarked upon a project, +gentlemen, so big, so vast, that it makes even your president feel a pulse +of pride. This project is nothing more nor less than the opening of a +region of waste country which an all-wise Creator has permitted to slumber +for ages, for no less purpose than to reserve it to the horny-handed son +of toil of our glorious country. It will awaken to the clarion call of our +wealth, our brains, and our genius." He then mentioned Corrigan and the +Midland grant--another reservation of Providence, which a credulous and +asinine Congress had bestowed, in fee-simple, upon a certain suave +gentleman, named Marchmont--and disseminated such other details as a +servile board of directors need know; and then he concluded with a flowery +peroration that left his hearers smirking fatuously. + +And today J. Chalfant Benham was come to look upon the first fruits of his +efforts. + +As he stepped down from the private car he was greeted by vociferous +cheers from a jostling and enthusiastic populace--for J. C. had very +carefully wired the time of his arrival and Corrigan had acted +accordingly, knowing J. C. well. J. C. was charmed--he said so, later, +in a speech from a flimsy, temporary stand erected in the middle of the +street in front of the _Plaza_--and in saying so he merely told the +truth. For, next to money-making, adulation pleased him most. He would +have been an able man had he ignored the latter passion. It seared his +intellect as a pernicious habit blasts the character. It sat on his +shoulders--extravagantly squared; it shone in his eyes--inviting +inspection; his lips, curved with smug complacence, betrayed it as, +sitting in Corrigan's office after the conclusion of the festivities, +he smiled at the big man. + +"Manti is a wonderful town--a _wonderful_ town!" he declared. "It may be +said that success is lurking just ahead. And much of the credit is due to +your efforts," he added, generously. + +Corrigan murmured a polite disclaimer, and plunged into dry details. J. C. +had a passion for dry details. For many hours they sat in the office, +their heads close together. Braman was occasionally called in. Judge +Lindman was summoned after a time. J. C. shook the Judge's hand warmly and +then resumed his chair, folding his chubby hands over his corpulent +stomach. + +"Judge Lindman," he said; "you thoroughly understand our position in this +Midland affair." + +The Judge glanced at Corrigan. "Thoroughly." + +"No doubt there will be some contests. But the present claimants have no +legal status. Mr. -- (here J. C. mentioned a name that made the Judge's +eyes brighten) tells me there will be no hitch. There could not be, of +course. In the absence of any court record of possible transfers, the +title to the land, of course, reverts to the Midland Company. As Mr. +Corrigan has explained to me, he is entirely within his rights, having +secured the title to the land from Mr. Marchmont, representing the +Midland. You have no record of any transfers from the Midland to the +present claimants or their predecessors, have you? There is no such +record?" + +The Judge saw Corrigan's amused grin, and surmised that J. C. was merely +playing with him. + +"No," he said, with some bitterness. + +"Then of course you are going to stand with Mr. Corrigan against the +present claimants?" + +"I presume so." + +"H'm," said J. C. "If there is any doubt about it, perhaps I had better +remind you--" + +The Judge groaned in agony of spirit. "It won't be necessary to remind +me." + +"So I thought. Well, gentlemen--" J. C. arose "--that will be all for this +evening." + +Thus he dismissed the Judge, who went to his cot behind a partition in the +courthouse, while Corrigan and J. C. stepped outside and walked slowly +toward the private car. They lingered at the steps, and presently J. C. +called and a negro came out with two chairs. J. C. and Corrigan draped +themselves in the chairs and smoked. Dusk was settling over Manti; lights +appeared in the windows of the buildings; a medley of noises reached the +ears of the two men. By day Manti was lively enough, by night it was a +maelstrom of frenzied action. A hundred cow-ponies were hitched to rails +that skirted the street in front of store and saloon; cowboys from +ranches, distant and near, rollicked from building to building, touching +elbows with men less picturesquely garbed; the strains of crude music +smote the flat, dead desert air; yells, shouts, laughter filtered through +the bedlam; an engine, attached to a train of cars on the main track near +the private car, wheezed steam in preparation for its eastward trip, soon +to begin. + +Benham had solemn thoughts, sitting there, watching. + +"That crowd wouldn't have much respect for law. They're living at such a +pitch that they'd lose their senses entirely if any sudden crisis should +arise. I'd feel my way carefully, Corrigan--if I were you." + +Corrigan laughed deeply. "Don't lose any sleep over it. There are fifty +deputy marshals in that crowd--and they're heeled. The rear room in the +bank building is a young arsenal." + +Benham started. "How on earth--" he began. + +"Law and order," smiled Corrigan. "A telegram did it. The territory wants +a reputation for safety." + +"By the way," said Benham, after a silence; "I _had_ to take that Trevison +affair out of your hands. We don't want to antagonize the man. He will be +valuable to us--later." + +"How?" + +"Carrington, the engineer I sent out here to look over the country before +we started work, did considerable nosing around Trevison's land while in +the vicinity. He told me there were unmistakable signs of coal of a good +quality and enormous quantity. We ought to be able to drive a good bargain +with Trevison one of these days--if we handle him carefully." + +Corrigan frowned and grunted. "His land is included in that of the Midland +grant. He shall be treated like the others. If that is your only +objection--" + +"It isn't," said Benham. "I have discovered that 'Brand' Trevison is +really Trevison Brandon, the disgraced son of Orrin Brandon, the +millionaire." + +The darkness hid Corrigan's ugly pout. "How did you discover that?" he +said, coolly, after a little. + +"My daughter mentioned it in one of her letters to me. I confirmed, by +quizzing Brandon, senior. Brandon is powerful and obstinate. If he should +discover what our game is he would fight us to the last ditch. The whole +thing would go to smash, perhaps." + +"You didn't tell him about his son being out here?" + +"Certainly not!" + +"Good!" + +"What do you mean?" + +"That it's my land; that I'm going to take it away from Trevison, father +or no father. I'm going to break him. That's what I mean!" Corrigan's big +hands were clenched on the arms of his chair; his eyes gleamed balefully +in the semi-darkness. J. C. felt a tremor of awed admiration for him. He +laughed, nervously. "Well," he said, "if you think you can handle it--" + +They sat there for a long time, smoking in silence. One thought dominated +Corrigan's mind: "Three weeks, and exchanging confidences--damn him!" + + * * * * * + +A discordant note floated out of the medley of sound in palpitating Manti, +sailed over the ridiculous sky line and smote the ears of the two on the +platform. The air rocked an instant later with a cheer, loud, pregnant +with enthusiasm. And then a mass of men, close-packed, undulating, moved +down the street toward the private car. + +Benham's face whitened and he rose from his chair. "Good God!" he said; +"what's happened?" He felt Corrigan's hand on his shoulder, forcing him +back into his chair. + +"It can't concern us," said the big man; "wait; we'll know pretty soon. +Something's broke loose." + +The two men watched--Benham breathless, wide-eyed; Corrigan with close-set +lips and out-thrust chin. The mass moved fast. It passed the _Plaza_, far +up the street, receiving additions each second as men burst out of doors +and dove to the fringe; and grew in front as other men skittered into it, +hanging to its edge and adding to the confusion. But Corrigan noted that +the mass had a point, like a wedge, made by three men who seemed to lead +it. Something familiar in the stature and carriage of one of the men +struck Corrigan, and he strained his eyes into the darkness the better to +see. He could be sure of the identity of the man, presently, and he set +his jaws tighter and continued to watch, with bitter malignance in his +gaze, for the man was Trevison. There was no mistaking the broad +shoulders, the set of the head, the big, bold and confident poise of the +man. At the point of the wedge he looked what he was--the leader; he +dominated the crowd; it became plain to Corrigan as the mass moved closer +that he was intent on something that had aroused the enthusiasm of his +followers, for there were shouts of: "That's the stuff! Give it to them! +Run 'em out!" + +For an instant as the crowd passed the _Elk_ saloon, its lights revealing +faces in its glare, Corrigan thought its destination was the private car, +and his hand went to his hip. It was withdrawn an instant later, though, +when the leader swerved and marched toward the train on the main track. In +the light also, Corrigan saw something that gave him a hint of the +significance of it all. His laugh broke the tension of the moment. + +"It's Denver Ed and Poker Charley," he said to Benham. "It's likely +they've been caught cheating and have been invited to make themselves +scarce." And he laughed again, with slight contempt, at Benham's sigh of +relief. + +The mass surged around the rear coach of the train. There was some +laughter, mingled with jeers, and while this was at its height a man broke +from the mass and walked rapidly toward Corrigan and Benham. It was +Braman. Corrigan questioned him. + +"It's two professional gamblers. They've been fleecing Manti's easy marks +with great facility. Tonight they had Clay Levins in the back room of the +_Belmont_. He had about a thousand dollars (the banker looked at Corrigan +and closed an eye), and they took it away from him. It looked square, and +Levins didn't kick. Couldn't anyway--he's lying in the back room of the +_Belmont_ now, paralyzed. I think that somebody told Levins' wife about +him shooting Marchmont yesterday, and Mrs. Levins likely sent Trevison +after hubby--knowing hubby's appetite for booze. Levins isn't giving the +woman a square deal, so far as that is concerned," went on the banker; +"she and the kids are in want half the time, and I've heard that +Trevison's helped them out on quite a good many occasions. Anyway, +Trevison appeared in town this afternoon, looking for Levins. Before he +found him he heard these two beauties framing up on him. That's the +result--the two beauties go out. The crowd was for stringing them up, but +Trevison wouldn't have it." + +"Marchmont?" interrupted Benham. "It isn't possible--" + +"Why not?" grinned Corrigan. "Yes, sir, the former president of the +Midland Company was shot to death yesterday for pocket-picking." + +"Lord!" said Benham. + +"So Levins' wife sent Trevison for hubby," said Corrigan, quietly. "She's +_that_ thick with Trevison, is she?" + +"Get that out of your mind, Jeff," returned the banker, noting Corrigan's +tone. "Everybody that knows of the case will tell you that everything's +straight there." + +"Well," Corrigan laughed, "I'm glad to hear it." + +The train steamed away as they talked, and the crowd began to break up and +scatter toward the saloons. Before that happened, however, there was a +great jam around Trevison; he was shaking hands right and left. Voices +shouted that he was "all there!" As he started away he was forced to shove +his way through the press around him. + +Benham had been watching closely this evidence of Trevison's popularity; +he linked it with some words that his daughter had written to him +regarding the man, and as a thought formed in his mind he spoke it. + +"I'd reconsider about hooking up with that man Trevison, Corrigan. He's +one of those fellows that win popularity easily, and it won't do you any +good to antagonize him." + +"That's all right," laughed Corrigan, coldly. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +FOR THE "KIDDIES" + + +Trevison dropped from Nigger at the dooryard of Levins' cabin, and looked +with a grim smile at Levins himself lying face downward across the saddle +on his own pony. He had carried Levins out of the _Belmont_ and had thrown +him, as he would have thrown a sack of meal, across the saddle, where he +had lain during the four-mile ride, except during two short intervals in +which Trevison had lifted him off and laid him flat on the ground, to +rest. Trevison had meditated, not without a certain wry humor, upon the +strength and the protracted potency of Manti's whiskey, for not once +during his home-coming had Levins shown the slightest sign of returning +consciousness. He was as slack as a meal sack now, as Trevison lifted him +from the pony's back and let him slip gently to the ground at his feet. A +few minutes later, Trevison was standing in the doorway of the cabin, his +burden over his shoulder, the weak glare of light from within the cabin +stabbing the blackness of the night and revealing him to the white-faced +woman who had answered his summons. + +Her astonishment had been of the mute, agonized kind; her eyes, hollow, +eloquent with unspoken misery and resignation, would have told Trevison +that this was not the first time, had he not known from personal +observation. She stood watching, gulping, shame and mortification bringing +patches of color into her cheeks, as Trevison carried Levins into a +bedroom and laid him down, removing his boots. She was standing near the +door when Trevison came out of the bedroom; she was facing the blackness +of the desert night--a blacker future, unknowingly--and Trevison halted on +the threshold of the bedroom door and set his teeth in sympathy. For the +woman deserved better treatment. He had known her for several years--since +the time when Levins, working for him, had brought her from a ranch on the +other side of the Divide, announcing their marriage. It had been a +different Levins, then, as it was a different wife who stood at the door +now. She had faded; the inevitable metamorphosis wrought by neglect, worry +and want, had left its husks--a wan, tired-looking woman of thirty who had +only her hopes to nourish her soul. There were children, too--if that were +any consolation. Trevison saw them as he glanced around the cabin. They +were in another bed; through an archway he could see their chubby faces. +His lungs filled and his lips straightened. + +But he grinned presently, in an effort to bring cheer into the cabin, +reaching into a pocket and bringing out the money he had recovered for +Levins. + +"There are nearly a thousand dollars here. Two tin-horn gamblers tried to +take it from Clay, but I headed them off. Tell Clay--" + +Mrs. Levins' face whitened; it was more money than she had ever seen at +one time. + +"Clay's?" she interrupted, perplexedly. "Why, where--" + +"I haven't the slightest idea--but he had it, they tried to take it away +from him--it's here now--it belongs to you." He shoved it into her hands +and stepped back, smiling at the stark wonder and joy in her eyes. He saw +the joy vanish--concern and haunting worry came into her eyes. + +"They told me that Clay shot--killed--a man yesterday. Is it true?" She +cast a fearing look at the bed where the children lay. + +"The damned fools!" + +"Then it's true!" She covered her face with her hands, the money in them. +Then she took the hands away and looked at the money in them, loathingly. +"Do you think Clay--" + +"No!" he said shortly, anticipating. "That couldn't be. For the man Clay +killed had this money on him. Clay accused him of picking his pocket. Clay +gave the bartender in the _Plaza_ the number of each bill before he saw +them after taking the bills out of the pickpocket's clothing. So it can't +be as you feared." + +She murmured incoherently and pressed both hands to her breast. He laughed +and walked to the door. + +"Well, you need it, you and the kiddies. I'm glad to have been of some +service to you. Tell Clay he owes me something for cartage. If there is +anything I can do for you and Clay and the kiddies I'd be only too glad." + +"Nothing--now," said the woman, gratitude shining from her eyes, mingling +with a worried gleam. "Oh!" she added, passionately; "if Clay was only +different! Can't you help him to be strong, Mr. Trevison? Like you? Can't +you be with him more, to try to keep him straight for the sake of the +children?" + +"Clay's odd, lately," Trevison frowned. "He seems to have changed a lot. +I'll do what I can, of course." He stepped out of the door and then looked +back, calling: "I'll put Clay's pony away. Good night." And the darkness +closed around him. + + * * * * * + +Over at Blakeley's ranch, J. C. Benham had just finished an inspection of +the interior and had sank into the depths of a comfortable chair facing +his daughter. Blakeley and his wife had retired, the deal that would place +the ranch in possession of Benham having been closed. J. C. gazed +critically at his daughter. + +"Like it here, eh?" he said. "Well, you look it." He shook a finger at +her. "Agatha has been writing to me rather often, lately," he added. There +followed no answer and J. C. went on, narrowing his eyes at the girl. "She +tells me that this fellow who calls himself 'Brand' Trevison has proven +himself a--shall we say, persistent?--escort on your trips of inspection +around the ranch." + +Rosalind's face slowly crimsoned. + +"H'm," said Benham. + +"I thought Corrigan--" he began. The girl's eyes chilled. + +"H'm," said Benham, again. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +EXPOSED TO THE SUNLIGHT + + +It was a month before Trevison went to town, again. Only once during that +time did he see Rosalind Benham, for the Blakeleys had vacated, and goods +and servants had arrived from the East and needed attention. Rosalind +presided at the Bar B ranchhouse, under Agatha's chaperonage, and she had +invited Trevison to visit her whenever the mood struck him. He had been in +the mood many times, but had found no opportunity, for the various +activities of range work claimed his attention. After a critical survey of +Manti and vicinity, J. C. had climbed aboard his private car to be whisked +to New York, where he reported to his Board of Directors that Manti would +one day be one of the greatest commercial centers of the West. + +Vague rumors of a legal tangle involving the land around Manti had reached +Trevison's ears, and this morning he had jumped on Nigger, determined to +run the rumors down. He made a wide swing, following the river, which took +him miles from his own property and into the enormous basin which one day +the engineers expected to convert into a mammoth lake from which the +thirst of many dry acres of land was to be slaked; and halting Nigger near +the mouth of the gorge, watched the many laborers, directed by various +grades of bosses, at work building the foundation of the dam. Later, he +crossed the basin, followed the well-beaten trail up the slope to the +level, and shortly he was in Hanrahan's saloon across the street from +Braman's bank, listening to the plaint of Jim Lefingwell, the Circle Cross +owner, whose ranch was east of town. Lefingwell was big, florid, and +afflicted with perturbation that was almost painful. So exercised was he +that he was at times almost incoherent. + +"She's boomin', ain't she? Meanin' this man's town, of course. An' a man's +got a right to cash in on a boom whenever he gits the chance. Well, I'd +figgered to cash in. I ain't no hawg an' I got savvy enough to perceive +without the aid of any damn fortune-teller that cattle is done in this +country--considered as the main question. I've got a thousand acres of +land--which I paid for in spot cash to Dick Kessler about eight years ago. +If Dick was here he'd back me up in that. But he ain't here--the doggone +fool went an' died about four years ago, leavin' me unprotected. Well, +now, not digressin' any, I gits the idea that I'm goin' to unload +consid'able of my thousand acres on the sufferin' fools that's yearnin' to +come into this country an' work their heads off raisin' alfalfa an' hawgs, +an' cabbages an' sons with Pick-a-dilly collars to be eddicated East an' +come back home some day an' lift the mortgage from the old +homestead--which job they always falls down on--findin' it more to their +likin' to mortgage their souls to buy jew'l'ry for fast wimmin. Well, not +digressin' any, I run a-foul of a guy last week which was dead set on +investin' in ten acres of my land, skirtin' one of the irrigation ditches +which they're figgerin' on puttin' in. The price I wanted was a heap +satisfyin' to the guy. But he suggests that before he forks over the coin +we go down to the courthouse an' muss up the records to see if my title is +clear. Well, not digressin' any, she ain't! She ain't even nowheres clear +a-tall--she ain't even there! She's wiped off, slick an' clean! There +ain't a damned line to show that I ever bought my land from Dick Kessler, +an' there ain't nothin' on no record to show that Dick Kessler ever owned +it! What in hell do you think of that? + +"Now, not digressin' any," he went on as Trevison essayed to speak; "that +ain't the worst of it. While I was in there, talkin' to Judge Lindman, +this here big guy that you fit with--Corrigan--comes in. I gathers from +the trend of his remarks that I never had a legal title to my land--that +it belongs to the guy which bought it from the Midland Company--which is +him. Now what in hell do you think of that?" + +"I knew Dick Kessler," said Trevison, soberly. "He was honest." + +"Square as a dollar!" violently affirmed Lefingwell. + +"It's too bad," sympathized Trevison. "That places you in a mighty bad +fix. If there's anything I can do for you, why--" + +"Mr. 'Brand' Trevison?" said a voice at Trevison's elbow. Trevison turned, +to see a short, heavily built man smiling mildly at him. + +"I'm a deputy from Judge Lindman's court," announced the man. "I've got a +summons for you. Saw you coming in here--saves me a trip to your place." +He shoved a paper into Trevison's hands, grinned, and went out. For an +instant Trevison stood, looking after the man, wondering how, since the +man was a stranger to him, he had recognized him--and then he opened the +paper to discover that he was ordered to appear before Judge Lindman the +following day to show cause why he should not be evicted from certain +described property held unlawfully by him. The name, Jefferson Corrigan, +appeared as plaintiff in the action. + +Lefingwell was watching Trevison's face closely, and when he saw it +whiten, he muttered, understandingly: + +"You've got it, too, eh?" + +"Yes." Trevison shoved the paper into a pocket. "Looks like you're not +going to be skinned alone, Lefingwell. Well, so-long; I'll see you +later." + +He strode out, leaving Lefingwell slightly stunned over his abrupt +leave-taking. A minute later he was in the squatty frame courthouse, +towering above Judge Lindman, who had been seated at his desk and who had +risen at his entrance. + +Trevison shoved the summons under Lindman's nose. + +"I just got this," he said. "What does it mean?" + +"It is perfectly understandable," the Judge smiled with forced affability. +"The plaintiff, Mr. Jefferson Corrigan, is a claimant to the title of the +land now held by you." + +"Corrigan can have no claim on my land; I bought it five years ago from +old Buck Peters. He got it from a man named Taylor. Corrigan is +bluffing." + +The Judge coughed and dropped his gaze from the belligerent eyes of the +young man. "That will be determined in court," he said. "The entire land +transactions in this county, covering a period of twenty-five years, are +recorded in that book." And the Judge indicated a ledger on his desk. + +"I'll take a look at it." Trevison reached for the ledger, seized it, the +Judge protesting, half-heartedly, though with the judicial dignity that +had become habitual from long service in his profession. + +"This is a high-handed proceeding, young man. You are in contempt of +court!" The Judge tried, but could not make his voice ring sincerely. It +seemed to him that this vigorous, clear-eyed young man could see the guilt +that he was trying to hide. + +Trevison laughed grimly, holding the Judge off with one hand while he +searched the pages of the book, leaning over the desk. He presently closed +the book with a bang and faced the Judge, breathing heavily, his muscles +rigid, his eyes cold and glittering. + +"There's trickery here!" He took the ledger up and slammed it down on the +desk again, his voice vibrating. "Judge Lindman, this isn't a true +record--it is not the original record! I saw the original record five +years ago, when I went personally to Dry Bottom with Buck Peters to have +my deed recorded! This record is a fake--it has been substituted for the +original! I demand that you stay proceedings in this matter until a search +can be made for the original record!" + +"This is the original record." Again the Judge tried to make his voice +ring sincerely, and again he failed. His one mistake had not hardened him +and judicial dignity could not help him to conceal his guilty knowledge. +He winced as he felt Trevison's burning gaze on him, and could not meet +the young man's eyes, boring like metal points into his consciousness. +Trevison sprang forward and seized him by the shoulders. + +"By God--you know it isn't the original!" + +The Judge succeeded in meeting Trevison's eyes, but his age, his +vacillating will, his guilt, could not combat the overpowering force and +virility of this volcanic youth, and his gaze shifted and fell. + +He heard Trevison catch his breath--shrilling it into his lungs in one +great sob--and then he stood, white and shaking, beside the desk, looking +at Trevison as the young man went out of the door--a laugh on his lips, +mirthless, bitter, portending trouble and violence. + + * * * * * + +Corrigan was sitting at his desk in the bank building when Trevison +entered the front door. The big man seemed to have been expecting his +visitor, for just before the latter appeared at the door Corrigan took a +pistol from a pocket and laid it on the desk beside him, placing a sheet +of paper over it. He swung slowly around and faced Trevison, cold interest +in his gaze. He nodded shortly as Trevison's eyes met his. + +In a dozen long strides Trevison was at his side. The young man was pale, +his lips were set, he was breathing fast, his nostrils were dilated--he +was at that pitch of excitement in which a word, a look or a movement +brings on action, instantaneous, unrecking of consequences. But he +exercised repression that made the atmosphere of the room tingle with +tension of the sort that precedes the clash of mighty forces--he +deliberately sat on one corner of Corrigan's desk, one leg dangling, the +other resting on the floor, one hand resting on the idle leg, his body +bent, his shoulders drooping a little forward. His voice was dry and +light--Patrick Carson would have said his grin was tiger-like. + +"So that's the kind of a whelp you are!" he said. + +Corrigan caught his breath; his hands clenched, his face reddened darkly. +He shot a quick glance at the sheet of paper under which he had placed the +pistol. Trevison interpreted it, brushed the paper aside, disclosing the +weapon. His lips curled; he took the pistol, "broke" it, tossed cartridges +and weapon into a corner of the desk and laughed lowly. + +"So you were expecting me," he said. "Well, I'm here. You want my land, +eh?" + +"I want the land that I'm entitled to under the terms of my purchase--the +original Midland grant, consisting of one-hundred thousand acres. It +belongs to me, and I mean to have it!" + +"You're a liar, Corrigan," said the young man, holding the other's gaze +coldly; "you're a lying, sneaking crook. You have no claim to the land, +and you know it!" + +Corrigan smiled stiffly. "The record of the deal I made with Jim Marchmont +years before any of you people usurped the property is in my pocket at +this minute. The court, here, will uphold it." + +Trevison narrowed his eyes at the big man and laughed, bitter humor in the +sound. It was as though he had laughed to keep his rage from leaping, +naked and murderous, into this discussion. + +"It takes nerve, Corrigan, to do what you are attempting; it does, by +Heaven--sheer, brazen gall! It's been done, though, by little, +pettifogging shysters, by piking real-estate crooks--thousands of parcels +of property scattered all over the United States have been filched in that +manner. But a hundred-thousand acres! It's the biggest steal that ever has +been attempted, to my knowledge, short of a Government grab, and your +imagination does you credit. It's easy to see what's been done. You've got +a fake title from Marchmont, antedating ours; you've got a crooked judge +here, to befuddle the thing with legal technicalities; you've got the +money, the power, the greed, and the cold-blooded determination. But I +don't think you understand what you're up against--do you? Nearly every +man who owns this land that you want has worked hard for it. It's been +bought with work, man--work and lonesomeness and blood--and souls. And now +you want to sweep it all away with one stroke. You want to step in here +and reap the benefit; you want to send us out of here, beggars." His voice +leaped from its repression; it now betrayed the passion that was consuming +him; it came through his teeth: "You can't hand me that sort of a raw +deal, Corrigan, and make me like it. Understand that, right now. You're +bucking the wrong man. You can drag the courts into it; you can wriggle +around a thousand legal corners, but damn you, you can't avert what's +bound to come if you don't lay off this deal, and that's a fight!" He +laughed, full-throated, his voice vibrating from the strength of the +passion that blazed in his eyes. He revealed, for an instant to Corrigan +the wild, reckless untamed youth that knew no law save his own impulses, +and the big man's eyes widened with the revelation, though he gave no +other sign. He leaned back in his chair, smiling coldly, idly flecking a +bit of ash from his shirt where it had fallen from his cigar. + +"I am prepared for a fight. You'll get plenty of it before you're +through--if you don't lie down and be good." There was malice in his look, +complacent consciousness of his power. More, there was an impulse to +reveal to this young man whom he intended to ruin, at least one of the +motives that was driving him. He yielded to the impulse. + +"I'm going to tell you something. I think I would have let you out of this +deal, if you hadn't been so fresh. But you made a grand-stand play before +the girl I am going to marry. You showed off your horse to make a bid for +her favor. You paraded before her window in the car to attract her +attention. I saw you. You rode me down. You'll get no mercy. I'm going to +break you. I'm going to send you back to your father, Brandon, senior, in +worse condition than when you left, ten years ago." He sneered as Trevison +started and stepped on the floor, rigid. + +"How did you recognize me?" Curiosity had dulled the young man's passion; +his tone was hoarse. + +"How?" Corrigan laughed, mockingly. "Did you think you could repose any +confidence in a woman you have known only about a month? Did you think she +wouldn't tell me--her promised husband? She has told me--everything that +she succeeded in getting out of you. She is heart and soul with me in this +deal. She is ambitious. Do you think she would hesitate to sacrifice a +clod-hopper like you? She's very clever, Trevison; she's deep, and more +than a match for you in wits. Fight, if you like, you'll get no sympathy +there." + +Trevison's faith in Miss Benham had received a shock; Corrigan's words had +not killed it, however. + +"You're a liar!" he said. + +Corrigan flushed, but smiled icily. "How many people know that you have +coal on your land, Trevison?" + +He saw Trevison's hands clench, and he laughed in grim amusement. It +pleased him to see his enemy writhe and squirm before him; the grimness +came because of a mental picture, in his mind at this minute, of Trevison +confiding in the girl. He looked up, the smile freezing on his lips, for +within a foot of his chest was the muzzle of Trevison's pistol. He saw the +trigger finger contracting; saw Trevison's free hand clenched, the muscles +corded and knotted--he felt the breathless, strained, unreal calm that +precedes tragedy, grim and swift. He slowly stiffened, but did not shrink +an inch. It took him seconds to raise his gaze to Trevison's face, and +then he caught his breath quickly and smiled with straight lips. + +"No; you won't do it, Trevison," he said, slowly; "you're not that kind." +He deliberately swung around in the chair and drew another cigar from a +box on the desk top, lit it and leaned back, again facing the pistol. + +Trevison restored the pistol to the holster, brushing a hand uncertainly +over his eyes as though to clear his mental vision, for the shock that had +come with the revelation of Miss Benham's duplicity had made his brain +reel with a lust to kill. He laughed hollowly. His voice came cold and +hard: + +"You're right--it wouldn't do. It would be plain murder, and I'm not quite +up to that. You know your men, don't you--you coyote's whelp! You know +I'll fight fair. You'll do yours underhandedly. Get up! There's your gun! +Load it! Let's see if you've got the nerve to face a gun, with one in your +own hand!" + +"I'll do my fighting in my own way." Corrigan's eyes kindled, but he did +not move. Trevison made a gesture of contempt, and wheeled, to go. As he +turned he caught a glimpse of a hand holding a pistol, as it vanished into +a narrow crevice between a jamb and the door that led to the rear room. He +drew his own weapon with a single movement, and swung around to Corrigan, +his muscles tensed, his eyes alert and chill with menace. + +"I'll bore you if you wink an eyelash!" he warned, in a whisper. + +He leaped, with the words, to the door, lunging against it, sending it +crashing back so that it smashed against the wall, overbalancing some +boxes that reposed on a shelf and sending them clattering. He stood in the +opening, braced for another leap, tall, big, his muscles swelling and +rippling, recklessly eager. Against the partition, which was still +swaying, his arms outstretched, a pistol in one hand, trying to crowd +still farther back to escape the searching glance of Trevison's eyes, was +Braman. + +He had overheard Trevison's tense whisper to Corrigan. The cold savagery +in it had paralyzed him, and he gasped as Trevison's eyes found him, and +the pistol that he tried to raise dangled futilely from his nerveless +fingers. It thudded heavily upon the boards of the floor an instant later, +a shriek of fear mingling with the sound as he went down in a heap from a +vicious, deadening blow from Trevison's fist. + +Trevison's leap upon Braman had been swift; he was back in the doorway +instantly, looking at Corrigan, his eyes ablaze with rage, wild, reckless, +bitter. He laughed--the sound of it brought a grayish pallor to Corrigan's +face. + +"That explains your nerve!" he taunted. "It's a frame-up. You sent the +deputy after me--pointed me out when I went into Hanrahan's! That's how he +knew me! You knew I'd come in here to have it out with you, and you +figured to have Braman shoot me when my back was turned! Ha, ha!" He swung +his pistol on Corrigan; the big man gripped the arms of his chair and sat +rigid, staring, motionless. For an instant there was no sound. And then +Trevison laughed again. + +"Bah!" he said; "I can't use your methods! You're safe so long as you +don't move." He laughed again as he looked down at the banker. Reaching +down, he grasped the inert man by the scruff of the neck and dragged him +through the door, out into the banking room, past Corrigan, who watched +him wonderingly and to the front, there he dropped him and turning, +answered the question that he saw shining in Corrigan's eyes: + +"I don't work in the dark! We'll take this case out into the sunlight, so +the whole town can have a look at it!" + +He stooped swiftly, grasped Braman around the middle, swung him aloft and +hurled him through the window, into the street, the glass, shattered, +clashing and jangling around him. He turned to Corrigan, laughing lowly: + +"Get up. Manti will want to know. I'm going to do the talking!" + +He forced Corrigan to the front door, and stood on the threshold behind +him, silent, watching. + +A hundred doorways were vomiting men. The crash of glass had carried far, +and visions of a bank robbery filled many brains as their owners raced +toward the doorway where Trevison stood, the muzzle of his pistol jammed +firmly against Corrigan's back. + +The crowd gathered, in the manner peculiar to such scenes, coming from all +directions and converging at one point, massing densely in front of the +bank building, surrounding the fallen banker, pushing, jostling, +straining, craning necks for better views, eager-voiced, curious. + +No one touched Braman. On the contrary, there were many in the front +fringe that braced their bodies against the crush, shoving backward, +crying that a man was hurt and needed breathing space. They were unheeded, +and when the banker presently recovered consciousness he was lifted to his +feet and stood, pressed close to the building, swaying dizzily, pale, weak +and shaken. + +Word had gone through the crowd that it was not a robbery, for there were +many there who knew Trevison; they shouted greetings to him, and he +answered them, standing back of Corrigan, grim and somber. + +Foremost in the crowd was Mullarky, who on another day had seen a fight at +this same spot. He had taken a stand directly in front of the door of the +bank, and had been using his eyes and his wits rapidly since his coming. +And when two or three men from the crowd edged forward and tried to push +their way to Corrigan, Mullarky drew a pistol, leaped to the door landing +beside Trevison and trained his weapon, on them. + +"Stand back, or I'll plug you, sure as I'm a foot high! There's hell to +pay here, an' me friend gets a square deal--whatever he's done!" + +"Right!" came other voices from various points in the crowd; "a square +deal--no interference!" + +Judge Lindman came out into the street, urged by curiosity. He had stepped +down from the doorway of the courthouse and had instantly been carried +with the crowd to a point directly in front of Corrigan and Trevison, +where he stood, bare-headed, pale, watching silently. Corrigan saw him, +and smiled faintly at him. The easterner's eye sought out several faces in +the crowd near him, and when he finally caught the gaze of a certain +individual who had been eyeing him inquiringly for some moments, he slowly +closed an eye and moved his head slightly toward the rear of the building. +Instantly the man whistled shrilly with his fingers, as though to summon +someone far down the street, and slipping around the edge of the crowd +made his way around to the rear of the bank building, where he was joined +presently by other men, roughly garbed, who carried pistols. One of them +climbed in through a window, opened the door, and the others--numbering +now twenty-five or thirty, dove into the room. + +Out in front a silence had fallen. Trevison had lifted a hand and the +crowd strained its ears to hear. + +"I've caught a crook!" declared Trevison, the frenzy of fight still +surging through his veins. "He's not a cheap crook--I give him credit for +that. All he wants to do is to steal the whole county. He'll do it, too, +if we don't head him off. I'll tell you more about him in a minute. +There's another of his stripe." He pointed to Braman, who cringed. "I +threw him out through the window, where the sunlight could shine on him. +He tried to shoot me in the back--the big crook here, framed up on me. I +want you all to know what you're up against. They're after all the land in +this section; they've clouded every title. It's a raw, dirty deal. I see +now, why they haven't sold a foot of the land they own here; why they've +shoved the cost of leases up until it's ruination to pay them. They're +land thieves, commercial pirates. They're going to euchre everybody out +of--" + +Trevison caught a gasp from the crowd--concerted, sudden. He saw the mass +sway in unison, stiffen, stand rigid; and he turned his head quickly, to +see the door behind him, and the broken window through which he had thrown +Braman--the break running the entire width of the building--filled with +men armed with rifles. + +He divined the situation, sensed his danger--the danger that faced the +crowd should one of its members make a hostile movement. + +"Steady there, boys!" he shouted. "Don't start anything. These men are +here through prearrangement--it's another frame-up. Keep your guns out of +sight!" He turned, to see Corrigan grinning contemptuously at him. He met +the look with naked exultation and triumph. + +"Got your body-guard within call, eh?" he jeered. "You need one. You've +cut me short, all right; but I've said enough to start a fire that will +rage through this part of the country until every damned thief is burned +out! You've selected the wrong man for a victim, Corrigan." + +He stepped down into the street, sheathing his pistol. He heard Corrigan's +voice, calling after him, saying: + +"Grand-stand play again!" + +Trevison turned; the gaze of the two men met, held, their hatred glowing +bitter in their eyes; the gaze broke, like two sharp blades rasping apart, +and Corrigan turned to his deputies, scowling; while Trevison pushed his +way through the crowd. + +Five minutes later, while Corrigan was talking with the deputies and +Braman in the rear room of the bank building, Trevison was standing in the +courthouse talking with Judge Lindman. The Judge stared out into the +street at some members of the crowd that still lingered. + +"This town will be a volcano of lawlessness if it doesn't get a square +deal from you, Lindman," said Trevison. "You have seen what a mob looks +like. You're the representative of justice here, and if we don't get +justice we'll come and hang you in spite of a thousand deputies! Remember +that!" + +He stalked out, leaving behind him a white-faced, trembling old man who +was facing a crisis which made the future look very black and dismal. He +was wondering if, after all, hanging wouldn't be better than the sunlight +shining on a deed which each day he regretted more than on the preceding +day. And Trevison, riding Nigger out of town, was estimating the probable +effect of his crowd-drawing action upon Judge Lindman, and considering +bitterly the perfidy of the woman who had cleverly drawn him on, to betray +him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +ANOTHER LETTER + + +That afternoon, Corrigan rode to the Bar B. The ranchhouse was of the +better class, big, imposing, well-kept, with a wide, roofed porch running +across the front and partly around both sides. It stood in a grove of +fir-balsam and cottonwood, on a slight eminence, and could be seen for +miles from the undulating trail that led to Manti. Corrigan arrived +shortly after noon, to find Rosalind gone, for a ride, Agatha told him, +after she had greeted him at the edge of the porch. + +Agatha had not been pleased over Rosalind's rides with Trevison as a +companion. She was loyal to her brother, and she did not admire the bold +recklessness that shone so frankly and unmistakably in Trevison's eyes. +Had she been Rosalind she would have preferred the big, sleek, +well-groomed man of affairs who had called today. And because of her +preference for Corrigan, she sat long on the porch with him and told him +many things--things that darkened the big man's face. And when, as they +were talking, Rosalind came, Agatha discreetly retired, leaving the two +alone. + +For a time after the coming of Rosalind, Corrigan sat in a big rocking +chair, looking thoughtfully down the Manti trail, listening to the girl +talk of the country, picturing her on a distant day--not too distant, +either, for he meant to press his suit--sitting beside him on the porch of +another house that he meant to build when he had achieved his goal. These +thoughts thrilled him as they had never thrilled him until the entrance of +Trevison into his scheme of things. He had been sure of her then. And now +the knowledge that he had a rival, filled him with a thousand emotions, +the most disturbing of which was jealousy. The rage in him was deep and +malignant as he coupled the mental pictures of his imagination with the +material record of Rosalind's movements with his rival, as related by +Agatha. It was not his way to procrastinate; he meant to exert every force +at his command, quickly, resistlessly, to destroy Trevison, to blacken him +and damn him, in the eyes of the girl who sat beside him. But he knew that +in the girl's presence he must be wise and subtle. + +"It's a great country, isn't it?" he said, his eyes on the broad reaches +of plain, green-brown in the shimmering sunlight. "Look at it--almost as +big as some of the Old-world states! It's a wonderful country. I feel like +a feudal baron, with the destinies of an important principality in the +clutch of my hand!" + +"Yes; it must give one a feeling of great responsibility to know that one +has an important part in the development of a section like this." + +He laughed, deep in his throat, at the awe in her voice. "I ought to have +seen its possibilities years ago--I should have been out here, preparing +for this. But when I bought the land I had no idea it would one day be so +valuable." + +"Bought it?" + +"A hundred thousand acres of it. I got it very cheap." He told her about +the Midland grant and his purchase from Marchmont. + +"I never heard of that before!" she told him. + +"It wasn't generally known. In fact, it was apparently generally +considered that the land had been sold by the Midland Company to various +people--in small parcels. Unscrupulous agents engineered the sales, I +suppose. But the fact is that I made the purchase from the Midland Company +years ago--largely as a personal favor to Jim Marchmont, who needed money +badly. And a great many of the ranch-owners around here really have no +title to their land, and will have to give it up." + +She breathed deeply. "That will be a great disappointment to them, now +that there exists the probability of a great advance in the value of the +land." + +"That was the owners' lookout. A purchaser should see that his deed is +clear before closing a deal." + +"What owners will be affected?" She spoke with a slight breathlessness. + +"Many." He named some of them, leaving Trevison to the last, and then +watching her furtively out of the corners of his eyes and noting, with +straightened lips, the quick gasp she gave. She said nothing; she was +thinking of the great light that had been in Trevison's eyes on the day he +had told her of his ten years of exile; she could remember his words, they +had been vivid fixtures in her mind ever since: "I own five thousand +acres, and about a thousand acres of it is the best coal land in the +United States. I wouldn't sell it for love or money, for when your father +gets his railroad running, I'm going to cash in on ten of the leanest and +hardest and lonesomest years that any man ever put in." + +How hard it would be for him to give it all up; to acknowledge defeat, to +feel those ten wasted years behind him, empty, unproductive; full of +shattered hopes and dreams changed to nightmares! She sat, white of face, +gripping the arms of her chair, feeling a great, throbbing sympathy for +him. + +"You will take it all?" + +"He will still hold one hundred and sixty acres--the quarter-section +granted him by the government, which he has undoubtedly proved on." + +"Why--" she began, and paused, for to go further would be to inject her +personal affairs into the conversation. + +"Trevison is an evil in the country," he went on, speaking in a judicial +manner, but watching her narrowly. "It is men like him who retard +civilization. He opposes law and order--defies them. It is a shock, I +know, to learn that the title to property that you have regarded as your +own for years, is in jeopardy. But still, a man can play the man and not +yield to lawless impulses." + +"What has happened?" She spoke breathlessly, for something in Corrigan's +voice warned her. + +"Very little--from Trevison's viewpoint, I suppose," he laughed. "He came +into my office this morning, after being served with a summons from Judge +Lindman's court in regard to the title of his land, and tried to kill me. +Failing in that, he knocked poor, inoffensive little Braman down--who had +interfered in my behalf--and threw him bodily through the front window of +the building, glass and all. It's lucky for him that Braman wasn't hurt. +After that he tried to incite a riot, which Judge Lindman nipped in the +bud by sending a number of deputies, armed with rifles, to the scene. It +was a wonderful exhibition of outlawry. I was very sorry to have it +happen, and any more such outbreaks will result in Trevison's being +jailed--if not worse." + +"My God!" she panted, in a whisper, and became lost in deep thought. + +They sat for a time, without speaking. She studied the profile of the man +and compared its reposeful strength with that of the man who had ridden +with her many times since her coming to Blakeley's. The turbulent spirit +of Trevison awed her now, frightened her--she feared for his future. But +she pitied him; the sympathy that gripped her made icy shivers run over +her. + +"From what I understand, Trevison has always been a disturber," resumed +Corrigan. "He disgraced himself at college, and afterwards--to such an +extent that his father cut him off. He hasn't changed, apparently; he is +still doing the same old tricks. He had some sort of a love affair before +coming West, your father told me. God help the girl who marries him!" + +The girl flushed at the last sentence; she replied to the preceding one: + +"Yes. Hester Keyes threw him over, after he broke with his father." + +She did not see Corrigan's eyes quicken, for she was wondering if, after +all, Hester Keyes had not acted wisely in breaking with Trevison. +Certainly, Hester had been in a position to know him better than some of +those critics who had found fault with her for her action--herself, for +instance. She sighed, for the memory of her ideal was dimming. A figure +that represented violence and bloodshed had come in its place. + +"Hester Keyes," said Corrigan, musingly. "Did she marry a fellow named +Harvey--afterwards? Winslow Harvey, if I remember rightly. He died soon +after?" + +"Yes--do you know her?" + +"Slightly." Corrigan laughed. "I knew her father. Well, well. So Trevison +worshiped there, did he? Was he badly hurt--do you know?" + +"I do not know." + +"Well," said Corrigan, getting up, and speaking lightly, as though +dismissing the subject from his mind; "I presume he was--and still is, for +that matter. A person never forgets the first love." He smiled at her. +"Won't you go with me for a short ride?" + +The ride was taken, but a disturbing question lingered in Rosalind's mind +throughout, and would not be solved. Had Trevison forgotten Hester Keyes? +Did he think of her as--as--well, as she, herself, sometimes thought of +Trevison--as she thought of him now--with a haunting tenderness that made +his faults recede, as the shadows vanish before the sunshine? + +What Corrigan thought was expressed in a satisfied chuckle, as later, he +loped his horse toward Manti. That night he wrote a letter and sent it +East. It was addressed to Mrs. Hester Harvey, and was subscribed: "Your +old friend, Jeff." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A RUMBLE OF WAR + + +The train that carried Corrigan's letter eastward bore, among its few +other passengers, a young man with a jaw set like a steel trap, who leaned +forward in his seat, gripping the back of the seat in front of him; an +eager, smoldering light in his eyes, who rose at each stop the train made +and glared belligerently and intolerantly at the coach ends, muttering +guttural anathemas at the necessity for delays. The spirit of battle was +personified in him; it sat on his squared shoulders; it was in the thrust +of his chin, stuck out as though to receive blows, which his rippling +muscles would be eager to return. Two other passengers in the coach +watched him warily, and once, when he got up and walked to the front of +the coach, opening the door and looking out, to let in the roar and whir +and the clatter, one of the passengers remarked to the other: "That guy is +in a temper where murder would come easy to him." + +The train left Manti at nine o'clock in the evening. At midnight it pulled +up at the little frame station in Dry Bottom and the young man leaped off +and strode rapidly away into the darkness of the desert town. A little +later, J. Blackstone Graney, attorney at law, and former Judge of the +United States District Court at Dry Bottom, heard a loud hammering on the +door of his residence at the outskirts of town. He got up, with a grunt of +resentment for all heavy-fisted fools abroad on midnight errands, and went +downstairs to admit a grim-faced stranger who looked positively +bloodthirsty to the Judge, under the nervous tension of his midnight +awakening. + +"I'm 'Brand' Trevison, owner of the Diamond K ranch, near Manti," said the +stranger, with blunt sharpness that made the Judge blink. "I've a case on +in the Manti court at ten o'clock tomorrow--today," he corrected. "They +are going to try to swindle me out of my land, and I've got to have a +lawyer--a real one. I could have got half a dozen in Manti--such as they +are--but I want somebody who is wise in the law, and with the sort of +honor that money and power can't blast--I want you!" + +Judge Graney looked sharply at his visitor, and smiled. "You are evidently +desperately harried. Sit down and tell me about your case." He waved to a +chair and Trevison dropped into it, sitting on its edge. The Judge took +another, and with the kerosene lamp between them on a table, Trevison +related what had occurred during the previous morning in Manti. When he +concluded, the Judge's face was serious. + +"If what you say is true, it is a very awkward, not to say suspicious, +situation. Being the only lawyer in Dry Bottom, until the coming of Judge +Lindman, I have had occasion many times to consult the record you speak +of, and if my memory serves me well, I have noted several times--quite +casually, of course, since I have never been directly concerned with the +records of the land in your vicinity--that several transfers of title to +the original Midland grant have been recorded. Your deed would show, of +course, the date of your purchase from Buck Peters, and we shall, perhaps, +be able to determine the authenticity of the present record in that +manner. But if, as you believe, the records have been tampered with, we +are facing a long, hard legal battle which may or may not result in an +ultimate victory for us--depending upon the power behind the interests +opposed to you." + +"I'll fight them to the Supreme Court of the United States!" declared +Trevison. "I'll fight them with the law or without it!" + +"I know it," said Graney, with a shrewd glance at the other's grim face. +"But be careful not to do anything that will jeopardize your liberty. If +those men are what you think they are, they would be only too glad to have +you break some law that would give them an excuse to jail you. You +couldn't do much fighting then, you know." He got up. "There's a train out +of here in about an hour--we'll take it." + +About six o'clock that morning the two men stepped off the train at Manti. +Graney went directly to a hotel, to wash and breakfast, while Trevison, a +little tired and hollow-eyed from loss of sleep and excitement, and with a +two days' growth of beard on his face, which made him look worse than he +actually felt, sought the livery stable where he had left Nigger the night +before, mounted the animal and rode rapidly out of town toward the Diamond +K. He took a trail that led through the cut where on another morning he +had startled the laborers by riding down the wall--Nigger eating up the +ground with long, sure, swift strides--passing Pat Carson and his men at a +point on the level about a quarter of a mile beyond the cut. He waved a +hand to Carson as he flashed by, and something in his manner caused Carson +to remark to the engineer of the dinky engine: "Somethin's up wid Trevison +ag'in, Murph--he's got a domned mean look in his eye. I'm the onluckiest +son-av-a-gun in the worruld, Murph! First I miss seein' this fire-eater +bate the face off the big ilephant, Corrigan, an' yisterday I was +figgerin' on goin' to town--but didn't; an' I miss seein' that little +whiffet of a Braman flyin' through the windy. Do ye's know that there's a +feelin' ag'in Corrigan an' the railroad in town, an' thot this mon +Trevison is the fuse that wud bust the boom av discontint. I'm beginnin' +to feel a little excited meself. Now what do ye suppose that gang av min +wid Winchesters was doin', comin' from thot direction this mornin'?" He +pointed toward the trail that Trevison was riding. "An' that big stiff, +Corrigan, wid thim!" + +Trevison got the answer to this query the minute he reached the Diamond K +ranchhouse. His foreman came running to him, pale, disgusted, his voice +snapping like a whip: + +"They've busted your desk an' rifled it. Twenty guys who said they was +deputies from the court in Manti, an' Corrigan. I was here alone, +watchin', as you told me, but couldn't move a finger--damn 'em!" + +Trevison dismounted and ran into the house. The room that he used as an +office was in a state of disorder. Papers, books, littered the floor. It +was evident that a thorough search had been made--for something. Trevison +darted to the desk and ran a hand into the pigeonhole in which he kept the +deed which he had come for. The hand came out, empty. He sprang to the +door of a small closet where, in a box that contained some ammunition that +he kept for the use of his men, he had placed the money that Rosalind +Benham had brought to him. The money was not there. He walked to the +center of the room and stood for an instant, surveying the mass of litter +around him, reeling, rage-drunken, murder in his heart. Barkwell, the +foreman, watching him, drew great, long breaths of sympathy and +excitement. + +"Shall I get the boys an' go after them damn sneaks?" he questioned, his +voice tremulous. "We'll clean 'em out--smoke 'em out of the county!" he +threatened. He started for the door. + +"Wait!" Trevison had conquered the first surge of passion; his grin was +cold and bitter as he crossed glances with his foreman. "Don't do +anything--yet. I'm going to play the peace string out. If it doesn't work, +why then--" He tapped his pistol holster significantly. + +"You get a few of the boys and stay here with them. It isn't probable that +they'll try anything like that again, because they've got what they +wanted. But if they happen to come again, hold them until I come. I'm +going to court." + +Later, in Manti, he was sitting opposite Graney in a room in the hotel to +which the Judge had gone. + +"H'm," said the latter, compressing his lips; "that's sharp practice. They +are not wasting any time." + +"Was it legal?" + +"The law is elastic--some judges stretch it more than others. A +search-warrant and a writ of attachment probably did the business in this +case. What I can't understand is why Judge Lindman issued the writ at +all--if he did so. You are the defendant, and you certainly would have +brought the deed into court as a means of proving your case." + +Trevison had mentioned the missing money, though he did not think it +important to explain where it had come from. And Judge Graney did not ask +him. But when court opened at the appointed time, with a dignity which was +a mockery to Trevison, and Judge Graney had explained that he had come to +represent the defendant in the action, he mildly inquired the reason for +the forcible entry into his client's house, explaining also that since the +defendant was required to prove his case it was optional with him whether +or not the deed be brought into court at all. + +Corrigan had been on time; he had nodded curtly to Trevison when he had +entered to take the chair in which he now sat, and had smiled when +Trevison had deliberately turned his back. He smiled when Judge Graney +asked the question--a faint, evanescent smirk. But at Judge Lindman's +reply he sat staring stolidly, his face an impenetrable mask: + +"There was no mention of a deed in the writ of attachment issued by the +court. Nor has the court any knowledge of the existence of such a deed. +The officers of the court were commanded to proceed to the defendant's +house, for the purpose of finding, if possible, and delivering to this +court the sum of twenty-seven hundred dollars, which amount, representing +the money paid to the defendant by the railroad company for certain grants +and privileges, is to remain in possession of the court until the title to +the land in litigation has been legally awarded." + +"But the court officers seized the defendant's deed, also," objected Judge +Graney. + +Judge Lindman questioned a deputy who sat in the rear of the room. The +latter replied that he had seen no deed. Yes, he admitted, in reply to a +question of Judge Graney's, it might have been possible that Corrigan had +been alone in the office for a time. + +Graney looked inquiringly at Corrigan. The latter looked steadily back at +him. "I saw no deed," he said, coolly. "In fact, it wouldn't be _possible_ +for me to see any deed, for Trevison has no title to the property he +speaks of." + +Judge Graney made a gesture of impotence to Trevison, then spoke slowly to +the court. "I am afraid that without the deed it will be impossible for us +to proceed. I ask a continuance until a search can be made." + +Judge Lindman coughed. "I shall have to refuse the request. The plaintiff +is anxious to take possession of his property, and as no reason has been +shown why he should not be permitted to do so, I hereby return judgment in +his favor. Court is dismissed." + +"I give notice of appeal," said Graney. + +Outside a little later Judge Graney looked gravely at Trevison. "There's +knavery here, my boy; there's some sort of influence behind Lindman. Let's +see some of the other owners who are likely to be affected." + +This task took them two days, and resulted in the discovery that no other +owner had secured a deed to his land. Lefingwell explained the omission. + +"A sale is a sale," he said; "or a sale _has_ been a sale until now. Land +has changed hands out here just the same as we'd trade a horse for a cow +or a pipe for a jack-knife. There was no questions asked. When a man had a +piece of land to sell, he sold it, got his money an' didn't bother to give +a receipt. Half the damn fools in this country wouldn't know a deed from a +marriage license, an' they haven't been needin' one or the other. For when +a man has a wife she's continually remindin' him of it, an' he can't +forget it--he's got her. It's the same with his land--he's got it. So far +as I know there's never been a deed issued for my land--or any of the land +in that Midland grant, except Trevison's." + +"It looks as though Corrigan had considered that phase of the matter," +dryly observed Judge Graney. "The case doesn't look very hopeful. However, +I shall take it before the Circuit Court of Appeals, in Santa Fe." + +He was gone a week, and returned, disgusted, but determined. + +"They denied our appeal; said they might have considered it if we had some +evidence to offer showing that we had some sort of a claim to the title. +When I told them of my conviction that the records had been tampered with, +they laughed at me." The Judge's eyes gleamed indignantly. "Sometimes, I +feel heartily in sympathy with people who rail at the courts--their +attitude is often positively asinine." + +"Perhaps the long arm of power has reached to Santa Fe?" suggested +Trevison. + +"It won't reach to Washington," declared the Judge, decisively. "And if +you say the word, I'll go there and see what I can do. It's an outrage!" + +"I was hoping you'd go--there's no limit," said Trevison. "But as I see +the situation, everything depends upon the discovery of the original +record. I'm convinced that it is still in existence, and that Judge +Lindman knows where it is. I'm going to get it, or--" + +"Easy, my friend," cautioned the Judge. "I know how you feel. But you +can't fight the law with lawlessness. You lie quiet until you hear from +me. That is all there is to be done, anyway--win or lose." + +Trevison clenched his teeth. "I might feel that way about it, if I had +been as careless of my interests as the other owners here, but I +safeguarded my interests, trusted them to the regularly recognized law out +here, and I'm going to fight for them! Why, good God, man; I've worked ten +years for that land! Do you think I will see it go _without_ a fight?" He +laughed, and the Judge shook his head at the sound. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A MUTUAL BENEFIT ASSOCIATION + + +Unheeding the drama that was rapidly and invisibly (except for the +incident of Braman and the window) working itself out in its midst, Manti +lunged forward on the path of progress, each day growing larger, busier, +more noisy and more important. Perhaps Manti did not heed, because Manti +was itself a drama--the drama of creation. Each resident, each newcomer, +settled quickly and firmly into the place that desire or ambition or greed +urged him; put forth whatever energy nature had endowed him with, and +pushed on toward the goal toward which the town was striving--success; +collectively winning, unrecking of individual failure or tragedy--those +things were to be expected, and they fell into the limbo of forgotten +things, easily and unnoticed. Wrecks, disasters, were certain. They +came--turmoil engulfed them. + +Which is to say that during the two weeks that had elapsed since the +departure of Judge Graney for Washington, Manti had paid very little +attention to "Brand" Trevison while he haunted the telegraph station and +the post-office for news. He was pointed out, it is true, as the man who +had hurled banker Braman through the window of his bank building; there +was a hazy understanding that he was having some sort of trouble with +Corrigan over some land titles, but in the main Manti buzzed along, busy +with its visions and its troubles, leaving Trevison with his. + +The inaction, with the imminence of failure after ten years of effort, had +its effect on Trevison. It fretted him; he looked years older; he looked +worried and harassed; he longed for a chance to come to grips in an +encounter that would ease the strain. Physical action it must be, for his +brain was a muddle of passion and hatred in which clear thoughts, schemes, +plans, plots, were swallowed and lost. He wanted to come into physical +contact with the men and things that were thwarting him; he wanted to feel +the thud and jar of blows; to catch the hot breath of open antagonism; he +yearned to feel the strain of muscles--this fighting in the dark with +courts and laws and lawyers, according to rules and customs, filled him +with a raging impotence that hurt him. And then, at the end of two weeks +came a telegram from Judge Graney, saying merely: "Be patient. It's a long +trail." + +Trevison got on Nigger and returned to the Diamond K. + +The six o'clock train arrived in Manti that evening with many passengers, +among whom was a woman of twenty-eight at whom men turned to look the +second time. Her traveling suit spoke eloquently of that personal quality +which a language, seeking new and expressive phrases describes as "class." +It fitted her smoothly, tightly, revealing certain lines of her graceful +figure that made various citizens of Manti gasp. "Looks like she'd been +poured into it," remarked an interested lounger. She lingered on the +station platform until she saw her trunks safely deposited, and then, +drawing her skirts as though fearful of contamination, she walked, +self-possessed and cool, through the doorway of the _Castle_ +hotel--Manti's aristocrat of hostelries. + +Shortly afterwards she admitted Corrigan to her room. She had changed from +her traveling suit to a gown of some soft, glossy material that +accentuated the lines revealed by the discarded habit. The worldly-wise +would have viewed the lady with a certain expressive smile that might have +meant much or nothing. And the lady would have looked upon that smile as +she now looked at Corrigan, with a faint defiance that had quite a little +daring in it. But in the present case there was an added expression--two, +in fact--pleasure and expectancy. + +"Well--I'm here." She bowed, mockingly, laughingly, compressing her lips +as she noted the quick fire that flamed in her visitor's eyes. + +"That's all over, Jeff; I won't go back to it. If that's why--" + +"That's all right," he said, smiling as he took the chair she waved him +to; "I've erased a page or two from the past, myself. But I can't help +admiring you; you certainly are looking fine! What have you been doing to +yourself?" + +She draped herself in a chair where she could look straight at him, and +his compliment made her mouth harden at the corners. + +"Well," she said; "in your letter you promised you'd take me into your +confidence. I'm ready." + +"It's purely a business proposition. Each realizes on his effort. You help +me to get Rosalind Benham through the simple process of fascinating +Trevison; I help you to get Trevison by getting Miss Benham. It's a sort +of mutual benefit association, as it were." + +"What does Trevison look like, Jeff--tell me?" The woman leaned forward in +her chair, her eyes glowing. + +"Oh, you women!" said Corrigan, with a gesture of disgust. "He's a +handsome fool," he added; "if that's what you want to know. But I haven't +any compliments to hand him regarding his manners--he's a wild man!" + +"I'd love to see him!" breathed the woman. + +"Well, keep your hair on; you'll see him soon enough. But you've got to +understand this: He's on my land, and he gets off without further +fighting--if you can hold him. That's understood, eh? You win him back and +get him away from here. If you double-cross me, he finds out what you +are!" He flung the words at her, roughly. + +She spoke quietly, though color stained her cheeks. "Not 'are,' Jeff--what +I was. That would be bad enough. But have no fear--I shall do as you ask. +For I want him--I have wanted him all the time--even during the time I was +chained to that little beast, Harvey. I wouldn't have been what I +am--if--if--" + +"Cut it out!" he advised brutally; "the man always gets the blame, +anyway--so it's no novelty to hear that sort of stuff. So you understand, +eh? You choose your own method--but get results--quick! I want to get that +damned fool away from here!" He got up and paced back and forth in the +room. "If he takes Rosalind Benham away from me I'll kill him! I'll kill +him, anyway!" + +"Has it gone very far between them?" The concern in her voice brought a +harsh laugh from Corrigan. + +"Far enough, I guess. He's been riding with her; every day for three +weeks, her aunt told me. He's a fiery, impetuous devil!" + +"Don't worry," she consoled. "And now," she directed; "get out of here. +I've been on the go for days and days, and I want to sleep. I shall go out +to see Rosalind tomorrow--to surprise her, Jeff--to surprise her. Ha, +ha!" + +"I'll have a rig here for you at nine o'clock," said Corrigan. "Take your +trunks--she won't order you away. Tell her that Trevison sent for +you--don't mention my name; and stick to it! Well, pleasant dreams," he +added as he went out. + +As the door closed the woman stood looking at it, a sneer curving her +lips. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +WHEREIN A WOMAN LIES + + +"Aren't you going to welcome me, dearie?" + +From the porch of the Bar B ranchhouse Rosalind had watched the rapid +approach of the buckboard, and she now stood at the edge of the step +leading to the porch, not more than ten or fifteen feet distant from the +vehicle, shocked into dumb amazement. + +"Why, yes--of course. That is--Why, what on earth brought you out here?" + +"A perfectly good train--as far as your awfully crude town of Manti; and +this--er--spring-legged thing, the rest of the way," laughed Hester +Harvey. She had stepped down, a trifle flushed, inwardly amused, outwardly +embarrassed--which was very good acting; but looking very attractive and +girlish in the simple dress she had donned for the occasion--and for the +purpose of making a good impression. So attractive was she that the +contemplation of her brought a sinking sensation to Rosalind that drooped +her shoulders, and caused her to look around, involuntarily, for something +to lean upon. For there flashed into her mind at this instant the +conviction that she had herself to blame for this visitation--she had +written to Ruth Gresham, and Ruth very likely had disseminated the news, +after the manner of all secrets, and Hester had heard it. And of course +the attraction was "Brand" Trevison! A new emotion surged through Rosalind +at this thought, an emotion so strong that it made her gasp--jealousy! + +She got through the ordeal somehow--with an appearance of pleasure--though +it was hard for her to play the hypocrite! But so soon as she decently +could, without cutting short the inevitable inconsequential chatter which +fills the first moments of renewed friendships, she hurried Hester to a +room and during her absence sat immovable in her chair on the porch +staring stonily out at the plains. + +It was not until half an hour later, when they were sitting on the porch, +that Hester delivered the stroke that caused Rosalind's hands to fall +nervelessly into her lap, her lips to quiver and her eyes to fill with a +reflection of a pain that gripped her hard, somewhere inside. For Hester +had devised her method, as suggested by Corrigan. + +"It may seem odd to you--if you know anything of the manner of my breaking +off with Trevison Brandon--but he wrote me about a month ago, asking me to +come out here. I didn't accept the invitation at once--because I didn't +want him to be too sure, you know, dearie. Men are always presuming and +pursuing, dearie." + +"Then you didn't hear of Trevison's whereabouts from Ruth Gresham?" + +"Why, no, dearie! He wrote directly to me." + +Rosalind hadn't _that_ to reproach herself with, at any rate! + +"Of course, I couldn't go to his ranch--the Diamond K, isn't it?--so, +noting from one of the newspapers that you had come here, I decided to +take advantage of _your_ hospitality. I'm just wild to see the dear boy! +Is his ranch far? For you know," she added, with a malicious look at the +girl's pale face; "I must not keep him waiting, now that I am here." + +"You won't find him prosperous." It hurt Rosalind to say that, but the +hurt was slightly offset by a savage resentment that gripped her when she +thought of how quickly Hester had thrown Trevison over when she had +discovered that he was penniless. And she had a desperate hope that the +dismal aspect of Trevison's future would appall Hester--as it would were +the woman still the mercenary creature she had been ten years before. But +Hester looked at her with grave imperturbability. + +"I heard something about his trouble. About some land, isn't it? I didn't +learn the particulars. Tell me about it--won't you, dearie?" + +Rosalind's story of Trevison's difficulties did not have the effect that +she anticipated. + +"The poor, dear boy!" said Hester--and she seemed genuinely moved. +Rosalind gulped hard over the shattered ruins of this last hope and got +up, fighting against an inhospitable impulse to order Hester away. She +made some slight excuse and slipped to her room, where she stayed long, +elemental passions battling riotously within her. + +She realized now how completely she had yielded to the spell that the +magnetic and impetuous exile had woven about her; she knew now that had he +pressed her that day when he had told her of his love for her she must +have surrendered. She thought, darkly, of his fiery manner that day, of +his burning looks, his hot, impulsive words, of his confidences. Hypocrisy +all! For while they had been together he must have been thinking of +sending for Hester! He had been trifling with her! Faith in an ideal is a +sacred thing, and shattered, it lights the fires of hate and scorn, and +the emotions that seethed through Rosalind's veins as in her room she +considered Trevison's unworthiness, finally developed into a furious +vindictiveness. She wished dire, frightful calamities upon him, and then, +swiftly reacting, her sympathetical womanliness forced the dark passions +back, and she threw herself on the bed, sobbing, murmuring: "Forgive me!" + +Later, when she had made herself presentable, she went downstairs again, +concealing her misery behind a steady courtesy and a smile that sometimes +was a little forced and bitter, to entertain her guest. It was a long, +tiresome day, made almost unbearable by Hester's small talk. But she got +through it. And when, rather late in the afternoon, Hester inquired the +way to the Diamond K, announcing her intention of visiting Trevison +immediately, she gave no evidence of the shocked surprise that seized her. +She coolly helped Hester prepare for the trip, and when she drove away in +the buckboard, stood on the ground at the edge of the porch, watching as +the buckboard and its occupant faded into the shimmering haze of the +plains. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +JUSTICE VS. LAW + + +Impatience, intolerable and vicious, gripped Trevison as he rode homeward +after his haunting vigil at Manti. The law seemed to him to be like a +house with many doors, around and through which one could play hide and +seek indefinitely, with no possibility of finding one of the doors locked. +Judge Graney had warned him to be cautious, but as he rode into the dusk +of the plains the spirit of rebellion seized him. Twice he halted Nigger +and wheeled him, facing Manti, already agleam and tumultuous, almost +yielding to his yearning to return and force his enemy to some sort of +physical action, but each time he urged the horse on, for he could think +of no definite plan. He was half way to the Diamond K when he suddenly +started and sat rigid and erect in the saddle, drawing a deep breath, his +nerves tingling from excitement. He laughed lowly, exultingly, as men +laugh when under the stress of adversity they devise sudden, bold plans of +action, and responding to the slight knee press Nigger turned, reared, and +then shot like a black bolt across the plains at an angle that would not +take him anywhere near the Diamond K. + +Half an hour later, in a darkness which equaled that of the night on which +he had carried the limp and drink-saturated Clay Levins to his wife, +Trevison was dismounting at the door of the gun-man's cabin. A little +later, standing in the glare of lamplight that shone through the open +doorway, he was reassuring Mrs. Levins and asking for her husband. Shortly +afterward, he was talking lowly to Levins as the latter saddled his pony +out at the stable. + +"I'll do it--for you," Levins told him. And then he chuckled. "It'll seem +like old times." + +"It's Justice versus Law, tonight," laughed Trevison; "it's a case of 'the +end justifying the means.'" + +Manti never slept. At two o'clock in the morning the lights in the +gambling rooms of the _Belmont_ and the _Plaza_ were still flickering +streams out into the desert night; weak strains of discord were being +drummed out of a piano in a dance hall; the shuffling of feet smote the +dead, flat silence of the night with an odd, weird resonance. Here and +there a light burned in a dwelling or store, or shone through the wall of +a tent-house. But Manti's one street was deserted--the only peace that +Manti ever knew, had descended. + +Two men who had dismounted at the edge of town had hitched their horses in +the shadow of a wagon shed in the rear of a store building, and were +making their way cautiously down the railroad tracks toward the center of +town. They kept in the shadows of the buildings as much as possible--for +space was valuable now and many buildings nuzzled the railroad tracks; but +when once they were forced to pass through a light from a window their +faces were revealed in it for an instant--set, grim and determined. + +"We've got to move quickly," said one of the men as they neared the +courthouse; "it will be daylight soon. Damn a town that never sleeps!" + +The other laughed lowly. "I've said the same thing, often," he whispered. +"Easy now--here we are!" + +They paused in the shadow of the building and whispered together briefly. +A sound reached their ears as they stood. Peering around the corner +nearest them they saw the bulk of a man appear. He walked almost to the +corner of the building where they crouched, and they held their breath, +tensing their muscles. Just when it seemed they must be discovered, the +man wheeled, walked away, and vanished into the darkness toward the other +side of the building. Presently he returned, and repeated the maneuver. As +he vanished the second time, the larger man of the two in wait, whispered +to the other: + +"He's the sentry! Stand where you are--I'll show Corrigan--" + +The words were cut short by the reappearance of the sentry. He came close +to the corner, and wheeled, to return. A lithe black shape leaped like a +huge cat, and landed heavily on the sentry's shoulders, bringing a pained +grunt from him. The grunt died in a gurgle as iron fingers closed on his +throat; he was jammed, face down, into the dust and held there, +smothering, until his body slacked and his muscles ceased rippling. Then a +handkerchief was slipped around his mouth and drawn tightly. He was rolled +over, still unconscious, his hands tied behind him. Then he was borne away +into the darkness by the big man, who carried him as though he were a +child. + +"Locked in a box-car," whispered the big man, returning: "They'll get him; +they're half unloaded." + +Without further words they returned to the shadow of the building. + +Judge Lindman had not been able to sleep until long after his usual hour +for retiring. The noise, and certain thoughts, troubled him. It was after +midnight when he finally sought his cot, and he was in a heavy doze until +shortly after two, when a breath of air, chilled by its clean sweep over +the plains, searched him out and brought him up, sitting on the edge of +the cot, shivering. + +The rear door of the courthouse was open. In front of the iron safe at the +rear of the room he saw a man, faintly but unmistakably outlined in the +cross light from two windows. He was about to cry out when his throat was +seized from behind and he was borne back on the cot resistlessly. Held +thus, a voice which made him strain his eyes in an effort to see the +owner's face, hissed in his ear: + +"I don't want to kill you, but I'll do it if you cry out! I mean business! +Do you promise not to betray us?" + +The Judge wagged his head weakly, and the grip on his throat relaxed. He +sat up, aware that the fingers were ready to grip his throat again, for he +could feel the big shape lingering beside him. + +"This is an outrage!" he gasped, shuddering. "I know you--you are +Trevison. I shall have you punished for this." + +The other laughed lowly and vibrantly. "That's your affair--if you dare! +You say a word about this visit and I'll feed your scoundrelly old carcass +to the coyotes! Justice is abroad tonight and it won't be balked. I'm +after that original land record--and I'm going to have it. You know where +it is--you've got it. Your face told me that the other day. You're only +half-heartedly in this steal. Be a man--give me the record--and I'll stand +by you until hell freezes over! Quick! Is it in the safe?" + +The Judge wavered in agonized indecision. But thoughts of Corrigan's wrath +finally conquered. + +"It--it isn't in the safe," he said. And then, aware of his error because +of the shrill breath the other drew, he added, quaveringly: "There is +no--the original record is in my desk--you've seen it." + +"Bah!" The big shape backed away--two or three feet, whispering back at +the Judge. "Open your mouth and you're a dead man. I've got you covered!" + +Cowering on his cot the Judge watched the big shape join the other at the +safe. How long it remained there, he did not know. A step sounded in the +silence that reigned outside--a third shape loomed in the doorway. + +"Judge Lindman!" called a voice. + +"Y-es?" quavered the Judge, aware that the big shape in the room was now +close to him, menacing him. + +"Your door's open! Where's Ed? There's something wrong! Get up and strike +a light. There'll be hell to pay if Corrigan finds out we haven't been +watching your stuff. Damn it! A man can't steal time for a drink without +something happens. Jim and Bill and me just went across the street, +leaving Ed here. They're coming right--" + +He had been entering the room while talking, fingering in his pockets for +a match. His voice died in a quick gasp as Trevison struck with the butt +of his pistol. The man fell, silently. + +Another voice sounded outside. Trevison crouched at the doorway. A form +darkened the opening. Trevison struck, missed, a streak of fire split the +night--the newcomer had used his pistol. It went off again--the +flame-spurt shooting ceilingward, as Levins clinched the man from the +rear. A third man loomed in the doorway; a fourth appeared, behind him. +Trevison swung at the head of the man nearest him, driving him back upon +the man behind, who cursed, plunging into the room. The man whom Levins +had seized was shouting orders to the others. But these suddenly ceased as +Levins smashed him on the head with the butt of a pistol. Two others +remained. They were stubborn and courageous. But it was miserable work, in +the dark--blows were misdirected, friend striking friend; other blows went +wild, grunts of rage and impotent curses following. But Trevison and +Levins were intent on escaping--a victory would have been hollow--for the +thud and jar of their boots on the bare floor had been heard; doors were +slamming; from across the street came the barking of a dog; men were +shouting questions at one another; from the box-car on the railroad tracks +issued vociferous yells and curses. Trevison slipped out through the door, +panting. His opponent had gone down, temporarily disabled from sundry +vicious blows from a fist that had worked like a piston rod. A figure +loomed at his side. "I got mine!" it said, triumphantly; "we'd better +slope." + +"Another five minutes and I'd have cracked it," breathed Levins as they +ran. "What's Corrigan havin' the place watched for?" + +"You've got me. Afraid of the Judge, maybe. The Judge hasn't his whole +soul in this deal; it looks to me as though Corrigan is forcing him. But +the Judge has the original record, all right; and it's in that safe, too! +God! If they'd only given us a minute or two longer!" + +They fled down the track, running heavily, for the work had been fast and +the tension great, and when they reached the horses and threw themselves +into the saddles, Manti was ablaze with light. As they raced away in the +darkness a grim smile wreathed Trevison's face. For though he had not +succeeded in this enterprise, he had at least struck a blow--and he had +corroborated his previous opinion concerning Judge Lindman's knowledge of +the whereabouts of the original record. + +It was three o'clock and the dawn was just breaking when Trevison rode +into the Diamond K corral and pulled the saddle from Nigger. Levins had +gone home. + +Trevison was disappointed. It had been a bold scheme, and well planned, +and it would have succeeded had it not been for the presence of the +sentries. He had not anticipated that. He laughed grimly, remembering +Judge Lindman's fright. Would the Judge reveal the identity of his +early-morning visitor? Trevison thought not, for if the original record +were in the safe, and if for any reason the Judge wished to conceal its +existence from Corrigan, a hint of the identity of the early-morning +visitors--especially of one--might arouse Corrigan's suspicions. + +But what if Corrigan knew of the existence of the original record? There +was the presence of the guards to indicate that he did. But there was +Judge Lindman's half-heartedness to disprove that line of reasoning. Also, +Trevison was convinced that if Corrigan knew of the existence of the +record he would destroy it; it would be dangerous, in the hands of an +enemy. But it would be an admirable weapon of self-protection in the hands +of a man who had been forced into wrong-doing--in the hands of Judge +Lindman, for instance. Trevison opened the door that led to his office, +thrilling with a new hope. He lit a match, stepped across the floor and +touched the flame to the wick of the kerosene lamp--for it was not yet +light enough for him to see plainly in the office--and stood for an +instant blinking in its glare. A second later he reeled back against the +edge of the desk, his hands gripping it, dumb, amazed, physically sick +with a fear that he had suddenly gone insane. For in a big chair in a +corner of the room, sleepy-eyed, tired, but looking very becoming in her +simple dress with a light cloak over it, the collar turned up, so that it +gave her an appearance of attractive negligence, a smile of delighted +welcome on her face, was Hester Harvey. + +She got up as he stood staring dumfoundedly at her and moved toward him, +with an air of artful supplication that brought a gasp out of him--of +sheer relief. + +"Won't you welcome me, Trev? I have come very far, to see you." She held +out her hands and went slowly toward him, mutely pleading, her eyes +luminous with love--which she did not pretend, for the boy she had known +had grown into the promise of his youth--big, magnetic--a figure for any +woman to love. + +He had been looking at her intently, narrowly, searchingly. He saw what +she herself had not seen--the natural changes that ten years had brought +to her. He saw other things--that she had not suspected--a certain blase +sophistication; a too bold and artful expression of the eyes--as though +she knew their power and the lure of them; the slightly hard curve in the +corners of her mouth; a second character lurking around her--indefinite, +vague, repelling--the subconscious self, that no artifice can hide--the +sin and the shame of deeds unrepented. If there had been a time when he +had loved her, its potence could not leap the lapse of years and overcome +his repugnance for her kind, and he looked at her coldly, barring her +progress with a hand, which caught her two and held them in a grip that +made her wince. + +"What are you doing here? How did you get in? When did you come?" He fired +the questions at her roughly, brutally. + +"Why, Trev." She gulped, her smile fading palely. The conquest was not to +be the easy one she had thought--though she really wanted him--more than +ever, now that she saw she was in danger of losing him. She explained, +earnestly pleading with eyes that had lost their power to charm him. + +"I heard you were here--that you were in trouble. I want to help you. I +got here night before last--to Manti. Rosalind Benham had written about +you to Ruth Gresham--a friend of hers in New York. Ruth Gresham told me. I +went directly from Manti to Benham's ranch. Then I came here--about dusk, +last night. There was a man here--your foreman, he said. I explained, and +he let me in. Trev--won't you welcome me?" + +"It isn't the first time I've been in trouble." His laugh was harsh; it +made her cringe and cry: + +"I've repented for that. I shouldn't have done it; I don't know what was +the matter with me. Harvey had been telling me things about you--" + +"You wouldn't have believed him--" He laughed, cynically. "There's no use +of haggling over _that_--it's buried, and I've placed a monument over it: +'Here lies a fool that believed in a woman.' I don't reproach you--you +couldn't be blamed for not wanting to marry an idiot like me. But I +haven't changed. I still have my crazy ideas of honor and justice and +square-dealing, and my double-riveted faith in my ability to triumph over +all adversity. But women--Bah! you're all alike! You scheme, you plot, you +play for place; you are selfish, cold; you snivel and whine--There is more +of it, but I can't think of any more. But--let's face this matter +squarely. If you still like me, I'm sorry for you, for I can't say that +the sight of you has stirred any old passion in me. You shouldn't have +come out here." + +"You're terribly resentful, Trev. And I don't blame you a bit--I deserve +it all. But don't send me away. Why, I--love you, Trev; I've loved you all +these years; I loved you when I sent you away--while I was married to +Harvey; and more afterwards--and now, deeper than ever; and--" + +He shook his head and looked at her steadily--cynicism, bald derision in +his gaze. "I'm sorry; but it can't be--you're too late." + +He dropped her hands, and she felt of the fingers where he had gripped +them. She veiled the quick, savage leap in her eyes by drooping the lids. + +"You love Rosalind Benham," she said, quietly, looking at him with a +mirthless smile. He started, and her lips grew a trifle stiff. "You poor +boy!" + +"Why the pity?" he said grimly. + +"Because she doesn't care for you, Trev. She told me yesterday that she +was engaged to marry a man named Corrigan. He is out here, she said. She +remarked that she had found you very amusing during the three or four +weeks of Corrigan's absence, and she seemed delighted because the court +out here had ruled that the land you thought was yours belongs to the man +who is to be her husband." + +He stiffened at this, for it corroborated Corrigan's words: "She is heart +and soul with me in this deal, She is ambitious." Trevison's lips curled +scornfully. First, Hester Keyes had been ambitious, and now it was +Rosalind Benham. He fought off the bitter resentment that filled him and +raised his head, laughing, glossing over the hurt with savage humor. + +"Well, I'm doing some good in the world, after all." + +"Trev," Hester moved toward him again, "don't talk like that--it makes me +shiver. I've been through the fire, boy--we've both been through it. I +wasted myself on Harvey--you'll do the same with Rosalind Benham. Ten +years, boy--think of it! I've loved you for that long. Doesn't that make +you understand--" + +"There's nothing quite so dead as a love that a man doesn't want to +revive," he said shortly; "do you understand that?" + +She shuddered and paled, and a long silence came between them. The cold +dawn that was creeping over the land stole into the office with them and +found the fires of affection turned to the ashes of unwelcome memory. The +woman seemed to realize at last, for she gave a little shiver and looked +up at Trevison with a wan smile. + +"I--I think I understand, Trev. Oh, I am _so_ sorry! But I am not going +away. I am going to stay in Manti, to be near you--if you want me. And you +will want me, some day." She went close to him. "Won't you kiss me--once, +Trev? For the sake of old times?" + +"You'd better go," he said gruffly, turning his head. And then, as she +opened the door and stood upon the threshold, he stepped after her, +saying: "I'll get your horse." + +"There's two of them," she laughed tremulously. "I came in a buckboard." + +"Two, then," he said soberly as he followed her out. "And say--" He +turned, flushing. "You came at dusk, last night. I'm afraid I haven't been +exactly thoughtful. Wait--I'll rustle up something to eat." + +"I--I couldn't touch it, thank you. Trev--" She started toward him +impulsively, but he turned his back grimly and went toward the corral. + +Sunrise found Hester back at the Bar B. Jealous, hurt eyes had watched +from an upstairs window the approach of the buckboard--had watched the +Diamond K trail the greater part of the night. For, knowing of the absence +of women at the Diamond K, Rosalind had anticipated Hester's return the +previous evening--for the distance that separated the two ranches was not +more than two miles. But the girl's vigil had been unrewarded until now. +And when at last she saw the buckboard coming, scorn and rage, furious and +deep, seized her. Ah, it was bold, brazen, disgraceful! + +But she forced herself to calmness as she went down stairs to greet her +guest--for there might have been some excuse for the lapse of +propriety--some accident--something, anything. + +"I expected you last night," she said as she met Hester at the door. "You +were delayed I presume. Has anything happened?" + +"Nothing, dearie." Only the bold significance of Hester's smile hid its +deliberate maliciousness. "Trev was so glad to see me that he simply +wouldn't let me go. And it was daylight before we realized it." + +The girl gasped. And now, looking at the woman, she saw what Trevison had +seen--staring back at her, naked and repulsive. She shuddered, and her +face whitened. + +"There are hotels at Manti, Mrs. Harvey," she said coldly. + +"Oh, very well!" The woman did not change her smile. "I shall be very glad +to take advantage of your kind invitation. For Trev tells me that +presently there will be much bitterness between your crowd and himself, +and I am certain that he wouldn't want me to stay here. If you will kindly +have a man bring my trunks--" + +And so she rode toward Manti. Not until the varying undulations of the +land hid her from view of the Bar B ranchhouse did she lose the malicious +smile. Then it faded, and furious sobs of disappointment shook her. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +LAW INVOKED AND DEFIED + + +As soon as the deputies had gone, two of them nursing injured heads, and +all exhibiting numerous bruises, Judge Lindman rose and dressed. In the +ghostly light preceding the dawn he went to the safe, his fingers +trembling so that he made difficult work with the combination. He got a +record from out of the safe, pulled out the bottom drawer, of a series +filled with legal documents and miscellaneous articles, laid the record +book on the floor and shoved the drawer in over it. An hour later he was +facing Corrigan, who on getting a report of the incident from one of the +deputies, had hurried to get the Judge's version. The Judge had had time +to regain his composure, though he was still slightly pale and nervous. + +The Judge lied glibly. He had seen no one in the courthouse. His first +knowledge that anyone had been there had come when he had heard the voice +of one, of the deputies, calling to him. And then all he had seen was a +shadowy figure that had leaped and struck. After that there had been some +shooting. And then the men had escaped. + +"No one spoke?" + +"Not a word," said the Judge. "That is, of course, no one but the man who +called to me." + +"Did they take anything?" + +"What is there to take? There is nothing of value." + +"Gieger says one of them was working at the safe. What's in there?" + +"Some books and papers and supplies--nothing of value. That they tried to +get into the safe would seem to indicate that they thought there was money +there--Manti has many strangers who would not hesitate at robbery." + +"They didn't get into the safe, then?" + +"I haven't looked inside--nothing seems to be disturbed, as it would were +the men safe-blowers. In their hurry to get away it would seem, if they +had come to get into the safe, they would have left something +behind--tools, or something of that character." + +"Let's have a look at the safe. Open it!" Corrigan seemed to be +suspicious, and with a pulse of trepidation, the Judge knelt and worked +the combination. When the door came open Corrigan dropped on his knees in +front of it and began to pull out the contents, scattering them in his +eagerness. He stood up after a time, scowling, his face flushed. He turned +on the Judge, grasped him by the shoulders, his fingers gripping so hard +that the Judge winced. + +"Look here, Lindman," he said. "Those men were not ordinary robbers. +Experienced men would know better than to crack a safe in a courthouse +when there's a bank right next door. I've an idea that it was some of +Trevison's work. You've done or said something that's given him the notion +that you've got the original record. Have you?" + +"I swear I have said nothing," declared the Judge. + +Corrigan looked at him steadily for a moment and then released him. "You +burned it, eh?" + +The Judge nodded, and Corrigan compressed his lips. "I suppose it's all +right, but I can't help wishing that I had been here to watch the ceremony +of burning that record. I'd feel a damn sight more secure. But understand +this: If you double-cross me in any detail of this game, you'll never go +to the penitentiary for what Benham knows about you--I'll choke the +gizzard out of you!" He took a turn around the room, stopping at last in +front of the Judge. + +"Now we'll talk business. I want you to issue an order permitting me to +erect mining machinery on Trevison's land. We need coal here." + +"Graney gave notice of appeal," protested the Judge. + +"Which the Circuit Court denied." + +"He'll go to Washington," persisted the Judge, gulping. "I can't legally +do it." + +Corrigan laughed. "Appoint a receiver to operate the mine, pending the +Supreme Court decision. Appoint Braman. Graney has no case, anyway. There +is no record or deed." + +"There is no need of haste," Lindman cautioned; "you can't get mining +machinery here for some time yet." + +Corrigan laughed, dragging the Judge to a window, from which he pointed +out some flat-cars standing on a siding, loaded with lumber, machinery, +corrugated iron, shutes, cables, trucks, "T" rails, and other articles +that the Judge did not recognize. + +The Judge exclaimed in astonishment. Corrigan grunted. + +"I ordered that stuff six weeks ago, in anticipation of my victory in your +court. You can see how I trusted in your honesty and perspicacity. I'll +have it on the ground tomorrow--some of it today. Of course I want to +proceed legally, and in order to do that I'll have to have the court order +this morning. You do whatever is necessary." + +At daylight he was in the laborers' camp, skirting the railroad at the +edge of town, looking for Carson. He found the big Irishman in one of the +larger tent-houses, talking with the cook, who was preparing breakfast +amid a smother of smoke and the strong mingled odors of frying bacon and +coffee. Corrigan went only to the flap of the tent, motioning Carson +outside. + +Walking away from the tent toward some small frame buildings down the +track, Corrigan said: + +"There are several carloads of material there," pointing to the flat-cars +which he had shown to the Judge. "I've hired a mining man to superintend +the erection of that stuff--it's mining machinery and material for +buildings. I want you to place as many of your men as you can spare at the +disposal of the engineer; his name's Pickand, and you'll find him at the +cars at eight o'clock. I'll have some more laborers sent over from the +dam. Give him as many men as he wants; go with him yourself, if he wants +you." + +"What are ye goin' to mine?" + +"Coal." + +"Where?" + +"I've been looking over the land with Pickand; he says we'll sink a shaft +at the base of the butte below the mesa, where you are laying tracks now. +We won't have to go far, Pickand says. There's coal--thick veins of +it--running back into the wall of the butte." + +"All right, sir," said Carson. But he scratched his head in perplexity, +eyeing Corrigan sidelong. "Ye woudn't be sayin' that ye'll be diggin' for +coal on the railroad's right av way, wud ye?" + +"No!" snapped Corrigan. + +"Thin it will be on Trevison's land. Have ye bargained wid him for it?" + +"No! Look here, Carson. Mind your own business and do as you're told!" + +"I'm elicted, I s'pose; but it's a job I ain't admirin' to do. If ye've +got half the sinse I give ye credit for havin', ye'll be lettin' that mon +Trevison alone--I'd a lot sooner smoke a segar in that shed av dynamite +than to cross him!" + +Corrigan smiled and turned to look in the direction in which the Irishman +was pointing. A small, flat-roofed frame building, sheathed with +corrugated iron, met his view. Crude signs, large enough to be read +hundreds of feet distant, were affixed to the walls: + + "CAUTION. DYNAMITE." + +"Do you keep much of it there?" + +"Enough for anny blastin' we have to do. There's plenty--half a ton, +mebbe." + +"Who's got the key?" + +"Meself." + +Corrigan returned to town, breakfasted, mounted a horse and rode out to +the dam, where he gave orders for some laborers to be sent to Carson. At +nine o'clock he was back in Manti talking with Pickand, and watching the +dinky engine as it pulled the loaded flat-cars westward over the tracks. +He left Pickand and went to his office in the bank building, where he +conferred with some men regarding various buildings and improvements in +contemplation, and shortly after ten, glancing out of a window, he saw a +buckboard stop in front of the _Castle_ hotel. Corrigan waited a little, +then closed his desk and walked across the street. Shortly he confronted +Hester Harvey in her room. He saw from her downcast manner that she had +failed. His face darkened. + +"Wouldn't work, eh? What did he say?" + +The woman was hunched down in her chair, still wearing the cloak that she +had worn in Trevison's office; the collar still up, the front thrown open. +Her hair was disheveled; dark lines were under her eyes; she glared at +Corrigan in an abandon of savage dejection. + +"He turned me down--cold." Her laugh held the bitterness of self-derision. +"I'm through, there, Jeff." + +"Hell!" cursed the man. She looked at him, her lips curving with amused +contempt. + +"Oh, you're all right--don't worry. That's all you care about, isn't it?" +She laughed harshly at the quickened light in his eyes. "You'd see me +sacrifice myself; you wouldn't give me a word of sympathy. That's you! +That's the way of all men. Give, give, give! That's the masculine +chorus--the hunting-song of the human wolf-pack!" + +"Don't talk like that--it ain't like you, kid. You were always the gamest +little dame I ever knew." He essayed to take the hand that was twisted in +the folds of her cloak, but she drew it away from him in a fury. And the +eagerness in his eyes betrayed the insincerity of his attempt at +consolation; she saw it--the naked selfishness of his look--and sneered at +him. + +"You want the good news, eh? The good for you? That's all you care about. +After you get it, I'll get the husks of your pity. Well, here it is. I've +poisoned them both--against each other. I told him she was against him in +this land business. And it hurt me to see how gamely he took it, Jeff!" +her voice broke, but she choked back the sob and went on, hoarsely: "He +didn't make a whimper. Not even when I told him you were going to marry +her--that you were engaged. But there was a fire in those eyes of his that +I would give my soul to see there for me!" + +"Yes--yes," said the man, impatiently. + +"Oh, you devil!" she railed at him. "I've made him think it was a frame-up +between you and her--to get information out of him; I told him that she +had strung him along for a month or so--amusing herself. And he believes +it." + +"Good!" + +"And I've made her believe that he sent for me," she went on, her voice +leaping to cold savagery. "I stayed all night at his place, and I went +back to the Bar B in the morning--this morning--and made Rosalind Benham +think--Ha, ha! She ordered me away from the house--the hussy! She's +through with him--any fool could tell that. But it's different with him, +Jeff. He won't give her up; he isn't that kind. He'll fight for her--and +he'll have her!" + +The eager, pleased light died out of Corrigan's face, his lips set in an +ugly pout. But he contrived to smile as he got up. + +"You've done well--so far. But don't give him up. Maybe he'll change his +mind. Stay here--I'll stake you to the limit." He laid a roll of bills on +a stand--she did not look at them--and approached her in a second endeavor +to console her. But she waved him away, saying: "Get out of here--I want +to think!" And he obeyed, looking back before he closed the door. + +"Selfish?" he muttered, going down the street. "Well, what of it? That's a +human weakness, isn't it? Get what you want, and to hell with other +people!" + + * * * * * + +Trevison had gone to his room for a much-needed rest. He had watched +Hester Harvey go with no conscious regret, but with a certain grim pity, +which was as futile as her visit. But, lying on the bed he fought hard +against the bitter scorn that raged in him over the contemplation of +Rosalind Benham's duplicity. He found it hard to believe that she had been +duping him, for during the weeks of his acquaintance with her he had +studied her much--with admiration-weighted prejudice, of course, since she +made a strong appeal to him--and he had been certain, then, that she was +as free from guile as a child--excepting any girl's natural artifices by +which she concealed certain emotions that men had no business trying to +read. He had read some of them--his business or not--and he had imagined +he had seen what had fired his blood--a reciprocal affection. He would not +have declared himself, otherwise. + +He went to sleep, thinking of her. He awoke about noon, to see Barkwell +standing at his side, shaking him. + +"Have you got any understandin' with that railroad gang that they're to do +any minin' on the Diamond K range?" + +"No." + +"Well, they're gettin' ready to do it. Over at the butte near the railroad +cut. I passed there a while ago an' quizzed the big guy--Corrigan--about a +gang workin' there. He says they're goin' to mine coal. I asked him if he +had your permission an' he said he didn't need it. I reckon they ain't +none shy on gall where that guy come from!" + +Trevison got out of bed and buckled on his cartridge belt and pistol. "The +boys are working the Willow Creek range," he said, sharply. "Get them, +tell them to load up with plenty of cartridges, and join me at the +butte." + +He heard Barkwell go leaping down the stairs, his spurs striking the step +edges, and a few minutes later, riding Nigger out of the corral he saw the +foreman racing away in a dust cloud. He followed the bed of the river, +himself, going at a slow lope, for he wanted time to think--to gain +control of the rage that boiled in his veins. He conquered it, and when he +came in sight of the butte he was cool and deliberate, though on his face +was that "mean" look that Carson had once remarked about to his friend +Murphy, partly hidden by the "tiger" smile which, the Irishman had +discovered, preceded action, ruthless and swift. + +The level below the butte was a-buzz with life and energy. Scores of +laborers were rushing about under the direction of a tall, thin, +bespectacled man who seemed to be the moving spirit in all the activity. +He shouted orders to Carson--Trevison saw the big figure of the Irishman +dominating the laborers--who repeated them, added to them; sending men +scampering hither and thither. Pausing at a little distance down the +level, Trevison watched the scene. At first all seemed confusion, but +presently he was able to discern that method ruled. For he now observed +that the laborers were divided into "gangs." Some were unloading the +flat-cars, others were "assembling" a stationary engine near the wall of +the butte. They had a roof over it, already. Others were laying tracks +that intersected with the main line; still others were erecting buildings +along the level. They were on Trevison's land--there was no doubt of that. +Moreover, they were erecting their buildings and apparatus at the point +where Trevison himself had contemplated making a start. He saw Corrigan +seated on a box on one of the flat-cars, smoking a cigar; another man, +whom Trevison recognized as Gieger--he would have been willing to swear +the man was one of those who had thwarted his plans in the +courthouse--standing beside him, a Winchester rifle resting in the hollow +of his left arm. Trevison urged Nigger along the level, down the track, +and halted near Corrigan and Gieger. He knew that Corrigan had seen him, +but it pleased the other to pretend that he had not. + +"This is your work, Corrigan--I take it?" said Trevison, bluntly. + +Corrigan turned slowly. He was a good actor, for he succeeded in getting a +fairly convincing counterfeit of surprise into his face as his gaze fell +on his enemy. + +"You have taken it correctly, sir." He smiled blandly, though there was a +snapping alertness in his eyes that belied his apparent calmness. He +turned to Gieger, ignoring Trevison. "Organization is the thing. Pickand +is a genius at it," he said. + +Trevison's eyes flamed with rage over this deliberate insult. But in it he +saw a cold design to make him lose his temper. The knowledge brought a +twisting smile to his face. + +"You have permission to begin this work, I suppose?" + +Corrigan turned again, as though astonished at the persistence of the +other. "Certainly, sir. This work is being done under a court order, +issued this morning. I applied for it yesterday. I am well within my legal +rights, the court having as you are aware, settled the question of the +title." + +"You know I have appealed the case?" + +"I have not been informed that you have done so. In any event such an +appeal would not prevent me mining the coal on the property, pending the +hearing of the case in the higher court. Judge Lindman has appointed a +receiver, who is bonded; and the work is to proceed under his direction. I +am here merely as an onlooker." + +He looked fairly at Trevison, his eyes gleaming with cold derision. The +expression maddened the other beyond endurance, and his eyes danced the +chill glitter of meditated violence, unrecking consequences. + +"You're a sneaking crook, Corrigan, and you know it! You're going too far! +You've had Braman appointed in order to escape the responsibility! You're +hiding behind him like a coward! Come out into the open and fight like a +man!" + +Corrigan's face bloated poisonously, but he made no hostile move. "I'll +kill you for that some day!" he whispered. "Not now," he laughed +mirthlessly as the other stiffened; "I can't take the risk right now--I've +too much depending on me. But you've been damned impertinent and +troublesome, and when I get you where I want you I'm going to serve you +like this!" And he took the cigar from his mouth, dropped it to the floor +of the car and ground it to pieces under his heel. He looked up again, at +Trevison, and their gaze met, in each man's eyes glowed the knowledge of +imminent action, ruthless and terrible. + +Trevison broke the tension with a laugh that came from between his teeth. +"Why delay?" he mocked. "I've been ready for the grinding process since +the first day." + +"Enough of this!" Corrigan turned to Gieger with a glance of cold +intolerance. "This man is a nuisance," he said to the deputy. "Carry out +the mandate of the court and order him away. If he doesn't go, kill him! +He is a trespasser, and has no right here!" And he glared at Trevison. + +"You've got to get out, mister," said the deputy. He tapped his rifle +menacingly, betraying a quick accession of rage that he caught, no doubt, +from Corrigan. Trevison smiled coldly, and backed Nigger a little. For an +instant he meditated resistance, and dropped his right hand to the butt of +his pistol. A shout distracted his attention. It came from behind him--it +sounded like a warning, and he wheeled, to see Carson running toward him, +not more than ten feet distant, waving his hands, a huge smile on his +face. + +"Domned if it ain't Trevison!" he yelled as he lunged forward and caught +Trevison's right hand in his own, pulling the rider toward him. "I've been +wantin' to spake a word wid ye for two weeks now--about thim cows which me +brother in Illinoy has been askin' me about, an' divvil a chance have I +had to see ye!" And as he yanked Trevison's shoulders downward with a +sudden pressure that there was no resisting, he whispered, rapidly. + +"Diputies--thirty av thim wid Winchesters--on the other side av the +flat-cars. It's a thrap to do away wid ye--I heard 'em cookin' it!" + +"An' ye wudn't be sellin' 'em to me at twinty-five, eh?" he said, aloud. +"Go 'long wid ye--ye're a domned hold-up man, like all the rist av thim!" +And he slapped the black horse playfully in the ribs and laughed gleefully +as the animal lunged at him, ears laid back, mouth open. + +His eyes cold, his lips hard and straight, Trevison spurred the black +again to the flat-car. + +"The bars are down between us, Corrigan; it's man to man from now on. Law +or no law, I give you twenty-four hours to get your men and apparatus off +my land. After that I won't be responsible for what happens!" He heard a +shout behind him, a clatter, and he turned to see ten or twelve of his men +racing over the level toward him. At the same instant he heard a sharp +exclamation from Corrigan; heard Gieger issue a sharp order, and a line of +men raised their heads above the flat-cars, rifles in their hands, which +they trained on the advancing cowboys. + +Nigger leaped; his rider holding up one hand, the palm toward his men, as +a sign to halt, while he charged into them. Trevison talked fast to them, +while the laborers, suspending work, watched, muttering; and the rifles, +resting on the flat-cars, grew steadier in their owners' hands. The +silence grew deeper; the tension was so great that when somewhere a man +dropped a shovel, it startled the watchers like a sudden bomb. + +It was plain that Trevison's men wanted to fight. It was equally plain +that Trevison was arguing to dissuade them. And when, muttering, and +casting belligerent looks backward, they finally drew off, Trevison +following, there was a sigh of relief from the watchers, while Corrigan's +face was black with disappointment. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +A WOMAN RIDES IN VAIN + + +Out of Rosalind Benham's resentment against Trevison for the Hester Harvey +incident grew a sudden dull apathy--which presently threatened to become +an aversion--for the West. Its crudeness, the uncouthness of its people; +the emptiness, the monotony, began to oppress her. Noticing the waning of +her enthusiasm, Agatha began to inject energetic condemnations of the +country into her conversations with the girl, and to hint broadly of the +contrasting allurements of the East. + +But Rosalind was not yet ready to desert the Bar B. She had been hurt, and +her interest in the country had dulled, but there were memories over which +one might meditate until--until one could be certain of some things. This +was hope, insistently demanding delay of judgment. The girl could not +forget the sincere ring in Trevison's voice when he had told her that he +would never go back to Hester Harvey. Arrayed against this declaration was +the cold fact of Hester's visit, and Hester's statement that Trevison had +sent for her. In this jumble of contradiction hope found a fertile field. + +If Corrigan had anticipated that the knowledge of Hester's visit to +Trevison would have the effect of centering Rosalind's interest on him, he +had erred. Corrigan was magnetic; the girl felt the lure of him. In his +presence she was continually conscious of his masterfulness, with a +dismayed fear that she would yield to it. She knew this sensation was not +love, for it lacked the fire and the depth of the haunting, breathless +surge of passion that she had felt when she had held Trevison off the day +when he had declared his love for her--that she felt whenever she thought +of him. But with Trevison lost to her--she did not know what would happen, +then. For the present her resentment was sufficient to keep her mind +occupied. + +She had a dread of meeting Corrigan this morning. Also, Agatha's continued +deprecatory speeches had begun to annoy her, and at ten o'clock she +ordered one of the men to saddle her horse. + +She rode southward, following a trail that brought her to Levins' cabin. +The cabin was built of logs, smoothly hewn and tightly joined, situated at +the edge of some timber in a picturesque spot at a point where a shallow +creek doubled in its sweep toward some broken country west of Manti. + +Rosalind had visited Mrs. Levins many times. The warmth of her welcome on +her first visit had resulted in a quick intimacy which, with an immediate +estimate of certain needs by Rosalind, had brought her back in the role of +Lady Bountiful. "Chuck" and "Sissy" Levins welcomed her vociferously as +she splashed across the river to the door of the cabin this morning. + +"You're clean spoilin' them, Miss Rosalind!" declared the mother, watching +from the doorway; "they've got so they expect you to bring them a present +every time you come." + +Sundry pats and kisses sufficed to assuage the pangs of disappointment +suffered by the children, and shortly afterward Rosalind was inside the +cabin, talking with Mrs. Levins, and watching Clay, who was painstakingly +mending a breach in his cartridge belt. + +Rosalind had seen Clay once only, and that at a distance, and she stole +interested glances at him. There was a certain attraction in Clay's lean +face, with its cold, alert furtiveness, but it was an attraction that bred +chill instead of warmth, for his face revealed a wild, reckless, +intolerant spirit, remorseless, contemptuous of law and order. Several +times she caught him watching her, and his narrowed, probing glances +disconcerted her. She cut her visit short because of his presence, and +when she rose to go he turned in his chair. + +"You like this country, ma'am?" + +"Well--yes. But it is much different, after the East." + +"Some smoother there, eh? Folks are slicker?" + +She eyed him appraisingly, for there was an undercurrent of significance +in his voice. She smiled. "Well--I suppose so. You see, competition is +keener in the East, and it rather sharpens one's wits, I presume." + +"H'm. I reckon you're right. This railroad has brought some _mighty_ slick +ones here. Mighty slick an' gally." He looked at her truculently. +"Corrigan's one of the slick ones. Friend of yours, eh?" + +"Clay!" remonstrated his wife, sharply. + +He turned on her roughly. "You keep out of this! I ain't meanin' nothin' +wrong. But I reckon when anyone's got a sneakin' coyote for a friend an' +don't know it, it's doin' 'em a good turn to spit things right out, frank +an' fair. + +"This Corrigan ain't on the level, ma'am. Do you know what he's doin'? +He's skinnin' the folks in this country out of about a hundred thousand +acres of land. He's clouded every damn title. He's got a fake bill of sale +to show that he bought the land years ago--which he didn't--an' he's got a +little beast of a judge here to back him up in his play. They've done away +with the original record of the land, an' rigged up another, which makes +Corrigan's title clear. It's the rankest robbery that any man ever tried +to pull off, an' if he's a friend of yourn you ought to cut him off your +visitin' list!" + +"How do you know that? Who told you?" asked the girl, her face whitening, +for the man's vehemence and evident earnestness were convincing. + +"'Brand' Trevison told me. It hits him mighty damned hard. He had a deed +to his land. Corrigan broke open his office an' stole it. Trevison's +certain sure his deed was on the record, for he went to Dry Bottom with +Buck Peters--the man he bought the land from--an' seen it wrote down on +the record!" He laughed harshly. "There's goin' to be hell to pay here. +Trevison won't stand for it--though the other gillies are advisin' +caution. Caution hell! I'm for cleanin' the scum out! Do you know what +Corrigan done, yesterday? He got thirty or so deputies--pluguglies that +he's hired--an' hid 'em behind some flat-cars down on the level where +they're erectin' some minin' machinery. He laid a trap for 'Firebrand,' +expectin' him to come down there, rippin' mad because they was puttin' the +minin' machinery up on his land, wi'out his permission. They was goin' to +shoot him--Corrigan put 'em up to it. That Carson fello' heard it an' put +'Firebrand' wise. An' the shootin' didn't come off. But that's only the +beginnin'!" + +"Did Trevison tell you to tell me this?" The girl was stunned, amazed, +incredulous. For her father was concerned in this, and if he had any +knowledge that Corrigan was stealing land--if he _was_ stealing it--he was +guilty as Corrigan. If he had no knowledge of it, she might be able to +prevent the steal by communicating with him. + +"Trevison tell me?" laughed Levins, scornfully; "'Firebrand' ain't no +pussy-kitten fighter which depends on women standin' between him an' +trouble. I'm tellin' you on my own hook, so's that big stiff Corrigan +won't get swelled up, thinkin' he's got a chance to hitch up with you in +the matrimonial wagon. That guy's got murder in his heart, girl. Did you +hear of me shootin' that sneak, Marchmont?" The girl had heard rumors of +the affair; she nodded, and Levins went on. "It was Corrigan that hired me +to do it--payin' me a thousand, cash." His wife gasped, and he spoke +gently to her. "That's all right, Ma; it wasn't no cold-blooded +affair--Jim Marchmont knowed a sister of mine pretty intimate, when he was +out here years ago, an' I settled a debt that I thought I owed to her, +that's all. I ain't none sorry, neither--I knowed him soon as Corrigan +mentioned his name. But I hadn't no time to call his attention to +things--I had to plug him, sudden. I'm sorry I've said this, ma'am, now +that it's out," he said in a changed voice, noting the girl's distress; +"but I felt you ought to know who you're dealin' with." + +Rosalind went out, swaying, her knees shaking. She heard Levins' wife +reproving him; heard the man replying gruffly. She felt that it _must_ be +so. She cared nothing about Corrigan, beyond a certain regret, but a wave +of sickening fear swept over her at the growing conviction that her father +_must_ know something of all this. And if, as Levins said, Corrigan was +attempting to defraud these people, she felt that common justice required +that she head him off, if possible. By defeating Corrigan's aim she would, +of course, be aiding Trevison, and through him Hester Harvey, whom she had +grown to despise, but that hatred should not deter her. She mounted her +horse in a fever of anxiety and raced it over the plains toward Manti, +determined to find Corrigan and force him to tell her the truth. + +Half way to town she saw a rider coming, and she slowed her own horse, +taking the rider to be Corrigan, coming to the Bar B. She saw her mistake +when the rider was within a hundred feet of her. She blushed, then paled, +and started to pass the rider without speaking, for it was Trevison. She +looked up when he urged Nigger against her animal, blocking the trail, +frowning. + +"Look here," he said; "what's wrong? Why do you avoid me? I saw you on the +Diamond K range the other day, and when I started to ride toward you you +whipped up your horse. You tried to pass me just now. What have I done to +deserve it?" + +She could not tell him about Hester Harvey, of course, and so she was +silent, blushing a little. He took her manner as an indication of guilt, +and gritted his teeth with the pain that the discovery caused him, for he +had been hoping, too--that his suspicions of her were groundless. + +"I do not care to discuss the matter with you." She looked fairly at him, +her resentment flaming in her eyes, fiercely indignant over his effrontery +in addressing her in that manner, after his affair with Hester Harvey. She +was going to help him, but that did not mean that she was going to blind +herself to his faults, or to accept them mutely. His bold confidence in +himself--which she had once admired--repelled her now; she saw in it the +brazen egotism of the gross sensualist, seeking new victims. + +"I am in a hurry," she said, stiffly; "you will pardon me if I proceed." + +He jumped Nigger off the trail and watched with gloomy, disappointed eyes, +her rapid progress toward Manti. Then he urged Nigger onward, toward +Levins' cabin. "I'll have to erect another monument to my faith in women," +he muttered. And certain reckless, grim thoughts that had rioted in his +mind since the day before, now assumed a definiteness that made his blood +leap with eagerness. + +Later, when Rosalind sat opposite Corrigan at his desk, she found it hard +to believe Levins' story. The big man's smooth plausibility made Levins' +recital seem like the weird imaginings of a disordered mind, goaded to +desperation by opposition. And again, his magnetism, his polite +consideration for her feelings, his ingenuous, smiling deference--so +sharply contrasted with Trevison's direct bluntness--swayed her, and she +sat, perplexed, undecided, when he finished the explanation she had coldly +demanded of him. + +"It is the invariable defense of these squatters," he added; "that they +are being robbed. In this case they have embellished their hackneyed tale +somewhat by dragging the court into it, and telling you that absurd story +about the shooting of Marchmont. Could you tell me what possible interest +I could have in wanting Marchmont killed? Don't you think, Miss Rosalind, +that Levins' reference to his sister discloses the real reason for the +man's action? Levins' story that I paid him a thousand dollars is a +fabrication, pure and simple. I paid Jim Marchmont a thousand dollars that +morning, which was the balance due him on our contract. The transaction +was witnessed by Judge Lindman. After Marchmont was shot, Levins took the +money from him." + +"Why wasn't Levins arrested?" + +"It seems that public opinion was with Levins. A great many people here +knew of the ancient trouble between them." He passed from that, quickly. +"The tale of the robbery of Trevison's office is childlike, for the reason +that Trevison had no deed. Judge Lindman is an honored and respected +official. And--" he added as a last argument "--your father is the +respected head of a large and important railroad. Is it logical to suppose +that he would lend his influence and his good name to any such ridiculous +scheme?" + +She sighed, almost convinced. Corrigan went on, earnestly: + +"This man Trevison is a disturber--he has always been that. He has no +respect for the law or property. He associates with the self-confessed +murderer, Levins. He is a riotous, reckless, egotistical fool who, because +the law stands in the way of his desires, wishes to trample it under foot +and allow mob rule to take its place. Do you remember you mentioned that +he once loved a woman named Hester Keyes? Well, he has brought Hester +here--" + +She got up, her chin at a scornful angle. "I do not care to hear about his +personal affairs." She went out, mounted her horse, and rode slowly out +the Bar B trail. From a window Corrigan watched her, and as she vanished +into the distance he turned back to his desk, meditating darkly. + +"Trevison put Levins up to that. He's showing yellow." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +AND RIDES AGAIN--IN VAIN + + +Rosalind's reflections as she rode toward the Bar B convinced her that +there had been much truth in Corrigan's arraignment of Trevison. Out of +her own knowledge of him, and from his own admission to her on the day +they had ridden to Blakeley's the first time, she adduced evidence of his +predilection for fighting, of his utter disregard for accepted +authority--when that authority disagreed with his conception of justice; +of his lawlessness when his desires were in question. His impetuosity was +notorious, for it had earned him the sobriquet "Firebrand," which he could +not have acquired except through the exhibition of those traits that she +had enumerated. + +She was disappointed and spiritless when she reached the ranchhouse, and +very tired, physically. Agatha's questions irritated her, and she ate +sparingly of the food set before her, eager to be alone. In the isolation +of her room she lay dumbly on the bed, and there the absurdity of Levins' +story assailed her. It must be as Corrigan had said--her father was too +great a man to descend to such despicable methods. She dropped off to +sleep. + +When she awoke the sun had gone down, and her room was cheerless in the +semi-dusk. She got up, washed, combed her hair, and much refreshed, went +downstairs and ate heartily, Agatha watching her narrowly. + +"You are distraught, my dear," ventured her relative. "I don't think this +country agrees with you. Has anything happened?" + +The girl answered evasively, whereat Agatha compressed her lips. + +"Don't you think that a trip East--" + +"I shall not go home this summer!" declared Rosalind, vehemently. And +noting the flash in the girl's eyes, belligerent and defiant; her swelling +breast, the warning brilliance of her eyes, misty with pent-up emotion, +Agatha wisely subsided and the meal was finished in a strained silence. + +Later, Rosalind went out, alone, upon the porch where, huddled in a big +rocker, she gazed gloomily at the lights of Manti, dim and distant. +Something of the turmoil and the tumult of the town in its young strength +and vigor, assailed her, contrasting sharply with the solemn peace of her +own surroundings. Life had been a very materialistic problem to her, +heretofore. She had lived it according to her environment, a mere +onlooker, detached from the scheme of things. Something of the meaning of +life trickled into her consciousness as she sat there watching the +flickering lights of the town--something of the meaning of it all--the +struggle of these new residents twanged a hidden chord of sympathy and +understanding in her. She was able to visualize them as she sat there. +Faces flashed before her--strong, stern, eager; the owner of each a-thrill +with his ambition, going forward in the march of progress with definite +aim, planning, plotting, scheming--some of them winning, others losing, +but all obsessed with a feverish desire of success. The railroad, the +town, the ranches, the new dam, the people--all were elements of a +conflict, waged ceaselessly. She sat erect, her blood tingling. Blows were +being struck, taken. + +"Oh," she cried, sharply; "it's a game! It's the spirit of the nation--to +fight, to press onward, to win!" And in that moment she was seized with a +throbbing sympathy for Trevison, and filled with a yearning that he might +win, in spite of Corrigan, Hester Harvey, and all the others--even her +father. For he was a courageous player of this "game." In him was typified +the spirit of the nation. + + * * * * * + +Rosalind might have added something to her thoughts had she known of the +passions that filled Trevison when, while she sat on the porch of the Bar +B ranchhouse, he mounted Nigger and sent him scurrying through the mellow +moonlight toward Manti. He was playing the "game," with justice as his +goal. The girl had caught something of the spirit of it all, but she had +neglected to grasp the all-important element of the relations between men, +without which laws, rules, and customs become farcical and ridiculous. He +was determined to have justice. He knew well that Judge Graney's mission +to Washington would result in failure unless the deed to his property +could be recovered, or the original record disclosed. Even then, with a +weak and dishonest judge on the bench the issue might be muddled by a mass +of legal technicalities. The court order permitting Braman to operate a +mine on his property goaded him to fury. + +He stopped at Hanrahan's saloon, finding Lefingwell there and talking with +him for a few minutes. Lefingwell's docile attitude disgusted him--he said +he had talked the matter over with a number of the other owners, and they +had expressed themselves as being in favor of awaiting the result of his +appeal. He left Lefingwell, not trusting himself to argue the question of +the man's attitude, and went down to the station, where he found a +telegram awaiting him. It was from Judge Graney: + + Coming home. Case sent back to Circuit Court for hearing. Depend on + you to get evidence. + +Trevison crumpled the paper and shoved it savagely into a pocket. He stood +for a long time on the station platform, in the dark, glowering at the +lights of the town, then started abruptly and made his way into the +gambling room of the _Plaza_, where he somberly watched the players. The +rattle of chips, the whir of the wheel, the monotonous drone of the faro +dealer, the hum of voices, some eager, some tense, others exultant or +grumbling, the incessant jostling, irritated him. He went out the front +door, stepped down into the street, and walked eastward. Passing an open +space between two buildings he became aware of the figure of a woman, and +he wheeled as she stepped forward and grasped his arm. He recognized her +and tried to pass on, but she clung to him. + +"Trev!" she said, appealingly; "I want to talk with you. It's very +important--really. Just a minute, Trev. Won't you talk _that_ long! Come +to my room--where--" + +"Talk fast," he admonished, holding her off,"--and talk here." + +She struggled with him, trying to come closer, twisting so that her body +struck his, and the contact brought a grim laugh out of him. He seized her +by the shoulders and held her at arm's length. "Talk from there--it's +safer. Now, if you've anything important--" + +"O Trev--please--" She laughed, almost sobbing, but forced the tears back +when she saw derision blazing in his eyes. + +"I told you it was all over!" He pushed her away and started off, but he +had taken only two steps when she was at his side again. + +"I saw you from my window, Trev. I--I knew it was you--I couldn't mistake +you, anywhere. I followed you--saw you go into the _Plaza_. I came to warn +you. Corrigan has planned to goad you into doing some rash thing so that +he will have an excuse to jail or kill you!" + +"Where did you hear that?" + +"I--I just heard it. I was in the bank today, and I overheard him talking +to a man--some officer, I think. Be careful, Trev--very careful, won't +you?" + +"Careful as I can," he laughed, lowly. "Thank you." He started on again, +and she grasped his arm. "Trev," she pleaded. + +"What's the use, Hester?" he said; "it can't be." + +"Well, God bless you, anyway, dear," she said chokingly. + +He passed on, leaving her in the shadows of the buildings, and walked far +out on the plains. Making a circuit to avoid meeting the woman again, he +skirted the back yards, stumbling over tin cans and debris in his +progress. When he got to the shed where he had hitched Nigger he mounted +and rode down the railroad tracks toward the cut, where an hour later he +was joined by Clay Levins, who came toward him, riding slowly and +cautiously. + + * * * * * + +Patrick Carson had wooed sleep unsuccessfully. For hours he lay on his cot +in the tent, staring out through the flap at the stars. A vague unrest had +seized him. He heard the hilarious din of Manti steadily decrease in +volume until only intermittent noises reached his ears. But even when +comparative peace came he was still wide awake. + +"I'll be gettin' the willies av I lay here much longer widout slape," he +confided to his pillow. "Mebbe a turn down the track wid me dujeen wud do +the thrick." He got up, lighted his pipe and strode off into the +semi-gloom of the railroad track. He went aimlessly, paying little +attention to objects around him. He passed the tents wherein the laborers +lay--and smiled as heavy snores smote his ears. "They slape a heap harder +than they worruk, bedad!" he observed, grinning. "Nothin' c'ud trouble a +ginney's conscience, annyway," he scoffed. "But, accordin' to that they +must be a heap on me own!" Which observation sent his thoughts to +Corrigan. "Begob, there's a man! A domned rogue, if iver they was one!" + +He passed the tents, smoking thoughtfully. He paused when he came to the +small buildings scattered about at quite a distance from the tents, then +left the tracks and made his way through the deep alkali dust toward +them. + +"Whativer wud Corrigan be askin' about the dynamite for? 'How much do ye +kape av it?' he was askin'. As if it was anny av his business!" + +He stopped puffing at his pipe and stood rigid, watching with bulging +eyes, for he saw the door of the dynamite shed move outward several +inches, as though someone inside had shoved it. It closed again, slowly, +and Carson was convinced that he had been seen. He was no coward, but a +cold sweat broke out on him and his knees doubled weakly. For any man who +would visit the dynamite shed around midnight, in this stealthy manner, +must be in a desperate frame of mind, and Carson's virile imagination drew +lurid pictures of a gun duel in which a stray shot penetrated the wall of +the shed. He shivered at the roar of the explosion that followed; he even +drew a gruesome picture of stretchers and mangled flesh that brought a +groan out of him. + +But in spite of his mental stress he lunged forward, boldly, though his +breath wheezed from his lungs in great gasps. His body lagged, but his +will was indomitable, once he quit looking at the pictures of his +imagination. He was at the door of the shed in a dozen strides. + +The lock had been forced; the hasp was hanging, suspended from a twisted +staple. Carson had no pistol--it would have been useless, anyway. + +Carson hesitated, vacillating between two courses. Should he return for +help, or should he secrete himself somewhere and watch? The utter +foolhardiness of attempting the capture of the prowler single handed +assailed him, and he decided on retreat. He took one step, and then stood +rigid in his tracks, for a voice filtered thinly through the doorway, +hoarse, vibrant: + +"Don't forget the fuses." + +Carson's lips formed the word: "Trevison!" + +Carson's breath came easier; his thoughts became more coherent, his +recollection vivid; his sympathies leaped like living things. When his +thoughts dwelt upon the scene at the butte during Trevison's visit while +the mining machinery was being erected--the trap that Corrigan had +prepared for the man--a grim smile wreathed his face, for he strongly +suspected what was meant by Trevison's visit to the dynamite shed. + +He slipped cautiously around a corner of the shed, making no sound in the +deep dust surrounding it, and stole back the way he had come, tingling. + +"Begob, I'll slape now--a little while!" + +As Carson vanished down the tracks a head was stuck out through the +doorway of the shed and turned so that its owner could scan his +surroundings. + +"All clear," he whispered. + +"Get going, then," said another voice, and two men, their faces muffled +with handkerchiefs, bearing something that bulked their pockets oddly, +slipped out of the door and fled noiselessly, like gliding shadows, down +the track toward the cut. + + * * * * * + +Rosalind had been asleep in the rocker. A cool night breeze, laden with +the strong, pungent aroma of sage, sent a shiver over her and she awoke, +to see that the lights of Manti had vanished. An eerie lonesomeness had +settled around her. + +"Why, it must be nearly midnight!" she said. She got up, yawning, and +stepped toward the door, wondering why Agatha had not called her. But +Agatha had retired, resenting the girl's manner. + +Almost to the door, Rosalind detected movement in the ghostly semi-light +that flooded the plains between the porch and the picturesque spot, more +than a mile away, on which Levins' cabin stood. She halted at the door and +watched, and when the moving object resolved into a horse, loping swiftly, +she strained her eyes toward it. At first it seemed to have no rider, but +when it had approached to within a hundred yards of her, she gasped, +leaped off the porch and ran toward the horse. An instant later she stood +at the animal's head, voicing her astonishment. + +"Why, it's Chuck Levins! Why on earth are you riding around at this hour +of the night?" + +"Sissy's sick. Maw wants you to please come an' see what you can do--if it +ain't too much trouble." + +"Trouble?" The girl laughed. "I should say not! Wait until I saddle my +horse!" + +She ran to the porch and stole silently into the house, emerging with a +small medicine case, which she stuck into a pocket of her coat. Once +before she had had occasion to use her simple remedies on Sissy--an +illness as simple as her remedies; but she could feel something of Mrs. +Levins' concern for her offspring, and--and it was an ideal night for a +gallop over the plains. + +It was almost midnight by the Levins' clock when she entered the cabin, +and a quick diagnosis of her case with an immediate application of one of +her remedies, brought results. At half past twelve Sissy was sleeping +peacefully, and Chuck had dozed off, fully dressed, no doubt ready to +re-enact his manly and heroic role upon call. + +It was not until Rosalind was ready to go that Mrs. Levins apologized for +her husband's rudeness to his guest. + +"Clay feels awfully bitter against Corrigan. It's because Corrigan is +fighting Trevison--and Trevison is Clay's friend--they've been like +brothers. Trevison has done so much for us." + +Rosalind glanced around the cabin. She had meant to ask Chuck why his +father had not come on the midnight errand, but had forebore. "Mr. Levins +isn't here?" + +"Clay went away about nine o'clock." The woman did not meet Rosalind's +direct gaze; she flushed under it and looked downward, twisting her +fingers in her apron. Rosalind had noted a strangeness in the woman's +manner when she had entered the cabin, but she had ascribed it to the +child's illness, and had thought nothing more of it. But now it burst upon +her with added force, and when she looked up again Rosalind saw there was +an odd, strained light in her eyes--a fear, a dread--a sinister something +that she shrank from. Rosalind remembered the killing of Marchmont, and +had a quick divination of impending trouble. + +"What is it, Mrs. Levins? What has happened?" + +The woman gulped hard, and clenched her hands. Evidently, whatever her +trouble, she had determined to bear it alone, but was now wavering. + +"Tell me, Mrs. Levins; perhaps I can help you?" + +"You can!" The words burst sobbingly from the woman. "Maybe you can +prevent it. But, oh, Miss Rosalind, I wasn't to say anything--Clay told me +not to. But I'm so afraid! Clay's so hot-headed, and Trevison is so +daring! I'm afraid they won't stop at anything!" + +"But what is it?" demanded Rosalind, catching something of the woman's +excitement. + +"It's about the machinery at the butte--the mining machinery. My God, +you'll never say I told you--will you? But they're going to blow it up +tonight--Clay and Trevison; they're going to dynamite it! I'm afraid there +will be murder done!" + +"Why didn't you tell me before?" The girl stood rigid, white, breathless. + +"Oh, I ought to," moaned the woman. "But I was afraid you'd +tell--Corrigan--somebody--and--and they'd get into trouble with the law!" + +"I won't tell--but I'll stop it--if there's time! For your sake. Trevison +is the one to blame." + +She inquired about the location of the butte; the shortest trail, and then +ran out to her horse. Once in the saddle she drew a deep breath and sent +the animal scampering into the flood of moonlight. + + * * * * * + +Down toward the cut the two men ran, and when they reached a gully at a +distance of several hundred feet from the dynamite shed they came upon +their horses. Mounting, they rode rapidly down the track toward the butte +where the mining machinery was being erected. They had taken the +handkerchiefs off while they ran, and now Trevison laughed with the hearty +abandon of a boy whose mischievous prank has succeeded. + +"That was easy. I thought I heard a noise, though, when you backed against +the door and shoved it open." + +"Nobody usually monkeys around a dynamite shed at night," returned Levins. +"Whew! There's enough of that stuff there to blow Manti to Kingdom +Come--wherever that is." + +They rode boldly across the level at the base of the butte, for they had +reconnoitered after meeting on the plains just outside of town, and knew +Corrigan had left no one on guard. + +"It's a cinch," Levins declared as they dismounted from their horses in +the shelter of a shoulder of the butte, about a hundred yards from where +the corrugated iron building, nearly complete, loomed somberly on the +level. "But if they'd ever get evidence that we done it--" + +Trevison laughed lowly, with a grim humor that made Levins look sharply at +him. "That abandoned pueblo on the creek near your shack is built like a +fortress, Levins." + +"What in hell has this job got to do with that dobie pile?" questioned the +other. + +"Plenty. Oh, you're curious, now. But I'm going to keep you guessing for a +day or two." + +"You'll go loco--give you time," scoffed Levins. + +"Somebody else will go crazy when this stuff lets go," laughed Trevison, +tapping his pockets. + +Levins snickered. They trailed the reins over the heads of their horses, +and walked swiftly toward the corrugated iron building. Halting in the +shadow of it, they held a hurried conference, and then separated, Trevison +going toward the engine, already set up, with its flimsy roof covering it, +and working around it for a few minutes, then darting from it to a small +building filled with tools and stores, and to a pile of machinery and +supplies stacked against the wall of the butte. They worked rapidly, +elusive as shadows in the deep gloom of the wall of the butte, and when +their work was completed they met in the full glare of the moonlight near +the corrugated iron building and whispered again. + + * * * * * + +Lashing her horse over a strange trail, Rosalind Benham came to a thicket +of gnarled fir-balsam and scrub oak that barred her way completely. She +had ridden hard and her horse breathed heavily during the short time she +spent looking about her. Her own breath was coming sharply, sobbing in her +throat, but it was more from excitement than from the hazard and labor of +the ride, for she had paid little attention to the trail, beyond giving +the horse direction, trusting to the animal's wisdom, accepting the risks +as a matter-of-course. It was the imminence of violence that had aroused +her, the portent of a lawless deed that might result in tragedy. She had +told Mrs. Levins that she was doing this thing for _her_ sake, but she +knew better. She _did_ consider the woman, but she realized that her +dominating passion was for the grim-faced young man who, discouraged, +driven to desperation by the force of circumstances--just or not--was +fighting for what he considered were his rights--the accumulated results +of ten years of exile and work. She wanted to save him from this deed, +from the results of it, even though there was nothing but condemnation in +her heart for him because of it. + +"To the left of the thicket is a slope," Mrs. Levins had told her. She +stopped only long enough to get her bearings, and at her panting, "Go!" +the horse leaped. They were at the crest of the slope quickly, facing the +bottom, yawning, deep, dark. She shut her eyes as the horse took it, +leaning back to keep from falling over the animal's head, holding tightly +to the pommel of the saddle. They got down, someway, and when she felt the +level under them she lashed the horse again, and urged him around a +shoulder of the precipitous wall that loomed above her, frowning and +somber. + +She heard a horse whinny as she flashed past the shoulder, her own beast +tearing over the level with great catlike leaps, but she did not look +back, straining her eyes to peer into the darkness along the wall of the +butte for sight of the buildings and machinery. + +She saw them soon after passing the shoulder, and exclaimed her thanks +sharply. + + * * * * * + +"All set," said one of the shadowy figures near the corrugated iron +building. A match flared, was applied to a stick of punk in the hands of +each man, and again they separated, each running, applying the glowing +wand here and there. + +Trevison's work took him longest, and when he leaped from the side of a +mound of supplies Levins was already running back toward the shoulder +where they had left their horses. They joined, then split apart, their +weapons leaping into their hands, for they heard the rapid drumming of +horse's hoofs. + +"They're coming!" panted Trevison, his jaws setting as he plunged on +toward the shoulder of the butte. "Run low and duck at the flash of their +guns!" he warned Levins. + +A wide swoop brought the oncoming horse around the shoulder of the butte +into full view. As the moonlight shone, momentarily, on the rider, +Trevison cried out, hoarsely: + +"God, it's a woman!" + +He leaped, at the words, out of the shadow of the butte into the moonlight +of the level, straight into the path of the running horse, which at sight +of him slid, reared and came to a halt, snorting and trembling. Trevison +had recognized the girl; he flung himself at the horse, muttering: +"Dynamite!" seized the beast by the bridle, forced its head around despite +the girl's objections and incoherent pleadings--some phrases of which sank +home, but were disregarded. + +"Don't!" she cried, fiercely, as he struck the animal with his fist to +accelerate its movements. She was still crying to him, wildly, +hysterically, as he got the animal's head around and slapped it sharply on +the hip, his pistol crashing at its heels. + +The frightened animal clattered over the back trail, Trevison running +after it. He reached Nigger, flung himself into the saddle, and raced +after Levins, who was already far down the level, following Rosalind's +horse. At a turn in the butte he came upon them both, their horses halted, +the girl berating Levins, the man laughing lowly at her. + +"Don't!" she cried to Trevison as he rode up. "Please, Trevison--don't let +_that_ happen! It's criminal; it's outlawry!" + +"Too late," he said grimly, and rode close to her to grasp the bridle of +her horse. Standing thus, they waited--an age, to the girl, in reality +only a few seconds. Then the deep, solemn silence of the night was split +by a hollow roar, which echoed and re-echoed as though a thousand thunder +storms had centered over their heads. A vivid flash, extended, effulgent, +lit the sky, the earth rocked, the canyon walls towering above them seemed +to sway and reel drunkenly. The girl covered her face with her hands. +Another blast smote the night, reverberating on the heels of the other; +there followed another and another, so quickly that they blended; then +another, with a distinct interval between. Then a breathless, unreal calm, +through which distant echoes rumbled; then a dead silence, shattered at +last by a heavy, distant clatter, as though myriad big hailstones were +falling on a pavement. And then another silence--the period of reeling +calm after an earthquake. + +"O God!" wailed the girl; "it is horrible!" + +"You've got to get out of here--the whole of Manti will be here in a few +minutes! Come on!" + +He urged Nigger farther down the canyon, and up a rocky slope that brought +them to the mesa. The girl was trembling, her breath coming gaspingly. He +faced her as they came to a halt, pityingly, with a certain dogged +resignation in his eyes. + +"What brought you here? Who told you we were here?" he asked, gruffly. + +"It doesn't matter!" She faced him defiantly. "You have outraged the laws +of your country tonight! I hope you are punished for it!" + +He laughed, derisively. "Well, you've seen; you know. Go and inform your +friends. What I have done I did after long deliberation in which I +considered fully the consequences to myself. Levins wasn't concerned in +it, so you don't need to mention his name. Your ranch is in that +direction, Miss Benham." He pointed southeastward, Nigger lunged, caught +his stride in two or three jumps, and fled toward the southwest. His rider +did not hear the girl's voice; it was drowned in clatter of hoofs as he +and Levins rode. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +ANOTHER WOMAN RIDES + + +Trevison rode in to town the next morning. On his way he went to the edge +of the butte overlooking the level, and looked down upon the wreck and +ruin he had caused. Masses of twisted steel and iron met his gaze; the +level was littered with debris, which a gang of men under Carson was +engaged in clearing away; a great section of the butte had been blasted +out, earth, rocks, sand, had slid down upon much of the wreckage, partly +burying it. The utter havoc of the scene brought a fugitive smile to his +lips. + +He saw Carson waving a hand to him, and he answered the greeting, noting +as he did so that Corrigan stood at a little distance behind Carson, +watching. Trevison did not give him a second look, wheeling Nigger and +sending him toward Manti at a slow lope. As he rode away, Corrigan called +to Carson. + +"Your friend didn't seem to be much surprised." + +Carson turned, making a grimace while his back was yet toward Corrigan, +but grinning broadly when he faced around. + +"Didn't he now? I wasn't noticin'. But, begorra, how c'ud he be surprised, +whin the whole domned country was rocked out av its bed be the blast! Wud +ye be expictin' him to fall over in a faint on beholdin' the wreck?" + +"Not he," said Corrigan, coldly; "he's got too much nerve for that." + +"Ain't he, now!" Carson looked guilelessly at the other. "Wud ye be havin' +anny idee who done it?" + +Corrigan's eyes narrowed. "No," he said shortly, and turned away. + +Trevison's appearance in Manti created a stir. He had achieved a double +result by his deed, for besides destroying the property and making it +impossible for Corrigan to resume work for a considerable time, he had +caused Manti's interest to center upon him sharply, having shocked into +the town's consciousness a conception of the desperate battle that was +being waged at its doors. For Manti had viewed the devastated butte early +that morning, and had come away, seething with curiosity to get a glimpse +of the man whom everybody secretly suspected of being the cause of it. +Many residents of the town had known Trevison before--in half an hour +after his arrival he was known to all. Public opinion was heavily in his +favor and many approving comments were heard. + +"I ain't blamin' him a heap," said a man in the _Belmont_. "If things is +as you say they are, there ain't much more that a _man_ could do!" + +"The laws is made for the guys with the coin an' the pull," said another, +vindictively. + +"An' dynamite ain't carin' who's usin' it," said another, slyly. Both +grinned. The universal sympathy for the "under dog" oppressed by Justice +perverted or controlled, had here found expression. + +It was so all over Manti. Admiring glances followed Trevison; though he +said no word concerning the incident; nor could any man have said, judging +from the expression of his face, that he was elated. He had business in +Manti--he completed it, and when he was ready to go he got on Nigger and +loped out of town. + +"That man's nerve is as cold as a naked Eskimo at the North Pole," +commented an admirer. "If I'd done a thing like that I'd be layin' low to +see if any evidence would turn up against me." + +"I reckon there ain't a heap of evidence," laughed his neighbor. "I expect +everybody knows he done it, but knowin' an' provin' is two different +things." + +A mile out of town Trevison met Corrigan. The latter halted his horse when +he saw Trevison and waited for him to come up. The big man's face wore an +ugly, significant grin. + +"You did a complete job," he said, eyeing the other narrowly. "And there +doesn't seem to be any evidence. But look out! When a thing like that +happens there's always somebody around to see it, and if I can get +evidence against you I'll send you up for it!" + +He noted a slight quickening of Trevison's eyes at his mention of a +witness, and a fierce exultation leaped within him. + +Trevison laughed, looking the other fairly between the eyes. Rosalind +Benham hadn't informed on him. However, the day was not yet gone. + +"Get your evidence before you try to do any bluffing," he challenged. He +spurred Nigger on, not looking back at his enemy. + +Corrigan rode to the laborers' tents, where he talked for a time with the +cook. In the mess tent he stood with his back to a rough, pine-topped +table, his hands on its edge. The table had not yet been cleared from the +morning meal, for the cook had been interested in the explosion. He tried +to talk of it with Corrigan, but the latter adroitly directed the +conversation otherwise. The cook would have said they had a pleasant talk. +Corrigan seemed very companionable this morning. He laughed a little; he +listened attentively when the cook talked. After a while Corrigan fumbled +in his pockets. Not finding a cigar, he looked eloquently at the cook's +pipe, in the latter's mouth, belching much smoke. + +"Not a single cigar," he said. "I'm dying for a taste of tobacco." + +The cook took his pipe from his mouth and wiped the stem hastily on a +sleeve. "If you don't mind I've been suckin' on it," he said, extending +it. + +"I wouldn't deprive you of it for the world." Corrigan shifted his +position, looked down at the table and smiled. "Luck, eh?" he said, +picking up a black brier that lay on the table behind him. "Got plenty of +tobacco?" + +The cook dove for a box in a corner and returned with a cloth sack, +bulging. He watched while Corrigan filled the pipe, and grinned while his +guest was lighting it. + +"Carson'll be ravin' today for forgettin' his pipe. He must have left it +layin' on the table this mornin'--him bein' in such a rush to get down, to +the explosion." + +"It's Carson's, eh?" Corrigan surveyed it with casual interest. "Well," +after taking a few puffs "--I'll say for Carson that he knows how to take +care of it." + +He left shortly afterward, laying the pipe on the table where he had found +it. Five minutes later he was in Judge Lindman's presence, leaning over +the desk toward the other. + +"I want you to issue a warrant for Patrick Carson. I want him brought in +here for examination. Charge him with being an accessory before the fact, +or anything that seems to fit the case. But throw him into the cooler--and +keep him there until he talks. He knows who broke into the dynamite shed, +and therefore he knows who did the dynamiting. He's friendly with +Trevison, and if we can make him admit he saw Trevison at the shed, we've +got the goods. He warned Trevison the other day, when I had the deputies +lined up at the butte, and I found his pipe this morning near the door of +the dynamite shed. We'll make him talk, damn him!" + + * * * * * + +Banker Braman had closed the door between the front and rear rooms, pulled +down the shades of the windows, lighted the kerosene lamp, and by its +wavering flicker was surveying his reflection in the small mirror affixed +to one of the walls of the building. He was pleased, as the fatuous +self-complacence of his look indicated, and carefully, almost fastidiously +dressed, and he could not deny himself this last look into the mirror, +even though he was now five minutes late with his appointment. The five +minutes threatened to become ten, for, in adjusting his tie-pin it slipped +from his fingers, struck the floor and vanished, as though an evil fate +had gobbled it. + +He searched for it frenziedly, cursing lowly, but none the less viciously. +It was quite by accident that when his patience was strained almost to the +breaking point, he struck his hand against a board that formed part of the +partition between his building and the courthouse next door, and tore a +huge chunk of skin from the knuckles. He paid little attention to the +injury, however, for the agitating of the board disclosed the glittering +recreant, and he pounced upon it with the precision of a hawk upon its +prey, snarling triumphantly. + +"I'll nail that damned board up, some day!" he threatened. But he knew he +wouldn't, for by lying on the floor and pulling the board out a trifle, he +could get a clear view of the interior of the courthouse, and could hear +quite plainly, in spite of the presence of a wooden box resting against +the wall on the other side. And some of the things that Braman had already +heard through the medium of the loose board were really interesting, not +to say instructive, to him. + +He was ten minutes late in keeping his appointment. He might have been +even later without being in danger of receiving the censure he deserved. +For the lady received him in a loose wrapper and gracefully disordered +hair, a glance at which made Braman gasp in unfeigned admiration. + +"What's this?" he demanded with a pretense of fatherly severity, which he +imagined became him very well in the presence of women. "Not ready yet, +Mrs. Harvey?" + +The woman waved him to a chair with unsmiling unconcern; dropped into +another, crossed her legs and leaned back in her chair, her hands folded +across the back of her head, her sleeves, wide and flaring, sliding down +below her elbows. She caught Braman's burning stare of interest in this +revelation of negligence, and smiled at him in faint derision. + +"I'm tired, Croft. I've changed my mind about going to the First +Merchants' Ball. I'd much rather sit here and chin you--if you don't +mind." + +"Not a bit!" hastily acquiesced the banker. "In fact, I like the idea of +staying here much better. It is more private, you know." He grinned +significantly, but the woman's smile of faint derision changed merely to +irony, which held steadily, making Braman's cheeks glow crimson. + +"Well, then," she laughed, exulting in her power over him; "let's get +busy. What do you want to chin about?" + +"I'll tell you after I've wet my whistle," said the banker, gayly. "I'm +dry as a bone in the middle of the Sahara desert!" + +"I'll take mine 'straight,'" she laughed. + +Braman rang a bell. A waiter with glasses and a bottle appeared, entered, +was paid, and departed, grinning without giving the banker any change from +a ten dollar bill. + +The woman laughed immoderately at Braman's wolfish snarl. + +"Be a sport, Croft. Don't begrudge a poor waiter a few honestly earned +dollars!" + +"And now, what has the loose-board telephone told you?" she asked, two +hours later when flushed of face from frequent attacks on the +bottle--Braman rather more flushed than she--they relaxed in their chairs +after a tilt at poker in which the woman had been the victor. + +"You're sure you don't care for Trevison any more--that you're only taking +his end of this because of what he's been to you in the past?" demanded +the banker, looking suspiciously at her. + +"He told me he didn't love me any more. I couldn't want him after that, +could I?" + +"I should think not." Braman's eyes glowed with satisfaction. But he +hesitated, yielding when she smiled at him. "Damn it, I'd knife Corrigan +for you!" he vowed, recklessly. + +"Save Trevison--that's all I ask. Tell me what you heard." + +"Corrigan suspects Trevison of blowing up the stuff at the butte--as +everybody does, of course. He's determined to get evidence against him. He +found Carson's pipe at the door of the dynamite shed this morning. Carson +is a friend of Trevison's. Corrigan is going to have Judge Lindman issue a +warrant for the arrest of Carson--on some charge--and they're going to +jail Carson until he talks." + +The woman cursed profanely, sharply. "That's Corrigan's idea of a square +deal. He promised me that no harm should come to Trevison." She got up and +walked back and forth in the room, Braman watching her with passion lying +naked in his eyes, his lips loose and moist. + +She stopped in front of him, finally. "Go home, Croft--there's a good boy. +I want to think." + +"That's cruelty to animals," he laughed in a strained voice. "But I'll +go," he added at signs of displeasure on her face. "Can I see you tomorrow +night?" + +"I'll let you know." She held the door open for him, and permitted him to +take her hand for an instant. He squeezed it hotly, the woman making a +grimace of repugnance as she closed the door. + +Swiftly she changed from her loose gown to a simple, short-skirted affair, +slipped on boots, a felt hat, gloves. Leaving the light burning, she +slipped out into the hall and called to the waiter who had served her and +Braman. By rewarding him generously she procured a horse, and a few +minutes later she emerged from the building by a rear door, mounting the +animal and sending it clattering out into the night. + +Twice she lost her way and rode miles before she recovered her sense of +direction, and when she finally pulled the beast to a halt at the edge of +the Diamond K ranchhouse gallery, midnight was not far away. The +ranchhouse was dark. She smothered a gasp of disappointment as she crossed +the gallery floor. She was about to hammer on the door when it swung open +and Trevison stepped out, peered closely at her and laughed shortly. + +"It's you, eh?" he said. "I thought I told you--" + +She winced at his tone, but it did not lessen her concern for him. + +"It isn't that, Trev! And I don't care how you treat me--I deserve it! But +I can't see them punish you--for what you did last night!" She felt him +start, his muscles stiffen. + +"Something has turned up, then. You came to warn me? What is it?" + +"You were seen last night! They're going to arrest--" + +"So she squealed, did she?" he interrupted. He laughed lowly, bitterly, +with a vibrant disappointment that wrung the woman's heart with sympathy. +But her brain quickly grasped the significance of his words, and longing +dulled her sense of honor. It was too good an opportunity to miss. "Bah! I +expected it. She told me she would. I was a fool to dream otherwise!" He +turned on Hester and grasped her by the shoulders, and her flesh deadened +under his fingers. + +"Did she tell Corrigan?" + +"Yes." The woman told the lie courageously, looking straight into his +eyes, though she shrank at the fire that came into them as he released her +and laughed. + +"Where did you get your information?" His voice was suddenly sullen and +cold. + +"From Braman." + +He started, and laughed in humorous derision. + +"Braman and Corrigan are blood brothers in this deal. You must have +captivated the little sneak completely to make him lose his head like +that!" + +"I did it for you, Trev--for you. Don't you see? Oh, I despise the little +beast! But he dropped a hint one day when I was in the bank, and I +deliberately snared him, hoping I might be able to gain information that +would benefit you. And I have, Trev!" she added, trembling with a hope +that his hasty judgment might result to her advantage. And how near she +had come to mentioning Carson's name! If Trevison had waited for just +another second before interrupting her! Fortune had played favorably into +her hands tonight! + +"For you, boy," she said, slipping close to him, sinuously, whispering, +knowing the "she" he had mentioned _must_ be Rosalind Benham. "Old friends +are best, boy. At least they can be depended upon not to betray one. Trev; +let me help you! I can, and I will! Why, I love you, Trev! And you need +me, to help you fight these people who are trying to ruin you!" + +"You don't understand." Trevison's voice was cold and passionless. "It +seems I can't _make_ you understand. I'm grateful for what you have done +for me tonight--very grateful. But I can't live a lie, woman. I don't love +you!" + +"But you love a woman who has delivered you into the hands of your +enemies," she moaned. + +"I can't help it," he declared hoarsely. "I don't deny it. I would love +her if she sent me to the gallows, and stood there, watching me die!" + +The woman bowed her head, and dropped her hands listlessly to her sides. +In this instant she was thinking almost the same words that Rosalind +Benham had murmured on her ride to Blakeley's, when she had discovered +Trevison's identity: "I wonder if Hester Keyes knows what she has +missed." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +A MAN ERRS--AND PAYS + + +For a time Trevison stood on the gallery, watching the woman as she faded +into the darkness toward Manti, and then he laughed mirthlessly and went +into the house, emerging with a rifle and saddle. A few minutes later he +rode Nigger out of the corral and headed him southwestward. Shortly after +midnight he was at the door of Levins' cabin. The latter grinned with +feline humor after they held a short conference. + +"That's right," he said; "you don't need any of the boys to help you pull +_that_ off--they'd mebbe go to actin' foolish an' give the whole snap +away. Besides, I'm a heap tickled to be let in on that sort of a +jamboree!" There followed an interval, during which his grin faded. "So +she peached on you, eh? She told my woman she wouldn't. That's a woman, +ain't it? How's a man to tell about 'em?" + +"That's a secret of my own that I am not ready to let you in on. Don't +tell your wife where you are going _tonight_." + +"I ain't reckonin' to. I'll be with you in a jiffy!" He vanished into the +cabin, reappeared, ran to the stable, and rode out to meet Trevison. +Together they were swallowed up by the plains. + +At eight o'clock in the morning Corrigan came out of the dining-room of +his hotel and stopped at the cigar counter. He filled his case, lit one, +and stood for a moment with an elbow on the glass of the show case, +smoking thoughtfully. + +"That was quite an accident you had at your mine. Have you any idea who +did it?" asked the clerk, watching him furtively. + +Corrigan glanced at the man, his lips curling. + +"You might guess," he said through his teeth. + +"That fellow Trevison is a bad actor," continued the clerk. "And say," he +went on, confidentially; "not that I want to make you feel bad, but the +majority of the people of this town are standing with him in this deal. +They think you are not giving the land-owners a square deal. Not that I'm +'knocking' _you_," the clerk denied, flushing at the dark look Corrigan +threw him. "That's merely what I hear. Personally, I'm for you. This town +needs men like you, and it can get along without fellows like Trevison." + +"Thank you," smiled Corrigan, disgusted with the man, but feeling that it +might be well to cultivate such ingratiating interest. "Have a cigar." + +"I'll go you. Yes, sir," he added, when he had got the weed going; "this +town can get along without any Trevisons. These sagebrush rummies out here +give me a pain. What this country needs is less brute force and more +brains!" He drew his shoulders erect as though convinced that he was not +lacking in the particular virtue to which he had referred. + +"You are right," smiled Corrigan, mildly. "Brains are all important. A +hotel clerk must be well supplied. I presume you see and hear a great many +things that other people miss seeing and hearing." Corrigan thought this +thermometer of public opinion might have other information. + +"You've said it! We've got to keep our wits about us. There's very little +escapes us." He leered at Corrigan's profile. "That's a swell Moll in +number eleven, ain't it?" + +"What do you know about her?" Corrigan's face was inexpressive. + +"Oh say now!" The clerk guffawed close to Corrigan's ear without making +the big man wink an eyelash. "You don't mean to tell me that you ain't +_on_! I saw you steer to her room one night--the night she came here. And +once or twice, since. But of course us hotel clerks don't see anything! +She is down on the register as Mrs. Harvey. But say! You don't see any +married women running around the country dressed like her!" + +"She may be a widow." + +"Well, yes, maybe she might. But she shows speed, don't she?" He +whispered. "You're a pretty good friend of mine, now, and maybe if I'd +give you a tip you'd throw something in my way later on--eh?" + +"What?" + +"Oh, you might start a hotel here--or something. And I'm thinking of +blowing this joint. This town's booming, and it can stand a swell hotel in +a few months." + +"You're on--if I build a hotel. Shoot!" + +The clerk leaned closer, whispering: "She receives other men. You're not +the only one." + +"Who?" + +The clerk laughed, and made a funnel of one hand. "The banker across the +street--Braman." + +Corrigan bit his cigar in two, and slowly spat that which was left in his +mouth into a cuspidor. He contrived to smile, though it cost him an +effort, and his hands were clenched. + +"How many times has he been here?" + +"Oh, several." + +"When was he here last?" + +"Last night." The clerk laughed. "Looked half stewed when he left. Kinda +hectic, too. Him and her must have had a tiff, for he left early. And +after he'd gone--right away after--she sent one of the waiters out for a +horse." + +"Which way did she go?" + +"West--I watched her; she went the back way, from here." + +Corrigan smiled and went out. The expression of his face was such as to +cause the clerk to mutter, dazedly: "He didn't seem to be a whole lot +interested. I guess I must have sized him up wrong." + +Corrigan stopped at his office in the bank, nodding curtly to Braman. +Shortly afterward he got up and went to the courthouse. He had ordered +Judge Lindman to issue a warrant for Carson the previous morning, and had +intended to see that it was served. But a press of other matters had +occupied his attention until late in the night. + +He tried the front door of the courthouse, to find it locked. The rear +door was also locked. He tried the windows--all were fastened securely. +Thinking the Judge still sleeping he went back to his office and spent an +hour going over some correspondence. At the end of that time he visited +the courthouse again. Angered, he went around to the side and burst the +flimsy door in, standing in the opening, glowering, for the Judge's cot +was empty, and the Judge nowhere to be seen. + +Corrigan stalked through the building, cursing. He examined the cot, and +discovered that it had been slept in. The Judge must have risen early. +Obviously, there was nothing to do but to wait. Corrigan did that, +impatiently. For a long time he sat in the chair at his desk, watching +Braman, studying him, scowling, rage in his heart. "If he's up to any +dirty work, I'll choke him until his tongue hangs out a yard!" was a +mental threat that he repeated many times. "But he's just mush-headed over +the woman, I guess--he's that kind of a fool!" + +At ten o'clock Corrigan jumped on his horse and rode out to the butte +where the laborers were working, clearing away the debris from the +explosion. No one there had seen Judge Lindman. Corrigan rode back to +town, fuming with rage. Finding some of the deputies he sent them out to +search for the Judge. One by one they came in and reported their failure. +At six-thirty, after the arrival of the evening train from Dry Bottom, +Corrigan was sitting at his desk, his face black with wrath, reading for +the third or fourth time a letter that he had spread out on the desk +before him: + + "MR. JEFFERSON CORRIGAN: + + "I feel it is necessary for me to take a short rest. Recent + excitement in Manti has left me very nervous and unstrung. I shall be + away from Manti for about two weeks, I think. During my absence any + pending litigation must be postponed, of course." + +The letter was signed by Judge Lindman, and postmarked "Dry Bottom." + +Corrigan got up after a while and stuffed the letter into a pocket. He +went out, and when he returned, Braman had gone out also--to supper, +Corrigan surmised. When the banker came in an hour later, Corrigan was +still seated at his desk. The banker smiled at him, and Corrigan motioned +to him. + +Corrigan's voice was silky. "Where were you last night, Braman?" + +The banker's face whitened; his thoughts became confused, but instantly +cleared when he observed from the expression of the big man's face that +the question was, apparently, a casual one. But he drew his breath +tremulously. One could never be sure of Corrigan. + +"I spent the night here--in the back room." + +"Then you didn't see the Judge last night--or hear him?" + +"No." + +Corrigan drew the Judge's letter from the pocket and passed it over to +Braman, watching his face steadily as he read. He saw a quick stain appear +in the banker's cheeks, and his own lips tightened. + +The banker coughed before he spoke. "Wasn't that a rather abrupt +leave-taking?" + +"Yes--rather," said Corrigan, dryly. "You didn't hear him walking about +during the night?" + +"No." + +"You're rather a heavy sleeper, eh? There is only a thin board partition +between this building and the courthouse." + +"He must have left after daylight. Of course, any noise he might have made +after that I wouldn't have noticed." + +"No, of course not," said Corrigan, passionlessly. "Well--he's gone." He +seemed to have dismissed the matter from his mind and Braman sighed with +relief. But he watched Corrigan narrowly during the remainder of the time +he stayed in the office, and when he went out, Braman shook a vindictive +fist at his back. + +"Worry, damn you!" he sneered. "I don't know what was in Judge Lindman's +mind, but I hope he never comes back! That will help to repay you for that +knockdown!" + +Corrigan went over to the _Castle_ and ate supper. He was preoccupied and +deliberate, for he was trying to weave a complete fabric out of the +threads of Braman's visits to Hester Harvey; Hester's ride westward, and +Judge Lindman's abrupt departure. He had a feeling that they were in some +way connected. + +At a little after seven he finished his meal, went upstairs and knocked at +the door of Hester Harvey's room. He stepped inside when she opened the +door, and stood, both hands in the pockets of his trousers, looking at her +with a smile of repressed malignance. + +"Nice night for a ride, wasn't it?" he said, his lips parting a very +little to allow the words to filter through. + +The woman flashed a quick, inquiring look at him, saw the passion in his +eyes, the gleam of malevolent antagonism, and she set herself against it. +For her talk with Trevison last night had convinced her of the futility of +hope. She had gone out of his life as a commonplace incident slips into +the oblivion of yesteryear. Worse--he had refused to recall it. It hurt +her, this knowledge--his rebuff. It had aroused cold, wanton passions in +her--she had become a woman who did not care. She met Corrigan's gaze with +a look of defiant mockery. + +"Swell. I enjoyed every minute of it. Won't you sit down?" + +He held himself back, grinning coldly, for the woman's look had goaded him +to fury. + +"No," he said; "I'll stand. I won't be here a minute. You saw Trevison +last night, eh? You warned him that I was going to have Carson arrested." +He had hazarded this guess, for it had seemed to him that it must be the +solution to the mystery, and when he caught the quick, triumphant light in +the woman's eyes at his words he knew he had not erred. + +"Yes," she said; "I saw him, and I told him--what Braman told me." She saw +his eyes glitter and she laughed harshly. "That's what you wanted to know, +isn't it, Jeff--what Braman told me? Well, you know it. I knew you +couldn't play square with me. You thought you could dupe me--_again_, +didn't you? Well, you didn't, for I snared Braman and pumped him dry. He's +kept me posted on your movements; and his little board telephone--Ha, ha! +that makes you squirm, doesn't it? But it was all wasted effort--Trevison +won't have me--he's through. And I'm through. I'm not going to try any +more. I'm going back East, after I get rested. You fight it out with +Trevison. But I warn you, he'll beat you--and I wish he would! As for that +beast, Braman, I wish--Ah, let him go, Jeff," she advised, noting the cold +fury in his eyes. + +"That's all right," he said with a dry laugh. "You and Braman have done +well. It hasn't done me any harm, and so we'll forget about it. What do +you say to having a drink--and a talk. As in old times, eh?" He seemed +suddenly to have conquered his passion, but the queer twitching of his +lips warned the woman, and when he essayed to move toward her, smiling +pallidly, she darted to the far side of a stand near the center of the +room, pulled out a drawer, produced a small revolver and leveled it at +him, her eyes wide and glittering with menace. + +"Stay where you are, Jeff!" she ordered. "There's murder in your heart, +and I know it. But I don't intend to be the victim. I'll shoot if you come +one step nearer!" + +He smirked at her, venomously. "All right," he said. "You're wise. But get +out of town on the next train." + +"I'll go when I get ready--you can't scare me. Let me alone or I'll go to +Rosalind Benham and let her in on the whole scheme." + +"Yes you will--not," he laughed. "If I know anything about you, you won't +do anything that would give Miss Benham to Trevison." + +"That's right; I'd rather see her married to you--that would be the +refinement of cruelty!" + +He laughed sneeringly and stepped out of the door. Waiting a short time, +the woman heard his step in the hall. Then she darted to the door, locked +it, and leaned against it, panting. + +"I've done it now," she murmured. "Braman--Well, it serves him right!" + + * * * * * + +Corrigan stopped in the barroom and got a drink. Then he walked to the +front door and stood in it for an instant, finally stepping down into the +street. Across the street in the banking room he saw a thin streak of +light gleaming through a crevice in the doorway that led from the banking +room to the rear. The light told him that Braman was in the rear room. +Selecting a moment when the street in his vicinity was deserted, Corrigan +deliberately crossed, standing for a moment in the shadow of the bank +building, looking around him. Then he slipped around the building and +tapped cautiously on the rear door. An instant later he was standing +inside the room, his back against the door. Braman, arrayed as he had been +the night before, had opened the door. He had been just ready to go when +he heard Corrigan's knock. + +"Going out, Croft?" said Corrigan pleasantly, eyeing the other intently. +"All lit up, too! You're getting to be a gay dog, lately." + +There was nothing in Corrigan's bantering words to bring on that sudden +qualm of sickening fear that seized the banker. He knew it was his guilt +that had done it--guilt and perhaps a dread of Corrigan's rage if he +_should_ learn of his duplicity. But that word "lately"! If it had been +uttered with any sort of an accent he might have been suspicious. But it +had come with the bantering ring of the others, with no hint of special +significance. And Braman was reassured. + +"Yes, I'm going out." He turned to the mirror on the wall. "I'm getting +rather stale, hanging around here so much." + +"That's right, Croft. Have a good time. How much money is there in the +safe?" + +"Two or three thousand dollars." The banker turned from the glass. "Want +some? Ha, ha!" he laughed at the other's short nod; "there are other gay +dogs, I guess! How much do you want?" + +"All you've got?" + +"All! Jehoshaphat! You must have a big deal on tonight!" + +"Yes, big," said Corrigan evenly. "Get it." + +He followed the banker into the banking room, carefully closing the door +behind him, so that the light from the rear room could not penetrate. +"That's all right," he reassured the banker as the latter noticed the +action; "this isn't a public matter." + +He stuffed his pockets with the money the banker gave him, and when the +other tried to close the door of the safe he interposed a restraining +hand, laughing: + +"Leave it open, Croft. It's empty now, and a cracksman trying to get into +it would ruin a perfectly good safe, for nothing." + +"That's right." + +They went into the rear room again, Corrigan last, closing the door behind +him. Braman went again to the glass, Corrigan standing silently behind +him. + +Standing before the glass, the banker was seized with a repetition of the +sickening fear that had oppressed him at Corrigan's words upon his +entrance. It seemed to him that there was a sinister significance behind +Corrigan's present silence. A tension came between them, portentous of +evil. Braman shivered, but the silence held. The banker tried to think of +something to say--his thoughts were rioting in chaos, a dumb, paralyzing +terror had seized him, his lips stuck together, the facial muscles +refusing their office. He dropped his hands to his sides and stared into +the glass, noting the ghastly pallor that had come over his face--the +dull, whitish yellow of muddy marble. He could not turn, his legs were +quivering. He knew it was conscience--only that. And yet Corrigan's +ominous silence continued. And now he caught his breath with a shuddering +gasp, for he saw Corrigan's face reflected in the glass, looking over his +shoulder--a mirthless smirk on it, the eyes cold, and dancing with a +merciless and cunning purpose. While he watched, he saw Corrigan's lips +open: + +"Where's the board telephone, Braman?" + +The banker wheeled, then. He tried to scream--the sound died in a gasping +gurgle as Corrigan leaped and throttled him. Later, he fought to loosen +the grip of the iron fingers at his throat, twisting, squirming, threshing +about the room in his agony. The grip held, tightened. When the banker was +quite still Corrigan put out the light, went into the banking room, where +he scattered the papers and books in the safe all around the room. Then he +twisted the lock off the door, using an iron bar that he had noticed in a +corner when he had come in, and stepped out into the shadow of the +building. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +FIRST PRINCIPLES + + +Judge Lindman shivered, though a merciless, blighting sun beat down on the +great stone ledge that spread in front of the opening, smothering him with +heat waves that eddied in and out, and though the interior of the +low-ceilinged chamber pulsed with the fetid heat sucked in from the plains +generations before. The adobe walls, gray-black in the subdued light, were +dry as powder and crumbling in spots, the stone floor was exposed in many +places; there was a strange, sickening odor, as though the naked, +perspiring bodies of inhabitants in ages past had soaked the walls and +floor with the man-scent, and intervening years of disuse had mingled +their musty breath with it. But for the presence of the serene-faced, +steady-eyed young man who leaned carelessly against the wall outside, +whose shoulder and profile he could see, the Judge might have yielded +completely to the overpowering conviction that he was dreaming, and that +his adventures of the past twelve hours were horrors of his imagination. +But he knew from the young man's presence at the door that his experience +had been real enough, and the knowledge kept his brain out of the +threatening chaos. + +Some time during the night he had awakened on his cot in the rear room of +the courthouse to hear a cold, threatening voice warning him to silence. +He had recognized the voice, as he had recognized it once before, under +similar conditions. He had been gagged, his hands tied behind him. Then he +had been lifted, carried outside, placed on the back of a horse, in front +of his captor, and borne away in the darkness. They had ridden many miles +before the horse came to a halt and he was lifted down. Then he had been +forced to ascend a sharp slope; he could hear the horse clattering up +behind them. But he had not been able to see anything in the darkness, +though he felt he was walking along the edge of a cliff. The walk had +ended abruptly, when his captor had forced him into his present quarters +with a gruff admonition to sleep. Sleep had come hard, and he had done +little of it, napping merely, sitting on the stone floor, his back against +the wall, most of the time watching his captor. He had talked some, asking +questions which his captor ignored. Then a period of oblivion had come, +and he had awakened to the sunshine. For an hour he had sat where he was, +looking out at his captor and blinking at the brilliant sunshine. But he +had asked no questions since awakening, for he had become convinced of the +meaning of all this. But he was intensely curious, now. + +"Where have you brought me?" he demanded of his jailor. + +"You're awake, eh?" Trevison grinned as he wheeled and looked in at his +prisoner. "This," he waved a hand toward the ledge and its surroundings, +"is an Indian pueblo, long deserted. It makes an admirable prison, Judge. +It is also a sort of a fort. There is only one vulnerable point--the slope +we came up last night. I'll take you on a tour of examination, if you +like. And then you must return here, to stay until you disclose the +whereabouts of the original land record." + +The Judge paled, partly from anger, partly from a fear that gripped him. + +"This is an outrage, Trevison! This is America!" + +"Is it?" The young man smiled imperturbably. "There have been times during +the past few weeks when I doubted it, very much. It _is_ America, though, +but it is a part of America that the average American sees little of--that +he knows little of. As little, let us say, as he knows of the weird +application of its laws--as applied by _some_ judges." He smiled as +Lindman winced. "I have given up hoping to secure justice in the regular +way, and so we are in the midst of a reversion to first principles--which +may lead us to our goal." + +"What do you mean?" + +"That I _must_ have the original record, Judge, I mean to have it." + +"I deny--" + +"Yes--of course. Deny, if you like. We shan't argue. Do you want to +explore the place? There will be plenty of time for talk." + +He stepped aside as the Judge came out, and grinned broadly as he caught +the Judge's shrinking look at a rifle he took up as he turned. It had been +propped against the wall at his side. He swung it to the hollow of his +left elbow. "Your knowledge of firearms convinces you that you can't run +as fast as a rifle bullet, doesn't it, Judge?" + +The Judge's face indicated that he understood. + +"Ever make the acquaintance of an Indian pueblo, Judge?" + +"No. I came West only a year ago, and I have kept pretty close to my +work." + +"Well, you'll feel pretty intimate with this one by the time you leave +it--if you're obstinate," laughed Trevison. He stood still and watched the +Judge. The latter was staring hard at his surroundings, perhaps with +something of the awed reverence that overtakes the tourist when for the +first time he views an ancient ruin. + +The pueblo seemed to be nothing more than a jumble of adobe boxes piled in +an indiscriminate heap on a gigantic stone level surmounting the crest of +a hill. A sheer rock wall, perhaps a hundred feet in height, descended to +the surrounding slopes; the latter sweeping down to join the plains. A +dust, light, dry, and feathery lay thickly on the adobe boxes on the +surrounding ledge on the slopes, like a gray ash sprinkled from a giant +sifter. Cactus and yucca dotted the slopes, thorny, lancelike, repellent; +lava, dull, hinting of volcanic fire, filled crevices and depressions, and +huge blocks of stone, detached in the progress of disintegration, were +scattered about. + +"It has taken ages for this to happen!" the Judge heard himself +murmuring. + +Trevison laughed lowly. "So it has, Judge. Makes you think of your school +days, doesn't it? You hardly remember it, though. You have a hazy sort of +recollection of a print of a pueblo in a geography, or in a geological +textbook, but at the time you were more interested in Greek roots, the +Alps, Louis Quinze, the heroes of mythology, or something equally foreign, +and you forgot that your own country might hold something of interest for +you. But the history of these pueblo towns must be pretty interesting, if +one could get at it. All that I have heard of it are some pretty weird +legends. There can be no doubt, I suppose, that the people who inhabited +these communal houses had laws to govern them--and judges to apply the +laws. And I presume that then, as now, the judges were swayed by powerful +influences in--" + +The Judge glared at his tormentor. The latter laughed. + +"It is reasonable to presume, too," he went on, "that in some cases the +judges rendered some pretty raw decisions. And carrying the supposition +further, we may believe that then, as now, the poor downtrodden +proletariat got rather hot under the collar. There are always some +hot-tempered fools among all classes and races that do, you know. They +simply can't stand the feel of the iron heel of the oppressor. Can you +picture a hot-tempered fool of that tribe abducting a judge of the court +of his people and carrying him away to some uninhabited place, there to +let him starve until he decided to do the right thing?" + +"Starve!" gasped the Judge. + +"The chambers and tunnels connecting these communal houses--they look like +mud boxes, don't they, Judge? And there isn't a soul in any of them--nor a +bite to eat! As I was about to remark, the chambers and tunnels and the +passages connecting these places are pretty bare and cheerless--if we +except scorpions, horned toads, centipedes, tarantulas--and other equally +undesirable occupants. Not a pleasant place to sojourn in until--How long +can a man live without eating, Judge? You know, of course, that the +Indians selected an elevated and isolated site, such as this, because of +its strategical advantages? This makes an ideal fort. Nobody can get into +it except by negotiating the slope we came up last night. And a rifle in +the hands of a man with a yearning to use it would make _that_ approach +pretty unsafe, wouldn't it?" + +"My God!" moaned the Judge; "you talk like a man bereft of his senses!" + +"Or like a man who is determined not to be robbed of his rights," added +Trevison. "Well, come along. We won't dwell on such things if they depress +you." + +He took the Judge's arm and escorted him. They circled the broad stone +ledge. It ran in wide, irregular sweeps in the general outline of a huge +circle, surrounded by the dust-covered slopes melting into the plains, so +vast that the eye ached in an effort to comprehend them. Miles away they +could see smoke befouling the blue of the sky. The Judge knew the smoke +came from Manti, and he wondered if Corrigan were wondering over his +disappearance. He mentioned that to Trevison, and the latter grinned +faintly at him. + +"I forgot to mention that to you. It was all arranged last night. Clay +Levins went to Dry Bottom on a night train. He took with him a letter, +which he was to mail at Dry Bottom, explaining your absence to Corrigan. +Needless to say, your signature was forged. But I did so good a job that +Corrigan will not suspect. Corrigan will get the letter by tonight. It +says that you are going to take a long rest." + +The Judge gasped and looked quickly at Trevison. The young man's face was +wreathed in a significant grin. + +"In the first analysis, this looks like a rather strange proceeding," said +Trevison. "But if you get deeper into it you see its logic. You know where +the original record is. I want it. I mean to have it. One life--a dozen +lives--won't stop me. Oh, well, we won't talk about it if you're going to +shudder that way." + +He led the Judge up a flimsy, rotted ladder to a flat roof, forcing him to +look into a chamber where vermin fled at their appearance. Then through +numerous passages, low, narrow, reeking with a musty odor that nauseated +the Judge; on narrow ledges where they had to hug the walls to keep from +falling, and then into an open court with a stone floor, stained dark, in +the center a huge oblong block of stone, surmounting a pyramid, appalling +in its somber suggestiveness. + +"The sacrificial altar," said Trevison, grimly. "These stains here, +are--" + +He stopped, for the Judge had turned his back. + +Trevison led him away. He had to help him down the ladder each time they +descended, and when they reached the chamber from which they had started +the Judge was white and shaking. + +Trevison pushed him inside and silently took a position at the door. The +Judge sank to the floor of the chamber, groaning. + +The hours dragged slowly. Trevison changed his position twice. Once he +went away, but returned in a few minutes with a canteen, from which he +drank, deeply. The Judge had been without food or water since the night +before, and thirst tortured him. The gurgle of the water as it came out of +the canteen, maddened him. + +"I'd like a drink, Trevison." + +"Of course. Any man would." + +"May I have one?" + +"The minute you tell me where that record is." + +The Judge subsided. A moment later Trevison's voice floated into the +chamber, cold and resonant: + +"I don't think you're in this thing for money, Judge. Corrigan has some +sort of a hold on you. What is it?" + +The Judge did not answer. + +The sun climbed to the zenith. It grew intensely hot in the chamber. Twice +during the afternoon the Judge asked for water, and each time he received +the answer he had received before. He did not ask for food, for he felt it +would not be given him. At sundown his captor entered the chamber and gave +him a meager draught from the canteen. Then he withdrew and stood on the +ledge in front of the door, looking out into the darkening plains, and +watching him, a conviction of the futility of resisting him seized the +Judge. He stood framed in the opening of the chamber, the lines of his +bold, strong face prominent in the dusk, the rifle held loosely in the +crook of his left arm, the right hand caressing the stock, his shoulders +squared, his big, lithe, muscular figure suggesting magnificent physical +strength, as the light in his eyes, the set of his head and the firm lines +of his mouth, brought a conviction of rare courage and determination. The +sight of him thrilled the Judge; he made a picture that sent the Judge's +thoughts skittering back to things primitive and heroic. In an earlier day +the Judge had dreamed of being like him, and the knowledge that he had +fallen far short of realizing his ideal made him shiver with +self-aversion. He stifled a moan--or tried to and did not succeed, for it +reached Trevison's ears and he turned quickly. + +"Did you call, Judge?" + +"Yes, yes!" whispered the Judge, hoarsely. "I want--to tell you +everything! I have longed to tell you all along!" + +An hour later they were sitting on the edge of the ledge, their feet +dangling, the abyss below them, the desert stars twinkling coldly above +them; around them the indescribable solitude of a desert night filled with +mystery, its vague, haunting, whispering voice burdened with its age-old +secrets. Trevison had an arm around the Judge's shoulder. Their voices +mingled--the Judge's low, quavering; Trevison's full, deep, sympathetic. + +After a while a rider appeared out of the starlit haze of the plains below +them. The Judge started. Trevison laughed. + +"It's Clay Levins, Judge. I've been watching him for half an hour. He'll +stay here with you while I go after the record. Under the bottom drawer, +eh?" + +Levins hallooed to them. Trevison answered, and he and the Judge walked +forward to meet Levins at the crest of the slope. + +"Slicker'n a whistle!" declared Levins, answering the question Trevison +put to him. "I mailed the damn letter an' come back on the train that +brought it to him!" He grinned felinely at the Judge. "I reckon you're a +heap dry an' hungry by this time?" + +"The Judge has feasted," said Trevison. "I'm going after the record. +You're to stay here with the Judge until I return. Then the three of us +will ride to Las Vegas, where we will take a train to Santa Fe, to turn +the record over to the Circuit Court." + +"Sounds good!" gloated Levins. "But it's too long around. I'm for +somethin' more direct. Why not take the Judge with you to Manti, get the +record, takin' a bunch of your boys with you--an' salivate that damned +Corrigan an' his deputies!" + +Trevison laughed softly. "I don't want any violence if I can avoid it. My +land won't run away while we're in Santa Fe. And the Judge doesn't want to +meet Corrigan just now. I don't know that I blame him." + +"Where's the record?" + +Trevison told him, and Levins grumbled. "Corrigan'll have his deputies +guardin' the courthouse, most likely. If you run ag'in 'em, they'll bore +you, sure as hell!" + +"I'll take care of myself--I promise you that!" he laughed, and the Judge +shuddered at the sound. He vanished into the darkness of the ledge, +returning presently with Nigger, led him down the slope, called a low +"So-long" to the two watchers on the ledge, and rode away into the haze of +the plains. + +Trevison rode fast, filled with a grim elation. He pitied the Judge. An +error--a momentary weakening of moral courage--had plunged the jurist into +the clutches of Corrigan; he could hardly be held responsible for what had +transpired--he was a puppet in the hands of an unscrupulous schemer, with +a threat of exposure hanging over him. No wonder he feared Corrigan! +Trevison's thoughts grew bitter as they dwelt upon the big man; the old +longing to come into violent physical contact with the other seized him, +raged within him, brought a harsh laugh to his lips as he rode. But a +greater passion than he felt for the Judge or Corrigan tugged at him as he +urged the big black over the plains toward the twinkling lights of +Manti--a fierce exultation which centered around Rosalind Benham. She had +duped him, betrayed him to his enemy, had played with him--but she had +lost! + +Yet the thought of his coming victory over her was poignantly +unsatisfying. He tried to picture her--did picture her--receiving the news +of Corrigan's defeat, and somehow it left him with a feeling of regret. +The vengeful delight that he should have felt was absent--he felt sorry +for her. He charged himself with being a fool for yielding to so strange a +sentiment, but it lingered persistently. It fed his rage against Corrigan, +however, doubled it, for upon him lay the blame. + +It was late when he reached the outskirts of Manti. He halted Nigger in +the shadow of a shed a hundred yards or so down the track from the +courthouse, dismounted and made his way cautiously down the railroad +tracks. He was beyond the radius of the lights from various windows that +he passed, but he moved stealthily, not knowing whether Corrigan had +stationed guards about the courthouse, as Levins had warned. An instant +after reaching a point opposite the courthouse he congratulated himself on +his discretion, for he caught a glimmer of light at the edge of a window +shade in the courthouse, saw several indistinct figures congregated at the +side door, outside. He slipped behind a tool shed at the side of the +track, and crouching there, watched and listened. A mumbling of voices +reached him, but he could distinguish no word. But it was evident that the +men outside were awaiting the reappearance of one of their number who had +gone into the building. + +Trevison watched, impatiently. Then presently the side door opened, +letting out a flood of light, which bathed the figures of the waiting men. +Trevison scowled, for he recognized them as Corrigan's deputies. But he +was not surprised, for he had half expected them to be hanging around the +building. Two figures stepped down from the door as he watched, and he +knew them for Corrigan and Gieger. Corrigan's voice reached him. + +"The lock on this door is broken. I had to kick it in this morning. One of +you stay inside, here. The rest of you scatter and keep your eyes peeled. +There's trickery afoot. Judge Lindman didn't go to Dry Bottom--the agent +says he's sure of that because he saw every man that's got aboard a train +here within the last twenty-four hours--and Judge Lindman wasn't among +them! Levins was, though; he left on the one-thirty this morning and got +back on the six-o'clock, tonight." He vanished into the darkness beyond +the door, but called back: "I'll be within call. Don't be afraid to shoot +if you see anything suspicious!" + +Trevison saw a man enter the building, and the light was blotted out by +the closing of the door. When his eyes were again accustomed to the +darkness he observed that the men were standing close together--they +seemed to be holding a conference. Then the group split up, three going +toward the front of the building; two remaining near the side door, and +two others walking around to the rear. + +For an instant Trevison regretted that he had not taken Levins' advice +about forming a posse of his own men to take the courthouse by storm, and +he debated the thought of postponing action. But there was no telling what +might happen during an interval of delay. In his rage over the discovery +of the trick that had been played on him Corrigan might tear the interior +of the building to pieces. He would be sure to if he suspected the +presence of the original record. Trevison did not go for the help that +would have been very welcome. Instead, he spent some time twirling the +cylinder of his pistol. + +He grew tired of crouching after a time and lay flat on his stomach in the +shadow of the tool shed, watching the men as they tramped back and forth, +around the building. He knew that sooner or later there would be a minute +or two of relaxation, and of this he had determined to take advantage. But +it was not until sound in the town had perceptibly decreased in volume +that there was any sign of the men relaxing their vigil. And then he noted +them congregating at the front of the building. + +"Hell," he heard one of them say; "what's the use of hittin' that trail +_all_ night! Bill's inside, an' we can see the door from here. I'm due for +a smoke an' a palaver!" Matches flared up; the sounds of their voices +reached Trevison. + +Trevison disappointedly relaxed. Then, filled with a sudden decision, he +slipped around the back of the tool shed and stole toward the rear of the +courthouse. It projected beyond the rear of the bank building, adjoining +it, forming an L, into the shadow of which Trevison slipped. He stood +there for an instant, breathing rapidly, undecided. The darkness in the +shadow was intense, and he was forced to feel his way along the wall for +fear of stumbling. He was leaning heavily on his hands, trusting to them +rather than to his footing, when the wall seemed to give way under them +and he fell forward, striking on his hands and knees. Fortunately, he had +made no sound in falling, and he remained in the kneeling position until +he got an idea of what had happened. He had fallen across the threshold of +a doorway. The door had been unfastened and the pressure of his hands had +forced it inward. It was the rear door of the bank building. He looked +inward, wondering at Braman's carelessness--and stared fixedly straight +into a beam of light that shone through a wedge-shaped crevice between two +boards in the partition that separated the buildings. + +He got up silently, stepped stealthily into the room, closing the door +behind him. He tried to fasten it and discovered that the lock was broken. +For some time he stood, wondering, and then, giving it up, he made his way +cautiously around the room, searching for Braman's cot. He found that, +too, empty, and he decided that some one had broken into the building +during Braman's absence. Moving away from the cot, he stumbled against +something soft and yielding, and his pistol flashed into his hand in +sinister preparation, for he knew from the feel of the soft object that it +was a body, and he suspected that it was Braman, stalking him. He thought +that until he remembered the broken lock, on the door, and then the +significance of it burst upon him. Whoever had broken the lock had fixed +Braman. He knelt swiftly and ran his hands over the prone form, drawing +back at last with the low ejaculation: "He's a goner!" He had no time or +inclination to speculate over the manner of Braman's death, and made +catlike progress toward the crevice in the partition. Reaching it, he +dropped on his hands and knees and peered through. A wooden box on the +other side of the partition intervened, but above it he could see the form +of the deputy. The man was stretched out in a chair, sideways to the +crevice in the wall, sleeping. A grin of huge satisfaction spread over +Trevison's face. + +His movements were very deliberate and cautious. But in a quarter of an +hour he had pulled the board out until an opening was made in the +partition, and then propping the board back with a chair he reached +through and slowly shoved the box on the other side back far enough to +admit his body. Crawling through, he rose on the other side, crossed the +floor carefully, kneeled at the drawer where Judge Lindman had concealed +the record, pulled it out and stuck it in the waistband of his trousers, +in front, his eyes glittering with exultation. Then he began to back +toward the opening in the partition. At the instant he was preparing to +stoop to crawl back into the bank building, the deputy in the chair +yawned, stretched and opened his eyes, staring stupidly at him. There was +no mistaking the dancing glitter in Trevison's eyes, no possible +misinterpretation of his tense, throaty whisper: "One chirp and you're a +dead one!" And the deputy stiffened in the chair, dumb with astonishment +and terror. + +The deputy had not seen the opening in the partition, for it was partly +hidden from his view by the box which Trevison had encountered in +entering, and before the man had an opportunity to look toward the place, +Trevison commanded him again, in a sharp, cold whisper: + +"Get up and turn your back to me--quick! Any noise and I'll plug you! +Move!" + +The deputy obeyed. Then he received an order to walk to the door without +looking back. He readied the door--halted. + +"Now open it and get out!" + +The man did as bidden; diving headlong out into the darkness, swinging the +door shut behind him. His yell to his companions mingled with the roar of +Trevison's pistol as he shattered the kerosene lamp. The bullet hit the +neck of the glass bowl, a trifle below the burner, the latter describing a +parabola in the air and falling into the ruin of the bowl. The chimney +crashed, the flame from the wick touched the oil and flared up +brilliantly. + +Trevison was half way through the wall by the time the oil ignited, and he +grinned coldly at the sight. Haste was important now. He slipped through +the opening, pulled the chair from between the board and wall, letting the +board snap back, and placing the chair against it. He felt certain that +the deputies would think that in some manner he had run their barricade +and entered the building through the door. + +He heard voices outside, a fusillade of shots, the tinkle of breaking +glass; against the pine boards at his side came the wicked thud of +bullets, the splintering of wood as they tore through the partition and +embedded themselves in the outside wall. He ducked low and ran to the rear +door, swinging it open. Braman's body bothered him; he could not leave it +there, knowing the building would soon be in flames. He dragged the body +outside, to a point several feet distant from the building, dropping it at +last and standing erect for the first time to fill his lungs and look +about him. Looking back as he ran down the tracks toward the shed where he +had left Nigger, he saw shadowy forms of men running around the +courthouse, which was now dully illuminated, the light from within dancing +fitfully through the window shades. Flaming streaks rent the night from +various points--thinking him still in the building the deputies were +shooting through the windows. Manti, rudely awakened, was pouring its +population through its doors in streams. Shouts, hoarse, inquisitive, +drifted to Trevison's ears. Lights blazed up, flickering from windows like +giant fireflies. Doors slammed, dogs were barking, men were running. +Trevison laughed vibrantly as he ran. But his lips closed tightly when he +saw two or three shadowy figures darting toward him, coming from various +directions--one from across the street; another coming straight down the +railroad track, still another advancing from his right. He bowed his head +and essayed to pass the first figure. It reached out a hand and grasped +his shoulder, arresting his flight. + +"What's up?" + +"Let go, you damned fool!" + +The man still clung to him. Trevison wrenched himself free and struck, +viciously. The man dropped with a startled cry. Another figure was upon +Trevison. He wanted no more trouble at that minute. + +"Hell to pay!" he panted as the second man loomed close to him in the +darkness; "Trevison's in the courthouse!" + +He heard the other gasp; saw him lunge forward. He struck again, bitterly, +and the man went to his knees. He was up again instantly, as Trevison fled +into the darkness, crying resonantly: + +"This way, boys--here he is!" + +"Corrigan!" breathed Trevison. He ducked as a flame-spurt split the night; +reaching a corner of the shed where he had left his horse as a succession +of reports rattled behind him. Corrigan was firing at him. He dared not +use his own pistol, lest its flash reveal his whereabouts, and he knew he +would have no chance against the odds that were against him. Nor was he +intent on murder. He flung himself into the saddle, and for the first time +since he had come into Trevison's possession Nigger knew the bite of spurs +earnestly applied. He snorted, leaped, and plunged forward, the clatter of +his hoofs bringing lancelike streaks of fire out of the surrounding +blackness. Behind him Trevison heard Corrigan raging impotently, +profanely. There came another scattering volley. Trevison reeled, caught +himself, and then hung hard to the saddle-horn, as Nigger fled into the +night, running as a coyote runs from the daylight. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +ANOTHER WOMAN LIES + + +Shortly before midnight Aunt Agatha Benham laid her book down, took off +her glasses, wiped her eyes and yawned. She sat for a time stretched out +in her chair, her hands folded in her lap, meditatively looking at the +flicker of the kerosene lamp, thinking of the conveniences she had given +up in order to chaperon a wilful girl who did not appreciate her services. +It was the selfishness of youth, she decided--nothing less. But still +Rosalind might understand what a sacrifice her aunt was making for her. +Thrilling with self-pity, she got up, blew out the light and ascended the +stairs to her room. She plumped herself in a chair at one of the front +windows before beginning to undress, that she might again feel the +delicious thrill, for that was the only consolation she got from a +contemplation of her sacrifice, Rosalind never offered her a word of +gratitude! + +The thrill she anticipated was not the one she experienced--it was a +thrill of apprehension that seized her--for a glowing midnight sky met her +gaze as she stared in the direction of Manti, vast, extensive. In its +center, directly over the town, was a fierce white glare with off-shoots +of licking, leaping tongues of flame that reached skyward hungrily. + +Agatha watched for one startled instant, and then she was in Rosalind's +room, leaning over the bed, shaking her. The girl got up, dressed in her +night clothes, and together they stood at one of the windows in the girl's +room, watching. + +The fierce white center of the fire seemed to expand. + +"It's a fire--in Manti!" said the girl. "See! Another building has caught! +Oh, I _do_ hope they can put it out!" + +They stood long at the window. Once, when the glow grew more brilliant, +the girl exclaimed sharply, but after a time the light began to fade, and +she drew a breath of relief. + +"They have it under control," she said. + +"Well, come to bed," advised Agatha. + +"Wait!" said the girl. She pressed her face against the window and peered +intently into the darkness. Then she threw up the sash, stuck her head out +and listened. She drew back, her face slowly whitening. + +"Some one is coming, Aunty--and riding very fast!" + +A premonition of tragedy, associated with the fire, had seized the girl at +her first glimpse of the light, though she had said nothing. The +appearance of a rider, approaching the house at breakneck speed had added +strength to her fears, and now, driven by the urge of apprehension that +had seized her she flitted out of the room before Agatha could restrain +her, and was down in the sitting-room in an instant, applying a match to +the lamp. As the light flared up she heard the thunder of hoofs just +outside the door, and she ran to it, throwing it open. She shrank back, +drawing her breath gaspingly, for the rider had dismounted and stepped +toward her, into the dim light of the open doorway. + +"You!" she said. + +A low laugh was her answer, and Trevison stepped over the threshold and +closed the door behind him. From the foot of the stairs Agatha saw him, +and she stood, nerveless and shaking with dread over the picture he made. + +He had been more than forty-eight hours without sleep, the storm-center of +action had left its impression on him, and his face was gaunt and haggard, +with great, dark hollows under his eyes. The three or four days' growth of +beard accentuated the bold lines of his chin and jaw; his eyes were +dancing with the fires of passion; he held a Winchester rifle under his +right arm, the left, hanging limply at his side, was stained darkly. He +swayed as he stood looking at the girl, and smiled with faint derision at +the naked fear and wonder that had leaped into her eyes. But the derision +was tinged with bitterness, for this girl with both hands pressed over her +breast, heaving with the mingled emotions of modesty and dismay, was one +of the chief factors in the scheme to rob him. The knowledge hurt him +worse than the bullet which had passed through his arm. She had been +uppermost in his thoughts during his reckless ride from Manti, and he +would have cheerfully given his land, his ten years of labor, for the +assurance that she was innocent. But he knew guilt when he saw it, and +proof of it had been in her avoidance of him, in her ride to save +Corrigan's mining machinery, in her subsequent telling of his presence at +the butte on the night of the dynamiting, in her bitter declaration that +he ought to be punished for it. The case against her was strong. And yet +on his ride from Manti he had been irresistibly drawn toward the Bar B +ranchhouse. He had told himself as he rode that the impulse to visit her +this night was strong within him because on his way to the pueblo he was +forced to pass the house, but he knew better--he had lied to himself. He +wanted to talk with her again; he wanted to show her the land record, +which proved her fiance's guilt; he wanted to watch her as she looked at +the record, to learn from her face--what he might find there. + +He stood the rifle against the wall near the door, while the girl and her +aunt watched him, breathlessly. His voice was vibrant and hoarse, but well +under control, and he smiled with straight lips as he set the rifle down +and drew the record from his waistband. + +"I've something to show you, Miss Benham. I couldn't pass the house +without letting you know what has happened." He opened the book and +stepped to her side, swinging his left hand up, the index finger +indicating a page on which his name appeared. + +"Look!" he said, sharply, and watched her face closely. He saw her cheeks +blanch, and set his lips grimly. + +"Why," she said, after she had hurriedly scanned the page; "it seems to +prove your title! But this is a court record, isn't it?" She examined the +gilt lettering on the back of the volume, and looked up at him with wide, +luminous eyes. "Where did you get that book?" + +"From the courthouse." + +"Why, I thought people weren't permitted to take court records--" + +"I've taken this one," he laughed. + +She looked at the blood on his hand, shudderingly. "Why," she said; +"there's been violence! The fire, the blood on your hand, the record, your +ride here--What does it mean?" + +"It means that I've been denied my rights, and I've taken them. Is there +any crime in that? Look here!" He took another step and stood looking down +at her. "I'm not saying anything about Corrigan. You know what we think of +each other, and we'll fight it out, man to man. But the fact that a woman +is engaged to one man doesn't bar another man from the game. And I'm in +this game to the finish. And even if I don't get you I don't want you to +be mixed up in these schemes and plots--you're too good a girl for that!" + +"What do you mean?" She stiffened, looking scornfully at him, her chin +held high, outraged innocence in her manner. His cold grin of frank +disbelief roused her to furious indignation. What right had he to question +her integrity to make such speeches to her after his disgraceful affair +with Hester Harvey? + +"I do not care to discuss the matter with you!" she said, her lips stiff. + +"Ha, ha!" The bitter derision in his laugh made her blood riot with +hatred. He walked toward the door and took up the rifle, dimly remembering +she had used the same words to him once before, when he had met her as she +had been riding toward Manti. Of course she wouldn't discuss such a +thing--he had been a blind fool to think she would. But it proved her +guilt. Swinging the rifle under his arm, he opened the door, turned when +on the threshold and bowed to her. + +"I'm sorry I troubled you, Miss Benham," he said. He essayed to turn, +staggered, looked vacantly around the room, his lips in a queerly cold +half-smile, and then without uttering a sound pitched forward, one +shoulder against the door jamb, and slid slowly to his knees, where he +rested, his head sinking limply to his chest. He heard the girl cry out +sharply and he raised his head with an effort and smiled reassuringly at +her, and when he felt her hands on his arm, trying to lift him, he laughed +aloud in self-derision and got to his feet, hanging to the door jamb. + +"I'm sorry, Miss Benham," he mumbled. "I lost some blood, I suppose. +Rotten luck, isn't it. I shouldn't have stopped." He turned to go, lurched +forward and would have fallen out of the door had not the girl seized and +steadied him. + +He did not resist when she dragged him into the room and closed the door, +but he waved her away when she tried to take his arm and lead him toward +the kitchen where, she insisted, she would prepare a stimulant and food +for him. He tottered after her, tall and gaunt, his big, lithe figure +strangely slack, his head rocking, the room whirling around him. He had +held to the record and the rifle; the latter by the muzzle, dragging it +after him, the record under his arm. + +But his marvelous constitution, a result of his clean living and outdoor +life, responded quickly to the stimulation of food and hot drinks, and in +half an hour he got up, still a little weak, but with some color in his +cheeks, and shame-facedly thanked the girl. He realized now, that he +should not have come here; the past few hours loomed in his thoughts like +a wild nightmare in which he had lost his sense of proportion, yielding to +the elemental passions that had been aroused in his long, sleepless +struggle, making him act upon impulses that he would have frowned +contemptuously away in a normal frame of mind. + +"I've been nearly crazy, I think," he said to the girl with a wan smile of +self-accusation. "I want you to forget what I said." + +"What happened at Manti?" she demanded, ignoring his words. + +He laughed at the recollection, tucking his rifle under his arm, +preparatory to leaving. "I went after the record. I got it. There was a +fight. But I got away." + +"But the fire!" + +"I was forced to smash a lamp in the courthouse. The wick fell into the +oil, and I couldn't delay to--" + +"Was anybody hurt--besides you?" + +"Braman's dead." The girl gasped and shrank from him, and he saw that she +believed he had killed the banker, and he was about to deny the crime when +Agatha's voice shrilled through the doorway: + +"There are some men coming, Rosalind!" And then, vindictively: "I presume +they are desperadoes--too!" + +"Deputies!" said Trevison. The girl clasped her hands over her breast in +dismay, which changed to terror when she saw Trevison stiffen and leap +toward the door. She was afraid for him, horrified over this second +lawless deed, dumb with doubt and indecision--and she didn't want them to +catch him! + +He opened the door, paused on the threshold and smiled at her with +straight, hard lips. + +"Braman was--" + +"Go!" she cried in a frenzy of anxiety; "go!" + +He laughed mockingly, and looked at her intently. "I suppose I will never +understand women. You are my enemy, and yet you give me food and drink and +are eager to have me escape your accomplice. Don't you know that this +record will ruin him?" + +"Go, go!" she panted. + +"Well, you're a puzzle!" he said. She saw him leap into the saddle, and +she ran to the lamp, blew out the flame, and returned to the open door, in +which she stood for a long time, listening to rapid hoof beats that +gradually receded. Before they died out entirely there came the sound of +many others, growing in volume and drawing nearer, and she beat her hands +together, murmuring: + +"Run, Nigger--run, run, run!" + + * * * * * + +She closed the door as the hoof beats sounded in the yard, locking it and +retreating to the foot of the stairs, where Agatha stood. + +"What does it all mean?" asked the elder woman. She was trembling. + +"Oh, I don't know," whispered the girl, gulping hard to keep her voice +from breaking. "It's something about Trevison's land. And I'm afraid, +Aunty, that there is something terribly wrong. Mr. Corrigan says it +belongs to him, and the court in Manti has decided in his favor. But +according to the record in Trevison's possession, _he_ has a clear title +to it." + +"There, there," consoled Agatha; "your father wouldn't permit--" + +"No, no!" said the girl, vehemently; "he wouldn't. But I can't understand +why Trevison fights so hard if--if he is in the wrong!" + +"He is a desperado, my dear; a wild, reckless spirit who has no regard for +law and order. Of course, if these men are after him, you will tell them +he was here!" + +"No!" said the girl, sharply; "I shan't!" + +"Perhaps you shouldn't," acquiesced Agatha. She patted the girl's +shoulder. "Maybe it would be for the best, dear--he may be in the right. +And I think I understand why you went riding with him so much, dear. He +may be wild and reckless, but he's a man--every inch of him!" + +The girl squeezed her relative's hand and went to open the door, upon +which had come a loud knock. Corrigan stood framed in the opening. She +could see his face only dimly. + +"There's no occasion for alarm, Miss Benham," he said, and she felt that +he could see her better than she could see him, and thus must have +discerned something of her emotion. "I must apologize for this noisy +demonstration. I believe I'm a little excited, though. Has Trevison passed +here within the last hour or so?" + +"No," she said, firmly. + +He laughed shortly. "Well, we'll get him. I've split my men up--some have +gone to his ranch, the others have headed for Levins' place." + +"What has happened?" + +"Enough. Judge Lindman disappeared--the supposition is that he was +abducted. I placed some men around the courthouse, to safeguard the +records, and Trevison broke in and set fire to the place. He also robbed +the safe in the bank, and killed Braman--choked him to death. A most +revolting murder. I'm sorry I disturbed you--good night." + +The girl closed the door as he left it, and leaned against it, weak and +shaking. Corrigan's voice had a curious note in it. He had told her he was +sorry to have disturbed her, but the words had not rung true--there had +been too much satisfaction in them. What was she to believe from this +night's events? One thought leaped vividly above the others that rioted in +her mind: Trevison had again sinned against the law, and this time his +crime was murder! She shrank away from the door and joined Agatha at the +foot of the stairs. + +"Aunty," she sobbed; "I want to go away. I want to go back East, away from +this lawlessness and confusion!" + +"There, there, dear," soothed Agatha. "I am sure everything will come out +all right. But Trevison _does_ look to be the sort of a man who would +abduct a judge, doesn't he? If I were a girl, and felt that he were in +love with me, I'd be mighty careful--" + +"That he wouldn't abduct you?" laughed the girl, tremulously, cheered by +the change in her relative's manner. + +"No," said Agatha, slyly. "I'd be mighty careful that he _got_ me!" + +"Oh!" said the girl, and buried her face in her aunt's shoulder. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +IN THE DARK + + +Trevison faced the darkness between him and the pueblo with a wild hope +pulsing through his veins. Rosalind Benham had had an opportunity to +deliver him into the hands of his enemy and she had not taken advantage of +it. There was but one interpretation that he might place upon her failure +to aid her accomplice. She declined to take an active part in the scheme. +She had been passive, content to watch while Corrigan did the real work. +Possibly she had no conception of the enormity of the crime. She had been +eager to have Corrigan win, and influenced by her affection and his +arguments she had done what she could without actually committing herself +to the robbery. It was a charitable explanation, and had many flaws, but +he clung to it persistently, nurturing it with his hopes and his hunger +for her, building it up until it became a structure of logic firmly fixed +and impregnable. Women were easily influenced--that had been his +experience with them--he was forced to accept it as a trait of the sex. So +he absolved her, his hunger for her in no way sated at the end. + +His thoughts ran to Corrigan in a riot of rage that pained him like a +knife thrust; his lust for vengeance was a savage, bitter-visaged demon +that held him in its clutch and made his temples pound with a yearning to +slay. And that, of course, would have to be the end. For the enmity that +lay between them was not a thing to be settled by the law--it was a man to +man struggle that could be settled in only one way--by the passions, +naked, elemental, eternal. He saw it coming; he leaped to meet it, +eagerly. + +Every stride the black horse made shortened by that much the journey he +had resolved upon, and Nigger never ran as he was running now. The black +seemed to feel that he was on the last lap of a race that had lasted for +more than forty-eight hours, with short intervals of rest between, and he +did his best without faltering. + +Order had come out of the chaos of plot and counterplot; Trevison's course +was to be as direct as his hatred. He would go to the pueblo, take Judge +Lindman and the record to Santa Fe, and then return to Manti for a last +meeting with Corrigan. + +A late moon, rising from a cleft in some distant mountains, bathed the +plains with a silvery flood when horse and rider reached a point within a +mile of the pueblo, and Nigger covered the remainder of the distance at a +pace that made the night air drum in Trevison's ears. The big black slowed +as he came to a section of broken country surrounding the ancient city, +but he got through it quickly and skirted the sand slopes, taking the +steep acclivity leading to the ledge of the pueblo in a dozen catlike +leaps and coming to a halt in the shadow of an adobe house, heaving +deeply, his rider flung himself out of the saddle and ran along the ledge +to the door of the chamber where he had imprisoned Judge Lindman. + +Trevison could see no sign of the Judge or Levins. The ledge was bare, +aglow, the openings of the communal houses facing it loomed dark, like the +doors of tombs. A ghastly, unearthly silence greeted Trevison's call after +the echoes died away; the upper tier of adobe boxes seemed to nod in +ghostly derision as his gaze swept them. There was no sound, no movement, +except the regular cough of his own laboring lungs, and the rustle of his +clothing as his chest swelled and deflated with the effort. He exclaimed +impatiently and retraced his steps, peering into recesses between the +communal houses, certain that the Judge and Levins had fallen asleep in +his absence. He turned at a corner and in a dark angle almost stumbled +over Levins. He was lying on his stomach, his right arm under his head, +his face turned sideways. Trevison thought at first that he was asleep and +prodded him gently with the toe of his boot. A groan smote his ears and he +kneeled quickly, turning Levins over. Something damp and warm met his +fingers as he seized the man by the shoulder, and he drew the hand away +quickly, exclaiming sharply as he noted the stain on it. + +His exclamation brought Levins' eyes open, and he stared upward, stupidly +at first, then with a bright gaze of comprehension. He struggled and sat +up, swaying from side to side. + +"They got the Judge, 'Brand'--they run him off, with my cayuse!" + +"Who got him?" + +"I ain't reckonin' to know. Some of Corrigan's scum, most likely--I didn't +see 'em close." + +"How long ago?" + +"Not a hell of a while. Mebbe fifteen or twenty minutes. I been missin' a +lot of time, I reckon. Can't have been long, though." + +"Which way did they go?" + +"Off towards Manti. Two of 'em took him. The rest is layin' low somewhere, +most likely. Watch out they don't get _you_! I ain't seen 'em run off, +yet!" + +"How did it happen?" + +"I ain't got it clear in my head, yet. Just happened, I reckon. The Judge +was settin' on the ledge just in front of the dobie house you had him in. +I was moseyin' along the edge, tryin' to figger out what a light in the +sky off towards Manti meant. I couldn't figger it out--what in hell was +it, anyway?" + +"The courthouse burned--maybe the bank." + +Levins chuckled. "You got the record, then." + +"Yes." + +"An' I've lost the Judge! Ain't I a box-head, though!" + +"That's all right. Go ahead. What happened?" + +"I was moseyin along the ledge. Just when I got to the slope where we come +up--passin' it--I seen a bunch of guys, on horses, coming out of the +shadow of an angle, down there. I hadn't seen 'em before. I knowed +somethin' was up an' I turned, to light out for shelter. An' just then one +of 'em burns me in the back--with a rifle bullet. It couldn't have been no +six, from that distance. It took the starch out of me, an' I caved, I +reckon, for a little while. When I woke up the Judge was gone. The moon +had just come up an' I seen him ridin' away on my cayuse, between two +other guys. I reckon I must have gone off again, when you shook me." He +laughed, weakly. "What gets _me_, is where them other guys went, after the +two sloped with the Judge. If they'd have been hangin' around they'd sure +have got _you_, comin' up here, wouldn't they?" + +Trevison's answer was a hoarse exclamation. He swung Levins up and bore +him into one of the communal houses, whose opening faced away from the +plains and the activity. Then he ran to where he had left Nigger, leading +the animal back into the zig-zag passages, pulling his rifle out of the +saddle holster and stationing himself in the shadow of the house in which +he had taken Levins. + +"They've come back, eh?" the wounded man's voice floated out to him. + +"Yes--five or six of them. No--eight! They've got sharp eyes, too!" he +added stepping back as a rifle bullet droned over his head, chipping a +chunk of adobe from the roof of the box in whose shelter he stood. + + * * * * * + +Sullenly, Corrigan had returned to Manti with the deputies that had +accompanied him to the Bar B. He had half expected to find Trevison at the +ranchhouse, for he had watched him when he had ridden away and he seemed +to have been headed in that direction. Jealousy dwelt darkly in the big +man's heart, and he had found his reason for the suspicion there. He +thought he knew truth when he saw it, and he would have sworn that truth +shone from Rosalind Benham's eyes when she had told him that she had not +seen Trevison pass that way. He had not known that what he took for the +truth was the cleverest bit of acting the girl had ever been called upon +to do. He had decided that Trevison had swung off the Bar B trail +somewhere between Manti and the ranchhouse, and he led his deputies back +to town, content to permit his men to continue the search for Trevison, +for he was convinced that the latter's visit to the courthouse had +resulted in disappointment, for he had faith in Judge Lindman's +declaration that he had destroyed the record. He had accused himself many +times for his lack of caution in not being present when the record had +been destroyed, but regrets had become impotent and futile. + +Reaching Manti, he dispersed his deputies and sought his bed in the +_Castle_. He had not been in bed more than an hour when an attendant of +the hotel called to him through the door that a man named Gieger wanted to +talk with him, below. He dressed and went down to the street, to find +Gieger and another deputy sitting on their horses in front of the hotel +with Judge Lindman, drooping from his long vigil, between them. + +Corrigan grinned scornfully at the Judge. + +"Clever, eh?" he sneered. He spoke softly, for the dawn was not far away, +and he knew that a voice carries resonantly at that hour. + +"I don't understand you!" Judicial dignity sat sadly on the Judge; he was +tired and haggard, and his voice was a weak treble. "If you mean--" + +"I'll show you what I mean." Corrigan motioned to the deputies. "Bring him +along!" Leading the way he took them through Manti's back door across a +railroad spur to a shanty beside the track which the engineer in charge of +the dam occasionally occupied when his duty compelled him to check up +arriving material and supplies. Because plans and other valuable papers +were sometimes left in the shed it was stoutly built, covered with +corrugated iron, and the windows barred with iron, prison-like. Reaching +the shed, Corrigan unlocked the door, shoved the Judge inside, closed the +door on the Judge's indignant protests, questioned the deputies briefly, +gave them orders and then re-entered the shed, closing the door behind +him. + +He towered over the Judge, who had sunk weakly to a bench. It was pitch +dark in the shed, but Corrigan had seen the Judge drop on the bench and +knew exactly where he was. + +"I want the whole story--without any reservations," said Corrigan, +hoarsely; "and I want it quick--as fast as you can talk!" + +The Judge got up, resenting the other's tone. He had also a half-formed +resolution to assert his independence, for he had received certain +assurances from Trevison with regard to his past which had impressed +him--and still impressed him. + +"I refuse to be questioned by you, sir--especially in this manner! I do +not purpose to take further--" + +The Judge felt Corrigan's fingers at his throat, and gasped with horror, +throwing up his hands to ward them off, failed, and heard Corrigan's laugh +as the fingers gripped his throat and held. + +When the Judge came to, it was with an excruciatingly painful struggle +that left him shrinking and nerveless, lying in a corner, blinking at the +light of a kerosene lamp. Corrigan sat on the edge of a flat-topped desk +watching him with an ugly, appraising, speculative grin. It was as though +the man were mentally gambling on his chances to recover from the +throttling. + +"Well," he said when the Judge at last struggled and sat up; "how do you +like it? You'll get more if you don't talk fast and straight! Who wrote +that letter, from Dry Bottom?" + +Neither judicial dignity or resolutions of independence could resist the +threatened danger of further violence that shone from Corrigan's eyes, and +the Judge whispered gaspingly: + +"Trevison." + +"I thought so! Now, be careful how you answer this. What did Trevison want +in the courthouse?" + +"The original record of the land transfers." + +"Did he get it?" Corrigan's voice was dangerously even, and the Judge +squirmed and coughed before he spoke the hesitating word that was an +admission of his deception: + +"I told him--where--it was." + +Paralyzed with fear, the Judge watched Corrigan slip off the desk and +approach him. He got to his feet and raised his hands to shield his throat +as the big man stopped in front of him. + +"Don't, Corrigan--don't, for God's sake!" + +"Bah!" said the big man. He struck, venomously. An instant later he put +out the light and stepped down into the gray dawn, locking the door of the +shanty behind him and not looking back. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE ASHES + + +Rosalind Benham got up with the dawn and looked out of a window toward +Manti. She had not slept. She stood at the window for some time and then +returned to the bed and sat on its edge, staring thoughtfully downward. +She could not get Trevison out of her mind. It seemed to her that a crisis +had come and that it was imperative for her to reach a decision--to +pronounce judgment. She was trying to do this calmly; she was trying to +keep sentiment from prejudicing her. She found it difficult when +considering Trevison, but when she arrayed Hester Harvey against her +longing for the man she found that her scorn helped her to achieve a +mental balance that permitted her to think of him almost dispassionately. +She became a mere onlooker, with a calm, clear vision. In this role she +weighed him. His deeds, his manner, his claims, she arrayed against +Corrigan and his counter-claims and ambitions, and was surprised to +discover that were she to be called upon to pass judgment on the basis of +this surface evidence she would have decided in favor of Trevison. She had +fought against that, for it was a tacit admission that her father was in +some way connected with Corrigan's scheme, but she admitted it finally, +with a pulse of repugnance, and when she placed Levins' story on the +mental balance, with the knowledge that she had seen the record which +seemed to prove the contention of fraud in the land transaction, the +evidence favored Trevison overwhelmingly. + +She got up and began to dress, her lips set with determination. Corrigan +had held her off once with plausible explanations, but she would not +permit him to do so again. She intended to place the matter before her +father. Justice must be done. Before she had half finished dressing she +heard a rustle and turned to see Agatha standing in the doorway connecting +their rooms. + +"What is it, dear?" + +"I can't stand the suspense any longer, Aunty. There is something very +wrong about that land business. I am going to telegraph to father about +it." + +"I was going to ask you to do that, dear. It seems to me that that young +Trevison is too much in earnest to be fighting for something that does not +belong to him. If ever there was honesty in a man's face it was in his +face last night. I don't believe for a minute that your father is +concerned in Corrigan's schemes--if there are schemes. But it won't do any +harm to learn what your father thinks about it. My dear--" she stepped to +the girl and placed an arm around her waist "--last night as I watched +Trevison, he reminded me of a--a very dear friend that I once knew. I saw +the wreck of my own romance, my dear. He was just such a man as +Trevison--reckless, impulsive, and impetuous--dare-devil who would not +tolerate injustice or oppression. They wouldn't let me have him, my dear, +and I never would have another man. He went away, joined the army, and was +killed at the battle of Kenesaw Mountain. I have kept his memory fresh in +my heart, and last night when I looked at Trevison it seemed to me that he +must be the reincarnation of the only man I ever loved. There must be +something terribly wrong to make him act the way he does, my dear. And he +loves you." + +The girl bit her lips to repress the swelling emotions which clamored in +wild response to this sympathetic understanding. She looked at Agatha, to +see tears in her eyes, and she wheeled impulsively and threw her arms +around the other's neck. + +"Oh, I know exactly how you feel, Aunty. But--" she gulped "--he doesn't +love me." + +"I saw it in his eyes, my dear." Agatha's smile was tender and +reminiscent. "Don't you worry. He will find a way to let you know--as he +will find a way to beat Corrigan--if Corrigan is trying to defraud him! +He's that kind, my dear!" + +In spite of her aunt's assurances the girl's heart was heavy as she began +her ride to Manti. Trevison might love her,--she had read that it was +possible for a man to love two women--but she could never return his love, +knowing of his affair with Hester. He should have justice, however, if +they were trying to defraud him of his rights! + +Long before she reached Manti she saw the train from Dry Bottom, due at +Manti at six o'clock, gliding over the plains toward the town, and when +she arrived at the station its passengers had been swallowed by Manti's +buildings and the station agent and an assistant were dragging and bumping +trunks and boxes over the station platform. + +The agent bowed deferentially to her and followed her into the telegraph +room, clicking her message over the wires as soon as she had written it. +When he had finished he wheeled his chair and grinned at her. + +"See the courthouse and the bank?" + +She had--all that was left of them--black, charred ruins with two iron +safes, red from their baptism of fire, standing among them. Also two other +buildings, one on each side of the two that had been destroyed, scorched +and warped, but otherwise undamaged. + +"Come pretty near burning the whole town. It took _some_ work to confine +_that_ fire--coal oil. Trevison did a clean job. Robbed the safe in the +bank. Killed Braman--guzzled him. An awful complete job, from Trevison's +viewpoint. The town's riled, and I wouldn't give a plugged cent for +Trevison's chances. He's sloped. Desperate character--I always thought +he'd rip things loose--give him time. It was him blowed up Corrigan's +mine. I ain't seen Corrigan since last night, but I heard him and twenty +or thirty deputies are on Trevison's trail. I hope they get him." He +squinted at her. "There's trouble brewing in this town, Miss Benham. I +wouldn't advise you to stay here any longer than is _absolutely_ +necessary. There's two factions--looks like. It's about that land deal. +Lefingwell and some more of them think they've been given a raw decision +by the court and Corrigan. Excitement! Oh, Lord! This town is fierce. I +ain't had any sleep in--Your answer? I can't tell. Mebbe right away. Mebbe +in an hour." + +Rosalind went out upon the platform. The agent's words had revived a +horror that she had almost forgotten--that she wanted to forget--the +murder of Braman. + +She walked to the edge of the station platform, tortured by thoughts in +which she could find no excuse for Trevison. Murderer and robber! A +fugitive from justice--the very justice he had been demanding! Her +thoughts made her weak and sick, and she stepped down from the platform +and walked up the track, halting beside a shed and leaning against it. +Across the street from her was the _Castle_ hotel. A man in boots, +corduroy trousers, and a flannel shirt and dirty white apron, his sleeves +rolled to the elbows, was washing the front windows and spitting streams +of tobacco juice on the board walk. She shivered. A grocer next to the +hotel was adjusting a swinging shelf affixed to the store-front, +preparatory to piling his wares upon it; a lean-faced man standing in a +doorway in the building adjoining the grocery was inspecting a six-shooter +that he had removed from the holster at his side. Rosalind shivered again. +Civilization and outlawry were strangely mingled here. She would not have +been surprised to see the lean-faced man begin to shoot at the others. +Filled with sudden trepidation she took a step away from the shed, +intending to return to the station and wait for her answer. + +As she moved she heard a low moan. She started, paling, and then stood +stock still, trembling with dread, but determined not to run. The sound +came again, seeming to issue from the interior of the shed, and she +retraced her step and leaned again against the wall of the building, +listening. + +There was no mistaking the sound--someone was in trouble. But she wanted +to be certain before calling for help and she listened again to hear an +unmistakable pounding on the wall near her, and a voice, calling +frenziedly: "Help, help--for God's sake!" + +Her fears fled and she sprang to the door, finding it locked. She rattled +it, impotently, and then left it and ran across the street to where the +window-washer stood. He wheeled and spat copiously, almost in her face, as +she rapidly told him her news, and then deliberately dropped his brush and +cloth into the dust and mud at his feet and jumped after her, across the +street. + +"Who's in here?" demanded the man, hammering on the door. + +"It's I--Judge Lindman! Open the door! Hurry! I'm smothering--and hurt!" + +In what transpired within the next few minutes--and indeed during the +hours following--the girl felt like an outsider. No one paid any attention +to her; she was shoved, jostled, buffeted, by the crowd that gathered, +swarming from all directions. But she was intensely interested. + +It seemed to her that every person in Manti gathered in front of the +shed--that all had heard of the abduction of the Judge. Some one secured +an iron bar and battered the lock off the door; a half-dozen men dragged +the Judge out, and he stood in front of the building, swaying in the hands +of his supporters, his white hair disheveled, his lips blood-stained and +smashed, where Corrigan had hit him. The frenzy of terror held him, and he +looked wildly around at the tiers of faces confronting him, the cords of +his neck standing out and writhing spasmodically. Twice he opened his lips +to speak, but each time his words died in a dry gasp. At the third effort +he shrieked: + +"I--I want protection! Don't let him touch me again, men! He means to kill +me! Don't let him touch me! I--I've been attacked--choked--knocked +insensible! I appeal to you as American citizens for protection!" + +It was fear, stark, naked, cringing, that the crowd saw. Faces blanched, +bodies stiffened; a concerted breath, like a sigh, rose into the flat, +desert air. Rosalind clenched her hands and stood rigid, thrilling with +pity. + +"Who done it?" A dozen voices asked the question. + +"Corrigan!" The Judge screamed this, hysterically. "He is a thief and a +scoundrel, men! He has plundered this county! He has prostituted your +court. Your judge, too! I admit it. But I ask your mercy, men! I was +forced into it! He threatened me! He falsified the land records! He wanted +me to destroy the original record, but I didn't--I told Trevison where it +was--I hid it! And because I wouldn't help Corrigan to rob you, he tried +to kill me!" + +A murmur, low, guttural, vindictive, rippled over the crowd, which had now +swelled to such proportions that the street could not hold it. It fringed +the railroad track; men were packed against the buildings surrounding the +shed; they shoved, jostled and squirmed in an effort to get closer to the +Judge. The windows of the _Castle_ hotel were filled with faces, among +which Rosalind saw Hester Harvey's, ashen, her eyes aglow. + +The Judge's words had stabbed Rosalind--each like a separate knife-thrust; +they had plunged her into a mental vacuum in which her brain, atrophied, +reeled, paralyzed. She staggered--a man caught her, muttered something +about there being too much excitement for a lady, and gruffly ordered +others to clear the way that he might lead her out of the jam. She +resisted, for she was determined to stay to hear the Judge to the end, and +the man grinned hugely at her; and to escape the glances that she could +feel were directed at her she slipped through the crowd and sought the +front of the shed, leaning against it, weakly. + +A silence had followed the murmur that had run over the crowd. There was a +breathless period, during which every man seemed to be waiting for his +neighbor to take the initiative. They wanted a leader. And he appeared, +presently--a big, broad-shouldered man forced his way through the crowd +and halted in front of the Judge. + +"I reckon we'll protect you, Judge. Just spit out what you got to say. +We'll stand by you. Where's Trevison?" + +"He came to the courthouse last night to get the record. I told him where +it was. He forced me to go with him to an Indian pueblo, and he kept me +there yesterday. He left me there last night with Clay Levins, while he +came here to get the record." + +"Do you reckon he got it?" + +"I don't know. But from the way Corrigan acted last night--" + +"Yes, yes; he got it!" + +The words shifted the crowd's gaze to Rosalind, swiftly. The girl had +hardly realized that she had spoken. Her senses, paralyzed a minute +before, had received the electric shock of sympathy from a continued study +of the Judge's face. She saw remorse on it, regret, shame, and the birth +of a resolution to make whatever reparation that was within his power, at +whatever cost. It was a weak face, but it was not vicious, and while she +had been standing there she had noted the lines of suffering. It was not +until the girl felt the gaze of many curious eyes on her that she realized +she had committed herself, and her cheeks flamed. She set herself to face +the stares; she must go on now. + +"It's Benham's girl!" she heard a man standing near her whisper hoarsely, +and she faced them, her chin held high, a queer joy leaping in her heart. +She knew at this minute that her sympathies had been with Trevison all +along; that she had always suspected Corrigan, but had fought against the +suspicion because of the thought that in some way her father might be +dragged into the affair. It had been a cowardly attitude, and she was glad +that she had shaken it off. As her brain, under the spur of the sudden +excitement, resumed its function, her thoughts flitted to the agent's +babble during the time she had been sending the telegram to her father. +She talked rapidly, her voice carrying far: + +"Trevison got the record last night. He stopped at my ranch and showed it +to me. I suppose he was going to the pueblo, expecting to meet Levins and +Lindman there--" + +"By God!" The big, broad-shouldered man standing at Judge Lindman's side +interrupted her. He turned and faced the crowd. "We're damned fools, +boys--lettin' this thing go on like we have! Corrigan's took his deputies +out, trailin' Trevison, chargin' him with murderin' Braman, when his real +purpose is to get his claws on that record! Trevison's been fightin' our +fight for us, an' we've stood around like a lot of gillies, lettin' him do +it! It's likely that a man who'd cook up a deal like the Judge, here, says +Corrigan has, would cook up another, chargin' Trevison with guzzlin' the +banker. I've knowed Trevison a long time, boys, an' I don't believe he'd +_guzzle_ anybody--he's too square a man for that!" He stood on his toes, +raising his clenched hands, and bringing them down with a sweep of furious +emphasis. + +The crowd swayed restlessly. Rosalind saw it split apart, men fighting to +open a pathway for a woman. There were shouts of: "Open up, there!" "Let +the lady through!" "Gangway!" "She's got somethin' to say!" And the girl +caught her breath sharply, for she recognized the woman as Hester Harvey. + +It was some time before Hester reached the broad-shouldered man's side. +There was a stain in each of her cheeks, but outwardly, at least, she +showed none of the excitement that had seized the crowd; her movements +were deliberate and there was a resolute set to her lips. She got through, +finally, and halted beside the big man, the crowd closing up behind her. +She was swallowed in it, lost to sight. + +"Lift her up, Lefingwell!" suggested a man on the outer fringe. "If she's +got anything to say, let us all hear it!" The suggestion was caught up, +insistently. + +"If you ain't got no objections, ma'am," said the big man. He stooped at +her cold smile and swung her to his shoulder. She spoke slowly and +distinctly, though there was a tremor in her voice: + +[Illustration: "YOU MEN ARE BLIND. CORRIGAN IS A CROOK WHO +WILL STOP AT NOTHING."] + +"Trevison did not kill Braman--it was Corrigan. Corrigan was in my room in +the _Castle_ last night just after dark. When he left, I watched him from +my window, after putting out the light. He had threatened to kill Braman. +I watched him cross the street and go around to the rear of the bank +building. There was a light in the rear room of the bank. After a while +Braman and Corrigan entered the banking room. The light from the rear room +shone on them for an instant and I recognized them. They were at the safe. +When they went out they left the safe door open. After a while the light +went out and I saw Corrigan come from around the rear of the building, +recross the street and come into the _Castle_. You men are blind. Corrigan +is a crook who will stop at nothing. If you let him injure Trevison for a +crime that Trevison did not commit you deserve to be robbed!" + +Lefingwell swung her down from his shoulder. + +"I reckon that cinches it, boys!" he bellowed over the heads of the men +nearest him. "There ain't nothin' plainer! If we stand for this we're a +bunch of cowardly coyotes that ain't fit to look Trevison in the face! I'm +goin' to help him! Who's comin' along?" + +A chorus of shouts drowned his last words; the crowd was in motion, swift, +with definite purpose. It melted, streaming off in all directions, like +the sweep of water from a bursted dam. It broke at the doors of the +buildings; it sought the stables. Men bearing rifles appeared in the +street, mounting horses and congregating in front of the _Belmont_, where +Lefingwell had gone. Other men, on the board sidewalk and in the dust of +the street, were running, shouting, gesticulating. In an instant the town +had become a bedlam of portentous force; it was the first time in its +history that the people of Manti had looked with collective vision, and +the girl reeled against the iron wall of the shed, appalled at the +resistless power that had been set in motion. On a night when she sat on +the porch of the Bar B ranchhouse she had looked toward Manti, thrilled +over a pretty mental fancy. She had thought it all a game--wondrous, +joyous, progressive. She had neglected to associate justice with it +then--the inexorable rule of fairness under which every player of the game +must bow. She brought it into use now, felt the spirit of it, saw the dire +tragedy that its perversion portended, groaned, and covered her face with +her hands. + +She looked around after a while. She saw Judge Lindman walking across the +street toward the _Castle_, supported by two other men. A third followed; +she did not know him, but Corrigan would have recognized him as the hotel +clerk who had grown confidential upon a certain day. The girl heard his +voice as he followed after the Judge and the others--raucous, vindictive: + +"We need men like Trevison in this town. We can get along without any +Corrigans." + +She heard a voice behind her and she turned, swiftly, to see Hester Harvey +walking toward her. She would have avoided the meeting, but she saw that +Hester was intent on speaking and she drew herself erect, bowing to her +with cold courtesy as the woman stopped within a step of her and smiled. + +"You look ready to flop into hysterics, dearie! Won't you come over to my +room with me and have something to brace you up? A cup of tea?" she added +with a laugh as Rosalind looked quickly at her. She did not seem to notice +the stiffening of the girl's body, but linked her arm within her own and +began to walk across the street. The girl was racked with emotion over the +excitement of the morning, the dread of impending violence, and half +frantic with anxiety over Trevison's safety. Hester's offense against her +seemed vague and far, and very insignificant, relatively. She yearned to +exchange confidences with somebody--anybody, and this woman, even though +she were what she thought her, had a capacity for feeling, for sympathy. +And she was very, very tired of it all. + +"It was fierce, wasn't it?" said Hester a few minutes later in the privacy +of her room, as she balanced her cup and watched Rosalind as the girl ate, +hungrily. "These sagebrush rough-necks out here will make Corrigan hump +himself to keep out of their way. But he deserves it, the crook!" + +The girl looked curiously at the other, trying hard to reconcile the +vindictiveness of these words and the woman's previous action in giving +damaging testimony against Corrigan, with the significant fact that +Corrigan had been in her room the night before, presumably as a guest. +Hester caught the look and laughed. "Yes, dearie, he deserves it. How much +do you know of what has been going on here?" + +"Very little, I am afraid." + +"Less than that, I suspect. I happen to know considerable, and I am going +to tell you about it. My trip out here has been a sort of a wild-goose +chase. I thought I wanted Trevison, but I've discovered I'm not badly hurt +by his refusal to resume our old relations." + +The girl gasped and almost dropped her cup, setting it down slowly +afterward and staring at her hostess with doubting, fearing, incredulous +eyes. + +"Yes, dearie," laughed the other, with a trace of embarrassment; "you can +trust your ears on that statement. To make certain, I'll repeat it: I am +not very badly hurt by his refusal to resume our old relations. Do you +know what that means? It means that he turned me down cold, dearie." + +"Do you mean--" began the girl, gripping the table edge. + +"I mean that I lied to you. The night I went over to Trevison's ranch he +told me plainly that he didn't like me one teenie, weenie bit any more. He +wouldn't kiss me, shake my hand, or welcome me in any way. He told me he'd +got over it, the same as he'd got over his measles days--he'd outgrown it +and was going to throw himself at the feet of another goddess. Oh, yes, he +meant you!" she laughed, her voice a little too high, perhaps, with an odd +note of bitterness in it. "Then, determined to blot my rival out, I lied +about you. I told him that you loved Corrigan and that you were in the +game to rob him of his land. Oh, I blackened you, dearie! It hurt him, +too. For when a man like Trevison loves a woman--" + +"How could you!" said the girl, shuddering. + +"Please don't get dramatic," jeered the other. "The rules that govern the +love game are very elastic--for some women. I played it strong, but there +was no chance for me from the beginning. Trevison thinks you are +Corrigan's trump card in this game. It _is_ a game, isn't it. But he loves +you in spite of it all. He told me he'd go to the gallows for you. Aren't +men the sillies! But just the same, dearie, we women like to hear them +murmur those little heroic things, don't we? It was on the night I told +him you'd told Corrigan about the dynamiting." + +"Oh!" said the girl. + +"That was my high card," laughed the woman, harshly. "He took it and +derided me. I decided right then that I wouldn't play any more." + +"Then he didn't send for you?" + +"Corrigan did that, dearie." + +"You--you knew Corrigan before--before you came here?" + +"You _can_ guess intelligently, can't you?" + +"Corrigan planned it _all_?" + +"All." Hester watched as the girl bowed her head and sobbed convulsively. + +"What a brazen, crafty and unprincipled _thing_ Trevison must think me!" + +Hester reached out a hand and laid it on the girl's. "I--there was a time +when I would have done murder to have him think of me as he thinks of you, +dearie. He isn't for me, though, and I can't spoil any woman's happiness. +There's little enough--but I'm not going to philosophize. I was going away +without telling you this. I don't know why I am telling it now. I always +was a little soft. But if you hadn't spoken as you did a while ago in that +crowd--taking Trevison's end--I--I think you'd never have known. Somehow, +it seemed you deserved him, dearie. And I couldn't bear to--to think of +him facing any more disappointment. He--he took it so--" + +The girl looked up, to see the woman's eyes filling with a luminous mist. +A quick conception of what this all meant to the woman thrilled the girl. +She got up and walked to the woman's side. "I'm _so_ sorry, Hester," she +said as her arms stole around the other's neck. + + * * * * * + +She went out a little later, into the glaring, shimmering sunlight of the +morning, her cheeks red, her eyes aglow, her heart racing wildly, to see +an engine and a luxurious private car just pulling from the main track to +a switch. + +"Oh," she whispered, joyously; "it's father's!" + +And she ran toward it, tingling with a new-found hope. + +In her room at the _Castle_ sat a woman who was finding the world very +empty. It held nothing for her except the sad consolation of repentance. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE FIGHT + + +"The boss is sure a she-wolf at playin' a lone hand," growled Barkwell, +shortly after dusk, to Jud Weaver, the straw boss. "Seems he thinks his +friends is delicate ornaments which any use would bust to smithereens. +Here's his outfit layin' around, bitin' their finger nails with ongwee an' +pinin' away to slivers yearnin' to get into the big meal-lee, an' him +racin' an' tearin' around the country fightin' it out by his lonesome. I +call it rank selfishness!" + +"He sure ought to have give us a chancst to claw the hair outen that +damned Corrigan feller!" complained Weaver. "In some ways, though, I'm +sorta glad the damned mine was blew up. 'Firebrand' would have sure got +a-hold of her some day, an' then we'd be clawin' at the bowels of the +earth instid of galivantin' around on our cayuses like gentlemen. I reckon +things is all for the best." + +The two had come in from the river range ostensibly to confer with +Trevison regarding their work, but in reality to satisfy their curiosity +over Trevison's movements. There was a deep current of concern for him +under their accusations. + +They had found the ranchhouse dark and deserted. But the office door was +open and they had entered, prepared supper, ate with a more than ordinary +mingling of conversation with their food, and not lighting the lamps had +gone out on the gallery for a smoke. + +"He ain't done any sleepin' to amount to much in the last forty-eight +hours, to my knowin'," remarked Barkwell; "unless he's done his sleepin' +on the run--an' that ain't in no ways a comfortable way. He's sure to be +driftin' in here, soon." + +"This here country's goin' to hell, certain!" declared Weaver, after an +hour of silence. "She's gettin' too eastern an' flighty. Railroads an' +dams an' hotels with bath tubs for every six or seven rooms, an' +resterawnts with filleedegree palms an' leather chairs an' slick eats is +eatin' the gizzard outen her. Railroads is all right in their place--which +is where folks ain't got no cayuses to fork an' therefore has to hoof +it--or--or ride the damn railroad." + +"Correct!" agreed Barkwell; "she's a-goin' the way Rome went--an +Babylone--an' Cincinnati--after I left. She runs to a pussy-cafe +aristocracy--_an'_ napkins." + +"She'll be plumb ruined--follerin' them foreign styles. The Uhmerican +people ain't got no right to adopt none of them new-fangled notions." +Weaver stared glumly into the darkening plains. + +They aired their discontent long. Directed at the town it relieved the +pressure of their resentment over Trevison's habit of depending upon +himself. For, secretly, both were interested admirers of Manti's growing +importance. + +Time was measured by their desires. Sometime before midnight Barkwell got +up, yawned and stretched. + +"Sleep suits me. If 'Firebrand' ain't reckonin' on a guardian, I ain't +surprisin' him none. He's mighty close-mouthed about his doin's, anyway." + +"You're shoutin'. I ain't never seen a man any stingier about hidin' away +his doin's. He just nacherly hawgs all the trouble." + +Weaver got up and sauntered to the far end of the gallery, leaning far out +to look toward Manti. His sharp exclamation brought Barkwell leaping to +his side, and they both watched in perplexity a faint glow in the sky in +the direction of the town. It died down as they watched. + +"Fire--looks like," Weaver growled. "We're always too late to horn in on +any excitement." + +"Uh, huh," grunted Barkwell. He was staring intently at the plains, +faintly discernable in the starlight. "There's horses out there, Jud! +Three or four, an' they're comin' like hell!" + +They slipped off the gallery into the shadow of some trees, both +instinctively feeling of their holsters. Standing thus they waited. + +The faint beat of hoofs came unmistakably to them. They grew louder, +drumming over the hard sand of the plains, and presently four dark figures +loomed out of the night and came plunging toward the gallery. They came to +a halt at the gallery edge, and were about to dismount when Barkwell's +voice, cold and truculent, issued from the shadow of the trees: + +"What's eatin' you guys?" + +There was a short, pregnant silence, and then one of the men laughed. + +"Who are you?" He urged his horse forward. But he was brought to a quick +halt when Barkwell's voice came again: + +"Talk from where you are!" + +"That goes," laughed the man. "Trevison here?" + +"What you wantin' of him?" + +"Plenty. We're deputies. Trevison burned the courthouse and the bank +tonight--and killed Braman. We're after him." + +"Well, he ain't here." Barkwell laughed. "Burned the courthouse, did he? +An' the bank? An' killed Braman? Well, you got to admit that's a pretty +good night's work. An' you're wantin' him!" Barkwell's voice leaped; he +spoke in short, snappy, metallic sentences that betrayed passion long +restrained, breaking his self-control. "You're deputies, eh? Corrigan's +whelps! Sneaks! Coyotes! Well, you slope--you hear? When I count three, I +down you! One! Two! Three!" + +His six-shooter stabbed the darkness at the last word. And at his side +Weaver's pistol barked viciously. But the deputies had started at the word +"One," and though Barkwell, noting the scurrying of their horses, cut the +final words sharply, the four figures were vague and shadowy when the +first pistol shot smote the air. Not a report floated back to the ears of +the two men. They watched, with grim pouts on their lips, until the men +vanished in the star haze of the plains. Then Barkwell spoke, raucously: + +"Well, we've broke in the game, Jud. We're Simon-pure outlaws--like our +boss. I got one of them scum--I seen him grab leather. We'll all get in, +now. They're after our boss, eh? Well, damn 'em, we'll show 'em! They's +eight of the boys on the south fork. You get 'em, bring 'em here an' get +rifles. I'll hit the breeze to the basin an' rustle the others!" He was +running at the last word, and presently two horses raced out of the corral +gates, clattered past the bunk-house and were swallowed in the vast, black +space. + +Half an hour later the entire outfit--twenty men besides Barkwell and +Weaver--left the ranchhouse and spread, fan-wise, over the plains west of +Manti. + + * * * * * + +They lost all sense of time. Several of them had ridden to Manti, making a +round of the places that were still open, but had returned, with no word +of Trevison. Corrigan had claimed to have seen him. But then, a man told +his questioner, Corrigan claimed Trevison had choked the banker to death. +He could believe both claims, or neither. So far as the man himself was +concerned, he was not going to commit himself. But if Trevison had done +the job, he'd done it well. The seekers after information rode out of +Manti on the run. At some time after midnight the entire outfit was +grouped near Clay Levins' house. + +They held a short conference, and then Barkwell rode forward and hammered +on the door of the cabin. + +"We're wantin' Clay, ma'am," said Barkwell in answer to the scared inquiry +that filtered through the closed door. "It's the Diamond K outfit." + +"What do you want him for?" + +"We was thinkin' that mebbe he'd know where 'Firebrand' is. 'Firebrand' is +sort of lost, I reckon." + +The door flew open and Mrs. Levins, like a pale ghost, appeared in the +opening. "Trevison and Clay left here tonight. I didn't look to see what +time. Oh, I hope nothing has happened to them!" + +They quieted her fears and fled out into the plains again, charging +themselves with stupidity for not being more diplomatic in dealing with +Mrs. Levins. During the early hours of the morning they rode again to the +Diamond K ranchhouse, thinking that perhaps Trevison had slipped by them +and returned. But Trevison had not returned, and the outfit gathered in +the timber near the house in the faint light of the breaking dawn, +disgusted, their horses jaded. + +"It's mighty hard work tryin' to be an outlaw in this damned dude-ridden +country," wailed the disappointed Weaver. "Outlaws usual have a den or a +cave or a mountain fastness, or somethin', anyhow--accordin' to all the +literchoor I've read on the subject. If 'Firebrand's' got one, he's mighty +bashful about mentionin' it." + +"Oh, Lord!" exclaimed Barkwell, weakly. "My brains is sure ready for the +mourners! Where's 'Firebrand'? Why, where would you expect a man to be +that'd burned up a courthouse an' a bank an' salivated a banker? He'd be +hidin' out, wouldn't he, you mis'able box-head! Would he come driftin' +back to the home ranch, an' come out when them damn deputies come along, +bowin' an' scrapin' an' sayin': 'I'm here, gentlemen--I've been waitin' +for you to come an' try rope on me, so's you'd be sure to get a good fit!' +Would he? You're mighty right he--wouldn't! He'd be populatin' that old +pueblo that he's been tellin' me for years would make a good fort!" His +horse leaped as he drove the spurs in, cruelly, but at the distance of a +hundred yards he was not more than a few feet in advance of the +others--and they, disregarding the rules of the game--were trying to pass +him. + + * * * * * + +"There ain't a bit of sense of takin' any risk," objected Levins from the +security of the communal chamber, as Trevison peered cautiously around a +corner of the adobe house. "It'd be just the luck of one of them critters +if they'd pot you." + +"I'm not thinking of offering myself as a target for them," the other +laughed. "They're still there," he added a minute later as he stepped into +the chamber. "Them shooting you as they did, without warning, seems to +indicate that they've orders to wipe us out, if possible. They're +deputies. I bumped into Corrigan right after I left the bank building, and +I suppose he has set them on us." + +"I reckon so. Seems it ain't possible, though," Levins added, doubtfully. +"They was here before you come. Your Nigger horse ain't takin' no dust. I +reckon you didn't stop anywheres?" + +"At the Bar B." Trevison made this admission with some embarrassment. + +But Levins did not reproach him--he merely groaned, eloquently. + +Trevison leaned against the opening of the chamber. His muscles ached; he +was in the grip of a mighty weariness. Nature was protesting against the +great strain that he had placed upon her. But his jaws set as he felt the +flesh of his legs quivering; he grinned the derisive grin of the fighter +whose will and courage outlast his physical strength. He felt a pulse of +contempt for himself, and mingling with it was a strange elation--the +thought that Rosalind Benham had strengthened his failing body, had +provided it with the fuel necessary to keep it going for hours yet--as it +must. He did not trust himself to yield to his passions as he stood +there--that might have caused him to grow reckless. He permitted the +weariness of his body to soothe his brain; over him stole a great calm. He +assured himself that he could throw it off any time. + +But he had deceived himself. Nature had almost reached the limit of +effort, and the inevitable slow reaction was taking place. The tired body +could be forced on for a while yet, obeying the lethargic impulses of an +equally tired brain, but the break would come. At this moment he was +oppressed with a sense of the unreality of it all. The pueblo seemed like +an ancient city of his dreams; the adobe houses details of a weird +phantasmagoria; his adventures of the past forty-eight hours a succession +of wild imaginings which he now reviewed with a sort of detached interest, +as though he had watched them from afar. + +The moonlight shone on him; he heard Levins exclaim sharply: "Your arm's +busted, ain't it?" + +He started, swayed, and caught himself, laughing lowly, guiltily, for he +realized that he had almost fallen asleep, standing. He held the arm up to +the moonlight, examining it, dropping it with a deprecatory word. He +settled against the wall near the opening again. + +"Hell!" declared Levins, anxiously, "you're all in!" + +Trevison did not answer. He stole along the outside wall of the adobe +house and peered out into the plains. The men were still where they had +been when the shot had been fired, and the sight of them brought a cold +grin to his face. He backed away from the corner, dropped to his stomach +and wriggled his way back to the corner, shoving his rifle in front of +him. He aimed the weapon deliberately, and pulled the trigger. At the +flash a smothered cry floated up to him, and he drew back, the thud of +bullets against the adobe walls accompanying him. + +"That leaves seven, Levins," he said grimly. "Looks like my trip to Santa +Fe is off, eh?" he laughed. "Well, I've always had a yearning to be +besieged, and I'll make it mighty interesting for those fellows. Do you +think you can cover that slope, so they can't get up there while I'm +reconnoitering? It would be certain death for me to stick my head around +that corner again." + +At Levins' emphatic affirmative he was helped to the shelter of a recess, +from where he had a view of the slope, though himself protected by a +corner of one of the houses; placed a rifle in the wounded man's hands, +and carrying his own, vanished into one of the dark passages that weaved +through the pueblo. + +He went only a short distance. Emerging from an opening in one of the +adobe houses he saw a parapet wall, sadly crumpled in spots, facing the +plains, and he dropped to his hands and knees and crept toward it, +secreting himself behind it and prodding the wall cautiously with the +barrel of his rifle until he found a joint in the stone work where the +adobe mud was rotted. He poked the muzzle of the rifle through the +crevice, took careful aim, and had the satisfaction of hearing a savage +curse in the instant following the flash. He threw himself flat +immediately, listening to the spatter and whine of the bullets of the +volley that greeted his shot. They kept it up long--but when there was a +momentary cessation he crept back to the entrance of the adobe house, +entered, followed another passage and came out on the ledge farther along +the side of the pueblo. He halted in a dense shadow and looked toward the +spot where the men had been. They had vanished. + +There was nothing to do but to wait, and he sank behind a huge block of +stone in an angle of the ledge, noting with satisfaction that he could see +the slope that he had set Levins to guard. + +"I'm the boss of this fort if I don't go to sleep," he told himself grimly +as he stretched out. He lay there, watching, while the moonlight faded, +while a gray streak in the east slowly widened, presaging the dawn. +Stretched flat, his aching muscles welcoming the support of the cool stone +of the ledge, he had to fight off the drowsiness that assailed him. + +An hour dragged by. He knew the deputies were watching, no doubt having +separated to conceal themselves behind convenient boulders that dotted the +plains at the foot of the slope. Or perhaps while he had been in the +passages of the pueblo, changing his position, some of them might have +stolen to the numerous crags and outcroppings of rock at the base of the +pueblo. They might now be massing for a rush up the slope. But he doubted +they would risk the latter move, for they knew that he must be on the +alert, and they had cause to fear his rifle. + +Once he rested his head on his extended right arm, and the contact was so +agreeable that he allowed it to remain there--long. He caught himself in +time; in another second he would have been too late. He saw the figure of +a man on the slope a foot or two below the crest. He was flat on his +stomach, no doubt having crept there during the minutes that Trevison had +been enjoying his rest, and at the instant Trevison saw him he was raising +his rifle, directing it at the recess where Levins had been left, on +guard. + +Trevison was wide awake now, and his marksmanship as deadly as ever. He +waited until the man's rifle came to a level. Then his own weapon spat +viciously. The man rose to his knees, reeling. Another rifle cracked--from +the recess where Levins was concealed, this time--and the man sank to the +dust of the slope, rolling over and over until he reached the bottom, +where he stretched out and lay prone. There was a shout of rage from a +section of rock-strewn level near the foot of the slope, and Trevison's +lips curled with satisfaction. The second shot had told him that a fear he +had entertained momentarily was unfounded--Levins was apparently quite +alive. + +He raised himself cautiously, backed away from the rock behind which he +had been concealed, and wheeled, intending to join Levins. A faint sound +reached his ears from the plains, and he faced around again, to see a +group of horsemen riding toward the pueblo. They were coming fast, racing +ahead of a dust cloud, and were perhaps a quarter of a mile distant. But +Trevison knew them, and stepped boldly out to the edge of the stone ledge +waving his hat to them, laughing full-throatedly, his voice vibrating a +little as he spoke: + +"Good old Barkwell!" + + * * * * * + +"That's him!" + +Barkwell pulled his horse to a sliding halt as he saw the figure on the +pueblo, outlined distinctly in the clear white light of the dawn. + +"He's all right!" he declared to the others as they followed his example +and drew their beasts down. "Them's some of the scum that's been after +him," he added as several horsemen swept around the far side of the +pueblo. "It was them we heard shootin'." The outfit sat silent on their +horses and watched the men ride over the plains toward another group of +horsemen that the Diamond K men had observed some time before riding +toward the pueblo, + +"Yep!" Barkwell said, now; "that other bunch is deputies, too. It's mighty +plain. This bunch rounded up 'Firebrand' an' sent some one back for +reinforcements." He swept the Diamond K outfit with a snarling smile. +"They're goin' to need 'em, too! I reckon we'd better wait for them to +play their hand. It's about a stand off in numbers. We don't stand no +slack, boys. We're outlawed already, from the ruckus of last night, an' if +they start anything we've got to wipe 'em out! You heard 'em shootin' at +the boss, an' they ain't no pussy-kitten bunch! I'll do the gassin'--if +there's any to be done--an' when I draw, you guys do your damnedest!" + +The outfit set itself to wait. Over on the edge of the pueblo they could +see Trevison. He was bending over something, and when they saw him stoop +and lift the object, heaving it to his shoulder and walking away with it, +a sullen murmur ran over the outfit, and lips grew stiff and white with +rage. + +"It's Clay Levins, boys!" said Barkwell. "They've plugged him! Do you +reckon we've got to go back to Levins' shack an' tell his wife that we let +them skunks get away after makin' orphants of her kids?" + +"I'm jumpin'!" shrieked Jud Weaver, his voice coming chokingly with +passion. "I ain't waitin' one damned minute for any palaver! Either them +deputies is wiped out, or I am!" He dug the spurs into his horse, drawing +his six-shooter as the animal leaped. + +Weaver's horse led the outfit by only three or four jumps, and they swept +over the level like a devastating cyclone, the spiral dust cloud that rose +behind them following them lazily, sucked along by the wind of their +passing. + +The group of deputies had halted; they were sitting tense and silent in +their saddles when the Diamond K outfit came up, slowing down as they drew +nearer, and halting within ten feet of the others, spreading out in a +crude semi-circle, so that each man had an unobstructed view of the +deputies. + +Barkwell had no chance to talk. Before he could get his breath after +pulling his horse down, Weaver, his six-shooter in hand, its muzzle +directed fairly at Gieger, who was slightly in advance of his men, fumed +forth: + +"What in hell do you-all mean by tryin' to herd-ride our boss? Talk fast, +you eagle-beaked turkey buzzard, or I salivates you rapid!" + +The situation was one of intense delicacy. Gieger might have averted the +threatening clash with a judicious use of soft, placating speech. But it +pleased him to bluster. + +"We are deputies, acting under orders from the court. We are after a +murderer, and we mean to get him!" he said, coldly. + +"Deputies! Hell!" Barkwell's voice rose, sharply scornful and mocking. +"Deputies! Crooks! Gun-fighters! Pluguglies!" His eyes, bright, alert, +gleaming like a bird's, were roving over the faces in the group of +deputies. "A damn fine bunch of guys to represent the law! There's Dakota +Dick, there! Tinhorn, rustler! There's Red Classen! Stage robber! An' +Pepper Ridgely, a plain, ornery thief! An' Kid Dorgan, a sneakin' killer! +An' Buff Keller, an' Andy Watts, an' Pig Mugley, an'--oh, hell! Deputies! +Law!----Ah--hah!" + +One of the men had reached for his holster. Weaver's gun barked twice and +the man pitched limply forward to his horse's neck. Other weapons flashed; +the calm of the early morning was rent by the hoarse, guttural cries of +men in the grip of the blood-lust, the sustained and venomous popping of +pistols, the queer, sodden impact of lead against flesh, the terror-snorts +of horses, and the grunts of men, falling heavily. + + * * * * * + +A big man in khaki, loping his horse up the slope of an arroyo half a mile +distant, started at the sound of the first shot and raced over the crest. +He pulled the horse to an abrupt halt as his gaze swept the plains in +front of him. He saw riderless horses running frantically away from a +smoking blot, he saw the blot streaked with level, white smoke-spurts that +ballooned upward quickly; he heard the dull, flat reports that followed +the smoke-spurts. + +It seemed to be over in an instant. The blot split up, galloping horses +and yelling men burst out of it. The big man had reached the crest of the +arroyo at the critical second in which the balance of victory wavers +uncertainly. With thrusting chin, lips in a hideous pout, and with sullen, +blazing eyes, he watched the battle go against him. Fifteen cowboys--he +counted them, deliberately, coldly, despite the rage-mania that had seized +him--were spurring after eight other men whom he knew for his own. As he +watched he saw two of these tumble from their horses. And at a distance he +saw the loops of ropes swing out to enmesh four more--who were thrown and +dragged; he watched darkly as the remaining two raised their hands above +their heads. Then his lips came out of their pout and were wreathed in a +bitter snarl. + +"Licked!" he muttered. "Twelve put out of business. But there's thirty +more--if the damn fools have come in to town! That's two to one!" He +laughed, wheeled his horse toward Manti, rode a few feet down the slope of +the arroyo, halted and sat motionless in the saddle, looking back. He +smiled with cold satisfaction. "Lucky for me that cinch strap broke," he +said. + + * * * * * + +Trevison was placing Levins' limp form across the saddle on Nigger's back +when the faint morning breeze bore to his ears the report of Weaver's +pistol. A rattling volley followed the first report, and Trevison led +Nigger close to the edge of the ledge in time to observe the battle as +Corrigan had seen it. He hurried Nigger down the slope, but he had to be +careful with his burden. Reaching the level he lifted Levins off, laid him +gently on the top of a huge flat rock, and then leaped into the saddle and +sent Nigger tearing over the plains toward the scene of the battle. + +It was over when he arrived. A dozen men were lying in the tall grass. +Some were groaning, writhing; others were quiet and motionless. Four or +five of them were arrayed in chaps. His lips grimmed as his gaze swept +them. He dismounted and went to them, one after another. He stooped long +over one. + +"They've got Weaver," he heard a voice say. And he started and looked +around, and seeing no one near, knew it was his own voice that he heard. +It was dry and light--as a man's voice might be who has run far and fast. +He stood for a while, looking down at Weaver. His brain was reeling, as it +had reeled over on the ledge of the pueblo a few minutes before, when he +had discovered a certain thing. It was not a weakness; it was a surge of +reviving rage, an accession of passion that made his head swim with its +potency, made his muscles swell with a strength that he had not known for +many hours. Never in his life had he felt more like crying. His emotions +seared his soul as a white-hot iron sears the flesh; they burned into him, +scorching his pity and his impulses of mercy, withering them, blighting +them. He heard himself whining sibilantly, as he had heard boys whine when +fighting, with eagerness and lust for blows. It was the insensate, raging +fury of the fight-madness that had gripped him, and he suddenly yielded to +it and raised his head, laughing harshly, with panting, labored breath. + +Barkwell rode up to him, speaking hoarsely: "We come pretty near wipin' +'em out, 'Firebrand!'" + +He looked up at his foreman, and the latter's face blanched. "God!" he +said. He whispered to a cowboy who had joined him: "The boss is pretty +near loco--looks like!" + +"They've killed Weaver," muttered Trevison. "He's here. They killed Clay, +too--he's down on a rock near the slope." He laughed, and tightened his +belt. The record book which he had carried in his waistband all along +interfered with this work, and he drew it out, throwing it from him. "Clay +was worth a thousand of them!" + +Barkwell got down and seized the book, watching Trevison closely. + +"Look here, Boss," he said, as Trevison ran to his horse and threw himself +into the saddle; "you're bushed, mighty near--" + +If Trevison heard his first words he had paid no attention to them. He +could not have heard the last words, for Nigger had lunged forward, +running with great, long, catlike leaps in the direction of Manti. + +"Good God!" yelled Barkwell to some of the men who had ridden up; "the +damn fool is goin' to town! They'll salivate him, sure as hell! Some of +you stay here--two's enough! The rest of you come along with me!" + +They were after Trevison within a few seconds, but the black horse was far +ahead, running without hitch or stumble, as straight toward Manti as his +willing muscles and his loyal heart could take him. + + * * * * * + +Corrigan had seen the black bolt that had rushed toward him out of the +spot where the blot had been. He cursed hoarsely and drove the spurs deep +into the flanks of his horse, and the animal, squealing with pain and +fury, leaped down the side of the arroyo, crossed the bottom in two or +three bounds and stretched away toward Manti. + +A cold fear had seized the big man's heart. It made a sweat break out on +his forehead, it caused his hand to tremble as he flung it around to his +hip in search of his pistol. He tried to shake the feeling off, but it +clung insistently to him, making him catch his breath. His horse was big, +rangy, and strong, but he forced it to such a pace during the first mile +of the ride that he could feel its muscles quivering under the saddle +skirts. And he looked back at the end of the mile, to see the black horse +at about the same distance from him; possibly the distance had been +shortened. It seemed to Corrigan that he had never seen a horse that +traveled as smoothly and evenly as the big black, or that ran with as +little effort. He began to loathe the black with an intensity equaled only +by that which he felt for his rider. + +He held his lead for another mile. Glancing back a little later he noted +with a quickening pulse that the distance had been shortened by several +hundred feet, and that the black seemed to be traveling with as little +effort as ever. Also, for the first time, Corrigan noticed the presence of +other riders, behind Trevison. They were topping a slight rise at the +instant he glanced back, and were at least a mile behind his pursuer. + +At first, mingled with his fear, Corrigan had felt a slight disgust for +himself in yielding to his sudden panic. He had never been in the habit of +running. He had been as proud of his courage as he had been of his +cleverness and his keenness in planning and plotting. It had been his +mental boast that in every crisis his nerve was coldest. But now he nursed +a vagrant, furtive hope that waiting for him at Manti would be some of +those men whom he had hired at his own expense to impersonate deputies. +The presence of the hope was as inexplicable as the fear that had set him +to running from Trevison. Two or three weeks ago he would have faced both +Trevison and his men and brazened it out. But of late a growing dread of +the man had seized him. Never before had he met a man who refused to be +beaten, or who had fought him as recklessly and relentlessly. + +He jeered at himself as he rode, telling himself that when Trevison got +near enough he would stand and have it out with him--for he knew that the +fight had narrowed down between them until it was as Trevison had said, +man to man--but as he rode his breath came faster, his backward glances +grew more frequent and fearful, and the cold sweat on his forehead grew +clammy. Fear, naked and shameful, had seized him. + + * * * * * + +Behind him, lean, gaunt, haggard; seeing nothing but the big man ahead of +him, feeling nothing but an insane desire to maim or slay him, rode a man +who in forty-eight hours had been transformed from a frank, guileless, +plain-speaking human, to a rage-drunken savage--a monomaniac who, as he +leaned over Nigger's mane, whispered and whined and mewed, as his +forebears, in some tropical jungle, voiced their passions when they set +forth to slay those who had sought to despoil them. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE DREGS + + +When the Benham private car came to a stop on the switch, Rosalind swung +up the steps and upon the platform just as J. C., ruddy, smiling and +bland, opened the door. She was in his arms in an instant, murmuring her +joy. He stroked her hair, then held her off for a good look at her, and +inquired, unctuously: + +"What are you doing in town so early, my dear?" + +"Oh!" She hid her face on his shoulder, reluctant to tell him. But she +knew he must be told, and so she steeled herself, stepping back and +looking at him, her heart pounding madly. + +"Father; these people have discovered that Corrigan has been trying to +cheat them!" + +She would have gone on, but the sickly, ghastly pallor of his face +frightened her. She swayed and leaned against the railing of the platform, +a sinking, deadly apprehension gnawing at her, for it seemed from the +expression of J. C.'s face that he had some knowledge of Corrigan's +intentions. But J. C. had been through too many crises to surrender at the +first shot in this one. Still he got a good grip on himself before he +attempted to answer, and then his voice was low and intoned with casual +surprise: + +"Trying to cheat them? How, my dear?" + +"By trying to take their land from them. You had no knowledge of it, +Father?" + +"Who has been saying that?" he demanded, with a fairly good pretense of +righteous anger. + +"Nobody. But I thought--I--Oh, thank God!" + +"Well, well," he bluffed with faint reproach; "things are coming to a +pretty pass when one's own daughter is the first to suspect him of +wrong-doing." + +"I didn't, Father. I was merely--I don't know what I _did_ think! There +has been so much excitement! Everything is _so_ upset! They have blown up +the mining machinery, burned the bank and the courthouse; Judge Lindman +was abducted and found; Braman was killed--choked to death; the Vigilantes +are--" + +"Good God!" Benham interrupted her, staggering back against the rear of +the coach. "Who has been at the bottom of all this lawlessness?" + +"Trevison." + +He gasped, in spite of the fact that he had suspected what her answer +would be. + +"Where is Corrigan? Where's Trevison?" He demanded, his hands shaking. +"Answer me! Where are they?" + +"I don't know," the girl returned, dully. "They say Trevison is hiding in +a pueblo not far from the Bar B. And that Corrigan left here early this +morning, with a number of deputies, to try to capture him. And those +men--" She indicated the horsemen gathered in front of the _Belmont_, whom +he had not seen, "are organizing to go to Trevison's rescue. They have +discovered that Corrigan murdered Braman, though Corrigan accused +Trevison." + +J. C. flattened himself against the rear wall of the coach and looked with +horror upon the armed riders. There were forty or fifty of them now, and +others were joining the group. "Where's Judge Lindman?" he faltered. +"Can't this lawlessness be stopped?" + +"It is only a few minutes ago that Judge Lindman was dragged from a shed +into which he had been forced by Corrigan--after being beaten by him. He +made a public confession of his part in the attempted fraud, and charged +Corrigan with coercing him. Those men are aroused, Father. I don't know +what the end will be, but I am afraid--I'm afraid they'll--" + +"I shall give the engineer orders to pull my car out of here!" J. C.'s +face was chalky white. + +"No, no!" cried the girl, sharply. "That would make them think you +were--Don't _run_, Father!" she begged, omitting the word which she +dreaded to think might become attached to him should he go away, now that +some of them had seen him. "We'll stand our ground, Father. If Corrigan +has done those things he deserves to be punished!" Her lips, white and +stiff, closed firmly. + +"Yes, yes," he said; "that's right--we won't run." But he drew her inside, +despite her objections, and from a window they watched the members of the +Vigilantes gathering, bristling with weapons, a sinister and ominous arm +of that law which is the dread and horror of the evil-doer. + +There came a movement, concerted, accompanied by a low rumble as of waves +breaking on a rocky shore. It brought the girl out of her chair, through +the door and upon the car platform, where she stood, her hands clasped +over her breast, her breath coming gaspingly. His knees knocking together, +his face the ashen gray of death, Benham stumbled after her. He did not +want to go; did not care to see this thing--what might happen--what his +terror told him _would_ happen; but he was forced out upon the platform by +the sheer urge of a morbid curiosity that there was no denying; it had +laid hold of his soul, and though he cringed and shivered and tottered, he +went out, standing close to the iron rail, gripping it with hands that +grew blueish-white around the knuckles; watching with eyes that bulged, +his lips twitching over soundless words. For he could not hold himself +guiltless in this thing; it could not have happened had he tempered his +smug complacence with thoughts of justice. He groaned, gibbering, for he +stood on the brink at this minute, looking down at the lashing sea of +retribution. + +The girl paid no attention to him. She was watching the men down the +street. The concerted movement had come from them. Nearly a hundred riders +were on the move. Lefingwell, huge, grim, led them down the street toward +the private car. For an instant the girl felt a throb of terror, thinking +that they might have designs on the man who stood at the railing near her, +unable to move--for he had the same thought. She murmured thankfully when +they wheeled, and without looking in her direction loped their horses +toward a wide, vacant space between some buildings, which led out into the +plains, and through which she had ridden often when entering Manti. +Watching the men, shuddering at the ominous aspect they presented, she saw +a tremor run through them--as though they all formed one body. They came +to a sudden stop. She heard a ripple of sound arise from them, amazement +and anticipation. And then, as though with preconcerted design, though she +had heard no word spoken, the group divided, splitting asunder with a +precision that deepened the conviction of preconcertedness, ranging +themselves on each side of the open space, leaving it gaping barrenly, +unobstructed--a stretch of windrowed alkali dust, deep, light and +feathery. + +Silence, like a stroke, fell over the town. The girl saw people running +toward the open space, but they seemed to make no noise--they might have +been dream people. And then, noting that they all stared in one direction, +she looked over their heads. Not more than four or five hundred feet from +the open space, and heading directly toward it, thundered a rider on a +tall, strong, rangy horse. The beast's chest was foam-flecked, the white +lather that billowed around its muzzle was stained darkly. But it came on +with heart-breaking effort, giving its rider its all. Behind the first +rider came a second, not more than fifty feet distant from the other, on a +black horse which ran with no effort, seemingly, sliding along with great, +smooth undulations, his mighty muscles flowing like living things under +his glossy, somber coat. + +The girl saw the man on his back leaning forward, a snarling, terrible +grin on his face. She saw the first rider wheel when he reached the edge +of the open space near the waiting Vigilantes, bring his horse to a +sliding halt and face toward his pursuer. He clawed at a hip pocket, +drawing a pistol that flashed in the first rays of the morning sun--it +belched fire and smoke in a continuous stream, seemingly straight at the +rider of the black horse. One--two--three--four--five--six times! The girl +counted. But the first man's hand wabbled, and the rider of the black +horse came on like a demon astride a black bolt, a laugh of bitter +derision on his lips. The black did not swerve. Straight and true in his +headlong flight he struck the other horse. They went down in a smother of +dust, the two horses grunting, scrambling and kicking. The girl had seen +the rider of the black horse lunge forward at the instant of impact; he +had thrown himself at the other man as she had seen football players +launch themselves at players of the opposition, and they had both reeled +out of their saddles to disappear in the smother of dust. + +Men left the fringe of the living wall flanking the open space and seized +the two horses, leading them away. The smother drifted, and the girl +screamed at sight of the two raging things that rolled and burrowed in the +deep dust of the street. + + * * * * * + +They got up as she watched them, springing apart hesitating for an awful +instant to sob breath into their lungs; then they rushed together, +striking bitter, sledge-hammer blows that sounded like the smashing of +flat rocks, falling from a great height, on the surface of water. She +shrieked once, wildly, beseeching someone to stop them, but no man paid +any attention to her cry. They sat on their horses, silent, tense, grim, +and she settled into a coma of terror, an icy paralysis gripping her. She +heard her father muttering incoherently at her side, droning and puling +something over and over in a wailing monotone--she caught it after a +while; he was calling upon his God--in an hour that could not have been +were it not for his own moral flaccidness. + +The dust under the feet of the fighting men leveled under their shifting, +dragging feet; it bore the print of their bodies where they had lain and +rolled in it; erupting volcanoes belched it heavily upward; it caught and +gripped their legs to the ankles, making their movements slow and sodden. +This condition favored the larger man. He lashed out a heavy fist that +caught Trevison full and fair on the jaw, and the latter's face turned +ashy white as he sank to his knees. Corrigan stopped to catch his breath +before he hurled himself forward, and this respite, brief as it was, +helped the other to shake off the deadening effect of the blow. He moved +his head slightly as Corrigan swung at it, and the blow missed, its force +pulling the big man off his feet, so that he tumbled headlong over his +adversary. He was up again in a flash though, for he was fresher than his +enemy. They clinched, and stood straining, matching strength against +strength, sheer, without trickery, for the madness of murder was in the +heart of one and the desperation of fear in the soul of the other, and +they thought of nothing but to crush and batter and pound. + +Corrigan's strength was slightly the greater, but it was offset by the +other's fury. In the clinch the big man's right hand came up, the heel of +the palm shoved with malignant ferocity against Trevison's chin. +Corrigan's left arm was around Trevison's waist, squeezing it like a vise, +and the whole strength of Corrigan's right arm was exerted to force the +other's head back. Trevison tried to slip his head sideways to escape the +hold, but the effort was fruitless. Changing his tactics, his breath +lagging in his throat from the terrible pressure on it, Trevison worked +his right hand into the other's stomach with the force and regularity of a +piston rod. The big man writhed under the punishment, dropping his hand +from Trevison's chin to his waist, swung him from his feet and threw him +from him as a man throws a bag of meal. + +He was after him before he landed, but the other writhed and wriggled in +the air like a cat, and when the big man reached for him, trying again to +clinch, he evaded the arm and landed a crushing blow on the other's chin +that snapped his head back as though it were swung from a hinge, and sent +him reeling, to his knees in the dust. + +The watching girl saw the ring of men around the fighters contract; she +saw Trevison dive headlong at the kneeling man; with fingers working in a +fury of impotence she swayed at the iron rail, leaning far over it, her +eyes strained, her breath bated, constricting her lungs as though a steel +band were around them. For she seemed to feel that the end was near. + +She saw them, locked in each other's embrace, stagger to their feet. +Corrigan's head was wabbling. He was trying to hold the other to him that +he might escape the lashing blows that were driven at his head. The girl +saw his hold broken, and as he reeled, catching another blow in the mouth, +he swung toward her and she saw that his lips were smashed, the blood from +them trickling down over his chin. There was a gleam of wild, despairing +terror in his eyes--revealing the dawning consciousness of approaching +defeat, complete and terrible. She saw Trevison start another blow, +swinging his fist upward from his knee. It landed with a sodden squish on +the big man's jaw. His eyes snapped shut, and he dropped soundlessly, face +down in the dust. + +For a space Trevison stood, swaying drunkenly, looking down at his beaten +enemy. Then he drew himself erect with a mighty effort and swept the crowd +with a glance, the fires of passion still leaping and smoldering in his +eyes. He seemed for the first time to see the Vigilantes, to realize the +significance of their presence, and as he wheeled slowly his lips parted +in a grin of bitter satisfaction. He staggered around the form of his +fallen enemy, his legs bending at the knees, his feet dragging in the +dust. It seemed to the girl that he was waiting for Corrigan to get up +that he might resume the fight, and she cried out protestingly. He wheeled +at the sound of her voice and faced her, rocking back and forth on his +heels and toes, and the glow of dull astonishment in his eyes told her +that he was now for the first time aware of her presence. He bowed to her, +gravely, losing his balance in the effort, reeling weakly to recover it. + +And then a crush of men blotted him out--the ring of Vigilantes had closed +around him. She saw Barkwell lunging through the press to gain Trevison's +side; she got a glimpse of him a minute later, near Trevison. The street +had become a sea of jostling, shoving men and prancing horses. She wanted +to get away--somewhere--to shut this sight from her eyes. For though one +horror was over, another impended. She knew it, but could not move. A +voice boomed hoarsely, commandingly, above the buzz of many others--it was +Lefingwell's, and she cringed at the sound of it. There was a concerted +movement; the Vigilantes were shoving the crowd back, clearing a space in +the center. In the cleared space two men were lifting Corrigan to his +feet. He was reeling in their grasp, his chin on his chest, his face +dust-covered, disfigured, streaked with blood. He was conquered, his +spirit broken, and her heart ached with pity for him despite her horror +for his black deeds. The loop of a rope swung out as she watched; it fell +with a horrible swish over Corrigan's head and was drawn taut, swiftly, +and a hoarse roar of approval drowned her shriek. + +She heard Trevison's voice, muttering in protest, but his words, like her +shriek, were lost in the confusion of sound. She saw him fling his arms +wide, sending Barkwell and another man reeling from him; he reached for +the pistol at his side and leveled it at the crowd. Those nearest him +shrank, their faces blank with fear and astonishment. But the man with the +rope stood firm, as did Lefingwell, grim, his face darkening with wrath. + +"This is the law actin' here, 'Firebrand,'" he said, his voice level. +"You've done your bit, an' you're due to step back an' let justice take a +hand. This here skunk has outraged every damned rule of decency an' honor. +He's tried to steal all our land; he's corrupted our court, nearly guzzled +Judge Lindman to death, killed Braman--an' Barkwell says the bunch of +pluguglies he hired to pose as deputies, has killed Clay Levins an' four +or five of the Diamond K men. That's plenty. We'd admire to give in to +you. We'll do anything else you say. But this has got to be done." + +While Lefingwell had been talking two of the Vigilantes had slipped to the +rear of Trevison. As Lefingwell concluded they leaped. The arms of one man +went around Trevison's neck; the other man lunged low and pinned his arms +to his sides, one hand grasping the pistol and wrenching it from his hand. +The crowd closed again. The girl saw Corrigan lifted to the back of a +horse, and she shut her eyes and hung dizzily to the railing, while tumult +and confusion raged around her. + +She opened her eyes a little later, to see Barkwell and another man +leading Trevison into the front door of the _Castle_. The street around +the car was deserted, save for two or three men who were watching her +curiously. She felt her father's arms around her, and she was led into the +car, her knees shaking, her soul sick with the horror of it all. + +Half an hour later, as she sat at one of the windows, staring stonily out +in the shimmering sunlight of the street, she saw some of the Vigilantes +returning. She shrank back from the window, shuddering. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE CALM + + +The day seemed to endure for an age. Rosalind did not leave the car; she +did not go near her father, shut up alone in his apartment; she ate +nothing, ignoring the negro attendant when he told her that lunch was +served, huddled in a chair beside an open window she decided a battle. She +saw the forces of reason and justice rout the hosts of hatred and crime, +and she got up finally, her face pallid, but resolute, secure in the +knowledge that she had decided wisely. She pitied Corrigan. Had it been +within her power she would have prevented the tragedy. And yet she could +not blame these people. They were playing the game honestly, and their +patience had been sadly strained by one player who had persisted in +breaking the rules. He had been swept away by his peers, which was as fair +a way as any law--any human law--could deal with him. In her own East he +would have paid the same penalty. The method would have been more refined, +to be sure; there would have been a long legal squabble, with its tedious +delays, but in the end Corrigan would have paid. There was a retributive +justice for all those who infracted the rules of the game. It had found +Corrigan. + +At three o'clock in the afternoon she washed her face. The cool water +refreshed her, and with reviving spirits she combed her hair, brushed the +dust from her clothing, and looked into a mirror. There were dark hollows +under her eyes, a haunting, dreading expression in them. For she could not +help thinking about what had happened there--down the street where the +Vigilantes had gone. + +She dropped listlessly into another chair beside a window, this time +facing the station. She saw her horse, hitched to the rail at the station +platform, where she had left it that morning. _That_ seemed to have been +days ago! A period of aching calm had succeeded the tumult of the morning. +The street was soundless, deserted. Those men who had played leading parts +in the tragedy were not now visible. She would have deserted the town too, +had it not been for her father. The tragedy had unnerved him, and she must +stay with him until he recovered. She had asked the porter about him, and +the latter had reported that he seemed to be asleep. + +A breeze carried a whisper to her as she sat at the window: + +"Where's 'Firebrand' now?" said a voice. + +"Sleepin'. The clerk in the _Castle_ says he's makin' up for lost time." + +She did not bother to try to see the owners of the voices; her gaze was on +the plains, far and vast; and the sky, clear, with a pearly shimmer that +dazzled her. She closed her eyes. She could not have told how long she +slept. She awoke to the light touch of the porter, and she saw Trevison +standing in the open doorway of the car. + +The dust of the battle had been removed. An admiring barber had worked +carefully over him; a doctor had mended his arm. Except for a noticeable +thinness of the face, and a certain drawn expression of the eyes, he was +the same Trevison who had spoken so frankly to her one day out on the +plains when he had taken her into his confidence. In the look that he gave +her now was the same frankness, clouded a little, she thought, by some +emotion--which she could not fathom. + +"I have come to apologize," he said; "for various unjust thoughts with +which I have been obsessed." Before she could reply he had taken two or +three swift steps and was standing over her, and was speaking again, his +voice vibrant and regretful: "I ought to have known better than to +think--what I did--of you. I have no excuses to make, except that I was +insane with a fear that my ten years of labor and lonesomeness were to be +wasted. I have just had a talk with Hester Harvey, and she has shown me +what a fool I have been. She--" + +Rosalind got up, laughing lowly, tremulously. "I talked with Hester this +morning. And I think--" + +"She told you--" he began, his voice leaping. + +"Many things." She looked straight at him, her eyes glowing, but they +drooped under the heat of his. "You don't need to feel elated over +it--there were two of us." She felt that the surge of joy that ran over +her would have shown in her face had it not been for a sudden recollection +of what the Vigilantes had done that morning. That recollection paled her +cheeks and froze the smile on her lips. + +He was watching her closely and saw her face harden. A shadow passed over +his own. He thought he could see the hopelessness of staying longer. "A +woman's love," he said, gloomily, "is a wonderful thing. It clings through +trouble and tragedy--never faltering." She looked at him, startled, trying +to solve the enigma of this speech. He laughed, bitterly. "That's what +makes a woman superior to mere man. Love exalts her. It makes a savage of +a man. I suppose it is 'good-bye.'" He held out a hand to her and she took +it, holding it limply, looking at him in wonderment, her heart heavy with +regret. "I wish you luck and happiness," he said. "Corrigan is a man in +spite of--of many faults. You can redeem him; you--" + +"_Is_ a man!" Her hand tightened on his; he could feel her tremble. +"Why--why--I thought--Didn't they--" + +"Didn't they tell you? The fools!" He laughed derisively. "They let him +go. They knew I wouldn't want it. They did it for me. He went East on the +noon train--quite alive, I assure you. I am glad of it--for your sake." + +"For my sake!" Her voice lifted in mingled joy and derision, and both her +hands were squeezing his with a pressure that made his blood leap with a +longing to possess her. "For _my_ sake!" she repeated, and the emphasis +made him gasp and stiffen. "For _your_ sake--for both of us, Trevison! Oh, +what fools we were! What fools all people are, not to trust and believe!" + +"What do you mean?" He drew her toward him, roughly, and held her hands in +a grip that made her wince. But she looked straight at him in spite of the +pain, her eyes brimming with a promise that he could not mistake. + +"Can't you _see_?" she said to him, her voice quavering; "_must _ I tell +you?" + + + + +ZANE GREY'S NOVELS + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list. + +THE MAN OF THE FOREST +THE DESERT OF WHEAT +THE U. P. TRAIL +WILDFIRE +THE BORDER LEGION +THE RAINBOW TRAIL +THE HERITAGE OF THE DESERT +RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE +THE LIGHT OF WESTERN STARS +THE LAST OF THE PLAINSMEN +THE LONE STAR RANGER +DESERT GOLD +BETTY ZANE + +LAST OF THE GREAT SCOUTS + +The life story of "Buffalo Bill" by his sister Helen Cody Wetmore, with +Foreword and conclusion by Zane Grey. + +ZANE GREY'S BOOKS FOR BOYS + +KEN WARD IN THE JUNGLE +THE YOUNG LION HUNTER +THE YOUNG FORESTER +THE YOUNG PITCHER +THE SHORT STOP +THE RED-HEADED OUTFIELD AND OTHER BASEBALL STORIES + +Grossett & Dunlap, Publishers, New York + + + + +EDGAR RICE BURROUGH'S NOVELS + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list. + +TARZAN THE UNTAMED + +Tells of Tarzan's return to the life of the ape-man in his search for +vengeance on those who took from him his wife and home. + +JUNGLE TALES OF TARZAN + +Records the many wonderful exploits by which Tarzan proves his right to +ape kingship. + +A PRINCESS OF MARS + +Forty-three million miles from the earth--a succession of the weirdest and +most astounding adventures in fiction. John Carter, American, finds +himself on the planet Mars, battling for a beautiful woman, with the Green +Men of Mars, terrible creatures fifteen feet high, mounted on horses like +dragons. + +THE GODS OF MARS + +Continuing John Carter's adventures on the Planet Mars, in which he does +battle against the ferocious "plant men," creatures whose mighty tails +swished their victims to instant death, and defies Issus, the terrible +Goddess of Death, whom all Mars worships and reveres. + +THE WARLORD OF MARS + +Old acquaintances, made in the two other stories, reappear, Tars Tarkas, +Tardos Mors and others. There is a happy ending to the story in the union +of the Warlord, the title conferred upon John Carter, with Dejah Thoris. + +THUVIA, MAID OF MARS + +The fourth volume of the series. The story centers around the adventures +of Carthoris, the son of John Carter and Thuvia, daughter of a Martian +Emperor. + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's 'Firebrand' Trevison, by Charles Alden Seltzer + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 'FIREBRAND' TREVISON *** + +***** This file should be named 26951.txt or 26951.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/9/5/26951/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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