diff options
Diffstat (limited to '30574.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 30574.txt | 8482 |
1 files changed, 8482 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/30574.txt b/30574.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2544a8a --- /dev/null +++ b/30574.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8482 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadow Mountain, by Dane Coolidge + +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: Shadow Mountain + +Author: Dane Coolidge + +Illustrator: George W. Gage + +Release Date: December 1, 2009 [EBook #30574] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOW MOUNTAIN *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: She reached out smiling wistfully and touched him with +her hand.] + + + + +SHADOW MOUNTAIN + +BY + +DANE COOLIDGE + +AUTHOR OF THE DESERT TRAIL, ETC. + +FRONTISPIECE BY + +GEORGE W. GAGE + +[Illustration] + +GROSSET & DUNLAP + +PUBLISHERS NEW YORK + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY + +W. J. WATT & COMPANY + + + + +CONTENTS + + Chapter Page + I. The Last of Ten Thousand 1 + II. The Shotgun Widow 10 + III. The Shadow 22 + IV. The Ghost Man 30 + V. A Load of Buckshot 38 + VI. All Crazy 48 + VII. Between Friends 58 + VIII. The Tip 68 + IX. A Peace Talk 78 + X. The Best Head in Town 89 + XI. A Touch 98 + XII. The Expert 106 + XIII. A Sack of Cats 118 + XIV. The Explosion 127 + XV. The God of Ten Per Cent 135 + XVI. A Showdown With the Widow 143 + XVII. Peace--and the Price 151 + XVIII. On Christmas Day 160 + XIX. The Enigma 170 + XX. An Appeal To Charley 179 + XXI. The Dragon's Teeth 187 + XXII. Virginia Explains--Nothing 196 + XXIII. On Demand 204 + XXIV. Double Trouble 214 + XXV. Virginia Repents 223 + XXVI. The Call 231 + XXVII. The Thunder Clap 239 + XXVIII. The Way Out 248 + XXIX. Across Death Valley 259 + XXX. An Evening With Socrates 269 + XXXI. The Broken Trust 279 + XXXII. A Huff 290 + XXXIII. The Fiery Furnace 299 + XXXIV. A Clean-up 305 + + + + +SHADOW MOUNTAIN + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE LAST OF TEN THOUSAND + + +Under the rim of Shadow Mountain, embraced like a pearl of great price +by the curve of Bonanza Point and the mined-out slope of Gold Hill, the +deserted city of Keno lay brooding and silent in the sun. A dry, gusty +wind, swooping down through the northern pass, slammed the great iron +fire-doors that hung creaking from the stone bank building, caught up a +cloud of sand and dirt and, whirling it down past empty stores and assay +offices, deposited it in the doorways of gambling houses and dance +halls, long since abandoned to the rats. An old man, pottering about +among the ruins, gathered up some broken boards and hobbled off; and +once more Keno, the greatest gold camp the West has ever seen, sank back +to silence and dreams. + +A round of shots wakened the echoes of Shadow Mountain; a lonely miner +came down the trail from Gold Hill, where in the old days the Paymaster +had turned out its million a month; and then, far out across the floor +of the desert on the road that led in from the railroad, there appeared +an arrow-point of dust. It grew to a racing streak of white, the distant +purring of the motor gave way to a deep-voiced thunder and as the +powerful car glided swiftly up the street the doors of old houses opened +unexpectedly and the last of ten thousand looked out. + +There were old men and cripples, left stranded by the exodus; and +prospectors who had moved into the vacant houses along with the other +desert rats; but out on the gallery of the old Huff mansion--where the +creepers still clung to the lattice--there was a flutter of white and a +girl came out with a kitten in her arms. In the days of gold--when ten +thousand men, the choice spirits of two hemispheres, had tramped down +this same deserted street--the house of Colonel Huff, the discoverer of +the Paymaster, had been the social center of Keno. And so it was still, +for the Widow Huff remained; but across the front of the hospitable +gallery where the Colonel had entertained the town, a cheap cloth sign +announced meals fifty cents and Virginia, his daughter, was the waiter. +She stood by the sign, still high-headed and patrician, and when the +driver of the car saw her he came to a sudden stop. He was long and +gaunt, with deep lines around his mouth from bucking the wind and dust +and after a moment's hesitation he threw on his brake and leapt out. + +"Did you want something?" she asked and, glancing warily about, he +nodded and came up the steps. + +"Yes," he said, still eying her doubtfully, "what's the chance for +something to eat?" + +"Why, good," she answered with a suspicion of a smile. "Or--well, come +in; I'll speak to mother." + +She showed him into the spacious dining room, where the Colonel had +once presided in state, and hurried into the kitchen. The young man +gazed after her, looked swiftly about the room and backed away towards +the door; then his strong jaw closed down, he smiled grimly to himself +and sat down unbidden at a table. The table was mahogany and, in a +case against the wall, there was a scant display of cut glass; but the +linen was worn thin and the expensive velvet carpet had been ruined by +hob-nailed boots. Heavy workingmen's dishes lay on the tables, the +plating was worn from the knives, and the last echoing ghost of +vanished gentility was dispelled by a voice from the kitchen. It was +the Widow Huff, once the first lady of Keno, but now a boarding-house +cook. + +"What--a dinner now? At half-past three? And with this wind fairly +driving me crazy? Well, I can't _hire_ anybody to keep such hours +for _me_ and----" + +There was a murmur of low-voiced protest as Virginia pleaded his cause +and then, as the Widow burst out anew, the young man pushed back his +chair. His blue eyes, half hidden beneath bulging brows, turned a +steely, fighting gray, his wind-blown hair fairly bristled; and as he +listened to the last of the Widow's remarks his lower lip was thrust up +scornfully. + +"You danged old heifer," he muttered and then the kitchen door flew +open. The baleful look which he had intended for the Widow was surprised +on his face by Virginia and after a startled moment she closed the door +behind her. + +"Why--Wiley Holman!" she cried accusingly and a challenge leapt into his +eyes. + +"Well?" he demanded and gazed at her sullenly as she scanned him from +head to foot. + +"I knew it," she burst out. "I'd know that stubborn look anywhere! You +double up your lip like your father. Honest John!" she added +sarcastically and brushed some crumbs from the table. + +"Yes--Honest John!" he retorted. "And you don't need to say it like +that, either. He's my father--I know him--and I'll tell you right now he +never cheated a man in his life." + +"Well, he did!" she flared back, her eyes dark with anger, "and I'll +bet--I'll bet if my father was here he'd--he'd prove it to your face!" + +She ended in a sob and as he saw the tears starting the son of Honest +John relented. + +"Aw, Virginia," he pleaded, "what's the use of always fighting? He's +gone now, so let's be friends. I was just going by when I saw you on the +gallery, and I thought--well, let's you and I be friends." + +"What? After old Honest John robbed Papa of the Paymaster, and then +hounded him to his death on the desert?" + +"He did nothing of the kind--he never robbed anybody! And as for +hounding your father to his death, the Old Man never even knew about it. +He was down on the ranch, and when they told him the news----" + +"Yes, that's you," she railed, stifling back her sobs, "you can always +prove an alibi. But you'd better drift, Mr. Holman; because if mother +knows you're here----" + +"Well, what?" he demanded, truculently. + +"She'll fill you full of buckshot." + +"Pah!" he scoffed and snapped his fingers in the air, after which he +lapsed into silence. + +"Well, she will," she asserted, after waiting for him to speak, but +Wiley only grunted. + +"Wait till I get that dinner," he said at last and slumped down into a +chair. He muttered to himself, gazing dubiously towards the kitchen, and +turned impatiently to look at some specimens in a case against the wall. +They were the usual chunks of high-grade gold ore, but he examined one +piece with great care. + +"Where'd you get this?" he asked, holding up a piece of white rock, and +she sighed and brushed away her tears. + +"Over on the dump," she answered wearily. "That's all Paymaster ore. +Don't you think you'd better go?" + +"Never ran away yet," he answered briefly and balanced the rock in his +hand. "Pretty heavy," he observed, "I'll bet it would assay. Have you +got very much on the dump?" + +"What--_that_?" she cried, snatching the specimen away from him and +bursting into a nervous laugh. "That assay? Well, you are a +greenie--it's nothing but barren white quartz!" + +"Oh, it is, eh?" he rejoined and gazed at her hectoringly. "You seem to +know a whole lot about mineral." + +"Yes, I do," she boasted. "Death Valley Charley teaches me. I've learned +how to pan, and everything. But that rock there--that's the barren +quartz that the Paymaster ran into when the values went out of the ore. +Old Charley knows all about it." + +"Yes, they all do," he observed and as his lip went up her eyes dilated +suddenly in a panic. + +"Oh, you went to that school--I forgot all about it--where they study +about the mines! Are you in the mining business now?" + +"Why, yes," he acknowledged, "but that doesn't make much difference. I +find I can learn something from most everybody." + +"Well, of course, then," she stammered, "I shouldn't have said that; but +the whole Paymaster dump is covered with that heavy quartz, and +everybody knows it's barren. Are you just looking around or----" + +She hesitated politely and as he reached for another specimen she +noticed a ring on his finger. It was of massive gold and, set in +clutching claws, there were three stupendous diamonds. Not imitation +stones nor small, off-colored diamonds, but brilliants of the very first +water, clear as dew, yet holding in their hearts the faintest suggestion +of blue. + +"Oh!" she gasped, and as he did not seem to notice, she drew her skirts +away with a flourish. "I'm surprised," she mocked, "that you condescend +to speak to us--of course you own your own mines!" + +"Nope," he replied, shrugging his shoulders at her sarcasm, "I'm nothing +but a prospector, yet. And you don't need to be so surprised." + +"No!" she retorted, giving way to swift resentment. "I guess I +don't--when you consider how you got your money. Here's Mother out +cooking for you, and I'm the waiter; and you're traveling around in +racing cars with thousand-dollar rings on your hands. But if old +Honest John hadn't sold all his stock while he was advising my father +to hold on----" + +"He did not!" + +"Yes, he did! He did, too! And now, after Father has been lost in Death +Valley, and we have come down to this, your father writes over and +offers to buy our stock for just the same as nothing. That's _my_ +ring you're wearing, and the money that paid for it----" + +"Oh, all right then," he sneered, stripping off the ring and handing it +abruptly over to her, "if it's your ring, take it! But don't you say my +father----" + +"Well, he did," she declared, "and you can keep your old ring! It won't +bring back my father--now!" + +"No, it won't," he agreed, "but while we're about it I just want to tell +you something. My father went broke, buying back Paymaster stock from +friends he'd advised to go in--and he's got the stock to prove it--and +when he heard that the Colonel was dead he decided to buy in your +mother's. He mortgaged his cows to raise the money for her and then that +old terror--I don't care if she is your mother--she slapped him in the +face by refusing it. Well, he didn't like to say anything, but you can +tell her from me she don't have to cook unless she wants to! She can +sell--or buy--a hundred thousand shares of Paymaster any day she says +the word; and if that isn't honest I don't know what is! I ask you, now; +isn't that fair?" + +"What, at ten cents a share? When it used to sell for forty dollars! +He's just trying to get control of the mine. And as for offering to buy +or sell, that's perfectly ludicrous, because he knows we haven't any +money!" + +"Well, what _do_ you want?" he demanded irritably, and then he thrust +up his lip. "I know," he said, "you want your own way! All right, I'll +never trouble you again. You can keep right on guarding that +hole-in-the-ground until you dry up and blow away across the desert. +And as for that old she-devil----" + +He paused at a sudden slam from the kitchen, and Virginia's eyes grew +big; but as he rose to face the Widow Huff he slipped the white rock +into his pocket. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE SHOTGUN WIDOW + + +The Widow Huff was burdened with a tray and her eye sought wildly for +Virginia but when she glimpsed Wiley moving swiftly towards the door she +set down his dinner with a bang. The disrespectful epithet which he had +applied to her had been lost in the clatter of plates, but the moment +the Widow came into the room she sensed the hair-trigger atmosphere. + +"Here!" she ordered, taking command on the instant. "Come back here, +young man, and pay me for this dinner! And Virginia Huff, you go out +into the kitchen--how many times do I have to speak to you?" + +Virginia started and stopped, her resentful eyes on Wiley, a thin smile +parting her lips. + +"He said----" she began, and then Wiley strode back and slapped down a +dollar on the table. + +"Yes, and I meant it, too," he answered fiercely. "There's your pay--and +you can keep your mine." + +"Why, certainly," responded the Widow without knowing what she was +talking about, "and now you eat that dinner!" + +She pointed a finger to the tray of food and looked Wiley Holman in the +eye. He wavered, gazing from her to the smiling Virginia, and then he +drew up his chair. + +"I'll go you," he said and showed his teeth in a grin. "You can't hurt +my feelings that way." + +He lifted the T-bone steak from the platter and transferred it swiftly +to his plate and then, as he fell to eating ravenously, the Widow +condescended to smile. + +"When I go to the trouble of cooking a man a steak," she announced with +the suggestion of a swagger, "I expect him to stay and eat it." + +"All right," mumbled Wiley, and glancing fleeringly at Virginia, he went +ahead with his meal. + +The Widow looked over her shoulder at her daughter and then back at the +stranger, but as she was about to inquire into the cause of their +quarrel she spied his diamond ring. She approached him closer under +pretext of pouring out some water and then she sank down into a chair. + +"That is a very fine ring," she stated briefly. "Worth fifteen hundred +dollars at the least. Haven't I seen you somewhere, before?" + +"Very likely," returned Wiley, not venturing to look up, "my business +takes me everywhere." + +"I thought I recognized you," went on the Widow ingratiatingly; "you're +a mining man, aren't you, Mister--er----" + +"Wiley," he answered, and at this bold piece of effrontery Virginia +caught her breath. + +"Ah, yes, I remember you now," said the Widow. "You knew my husband, of +course--Colonel Huff? He passed away on the twentieth of July; but there +was a time, not so many years ago, that I wore a few diamonds myself." +She fixed her restless eyes on his ring and heaved a discontented sigh. +"Virginia," she directed, "run out into the kitchen and clean up that +skillet and all. I declare, you do less and less every day--are you a +married man, Mr. Wiley?" + +Without awaiting the answer to this portentous question, Virginia flung +out into the kitchen and, left alone, the Widow drew nearer and her +manner became suddenly confidential. + +"I'd like to talk with you," she began, "about my husband's mine. Of +course you've heard of the famous Paymaster--that's the mill right over +east of town--but there are very few men that know what I do about the +reasons why that mine was shut down. It was commonly reported that +Colonel Huff was trying to get possession of the property, but the truth +of the matter is he was deceived by old John Holman and finally left +holding the sack. You see, it was this way. My husband and John Holman +had always been lifelong friends, but Colonel Huff was naturally +generous while Holman thought of nothing but money. Well, my husband +discovered the Paymaster--he was led to it by an Indian that he had +saved from being killed by the soldiers--but, not having any money, he +went to John Holman and they developed the mine together. It turned out +very rich and such a rush you never saw--this valley was full of tents +for miles--but it was so far from the railroad--seventy-four miles to +Vegas--that the work was very expensive. The Company was reorganized and +Mr. Blount, the banker, was given a third of the promotion stock. Then +the five hundred thousand shares of treasury stock was put on the market +in order to build the new mill; and when the railroad came in there was +such a crazy speculation that everybody lost track of the transfers. My +husband, of course, was generous to a fault and accustomed to living +like a gentleman--and he invested very heavily in real estate, too--but +this Mr. Blount was always out for his interest and Honest John would +skin a dead flea." + +"Honest John!" challenged Wiley, looking up from his eating with an ugly +glint in his eye, but the Widow was far away. + +"Yes, Honest John Holman," she sneered, without noticing his resentment. +"They called him Honest John. Did you ever know one of these 'Honest +John' fellows yet that wasn't a thorough-paced scoundrel? Well, old John +Holman he threw in with Blount to deprive Colonel Huff of his profits +and, with these street certificates everywhere and no one recording +their transfers, the Colonel was naturally deceived into thinking that +the selling was from the outside. But all the time, while they were +selling their stock and hammering down the price of Paymaster, they were +telling the Colonel that it was only temporary and he ought to support +the market. So he bought in what he could, though it wasn't much, as he +was interested in other properties, and then when the crash came he was +left without anything and Blount and Holman were rich. The great panic +came on and Blount foreclosed on everything, and then Mr. Huff fell out +with John Holman and they closed the Paymaster down. That was ten years +ago and, with the litigation and all, the stock went down to nothing. +The whole camp went dead and all the folks moved away--but have you ever +been through the mine? Well, I want you to go--that ground has hardly +been scratched!" + +Wiley Holman glanced up doubtfully from under his heavy eyebrows and the +Widow became voluble in her protests. + +"No, sir," she exclaimed, "I certainly ought to know, because the +Colonel was Superintendent; and when he had been drinking--the town was +awful, that way--he would tell me all about the mine. And that was his +phrase--he used it always: 'That ground has hardly been scratched!' But +when he fell out with old John Holman he--well, there was an explosion +underground and the glory-hole stope caved in. They cleaned it out +afterwards and hunted around, but all the rich ore was gone; but I'm +just as certain as I'm sitting here this minute the Colonel knew where +there was more! He never would admit it--he was peculiar, that way, he +never would discuss his business before a woman. But he wouldn't deny +it, and when he had been drinking--well, I know it's there, that's all!" + +She paused for her effect but Mr. Wiley, the mining man, was singularly +unimpressed. He continued eating in moody silence and the Widow tried +the question direct. + +"Well, what do you think about it?" she demanded bluffly. "Would you +like to consider the property?" + +"No, I don't think so," he answered impersonally. "I'm on my way up +north." + +"Well, when you come back, then. Since my husband is gone I'm so sick +and tired of it all I'll consider any offer--for cash." + +"Nope," he responded, "I'm out for something different." Then to stem +the tide of her impending protest, he broke his studious silence. "I'm +looking for molybdenum," he went on quickly, "and some of these other +rare metals that are in demand on account of the war. Ever find any +vanadium or manganese around here? No, I guess they're all further +north." + +He returned to his meal and the Widow surveyed him appraisingly with her +bold, inquisitive eyes. She was a big, strapping woman, and handsome in +a way; but the corners of her mouth were drawn down sharply in a sulky, +lawless pout. + +"Aw, tell me the truth," she burst out at last. "What have you got +against the property?" + +A somber glow came into his eyes as he opened his lips to speak, and +then he veiled his smouldering hate behind a crafty smile. + +"The parties that I represent," he said deliberately, "are looking for a +_mine_. But the man that puts his money into the Paymaster property +is simply buying a lawsuit." + +"What do you mean?" demanded the Widow, rousing up indignantly in +response to this sudden thrust. + +"I mean, no matter how rich the Paymaster may be--and I hear the whole +district is worked out--I wouldn't even go up the hill to look at it +until you showed me the title was good." + +The Widow sat and glowered as she meditated a fitting response and then +she rose to her feet. + +"Well, all right, then," she sulked, "if you don't want to consider +it--but you're missing the chance of your life." + +"Very likely," he muttered and reached for his hat. "Much obliged for +cooking my dinner." + +He started for the door, but she flew swiftly after him and snatched him +back into the room. + +"Now here!" she cried, "I want you to listen to me--I've got tired of +this everlasting waiting. I waited around for ten years on the Colonel, +to settle this matter up, and now that he's gone I'm going to settle it +myself and get out of the cussed country. Maybe I don't own the mine, +but I own a good part of it--I've got two hundred thousand shares of +stock--and I could sell it to-morrow for twenty thousand dollars, so you +don't need to turn up your nose. There must be something there after all +these years, to bring an offer of ten cents a share; but I wouldn't take +that money if it was the last act of my life--I just hate that Honest +John Holman! He cheated my husband out of everything he had--and yet he +did it in such a deceitful way that the Colonel would never believe it. +I've called him a coward a thousand times for tolerating such an outrage +for an instant, and now that he's gone I'm going to show Honest John +that he can't put it over _me_!" + +She shook her head until her heavy black hair flew out like Medusa's +locks and then Wiley laughed provokingly. + +"All right," he said, "but you can't rope me in on your feuds. If you +want to give me an option on your stock in the company for five or ten +cents a share I may take a look at your mine. But I'll tell you one +thing--you'll sign an agreement first to leave the country and never +come back. I'm a business man, working for business people, and these +shotgun methods don't go." + +"Well, I'll do it!" exclaimed the Widow, passing by his numerous insults +in a sudden mad grab at release. "Just draw up your paper and I'll sign +it in a minute--but I want ten cents a share!" + +"Ten cents or ten dollars--it makes no difference to me. You can put it +as high as you like--but if it's too high, my principals won't take it. +I can't stop to inspect it now, because I'm due up north, but I'll tell +you what I'll do. You give me an option on all your stock, with a +written permission to take possession, and if the other two big owners +will do as much I'll come back and consider the mine. But get this +straight--the first time you butt in, this option and agreement is off!" + +"What do you mean--butt in?" demanded the Widow truculently, and then +she bit her lip. "Well, never mind," she said, "just draw up your +papers. I'll show you I'm business myself." + +"Huh!" he grunted and, whipping out a fountain pen, he sat down and +wrote rapidly at a table. "There," he said tearing the leaf from his +notebook and putting it into her hands, "just read that over and if you +want to sign it we'll close the deal, right here." + +The Widow took the paper and, turning it to the light, began a labored +perusal. + +"Memorandum of agreement," she muttered, squinting her eyes at his +handwriting, "hmm, I'll have to go and get my glasses. 'For and in +consideration of the sum of ten dollars--to me in hand paid by M. R. +Wiley,' and so forth--oh well, I guess it's all right, just show me +where to sign." + +"No," he said, "let me read it to you--you ought to know what you're +signing." + +"No, just show me where to sign," protested the Widow petulantly, "and +where it says ten cents a share." + +"Well, it says that here," answered Wiley, putting his finger on the +place, "but I'm going to read it to you--it wouldn't be legal +otherwise." + +He wiped the beaded sweat from his brow and glanced towards the kitchen +door. In this desperate game which he was framing on the Widow the luck +had all come his way, but as he cleared his throat and commenced to read +Virginia came bounding in. She was carrying a kitten, but when she saw +the paper between them she dropped it on the floor. + +"Virginia!" cried her mother, "go and hunt my glasses. They're somewhere +in my bedroom." + +"All right," she responded, but when she came back she glanced +inquiringly at the paper. + +"You can go now," announced the Widow, adjusting her glasses, but +Virginia threw up her head. + +"Do you know who that is?" she demanded brusquely, pointing an accusing +finger at Wiley. + +"Why--er--no," returned the Widow, now absorbed in the agreement. + +"Well, all right," she said after a hasty perusal, "but where's that sum +of ten dollars? Now you hush, Virginia, and go--into--the--_kitchen_! +Now, it says right here--oh, where is that place? Oh yes, 'the receipt +whereof is hereby acknowledged'! _Virginia!_" + +She stamped her foot, but Virginia's blood was up and she made a grab at +the paper. + +"Now, _listen!_" she screamed, stopping her mother in her rush. +"That man there is Wiley Holman! Yes--Holman! Old Honest John's son! +What's this you're going to sign?" + +She backed away, her eyes fixed on the agreement, while the Widow stood +astounded. + +"Wiley _Holman_!" she shrieked, "why, you limb of Satan, you said +your name was Wiley!" + +"It is," returned Wiley with one eye on the door, "the rest of my name +is Holman." + +"But you signed it on this paper--you wrote it right there! Oh, I'll +have the law on you for this!" + +She clutched at the paper and as Virginia gave it to her mother she +turned an accusing glance upon Wiley. + +"Yes, that's just like you, Mr. M. R. Wiley," she observed with +scathing sarcasm. "You were just that way when you were a kid here in +Keno--always trying to get the advantage of somebody. But if I'd +thought you had the nerve----" She glanced at the paper and gasped and +Wiley showed his teeth in a grin. + +"Well, she crowded me to it," he answered with a swagger. "I'm strictly +business--I'll sign up anybody. You can just keep that paper," he nodded +to the Widow, "and send it to me by mail." + +He winked at Virginia and slipped swiftly out the door as the Widow +made a rush for her gun. She came out after him, brandishing a +double-barreled shotgun, just as he cranked up his machine to start. + +"I'll show you!" she yelled, jerking her gun to her shoulder. "I'll +learn you to get funny with _me_!" + +She pulled the trigger, but Wiley was watching her and he ducked down +behind the radiator. + +_Clank_, went the hammer and with a wail of rage the Widow snapped +the other barrel. + +"You, Virginia!" she cried in a terrible voice, "have you been monkeying +with my shotgun?" + +The answer was lost in a series of explosions that awoke every echo in +Keno, and Wiley Holman leapt into his machine. He jerked off his brake +and stepped on the foot throttle but as he roared off up the street he +waved a grimy hand at Virginia. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE SHADOW + + +The old, settled quiet returned to sleepy Keno--the quiet of the desert +and of empty, noiseless houses stretching in long, sunburned rows down +the canyon. The black lava patch, laid across the gray rhyolite flank of +Shadow Mountain like the shade of an angry cloud, still frowned down +upon the town like a portent of storms to come. But the sky was hot and +gleaming and no storms came; nor did Wiley Holman return, though the +Widow waited for him patiently. After all his boldness, his unbelievable +effrontery in trying to steal her Paymaster stock, he had gone on +laughing to seek other adventures and left her with the mine on her +hands. But he would come back, she knew it; and with her gun loaded with +buckshot she watched from the shelter of the gallery. + +Yet the days went by and then the weeks and at last the Widow, with a +sigh of vexation, put up her gun and retired within. Now that the +episode was over she felt vaguely regretful that he had failed, after +all, in his purpose. If he had procured his option, under cover of her +blindness, and obtained her quit-claim to the mine, she would at least +have had the satisfaction of obtaining her own terms--and she would have +the twenty thousand to spend. It was maddening, disgusting, when she +thought it over, that he had turned out to be Holman's son, and she +never quite forgave Virginia for dinning the fact into her ears. For +what you don't know will never hurt you, and she had lost her last +chance to sell. When she went back into the house she went back into the +kitchen, and there she would have to stay. Either that or take Honest +John's money. + +But he wanted the property--the Widow knew it--else why had he sent his +son? All the wise-acres in Keno agreed with the Widow that Honest John +had designs on her property and Death Valley Charley, who had jumped +half the claims in the district, began once more to carry his gun. It +was by virtue of that, more than of assessment work done or of any other +legal right, that Charley held title to his claims; and until Wiley had +come through town and attempted to bond the Paymaster he had feared no +one but Stiff Neck George. Stiff Neck George had been Blount's gunman +on the momentous occasion when they had tried to jump the Paymaster--and +the Widow Huff had put him to flight with one blast from her trusty +shotgun. But now that big interests were sending in their experts and +mining was picking up everywhere Stiff Neck George might forget that +humiliating defeat, so Death Valley Charley put on his six-shooter. + +He was a little, stooping man, burned chocolate brown by the sun and +with eyes half blinded by the glare, and as the Widow gave up her +fruitless vigil, Death Valley Charley took her place. But he was not +alone, for through all the weary weeks Virginia had been watching her +mother. She had slipped in and out, now lingering on the gallery, now +listening through the doorway, expectant but at the same time afraid. +She knew Wiley Holman much better than her mother, and she knew that he +would come back. He was patient, that was all, more patient than an +Indian, and he had his eye on their mine. For ten years and more Colonel +Huff, and now the Widow, had held physical possession of the Paymaster. +Every great iron-bound door was locked and padlocked and the Huff family +held the keys, but in all those ten years Holman had never come near it +and Blount had merely seized it on a labor lien. The very title to the +mine was shrouded in mystery, for no one could locate the shares, and to +openly lay claim to it and produce a majority of the stock would be +equivalent to a confession of treachery. All that anyone knew surely was +that some one of the three original owners--or some unsuspected party +outside--had bought in and sequestered the almost valueless stock and +was patiently biding his time. Since the Huffs did not own the stock +themselves they knew for a certainty that it was held by either Holman +or Blount. + +As Virginia sat on the gallery, listening subconsciously for the +drumming of Wiley's racing motor up the road, she ran over in her mind +the circumstances of his visit; and she could explain them all but one. +Why, after failing of his mission, and narrowly escaping her mother's +gun, had he waved his hand and smiled so gayly as he thundered away up +the street? Had he other schemes more subtle; or was he simply reckless, +regarding even this adventure as a joke? As a boy he had been both--a +crafty schemer and reckless doer--but now he was grown to a man. And if +the lines about his mouth were any criterion he would soon be coming +back to carry out by stealth what he failed to accomplish by assault. So +she, too, waited patiently, to foil his machinations and uphold the +honor of the Huffs. + +In the good old days it had never been forgotten that the Huffs belonged +to the Virginia quality, while the Holmans came from Maine; hence the +Colonel's relations with Honest John Holman had at first been strictly +business. John Holman was a Northerner, with no social graces and +abstemious to a fault, but when his commercial honor upon a certain +occasion had saved the Colonel from bankruptcy he had cast the +traditions of the South to the winds and taken Honest John as his +friend. "My friend," he called him and neither his wife nor his enemies +could shake the Colonel's faith in his partner. Then, after years of +mutual trust, the panic had come on, and the crash in Paymaster stock; +and as their fortunes went tumbling and ugly rumors filled the air they +had broken their friendship completely. Yet so great was his love for +his old-time friend that he had never openly accused him; and Honest +John Holman, after months of somber silence, had moved away and started +a cow ranch. But it was a question of honesty between the two men and +their children had never forgotten. Ten years had passed since they had +been boy and girl together, but the moment they met the old quarrel +flashed up again and now the feud was on. + +A boisterous blast of wind, whirling dust and papers down the street, +announced the beginning of another sandstorm; and Death Valley Charley, +who had been sitting outside the gate, came muttering up the steps. +Behind him trotted Heine, his worshipful little dog, and as Virginia's +pet cat suddenly arched its back, Death Valley took Heine in his arms. + +"Can't you hear 'em?" he asked tiptoeing rapidly up to Virginia. "It's +them big guns, over in Europe. It's them forty-two centimeter howitzers +and the French seventy-fives in the trenches along the Somme." + +"Do you think so?" murmured Virginia, smoothing down her cat's back, "it +sounds like blasting to me." + +"No--big guns!" repeated Charley, regarding her intently through his +wavering, sun-blinded eyes, and then he burst into a laugh. "You can +hear 'em, can't you, Heine?" he cried to his dog, and Heine squirmed +ecstatically and sneezed. "Hah, that's my little dog--you're so +confectionate! Now get down on the floor, and don't you go near that +cat." + +He put down the dog and advanced closer to Virginia. + +"He's coming!" he whispered. "I can hear him, plain--jurrr, jurrr; hud, +hud, hud, hud, hud!" + +"Who's coming?" demanded Virginia, looking swiftly up the road. + +"Why--him! The man you're waiting for. Can't you hear him! Hrrrr--rud! +He's coming to grab you and take you away in his auto!" + +"Oh, Charley!" exclaimed Virginia, not entirely displeased, "and where +will you go then?" + +"I'll go to Death Valley," he answered mysteriously. "There's lots of +gold over there. I came back one time and they says to me: 'Charley, +where've you been for such a long time?' 'In Death Valley,' I says, +'in the Funeral Range. Working in the Coffin mine, on the graveyard +shift.' Hah, hah; they can't get nothing out of me. I know where +there's gold--in the Ube-Hebes; it's a place where nobody goes. I saw +your father there, the last time I went through, and he sent word to +you not to worry. 'But for Christ's sake,' he says, 'don't tell my +wife I'm here--I'm tired of her devilish chatter!'" + +"Charley!" reproved Virginia, and as he subsided into mutterings, she +looked about with shocked eyes. "You talk too much," she said at last. +"Didn't I tell you not to say that again? Because if mother hears it +she'll drive you out of the house, and then what will Heine do?" + +"Heine! Come here, sir!" commanded Charley abruptly, and slapped him +until he yelped. "Well, now," he warned as Heine slunk away, "you look +out or you lose your house." + +"I guess you'd better go now," said Virginia discreetly, and continued +her vigil alone. Death Valley was harmless, but when he began hearing +things there was no telling where he would stop. The next minute he +would be seeing things, and then getting messages, and then looking +through mountains with radium. He was harmless, of course, but when +there was a sandstorm--well, some people thought he was crazy. And +there was a sandstorm coming up. It was blowing in from the north and +rushing clouds of dirt down the street; and along in the night, when it +had gained its full force, the sand and gravel would fly. She rose to go +in, but just at that moment she heard a low drumming up the street. It +increased to a bubbling, a drumming, a thunder, and like the spirit of +the rough north wind Wiley Holman went racing through the town. His hat +was off and as he drifted by his hair thrashed wildly in his eyes, yet +he glanced up in passing and it seemed to Virginia that he gave her a +roguish smile. Then in a series of explosions that brought the Widow +running he dashed on and whirled out across the desert. + +"Oh, that devil!" she raged, brandishing her heavy shotgun at the +disappearing cloud of dust. "He's just making that hubbub to mock me! +He'll be coming back--I know it, the scoundrel--but you wait, he won't +fool me again!" + +She stood on the gallery while the food scorched in the kitchen and +watched the boring arrow of dust, but it swept on and on across the +boundless desert until at last it was lost in the storm. "Oh, he'll be +back!" she screamed to the gathering neighbors. "I know him, he's after +my mine. But he'd better watch out! If he ever goes near it, I'll shoot +him, you mark my word!" + +"No, he won't," said Virginia, but when they were all gone she came back +and gazed down the road. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE GHOST-MAN + + +As the sun paled to nothing in the yellow murk of dust, a high cloud of +sand overleapt the northern peaks and came sifting down the slopes of +Shadow Mountain. The gusts of wind began to wail in boding fury and then +the storm struck the town. Dirt and papers flew before it; tin cans +leapt forth from holes and alleys; and sticks and small stones, sucked +up in the vortex, joined in on the devil's dance. Ancient signs creaked +and groaned and threatened to leave their moorings, old houses gave up +shingles and loose boards, and up the street on the deserted bank +building, the fire-doors banged like cannon. Then the night came on and +the streets of Keno were empty, except for the flying dirt. + +But it is nights such as this that move some men to greater daring and +as Wiley Holman, far out on the desert, felt the rush and surge of wind +he struck a swift circle and, turning back towards Keno, he bored his +way into the teeth of the storm. The gravel from the road slashed and +slatted against his radiator and his machine trembled before the buffets +of the gale, but it was just such a night as he needed for his purpose +and he ran with his lights switched off. If the Widow Huff, by any +chance, should glance out across the plain she might notice their gleam +and divine his purpose, which was to inspect the Paymaster mine. As a +stockholder and part owner it was, of course, his right to enter the +premises at will, but the Widow had placed her own personal mandate +above the laws of the land, and it was better, and safer, to avoid all +discussion by visiting the property after dark. + +Up the long slope of the valley the white racer moved slowly, shuddering +and thundering as it took the first hill, and as the outlying houses +leaped up from the darkness, Wiley muffled his panting exhaust. In the +sheltered valley, under the lee of Shadow Mountain, the violence of the +wind was checked and some casual citizen, out looking at the stars, +might hear him above the storm. He turned off the main road and, +following up a side street, glided quietly into the shelter of a barn, +and five minutes later, with his prospector's pick and ore-sacks, he +toiled up the trail to the mine. + +The Paymaster mine lay on the slope of Gold Hill, directly overlooking +the town--first the huge, dismantled mill; then the white slide of the +waste dump; and then, up the gulch, the looming gallows-frame of the +hoist and the dim bulk of abandoned houses. The mine had made the town, +and the town had clustered near it in the broad oval of the valley +below; but in its day the Paymaster had been a community by itself, with +offices and bunk-houses and stores. Now all was deserted and in the pale +light of the moon it seemed the mere ghost of a mine. A loose strip of +zinc on the corrugated-iron mill drummed and shuddered in a menacing +undertone and at uncertain intervals some door inside smote its frame +with a resounding bang. Straining timbers creaked and groaned, the wind +mourned like a disembodied spirit, and as Wiley Holman jumped at a +sudden sound he turned and glanced nervously behind him. + +It was not a shadow but the passing of a shadow that caught his roving +eye and as he stripped off his wind-goggles and looked again he felt by +instinct for his six-shooter. But it was not on his hip. He had taken +his pick instead, and for the first time he felt a thrill of fear--not +fear for his life nor of anything tangible, but that old, primordial +fear of the night that only a gun can banish. He picked up a rock and +walked back down the trail; but nothing leapt forth at him--even the +shadow was gone, and he threw the rock petulantly away. It was the wind, +and the noises, and the blinders on his goggles; but now that the great +fear was born he jumped at every sound. He had been out before on worse +nights than this--what was it, then, that he feared? With his back +against a rock he stared about and listened until at last his nerve +returned; then he went boldly to the dump, where the white quartz lay +the thickest, and began to dig a hole with his pick. + +Deep as he could dig there was nothing but the white waste and he paced +off the width of the pile; then very systematically he moved across the +slope, grabbing handfuls of fine dirt at measured intervals and throwing +them into an ore-sack. There was something about Virginia's piece of +"barren quartz" that had appealed to his prospector's eye and even in +the excitement of meeting the Widow he had not forgotten to sequester +it. But a piece of rock from a girl's case of specimens is a far call +from "ore in place" and he had come back that night to look the mine +over and collect an average sample from the dump. There were hundreds of +tons of that rock on the dump and it certainly was his right, as a part +owner in the property, to sample it and have it assayed. + +Back and forth across the slide, now buffeted by the wind, now pelted by +loosened stones, he continued his methodical test and then as he knelt +to dig out a hole a great rock came bounding past. It came out of the +darkness and went smashing down the hillside like some terrific engine +of destruction and before he had more than scrambled from its path a +second boulder was upon him. He dodged it by a hair's breadth and fell +flat on his face, just as a stream of loose stone which the first flying +rock had dislodged sent him rolling and tumbling down the slope in an +avalanche of flying debris. For a minute he lay breathless while the +waste rattled past him, and then he looked up the hill. No movement of +his had started those great boulders. They had been launched by someone +from above, and as he raised his head cautiously he beheld a gaunt +figure standing outlined against the sky. It stood like a gibbet, its +head to one side, a pistol in its hand; but as Wiley moved the man +crouched and drew back as if he feared to be seen. + +Who he was Wiley did not know, nor could he divine his animus in thus +attempting to take his life, but, being caught in the open without his +gun, he played safe and lay quiet where he had fallen. The wind howled +along the ridges and trailed off into silence and, looking around, Wiley +caught the wink of a lantern as it came across the flat from town. The +crash of the boulders as they bounded down the dump and then on through +the brush below had undoubtedly aroused some inquisitive citizen, who +was coming over to investigate. Wiley rose up quickly, for he did not +wish to be discovered, but as he started towards the trail he met the +ghost-man, creeping forward with his pistol ready to shoot. + +At times like this a man acts by instinct, and Wiley Holman dropped to +the ground; then with the swiftness of an Indian he bellied off down the +hill, looking back after every lightning move. The man was a murderer, a +cold-blooded assassin; and, thinking him injured, he had been stealing +up to his hiding-place to give him the _coup de grace_. Wiley +rolled into a gulch and peered over the bank, his eyes starting out of +his head with fear; and then, as the lantern began to bob below him, he +turned and crept up the hill. Two trails led towards the mine, one on +either side of the dump, and as the wind swept down with a sudden gust +of fury, he ran up the farther trail. Once over the hill he could avoid +both his pursuers and, cutting a wide circle, slip back to his machine +and escape. The wind died to nothing as he neared the summit and he +turned and looked back down the trail. Something moved--it was the man, +his head twisted over his shoulder, his gun still held at a ready, +creeping waspishly up the path. + +Wiley turned and fled, sick with rage at his own impotence, but as he +whipped over the dump the earth opened up before him and he slipped +and stopped on the brink of a chasm. It was the caved-in stope, the +old glory-hole of the Paymaster, and it cut off his last escape. A +sudden sinking of the heart, a feeling of fate being against him, came +over him as he slunk along the bank; and then, as a path opened up +before him, he took the steep slope at a bound. Further on in the +darkness he saw the roof of the mill and the broken hummocks of the +dump; beyond lay the other trail and the open country and his car--and +the six-shooter--beyond! His feet seemed to fly as he dashed across +the level and breasted a sudden ascent and then on its summit as the +wind snatched him back someone struck him in full flight. "God!" he +cried, and fought himself free but the other clutched him again. + +"Run!" she begged, and he knew it was Virginia, but he was in a panic +for fear of what was behind. + +"No!" he cried, catching her roughly in his arms and starting the other +way, "there's a crazy man back there and----" + +"No--no--no!" she clamored, bringing him to a halt with her struggles. +"The other way--can't you hear what I'm saying to you----" And then +Wiley saw the Widow. + +She was standing on the dump with her shotgun raised and pointed, and he +hurled Virginia to one side. + +"Don't shoot!" he yelled, but as he ducked and started to run, the +Widow's gun spoke out. A blow like that of a club struck his leg from +under him and he fell to the ground in a heap, but even in his pain he +remembered the presence which had followed with its head on one side. + +"You danged fool!" he cursed as the Widow ran up to him. "Keep that +cartridge, whatever you do. There's a crazy man after me and----" + +"I see him!" shrieked the Widow, making a dash for the bank with her gun +at her hip for the shot. "You git, you dastard!" she shrilled into the +darkness and once more the old shotgun roared forth. + +"Oh, mother!" wept Virginia, throwing her arms about Wiley, and +attempting to raise him up. "Oh, look what you've done--it's Wiley +Holman--and now I hope you're satisfied!" + +"You bet I'm satisfied!" answered the Widow, exultingly. "That other +fellow was Stiff Neck George!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A LOAD OF BUCKSHOT + + +Since he had turned back, far out on the desert, and braved the storm to +inspect the Paymaster Mine, Wiley Holman had met nothing but disaster; +but as he lay on the ground with one leg full of buckshot he blamed it +all on the Widow. Without warning or justification, without even giving +him a chance, she had sneaked up and potted him like a rabbit; and now, +as men came running to witness his shame, she gloried in her badness. + +"Aha-ah!" she jeered, coming back to stand over him and Wiley reached +for a stone. + +"You old she-cat," he burst out, "you say another word to me and I'll +bounce this rock off your head!" + +He groaned and dropped the rock to take his leg in both hands, and then +Virginia rushed to the rescue. + +"How badly are you hurt?" she asked, kneeling down beside him, but he +jerked ungraciously away. + +"Go away and leave me alone!" he shouted to the world at large and the +Widow took the hint to withdraw. Then in a series of frenzied curses +Wiley stripped off his puttee and felt of his injured leg. It was wet +with blood and two shot-holes in his shin-bone were giving him the most +exquisite pain; the rest were just flesh-wounds where the buckshot had +pierced his leggings and imbedded themselves in the muscles. He looked +them over hastily by the light of a flashing lantern and then he rose up +from the ground. + +"Gimme that gun for a crutch!" he demanded of the Widow; and Mrs. Huff, +who had been surveying her work with awe, passed over the shotgun in +silence. "All right, now," he went on, turning to Death Valley Charley, +who had been patiently holding his lantern, "just show me the trail and +I'll get out of camp before some crazy dastard ups and kills me." + +"That was Stiff Neck George," observed Charley mysteriously. "He's +guarding the Paymaster for Blount." + +"Who--that fellow that was after me?" burst out Wiley in a passion as he +hobbled off down the trail. "What the hell was he trying to do? The +whole rotten mine isn't worth stealing from anybody. What's the matter +with you people--are you crazy?" + +"Well, that's all right!" returned the Widow from the darkness. "You +can't sneak in and jump _my_ mine!" + +"_Your_ mine, you old tarrier!" yelled Wiley furiously. "You'd +better go to town and look it up. The whole danged works is mine--I +bought it in for taxes!" + +"You--what?" cried the Widow, brushing Virginia and Charley aside and +halting him in the trail. "You bought the Paymaster for _taxes_!" + +"Yes, for taxes," answered Wiley, "and got stung at that! Gimme +eighty-three dollars and forty-one cents and you can have it back, +with costs. But now listen, you old battle-ax; I've taken enough off +of you. You went up on my property when I was making an inspection of +it and made an attempt on my life; and if I hear a peep out of you, +from this time on, I'll go down and swear out a warrant." + +"I didn't aim to kill you," defended the Widow, weakly. "I just tried to +shoot you in the leg." + +"Well, you did it," returned Wiley, and, pushing; her aside, he limped +on down the trail. The Widow followed meekly, talking in low tones with +her daughter, and at last Virginia came up beside him. + +"Take him right to our house," she said to Charley, "and I'll nurse him +until he gets well." + +"No, you take me to the Holman house!" directed Wiley, obstinately. "I +guess we've got a house of our own." + +"Well, suit yourself," she murmured, and fell back to the rear while +Wiley went hobbling on. At every step he jabbed the muzzle of the +shotgun vindictively into the ground, but as he reached the flat and met +a posse of citizens, he submitted to being carried on a door. The first +pain had passed and a deadly numbness seemed to take the place of its +bite; but as he moved his stiffened muscles, which were beginning to +ache and throb, he realized that he was badly hurt. With a leg like that +he could not drive out across the desert, seventy-four long miles to +Vegas; nor would he, on the other hand, find the best of accommodations +in the deserted house of his father. It had been a great home in its +day, but that day was past, and the water connections too, and somebody +must be handy to wait on him. + +"Say," he said, turning to Death Valley Charley, "have you got a house +here in town? Well, take me to it and I'll pay you well, and for +anything else that you do." + +"It won't cost you nothing," answered Charley quickly. "I used to know +your father." + +"Well, you knew a good man then," replied Wiley grimly, but Death Valley +did not respond. The Widow Huff was listening behind; and besides, he +had his doubts. + +"I'll run on ahead," said Charley noncommittally, and when Wiley arrived +a canvas cot was waiting for him, fully equipped except for the sheets. +Virginia came in later with a pair on her arm, and after a look at +Charley's greasy blankets Wiley allowed her to spread them on the bed. +Then, as Death Valley laid a grimy paw on his leg and began to pick out +the shot Wiley jerked away and asked Virginia impatiently if she didn't +have a little carbolic. + +"Aw, he'll be all right," protested Charley cheerfully, as Virginia +pushed him aside; "them buckshot won't hurt him much, nohow. Jest put on +some pine pitch and a chew of tobacco and he'll fall off to sleep like a +child." + +He stood blinking helplessly as Virginia heated some water and poured in +a teaspoonful of carbolic, then as she bathed the wounds and picked out +the last shot, Charley placed a disc on his phonograph. + +"Does he want some music?" he inquired of Heine, who was sitting up and +begging, but Virginia put down her foot. "No, Charley," she said with a +forbidding frown, "you go ask mother for a needle and thread." + +"He's kind of crazy to-night," she whispered to Wiley, when Death Valley +was safely out of sight, "you'd better come over to the house." + +"Huh, I guess we're all crazy," answered Wiley, laughing shortly. "I can +stand it--but how does he act?" + +"Oh, he hears things--and gets messages--and talks about Death Valley. +He got lost over there, three years ago last August, and the heat kind +of cooked his brains. He heard your automobile, when you came back +to-night--that's why mother and all the rest of them went over to the +mine to get you. I'm sorry she shot you up." + +"Well, don't you care," he said reassuringly. "But she sure overplayed +her hand." + +"Yes, she did," acknowledged Virginia, trying not to quarrel with her +patient, "but, of course, she didn't know about that tax sale." + +"Well, she knows it now," he answered pointedly, and when Charley came +back they were silent. Virginia bandaged up his wound and slipped away +and then Wiley lay back and sighed. There had been a time when he and +Virginia had been friends, but now the fat was in the fire. It was her +fighting mother, of course, and their quarrel about the Paymaster; but +behind it all there was the old question between their fathers, and he +knew that his father was right. He had not rigged the stock market, he +had not cheated Colonel Huff, and he had not tried to get back the mine. +That was a scheme of his own, put on foot on his own initiative--and +brought to nothing by the Widow. He had hoped to win over Virginia and +effect a reconciliation, but that hole in his leg told him all too well +that the Widow could never be fooled. And, since she could not be +placated, nor bought off, nor bluffed, there was nothing to do but quit. +The world was large and there were other Virginias, as well as other +Paymasters--only it seemed such a futile waste. He sighed again and then +Death Valley Charley burst out into a cackling laugh. + +"I heard you," he said, "I heard you coming--away up there in the pass. +Chuh, chuh, chuh, chud, chud, chud, chud; and I told Virginny you was +coming." + +"Yes, I heard about it," answered Wiley sourly, "and then you told the +Widow." + +"Oh, no, I didn't!" exulted Charley. "She'd've killed you, sure as +shooting. I just told Virginny, that's all." + +"Oh!" observed Wiley, and lay so still that Charley regarded him +intently. His eyes were blue and staring like a newborn babe's, but +behind their look of childlike innocence there lurked a crafty smile. + +"I told her," went on Charley, "that you was coming to git her and take +her away in your auto. She's a nice girl, Virginny, and never rode in +one of them things--I never thought you'd try to steal her mine." + +"I did not!" denied Wiley, but Death Valley only smiled and waved the +matter aside. + +"Never mind," he said, "they're all crazy, anyhow. They get that way +every north wind. I'm here to take care of them--the Colonel asked me +to, and keep people from stealing his mine. It's electricity that does +it--it's about us everywhere--and that's what makes 'em crazy; but +electricity is my servant; I bend it to my will; that's how I come to +hear you. I heard you coming back, away out on the desert, and I knowed +your heart wasn't right. You was coming back to rob the Colonel of his +mine; and the Colonel, he saved my life once. He ain't dead, you know, +he's over across Death Valley in them mountains they call the Ube-Hebes. +Yes, I was lost on the desert and he followed my tracks and found me, +running wild through the sand-hills; and then Virginia and Mrs. Huff, +they looked after me until my health returned." + +"You can hear pretty well, then," suggested Wiley diplomatically. "You +must know everything that goes on." + +"It's the electricity!" declared Charley. "It's about us everywhere, and +that's what makes them crazy. All these desert rats are crazy, it's the +electric storms that does it--Nevada is a great state for winds. But +when they comes a sandstorm, and Mrs. Huff she wraps up her head, I feel +the power coming on. I can hear far away and then I can hear close--I +make the electricity my slave. But the rest, they go crazy; they have +headaches and megrims, and Mrs. Huff she always wants to fight; but I'm +here to take care of 'em--the Colonel asked me to, so you keep away from +that mine." + +"Oh, sure," responded Wiley, "I won't bother the mine. As soon as I'm +well I'll go home." + +"No, you stay," returned Charley, becoming suddenly confidential. +"I'll show you a mountain of gold. It's over across Death Valley, in +the Ube-Hebes; the Colonel is over there now." + +"Is that so?" inquired Wiley, and Charley looked at him strangely, as if +dazed. + +"Aw, no; of course not!" he burst out angrily. "I forgot--the Colonel is +dead. You Heine; come over here, sir." + +Heine crept up unwillingly and Charley slapped him. "Now--shut up!" he +admonished and went off into crazy mutterings. + +"What's that?" he cried, rousing up suddenly to listen, and a savage +look replaced the blank stare. "Can't you hear him?" he asked. "It's +Stiff Neck George--he's coming up the alley to kill you. Here, take my +gun; and when he opens the door you fill him full of holes!" + +Wiley listened intently, then he reached for the heavy pistol and sat +up, watching the door. The wind soughed and howled and rattled at the +windows, over which Charley had stretched heavy blankets, and it seemed +to his startled imagination that someone was groping at the door. The +memory of the skulking form that had followed him rose up with the +distinctness of a vision and at a knock on the door he cocked his pistol +and beckoned Death Valley to one side. + +"Come in!" he called, but as the door swung open it was Virginia who +stood facing his gun. + +"O--oh!" she screamed, and then she flushed angrily as Charley began to +laugh. + +"Well, laugh then, you fool," she said to Wiley, "and when you're +through, just look at this that we found!" + +She held up the ore-bag that Wiley had lost and strode dramatically in. +"Look at that!" she cried, and strewing the white quartz on the table +she pointed her finger in his face. "You stole my specimen!" she cried +accusingly. "That's why you came back for more. But you give it back to +me--I want it this minute. I see you're honest--like your father!" + +She spat it out venomously, more venomously than was needful, for he +was already fumbling for the rock; and when he gave it back he smiled +over-scornfully and his lower lip mounted up. + +"All right," he said, "you don't have to holler for it. You're getting +to be just like your mother." + +"I'm not!" she denied, but after looking at him a minute she burst into +tears and fled. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +ALL CRAZY + + +The wind was still blowing when Wiley was awakened by the cold of the +October morning. In the house all was dark, on account of the blankets +which Death Valley had nailed over the windows, but outside he could +hear the thump of an axe and the whining yelp of a dog. Then Charley +came in, his arms full of wood, and lit a roaring fire in the stove. +Wiley dozed off again, for his leg had pained him and kept him awake +half the night, and when he woke up it was to the strains of music and +the mournful howls of Heine. + +"Ah, you are so confectionate!" exclaimed Charley in honeyed tones and +laughed and patted him on the back. "Don't you like the fiddle, Heine? +Well, listen to this now; the sweetest song of all." + +He stopped the rasping phonograph to put on another record and when +Heine heard "Listen to the Mocking-bird" he barked and leapt with joy. +Wiley listened for awhile, then he stirred in bed and at last he tried +to get up; but his leg was very stiff and old Charley was oblivious, so +he sank back and waited impatiently. Heine sat upon the floor before the +largest of three phonographs, which ground out the Mocking-bird with +variations; and each time he heard the whistled notes of the bird he +rolled his eyes on Charley with a soulful, beseeching glance. The +evening before, when his master had cuffed him, Wiley had considered +Heine badly abused; but now as the concert promised to drag on +indefinitely he was forced to amend his opinion. + +"Say," he spoke up at last, in a pause between records, "what's the +chance of getting something to eat?" + +"Yes, there's plenty," answered Charley, and went on with his frolic +until Wiley rose up in disgust. He had heated some water, besides +tearing down a blanket and letting the daylight in, when there came a +hurried knock at the door and the Widow appeared with his breakfast. She +avoided his eyes, but her manner was ingratiating and she supplied the +conversation herself. + +"Good morning!" she smiled,--"Charley, stop that awful racket and let +Heine go out for his scraps. Well, I brought you your +breakfast--Virginia isn't feeling very well--and I hope you're going +to be all right. No, get right back into bed and I'll prop you up with +pillows; Charley's got a hundred or so. I declare, it's a question +which can grab the most; old Charley or Stiff Neck George. Every time +anyone moves out--and sometimes when they don't--you'll see those two +ghouls hanging around; and the minute they're gone, well, you never +saw anything like it, the way they will fight for the loot. Charley's +got a whole room filled up with bedding, and stoves and tables and +chairs; and George--he's vicious--he takes nearly everything and piles +it up down in his warehouse. It isn't his, of course, but----" + +"He hauls it off in a wheelbarrow," broke in Charley, virtuously. "He +don't care what he does. They was a widow woman here whose daughter got +sick and she had to go out for a week, and when she came back----" + +"Yes, her whole house was looted--he carried off even her +sewing-machine!" + +"And a deep line of wheelbarrow tracks," added Charley, unctuously, +"leading from her house right down to his. She nailed up all her windows +before she went, but he----" + +"Yes, he broke in," supplied the Widow. "He's a desperate character +and everybody is afraid of him, so he can do whatever he pleases; but +you bet your life he can't run it over me--I filled him up with +buckshot twice. Oh--that is--er--did you ever hear how he got his head +twisted? Well, go right ahead now and eat up your toast. I asked him +one time--that was before we'd had our trouble--what was the cause of +his head being to one side. He looks, you know, for all the world like +he was watching for a good kick from behind; but he tried to appear +pathetic and told me a long story about saving a mother and her child +in a flood. And when it was all over, according to him, he fell down +in a faint in the mud; but the best accounts I get say he was dead +drunk in the gutter and woke up with his head on one side." + +She ended with a sniff and Wiley glanced at Charley, but he was staring +blankly away. + +"I don't like that man," spoke up Charley at last, "he kicked my dog, +one time." + +"And he bootlegs something awful," added the Widow, desperately, for +fear that the chatter would lag. "There doesn't a day go by but some +drunken Piute comes whooping up the road, and that bunch of +Shooshonnies----" + +"Yes, he sells to the bucks," observed Death Valley, slyly. "They're no +good--they get drunk and tell. But you can trust the squaws--I had one +here yesterday----" + +"You what?" shrieked the Widow, and Charley looked up startled, then +rose and whistled to his dog. + +"Go lay down!" he commanded and slapped him till he yelped, after which +he slipped fearfully away. + +"The very idea!" exclaimed the Widow frigidly and then she glanced at +Wiley. + +"Mr. Holman," she began, "I came out here to talk business--there's +nothing round-the-corner about me. Now what about this tax sale, and +what does Blount mean by allowing you to buy it in for nothing?" + +"Well, I don't know," answered Wiley. "He refused to pay the taxes, so I +bought in the property myself." + +"Yes, but what does he _mean_?" + +The Widow's voice rose to the old quarrelsome, nagging pitch, and Wiley +winced as if he had been stabbed. + +"You'll have to ask _him_, Mrs. Huff, to find out for sure; but to +a man with one leg it looks like this. Whatever you can say about him, +Samuel J. is a business man, and I think he decided that, as a business +investment, the Paymaster wasn't worth eighty-three, forty-one. +Otherwise he would have bought it himself." + +"Unless, of course," added the Widow scornfully, "there was some +understanding between you." + +"Oh, yes, sure," returned Wiley, and went on with his eating with a +wearied, enduring sigh. + +"Well, I declare," exclaimed the Widow, after thinking it over, +"sometimes I get so discouraged with the whole darned business you could +buy me out for a cent!" + +She waited for a response, but Wiley showed no interest, so she went on +with her general complaint. + +"First, it was the Colonel, with his gambling and drinking and inviting +the whole town to his house; and then your father, or whoever it was, +started all this stock market fuss; and from that time it's gone from +bad to worse until I haven't a dollar to my name. I was brought up to be +a lady--and so was Virginia--and now we're keeping a restaurant!" + +Wiley pulled down his lip in masterful silence and set the breakfast +tray aside. It was nothing to him what the Widow Huff suffered--she had +brought it all on herself. And whenever she was ready to write to his +father she could receive her ten cents a share. That would keep her as a +lady for several years to come, if she had as many shares as she +claimed; but there was nothing to his mind so flat, stale and +unprofitable as a further discussion of the Paymaster. Indeed, with one +leg wound up in a bandage, it might easily prove disastrous. So he +looked away and, after a minute, the Widow again took up her plaint. + +"Of course," she said, "I'm not a business woman, and I may have made +some mistakes; but it doesn't seem right that Virginia's future should +be ruined, just because of this foolish family quarrel. The Colonel is +dead now and doesn't have to be considered; so--well, after thinking it +over, and all the rest of it, I think I'll accept your offer." + +"Which offer?" demanded Wiley, suddenly startled from his ennui, and the +Widow regarded him sternly. + +"Why, your offer to buy my stock--that paper you drew up for me. Here it +is, and I'm willing to sign it." + +She drew out the paper and Wiley read it silently, then rolled it into a +ball and chucked it into the corner. + +"No," he said, "that offer doesn't hold. I didn't know you then." + +"Well, you know me now!" she flashed back resentfully, "and you'd better +come through with that money. I've taken enough off of you and your +father without standing for any more of your gall. Now you write me out +a check for twenty thousand dollars and here's my two hundred thousand +shares. I know you're robbing me but I simply can't endure it--I can't +stay here a single day longer!" + +She burst into angry tears as he shook his head and regarded her with +steady eyes. + +"No," he said, "you can't do business that way. I haven't got twenty +thousand dollars." + +"But--you offered it to me! You wrote out this paper and put it right +under my eyes----" + +"No," he said, "I never offered you twenty thousand--I offered to take +an option at that price. I wanted to see that mine, and I wanted to see +it peaceably, and I thought I could do it that way; but that piece of +paper simply gave me the option of buying the stock if I wanted to." + +"Well, you wanted to buy the stock--you were crazy to get hold of +it--and now, when I'm willing, you won't take it!" + +"No, that's right," agreed Wiley, leaning back against his pillow. "And +now, what are you going to do about it?" + +"I'm going to kill you!" shrieked the Widow in a frenzy. "I'm going to +_make_ you take it! I declare, it seems like every single soul is +against me--and me a poor helpless woman!" + +She sank back in a chair and began to sob hysterically and Wiley looked +about for the old shotgun. It was far too short, but it had served once +as a crutch, and in a pinch it must serve him again. Keno was no place +for him, he saw that very plainly, and it was better to risk the long +drive across the desert than to stay with this weeping virago. If she +didn't kill him then she would kill him later, and he was powerless to +strike back in defense. She would take advantage of every immunity of +her sex to obtain her own way in the end. He located the gun--it was +down behind his bed where he had dropped it when they helped him in--but +as he was fishing it up the door burst open and Virginia stood looking +at her mother. Behind her appeared Death Valley Charley, his eyes +blinking fearfully; but at sight of the Widow he ducked around the +corner while Virginia came resolutely in. + +"Oh, mother!" she burst out in a pleading, reproachful voice, "can't you +see that Wiley is sick? Well, what's the use of creating a scene when +it's likely to make him worse?" + +"I don't care!" wailed the Widow. "I hope he dies. I wish I'd killed +him--I do!" + +"You do not!" returned Virginia, and shook her reprovingly. "I declare, +I wonder what poor father would think if he heard how we'd treated a +guest. Now you go back to the house and don't you come out again until +Mr. Holman sends for you." + +"You shut up!" burst out the Widow, pushing her brusquely aside. "I +guess I know what I'm about. But I'll fool you," she cried, whirling +about on Wiley as she started towards the door. "I'll sell my stock to +Blount!" + +She paused for the effect but Wiley did not answer and she returned to +pursue her advantage. + +"I know you!" she announced. "You and old Honest John--you're trying to +steal my mine. But I'm going to fool you, I'm going right down to Vegas +and sell every share to Blount!" + +"Well, go to it," returned Wiley after a long, defiant silence, "and I +hope you stick him a-plenty!" + +"Why, what's the matter?" inquired the Widow, brushing Virginia away +again and swaggering up to his bed. "I thought you and Blount were good +friends." + +"Yeh, guess again," replied Wiley grimly. "I'll tell him the mine shows +up fine." + +"Well, it does!" she asserted. "The Colonel said it wasn't scratched. +And didn't you steal that piece of quartz from Virginia? Oh, you gave it +back, eh? Well, how did it assay? I know you found _something_ +pretty good!" + +"How could I give it back, if I'd had it assayed?" asked Wiley with +compelling calm. + +"Well what _did_ you come back for?" demanded the Widow, +triumphantly. "You must have figured to win somewhere." + +"Yes, I did," sighed Wiley, "but I was badly mistaken. All I want now is +to get out of town." + +"Well, how about your father? That offer he made me! Has he backed out +on that, too?" + +"No, he hasn't," answered Wiley, "my father keeps his word. You can get +your money any time." + +"Well, of all the crazy crooked deals," the Widow began to rave, and +then Wiley grabbed for the shotgun. + +"It may be crazy!" he shouted savagely, "but believe me, it isn't +crooked. My father never did a crooked thing in his life, and you know +it as well as I do; and if it wasn't that you're such a crook +yourself----" + +"Wiley Holman!" raged the Widow, but he rose up on his crutch and +shouldered his way out the door. + +"You're crazy!" he yelled, "the whole danged town's crazy. All except +old Charley and me." + +He jerked his head and winked at Charley as he hobbled towards the +street and Death Valley nodded gravely. There was a long, hateful +silence; then the great motor roared out and the white racer rushed away +across the desert. + +"Well, I don't care!" declared the Widow as she gazed after his dust and +when the stage went out that day it took a lady passenger to Vegas. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +BETWEEN FRIENDS + + +The madness of the Widow and Old Charley and Stiff Neck George was no +mystery to Wiley Holman--it was the same form of mania which he +encountered everywhere when he went to see men who owned mines. If he +offered them a million for a ten-foot hole they would refuse it and +demand ten million more, and if he offered them nothing they +immediately scented a conspiracy to starve them out and gain +possession of their mine. It was the illusion of hidden wealth, of +buried treasure, which keeps half the mines in the West closed down +and half of the rest in litigation; except that in Keno it seemed to +be associated with gun-plays and a marked tendency towards homicide. +So, upon his return from a short stay in the hospital he came up the +main street silently, then stepped on the throttle and went through +town a-smoking. But the Widow was out waiting for him in the middle of +the road and, rather than run her down, he threw on both brakes and +stopped. + +"Well, what now?" he inquired, frowning at the odor of heated rubber. +"What's your particular grievance this trip?" He regarded her coldly, +then bowed to Virginia and waved a friendly hand at Charley. "Hello, +there, Death Valley," he called out jovially, as the Widow choked with a +rush of words, "what's the news from the Funeral Range?" + +"Now, here!" exclaimed the Widow, advancing from the dust cloud, and +glancing into the machine. "I want you to bring back that gun!" + +"I'm sorry, Mrs. Huff," he replied with finality, "but you'll have to +get along without it. I turned it over to the sheriff, along with three +buckshot and an affidavit regarding the shooting----" + +"What, you great, big coward!" stormed the Widow in a fury. "Did you run +and complain to the sheriff?" + +"No, I walked," said Wiley, "and on one leg at that. But I might as well +warn you that next time you make a gun-play you're likely to break into +jail." + +"You're a coward!" she taunted. "You're standing in with Blount to beat +me out of my mine. First you sneak off with my gun, so I can't protect +my rights, and then Stiff Neck George comes up and jumps the Paymaster!" + +"The hell!" burst out Wiley, rising up in his seat and looking across at +the mine. + +"Yes, the hell," she returned, "and he's warned off all comers and is +holding the mine for Blount!" + +"For Blount!" he echoed and, seeing him roused at last, the Widow became +subtly provocative. + +"For Samuel J. Blount," she repeated impressively. "He--he's got all my +stock on a loan." + +"Oh!" observed Wiley, and as she raved on with her story he rubbed his +chin in deep thought. + +"Yes, I went down to see him and he wouldn't buy it, so I left it as +collateral on a loan. And then he came out here and looked over the mine +again and told Stiff Neck George to stand guard. They're fixing to pump +out the water." + +"Oho!" exclaimed Wiley, and his eyes began to kindle as he realized what +Blount had done. Then reaching for the pistol that lay handy beside his +leg, he leapt out with waspish quickness, only to stop short as he hurt +his lame foot. + +"Go on!" hissed the Widow, advancing to his shoulder and pointing the +way up the trail. "He stays right there by the dump. The mine is yours; +go put him off--I would, if I had my gun." + +"Aw, pfooey!" he exclaimed, suddenly turning back and clamoring into his +seat. "I've got one game leg already. Let 'im have the doggoned mine." + +"What? Are you going to back out? Well, you are a good one--and it +stands in your name, this minute!" + +"Yes, and it isn't worth--that!" he said with conviction, and snapped +his finger in the air. "He can have it. You can tell Blount, the next +time you see him, he can buy in that tax title for the costs." + +He paused and muttered angrily, gazing off towards the dump where +crooked-necked George stood guard, and then he hopped out to crank up. + +"Want a ride?" he asked, as he saw Virginia watching him and she +hesitated and shook her head. "Come on," he smiled, casting aside his +black mood, "let's take a little spin--just down on the desert and back. +What's going on--getting ready to move?" + +He gazed with alarm at a pile of packing boxes that the Widow had +marshaled on the gallery and then he looked back at Virginia. She was +attired in a gown that had been very chic in the fall of nineteen ten, +but, though it was scant for these bouffant days, she was the old +Virginia still--slim and strong and dainty, and highbred in every line, +with dark eyes that mirrored passing thoughts. She was the Virginia he +had played with when Keno was booming and his own sisters had been there +for company; and now after ten years he remembered the time when he had +asked her, in vain, for a kiss. + +"I've got something to tell you," he said at last and Virginia stepped +into the racer. + +"Virginia!" reminded the Widow, and then at a glance she turned round +and flung into the house. There were times and occasions when she had +found it safer not to press her maternal authority too far, and the look +that she received was first notice from Virginia that such an occasion +had arrived. The motor began to thunder, Wiley threw in the clutch, and +with a speed that was startling, they whipped a sudden circle and went +bubbling away down the road. + +It stretched on endlessly, this road across the desert, as straight as a +surveyor's line, and as they cleared the rough gulches and glided down +into its immensity Virginia glanced at the desert and sighed. + +"Pretty big," he suggested and as she nodded slowly he raised his eyes +to the hills. "I don't know," he went on, "whether you'll like Los +Angeles. You'll get lonely for this, sometimes." + +"Yes, but not for that"--she jerked a thumb back at Keno--"that place is +pretty small. What's left, of course; but it seems to me sometimes +they're all of them lame, halt and blind. Always quarreling and +backbiting and jumping each other's claims--but--what do you think of +the Paymaster?" + +She shot the question at him and it occurred suddenly to Wiley that +perhaps she had a programme, too. + +"Well, I'll tell you," he began, deftly changing his ground, "I'm in +Dutch on that, all around. When I came home full of buckshot and the Old +Man heard about it I got my orders to come back and apologize. Well, +I'll do that--to you--and you can tell your mother I'm sure sorry I went +up on that dump." + +He grinned and motioned to his injured foot, but Virginia was in no mood +for a joke. + +"That's all right," she said, "and I accept your apology--though I don't +know exactly what it's for. But I asked your opinion of the Paymaster." + +"Oh, yes," he replied and then he began to temporize. "You'd better tell +me what you want it for, first." + +"What? Do you have one opinion for one set of people and another for +somebody else? I thought!"---- She paused and the hot blood leapt to her +cheeks as she saw where her temper had led her. "Well," she explained, +"I've got a few shares of stock." + +She said it quietly and the suggestion of scolding gave way to a +chastened appeal. She remembered--and he sensed it--that winged shaft +which he had flung back when she had said he was honest, like his +father. He had told her then she was becoming like her mother, and +Virginia could never endure that. + +"Ah, I see," he answered and went on hurriedly with a new note of +friendliness in his voice. "Well, I'll tell you, Virginia, if it will be +any accommodation to you I'll take over that stock myself. But--well, I +hate to advise you--because--how many shares have you got?" + +"Oh, several thousand," she responded casually. "They were given to me +by father--and by different men that I've helped. Mr. Masters, you know, +that I took care of for a while, he gave me all he had when he died. But +I don't want to sell them--I know there's no market, because Blount +wouldn't give Mother anything--but if he should happen to strike +something----" + +She glanced across at him swiftly but Wiley's face was grim. + +"Yes, _him_ find anything!" he jeered. "That fat-headed old tub! He +knows about as much about mining as a hog does about the precession of +the equinox. No; miracles may happen but, short of that, he'll never get +back a cent!" + +"No, but Wiley," she protested, "you know as well as I do that the +Paymaster isn't worked out. Now what's to prevent my stock becoming +valuable sometime when they open it up?" + +"What's to prevent?" he repeated. "Well, I'll tell you what. If Blount +makes a strike he'll close that mine down and send the company through +bankruptcy. Then he'll buy the mine back on a judgment and you'll be +left without a cent." + +"But what about you?" she suggested shrewdly. "Will you let him serve +_you_ like that?" + +"Don't you think it!" he answered. "I know him too well--my money is +somewhere else." + +"But if you should buy the mine?" + +"Well----" he stirred uneasily and then shot his machine ahead--"I +haven't bought it yet." + +"No, but you offered to, and I don't see why----" + +"Do you want to sell your stock?" he asked abruptly and she flushed and +shook her head. "Well!" he said and without further comment he slowed +down and swung about. + +"Oh, dear," she sighed, as they started back and he turned upon her +swiftly. + +"Do you know why I wouldn't have that mine," he inquired, "if you'd hand +it to me as a gift? It's because of this everlasting fight. I own it, +right now, if anybody does, and I've never been down the shaft. Now +suppose I'd go over there and shoot it out with George and get +possession of my mine. First Blount would come up with some other hired +man-killer and I'd have a bout with him; and then your respected +mother----" + +"Now you hush up!" she chided and he closed down his jaw like a +steel-trap. She watched him covertly, then her eyes began to blink and +she turned her head away. The desert rushed by them, worlds of waxy +green creosote bushes and white, gnarly clumps of salt bush; and +straight ahead, frowning down on the forgotten city, rose the black +cloud-shadow of Shadow Mountain. + +"Oh, turn off here!" she cried, impulsively as they came to a fork in +the road and, plowing up the sand, he skidded around a curve and +struck off up the Death Valley road. They came together at the edge of +the town--the long, straight road to the south, and the road-trail +that led west into the silence. There were no tracks in it now but the +flat hoof-prints of burros and the wire-twined wheel-marks of desert +buckboards; even the road was half obliterated by the swoop of the +winds which had torn up the hard-packed dirt, yet the going was good +and as the racer purred on Virginia settled back in her seat. + +"I can't believe it," she said at last, "that we're going to leave here, +forever. This is the road that Father took when he left home that last +time--have you ever been over into Death Valley? It's a great, big +sink, all white with salt and borax; and at the upper end, where he went +across, there are miles and miles of sand-hills. He's buried out there +somewhere, and the hills have covered him--but oh, it's so awful +lonesome!" + +She turned away again and as her head went down Wiley stared straight +ahead and blinked. He had known the Colonel and loved him well, and his +father had loved him, too; but that rift had come between them and until +it was healed he could never be a friend of Virginia's. She distrusted +him in everything--in his silence and in his speech, his laughter and +his anger, in his evasions and when he talked straight--it was better to +say nothing now. He had intended to help her, to offer her money or any +assistance he could give; but her heart was turned against him and the +most he could hope for was to get back to Keno without a quarrel. The +divide was far ahead, where the road struck the pass and swung over and +down into the Great Valley; and, glancing up at the sun, he turned +around slowly and rumbled back into town. Shadow Mountain rose before +them; it towered above the valley like a brooding image of hate but as +he smiled farewell at the sad-eyed Virginia something moved him to take +her hand. + +"Good-by," he said, "you'll be gone when I come back. But if you get +into trouble--let me know." + +He gave her hand a squeeze and Virginia looked at him sharply, then she +let her dark lashes droop. + +"I'm in trouble now," she said at last. "What good did it do to tell +you?" + +He winced and shrugged his shoulders, then gazed at her again with a +challenge in his eyes. + +"If you'd trust _me_ more," he said very slowly, "perhaps I'd trust +_you_ more. What is it you want me to do?" + +"I want you to answer me--yes or no. Shall I keep my stock, or sell it?" + +"You keep it," he answered, and avoided her eye until she climbed out +and entered the house. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE TIP + + +"Well?" inquired the Widow as her daughter came back from her ride with +Wiley Holman; but Virginia was not giving out confidences. At last, and +by a trick, she had surprised the truth from Wiley and he had told her +to keep her stock. For weeks, for months, he had told her and everybody +else that the Paymaster was not worth having; but when she had drooped +her lashes and asked him for his opinion he had told her not to sell. +Not hesitatingly nor doubtfully, or with any crafty intent; but +honestly, as a friend, perhaps as a lover--and then he had looked away. +He knew, of course, how his past actions must appear in the light of +this later advice; but he had told her the truth and gone. The question +was: What should she do? + +Virginia returned to her room and locked the door while her mother +stormed around outside and at last she came to a decision. What Wiley +had told her had been said in strictest confidence and it would not be +fair to pass it on; but if he advised her not to sell he had a reason +for his advice, and that reason was not far to find. It was in that +white stone that he had stolen from her collection, and in the white +quartz he had gathered from the dump. He claimed, of course, that he had +not had her specimen assayed; but why, then, had he come back for more? +And why had he been so careful to tell her and everyone that he would +not take the Paymaster as a gift? As a matter of fact, he owned it that +minute by virtue of his delinquent tax-sale, and his goings and comings +had been nicely timed to enable him to keep track of his property. He +was shrewd, that was all, but now she could read him; for he had spoken, +for once, from his heart. + +The mail that night bore a sample of white quartz to a custom assayer in +Vegas, but Virginia guarded her secret well. She had gained it by wiles +that were not absolutely straight-forward, in that she had squeezed +Wiley's hand in return, and since by so doing she had compromised with +her conscience she placated it by withholding the great news. If she +told her mother she would create a scene with Blount and demand the +return of her stock; and the secret would get out and everybody would be +buying stock and Wiley would blame it on her. No, everything must be +kept dark and she mailed her sample when even the postmistress was gone. +Perhaps Wiley was right in his extreme subterfuges and in always +covering up his hand, but she would show him that there were others just +as smart. She would take a leaf from his book and play a lone hand, too; +only now, of course, she could not leave town. + +"Virginia!" scolded the Widow, when for the hundredth time she had +discovered her dawdling at her packing. "If you don't get up and come +and help me this minute I'll unpack and let you go alone." + +"Well, let's both unpack," said Virginia thoughtfully, and the Widow sat +down with a crash. + +"I knew it!" she cried. "Ever since that Wiley Holman----" + +"Now, you hush up!" returned Virginia, flushing angrily. "You don't know +what you're talking about!" + +"Well, if I don't know I can guess; but I never thought a Huff----" + +"Oh, you make me tired!" exclaimed Virginia, spitefully. "I'm staying +here to watch that mine." + +"That--mine!" The Widow repeated it slowly and her eyes opened up big +with triumph. "Virginia, do you mean to say you got the best of that +whipper-snapper and----" + +"No, nothing of the kind! No! Can't you hear me? Oh, Mother, you'd drive +a person crazy!" + +"I--see!" observed the Widow and stood nodding her head as Virginia went +on with her protests. "Oh, my Lord!" she burst out, "and I put up all my +stock for a measly eight hundred dollars! That scoundrelly Blount--I saw +it in his eye the minute I mentioned my stock! He's tricked me, the +rascal; but I'll fool him yet--I'll pay him back and get my stock!" + +"You'll pay him back? Why, you've spent half the money to redeem your +jewels and the diamonds!" + +"Well, I'll pawn them again. Oh, it makes me wild to think how that +rascal has tricked me!" + +"But, Mother," protested Virginia, "_he_ hasn't done any work yet. +They haven't made any strike at the mine. Why not let it go until they +pump out the water and really find some ore? And besides, how could +Wiley know anything about it? He's never been down the shaft." + +"But--why you told me yourself----" + +"I never told you anything!" burst out Virginia tearfully. "You just +jump at everything like a flea. And now you'll tell everybody, and +Wiley'll say I did it, and----" + +"Virginia Huff!" cried her mother, dramatically, "are you in love with +that--thief?" + +"He is not! No, I am not! Oh, I wish you'd quit talking to me--I tell +you he never told me _anything_!" + +"Well, for goodness sake!" exclaimed the Widow pityingly, and stalked +off to think it over. + +"You, Charley!" she exclaimed as she found Death Valley on the gallery +pretending to nail up a box, "you leave those things alone. Well, that's +all right; we've changed our minds and now we're going to stay." + +"That's good," replied Charley, laying his hammer aside, "I've been +telling 'em so for days. It's coming everywhere; all the old camps are +opening up, but Keno will beat them all." + +"Yes, that's right," assented the Widow absently, and as she bustled +away to begin her unpacking, Death Valley looked at Heine and leered. + +"Didn't I tell you!" he crowed and, scuttling back to get his +six-shooter, he went out and began re-locating claims. That was the +beginning. The real rush came later when the pumps began to throb in +the Paymaster. A stream of water like a sheet of silver flowed down +the side of the dump and as if it's touch had brought forth men from +the desert sands, the old-timers came drifting in. Once more the +vacant sidewalks resounded to the thud of sturdy hob-nailed boots; and +along with the locaters came pumpmen and miners to sound the flooded +depths of the Paymaster. + +It was a great mine, a famous mine, the richest in all the West; within +twenty months it had produced twelve million dollars and the lower +levels had never been touched. But what was twelve million to what it +would turn out when they located the hidden ore-body? On its record +alone the Paymaster was a world-beater, but the ground had barely been +scratched. Even Samuel Blount, who was cold as a stone and had sold out +the entire town, even he had caught the contagion; and he was talking +large on the bank corner when Holman came back through town. + +Wiley drove in from the north, his face burned by sun and wind and his +machine weighed down with sacks of samples, but when he saw the crowd, +and Blount in the middle of it, he threw on his brakes with a jerk. + +"Hello!" he hailed. "What's all the excitement? Has the Paymaster made a +strike?" + +All eyes turned to Blount, who stepped down ponderously and waddled out +to the auto. He was a very heavy man, with his mouth on one side and a +mild, deceiving smile; and as he shook hands perfunctorily he glanced +uneasily at Wiley, for he had heard about the tax-sale. + +"Why, no," he replied, "no strike as yet. How's everything with you, Mr. +Holman?" + +"Fine and dandy, I guess," returned Wiley civilly. "Where did all these +men jump up from?" + +"Oh, they just dropped in, or stopped over in passing. Do you still take +an interest in mines?" + +"Well, yes," responded Wiley. "I'm a mining engineer, and so naturally I +do take quite an interest. And by the way, Mr. Blount, did it ever occur +to you that the Paymaster has been sold for taxes? Oh, that's all right, +that's all right; I didn't know whether you'd heard about it--do you +recognize my title to the mine?" + +"Well," began Blount, and then he smiled appeasingly, "I didn't just +know where to reach you. Of course, according to law, you do hold the +title; but I suppose you know that the stockholders of the company have +five years in which to buy back the mine. Yes, that is the law; but I +thought under the circumstances--the mine lying idle and all--you might +be willing to waive your strict rights in the interests of, well, +harmony." + +"I get you," answered Wiley, glancing at the staring onlookers, "and +of course these gentlemen are our witnesses. You acknowledge my title, +and that every bit of your work is being done on another man's ground; +but, of course, if you make a strike I won't put any obstacles in your +way. I'm for harmony, Mr. Blount, as big as a wolf; but there's one +thing I want to ask you. Did you or did you not employ this Stiff Neck +George to act as guard on the mine? Because two months ago, after I'd +bought in the Paymaster for taxes, I went over to inspect the ground +and Stiff Neck George----" + +"Oh, no! Oh dear, no!" protested Blount vigorously. "He was acting for +himself. I heard about his actions, but I had nothing to do with +them--I never even knew about it till lately." + +"But was he in your employ at the time of the shooting, and did you tell +him to drive off all comers? Because----" + +"No! My dear boy, of course not! But come over to my office; I want to +talk with you, Wiley." + +The banker beamed upon him affectionately and, shaking out a white +handkerchief, wiped the sudden sweat from his brow; and then Wiley leapt +to the ground. + +"All right," he said, "but let's go and see the mine first." + +He strapped on his pistol and waited expectantly and at last Blount +breathed heavily and assented. Nothing more was said as they went across +the flat and toiled up the trail to the mine. Wiley walked behind and as +they mounted to the shaft-house his eyes wandered restlessly about; +until, at the tool-shed, they suddenly focussed and a half-crouching man +stepped out. He was tall and gnarly and the point of his chin rested +stiffly on the slope of his shoulder. It was Stiff Neck George and he +kept a crook in his elbow as he glanced from Blount to Wiley. + +"How's this?" demanded Wiley, putting Blount between him and George, +"what's this man doing up here?" + +"Why, that's George," faltered Blount, "George Norcross, you know. He +works for me around the mine." + +"Oh, he does, eh?" observed Wiley, in the cold tones of an examining +lawyer. "How long has he been in your employ?" + +"Oh, since we opened up--that's all--just temporarily. This gentleman is +all right, George; you can go." + +Stiff Neck George stood silent, his sunken eyes on Wiley, his sunburned +lips parted in a grin, and then he turned and spat. + +"Eh, heh; hiding!" he chuckled and, stung by the taunt, Wiley stepped +out into the open. His gun was pulled forward, his jaws set hard, and he +looked the hired man-killer in the eye. + +"Don't you think it," he said, "I know you too well. You're afraid to +fight in the day-time; you dirty, sneaking murderer!" + +He waited, poised, but George only laughed silently, though his +poisonous eyes began to gleam. + +"What are you doing on my ground?" demanded Wiley, advancing +threateningly with his pistol raised. "Don't you know I own this mine?" + +"No," snarled Stiff Neck George, coming suddenly to a crouch, "and, +furthermore, I don't give a damn!" + +"Now, now, George," broke in Blount, "let's not have any words. Mr. +Holman holds the title to this claim." + +"Heh--Holman!" mocked George, "Honest John's boy--eh?" He laughed +insultingly and spat against the wind and Wiley's lip curled up +scornfully. + +"Yes--Honest John," he repeated evenly. "And it's a wonder to me you +don't take a few lessons and learn to spit clear of your chin." + +"You shut up!" snapped George as venomous as a rattlesnake. "Your damned +old father was a thief!" + +"You're a liar!" yelled Wiley and, swinging his pistol like a club, he +made a rush at the startled gunman. His eyes were flashing with a wild, +reckless fury and as Stiff Neck George dodged and broke to run he leapt +in and placed a fierce kick. "Now you git, you old dastard!" he shouted +hoarsely and as George went down he grabbed him by the trousers and sent +him sprawling down the dump. Sand, rocks and waste went avalanching +after him, and a loose boulder thundered in his wake, until, at the +bottom George scrambled to his feet and stood motionless, looking back. +His head sank lower as he saw Wiley watching him and he slunk down +closer to the ground, then with the swiftness of a panther that has +marked down its prey he turned and skulked away. + +"That's bad business, Wiley," protested Blount half-heartedly and Wiley +nodded assent. + +"Yes," he said, "he's dangerous now. I should have killed the dastard." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A PEACE TALK + + +While his blood was pounding and his heart was high, Wiley Holman went +down into his mine. He rode down on the bucket, deftly balanced on the +rim and fending off the wall with one hand, and when he came up he was +smiling. Not smiling with his lips, but far back in his eyes, like a man +who has found something good. Perhaps Blount surprised the look before +it had fled for he beamed upon Wiley benevolently. + +"Well, Wiley, my boy," he began confidentially as he drew him off to one +side, "I'm glad to see you're pleased. The gold is there--I find that +everyone thinks so--all we need now is a little co-operation. That's all +we need now--peace. We should lay aside all personal feelings and old +animosities and join hands to make the Paymaster a success." + +"That's right, that's right," agreed Wiley cheerfully, "there's nobody +believes in peace more than I do. But all the same," he went on almost +savagely, "you've got to get rid of old George. I'm for peace, you +understand, but if I find him here again--well, I'll have to take over +the property. He's nothing but a professional murderer." + +"Yes, I know," explained Blount, "he's a dangerous man--but I don't like +to let an old man starve. He's got a right to live the same as any of +us, and, since he can't work--well, I gave him a job as watchman." + +"Well, all right," grumbled Wiley, "if you want to be charitable; but I +suppose you know that, under the law, you're responsible for the acts of +your agents?" + +"That's all right, that's all right," burst out Blount impatiently, +"I'll never hire him again. He refused to obey my orders and----" + +"_And_ he tried to kill me!" broke in Wiley angrily, but Blount had +thrown up both hands. + +"Oh, now, Wiley," he protested, "why can't we be reasonable? Why can't +we get together on this?" + +"We can," returned Wiley, "but you've got to show me that you're not +trying to jump my claim." + +"Oh, you know," exclaimed Blount, "as well as I do that a tax sale is +never binding. The owners of the property are given five years' +time----" + +"It is binding," corrected Wiley, "until the property is bought +back--and I happen to be holding the deed. Now, here's the point--what +authority have you got for coming in here and working this property?" + +"Well, you may as well know," replied Blount shortly, "that I own a +majority of the stock." + +"Aha!" burst out Wiley. "I was listening for that. So you're the Honest +John?" + +"What do you mean?" demanded Blount and, seeing the anger in his eyes, +he hastened to head off the storm. "No, now listen to me, Wiley; it's +not the way you think. I knew your father well, and I always found him +the soul of honor; but I never liked to say anything, because Colonel +Huff was my partner, too. So, when this trouble arose, I tried to remain +neutral, without joining sides with either. It pained me very much to +have people make remarks reflecting upon the honesty of your father, but +as the confidant of both it was hardly in good taste for me to give out +what I knew. So I let the matter go, hoping that time would heal the +breach; but now that the Colonel is dead----" + +"Aha!" breathed Wiley and Blount nodded his head lugubriously. + +"Yes," he said, "that is the way it was. Your father was absolutely +honest." + +"Well, but who sold the stock, and then bought it back--and put all the +blame on my father?" + +"I can't tell you," answered Blount. "I never speak evil of the +dead--but the Colonel was a very poor business man." + +"Yes, he was," agreed Wiley, and then, after a silence: "How did it +happen that you got all his stock?" + +"Well, on mortgages and notes; and now as collateral on a loan that I +made his widow. I own a clean majority of the stock." + +"Oh, you do, eh?" observed Wiley and rubbed his jaw thoughtfully while +Blount looked mildly on. "Well, what are you going to do?" + +"Why, I'd like to buy back that tax deed," answered Blount amiably, "and +get control of my property." + +"Oh," said Wiley, and looked down the valley with eyes that squinted +shrewdly at the sun. "All right," he agreed, "just to show you that I'm +a sport, I'll give you a quit-claim deed right now for the sum of one +hundred dollars." + +"You will?" challenged Blount, reaching tremulously for his fountain pen +and then he paused at a thought. "Very well," he said, but as he filled +out the form he stopped and gazed uneasily at Wiley. Here was a mining +engineer selling a possessory right to the Paymaster for the sum of one +hundred dollars; while he, a banker, was spending a hundred dollars a +day in what had proved so far to be dead work. "Er--I haven't any money +with me," he suggested at length. "Perhaps--well, perhaps you could +wait?" + +"Sure!" replied Wiley, rising up from where he was seated, "I'll wait +for anything, except my supper. Where's the best place to eat in town, +now?" + +"Why, at Mrs. Huff's," returned Blount in surprise. "But about this +quit-claim, perhaps a check would do as well?" + +"What, are the Huffs still here?" exclaimed Wiley, starting off. "Why, I +thought----" + +"No, they decided to stay," answered Blount, following after him. "But +now, Wiley, about this quit-claim?" + +"Well, gimme your check! Or keep it, I don't care--I came away without +my breakfast this morning." + +He strode off down the trail and Blount pulled up short and stood gazing +after him blankly, then he shouted to him frantically and hurried down +the slope to where Wiley was waiting impatiently. + +"Here, just sign this," he panted. "I'll write you out a check. But +what's the matter, Wiley--didn't the mine show up as expected?" + +Wiley muttered unintelligibly as he signed the quit-claim which he +retained until he had looked over the check. Then he folded up the check +and kissed it surreptitiously before he stored it away in his +pocketbook. + +"Why, yes," he said, "it shows up fine. I'll see you later, down at the +house." + +Blount sat down suddenly, but as Wiley clattered off he shouted a +warning after him. + +"Oh, Wiley, please don't mention that matter I spoke of!" + +"What matter?" yelled back Wiley and at another disquieting thought +Blount jumped up and came galloping after him. + +"The matter of the Colonel," he panted in his ear, "and here's another +thing, Wiley. You know Mrs. Huff--she's absolutely impossible and--well, +she's been making me quite a little trouble. Now as a personal favor, +please don't lend her any money or help her to get back her stock; +because if you do----" + +"I won't!" promised Wiley, holding up his right hand. "But say, don't +stop me--I'm starving." + +He ran down the trail, limping slightly on his game leg, and Blount sat +down on a rock. + +"Well, I'll be bound!" he puffed and gazed at the quit-claim ruefully. + +The tables were all set when Wiley re-entered the dining-room from which +he had retreated once before in such haste, and Virginia was there and +waiting, though her smile was a trifle uncertain. A great deal of water +had flowed down the gulch since he had advised her to keep her stock, +but the assayer at Vegas was worse than negligent--he had not reported +on the piece of white rock. Therefore she hardly knew, being still in +the dark as to his motives in giving the advice, whether to greet Wiley +as her savior or to receive him coldly, as a Judas. If the white quartz +was full of gold that her father had overlooked--say fine gold, that +would not show in the pan--then Wiley was indeed her friend; but if the +quartz was barren and he had purposely deceived her in order to boom his +own mine--she smiled with her lips and asked him rather faintly if he +wanted his supper at once. + +But if Virginia was still a Huff, remembering past treacheries and +living in the expectancy of more, the Widow cast aside all petty +heart-burnings in her joy at the humiliation of Stiff Neck George. +Leaving Virginia in the kitchen, to fry Wiley's steak, she rushed into +the dining-room with her eyes ablaze and all but shook his hand. + +"Well, well," she exulted, "I'll have to take it back--you certainly did +boot him good. I said you were a coward but I was watching you through +my spy-glass and I nearly died a-laughing. You just walked right up to +him--and you were cursing him scandalous, I could tell by the look on +your face--and then all at once you made a jump and gave him that awful +kick. Oh, ho, ho; you know I've always said he looked like a man that +was watching for a swift kick from behind; and now--after waiting all +these years--oh, ho ho--you gave him what was coming to him!" + +The Widow sat down and held her sides with laughter and Wiley's grim +features, that had remained set and watchful, slowly relaxed to a +flattered grin. He had indeed stood up to Stiff Neck George and booted +him down the dump, so that the score of that night when he had been +hunted like a rabbit was more than evened up; for George had sneaked up +on an unarmed man and rolled down boulders from above, but he had +outfaced him, man to man and gun to gun, and kicked him down the dump to +boot. Yes, the Widow might well laugh, for it would be many a long day +before Stiff Neck George heard the last of that affair. + +"And old Blount," laughed the Widow, "he was right there and saw it--his +own hired bully, and all. Say, now Wiley, tell me all about it--what did +Blount have to say? Did he tell you it was all a mistake? Yes, that's +what he tells everybody, every time he gets into trouble; but he can't +make excuses to me. Do you know what he's done? He's tied up all my +stock as security for eight hundred dollars! What's eight hundred +dollars--I turned it all in to get the best of my diamonds out of pawn. +It made me feel so bad, seeing that diamond ring of yours; I just +couldn't help getting them out. And now I'm flat and he's holding all my +stock for a miserable little eight hundred dollars!" + +She ended up strong, but Wiley sensed a touch and his expressions of +sympathy were guarded. + +"Now, you're a business man," she went on unheedingly. "I'll tell you +what I'll do--you lend me the money to get back that stock and I'll sell +it all to your father!" + +"To my father!" echoed Wiley and then his face turned grim and he +laughed at some hidden joke. "Not much," he said, "I like the Old Man +too much. You'd better sell it back to Blount." + +"To Blount? Why, hasn't your father been hounding me for months to get +his hands on that stock? Well, I'd like to know then what you think +you're doing? Have you gone back on your promise, or what?" + +"I never made any promise," returned Wiley pacifically. "It was my +father that made the offer." + +"Oh, fiddlesticks!" exploded the Widow. "Well, what's the +difference--you're working hand and glove!" + +"Not at all," corrected Wiley, "the Old Man is raising cattle. You can't +get him to look at a mine." + +"Well, he offered to buy my stock!" exclaimed the Widow, badly +flustered. "I'd like to know what this means?" + +"It's no use talking," returned Wiley wearily, "I've told you a thousand +times. If you send your stock to John Holman at Vegas, he'll give you +ten cents a share; but _I_ won't give you a cent." + +"Do you mean to say," demanded the Widow incredulously, "that you don't +want that stock?" + +"That's it," assented Wiley. "I've just sold my tax title for a hundred +dollars, to Blount." + +"Oh, this will drive me mad!" cried the Widow in a frenzy. "Virginia, +come in here and help me!" + +Virginia came in with the steak slightly scorched and laid his dinner +before Wiley. Her eyes were rather wild, for she had been listening +through the doorway, but she turned to her mother inquiringly. + +"He says he's sold his tax claim," wailed the Widow in despair, "for one +hundred dollars--to Blount. And then he turns around and says his father +will buy my stock for ten cents a share in cash. But he won't lend me +the money to pay my note to Blount and get my Paymaster stock back." + +"That's right," nodded Wiley, "you've got it all straight. Now let's +quit before we get into a row." + +He bent over the steak and, after a meaning look at Virginia, the Widow +discreetly withdrew. + +"We saw you fighting George," ventured Virginia at last as he seemed +almost to ignore her presence. "Weren't you afraid he'd get mad and +shoot you?" + +"Uh, huh," he grunted, "wasn't I hiding behind Blount? No, I had him +whipped from the start. Bad conscience, I reckon; these crooks are all +the same--they're afraid to fight in the open." + +"But _your_ conscience is all right, eh?" suggested Virginia +sarcastically, and he glanced up from under his brows. + +"Yes," he said, "we've got 'em there, Virginia. Are you still holding +onto that stock?" + +A swift flood of shame mantled Virginia's brow and then her dark eyes +flashed fire. + +"Yes, I've got it," she said, "but what's the answer when you sell out +your tax claim to Blount?" + +"I wonder," he observed and went on with his eating while she paced +restlessly to and fro. + +"You told me to hold it," she burst out accusingly, "and then you turn +around and sell!" + +"Well, why don't _you_ sell?" he suggested innocently, and she paused +and bit her lip. Yes, why not? Why, because there were no buyers--except +Wiley Holman and his father! The knowledge of her impotence almost +drove her on to further madness, but another voice bade her beware. +He had given her his advice, which was not to sell, and--oh, that +accursed assayer! If she had his report she could flaunt it in his +face or--she caught her breath and smiled. + +"No," she said, "you told me not to!" + +And Wiley smiled back and patted her hand. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE BEST HEAD IN TOWN + + +What was Wiley Holman up to? Virginia paced the floor in a very +unloverlike mood; and at last she sat down and wrote a scathing letter +to the assayer, demanding her assay at once. She also enclosed one +dollar in advance to test the sample for gold and silver and then, as an +afterthought, she enclosed another bill and told him to test it for +copper, lead, and zinc. There was something in that rock--she knew it +just as well as she knew that Wiley was in love with her, and this was +no time to pinch dollars. For ten years and more they had stuck there in +Keno, waiting and waiting for something to happen, but now things had +come to such a pass that it was better to know even the worst. For if +the mine was barren and Wiley, after all, was only trying in his dumb +way to help, then she must pocket her pride and sell him her stock and +go away and hide her head. But if the white quartz was rich--well, that +would be different; there would be several things to explain. + +Yet, if the quartz was barren, why did Wiley offer to buy her stock, and +if it was rich, why did he sell his tax deed? And if his father stood +ready to pay ten cents a share for two hundred thousand shares of stock +why did Wiley refuse to redeem her mother's holdings for a petty eight +hundred dollars? He must have the money, for his diamond ring alone was +worth well over a thousand dollars; and he had tried repeatedly to get +possession of this same stock which he now refused to accept as a gift. +Virginia thought it over until her head was in a whirl and at last she +stamped her foot. The assay would tell, and if he had been trying to +cheat her--she drew her lips to a thin, hard line and looked more than +ever like her mother. + +The work at the Paymaster went on intermittently, but Blount's early +zest was lacking. For eight, yes, ten years he had waited patiently +for the moment when he should get control of the mine; but now that he +held it, without let or hindrance, somehow his enthusiasm flagged. +Perhaps it was the fact that the timbering was expensive and that his +gropings for the lost ore body came to nothing; but in the back of his +mind Blount's growing distrust dated from the day he had bought +Wiley's quit-claim. Wiley had come to the mine full of fury and +aggressiveness, as his combat with Stiff Neck George clearly showed; +but after he had gone down and inspected the workings he had sold out +for one hundred dollars. And Wiley Holman was a mining engineer, with +a name for Yankee shrewdness--he must have had a reason. + +Blount recalled his men from the drifts where they had been working and +set them to crosscutting for the vein. It was too expensive, restoring +all the square-sets and clearing out the fallen rock; and he had learned +to his sorrow that Colonel Huff had blown up every heading with +dynamite. In that tangle of shattered timbers and caved-in walls the +miners made practically no progress, for the ground was treacherous and +ten years under water had left the wood soft and slippery. To be sure +the hidden chute lay at the breast of some such drift; but to clear them +all out, with his limited equipment and no regular engineer in charge, +would run up a staggering account. So Blount began to crosscut, and to +sink along the contact, but chiefly to cut down expenses. + +With the railroad that had tapped the camp torn up and hauled away, +every foot of timber, every stick of powder, cost twice as much as it +ought. And then there was machinery, and gas and oil for the engine, and +valves and spare parts for the pumps, and the board of the men, and +overhead expenses--and not a single dollar coming in. Blount sat up late +in his office, adding total to total, and at the end he leaned back +aghast. At the very inside it was costing him two hundred dollars for +every day that he operated the mine. And what was it turning back? +Nothing. The mine had been gutted of every pound of ore that it would +pay to sack and ship, and unless something was done to locate the lost +ore body and give some guarantee of future values, well, the Paymaster +would have to shut down. Blount considered it soberly, as a business man +should, and then he sent for Wiley Holman. + +There were others, of course, to whom he might appeal; but he sent for +Wiley first. He was a mining engineer, he had had his eye on the +property and--well, he probably knew something about the lost vein. So +he sent a wire, and then a man; and at last Holman, M. E., arrived. He +came under protest, for he had been showing a mine of his own to some +four-buckle experts from the east, and when Blount made his appeal he +snorted. + +"Well, for the love of Miguel!" he exclaimed, starting up. "Do you think +I'm going to help you for nothing? I'm a mining engineer, and the least +it will cost you is five hundred dollars for a report. No, I don't think +anything; and I don't know anything; and I won't take your mine on +shares. I'm through--do you get me? I sold out my entire interest for +one hundred dollars, cash. That puts me ahead of the game, up to date; +and while I'm lucky I'll quit." + +He stamped out of the office--Blount having moved into the bank building +where he had formerly officiated as president--and made a break for his +machine; but other eyes had marked his arrival in town and Death Valley +Charley button-holed him. + +"Say," he said, "do you want something good--an option on ten +first-class claims? Well, come with me; I'll make you an offer that +you can't hardly, possibly refuse." + +He led Wiley up an alley, then whisked him around corners and back to +his house behind the Widow's. + +"Now, listen," he went on, when Wiley was in a chair and he had +carefully fastened the door, "I'm going to show you something good." + +He reached under his bed and brought out ten sacks of samples which he +spread, one by one, on the table. + +"Now, you see?" he said. "It's all that white quartz that you was after +on the Paymaster dump. I followed the outcrop, on an extension of the +Paymaster, and I took up ten, good, opened claims." + +"Umm," murmured Wiley, and examined each sample with a careful, +appraising eye. "Yes, pretty good, Charley; I suppose you guarantee the +title? Well, how much do you want for your claims?" + +"Oh, whatever you say," answered Charley modestly, "but I want two +hundred dollars down." + +"And about a million apiece, I suppose, for the claims? It doesn't cost +_me_ anything, you know, on an option." + +"Eh, heh, heh," laughed Charley indulgently and Heine, who had been +looking from face to face, jumped up and barked with delight. "Eh, heh; +yes, that's good; but you know me, Mr. Holman--I ain't so crazy as they +think. No, I don't talk millions with my mouth full of beans; all I want +is five hundred apiece. But I got to have two hundred down." + +"Oh," observed Wiley, "that's two dollars for the marriage license and +the rest for the wedding journey. Well, if it's as serious as that----" +He reached for his check-book and Charley cackled with merriment. + +"Yes, yes," he said, "then I _would_ be crazy. Do you know what the +Colonel told me? + +"'Charley,' he says, 'whatever you do, don't marry no talking woman. +She'll drive you crazy, the same as I am; but don't you forget that +whiskey.'" + +"Oh, sure," exclaimed Wiley, beginning to write out the option, "this +money is to buy whiskey for the Colonel!" + +"That's it," answered Charley. "He's over across Death Valley--in the +Ube-Hebes--but I can't find my burros. They--Heine, come here, sir!" +Heine came up cringing and Charley slapped him soundly. "Shut up!" he +commanded and as Heine crept away Death Valley began to mutter to +himself. "No, of course not; he's dead," he ended ineffectively, and +Wiley looked up from his writing. + +"Who's dead?" he inquired, but Charley shook his head and listened +through the wall. + +"Look out," he said, "I can hear her coming--jest give me that two +hundred now." + +"Well, here's twenty," replied Wiley, passing over the money, and then +there came a knock at the door. + +"Come in!" called out Charley and, as he motioned Wiley to be silent, +Virginia appeared in the doorway. + +"Oh!" she cried, "I didn't know you were here!" But something in the way +she fixed her eyes on him convinced Wiley that she had known, all the +same. + +"Just a matter of business," he explained with a flourish, "I'm +considering an option on some of Charley's claims." + +"Jest my bum claims!" mumbled Charley as Virginia glanced at him +reprovingly. "Jest them ten up north of the Paymaster." + +"Oh," she said and drew back towards the door, "well, don't let me break +up a trade." + +"You'd better sign as a witness," spoke up Wiley imperturbably, and she +stepped over and looked at the paper. + +"What? All ten of those claims for five hundred apiece? Why, Charley, +they may be worth millions!" + +"Well, put it down five million, then," suggested Wiley, grimly. "How +much do you want for them, Charley?" + +"Five hundred dollars apiece," answered Charley promptly, "but they's +got to be two hundred down." + +"Well?" inquired Wiley as Virginia still regarded him suspiciously, and +then he beckoned her outside. "Say, what's the matter?" he asked +reproachfully. "Let the old boy make his touch--he wants that two +hundred for grub." + +"He does not!" she spat back. "I'm ashamed of you, Wiley Holman; taking +advantage of a crazy man like that!" + +"Well, I don't know," he began in a slow, drawling tone that cut her to +the quick, "he may not be as crazy as you think. I've just been offered +a half interest in the Paymaster if I'll come out and take charge of +it." + +"You _have_!" she cried, starting back and staring as he regarded +her with steely eyes. "Well, are you going to take it?" + +"I don't know," he answered. "Thought I'd better see you first--it might +be taking advantage of Blount." + +"Of Blount!" she echoed and then she saw his smile and realized that he +was making fun of her. + +"Yes," went on Wiley, whose feelings had been ruffled, "he may be crazy, +too. He sure was looking the part." + +"Now don't you laugh at me!" she burst out hotly. "This isn't as funny +as you think. What's going to happen to us if you take over that mine? I +declare, you've been standing in with Blount!" + +"I knew it," he mocked. "You catch me every time. But what about Charley +here--does he get his money or not?" He turned to Death Valley, who was +standing in the doorway watching their quarrel with startled eyes. "I +guess you're right, Charley," he added, smiling wryly. "It must be +something in the air." + +"Are you going to take that offer," demanded Virginia, wrathfully, "and +rob me and mother of our mine?" + +"Oh, no," he answered, "I turned it down cold. I knew you wouldn't +approve." + +"You knew nothing of the kind!" she came back sharply, the angry tears +starting in her eyes. "And I don't believe he ever made it." + +"Well, ask him," suggested Wiley, and went back into the house, +whereupon Death Valley closed the door. + +"Yes," whispered Charley, "it's in the air--there's electricity +everywhere. But what about that option?" + +Wiley sat at the table, his eyes big with anger, his jaw set hard +against the pain, and then he reached for his pen. + +"All right, Charley," he said, "but don't you let 'em kid you--you've +got the best business head in town." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A TOUCH + + +The wrath of a man who is slow to anger cannot lightly be turned aside +and, though Virginia drooped her lashes, the son of Honest John brushed +past her without a word. She had followed him gratuitously to Death +Valley's cabin and seriously questioned his good faith; and then, to fan +the flames of his just resentment, she had suggested that he was telling +an untruth. He had told her--and it seemed impossible--that Blount had +offered him half the Paymaster, on shares; but the following morning, +without a word of warning, the Paymaster Mine shut down. The pumps +stopped abruptly, all the tools were removed, and as the foreman and +miners who had been their boarders rolled up their beds and prepared to +depart, the high-headed Virginia buried her face in her hands and +retired to her bedroom to weep. And then to cap it all that miserable +assayer sent in his belated report. + +"Gold--a trace. Silver--blank. Copper--blank. Lead--blank. Zinc--blank." + +The heavy white quartz which Wiley had made so much of was as barren as +the dirt in the street. It had absolutely no value and--oh, wretched +thought--he had offered to buy her stock out of charity! Out of the +bigness of his heart--and then she had insulted him and accused him of +robbing Death Valley Charley! In the light of this new day Death Valley +was a magnate, with his check for two hundred dollars, and Virginia and +her mother must either starve on in silence or accept the bounty of the +Holmans. It was maddening, unbelievable--and to think what he had +suffered from her, before he had finally gone off in a rage. But how +sarcastic he had been when she had accused him of robbing Charley, and +of standing in with Blount! He had said things then which no woman could +forgive; no, not even if she were in the wrong. He had led her on to +make unconsidered statements, smiling provokingly all the time; and +then, when she had doubted that Blount had offered him the mine, he had +said, "Well, ask him!" and shut the door in her face! And now, without +asking, the question had been answered, for Blount had closed down the +mine in despair and gone back to his bank in Vegas. + +The Paymaster was dead, and Keno was dead; and their eight hundred +dollars was gone. All the profits from the miners which they had counted +upon so confidently had disappeared in a single day; and now her mother +would have to pawn her diamonds again in order to get out of town. +Virginia paced up and down, debating the situation and seeking some +possible escape, but every door was closed. She could not appeal to +Wiley, for she knew her stock was worthless, and her hold on his +sympathies was broken. He was a Yankee and cold, and his anger was +cold--the kind that will not burn itself out. When he had loved her it +was different; there was a spark of human kindness to which she could +always appeal; but now he was as cold and passionless as a statue; with +his jaws shut down like iron. She gave up and went out to see Charley. + +Death Valley was celebrating his sudden rise to affluence by a resort to +the flowing bowl and when Virginia stepped in she found all three +phonographs running and a two-gallon demijohn on the table. Death Valley +himself was reposing in an armchair with one leg wrapped up in a white +bandage and as she stopped the grinding phonographs and made a grab for +the demijohn he held up two fingers reprovingly. + +"I'm snake-bit," he croaked. "Don't take away my medicine. Do you want +your Uncle Charley to die?" + +"Why, Charley!" she cried, "you know you aren't snake-bit! The +rattlesnakes are all holed up now." + +"Yes--holed up," he nodded; "that's how I got snake-bit. It was fourteen +years ago, this month. Didn't you ever hear of my snake-mine--it was one +of the marvels of Arizona--a two-foot stratum of snakes. I used to hook +'em out as fast as I needed them and try out the oil to cure rheumatism; +but one day I dropped one and he bit me on the leg, and it's been bad +that same month ever since. Would you like to see the bite? There's the +pattern of a diamond-back just as plain as anything, so I know it must +have been a rattler." + +He reached resolutely for the demijohn and took a hearty drink whereat +Virginia sat down with a sigh. + +"I'll tell you something," went on Charley confidentially. "Do you know +why a snake shakes its tail? It's generating electricity to shoot in the +pisen, and the longer a rattlesnake rattles----" + +"Oh, now, Charley," she begged, "can't you see I'm in trouble? Well, +stop drinking and listen to what I say. You can help me a lot, if you +will." + +"Who--me?" demanded Charley, and then he roused himself up and motioned +for a dipper of water. "Well, all right," he said, "I hate to kill this +whiskey----" He drank in great gulps and made a wry face as he rose up +and looked around. + +"Where's Heine?" he demanded. "Here Heine, Heine!" + +"You drove him under the house," answered Virginia petulantly, "playing +all three phonographs at once. Really, it's awful, Charley, and you'd +better look out or mother will give you the bounce." + +"Scolding women--talking women," mused Charley drunkenly. "Well; what do +you want me to do?" + +"I'm _not_ scolding!" denied Virginia, and then as he leered at her +she gave way weakly to tears. "Well, I can't help it," she wailed, "she +scolds me all the time and--she simply drives me to it." + +"They'll drive you crazy," murmured Charley philosophically. "There's +nothing to do but hide out. But I must save the rest of that whiskey for +the Colonel." + +He reached for the demijohn and corked it stoutly, after which he turned +to Virginia. + +"Do you want some money?" he asked more kindly, bringing forth his roll +as he spoke. "Well here, Virginny, there's one hundred dollars--it's +nothing to your Uncle Charley. No, I got plenty more; and I'm going up +the Ube-Hebes just as soon as I find my burros. They must be over to +Cottonwood--there's lots of sand over there and Jinny, she's hell for +rolling. No, take the money; I got it from Wiley Holman and he's got +plenty more." + +He dropped it in her lap, but she jumped up hastily and put it back in +his hands. + +"No, not that money," she said, "but listen to me, Charley; here's what +I want you to do. I've got some stock in the Paymaster Mine that Wiley +was trying to buy; but now--oh, you saw how he treated me yesterday--he +wouldn't take it, if he knew. But Charley, you take it; and the next +time you see him--well, try to get ten cents a share. We want to go +away, Charley; because the mine is closed down and----" + +"Yes, yes, Virginny," spoke up Death Valley, soothingly, "I'll get you +the money, right away." + +"But don't you tell him!" she warned in a panic, "because----" + +"You ought to be ashamed," said Charley reprovingly and went out to hunt +up his burros. Virginia lingered about, looking off across the desert at +the road down which Wiley had sped, and at last she bowed her head. +Those last words of Charley's still rang in her ears and when, towards +evening, he started off down the road she watched him out of sight. + +It was a long, dry road, this highway to Vegas, but twenty miles out, at +Government Wells, there was water, and a good place to camp. Charley +stopped there that night, and for three days more, until at last in the +distance he saw Wiley's white racer at the tip of a streamer of dust. He +went by like the wind but when he spied Charley he slowed down and +backed up to his camp. + +"Hel-lo there, Old Timer," he hailed in surprise, "what are you doing, +away out here?" + +"Oh, rambling around," responded Charley airily, waving his hand at the +world at large. "It's good for man to be alone, away from them scolding +women." + +The shadow of a smile passed over Wiley's bronzed face and then he +became suddenly grim. + +"Bum scripture, Charley," he said, nodding shortly, "but you may be +right, at that. What's the excitement around beautiful Keno?" + +"I don't know," lied Charley. "Ain't been in town since you was there, +but she was sure booming, then. Say, I've got some stock in that +Paymaster Mine that I might let you have, for cash. I'm burnt out on the +town--they's too many people in it--I'm going back to the Ube-Hebes." + +"Well, take me along, then," suggested Wiley, "and we'll bring back a +car-load of that gold. Maybe then I could buy your stock." + +"No, you buy it now," went on Charley insistently. "I'm broke and I need +the money." + +"Oh, you do, eh?" jested Wiley. "Still thinking about that wedding trip? +Well, I may need that money myself." + +"Eh, heh, heh," laughed Charley, and drawing forth a package he began to +untie the strings. "Eh, heh; yes, that's right; I've been watching you +young folks for some time. But I'll sell you this stock of mine cheap." + +He unrolled a cloth and flashed the certificates hopefully, but Wiley +did not even look at them. + +"Nope," he said, "no Paymaster for me. I wouldn't accent that stock as a +gift." + +"But it's rich!" protested Charley, his eyes beginning to get wild. +"It's full of silver and gold. I can feel the electricity when I walk +over the property--there's millions and millions, right there!" + +"Oh, there is, eh?" observed Wiley, and, snatching away the +certificates, he ran them rapidly over. "Where'd you get these?" he +asked, and Death Valley blinked, though he looked him straight in the +eyes. + +"Why, I--bought 'em," he faltered, "and--the Colonel gave me some. +And----" + +"How much do you want for them?" snapped Wiley, and Charley blinked +again. + +"Ten cents a share," he answered, and Wiley's stern face hardened. + +"You take these back," he said, "and tell her I don't want 'em." + +"Who--Virginny?" inquired Death Valley, and then he kicked his leg and +looked around for Heine. + +"Now, here," spoke up Wiley, "don't go to slapping that dog. How much do +you want for the bunch?" + +"Four hundred dollars!" barked Charley, and stood watchful and expectant +as Wiley sat deep in thought. + +"All right," he said, and as he wrote out the check Death Valley +chuckled and leered at Heine. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE EXPERT + + +Like the way of an eagle in the air or the way of a man with a maid, the +ways of a mining promoter must be shrouded in mystery and doubt. For +when he wants to buy, no man will sell; and when he wants to sell, no +man will buy; and when he will neither buy nor sell he is generally +suspected of both. Wiley Holman had two fights and a charge of buckshot +to prove that he wanted the Paymaster, and the fact that he had refused +a half interest for nothing to prove that he did not want it. Also he +had sold his tax-title to the property for the sum of one hundred +dollars. What then did it signify when he bought Virginia's despised +stock for four hundred dollars, cash down? The man who could answer that +could explain the way of a man with a maid. + +Samuel J. Blount made the claim--and he had his pile to prove it--that +he could think a little closer than most men. A little closer, and a +little farther; but the Paymaster had been his downfall. He had played +the long game to get possession of the mine, only to find he had bought +a white elephant. Every day that he held it he had thrown good money +after bad and he sent out a search party for Wiley Holman. Wiley had +refused half the mine, but that only proved that half of the mine did +not appeal to him--perhaps he would take it all. Samuel J. had been a +student for a good many years in the school of predatory business and he +had learned the rules of the game. He knew that the buyer always decried +the goods and magnified each tiny defect, whereas the seller by as +natural a process played up every virtue to the limit. But any man who +inspected the goods was a potential buyer of the same, and Wiley had +shown more than a passing interest in the fate of the unlucky Paymaster. +And Wiley was a mining engineer. + +They met in the glassed-in office of Blount in the ornate Bank of Vegas +and for a half an hour or more Wiley sat tipped back in his chair while +Blount talked of everything in general. It was a way he had, never to +approach anything directly; but Wiley favored more direct methods. + +"I understood," he remarked, bringing his chair down with a bang, "that +you wanted to see me on business?" + +"Yes, yes, Wiley," soothed Blount, "now please don't rush off--I wanted +to see you about the Paymaster." + +"Well, shoot," returned Wiley, "but don't ask my advice, unless you're +ready to pay for it." + +He tipped back his chair and sat waiting patiently while Blount +unraveled his thoughts. He could think closer than most men, but not +quicker, and the Paymaster was a tangled affair. + +"I have been told," he began at last, "that you are still buying +Paymaster stock. Or at least--well, a check of yours came through here +endorsed by Death Valley Charley, and Virginia Huff. Oh, yes, yes; +that's your business, of course; but here's the point I'm coming to; it +won't do you any good to buy in that stock because I've got a majority +of it right here in my vault. If you want to control the Paymaster, +don't go to someone else--I'm the man you want to see." + +He tapped himself on the breast and smiled impressively, and Wiley +nodded his head. + +"All right," he said imperturbably, "when I want the Paymaster Mine I'll +know right where to go." + +"Yes, you come to me," went on Blount after a minute, "and I'll do the +best I can." He paused expectantly, but Wiley did not speak, so he went +on blandly, as before. "The stock, of course, is nonassessable and the +taxes are very small. I intend from now on to keep them paid up, so +there will be no further tax sales. The stock of Mrs. Huff, which I now +hold as collateral security, is practically mine already, as she has +defaulted on her first month's interest and is preparing to leave the +state. Of course, there is the stock which your father is holding--as I +calculate, something over two hundred thousand shares--and what little +remains outside; but if you are interested in the mine I am the man to +talk to, so what would you like to propose?" + +"Well," began Wiley, and then he stopped and seemed to be lost in +thought. "I'll tell you," he said, "I was interested in the Paymaster--I +believe there's something there; but I've got some other propositions +that I can handle a little easier, so if you don't mind we'll wait a +while." + +"No, but Wiley," protested Blount as his man rose up to go, "now just +sit down; I'm not quite through. Now I know just as well as you do that +you take a great interest in that mine. Your troubles with Mrs. Huff and +Stiff Neck George prove conclusively that such is the case; and I am +convinced that, either from your father or some other source, you have +valuable inside information. Now I must admit that I'm not a mining man +and my management was not a success; but with your technical education +and all the rest, I am convinced that the results would be different. +No, there's no use denying it, because I know myself that you've been +buying up Paymaster stock." + +"Sure," agreed Wiley, "I bought four hundred dollars worth. That would +break the Bank of Vegas. But you've got lots of money--why don't you +hire a competent mining man and go after that lost ore-body yourself?" + +"I may do that," replied Blount easily, "but in the meantime why not +make me a reasonable offer, or take the mine on shares?" + +"If the Paymaster," observed Wiley, "was the only mine in the world, I'd +make you a proposition in a minute. But a man in my position doesn't +have to buy his mines, and I never work anything on shares." + +"Well, now Wiley, I've got another proposition, which you may or may not +approve; but there's no harm, I hope, if I mention it. You know there's +been a difference between me and your father since--well, since the +Paymaster shut down. I respect him very much and have nothing but the +kindliest feelings towards him but he--well, you know how it is. But I +have been informed, Wiley, that since Colonel Huff's death, your father +has been bidding for his stock. In fact, I have seen a letter written to +Mrs. Huff in which he offers her ten cents a share. Now, of course, if +you want to gain control of the company, I'm willing to do what's right; +and so, after thinking it over, I have come to the conclusion that I +will accept that offer now." + +"Umm," responded Wiley, squinting his eyes down shrewdly, "how much +would that come to, in all?" + +"Well, twenty-one thousand, eight hundred dollars, for what I received +from Mrs. Huff; but of course--well, he'd have to buy a little more of +me in order to get positive control." + +"How much more?" asked Wiley, but Blount's crooked mouth pulled down in +a crafty smile. + +"We can discuss that later," he suggested mildly. "Do you think he will +buy the stock?" + +"Not if he takes my advice," answered Wiley coldly. "I can buy the whole +block for eight hundred." + +"How?" + +"Why, by loaning Mrs. Huff the eight hundred dollars with which to take +up her note." + +"I doubt it," replied Blount, and his mild, deceiving eyes took on the +faintest shadow of a threat. "Mrs. Huff has defaulted on her first +month's interest and, according to the terms of her note, the collateral +automatically passes to me." + +"Well, keep it, then," burst out Wiley, "and I hope to God you get stuck +for every cent. Your old mine isn't worth a dam'!" + +"Why--Wiley!" gasped Blount, quite shaken for the moment by this +disastrous piece of news, "what reason have you for thinking that?" + +"Give me a hundred dollars as an advising expert and I'll tell you--and +show you, too." + +"No, I hardly think so," answered Blount at last. "And, Wiley, you don't +think so, either." + +"No?" challenged Wiley. "Well, you just watch my smoke and see whether I +do or not." + +He had closed the door before Blount dragged him back like a haggling, +relentless pawn-broker. + +"Make me a proposition," he clamored desperately, "and if it's anywhere +in reason I'll accept it." + +"All right," answered Wiley, "but show me what you've got--I don't buy +any cat in a bag." + +"And will you make me an offer?" demanded Blount hopefully. "Will you +take the whole thing off my hands?" + +"I will if it's good--but you'll have to show me first that you've got a +controlling share of the stock. And another thing, Mr. Blount, since our +time is equally valuable, let's cut out this four-flushing stuff. If I'd +wanted your mine so awfully bad I'd have held on to it when the title +was mine; but I turned it back to you, just to let you look it over, and +to keep the peace for once. But now, if you're satisfied, I might look +it over; but it'll be under a bond and lease. The parties I represent +are strictly business, and we make it a rule to tie everything up tight +before we put out a cent. I'll want an option on every share you have, +and I can't offer more than ten per cent royalty; but to compensate for +that I'll agree to pay in full or vacate within six months from date." + +"But how much?" demanded Blount, brushing aside all the details, "how +much will you pay me a share?" + +"I'll pay you," stated Wiley, "what I paid Death Valley Charley, and +that's five cents a share." + +"Five cents!" shrilled Blount, rising up in protest, yet jumping at the +price like a trout, "five cents--why, that's practically nothing!" + +"Just five cents more than nothing," observed Wiley judicially and +waited for Blount to rave. + +"But your father," suggested Blount with a knowing leer, "is in the +market at ten." + +"No, not in the market. He offered that to the Widow, but now the deal +is off, because all of her stock has changed hands." + +"Well, the stock is the same," suggested Blount insinuatingly. "Give me +seven and a half and split the profits." + +"Now don't be a crook," rapped out Wiley angrily. "Just because you +would rob your own father doesn't by any means prove that I will." + +"Well, you certainly implied," protested Blount with injured innocence, +"that this stock was to be sold to your father. And if it is worth that +to him, why is it worth less to you? You must be working together." + +"No, we're not," declared Wiley. "I'm in on this alone, and have been, +from the start. And just to set your mind at rest--he didn't make that +offer because he wanted the stock, but to kind of help out the Widow." + +"Ah," smiled Blount, and nodded his head wisely, but there was a playful +light in his eyes. + +"Yes--ah!" flashed back Wiley, "and if you think you're so danged smart +I'll let you keep your old mine a few months." + +He started for the door again but Blount dragged him back and laid a +metal box on the table. + +"Well, let's get down to business," he said with quick decision, and +spread a heap of papers before his eyes. "There are all my Paymaster +shares, and if you'll take them off my hands you can have them for six +cents, cash." + +"I said five," returned Wiley, as he ran through the papers, "and an +option to buy in six months. But this stock of the Widow's--I can't take +that at any price--the Colonel isn't legally dead." + +"What?" yelled Blount, and sat down in a chair while he stared at the +inscrutable Wiley. + +"His body was never found and, under the law, he can't be declared dead +for seven years. Mrs. Huff had no right to sell his stock." + +"Oh, but he's dead, Wiley," assured Blount. "Surely there's no doubt of +that. They found his burro, and his letters and everything; and where he +had run wild through the sand. If that storm hadn't come up they would +certainly have found his body--the Indian trailers said so; so why stick +on a technicality?" + +"That's the law," said Wiley. "You know it yourself. But of course, if +you want to vote this stock at a Directors' meeting we can still do +business on that lease." + +"Oh, my Lord!" sighed Blount, and after a heavy silence he rose up and +paced the floor. As for Wiley, he ran through the papers, making notes +of dates and numbers, and then grimly began to fill out a legal blank. + +"There's the option," he said, passing over a paper, "and I see now how +you double-crossed my father. So you don't need to sign unless you want +to." + +"Why--er--what's that?" exclaimed Blount, coming out of his abstraction +as Wiley slapped down the bundle of certificates. + +"I see by these endorsements," replied Wiley, "that you sold out before +the panic and bought in all this stock afterwards." + +Blount started and a red line mounted up to his eyes as he hastily +glanced over the option. + +"Well, I'll sign it," he mumbled, and reached for the pen, but Wiley +checked his hand. + +"No, you ring for a notary," he said. "I want that signature +acknowledged." + +The notary came and ran perfunctorily through his formula, after which +he left them alone. + +"Now here's the bond and lease," went on Wiley curtly, "so bring on your +Board of Directors and let's get this business over. By rights I ought +to kill you." + +There was a special meeting then of the Board of Directors of The +Paymaster Mining and Milling Company, and when the bond and lease was +properly drawn up, they signed it and had it witnessed. Then once more +the tense silence came over the room and Wiley rose to go. + +"Well," he said, "I've been waiting for ten years just to get these +papers in my hands. And now, you danged crook, just to hit you where you +live, I'm going to make a fortune." + +"A fortune!" echoed Blount, and then he clasped his hands and sank +down weakly in a chair. "I knew it!" he moaned, "I knew it all the +time--you've been trying to get that mine for months. But what is it, +Wiley? Have you located the lost vein? Oh, I knew it; all the time!" + +"Yes, you did," jeered Wiley, "you didn't know anything, except how to +grab hold of the stock. What good was it to you after you'd got the old +mine--you didn't know what to do with it! All you knew was how to rob +the widow and the orphan and deprive better men of their good name. You +wait till I tell my Old Man about this--and how you were selling him +out, all the time. If it wasn't for you he'd never been called Honest +John by a bunch of these tin-horns and crooks. But I'll show you who's +honest--I'm going to skin you alive for what you did to my father. You +wait till I make my clean-up!" + +"But what is it, Wiley?" cried Blount, despairingly. "Have you really +discovered the lost vein?" + +"No," grinned Wiley, "but I've consulted an expert and he tells me the +mine is worth millions!" + +"What--millions?" burst out Blount, struggling up to his feet. "Now +here, Wiley Holman; I want that option back! You secured it by fraud and +misrepresentation and by concealment of the actual facts. I'll have the +law on you--I'll break the contract--you came here with intent to +defraud!" + +"Don't you think it!" returned Wiley, thrusting out his lip. "You +thought you were trimming me, like taking candy from a baby. Why didn't +_you_ get an expert? I offered to hire out to you, myself!" + +"Oh--hell!" choked Blount. "Well, tell me the worst--where was it he +told you to dig?" + +"Why right down the shaft," answered Wiley blandly. "He's a new kind of +mining expert and he locates the gold by electricity." + +"By electricity!" exclaimed Blount, and as he perceived Wiley's smile he +straightened up in a rage. "I don't believe a word of it. Who is this +man, anyway? I never heard of such a thing before!" + +"Oh, yes!" said Wiley, as he stepped out the door, "you know the +professor well. They call him Death Valley Charley." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A SACK OF CATS + + +The weary work of packing had gone on endlessly in the bare rooms of the +old Huff house and now Virginia, with two kittens in her arms and the +mother cat following behind, was passing it all in review. A solid row +of packing boxes, arrayed on the front gallery, awaited the motor truck; +and here and there in corners lay piles of discarded treasures that were +destined to go to Charley for loot. He was hanging about, with his +pistol well in front, on the watch for Stiff Neck George; but up to that +moment the Widow had not said the word that would start the mad rush for +plunder. Her trunks were all packed, the china nested in barrels and the +bedding sewed up in burlap; but still from day to day she put off the +evil moment, and Virginia did not try to hurry her. The house had been +their home for ten years and more and, though Los Angeles would be fine +with its palm trees and bungalows, it was a strange land, far away. And +what would they do in that city of strange faces and hustling, eager +real-estate agents? It was that which held the Widow back. + +In the city there would be rent and water to pay for, and electric +lights and wood; but in desolate Keno rent and water and wood were free, +and the electric light company had taken down its poles. If the town +were not so dead--if they could only make a living,--the Widow started +up for the thousandth time, for she heard a racing auto down the street. +It was Wiley Holman, as sure as shooting, and--well, Wiley was not so +bad. It was his money, really, that had enabled them to pack up, and +would enable them to go, when they started; and the Widow knew, as well +as she knew anything, that he had designs upon the mine. He was after +the Paymaster, and if he ever got hold of it--well, Keno would come back +to its own. She rushed to the door and looked out into the street; and +when she met Virginia, running away from meeting Wiley, she caught her +and whirled her about. + +"Now you go back there," she hissed in her ear, "and I want you to be +nice to him--he may have come back about the mine." + +Virginia went out the door and, as Wiley Holman saw her standing there, +he leapt out and came up the steps. + +"Well, well," he said, "just in time to say good-by. And I wanted to see +you, too." He smiled down at her boyishly and Virginia's eyes turned +gentle as he took both her hands in his. "I've got some news to tell +you," he burst out eagerly; "not news that will buy you anything but +something to remember when you're gone." + +He led her to a box and, taking one of the kittens, sat down with his +back to the door. Then he rose up hastily at a sudden rustle from behind +and glanced inquiringly at Virginia. + +"It's just mother," she said and at the mention of her name Mrs. Huff +came boldly out. + +"Why, good morning, Wiley," she said, smiling over-sweetly. "Seems to me +you're awful early." + +"Yes," answered Wiley, trying vainly to seem polite, "I just stopped off +to say good-by!" + +He offered her his hand, but the Widow ignored the hint and took the +conversation to herself. + +"Well, I'm real glad you came," she went on sociably, "because I wanted +to see you on a matter of business. In fact, I've been kind of waiting, +on the chance that you might come through. Oh, I know that I don't +count, but you can see Virginia afterwards; and I wanted to consult you +about my stock. Yes, I know," she hastened on, as his face turned grim, +"I haven't treated you fairly at all. I should have taken your offer, +when you said you'd give ten cents for every share of stock that I had. +But I took them to that Blount and he gave me next to nothing, and now +he's holding the stock. But what I wanted to ask was: Isn't there some +way we can arrange it to get it back and sell it to your father?" + +"No, I don't think so," answered Wiley, putting down the kitten, +"and--well, I guess I'd better go." + +He rose up reluctantly, but the Widow would not hear to it and Virginia +beckoned him to stay. + +"Well, now listen," persisted the Widow. "That stock certainly must be +worth something." + +"Not to you," returned Wiley. "I saw Blount only yesterday and he says +it belongs to him." + +"Well, it does not!" declared the Widow, but as no one contradicted her, +she took a different tack. "Are you coming back?" she asked, smiling +brightly. "Are you going to open up the mine?" + +Wiley's face fell for a moment. + +"What gave you that idea?" he inquired bluffly, but the Widow pointed a +finger and laughed roguishly. + +"I knew it," she cried. "I've known it for months--and I wish you the +best of good luck." + +"Oh, you do, eh?" grunted Wiley, and stood undecided as Mrs. Huff +continued her assurances. He had come there to see Virginia, but +business was business and the Widow seemed almost reasonable. "Huh, +that's funny," he said at last. "I thought you had it in for me. What's +the chance for getting a quit-claim?" + +"A quit-claim!" echoed the Widow, suddenly pricking up her ears. "Why, +what do you want that for, now?" + +"Well, you're going away," explained Wiley quietly, "and it might come +in handy, later, if I should want to take over the mine. Of course +you've got no title--and no stock, for that matter--but I'll give you a +hundred dollars, all the same." + +"I'll take it!" snapped the Widow and Wiley broke out laughing as he +reached for his fountain pen. + +"Zingo!" he grinned and then he bit his lip, for the Widow was quick to +take offence. "Of course," he went on, "this doesn't affect your stock +if you should ever get it back from Blount. That is still your property, +according to law, and this quit-claim just guarantees me free entry and +possession. We'll get Virginia to witness the agreement." + +"All right," bridled the Widow and watched him cynically as he wrote out +the quit-claim and check. "Oh! Actually!" she mocked as he put the check +in her hands. "I just wanted to see if you were bluffing." + +"Well, you know now," he answered and sat in stony silence until she +departed with a triumphant smirk. Then he glanced at Virginia and +motioned towards the street, but she sighed and shook her head. + +"No," she said, "I can't leave the house--mother is likely to start any +time, now." + +"I suppose you'll be glad to go," he suggested at last as she sat down +and gathered up the kittens. "The old town is sure awful dead." + +"Yes--I guess so," she agreed half-heartedly. "You'd think so, but we +don't seem to go." + +"Is there anything I can do for you?" he inquired after a silence. "You +know what I told you once, Virginia." + +"Yes, I know," she answered bitterly, "but--Oh, I'm ashamed to let you +help me, after the way I acted up about Charley." + +"Well, forget it," he said at length. "I guess I get kind of ugly when +anyone doubts my good faith. It's on account of my father, and calling +him Honest John--but say, I forgot to tell the news!" + +Virginia looked up inquiringly and he beckoned her into the corner where +no one could overhear his words. + +"Blount sent for me yesterday--trying to sell me the mine," he whispered +in her ear, "and I made him show me his stock. And when I looked on the +back of his promotion certificates--the ones he got for promoting the +mine--I found by the endorsements that he'd sold every one of them +before or during the panic. Do you see? They were street certificates, +passing from hand to hand without going to the company for transfer, but +every broker that handled them had written down his name as a memorandum +of the date and sale. Don't you see what he did--he set your father +against my father, and my father against yours, and all the time, like +the crook he is, he was selling them both out for a profit. I could have +killed him, the old dog, only I thought it would hurt him more to +whipsaw him out of his mine; but listen now, Virginia, don't you think +we can be friends--because my father never robbed anybody of a cent! He +thought more of the Colonel than he did of me; and I've started out, +even if it is a little late, to prove that he was on the square." + +He stopped abruptly, for in his rush of words he had failed to note the +anger in her eyes, until now she turned and faced him. + +"Oho!" she said, "so that's your idea--you're going to whipsaw Blount +out of his mine?" + +"If I can!" hedged Wiley. "But for the Lord's sake, Virginia, don't tell +what I said to your mother! It won't make any difference, because she's +given me a quit-claim--but what's the use of having any trouble?" + +"Yes, sure enough!" murmured Virginia, with cutting sarcasm. "She might +even demand her rights!" + +"Well, maybe you _like_ to fight!" burst out Wiley angrily, "and if +you do, all right--hop to it! But I'll tell you one thing; if you can't +be reasonable, I can be just as bullheaded as anybody!" + +"Yes, you can," she agreed and then she sighed wearily, and waved it all +away with one hand. "Well, all right," she said, "I'm so sick and tired +of it that I certainly don't want any more. And since I've taken your +money, as you know very well, I'm going to go away and give you peace." + +Her eyes blinked fast, to hold back the tears, and once more the son of +Honest John weakened. + +"No, I don't want you to go away," he answered gently, "but--isn't there +something I can do before you go? I have to fight my way, you know that +yourself, Virginia; but don't let that keep us from being friends. I'm a +mining engineer, and I can't tell you all my plans, because that sure +would put me out of business; but why can't you trust me, and then I'll +trust you and--what is it you've got on your mind?" + +He reached for her hand but she drew it away and sat quiet, looking up +the street. + +"You wouldn't understand," she said with a sigh. "You're always thinking +about money and mines. But a woman is different--I suppose you'll laugh +at me, but I'm worried about my cats." + +"About your cats!" he echoed, and she smiled up at him wistfully and +then looked down at the kittens in her lap. + +"Yes," she said, "you know they were left to me when the people moved +out of town, and now I've got eight of them and I just know that old +Charley----" + +"He'll starve 'em to death," broke in Wiley, instantly. "I know the old +tarrier well. You give 'em to me, Virginia, and I swear I'll take care +of 'em just the same as I would of--you." + +"Oh," smiled Virginia, and then she gave him her hand and the old hatred +died out in her eyes. "That's good of you, Wiley, and I certainly +appreciate it; because no one would trust them with Charley. I'm going +to take the two kittens, but you can have the rest of them and--you can +write to me about them, sometimes." + +"Every week," answered Wiley. "I'll take 'em back to the ranch and the +girls will look after them when I'm gone. We'll have to put them in +sacks, but that will be better----" + +"Yes, that's better than starving," assented Virginia absently, and +Wiley rose suddenly to go. There was something indefinable that stood +between them, and no effort of his could break it down. He shook hands +perfunctorily and started down the gallery and then abruptly he turned +and swung back. + +"Here," he said, throwing her stock down before her, "I told you to hold +onto that, once." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE EXPLOSION + + +There are moments when his great secret rises to every man's lips and +flutters to wing away; but a thought, a glance, a word said or unsaid, +turns it back and he holds it more closely. Wiley Holman had a secret +which might have changed Virginia's life and filled every day with joy +and hope, but he shut down his lips and held it back and spoke kind +words instead. There was a look in her eyes, a brooding glow of +resentment when he spoke of his father and hers; and, while he spoke +from the heart, she drooped her dark lashes and was silent beyond her +wont. He gave her much but she gave him little--and the reason she was +sorry to leave Keno was the parting with six suffering cats. + +There were girls that he knew who would have gone the limit and said +something about missing Wiley Holman. So he gave her back her stock and +put the cats in sacks and burnt up the road to the ranch. The next day +the news came that he had bonded the Paymaster, but Wiley was far away. +He caught the Limited and went speeding east, and then he came back, +headed west; and finally he left Vegas followed by four lumbering auto +trucks loaded down with freight and men. The time had come when he must +put his fortunes to the test and Keno awaited him, anxiously. + +A cold, dusty wind raved down through the pass, driving even old Charley +to shelter; but as the procession moved in across the desert the city of +lost hopes came to life. Old grudges were forgotten, the dead past was +thrust aside, and they lined up to bid him welcome--Death Valley Charley +and Heine, Mrs. Huff and Virginia, and the last of ten thousand brave +men. For nine years they had lived on, firm in their faith in the mighty +Paymaster; and now again, for the hundredth time, the old hope rose up +in their breasts. The town was theirs, they had seen it grow from +nothing to a city of brick and stone, and they loved its ruins still. +All it needed was some industry to put blood into its veins and it would +thrill with energy and life. Even the Widow forgot her envy and her +anger at his deception and greeted Wiley Holman with a smile. + +"Well--hello!" he hailed when he saw her in the crowd. "I thought you +were going away." + +"Not much!" she returned. "Bring your men in to dinner. I'm having my +dishes unpacked!" + +"Umm--good!" responded Wiley and, shrugging his shoulders, he led the +way on to the mine. There were other faces that he would as soon have +seen as the Widow's fighting mien, and he had brought his own cook +along; but Mrs. Huff was a lady and as such it was her privilege to +claim her woman's place in the kitchen. The town was part hers and the +restaurant was her livelihood; and then, of course, there was Virginia. +Having bidden her good-by, and taken care of her cats, he had reconciled +himself to her loss, but not even the smile in her welcoming dark eyes +could make him quite forget the Widow. She was an uncertain quantity, +like a stick of frozen dynamite that will explode if it is thawed too +soon; and there was a bombshell to come which gave more than even +promise of producing spontaneous combustion. So Wiley sighed as he fired +his cook, and told his men that they would board with the Widow. + +The first dinner was not so much, consisting largely of ham and eggs +with the chickens out on a strike; but there was plenty of canned stuff +and the Widow promised wonders when she got all her boxes unpacked. Yet +with all her work before her and the dishes unwashed, she followed the +crowd to the mine. That was the day of days, from which Keno would date +time if Wiley made his promise good; and every man in town, and woman +and child, went over to watch them begin. Up the old, abandoned road the +auto trucks crept and crawled, and the shed and the houses that had been +prepared by Blount now gave shelter to his hated successor. Only one man +was absent and he sat on the hill-top, looking down like a lonely +coyote. It was Stiff Neck George, that specter at the feast, the +harbinger of evil to come; but as Wiley ordered the empty trucks to back +up against the dump he glanced at the hill-top and smiled. + +"We'll take back a load of tungsten," he announced to the drivers and +the crowd of onlookers stared. + +"Just load on that white stuff," he explained to the muckers and there +was a general rush for the dump. + +"What did you say that stuff was?" inquired Death Valley Charley, after +a hasty look at his specimen; and Keno awaited the answer, breathless. + +"Why, that's scheelite, Charley," replied Wiley confidentially, "and it +runs about sixty per cent tungsten. It comes in pretty handy to harden +those big guns that you hear shooting over in France." + +"Oh, tungsten," muttered Charley, blinking wisely at the rock while +everyone else grabbed a sample. "Er--what do you say they use it for?" + +"Why, to harden high-speed steel for guns and turning-tools--haven't you +read all about it in the papers?" + +"How much did you say it was worth?" asked the Widow cautiously, and +Wiley knew that the bombshell was ignited. + +"Well, that's a question," he began, "that I can answer better when I +get a report on this ore. It's all mixed up with quartz and ought to be +milled, by rights, before I even ship it; but since the trucks are going +back--well, if it turns out the way I calculate it might bring me forty +dollars a unit." + +"A unit!" repeated the Widow, her voice low and measured. "Well, I'd +just like to know how much a unit is?" + +"A hundredth of the standard of measure--in this case a ton of ore. That +would come to twenty pounds." + +"Twenty pounds! What, of this stuff? And worth forty dollars! Well, +somebody must be crazy!" + +"Yes, they're crazy for it," answered Wiley, "but it's just a temporary +rage, brought on by the European war. The market is likely to break any +time." + +"Why--tungsten!" murmured the Widow. "Who ever heard of such a thing? +And it's been lying here idle all the time." + +"How much would that be a ton?" piped up someone in the crowd, and Mrs. +Huff put her head to one side. + +"Let's see," she said, "forty dollars a unit--that's one hundredth of +a ton. Oh, pshaw, it can't be that. Let's see, twenty pounds at forty +dollars--that's two dollars a pound; and two thousand pounds, +that's--oh, I don't believe it! I never even heard of tungsten!" + +"No, it's a new metal," replied Wiley ever so softly, "or rather, it's +an acid. The technical magazines are full of articles that tell you all +about it. It's found in wolframite, and hubnerite and so on; but this is +calcium tungstate, where it is found in connection with lime. The others +are combined variously with iron or manganese----" + +"Yes, manganese," broke in Charley importantly. "I know that well--and +wolfite and all the rest. It certainly is wonderful how they build them +big cannons that will shoot for twenty-two miles. But it's tungsden that +does it, tungsden in connection with electricity and the invisible rays +of raddium." + +"Oh, shut up!" burst out the Widow, thrusting him rudely aside and +seizing a fresh handful of the rock. "I just can't hardly believe it." +She gazed at the glossy fragments and then at the muckers, industriously +loading the trucks; and then she cocked her head on one side. + +"Let's see--two times twenty--that's forty dollars a ton. No--four +hundred! Why, no--four thousand!" She stopped short and made a hurried +re-calculation, while a murmur ran through the crowd, and then Death +Valley Charley gave a whoop. + +"Four thousand!" he shouted. "I told ye! I knowed it! I claimed she was +rich, all the time!" + +"You did not!" snapped the Widow, putting her hand under his jaw and +forcibly stifling his whoops. "You poor, crazy fool, you knew nothing of +the kind--you sold out for five thousand dollars!" She pushed him away +with a swift, disdainful shove that sent him reeling through the crowd +and then she whirled on Wiley. "And I suppose," she accused, "that you +knew all the time that this dump here was nothing but tungsten?" + +"Well, I had a good idea," he admitted deprecatingly, "although it's yet +to be tested out. This is just a sample shipment----" + +"Yes, a sample shipment; and at two dollars a pound how much will it +bring you in? Why, nothing, hardly; a mere bagatelle for a gentleman and +a scholar like you; but what about me and poor Virginia, slaving around +to cook your meals? What do we get for all our pains? Oh, I could kill +you, you scoundrel! You knew it all the time, and yet you let me sell +those shares!" + +She choked and Wiley shifted uneasily on the ore-pile, for of course he +had done just that. To be sure he had urged her to sell them to his +father for the sum of ten cents a share; but the mention of that fact, +in her heated condition, would probably gain him nothing with the Widow. +She was gasping for breath and, if nothing intervened, he was in for the +scolding of his life. But it was all in the day's work and he glanced +about for Virginia, to seek comfort from her smiling eyes. She would +understand now why he had given her back her stock, and advised her from +the start not to sell; but--he looked again, for her dark orbs were +blazing and her lips were moving as with threats. + +"You knew it all the time!" screamed the Widow in a frenzy, but Wiley +barely heard her. He heard her words, for they assaulted his ears in a +series of screeching crescendos, but it was the unspoken message from +the lips of Virginia that cut him to the quick. He had expected nothing +else from the abusive Widow; but certainly, after all the kindnesses he +had done her, he was entitled to something better from Virginia. Not +only had he warned her to hold on to her stock, at a time when one word +might ruin him; but he had bought it from Charley and then given it +back, to show how he valued her friendship. And yet now, while the +others were shouting with joy or rushing to stake out more claims, she +stood by the Widow and with cruel, voiceless words added her burden to +this paean of hate. And she looked just like her mother! + +"You shut up, you old cat!" he burst out fiercely, as the Widow rushed +in to assault him. "Shut your mouth and get off my ground!" He drew back +his palm to launch a swift blow and then his hand fell slack. "Well, +holler then," he said, "what do I give a dam' whether you like the deal +or not? You'd be yammering, just the same. But it's lucky for you you're +a woman." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE GOD OF TEN PER CENT + + +It was the nature of the Widow to resort to violence in every crisis of +her life and at each fresh memory of the effrontery of Wiley Holman she +searched the empyrean for words. From the very start he had come to Keno +with the intention of stealing her mine. First it was his father, who +pitied her so much he was willing to buy her shares; then it was the tax +sale, and he had sneaked in at night and tried to jump the Paymaster; +then he had deceived her and stood in with Blount to make her sell all +her stock for a song; and then, oh hateful thought, he had actually sold +out to Blount for a hundred dollars, cash; only to put Blount in the +hole and buy the mine back again for the price of the ore on the dump! + +The Widow poured forth her charges without pausing for breath or +noticing that her audience had fled, and as Wiley went on about his +business she raised her voice to a scream. The rest of the Kenoites, and +some of the workmen, were out staking the nearby hills; but whenever she +stopped she thought of some fresh duplicity which made reason totter on +its throne. He had refused half the mine from Blount as a gift and then +turned around and bought it all. He had refused to buy her shares, time +and again, when he knew they were worth a million; and then, to cap the +climax, he had let her sell to Blount and bought them for nothing from +him. And even Death Valley Charley--poor, crazy, brain-sick Charley--he +had robbed him of all ten of his claims! + +It was a damning arraignment, and Wiley's men listened grimly, but he +only twisted his lip and nodded his head ironically. With one eye on his +accuser, who was becoming hysterical, he hustled the ore into the empty +trucks and started them off down the road; and then, as Virginia led her +mother away, he re-engaged his cook. They had supper that night in the +old, abandoned cook-house; and, so wonderfully do great minds work, that +a complete bill of grub was discovered among the freight. Not only flour +and beans and canned goods and potatoes, but baking powder and matches +and salt; and the cook observed privately that you'd think Mr. Holman +had intended to make camp all the time. It is thus that foresight leaps +ahead into the future and robs life of half its ills; and the Widow +Huff, still unpacking plates and saucers, was untroubled by clamorous +guests. She had had her say and, as far as Wiley was concerned, there +were no more favors to be expected. + +Yet the Widow was wise in the ways of mining camps and she prepared to +feed a horde--and the next day they came, by automobile and +motor-truck, until every table was filled. The rush was on, for +four-thousand dollar ore will bring men from the ends of the world. +Before the sun had set in the red glow of a sandstorm the desert was +staked for miles. From the chimneys of old houses, long abandoned to +the rats, rose the smokes of many fires and the rush and whine of +passing automobiles told of races to distant grounds. All the old +mines in the district, and of neighboring districts where the precious +"heavy spar" occurred, were re-located--or jumped, as the case might +be--and held to await future developments. The first thing was to +stake. They could prospect the ground later. Tungsten now was king. +Men who had never heard the name, or pronounced it haltingly, now +spoke learnedly of tungsten tests; and he was a poor prospector indeed +who lacked his bottle of hydrochloric acid and his test-tubes and +strip of shiny tin. They swarmed about the base of the old Paymaster +dump like bees around a broken pot of honey and when, pounded up and +boiled in the hydrochloric acid, the solution bit the tin and turned +bright blue, there was many a hearty curse at the fickle hand of +fortune which had led Wiley Holman to that treasure. + +It had lain there for years, trampled down beneath their feet. Now this +kid, this mining-school prospector, had come back and grabbed it all. +Not only the Paymaster with its tons of mined ore, but the ten claims to +the north, all showing good scheelite, which Death Valley Charley had +located--he had held them down as well. Two hundred dollars down and a +carefully worded option had tied them up for five thousand dollars, and +there were tungsten-mad men in that crowd of boomers who would have +given fifty thousand apiece. They came up to the mine where Wiley was +working and waved their money in his face, and then went off grumbling +as he refused all offers and went busily about his work. So they came, +and went, until at last the great wave brought Samuel J. Blount himself. + +He came up the trail smiling, for there was nothing to be gained by +making belated complaints; but when he saw the pile of precious white +rock the smile died away in spite of him. It was the boast of Blount +that, buying or selling, he always held out his ten per cent; but that +pile of ore had cost him dear and he had sold it out for next to +nothing. And it was his other boast that he could read men's hearts when +they came to buy or sell, but here was a young man who had seen him +coming twice and gained the advantage both times. So the smile grew +longer in spite of his best efforts and when at last he found Wiley +Holman in the office of the company it was perilously near a sulk. + +"Well, good morning, Wiley," he began with unction, and then he looked +grievously about. The expensive gas engine which he had bought and +installed was already unwatering the mine; spare timbers were going +down, the new blacksmith-shop was running and Wiley was sitting at his +desk. Everything was there, just the way he had left it, except that it +belonged to Wiley. Blount heaved a heavy sigh and then set his features +resolutely, for the battle was not over yet. To be sure the mine was +bonded for a measly fifty thousand dollars, and his stock was tied up +under an option; but many things can happen in six months' time and +Wiley was only a boy. Granted that he was a miner and understood ore, +there is such a thing as an "Act of God." Cables break without reason, +mines cave and timbers fall; and certainly if there is a God of Ten Per +Cent his just wrath would be visited upon Wiley. Blount knew that great +god and worshipped him continually and he felt certain that something +would happen, for when boys out of college take money away from bank +presidents it comes dangerously close to sacrilege. + +"Well, well," murmured Blount, "quite a change, quite a change. Are you +sure that stuff is tungsten, Wiley?" + +"Yes," responded Wiley, affecting a becoming modesty to cover up his +youthful smirk. "Would you like to see it tested?" + +"Very much," answered Blount, and followed after him to the assay +office, which Wiley had hurriedly fitted up. Wiley took a piece of +scheelite and pounded it in a mortar until it was fine as flour, then +dropped it into a test-tube and boiled it over a flame in a solution of +hydrochloric and nitric acids. + +"Now," he said, when the tungstic acid had been dissolved, and he had +dropped a small bar of tin into the solution. It turned a dark blue and +Blount sighed again, for he had looked up the test in advance. "If it +turns blue," a prospector had told him, "like the color of me overalls, +then, sure as hell, it's tungsten." + +"Well, well," commented Blount, gazing mildly about, for great men do +not stop to repine, "and what do you use these big scales for?" + +"That's for the quantitative test," explained Wiley importantly. "By +weighing the sample first and extracting the tungsten we get the +percentage, when it's been filtered and dried and weighed again, of the +tungstic acid in the ore. But it's quite an elaborate process." + +"Yes, yes," assented Blount, still managing to smile pleasantly. "Rather +out of my line, I guess. What per cent do your samples average?" + +"Oh, between sixty and seventy when I pick my specimens. I'm rigging up +a jigger to separate the ore until I can get capital to start up the +mill. It ought to be milled, by rights, and only the concentrates +shipped; but while I'm getting started----" + +"Oh, draw on me--any time," broke in Blount, smiling radiantly. "I'd be +only too glad to accommodate you. That's my business, you know; loaning +out money on good security, and you're good up to fifty thousand +dollars." + +"Do you mean it?" demanded Wiley after a startled silence, and Blount +slapped him heartily on the back. + +"Just try me," he said. "I've been looking up the market and tungsten is +simply booming. It's quoted at forty-five for sixty per cent +concentrates, and you must have tons and tons on the dump." + +"Yes, lots of it," admitted Wiley, "and say, now that you mention it, I +believe I'll take you up. I need a little money to install some +machinery and get the old mill to running. How about ten thousand +dollars?" + +"Why--all right," assented Blount, after a moment's thought. "Of course +you'll give some security?" + +"Oh, sure," agreed Wiley. "My option on the mine--I suppose that's what +you're after?" + +Blount blinked for a moment, for such plain speaking was surprising +from one as shrewd as Wiley, but he summoned up his smile and nodded. +"Why--why, yes, that's all right. Say one per cent a month--payable +monthly--those are our ordinary short-time terms." + +"Suits me," said Wiley. "But no cut-throat clauses--none of this Widow +Huff line of stuff. If I forget to pay my interest that doesn't make the +principal due and the security forfeit and so on, world without end." + +"Oh, no; no, certainly," cried Blount with alacrity. "We'll make it a +flat loan, if you like, and endeavor to treat you right. Of course +you'll start a checking account and----" + +"No," said Wiley, "if I borrow the money I'll take it out of your bank +and put it in another, right away. I never let friendship interfere with +business or warp my business judgment." + +"Yes, but Wiley," protested Blount, "what difference does it make? Isn't +my bank perfectly safe and sound?" + +"Undoubtedly," returned Wiley, "but--do you happen to remember a little +check for four hundred dollars? It was made out by me in favor of Death +Valley Charley and they cashed it through your bank--Virginia Huff, you +know--in payment for Paymaster stock. Well, if you're going to keep +track of my business like that----" + +"Oh, no, no," exclaimed Blount, suddenly remembering the means by which +he had detected Wiley's purchase of Virginia's stock, "you misunderstand +me, entirely. If you want to wait a few days for the money you are +welcome to put it anywhere." + +"Well, hold on," began Wiley. "Now maybe I'd better go to the other +bank----" + +"Oh, no, no, no," protested Blount, "I wouldn't hear of it. I'll write +you the check, this minute. On your personal note--that's good enough +for me. You can put up the collateral later." + +"Well, let's think this over," objected Wiley cannily. "I don't like to +put up that option for security. That bond and lease is worth half a +million dollars and----" + +"Just give me your note," broke in Blount hurriedly, "and hurry up--here +comes Mrs. Huff." + +"All right," cried Wiley, and scribbled out the note while Blount was +writing the check. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +A SHOW-DOWN WITH THE WIDOW + + +If the benevolent Samuel Blount could have seen Wiley Holman's monthly +statement from that mysterious "other bank" he would have crushed him +with one blow of his ready, financial club and gone off with both +bond-and-lease and option. But the pure, serene fire in those first +water diamonds which graced the ring on Wiley's hand--that dazzled +Samuel J. Blount as it had dazzled the Widow and many a store-keeper +in Vegas. For it is hardly to be expected that a man with such a ring +will have a bank account limited to three figures, any more than it is +expected that a man with so little capital will be sitting in a game +with millionaires. But Wiley was sitting in, holding his cards well +against his chest, and already he had won ten thousand dollars. Which +is one of the reasons why all mining promoters wear diamonds--and +poker faces as well. + +Yet Blount was playing a game which had once won him a million dollars +from just such plungers as Wiley, and if he also smiled as he tucked +away the note it was not without excuse. There had been a time when this +boy's father had sat in the game with Blount and now he was engaged in +raising cattle on a ranch far back in the hills. And Colonel Huff, that +prince of royal plungers, had surrendered at last to the bank. It was +twelve per cent, compounded monthly, with demand, protest and notice +waived, which had brought about this miracle of wealth; and since it is +well known that history repeats itself, Mr. Blount could see Wiley's +finish. The thing to do first was to regain his confidence and get him +into his power and then, at the first sign of financial embarrassment, +to call his notes and freeze him out. Such were the intentions of the +benevolent Mr. Blount--if the Widow Huff did not kill him. + +She came toiling up the trail, followed by Virginia and Death Valley +Charley and a crowd of curious citizens; and as they awaited the shock, +Blount shuddered and smiled nervously, for he knew that she would demand +back her stock. Wiley shuddered too, but instead of smiling he clenched +his jaws like a vise; and as the Widow entered he signaled a waiting +guard, who followed in close behind her. She halted before his desk, one +hand on her hip the other on the butt of a six-shooter, and glanced +insolently from one to the other. + +"Aha!" she exclaimed, "so you're talking it over,--how to take advantage +of a poor widow! But I want to tell you now, and I don't care who knows +it, I've been imposed upon long enough. Here you sit in your office, +both of you worth up into the millions, and discuss the division of your +spoils; while the daughter and the widow of the man that found this mine +are slaving away in a restaurant." + +"Yes, I'm sorry, Mrs. Huff," interposed Blount, smiling gently. "We were +just discussing your case. But it often happens that the best of us err +in judgment, and in this case I've been caught worse than you were. Yes, +I must admit that when I first heard about this tungsten and realized +that I had sold out for nothing, I was moved for the moment to resent +it; but under the circumstances----" + +"Aw, what are you talking about?" demanded the Widow scornfully. "Don't +you think I can see through your game? You pretend to be enemies until +you get hold of my stock and then you come out into the open. I always +knew you were partners, but now I can prove it; because here you are, +thick as thieves." + +"Yes, we're friendly," admitted Blount with a painful smile at Wiley, +"but Wiley owns the mine. That is, he owns a bond and lease on the +property, with the option of buying for fifty thousand dollars. And then +besides that, I regret to say, he has an option on all my stock." + +"Oh! Yes!" scoffed the Widow. "You've been cleaned by this +whipper-snapper that's just a few months out of college! He's taken +away your mine and your stock and everything--but of course you don't +mind a little thing like that. But what I want to know, and I came +here to find out, is which of you has got my stock--because I'll tell +you right now----" she whipped out her pistol and brandished it in the +air--"I'll tell you right now I intend to get it back or kill the one +or both of you!" + +Blount's lips framed a lie, and then he glanced at Wiley, who was +standing with his hand by his gun. + +"Well, now, Mrs. Huff," he began at a venture, "I--perhaps this can all +be arranged." + +"No! I want that stock!" cried the Widow in hot anger, "and I'm going to +get it, too!" + +"Why--why yes," stammered Blount, "but you see it was this way--I had no +idea of the value of the stock. And so when Wiley came to see me I gave +him an option on it for--well, I believe it was five cents a share." + +"Ah!" triumphed the Widow, whirling to train her gun on Wiley, "so now +I've got you, Mr. Man! You've been four-flushing long enough but I've +got you dead to rights, and I want--that--Paymaster--stock!" + +She threw down on him awkwardly, but as the pistol was not cocked, Wiley +only curled his lip and smiled indulgently, with a restraining glance at +his guard. + +"Yes, Mrs. Huff," he agreed quite calmly, "I don't doubt you want it +back. You want lots of things that you'll never get from me by coming +around with these gun-plays. So put up that gun before you pull it off +and I'll tell you about your husband's stock." + +"My _husband's_ stock!" cried the Widow in surprise, letting the +six-shooter wobble down to her side. "Well I'd just like to tell you +that that stock is _mine_, and furthermore----" + +"Oh, yes! Sure! Sure!" shrugged Wiley scornfully. "Of course you know it +all! But that stock wasn't yours, and you couldn't transfer it, and so I +didn't take any option on it. It's in the bank yet; and if you want to +get it, why, here's the man to talk to." + +He jerked his thumb towards the cringing Blount, and exchanged scornful +glances with Virginia. She was standing behind her mother and her glance +seemed to say that he was passing the buck again; but his feeling for +Virginia had suffered a great change and he replied to her head-toss +with a sneer. + +"Now--now Wiley!" protested Blount, rising weakly to his feet and +regarding his pseudo-partner reproachfully, "you know very well----" + +"Gimme that stock!" snapped the Widow, suddenly cocking the heavy pistol +and throwing down savagely on Wiley; and then things began to happen. +The watchful guard, who had been standing at her side, reached over and +struck up the gun and as it went off with a bang, shooting a hole in the +ceiling, he seized it and wrenched it away. + +"You're under arrest, Madam," he said with some asperity, and flashed +his officer's star. + +"Well, who are you, sir?" demanded the Widow, vainly attempting to +thrust him aside. + +"I'm a deputy sheriff, ma'am," replied the officer respectfully, "and +I'd advise you not to resist. It'll be assault with intent to kill." + +"Why--I wouldn't kill anybody!" exclaimed the Widow breathlessly. "I +was--I didn't intend to do anything." + +"Will you swear out a warrant?" inquired the deputy and Wiley nodded his +head. + +"You bet I will," he said, "this is getting monotonous. She took a shot +at me, once before." + +"Oh, Wiley!" wailed the Widow suddenly weakening in the pinch. "You know +I never meant it!" + +"Well, maybe not," replied Wiley evenly, "but you hit me in the leg." + +"But _he_ pulled off my gun!" charged the Widow angrily, "I never +went to do it!" + +"Well, come on;" said the deputy, "you can explain to the judge." And he +took her by the arm. She went out, sobbing violently, and in the +succeeding silence Wiley found himself confronted by Virginia. He had +seen her before when the wild light of battle shot forth from her angry +eyes but now there was a glow of soft, feminine reproach and the +faintest suggestion of appeal. + +"Oh, Wiley Holman!" she cried, "I'll never forgive you! What do you mean +by treating Mother like this?" + +"I mean," replied Wiley, "that I've taken about enough, and now we'll +leave it to the law. If your mother is right the judge will let her go, +but I guess it's come to a showdown." + +"What? Are you going to let them put my mother in jail?" she asked with +tremulous awe, and then she burst into tears. "You ought to be ashamed!" +she broke out impetuously. "I wish my father was here!" + +"Yes, so do I," answered Wiley gravely. "I'd be dealing with a +gentleman, then. But if your mother thinks, just because she is a woman, +she can run amuck with a gun, then she gives up all right to be treated +like a lady and she has to take what's coming to her." + +"But Wiley!" she appealed, "just let her off this time and she'll never +do it again. She's over-wrought and nervous and----" + +"Nope," said Wiley, "it's gone past me now--she'll have to answer before +the judge. But if you think you can restrain her I'll be willing to let +it go and have her bound over to keep the peace." + +"Oh, that'll be fine! If she just promises not to bother you and----" + +"And puts up a five-thousand-dollar bond," added Wiley. "And the next +time she makes a gun-play or comes around and threatens me the five +thousand dollars is gone." + +"Oho!" she accused, "so that's your scheme! You've been framing this up, +all the time!" + +"Sure," nodded Wiley, with his old cynical smile, "I just love to be +shot at. I got her to come over on purpose." + +"Well, I'll bet you did!" cried Virginia excitedly. "Didn't you have +that officer right there? You've just framed this up to rob us. And how +are we going to give a five-thousand-dollar bond when you know we +haven't a cent? Oh, I--I hate you, Wiley Holman; and if you put my +mother in jail I'll--I'll come back and kill you, myself!" + +She stamped her foot angrily, but a light leapt into Wiley's eyes such +as had flamed there when he had faced Stiff Neck George. + +"Very well," he said, "if you people think you can rough-house me I'll +show you I can rough it, myself. I've tried to be friendly and to give +you the best of it; but now it's all off, for good. I hate to fight a +woman, but----" + +"You do not!" she challenged. "You're a coward, that's what you are! And +you can take your old stock back!" + +She drew a package from her bosom and slammed it spitefully on the table +and rushed out after her mother. Wiley picked up the envelope and +regarded it absently, his lip curling to a twisted smile. It was the +package of stock which he had bought from Death Valley Charley and +returned, as a gift, to Virginia. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +PEACE--AND THE PRICE + + +In the justice court at Vegas the Widow Huff met her match in the person +of the magistrate, who warned her peremptorily that if she interrupted +again he would commit her for contempt of court. Then the bailiff smote +his desk a resounding blow and there was silence in the presence of the +law. It was a new thing to her, this power called the law and that +accuser of all offenders, The People; and before she had finished she +learned the great truth that no one is above the law. It governs us all +and, but for the mercy of the courts, would land most of our hot-heads +in jail. But though it was proved beyond the peradventure of a doubt +that the Widow had attempted violence it was tacitly understood that, +being a woman, there would be no actual commitment. + +Wiley Holman came forward and informed the court that the defendant had +threatened his life and upon two occasions and had made assaults upon +his person with the avowed intention of killing him. Upon being +questioned by the judge he admitted recognizing a shotgun, and three +buckshot which had been extracted from his leg; but in a voluntary +statement he expressed the opinion that the defendant was hardly +responsible. At the same time, he stated, since his place of business +was not far from the defendant's home, he would respectfully request +that she be placed in custody and bound over to keep the peace. The +testimony of the officer and of other witnesses left no doubt as to the +existence of a threat and after the Widow had made a chastened speech +she was placed in the custody of the sheriff. + +To this humiliation was added the greater pang of depositing all her +jewels with her bondsmen and when it was over and she was back in her +home the Widow's proud spirit was broken. She retired to the kitchen and +the balm of a great peace was laid upon tumultuous Keno. For years the +bold ego of Colonel Huff's wife had dominated the very life of the camp, +but the son of Honest John had at last found a way of putting her anger +in leash. Rage as she might in the privacy of her kitchen, or pour out +her woes to the neighbors, when Wiley Holman came by she turned away her +face and allowed him to pass in silence. And Wiley himself never gave +her a glance, nor Virginia when he met her in the street; for the memory +of their insults was still hot in his brain, and all he asked for was +peace. + +He was safe, at last, safe to remodel the mill and bring up the ore from +the mine; but as his work grew and prospered the anger died in his +breast and his heart turned back to Virginia. She was quiet now, with +averted eyes and the sad, brooding face of a nun; and she worked early +and late in the crowded dining-room, serving meals to the hard-rock +miners. He had closed down his cook-house to give them some patronage, +when the first mad rush of prospectors was past; but though they fed his +men and took the money that he had paid them, they owned no obligation +to him. + +In the Paymaster the pumps were working steadily now, clearing the water +from the submerged passages, and as the first checks came back in +payment for his tungsten he ordered more timbers and men. There was +plenty of ore on the dump for the moment but, while he separated it from +the waste and shipped it to town, he caught up the falling ground in the +drifts and prepared to stope out the scheelite. In the old, dismantled +mill he had a crew working over-time, installing a rock-crusher and a +concentrating plant; and every truck that brought out timbers and +supplies took back its tons of ore. The price of tungsten leapt from +forty dollars a unit to sixty and sixty-five, and rival buyers clamored +for his ore; the mills treated it for almost nothing in order to get +control of it and his credit was A1 at the bank--but when he passed +Virginia she turned her face away and his heart turned heavy as lead. + +It was the price of success, and Wiley recognized it, but he rebelled +against his fate. What fault was it of his that her father and his +father had fallen out over the mine? He had shown by the stock that the +treachery had been Blount's and neither of them was to blame. What fault +was it of his that she had a shrewish mother who was bent upon ruining +her life? Had he not endured abuse and suffered grievous wounds before +he had asserted his rights? And with Virginia herself, when had there +ever been a time when he had forgotten his lover's part--except on that +last day, when he had turned like a trodden worm and protested his right +to live? And yet she blamed him for all her misfortunes and for every +day that she slaved; and even took the stock which he had returned as a +peace-offering and hurled it in his face! + +Wiley's lips set grimly as he gazed at the certificates for which men +had striven and died. There were some from her father, transferred on +her birthdays when the stock was around thirty and forty; and others +from old prospectors like Henry Masters, who had left it to Virginia +when they died. She had sent it to him by Charley, out of shame for her +harsh words, and he had bought it for four hundred dollars, half the +money that he had in the world. Those had been happy days, in spite of +the anxiety, for he had made the sacrifice for her; and to prove his +devotion--and make a peace-offering against the explosion that was bound +to come--he had given the stock back to Virginia. That was when he was a +prospector, doing business on a shoe-string, a racing car and a diamond +ring; but now when he had made his _coup_ and could write his check +for thousands she threw the stock back in his face. + +The stock had a value now for, under the terms of the bond and lease, +one-tenth of the net mill returns were automatically withheld and turned +in to the company as royalty; and if for any reason he failed to meet +the payment when the fifty thousand-dollar option expired, then this +stock and all Paymaster stock would take a sudden jump to five or ten +dollars a share. And the stock was hers--she had received it from her +father when he was the mining king of the West, and from old man Masters +when he was dying in the cabin where she had helped to care for him for +months--yet she would not accept it as a gift. Wiley pondered a long +time and then, as Christmas drew near, he sent for Death Valley Charley. + +"Charley," he began, when he came up that night, "did I understand you +to say one time that you were acting as a kind of guardian to Virginia? +Well, now here's a bunch of stock that you sold to me once when you were +slightly off your cabeza. There's over twelve thousand shares and all +you asked was four hundred dollars, when you knew they were worth eight +hundred at least." + +"Yes, that's so," admitted Charley, blinking and rubbing his chin, "but +you know them women, Wiley. They're crazy, that's all, and the Colonel +he told me special not to let them lose their mine." + +"Well, never mind the mine," said Wiley wincing. "I'm talking about this +stock. Don't you think it's your duty, by George, as guardian, to turn +around and buy it back? You've got five thousand dollars coming to you +on those claims of yours and I'll tell you what I'll do. I'm short, +right now on account of buying machinery, and so I can't pay you much +cash; but if you'll take this stock back in part payment of your claims +I'll give you four hundred more." + +"Well, all right," agreed Charley after gazing at him thoughtfully, "but +you ought to give back that mine. The Colonel, he told me----" + +"What do you mean, give it back?" demanded Wiley, irritably. "It isn't +my property yet. I've got to pay for it first and get it away from old +Blount before I can give it to anybody. That's fifty thousand dollars +that I've got to make clear between now and the twentieth of May; but +believe me, Charley, if I once get it paid for I'm going to do something +noble." + +"That's good," assented Charley, "but you've got to pay me, right +off--there's something going to happen!" His sun-dazed eyes opened up +wide with excitement and he listened long and earnestly at the door +before he tiptoed back to Wiley's desk. "I can hear 'em," he said. +"They're going to blow up the mine and shake the mountains down. +They're boring through the ground, but I can hear them working--it's +like worms eating their way through wood." + +"Is that so?" queried Wiley. "Well, maybe we can stop 'em. I'll look +after it, right away. But now about this stock----" + +"It's the Germans!" burst out Charley. "They've got boring machines that +eat through mountains like wood. And then, _bumm_, it's them mines, +and the dynamite bombs----" + +"Yes, it's awful," agreed Wiley, "but here's your money, Charley; so +maybe you'd better go. And you keep this stock now, until it comes +Christmas; and then, Christmas Eve, you slip into the house and put it +in Virginia's stocking." + +"Oh--yes," agreed Charley, still listening to the Germans and then he +became lost in deep thought. "The Colonel will kill me," he said at +last. "It's Christmas, and I ain't brought his whiskey." + +"Why, what's the matter?" joshed Wiley. "Why didn't you deliver it? Did +you get caught in a sandstorm, or what?" + +"Yes, a sandstorm," answered Charley, solemnly. "It came down the valley +like a wall. And my burros got away; but the Colonel, he found me--I was +digging a hole in the sand." + +"Say, where are these Ube-Hebes?" broke in Wiley impulsively. "I'd like +to go over there some time." + +"They're across Death Valley," answered Charley smiling craftily, "--on +the west side, in the Funeral Range. The Coffin mine is there--I used to +work in it--but they put me underground with a stiff for a pardner so I +quit and come back to town." + +"Yes, I heard about that; but you forgot something, Charley--how about +that graveyard shift? But I'll tell you what I'll do, if you'll take me +to the Colonel I'll help Virginia get back her mine." + +He plumped the statement at him, for Charley was an innocent who spoke +out the truth when he was jumped, but for once he detected the ruse. + +"The Colonel's dead," he answered sulkily and picked up his hat to go. + +"I doubt it!" scoffed Wiley. "I met a man the other day who said he'd +seen him--in the Ube-Hebes mountains." + +"He did?" exclaimed Charley, and then he drew back and his eyes flashed +with angry resentment. "You're a liar!" he burst out. "The Colonel is +dead. He never said anything of the kind." + +"Yes, he did," insisted Wiley, "and you know the man well. He's got a +little dog like Heine." + +"He's a liar!" cried Charley savagely, "and don't you go to talking or +I'll make you wish you hadn't." + +"No, I won't," assured Wiley, "but here's the proposition--the Colonel +left a lot of stock. And Mrs. Huff, being crazy, gave it all to Blount +on a loan of eight hundred dollars. But if the Colonel should come back +that transfer would be illegal and he could fix it to get back the mine. +So don't talk to me about giving Virginia her mine--you go out and bring +in the Colonel." + +"He's dead!" yelled Charley, scrabbling madly out the door. "You're a +liar--I tell you he's dead!" + +"Yes, he's dead," observed Wiley, "just the same as I am. I'll have to +get old Charley drunk." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +ON CHRISTMAS DAY + + +Christmas came to Keno in a whirling snowstorm that shrouded Shadow +Mountain in white and, as he stepped out in the morning and looked up at +the peak, Wiley Holman felt a thrill of joy. The black shadow had +bothered him, now that he had come to live under it; and a hundred times +a day as it caught his eye he would glance up to find the dark cloud. +But now it was gone and in place of the lava cap there was a mantle of +gleaming snow. He looked down at the town and, on every graceless house, +there had been bestowed a crown of white; all the tin cans were buried, +the burned spots were covered over, and Keno was almost beautiful. A +family of children were out in the street, trying to coast in their new +Christmas wagons, and Wiley smiled to himself. + +He had brought back those children; he had brought the town to life and +tenanted its vacant houses; and now, best of all, he had brought the +spirit of Christmas, for he had sent a peace-offering to Virginia. She +had spurned it once in the heat of passion, and called him a coward and +a crook; but that package of stock would recall to her mind a time when +she had known him for a friend. It would bring up old memories of their +boy-and-girl love, which she knew he had never forgotten, and if there +was anything to forgive she would know that he remembered it when he +sent this offering by Charley. + +He was a crazy old rat, but he had his uses; and he had promised to give +her the stock, without fail. It was to come, of course, from Charley +himself, in atonement for selling it for nothing; but Virginia would +know, even if she missed his flowered Christmas card, that the stock was +a present from him. It had a value now far above the price he had paid +for it when Charley had thrust it upon him and the dividend alone from +the royalties on his lease would be twelve hundred dollars and more. And +then her pro rata share, when he paid his fifty thousand dollars, would +add another six hundred; and she knew that, for the asking, she could +have half of what he had--or all, if she would take him, too. + +Wiley looked down on the house that sheltered Virginia and smiled to +think of her there. She was waiting on miners, but the time would come +when someone would be waiting on her. In the back of his brain a bold +plan had been forming to feed fat his grudge against Blount and restore +the Huffs to their own--and it needed but a word from her to put the +plan into action. He held from Blount two separate and distinct papers; +one a bond and lease on the mine, the other an option on his personal +stock. But to grant the bond and lease--with its option for fifty +thousand--Blount had been compelled to vote the Widow's stock; and if +that stock was not his and had been illegally voted, then of course the +bond and lease would be void. + +Yet even so he, Wiley Holman, had fully safeguarded his interests, for +by his other option he could buy all Blount's stock for the sum of five +cents a share. The four hundred thousand-odd shares would come to only +twenty thousand dollars, as against fifty thousand on the bond and +lease; and yet, by buying the stock at once, he could effectually debar +Blount from any share in the accumulating profits. The small payments on +past royalties and his five cents a share would be all that Blount would +receive; and then he would be left, a spectacle for gods and men--a +banker who had been beaten by a boy. It was the chicanery of Blount +which had ruined his father and driven Colonel Huff to his death, and +what could be better, as poetic justice, than to see him hoist on his +own petard. And if the Colonel was not dead--as would appear from +Charley's maunderings--if he could be discovered and brought back to +town, then surely Virginia would forget the old feud and consent to be +his wife. All this lay before him, a fairyland of imaginings, waiting +only her magic touch to make it real; just a word, a smile, a promise of +forgiveness--and of loyalty and love--and he, Wiley Holman, would go +whirling on the errand that would win him wealth and renown. + +It would all be done for her, and yet he would not be the loser, for +his own father held two hundred thousand shares of Paymaster; and he +himself would save a fifty-thousand-dollar payment at an expense of a +little over twenty. And if the Colonel could be found quickly--or his +death disproved to make illegal the Widow's transfer of his +stock--then the mine could be claimed at once and Blount deprived even +of his royalties. Of course this could all be done without the help of +Virginia or the co-operation of any of the Huffs for, although his +father had refused from the first to have anything to do with the +mine, Wiley knew that he could talk him over and persuade him to pool +his stock. That would make six hundred thousand, a clean voting +majority and a fortune in itself; but for the sake of Virginia, and to +heal the ancient feud, it would be better to unite with the Huffs. + +Wiley paced up and down in the crisp, dry snow and watched for Virginia +to come, and as his mind leapt ahead he saw her enthroned in a mansion, +with him as her faithful vassal--when he was not her lord and king. For +the Huffs were proud, even now in their poverty, and Virginia was the +proudest of them all; and in this, their first meeting, he must remember +what she had suffered and that it is hard for the loser to yield. It +should be his part to speak with humility and dwell but lightly on the +past while he pictured a future, entirely free from menial service, in +which she could live according to her station. All her years of poverty +and disappointment and loneliness would be forgotten in this sudden rise +to wealth; and to complete the picture, Blount, the cause of all her +suffering, would grovel, very unbankerlike, at their feet. + +Blount would grovel indeed when he felt the cold steel that would +deprive him of all his stock, for he was still playing the game with his +loans and extensions in the hope of winning back what he had lost. For +money was his god, before whom there was no other, and he worshiped it +day and night; and all his fair talk was no more than a pretense to lure +Wiley into the net. Yet not for a minute would Wiley put up his option, +or his bond and lease on the mine; and for all the money that Blount had +loaned him he had given his mere note of hand. It was his promise to +pay, unsecured by any collateral, and yet it was perfectly good. The +money came and went--he could pay Blount at any time--but it was better +to rehabilitate the mine. + +Wiley had a race before him, a race for big stakes, and he kept his eyes +on the goal. To earn fifty thousand dollars in six months' time, earn it +clean above all expense, required foresight and careful management, and +a big daily output, for every day must count. The ore on the dump was in +the nature of a grub-stake, a bonus for undertaking the game; and when +it was all shipped the profits would drop to nothing unless he could +bring up more ore. So he took his first checks, and what he could +borrow, and timbered and cleaned out the mine; and, to save shipping out +more ore, he had ordered expensive machinery to put the old mill into +shape. It was the part of good judgment to spend quickly at first and +build up the efficiency of his plant; and then the last few months, when +Blount would begin to gloat, make a run that would put him in the clear. +Clear not only of the bond and lease, but on Blount's stock as well, for +it would pay for itself with the first dividend; and, to save paying any +more royalties, Wiley was curtailing his wasteful shipments while he +prepared to concentrate the ore in his mill. + +There were envious people in town who prophesied his failure and claimed +that success had gone to his head, but he was confident he could show +them that a man can take chances and yet play his cards to win. He had +taken chances with Blount when he had accepted his money, for there were +other banks that would lend on his mine; but in what more harmless way +could he engage his attention and keep him from actual sabotage? + +It was that which he dreaded, the resort to open warfare, the fire and +vandalism, and dynamite; and day and night he kept his eye on the works, +and hired a night-watchman, to boot. But as long as Blount was convinced +he could win back the mine peaceably he would not resort to violence +and, though Stiff Neck George still hung about the camp, he kept +scrupulously away from the Paymaster. + +As Christmas day wore on and the sun came out gleaming, Wiley swung off +down the trail and through the town. He was a big man now, the man who +had saved Keno after ten years of stagnation and lingering death; and +yet there were those who disliked him. They recited old stories of his +shrewd dealings with Mrs. Huff, and with Virginia and Death Valley +Charley; and if any were forgotten the Widow undoubtedly recalled them. +She was a shrewish woman, full of gossip and backbiting, and she let no +opportunity pass; so that even old Charley cherished a certain +resentment, though he disguised it as solicitude for the Huffs. And so +on Christmas day, as Wiley walked down the street, many greetings lacked +a holiday heartiness. + +The front room of the Huff house was full of children and, as Wiley +walked back and forth, he caught a glimpse of Virginia; but she did +not come out and, after lingering around for a while, he climbed up +the trail to the mine. He had caught but a glimpse, but it was +clean-cut as a cameo--a classic head, eagerly poised; dark hair, +brushed smoothly back; and a smile, for some neighbor's child. That +was Virginia, high-headed and patrician, but kind to lame dogs and +lost cats. She had invited in the children but he, Wiley Holman, who +had loved her since she was a child, had been permitted to pass +unnoticed. He wandered about uneasily, then went back to his office +and began to run over his accounts. + +Over a hundred thousand dollars had passed through his hands in less +than a calendar month and yet the long haul across the desert from Vegas +had put him in the hole. Besides the initial cost of cables and +timbers--and of a rock breaker and the concentrating plant--there was a +charge of approximately twenty dollars a ton for every pound of supplies +he hauled out. And, because of the war, all supplies were high and the +machinery houses were behind with their orders; yet so eager were the +buyers to get hold of his tungsten that they almost took it out of the +bins. He was storing up the ore, preparatory to milling it and shipping +only the concentrates; but if they could have their way they would wrest +it from his hands and rush it to the railroad post haste. One mysterious +buyer had even offered him a contract at seventy dollars a unit--three +dollars and a half a pound! + +Wiley opened up his notebook and made a careful estimate of what the ore +on the dump would bring and his eyes grew big as he figured. At seventy +dollars a unit it would come to more than he owed; and pay for the mine, +to boot. It was a stupendous sum to come so quickly, before the mine was +hardly opened up; but when the mill was running and the mine was sending +up ore--he smiled dizzily and shook his head. A profit like that, if it +ever became known, would make his position dangerous. It was too much of +a temptation for Blount and his jumpers, and blackleg lawyers with fake +claims. They could get out injunctions and tie up the work until he lost +the mine by default! + +But would they dare do it? And how long would it take to raise fifty +thousand dollars elsewhere? Wiley studied it all over in the silence of +his office, for the mine was closed down for Christmas; and then once +more he turned to his notebook and figured the ore underground. Then he +figured the outside cost for installing his machinery, for freight and +supplies and the payroll; and, adding twenty per cent for wear and tear +and accidents, he figured the grand total for six months. That was +astounding too but, when he put against it his ore and the price per +ton, not even the chances that stood out against him could keep down +that dizzy smile. He was made, he was rich, if he could just hold things +level and do a day's work every day. + +The sun set at last as he sat planning details and, rising up stiffly, +he pushed his papers aside and went out into the night. The snow had +melted fast on the roofs and bare ridges and, as the last rays of sunset +touched the peak with ruddy fingers, he noticed that the shadow had come +back. The barren lava cap had thrown aside its Christmas mantle, melting +the snow before it could pack; and now, grim and black, it stood out +like a death-head above the white valley below. Lights flashed out from +miners' windows, the scampering children ceased their clamor, and he +wandered through the darkness alone. + +There was something he had forgotten, something big and significant, but +his tired brain refused to respond. It was part of the scheme to beat +Blount out of his stock, and the royalty from the shipments of ore; +and--yes, it had to do with Virginia. It was going to make her rich, and +both of them happy; but he could not recall it, at the moment. He was +worn out, weary with the seething thoughts which had rioted through his +mind all day, and he turned back dumbly to his office. It was dark and +cold and as he groped for his matchbox his hand encountered a strange +package. And yet it was not so strange--he seemed to remember it, +somehow. He struck a hasty match and looked. It was the package of stock +that he had sent to Virginia, but----The match burnt his fingers and he +dropped it with a curse. She had refused his offer of peace. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE ENIGMA + + +The heights and depths of life are sounded by emotions--cold reason lags +behind. As thought cannot compass, so words cannot describe the +anguished spirit's flight; and whether it soars to ecstasy or sinks to +despair it comes back wide-eyed and silent. So any action which has been +prompted by passion cannot be explained by a calculating mind, and to +seek a reason where none exists is to stray still farther from the +truth. Virginia Huff was poor and waited on the table for what she could +eat and get to wear; and when she returned stock which was worth twelve +hundred dollars without even a note of thanks it was not for any reason +of the mind. It was a reason of the feelings, the soul, the human ego, +which drives our minds and bodies to their tasks; a reason that soared +up like a flaming aurora and stabbed the darkened sky with hate and +passion. It was nothing to reason about, and yet Wiley reasoned. + +He put down the stocks and lit his lamp and examined the package +carefully. Then he looked inside for some note of explanation and +paused and swore to himself. No note was there, nor any sign that the +stocks had ever passed through her hands. He rose up craftily and +stepped out the door, passing silently from house to house, and then +as he came back he threw his door open and examined the snow for +tracks. If Death Valley Charley had failed of his mission, if he had +neglected to place the shares in her stocking and then sneaked back to +get rid of them--but Wiley put all thought of Charley aside for there +in the snow was the print of a woman's shoe. Small and dainty it was +and he knew in his heart that Virginia had been there and gone. She +might have been watching him as he sat at his work, she might even be +watching him now; but again something told him that, however she had +come, she had gone away in a rage. The stab of the high heel, the +heedless step into a mud-puddle, the swinging stride down the trail; +all spoke of defiance, of a coming in the open and a return without +fear of man or devil. She had come there to see him and, finding him +away, she had thrown down the papers and gone home. And that was the +answer to his love. + +Wiley sat down by the fire and tried to account for it. He imagined +himself a woman, young and beautiful, but poor; working hard, as +Virginia now worked, for her board and keep. Before her there was +nothing--her father was dead or lost, her mother a hopeless scold, her +fortune irretrievably gone--and yet she closed the only door out. As an +earnest of his love, without asking anything in return, he had restored +to her a portion of her stock; and she had promptly flung it back. Had +Charley made some break in his method of presentation? But no, she would +not mind if he had; it was something deeper, behind. He battered his +brain, recalling every little incident that might have turned her heart +against him, and it all brought him back to the trial. + +When he had had her mother arrested for coming into his office and +demanding--what was it she had demanded? He remembered the six-shooter, +and the deputy and Blount, and the Widow's rage and tears; and +Virginia's return and all she had said to him--but what was it her +mother had demanded? Her stock! All her stock! The stock she had refused +to sell for ten cents a share and then had turned around and put up with +Blount as security on a quick-action note. She had demanded it all back, +without reason, without compensation, simply because she was a woman +with a gun; and because he had invoked the law to protect him in his +rights Virginia had sworn she would kill him. Wiley rose up swiftly and +pulled the curtain across the window, and then he considered the matter +again. + +It was not like Virginia to resort to any violence--she had been +humiliated too often by her mother's--but she must still think he had +deprived her of her rights. By what process of reasoning could they +fix the blame on him for this stock which had been purloined by +Blount, was beyond his strictly masculine mind; but women sometimes +think by jumps. They skip a few processes, like a mathematical +prodigy, and then arrive at some mammoth result. But, even if they +exaggerated their grievance--was there anything behind it, any peg on +which to hang this senseless hate? + +Well, of course he had deceived them about the mine. He had known it +contained scheelite the moment he picked up that white rock that +Virginia had placed in her collection, but naturally he had not +announced it from the house-tops. With the Widow as a partner, or even +as a stockholder, the best-natured man in the state of Nevada could not +have worked the Paymaster at a profit. For that reason alone he had been +fully justified in letting her freeze herself out; and if Virginia had +taken his advice--but then, the poor girl had been distracted. She had +been worn out and discouraged, hag-ridden by her mother and facing a +trip to the city; and she had sold out for what she could get. She was a +good girl, a brave girl, and a sweet and lovely one too; and it was +foolish to blame her for anything. The thing to do, after all, was to +find ways and means of bringing her back to her own. Just a word from +Virginia and he could change her whole life, he could get back all her +stock and her mother's as well and pour money into their laps--but first +he must win her love. He must teach her to trust him, break down her +suspicion and show her that he was her friend. + +Wiley thought a long time and the next morning at dawn he was up in his +car and away. Virginia was a child. She did not reason about this and +that, but was swayed by the impulses of the moment. Her life was ruled, +not by her head but by her heart; and he had forgotten until that moment +the sacks full of cats that he had taken from her house to the ranch. +They were all her pets, and he had taken them as a trust when she was +about to start for Los Angeles; but the mine had made him forget. They +were safe at the ranch, with his sisters to look after them; but how +many times since their estrangement began must some question have risen +to her lips as to how they were, or if he would bring them back, or +whether any had died or been lost? Yet she had turned her head away and +refused to speak to him, even to demand back the pets she loved. + +The road was bad out across the desert, and on through Vegas to the +ranch, but he came thundering back the next night. He had left the mine +to run itself, for his thoughts were of Virginia, but as he slowed down +at the sand-wash and listened for the pumps he noticed that the engine +had stopped. Well, he had an engineer and that was his business--to keep +the sump-hole pumped out; perhaps he had shut down for repairs. But the +big thing, after all, was to restore Virginia her pets and win his way +to a place in her heart. He drove boldly up the street and stopped +before the house, but nobody came to the door. He waited a while, then +leapt out uncertainly and released the mother of Virginia's pet kittens. +She ran under the house and, as no one came out, Wiley let the rest of +them go and turned disconsolately back towards the mine. If he had ever +thought, when he had the Widow arrested, that Virginia was going to take +it so hard--but then, of course, it had been absolutely necessary--and +just wait till she found her kittens! + +There was trouble in the engine-house. He knew that the minute he saw +the dancing torches in the dark, and he went up the trail on the run; +but when he saw the wreckage, and the gear-wheel dismounted, he burst +into a wailing curse. The mine had been all right, pumps operating, +hoist running, when he had left the day before; but the minute he +turned his back---- "What's the matter?" he demanded and then, +pushing the engineer aside, he flashed a torch on the wreck. Wedged in +the gearing of the shattered gear-wheel was a pair of engineer's +overalls. They had jammed tight in the teeth and the resistless +driving of the engine had cracked the great gear-wheel like an +eggshell. Held solid by its base in the bolted concrete there had not +been a half-inch's play and, since something must give, and the +opposing wheel had stood, the enormous casting had smashed. The +engineer and his helpers were pottering about, trying guiltily to +remove the cause of the accident, but one look was enough to tell +Wiley Holman that his mine was closed down for a week. No welding +could ever repair that broken gear-wheel--he would have to wire for +another. + +"Whose overalls are those?" he asked at last as the men sought to evade +his eye and the engineer himself confessed ownership. + +"They're an old pair of mine," he explained, "that got caught when I was +wiping up the grease." + +"What? Wiping up grease when the machinery was in motion? Why didn't you +wait until it stopped?" + +"Well--I didn't; that's all. There was a big puddle of grease gathering +dirt underneath there--and I thought I'd wipe it up." + +"I see," observed Wiley and his eyes narrowed down as he caught the +aroma of whiskey. "Well, clear up this mess," he said at last and +hurried to his office to telephone. A single line of wire stretched +out across the plain, connecting Keno with Vegas and the world, and +within half an hour he had dictated a rush order to be wired to his +supply-house in Los Angeles. If money would buy it he would grab a new +gear-wheel and have it shipped out by express; but if there was none +in stock he would have to wait for it; and the machine-shops were +months behind. Yet his whole mine was shut down on account of this +accident and, if he only had the money, he could almost afford to buy +a new engine and be done with it. He stopped and thought if there was +one in the country that he could get hold of, second-hand, and then he +thrust the matter aside. The problem of getting an engine on the +ground was one that could be worked out later, but in the meanwhile +the water was rising in the sump and the pumps would soon be +submerged. There were two shifts of miners who would have to be +discharged and--yes, the engine crew, too. It was against all the +rules for an engineer to be wiping up his engine while it was running, +and it was only by a miracle that the engineer himself had escaped +unhurt from the smash? + +But was it a miracle? A swift stab of suspicion made Wiley's heart stand +still. Was this the first treacherous move in Blount's battle to win +back the mine? Had Blount, or some agent, suggested to the engineer that +an accident would be followed by a reward; and then had not the +engineer, when no one was looking, fed his overalls into the gearings? +He was a surly young brute and he met Wiley's eyes with a stare that +bordered on defiance, yet there was nothing to be gained by accusing +him. If Blount had bribed his men it was best to get rid of them without +the faintest suggestion of suspicion; and then take on a new crew, +shipped in from San Francisco or some equally distant place. + +Wiley went underground with his men, opening up the air-cocks in the +pumps, and bringing out the powder and steel; and then the next morning, +just before the stage went out, he gave them all their time. They had a +certain constraint, a sullen silence in his presence, that argued them +against him at heart and, since the mine was closed down for some time +to come, he made a clean sweep of them all. Yet it pained him somehow, +being new at the game, to see all these miners against him and as they +piled their rolls on the stage he lingered to see them off. He had paid +them union wages and treated them right but now, with their time-checks +in their pockets, they looked past him in stony silence. It puzzled him +somehow, leaving him vaguely uneasy; but just as the stage pulled out he +found the answer to his enigma. On the gallery of the Huff house as the +automobile sped past there was a sudden flash of white and as Virginia +appeared the young engineer rose up drunkenly and wafted her a kiss. +After that the answer was plain. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +AN APPEAL TO CHARLEY + + +What is a kiss waved by a drunken hand, to a man whose love is like the +hills? And yet that kiss, wafted so amorously to Virginia, stirred up a +rage in Wiley Holman's heart. Was it not enough to wait on the table, +without cultivating the acquaintance of her boarders? And this foolish +affair, whatever it was, had cost him at least ten thousand dollars. It +would come to that before he was through with it--in lost time and new +machinery and unearned profits--and all because Virginia had smiled at +this drunken engineer, who had promptly sent his overalls through the +driving-gear. Yet that was the natural result of letting his men board +in town where they could hear the Widow's ravings against him. + +In the midst of his telephoning and giving directions to his mill-crew, +who were still rushing their work on the mill, Wiley turned the matter +over in his mind and it left him sick with doubts. He had counted upon +the opposition of Blount, but Virginia's almost staggered him. It would +make a difference, before his six months was up, if she set all his men +against him, and yet he could not stop her. If he withdrew his men and +boarded them himself that would only inflame the neighborhood the more, +for it would deprive the Huffs of their livelihood; and if he let things +go on it might result in more wrecks that would seriously interfere with +his plans. No, the thing to do was to see Virginia at once and come to +an understanding. + +A telegram from his supply-house reported the engine an old type with +all parts out of stock, and he worked for hours making tedious +measurements before he ordered the new gear-wheel made. Then he sent an +urgent wire to rush him the new engine that had been ordered to supply +power to the mill, only to be told once more that it was held up by +previous orders and could not be delivered for a month. A month! And +with the water mounting up in his shaft like the interest on his notes. +It was no time for half measures. He leapt into his racer and burned up +the road to Vegas. Three days later he returned with an old gas engine +that he had salvaged from an abandoned mine and by the end of the week, +by working day and night, he had the pumps lifting water. And then again +he remembered Virginia. + +He had thought of her, of course, when he was speeding to and fro, but +he was hardly in the mood for sentiment. There were more things to go +wrong than he had thought humanly possible in the management of a mine, +and between ordering his machinery and taking on new men he had had +scant leisure for affairs of the heart. He was young and inexperienced +and the dealers took advantage of it to foist off old stock and odd +parts, and then his engineers became fractious and disgruntled because +he expected quick results. It was all very different from what he had +expected when he had taken over the Paymaster lease, and yet it had to +be endured and muddled through somehow until the mine was safely his +own. Then out would come the engines, and all second-hand machinery and +makeshift parts, and with a superintendent who knew his job he would +lean back in comfort and learn the mining business by proxy. + +Wiley shaved that evening and went down through the town, but when he +put his hand on the Widow's gate his resolution failed him. He had +placed her under bonds to keep the peace, and she had lived up to the +undertaking scrupulously, but within her own house she had certain +rights and privileges which even he dared not invade. If he stepped in +that doorway she would order him out; and unquestionably she would be +within her rights, since every man's house is his castle. So, on the +very threshold of Virginia's retreat, he drew back and went to see Death +Valley Charley. + +Death Valley was drunk, but his conscience was still active and he burst +into a voluble explanation. + +"No, I gave her that stock," he protested earnestly, "but she made me +take it back. + +"'It ain't mine,' she says, 'and I'll work my hands off before I'll take +charity from anybody.' + +"'No, you keep it,' I says, just exactly like you tole me, 'because I'm +your guardian, and all; and Wiley he says that I'm a hell of a poor one, +because I sold him that stock for nothing. No,' I says, just exactly +like you tole me, 'I want you to keep this stock.'" + +"Well?" inquired Wiley, as Charley paused to take a drink, "and what did +Virginia say, then?" + +"Oh, I couldn't repeat it," answered Death Valley virtuously. "She don't +seem to like you now. She says you stole her mine." + +"Huh!" grunted Wiley, and looked about the cabin which was littered with +bottles and flasks. "Well, where've _you_ been?" he went on at +last, the better to change the subject, and Charley leered at him +shrewdly. + +"Over across Death Valley," he chanted drunkenly, "--on the east side, +in the Funeral Range. But they put me to work on the graveyard shift so +I quit and come back to town." + +"Ye-es," jeered Wiley, "you've been on a big drunk. What are you doing +with this demijohn of whiskey?" + +"Why, I got it for the Colonel," replied Charley, laughing childishly, +"and I started to take it over to him, but my burros got away at +Daylight Springs, so I made camp and drunk it all up." + +"But it's full!" objected Wiley. + +"Yes, I refilled it," answered Charley and helped himself to another +nip. "Thas second time now I took that whiskey to the Colonel and both +times I drunk it up. Thas bad--the Colonel will kill me." + +"Yes, and do a danged good job," grumbled Wiley morosely. "You sure got +me in Dutch with Virginia." + +"She says you stole her mine," defended Charley stoutly. "And don't you +say nothing against Virginia. She's noblest girl the sun ever shined. +I'll _kill_ any man that says different!" + +"Oh yes, sure," agreed Wiley, "I'd do that myself. But Charley, I didn't +steal her mine. I got it from Blount, and if she wants it back--say, +Charley, you tell her I want to see her!" + +He leaned over eagerly and laid his hand on Charley's shoulder, but +Death Valley shook him off. + +"No!" he declaimed. "The Huffs are poor but proud--they don't take +charity from no one!" + +"Aw, but, Charley," he argued, "this isn't charity. We'll get it away +from Blount!" + +"You're drunk!" declared Charley and turned sternly to the demijohn +which was rapidly going down. + +"Well, maybe I am," admitted Wiley craftily, "but that's all right, +isn't it, between friends?" + +"Sure thing--have another!" responded Charley cordially, and Wiley +poured out a generous portion. + +"Here's to you," he said, "Old Chuckawalla Charley--the man that put the +Death in Death Valley. You're some desert rat, now ain't you, Charley? +You helped pack the mud to build the butte and stoped out the guest +chamber down in hell! Well, here's luck!" and he nodded his health. + +"Yes, you bet I'm an old-timer," boasted Death Valley vaingloriously. +"I was at Panamint and Ballarat, and all them camps. Me and old Shorty +Harris--we used to lead every rush--we was first at Greenwater and +Skidoo. But these damned lizzies can beat us to it now--the old +burro-man is too slow." + +"But crossing the sand, Charley, you've got us there; and climbing up +these rocky washes. I've got a good machine--it'll take me most +anywhere--but when it comes to crossing Death Valley, give me some burros +and old Uncle Charley." He slapped him on the back and Uncle Charley +smiled doubtfully and took another drink. "You bet," went on Wiley, with +method in his madness. "I'd like nothing better, when I get a little +time, than to have you take me out across Death Valley. What's it like, +over there, Charley? Is it very far to water? But I'll bet you know +every trail!" + +"I know 'em all," announced Charley proudly, "but here's one that nobody +knows. It's the trail to the Ube-Hebes. First you go from here to +Daylight Springs, but they ain't no feed around there, so you go over +the divide and down six miles and camp at Hole-in-the-Rock. And there +they's good feed and plenty of good water and a tin house where the +freighters used to camp; and then you fill your tanks and the next day +you follow the wash till it takes you down to Stovepipe Wells. That +water is bad but the burros will drink it if you bail the hole out +first, and the next day you cross the sand-hills and the Death Valley +Sink and head for Cottonwood wash. Many is the man that has started for +that gateway and died before he reached the water, but the Colonel----" + +Charley stopped abruptly and looked around for Heine and then he poured +out a drink. + +"He's dead now," he concluded, but Wiley caught his eye and shook his +head disapprovingly. + +"Not between friends," he said. "Ain't we drunk here together? Well, +tell me the truth now--where is he? And listen here, Charley; I'll tell +you something first that will make it all right with the Colonel. All he +has to do is to come back to Keno and I'll give him his share in the +mine. Then we can throw in together, and, when we get through, old +Blount will be left holding the sack. Do you get the idea? I'm trying to +be friends, but you've got to take me over to the Colonel!" + +"The Colonel is dead!" repeated Charley doggedly and then he cocked his +head to one side. "Don't you hear 'em?" he asked, "it's them Germans or +something----" + +"Never mind!" said Wiley sharply. "I'm talking about the Colonel, and +I'll tell you what I'll do. I can't give the mine to Virginia because +she won't take it; but the Colonel is a gentleman. He's reasonable, +Charley, and I'd get along with him fine; so come on, now--go over and +tell him!" + +He patted him on the back and a look of indecision crept into Charley's +drink-dimmed eyes, but in the end he shook his head. + +"Nope," he muttered, "the Colonel is dead!" And Wiley threw up his +hands. + +"Well, then here," he ran on, "you know me Charley; and you know I'm +not trying to steal that mine. Now here's what I want you to do. You +tell Virginia I want to see her; and then some night you bring her +over and--well, maybe that will do just as well." + +"Will you give her back her mine?" inquired Charley pointedly, and Wiley +rose up in a rage. + +"Yes!" he yelled, "for cripes' sake, what's the matter with you? You +talk like everybody was a crook. Didn't I give her back her stock? Well +then, I'll give her back her mine! But she's got to accept it, hasn't +she?" + +"That was her I heard coming," answered Charley simply, but when Wiley +looked out she was gone. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE DRAGON'S TEETH + + +It is the curse of success that it raises up enemies as Jason's dragon +teeth brought forth armed men. When he was skating around the country, +examining mines and taking out options, Wiley could safely count every +man his friend; but now that he had made his big _coup_ on the +Paymaster they were against him, from Virginia down. If he went to her +politely with a thousand-dollar bill and asked her to take it as a gift +she would refuse to so much as look at him. And yet, as a matter of +fact, he was the same old laughing Wiley--only now he did not laugh. It +was not right, but it could not be helped. + +A long and weary month, full of vexatious delays and nerve-racking +demands from his creditors, left its mark on Wiley's face; but in six +weeks the mine and mill were running. Three shifts of men broke the ore +at the face and sent it up the shaft to the grizzly and from there it +was fed down through the enormous rock-crusher and then on through the +ball-mills and rollers to the concentrating tables below. It was crushed +and sorted and crushed again and ground fine in the revolving tubes, and +then it was screened and washed and separated on vanners until nothing +but the concentrates remained. The tail sluicings were sluiced off down +the gulch, to add to the mighty dump that the Paymaster had left there +in its prime. But even at its best, when it was working in gold ore that +ran three or four thousand to the ton, even then the famous Paymaster +had not turned out treasure like this. + +The banks were full of gold--they were shipping it to America in lots of +ten and twelve million at a time--but tungsten was rare, it was +necessary, almost priceless, and the demand for it increased by leaps +and bounds. How could iron-masters harden the tools that were to turn +out the mighty cannon that this gold had been sent over to buy, unless +they could get the tungsten? Molybdenum, vanadium, manganese, and all +the substitutes were commandeered to take its place; but month by month +the price of tungsten crept up until now all the West was tungsten-mad. +It had gone up from forty dollars to sixty, and now seventy, for a +twenty-pound unit of concentrates--running sixty per cent or better of +tungstic acid--and as Wiley resumed his shipments he received a frantic +offer of seventy-five dollars a unit. And then once more he smiled. + +There had been a time when he had felt the cold hand of Blount closing +down on his precious mine--and the other banks had refused to take over +his notes. The property was not his, there was nothing tangible upon +which to make a loan; and then, Blount had passed the word around. Wiley +was indebted to him, and heavily indebted, and when he took the apple +there would be no core for the rest. But now in a week the whole +situation had changed and Wiley's smile brought forth answering smiles. +The general store in Vegas extended his credit, even his supply-house +had heard the good news; and Blount, who had grown arrogant, became +suddenly friendly and fawning, trying vainly to cover up his hand. He +was like a man who had clutched at a treasure and discovered himself a +little too soon. The treasure was still Wiley's but--well, Blount was +used to waiting, so he smiled and extended the notes. + +At three dollars and more a pound it would not take many tons of +tungsten to put Wiley safely out of the hole, but when he ran over his +accounts he was startled by the bills that were piling up against him. A +thousand dollars was nothing to these mining machinery houses and his +payroll was over two hundred a day; and then there was powder and timber +and steel, and gasoline and oil, _and_ the freight across the +desert. That went on everything, twenty dollars a ton whether they +hauled both ways or one; and with so much at stake he had to treat +everyone generously or run the chance of being tied up by a strike. Nor +was there lacking the sinister evidence of some unfriendly if not +hostile force, and as breakdowns recurred and unexpected accidents +happened, Wiley came and went like a ghost. His gun was always on him +and he watched each man warily, seeking out his enemies from his +friends. + +As for Virginia and her mother, he had long since given up hope of +stopping their venomous tongues; and Death Valley Charley, finding the +pressure too strong, had conveniently dropped out of sight. In all that +town, which he had found dead and unpeopled and had changed in a few +months to a live camp, there was not a single soul that he could +truthfully say was honestly and unquestionably his friend. It was not +that they were against him, for most of them realized that their own +success was bound up with his; but they were not actively for him, they +did not boost and help him, but joined in on the old anvil chorus. He +had cheated the Widow, he had beaten Virginia out of her stock, he had +taken advantage of Death Valley Charley! But, they added--and this was +what galled him--what else could you expect from the son of Honest John? + +Wiley gritted his teeth, but he did not speak his mind for the hour of +vindication was at hand. When he had paid off his notes and his bills +for supplies the first thing he would do, even before he took over the +mine, would be to buy in Blount's Paymaster stock. And with that stock +in his hands, with every tell-tale endorsement to prove the damning +story of Blount's guilt, he would go to these old-timers and make them +eat their words when they said his father was not honest. But as far as +he was concerned, what difference did it make whether they considered +him honest or not? Would they feel any more kindly towards his honest +old father when he had proved that he had been faithful to the end? No, +they thought they were virtuous and only denouncing injustice, but when +that charge was taken out of their mouths they would clack on out of +jealousy at his success. It was envy that really poisoned their minds +and made them spit forth spleen, envy and chagrin at their own lack of +foresight. + +The Paymaster dump had lain right at their doorway where all of them +could inspect its ore, but no one had noticed the heavy spar. They had +called it white quartz and dismissed it from their minds, but he had +come among them with different eyes. He had gone to a school of mines, +where he had learned to identify minerals, and he had kept up with the +mining magazines; and while these poisonous knockers had been lamenting +the results of the war he had jumped in and turned it to his advantage. +He had done something practical, to the improvement of industry, +something that might change in a certain measure, the very destiny of +the world; but the moment he succeeded they had accused him of robbing +half-wits and of oppressing the widow and the orphan. Wiley shut down +his jaws and smiled dourly. + +There was small hope now of changing the widow and her "orphan" but if +he could not convert them he could show them. As sure as he knew +anything he was convinced that Colonel Huff had simply fled from his +wife's nagging tongue and, when he got the time, Wiley intended to hire +a pack-train and set out across Death Valley to find him. Virginia came +and went, but always she avoided him scrupulously. Not once since she +had returned from Vegas had she met his questioning eyes; and to all his +advances she turned a deaf ear, if the statements of Charley could be +trusted. The carefully thought out scheme of getting back the Huff stock +and then forming an alliance against Blount had died before it was born; +or it remained at best in suspended animation, pending Death Valley +Charley's return. He had gone off with his burros but the longer Wiley +waited on him the more he saw that Charley was a broken reed. No, the +trimming of Blount, if it was done at all, would have to be done by +him--and all he needed was time. + +Two months and a little more lay between him and the day of +reckoning--the twentieth day of May. In that short time he must meet +heavy obligations, pay off his notes, buy Blount's stock and purchase +the mine; and if anything should happen--if the hoist should break +down, the mill blow up, the market for tungsten fail--well, he could +kiss the Paymaster good-by. The market and other influences were on +the knees of the gods, but Wiley decided that there should be no more +accidents. That was something preventable and no more love-sick +engineers were going to use his gearings for a clothes mangle. He +engaged two watchmen who were mechanics as well and then he kept watch +over his watchmen. Neither by day nor by night did he go down the hill +for more than a few minutes at a time and on dark, stormy nights he +wandered about like a specter watching the shadows for Stiff Neck +George. He was out there somewhere, Wiley knew it as instinctively as +he knew that Virginia hated him, and yet he never appeared. He never +made threats nor showed himself in the open but, somewhere, he was out +there in the darkness; and sooner or later he would strike. + +The days dragged on slowly, with cold, March winds and sandstorms +boiling in over Shadow Mountain; and then driving rain followed by +bright, sunny weather and struggling flowers in the swales. It was +spring, in a way, but not the spring of yester-year, with its songs and +laughter and high hopes. Wiley felt the old call to be up and away, but +his racer remained in its shed. He paced about restlessly, waiting for +something to happen, observing the slightest signs--and then he found +her tracks in the dust. Virginia had come up the trail in the night and +had gone down past the mill. He knew her tracks well and, among the +broad brogans of the miners, they stood out like the footprints of a +fairy. Wiley's heart leapt up in his breast--and then it stood still. +Had she come as an enemy or a friend? + +He followed her trail to where it had been trampled out by the +watchman in making his regular rounds; and then, below the mill, he +picked it up again as it went on down the path. Not once had she +hesitated or turned from the beaten trail, but she had gone down after +the graveyard shift. That went on at eleven and her tracks were +superimposed on the hob-nailed boot-marks of the miners. When they had +come off shift they had trampled them out again, except for a print +here and there; and by the color of the dust Wiley shrewdly judged +that she had visited him between twelve and one. Between the +wind-blown footprints of the night-shift and the fresh red of the day +shift as they had mounted the trail at seven, her high-arched steps +had been made about midnight, for the dust had been whitened by the +air. Wiley followed them silently, trampling them out as he went, and +that night as the graveyard shift came on he slipped out and hid by +the trail. What kind of a watchman was this, who let a woman come and +go and never even saw her tracks in the dust? He could watch for +Virginia; and meanwhile, incidentally, he could keep tab on this +sleepy-headed guard. + +The _chuh_, _chuh_ of the engine echoed loud in the canyon as +the hoist brought up the first cars, and then the rumble of the trams as +they were pushed down the track and the clatter of the ore down the +grizzly. A sharp _blap_, _blap_, from the compressor showed +that the machine-men had set up their drills; and beneath all the rest +there was the hushed rumble of the mill and the thunderous _rhump_, +_rhump_, of the rock-breaker. It was a ponderous affair of the old +jaw-type, surmounted by a fly-wheel of a full ton's weight that drove it +rhythmically on; and as Wiley listened it made a music for his ears as +sweet as any bass viol. In this mine of his there was an orchestration +of busy sounds, from the clang of the bell to start or stop the engine, +to this deep, rumbling undertone of the crusher; and every clang and +crunch brought him that much nearer to the day when he would be free. + +He took shelter within the black mouth of a short tunnel by the trail +and looked out at his little world--the huge mill, dimly lighted, the +gaunt gallows-frame against the sky, and the sleeping town below. He had +made them his own and now he must fight for them; and watch over them, +day and night. Above him the stars shone out clean and cold, a million +of them in the dry, desert air; and in the east the half moon rose up +slowly above Gold Hill, where the wealth of ages lay hid. It had given +up its gold but his hand had struck the blow that would open up its +treasure vaults of tungsten. All it needed now was watchfulness and +patience. The moon rose up higher and he dozed within the shadow and +then a sound brought him to with a start. It was the crunch of gravel on +the trail before him and as he looked out he saw Virginia. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +VIRGINIA EXPLAINS--NOTHING + + +She was covered by a cloak and there was a man's hat on her head, but +Wiley knew her--it was Virginia Huff. The moon had mounted high and the +chill of the morning was in the air, so he could hardly flatter himself +that she had come to see him. Perhaps it was just to see the mine. But +if, beneath that cloak, she carried some instrument of destruction--he +stepped out and watched her covertly. She tiptoed up the trail, glancing +nervously about her, starting back as a trammer dumped his ore; and +then, very slowly, she crept past his house and disappeared in the +direction of the mill. Instantly he whipped out of his tunnel and +started after her, running swiftly up the trail; but as he neared the +summit she came catapulting against him, running as swiftly the other +way. + +"Here! Stop!" he commanded as she leapt back with a stifled scream and +then as she made a dash he plunged resolutely after her and caught her +like a child. + +"You let go of me!" she panted, but he flung one arm about her and held +both her hands to her side. + +"No," he said, and she struck out violently only to find herself +clutched the tighter. + +"Wiley Holman!" she exploded, "if you don't let me go! You'd better--I +saw a man back there!" + +"It's my watchman," answered Wiley. "I keep him to guard the mill. But +what are you doing up here?" + +"No! It wasn't! It was Stiff Neck George! And he had something heavy in +his hand! You'd better go and watch him!" + +She was struggling in his arms, her breath hot against his cheek, fear +and rage in every word, but he crushed her roughly to his side. + +"Never mind about George," he said. "What are _you_ doing up here, +now?" + +"But he'll blow up your mine! I've heard him threaten to! I just came up +to tell you!" + +"Oh, that's different!" returned Wiley, relaxing his grip, "but never +mind--my watchman will get him." + +"No! The watchman is asleep--I didn't see him anywhere! Oh, Wiley; +please run and stop him!" + +"Nope," replied Wiley, "he can blow the whole mill up--I want to ask you +a question." + +He released her reluctantly, for the touch of her had thrilled him, and +the sweetness of her breath on his cheek--but she darted down the trail +like a rabbit. + +"Here! Wait!" he ordered and outran her in ten jumps, at which she +stooped and snatched up a rock. + +"Put that down!" he said, and as she swung back the rock, he braved it +and caught her anyway. "Now," he went on, trembling from the smash of +the blow, but holding her in a grip of steel, "we'll see what all this +is about!" + +"You will not!" she hissed back, "because I won't answer you a word! And +I hope old George ruins your mill!" + +"That's all right," he said, shaking his bloody head, "but, Judas, you +did smash me with that stone! After that, I guess, I've got something +coming to me!" And he reached down and kissed her lips. + +"You--stop!" she panted. "Oh, I--I'll kill you for that!" But Wiley only +laughed recklessly. + +"All right!" he said, "what's the difference--I'd die happy! I almost +wish you'd hit me again." + +"Well, I will!" she threatened, but when he released her she drew back +and hung her head. "That isn't fair," she said, "you know I can't +protect myself, and----" + +"Well, all right," he agreed, "we'll call it square then. But--I want to +tell you something, Virginia." + +"Are you going to stand here," she burst out sharply, "and let him blow +up your mill?" + +"Yes, I am," he answered. "I don't care what happens to me if you and I +can be friends. I love you, Virginia, you know it as well as I do, and +that's all I want in the world. Let's just be friends, the way we used +to be when we were playing around town together. I've been trying to see +you for months--it's seemed like forty years--and Virginia, you've got +to listen to me!" + +He paused and drew nearer, and she stood waiting passively, as if daring +him to touch her again; but he stooped and peered into her face. The +night was not dark and in the ghostly moonlight he could see the cold +anger in her eyes. + +"Yes, I know," he said, "you hate me like poison--but Virginia, this is +going too far. It's all right to hate me, if that's the way you're +built, but you ought to give me a chance. It looks very much as if you'd +come up here to-night to do some damage to my mine; but I'll let that +pass and say nothing about it if you'll only give me a chance. Let me +tell you how I feel and then, some other time----" + +"Well, go on," she said, "but if your old mine blows up----" + +"I wish it would!" he burst out passionately. "If it would make any +difference, I wish it was blown off the map. I can't bear to fight you, +Virginia; it makes my life miserable, and I've tried to be friendly from +the first. But is it right to blame a man for something he can't help +and not even give him a chance to explain? If you think I've stolen your +mine, why, go ahead and say so and let me give it back. I'll do it, so +help me God, if you'll only say the word." + +"What word?" she asked, and he threw out his hands in a helpless appeal +to her pity. + +"Any word," he said, "so long as it's friendly. But I just can't stand +it to be without you!" + +"Oh," she said, and looked back up the trail as if meditating another +dash to escape. + +"Well, what is it?" he asked at last. "Won't you even listen to me? I've +got a plan to propose." + +"Why, certainly," she responded, "go ahead and tell it. And then, when +it's done, can I go?" + +"Yes, you can go," he answered eagerly, "if you'll only just listen +reasonably and think what this means to us both. We used to be friends, +Virginia, and while I was working up this deal I did everything I could +to help you. I didn't have much money then or I'd have done more for +you, but you know my heart was right. I wasn't trying to take advantage +of you. But the minute I got the mine it seems as if everybody turned +against me--and you turned against me, too. That hurt me, Virginia, +after what I'd tried to do for you, but I know you had your reasons. You +blamed me for things that I never had done and--well, you wouldn't even +speak to me. But that was all right--it was perfectly natural--and on +Christmas I sent you back your stock. I only bought it from Charley to +help you get to Los Angeles, and I considered that I was holding it in +trust; so I sent it back by Charley, but I suppose he made some break, +because I found it on my table that night. But you'll take it back now; +won't you, Virginia?" + +His voice broke like a boy's in the earnestness of his appeal and yet it +was hopeless, too, for he saw that she stood unmoved. He waited for an +answer, then as she shifted her feet impatiently he went on with dogged +persistence. It was useless, he knew it; and yet, sometime in the +future, she might recall what he had said and take advantage of it. + +"Well, all right, then," he assented, "but the stock's yours if you want +it. I'm holding it for you, in trust. But now here's what I wanted to +tell you--I'd hoped we could do it together; but you ought to do it, +anyway. You know that stock that your mother lost to Blount? Well, I +know how you can get it back." + +He paused for her to speak, to exclaim perhaps at his magnanimity in +offering to help her against her will, but she shrouded herself +pettishly in her cloak. + +"Oh, you don't care, eh?" he asked with a bitter laugh. "Well, I wish to +God, then, I didn't. But I do, Virginia! I can't stand it to see you +slaving when there's anything in the world that I can do. Now here's the +proposition: according to law your father isn't legally dead--he won't +be for seven years--and so your mother, not being his heir yet, had no +right to hypothecate that stock. It still belongs to your father's +estate and all you have to do is to go to a lawyer and demand the +property back. You're his daughter, you see, and a co-heir with your +mother, and Blount will not dare to oppose it!" + +"Yes, thanks," returned Virginia. "Is that all?" + +"Why--no!" he said at last, clutching his hands at his side. +"There's--I'll lend you the money, Virginia." + +"No, thank you!" she answered, and started off down the trail, but he +stepped in her way and stopped her. His mood had changed, for his voice +was rough and threatening, but he struggled to keep it down. + +"Is that all?" he demanded and without waiting for the answer he reached +out and caught her by the arm. "Virginia," he said, "I've tried to be +good to you, but maybe you don't appreciate it. And maybe I've made a +mistake. There's something about you when I'm around that reminds me of +a man with a grouch--only a man would speak out his mind. Now I've given +you a chance to clean up twenty thousand dollars and I expect something +more than: 'No, thanks!'" + +"Well, what _do_ you expect?" she asked, struggling feebly against +his grasp. + +"I expect," he answered, "that you'll state your grievance and tell me +why you won't have me?" + +"And if I do, will you let me go?" + +"When I get good and ready," he responded grimly. "I don't know whether +I'm in love with you or not." + +"Well, my grievance," she went on defiantly, "is that you went to work +deliberately and robbed me and mother of our mine. And as for winning +_me_, that's one thing you can't steal--and I'll kill you if you +don't let go of that hand!" + +"Yes," he said, "I've heard that before--it seems to run in the family. +But don't you think for a minute that I'm afraid of getting killed--or +that I'm trying to steal you, either. If you were an Indian squaw you +might be worth stealing, because I could beat a little sense into your +head; but the way things are now I'll just turn you loose--and kindly +keep off my ground." + +He flung back her hand and stepped out of the trail but Virginia did not +pass. Her breast heaved tumultuously and she turned upon him as she +sought for a fitting retort; but while they stood panting, each +glowering at the other, there was a crash from inside the old mill. Its +huge bulk was lit up by a flash of light which went out in Stygian +darkness and as they listened, aghast, the ground trembled beneath them +and a tearing roar filled the air. It began at the stone-breaker and +went down through the mill, like the progress of a devastating host, and +as Wiley sprang forward, there was a terrifying smash which seemed to +shake the mill to its base. Then all was silent and as he looked around +he saw Virginia dancing off down the trail. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +ON DEMAND + + +If there was anything left of his mill but the frame, Wiley's ears had +played him false; and yet he stood and looked after Virginia. This +grinding crash, this pandemonium of destruction which had left him sick +with fear, had put joy into her dancing feet. Yes, she had danced--like +a child that hears good news or runs to meet its father--and he had +thought her worthy of his love! He had battered his brain for weeks to +devise some plan whereby he could make his peace; he had taken her blows +like a dog; and she had answered with this. Whether it was Stiff Neck +George or some other man, she had known both his presence and his +purpose; and now she rejoiced in the catastrophe. A hundred dollars +would buy him a squaw more worthy of confidence and love. + +There was darkness in the mill, but when they brought the flares, +Wiley saw that the ruin was complete. From the rock breaker to the +concentrators there was nothing but splintered wood, twisted iron and +upturned tanks; and the demon of destruction which had raged down +through its length was nothing but the fly-wheel of the rock crusher. +What power had uprooted it he was at a loss to conjecture but, a full +ton in weight, it had jumped from its frame and plowed its way down +through the mill. The ore-bins were intact, for the fly-wheel had +overleapt them, but tables and tanks and concentrating jigs were +utterly smashed and ruined. Even the wall of the mill had given way +before it and the cold light of dawn crept in through a jagged +aperture that marked its resistless course. The fly-wheel was gone and +the damage was done; but there was still, of course, the post mortem. +What had caused that massive shafting, with its ponderous speeding +wheels, to leap from its bearings and go crashing down the descent, +laying everything before it in ruins? Wiley summoned his engineer and, +in the shattered jaws of the rock-breaker, they found the +innocent-looking instrument of destruction. It was not a stick of +dynamite, but a heavy steel sledge-hammer that had been cast into the +jaws of the crusher. They had closed down upon it, the hammer had +resisted, and then all the momentum of that whirling double fly-wheel +had been brought to bear against it. Yet the hammer could not be +crushed and, as the wheel had applied its weight, the resistance to +its force had caused it to leap from its bearings and go hurtling down +the incline. + +It was a very complete job, even better than dynamiting, and yet Wiley +did not blame it on Stiff Neck George. Some miner, some millman, who had +seen it done before, had repeated the performance for his benefit. Or +was it, perhaps, for Virginia's? He remembered the engineer who had fed +his greasy overalls into the gearings of the hoist. He had boarded with +Virginia and had waved her a parting kiss--but this time it would be +some trammer. Wiley gave them all their time on general principles, but +he did not go down to witness the farewell. Whether the trammer kissed +her good-by or simply kissed her hand was immaterial to him now--and, in +case it might have been a millman or some miner underground, he laid off +the whole night shift. The night-watchman went too, and the stage the +following evening brought out a cook to start up the boarding-house. + +Wiley did not guess it--he knew it--Virginia Huff was the witch who had +mixed the hell-broth that had raised up all this treachery against him. +She had poisoned his men's minds and incited them to vandalism, but it +would not happen again. He had been a fool to endure it so long; but she +could starve now, for all that he cared. If she thought she could twist +him like a ring around her finger while she egged on these men to wreck +his mill, she had one more guess coming and then she would be right, for +he had come to his senses at last. This was not the Virginia that he had +known and loved--the Virginia he had played with in his youth--but a +warped and embittered Virginia, a waspish, heartless vixen who had never +been anything but cold. She had worked him deliberately, resorting to +woman's wiles to gain what was not her due, and now when his mill was +smashed into kindling wood, she danced and laughed for joy. + +What kind of a mind could a woman have, to do such a senseless thing and +then laugh at the man who had helped her? She was kind to her cats, the +neighbors all liked her, to everyone else she seemed human; but when it +came to him she was a devil of hate, a fiend of ruthless cunning. She +would tell him to his face--at three in the morning, when he had caught +her running away from the mill--that she hoped his old mill would be +ruined. And now, when the trammer or some other soft-head had sent one +of his sledges through the crusher, she was laughing up her sleeve. But +there was a hereafter coming for Virginia and her mother and they would +get no more favors from him. If they crept to his feet and said they +were starving he would tell them to get out and hustle. Meanwhile they +had sent him broke. + +There would be no more ore concentrated in the Paymaster mill during +the life of his bond and lease; and unless he could raise some money, +and raise it quick, he was due to lose his mine. Whether he had +abetted it or not, Blount would not fail to take advantage of this +last, staggering blow to his fortunes; and there were notes and paper +due which would easily serve as a pretext for a writ of attachment on +his mine. Bad news travels fast, but Wiley set out to beat it by +snatching at his one remaining chance. His mill was ruined, his output +was stopped, but he still had the ore underground--and the buyers were +crazy to get it. He sent out identical messages to ten big consumers +and then sat down to await the results. They came with a rush, ten +scrambling frantic bids for his total output for one year--and one of +them was for eighty-four dollars! It was from the biggest buyer of +them all, a man who was reputed to be the representative of a foreign +government, a man who had paid cash on the nail. Wiley pondered a +while, looked up his obligations to Blount, and accepted immediately +by wire. But there was one proviso--he demanded an advance payment, +which the buyer promptly wired to his bank. Then Wiley twisted up his +lip and waited. + +Blount appeared the next day, dropping in casually as was his wont; but +there was a cold, killing look in his eye and he had a deputy sheriff as +a witness. They looked through the mill and Blount asked several leading +questions before he ventured to come to the point, but at last he +cleared his throat and spoke up. + +"Well, Wiley," he said, drawing some papers from his pocket, "I'm sorry, +but I'll have to call your notes. If it were my money it would be +different; but I'm a banker, you understand, and your paper is long +overdue. I've extended it before because I admired your courage and +thought you might possibly pull through, but this accident to your mill +has impaired the property and I can't let it run any longer." + +"Oh, that's all right," said Wiley, "but you don't need to apologize, +because there won't be any attachments and judgments. Just tell me how +much it comes to and I'll write you out a check." He took the notes from +Blount's palsied hand and spread them on the desk before him, but as he +was jotting down the totals Blount grabbed them wildly away. + +"Not much!" he exclaimed, "I don't surrender those notes until the money +is put in my hands! Your check isn't worth a pen stroke!" + +"Well, I don't know," returned Wiley. "There may be two opinions about +that. I had a hunch, Mr. Blount, that you might spring something like +this and so I made arrangements to accommodate you." + +"But you're strapped! You owe everybody!" cried Blount in a passion. "I +don't believe you've got a cent!" + +"Just a minute," said Wiley, and took down his telephone. "Hello," he +called, "get me the First National Bank." He waited then, twiddling +his pencil placidly, while Blount's great neck swelled out with venom. +"I figure," went on Wiley, as he waited for the connection, "that I +owe you twenty-two thousand dollars, with interest amounting to +two-eighty-three, sixty-one. Here's your check, all filled out, and +when I get the bank you can ask the cashier if it's good." + +"But, Wiley--," began Blount. + +"Hello! Hello! Is this the First National? This is Holman, out at the +Paymaster. Mr. Blount is here and, as I'm closing my account with +him----" + +"No! No!" cried Blount in a panic, but Wiley went on with his talk. + +"Yes," he said, "the check is for twenty-two thousand, two eighty-three, +sixty-one. Will you please set that amount aside to meet the payment on +this check? All right, Mr. Blount, here's the bank." + +He held out the instrument and Blount seized it roughly, for he had +heard of fake telephone messages before, but when he listened he +recognized the voice. + +"Oh, Agnew?" he hailed, smiling genially at the 'phone. "Well, sorry +to have troubled you, I'm sure. Oh, yes, yes; I know Wiley is all +right; he's good with us for twenty thousand more. No, never mind the +certification; we may let the matter drop. Yes, thank you very +much--good-by!" + +He hung up the receiver and turned to Wiley; but the cold, killing look +was gone. + +"Wiley," he chuckled, slapping him heartily on the back, "you certainly +have put one over. It isn't every day that I find a man waiting with the +check all made out to a cent; and somehow--well, I hate to take the +money." + +"Yes, I know how you suffer," replied Wiley, grimly, "but let's get the +agony over." He held out the check and Blount accepted it reluctantly, +passing over the notes with a sigh. + +But for the trifling detail that "demand" had not been waived Blount +could have gone into court without even asking for his money and secured +an attachment against the property. But Wiley's firm insistence that all +cut-throat clauses should be omitted had compelled Blount to demand +payment on the notes; and then, by some process which still remained a +mystery, he had raised the full amount to meet the payment. And so once +more, after going to all the trouble of bringing a deputy sheriff along, +Blount found himself balked and his dreams of judgment and lien +permanently banished to the limbo of lost hopes. + +Wiley's over-prompt payment had confused Blount for the moment and +thrown him into a panic. He had counted confidently upon crushing him +at a blow and cutting short his inimical activities, but now of a +sudden he found himself threatened with the loss of all his interests. +If Wiley had made profits beyond his calculations--but no, he could +not, for under the terms of their bond and lease one-tenth of the net +profit on all his shipments was sent direct to Blount. And if what +Wiley had received was only ten times the Company's royalty, he was +still in debt to someone. Blount had followed him closely and he knew +that his expenses had absorbed all his profits, up to date. But +perhaps--and Blount paused--perhaps the other bank, or some outside +parties, were backing him in his enterprise. He would have to look +that matter up--first. But if not--if he was still running his mine as +he had from the first, on his nerve and his diamond ring--then there +were ways and means which should be speedily invoked to prevent him +from meeting his payments. + +Scarcely a month remained before the bond and lease lapsed--and Wiley's +option on Blount's personal stock--but any day he might raise the money +and, by taking over Blount's stock, place him out of the running for +good. These tungsten buyers who were so avid for its product might +purchase an interest in the mine; they might advance the fifty thousand +and take it over under the bond and lease, and bring all his plans to +naught. As Blount paced about the office he suddenly saw himself +defrauded of that which he had worked for for years. He saw his stock +bought up first, to deprive him of the royalties, and then the mine +snatched from his hands; and all he would have left would be the +forfeited Huff stock and the small payment it would earn from the sale. +Something would have to be done, and done every minute, to prevent him +from carrying out his purpose. + +Blount paused in his nervous pacing and held out a flabby hand to Wiley, +who was writing away at his desk. + +"Well, Wiley," he said, "I guess I must be going. But any time you need +money----" He stopped and smiled amiably, in the soft, easy way he had +when he wished to appear harmless as a dove, and Wiley glanced up +briefly from his work. + +"Yes, thank you, Mr. Blount," he said. But he did not take his hand. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +DOUBLE TROUBLE + + +The next two weeks of Wiley Holman's life were packed so full of trouble +that there were those who almost pitied him, though the word had been +passed around to lay off. It was Samuel J. Blount who was making the +trouble, and who notified the rest to keep out, and so great was his +influence in all the desert country that no one dared to interfere. What +he did was all legal and according to business ethics, but it gloved the +iron hand. Blount was reaching for the mine and he intended to get it, +if he had to crush his man. The attachments and suits were but the +shadow boxing of the bout; the rough stuff was held in reserve. And +somehow Wiley sensed this, for he sat tight at the mine and hired a +lawyer to meet the suits. His job was mining ore and he shoveled it out +by the ton. + +The distressing accidents had suddenly ceased since he began to board +his own men at the mine and, while his lawyer stalled and haggled to +fight off an injunction, he rushed his ore to the railroad. It was too +precious to ship loose, for at eighty-four dollars a unit it was worth +over four dollars a pound; he sent it out sacked, with an armed guard on +each truck to see that it was delivered and receipted for. As the checks +came back he paid off all his debts, thus depriving Blount of his +favorite club; and then, while Blount was casting about for new weapons, +he began to lay aside his profits. + +They rolled up monstrously, for each five-ton truck load added several +thousand dollars to his bank account, but the time was getting short. +Less than three weeks remained before the bond and lease expired, and +still Wiley was playing to win. He crammed his mine with men, snatching +the ore from the stopes as the bonanza leasers had done at Tonopah, and +doubling the miner's pay with bonuses. Every truck driver received his +bonus, and night and day the great motors went thundering across the +desert. The ore came up from below and was dumped on a jig, where it was +sorted and hastily sacked; and after that there was nothing to do but +sent it under guard to the railroad. There was no milling, no smelting, +no tedious process of reduction; but the raw picked ore was rushed to +the East and the checks came promptly back. + +Blount was fully informed now of the terms of his contract and of the +source of his sudden wealth, but there was no way of reaching the buyer. +A great war was on, every minute was precious--and every ounce of the +tungsten was needed. The munitions makers could not pause for a single +day in their mad rush to fill their contracts. The only ray of hope that +Blount could see was that the price had broken to sixty dollars a unit. +Wiley's contract called for eighty-four, throughout the full year--but +suppose he should lose his mine. And suppose Blount should win it. He +could offer better terms, provided always that the buyer would +accommodate him now. Suppose, for instance, that the fat daily checks +should cease coming during the life of the lease. That could easily be +explained--it might be an error in book-keeping--but it would make quite +a difference to Wiley. And in return for some such favor Blount could +afford to sell the tungsten for, say, fifty-five dollars a unit. + +Blount was a careful man. He did not trust his message to the wires, nor +did he put it on paper to convict him; he simply disappeared--but when +he came back Wiley's lawyer was waiting with a check. It was for twenty +thousand dollars, and in return for this payment the lawyer demanded all +of Blount's stock. Four hundred thousand shares, worth five dollars +apiece if the bond and lease should lapse, and called for under the +option at five cents! In those few short days, while Blount had been +speeding East, Wiley had piled up this profit and more--and now he was +demanding his stock! + +"No!" said Blount, "that option is invalid because it was obtained by +deception and fraud, and therefore I refuse to recognize it." + +"Very well," replied the lawyer, who made his living out of +controversies, and, summoning witnesses to his offer, he placed the +money in the hands of the court and plunged into furious litigation. It +was furious, in a way, and yet not so furious as the next day and the +next passed by; for the lawyer was a business man and dependent upon the +good will of Blount. It was a civil suit and, since Wiley could not +appear to state his case in Court, it was postponed by mutual consent. + +It had come over Wiley that, as long as he stood guard, no accident +would happen at the mine; but he was equally convinced that, the moment +he left it, the unexpected would happen. So, since Blount had elected to +fight his suit, he let the fate of his option wait while he piled up +money for his _coup_. As an individual, Blount might resist the +sale of his stock; but as President of the Company he and his Board of +Directors had given Wiley a valid bond and lease and, acting under its +terms, Wiley still had an opportunity to gain a clear title to the mine. +What happened to the stock could be thrashed out later, but with the +Paymaster in his possession he could laugh his enemies to scorn--and he +did not intend to be jumped! For who could tell, among these men who +swarmed about him, which ones might be hired emissaries of Blount; and, +once he was out of sight, they might seize the mine and hold it against +all comers. + +It was a thing which had been done before, and was likely to be done +again; and as the days slipped by, bringing him closer to the end, he +looked about for some agent. Had he a man that he could trust to hold +the mine, while he went into town to gain title to it? He looked them +all over but, knowing Blount as he did, and the weakness of human +nature, he hesitated and decided against it. No, it was better by far +that _he_ should hold the mine--for possession, in mining, is +everything--and send someone to pay over the money. That would be +perfectly legal, and anyone could do it, but here again he hesitated. +The zeal of his lawyer was failing of late--could he trust him to make +the payment, in a town that was owned by Blount? Would he offer it +legally and demand a legal surrender, and come out and put the deed in +his hand? He might, but Wiley doubted it. + +There was something going on regarding the payments for his shipments +which he was unable to straighten out over the 'phone, and his lawyer +was neglecting even that. And yet, if those checks were held up much +longer it might seriously interfere with his payment. He had wired +repeatedly, but either the messages were not delivered or his buyer was +trying to welch on his contract. What he wanted was an agent, to go +directly to the buyer and get the matter adjusted. Wiley thought the +matter over, then he 'phoned his lawyer to forget it and wrote direct to +an express company, enclosing his bills of lading and authorizing them +to collect the account. When it came to collecting bills you could trust +the express company--and you could trust Uncle Sam with your mail--but +as to the people in Vegas, and especially the telephone girl, he had his +well-established doubts. His telegraphic messages went out over the +'phone and were not a matter of record and if she happened to be eating +a box of Blount's candy she might forget to relay them. It was borne in +upon him, in fact, more strongly every day, that there are very few +people you can trust. With a suitcase, yes--but with a mine worth +millions? That calls for something more than common honesty. + +The fight for the Paymaster, and Wiley's race against time, was now on +every tongue, and as the value of the property went up there was a +sudden flurry in the stock. Men who had hoarded it secretly for eight +and ten years, men who had moved to the ends of the world, all heard of +the fabulous wealth of the new Paymaster and wrote in to offer their +stock. Not to offer it, exactly, but to place it on record; and others +began as quietly to buy. It was known that the royalties had piled up an +accruing dividend of at least twenty cents a share; and with the sale of +it imminent--and a greater rise coming in case there was no sale--there +would be a further increase in value. It was good, in fact, for thirty +cents cash, with a gambling chance up to five dollars; and the wise ones +began to buy. Men he had not seen for years dropped in on Wiley to ask +his advice about their stock; and one evening in his office, he looked +up from his work to see the familiar face of Death Valley Charley. + +"Hello there, Charley," he said, still working. "Awful busy. What is it +you want?" + +"Virginia wants her stock," answered Charley simply and blinked as he +stood waiting the answer. There was a war on now between the Huffs and +Holmans into which Wiley's father had been drawn; and since Honest John +had repudiated his son's acts and disclaimed all interest in his deal, +Charley knew that Wiley was bitter. He had cut off the Widow from her +one source of revenue but, when she had accused him of doing it for his +father, Wiley had forgotten the last of his chivalry. Not only did he +board all his men himself but he promised to fire any man he had who was +seen taking a meal at the Widow's. It was war to the knife, and Charley +knew it, but he blinked his eyes and stood firm. + +"What stock?" demanded Wiley, and then he closed his lips and his eyes +turned fighting gray. "You tell her," he said, "if she wants her stock, +to come and get it herself." + +"But she sent me to get it!" objected Charley obstinately. + +"Yes, and I send you back," answered Wiley. "I gave her that stock +twice, and I made it what it is, and if she wants it she can come and +ask for it." + +"And will you give it to her?" asked Charley, but Wiley only grunted and +went ahead with his writing. + +It was apparent to him what was in the wind. The Widow had written to +demand of his father some return for the damage to her business; and +Honest John had replied, and sent Wiley a copy, that he was in no ways +responsible for his acts. This letter to Wiley had been followed by +another in which his father had rebuked him for persecuting Mrs. Huff, +and Wiley had replied with five pages, closely written, reciting his +side of the case. At this John Holman had declared himself neutral and, +beyond repeating his offer to buy the Widow's stock, had disclaimed all +interest in her affairs. But now, with her stock still in Blount's hands +and this last source of revenue closed to her, the Widow was left no +alternative but to appeal indirectly to Wiley. What other way then was +open, if she was ever to win back her stock, but to get back Virginia's +shares and sell them to raise the eight hundred dollars? Wiley grumbled +to himself as Death Valley Charley turned away and went on writing his +letter. + +It had been a surprise, after his break with Virginia, to discover that +it left him almost glad. It had removed a burden that had weighed him +down for months, and it left him free to act. He could protect his +property now as it should be protected, without thought of her or +anybody; and he could board his own men and keep the gospel of hate from +being constantly dinned into their ears. They were honest, simple +miners, easily swayed by a woman's distress, but equally susceptible to +the lure of gold; and now with a bonus after the minimum of work they +were tearing out the ore like Titans. They were loyal and satisfied, +greeting his coming with a friendly smile; but if Virginia got hold of +them, or her venomous mother, where then would be his discipline? + +He was deep in his work when a shadow fell upon his desk and he looked +up to see--Virginia. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +VIRGINIA REPENTS + + +"I came for my stock," said Virginia coolly as she met his questioning +eye and Wiley turned and rummaged in a drawer. The stock was hers and +since she came and asked for it--he laid it on the desk and went ahead +with his work. Virginia took the envelope and examined it carefully, but +she did not go away. She glanced at him curiously, writing away so +grimly, and there was a scar across his head. Could it be--yes, there +her rock had struck him. The mark was still fresh, but he had given her +the stock; and now he was privileged to hate her. That wound on his head +would soon be overgrown and covered, but she had left a deeper scar on +his heart. She had hurt his man's pride; and now he had hurt hers, and +humbled her to ask for her stock. He looked up suddenly, feeling her +eyes upon him, and Virginia drew back and blushed. + +"Oh--thank you," she stammered and turned to go, and yet she lingered to +see what he would say. + +"You're welcome," he answered evenly, and took a fresh sheet of paper, +but she refused to notice the hint. A sense of pique, of wonder at his +politeness and half-resentment at his obliviousness of her presence, +drew her back and she leaned against his desk. + +"What are you writing?" she asked as he glanced at her inquiringly. "Is +it a letter to that squaw?" + +A sudden twitch of passion passed over his face at this reference to a +dark page in their past and he drew the written sheet away. + +"No," he said, "I happened to remember a white girl----" + +"What?" burst out Virginia before she could check herself and he curled +his lip up scornfully. + +"Yes," he nodded, "and she seems to think I'm all right." + +"Oh," she said and turned away her head with a painful twisted smile. +Somehow she had always thought--and yet he must have met other girls--he +was meeting them all the time! She tried to summon her anger, to carry +her past this fresh stab, but the tears rose to her eyes instead. + +"I--we'll be going away soon," she went on hurriedly. "That is, if he +gives us back our stock. Do you think he'll do it, Wiley? You know--the +plan you spoke of. We're going to sell this stock to a broker and then +pay Mr. Blount back." + +"I don't know," mumbled Wiley, and humped up over his letter, but it did +not produce the effect he had hoped for. + +"Well--I'm sorry I hurt you," she broke out impulsively, rebuked by the +long gash in his hair, "but you shouldn't have tried to stop me! I +wasn't doing you any harm--I just came up there that night to see what +was going on. And I did see Stiff Neck George, you can smile all you +want to, and he had something heavy in his hand." + +She ran on with her explanation, only to trail off inconclusively as she +saw his face growing grim. He did not believe her, he did not even +listen; he just sat there patiently and waited. + +"Are you waiting for me to go?" she asked, smiling wanly, but even then +he did not respond. There had been a time, not many weeks ago, when he +would have risen up and offered her a chair; but he had got past that +now and seemed really and sincerely to prefer his own company to hers. +"I thought you might help us," she went on almost tearfully, "to get +back our stock from Blount. It was nice of you to tell me, after the way +I acted; but--oh, I don't know what it was that came over me! And I +never even thanked you for telling me!" + +A cynical smile came into Wiley's eyes as he sat back and put down his +pen, but even after that she hurried on. "Yes, I know you don't like +me--you think I tried to wreck your mine and turned all your men against +you--but I do thank you, all the same. You--you used to care, Wiley; but +anyhow, I thank you and--I guess I'll be going now." + +She started for the door but he did not try to stop her. He even picked +up his pen, and she turned back with fire in her eyes. + +"Well, you might say something," she said defiantly, "or don't you care +what happens to me?" + +"No; I don't, Virginia," he answered quietly, "so just let it go at +that. We can't get along, so what's the use of trying? You go your way +and let me go mine." + +"Oh, I know!" she sighed, "you think I'm ungrateful--and you think I +just came for my stock. But I didn't, altogether; I wanted to say I'm +sorry and--oh, Wiley, _do_ you think he's alive?" + +"Who?" he asked; but he knew already--she was thinking about the +Colonel. + +"Why, Father," she ran on. "I heard you that time when you got old +Charley drunk. Do you think he's really alive? Because if he is!" She +raised her eyes ecstatically and suddenly she was smiling into his. +"Because if he is," she said, "and I can find him again--oh, Wiley; +won't you help me find him?" + +"I'll think about it," responded Wiley, but his eyes were smiling back +and the anger had died in his heart. After all, she was human; she could +smile through her tears and reach out and touch his rough hand, and he +could not bring himself to hate her. "After I pay for the mine," he +suggested gently. "But now you'd better go." + +"Oh, no," she protested, "please tell me about it. Is he hiding in the +Ube-Hebes? Oh, you don't know how glad I was when I heard you talking +with Charley--I never did think he was dead. He sent me word once, not +to worry about him, but--the Indians said he had died. That is--well, +they said if it hadn't been for that sandstorm they would surely have +found the body. And he'd thrown away his canteen, so he couldn't have +had any water; and there wasn't any more for miles. He was lost, you +know, and out of his head; and heading right out through the sand-hills. +Oh, it's awful to talk about it, but of course we don't know for +certain; and it might have been somebody else. Don't you think it was +some other man?" + +"I don't know," answered Wiley, and sat staring straight ahead as she +ran on with her arguments and entreaties. After all, what did he have +to base his belief upon, except the babblings of brain-cracked +Charley? They had found the Colonel's riding-burro, and his +saddle-bags and papers, besides his rifle and canteen; and the +Shoshone trailers had followed the tracks of a man until they were +lost in the drifting sand-hills. And yet Charley's remarks, and his +repeated attempts to get across the valley with some whiskey; there +was something there, certainly, upon which to build hope--and Virginia +was very insistent. + +"Yes, I think it was another man," he said at length. "Either that or +your father escaped. He might have lost one canteen and still have had +another, or he might have found his way to some water-hole. But from the +way Charley talks, and tries to cover up his breaks, I feel sure that +your father is alive." + +"Oh, goodie!" she cried and before he could stop her she had stooped +over and kissed his bruised head. "Now you know I'm sorry," she burst +out impulsively, "and will you go out and look for him at once?" + +"Pretty soon," said Wiley, putting her gently away. "After I make my +payment on the mine. They'd be sure to jump me, now." + +"Oh, but why not now?" she pleaded. "They wouldn't jump your mine." + +"Yes, they would," he replied. "They'd jump me in a minute! I don't dare +to go off the grounds." + +"But what's the mine," she demanded insistently, "compared to finding +father?" + +"Well, not very much," he conceded frankly, "but this is the way I'm +fixed. I've got the whole world against me, including you and your +mother, and I've got to play out my hand. There's nobody I can +trust--even my father has turned against me--and I've got to fight +this out myself." + +"What? Just for the money? Do you think more of that than you do of +finding my father?" + +"No, I don't," he said, "but I can't go now, and so there's no use +talking." + +"No," she answered, drawing resentfully away from him, "there's no use +talking to _you_! He might be dying, or out of food, but you don't +think of anything but that money!" + +"Well, maybe so," he retorted tartly, "but if you'd just left me alone, +instead of sicking all your dogs on me, I'd've been over there looking +for him, long ago. Of course I'm wrong--that's understood from the +start; but----" + +"What dogs did I set on you?" she demanded, flaring up, and he fixed her +with sullen eyes. + +"Never mind," he said. "You know what you've done as well or better than +I do. All I've got to say is that my conscience is clear and we'd better +quit talking while we're friends." + +"Yes--friends!" she repeated, and then she stopped and at last she +heaved a sigh. "Well, I don't care," she defended. "You drove me to it. +A woman must protect herself, somehow." + +"Well, you can do it," he said, feeling tenderly of his head, and +Virginia flew into a rage. + +"I told you I was _sorry_!" she cried, stamping her foot. "Isn't +that enough? I'm sorry, I said!" + +"Yes, and I'm sorry," he answered, but his eyes were level and his jaw +jutted out like a crag. + +"Sorry for what?" she demanded, and he sprang his trap. + +"Sorry I can't go out and hunt for your father." + +"Oh," she said, and drooped her head. + +"If we could pay for what we've done by just being sorry," he went on +with a ghost of a smile, "we wouldn't be where we are. But you know we +can't, Virginia. I'm sorry for some things myself, and I expect to pay +for them, but I can't stop to do it now." + +"But will you go for him--sometime?" she asked, smiling wistfully. +"Then--oh, Wiley; why can't we be friends?" She held out her hands +and he rose up and took them, but with a startled look in his eyes. +"You know that I'm sorry," she said, "and I'm willing to pay, too; if +there's anything that I can do. Can't I help you, Wiley? Isn't there +something I can do to help you pay for your mine? And I'll never +oppose you again--if you'll only go and find my father!" + +She raised his hands and put them against her cheek and the quick tears +sprang to his eyes. + +"I'll do it," he promised, "just the minute I can go. And--I'll try to +be good to you, Virginia. Won't you give me a kiss, just to show it's +all right? I'm sorry I treated you so rough. But it'll be all right now +and we'll try to be friends again--I wasn't writing to any other girl." + +"Oh, weren't you?" she smiled. "Well, I'll kiss you, then--just once. +But somehow, I'm afraid it won't last." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE CALL + + +The long quarrel was over, they had made up--and kissed--and yet to +Wiley it all seemed unreal. That is, all but the kiss. It was that, +perhaps, which made the rest seem unreal, for it had changed the color +of his life. Before, he had thought in terms of hard fact, but the +kiss put a rainbow in the sky. It roused a great hope, a joy, an +ecstasy, a sense of well-wishing for mankind; and yet it was only he +who had changed. The world was the same; Samuel Blount was the same; +and the miners, and Stiff Neck George. They were all there together in +a rough-and-tumble fight to see who would get the Paymaster Mine and, +even with the madness of her kiss in his soul, he pressed on towards +the one, fixed goal. + +He had set out to win the Paymaster and win it he would if he had to +shoot his way to victory. For Stiff Neck George, like a watchful coyote, +had taken up his post on the hill; and from that sign alone Wiley knew +that Blount had changed his tactics and appealed to the court of last +resort. His attachments had failed, his injunction suit had failed, and +his cheap attempt to cut off Wiley's checks. The money had come, +promptly forwarded by the Express Company with a note of apology from +the buyer, and it lay now in Wiley's office safe. All that was left to +do was to send it to Blount and get back the deed to the property. Three +days remained before the bond and lease expired, but that was not a day +too much. The question was--who to send? Wiley thought the matter over, +glanced at George up on the hill, and sent a note down to Virginia. + +She came up the trail smiling, for her proud reserve had vanished, and +she even allowed him a kiss; but when he asked her to take the money to +Blount she drew back and shook her head. + +"I'm afraid," she said, "--I'm afraid something might happen. Can't you +send it by somebody else?" + +"No, that's just the point," he answered gravely. "Something is likely +to happen if I do. My lawyer has turned crooked, and the bank won't +touch it; so there's nobody to send but you. You can hide the money till +you get there, so that no one will rob you on the way; and if anybody +asks you, you can tell them about that stock deal and that you're going +down to hold up Blount." + +"Why don't you go?" she objected and he pointed out the doorway at Stiff +Neck George on the hill. + +"There he sits," he said, "like a red-necked old buzzard, just waiting +for a chance to jump my mine. He may do it, anyhow--I wouldn't put it +past him--but if he comes he'd better come a-shooting. You see, here's +the point: the man that holds this mine can turn out ten thousand +dollars a day, and that amount of money would hire enough lawyers to +fight the outsiders to a standstill. If I get jumped I'm licked, because +I haven't got any more money; and I'm going to stay right here and fight +'em. But you take this money--there's fifty-two thousand dollars--and go +down and make that payment. If you can't find Blount, then hunt up the +clerk of the Superior Court and deposit the fifty thousand with him. +Just bring me his receipt, with a memorandum of the payment, and he'll +notify Blount himself." + +"I don't like to," she shuddered. "I'm afraid they won't take it, and +then you'll----" + +"They've got to take it!" he broke in eagerly. "Just get the stage +driver to go along as witness, and I'll give you a full power of +attorney. And then listen, Virginia; you take the rest of this money and +buy back your father's stock." + +"Oh, can I?" she cried and, reaching out for the money, she held it with +tremulous hands. There were fifty thousand-dollar bills, golden yellow +on the back and a rich, glossy black on the front; and others of smaller +denominations, making fifty-two thousand in all. It was a fortune in +itself, but in what it was to buy it was well worth over a million. + +"Aren't you afraid to trust me?" she asked at last, and when he smiled +she hid it away. "All right," she said, "and as soon as I've paid it +I'll call you up on the 'phone." + +She went out the next morning on the early stage and Wiley watched it +rush across the plain. It was green as a lawn, that dry, treeless desert +with its millions of evenly spaced creosote bushes; but as the sun rose +higher it turned blood-red like an omen of evil to come. Many times +before, in the glow of evening, he had seen the green change to red; but +now it was ominous, with Stiff Neck George on the hill-top and Shadow +Mountain frowning down behind. He paced about uneasily as the day wore +on and at night he listened for the 'phone. She was to call him up, as +soon as she had paid over the money; but it did not ring that night. + +The morning of the last day dawned fair and pleasant, with the fresh +smell of dew in the air, and he awoke with a sense that all was well. +Virginia was in Vegas and, when Blount came to his office, she would +make the payment in his stead. There was no chance to fail, once she had +found her man; and if Blount refused to accept it, which he could hardly +do, she could simply leave the money with the court. There were no +papers to confuse her, no forms to go through; Blount had made a legal +contract to sell the property and she had a full power of attorney. All +it called for was loyalty and faithfulness to her trust, and Wiley knew +Virginia too well to think she would fail him now. She was proud and +hot-headed, and she had fought him in the past; but, once she had given +her word, she would keep her promise or die. + +As the sun rose higher he imagined her at the bank with the sheaf of +bills hidden in her bosom, and Blount's surprise and palavering when he +found he was caught and that his deep-laid plans had failed. He had +schemed to catch Wiley between the horns of a dilemma, and either jump +his mine when he went in to make the payment or force him to lose it by +default. But, almost by a miracle, Virginia had appeared at the very +moment when he was seeking a messenger; and by an even greater miracle, +they had composed all their difficulties just in time for him to send +her to town. It was like an act of Providence, an answer to prayer, if +people any longer prayed; and, more, even, than the money and the joy of +success, was the consciousness of Virginia's love. She had seemed so +hostile, so distant and unattainable; but the moment that he forgot her +and abandoned all hope she fluttered to his hand like a dove. + +The noon hour came and went and as Wiley watched the 'phone it seemed to +him strangely silent. To be sure, few people called him, but--he +snatched the receiver from the hook. He had guessed it--the 'phone was +dead! He rattled the hook and listened impatiently, then he shouted and +listened again, and black fancies rose up in his brain. What was the +meaning of this? Had they cut the wire on him? And why? It really made +no difference! Virginia was there; he had heard it from the stage-driver +who had driven her in the day before--and yet, there must be a reason. +Perhaps it was an accident, for the line was old and neglected, but why +should it happen now? He hung up the receiver and reviewed it all +calmly. There were a hundred things which might happen to the line, for +it passed through rough country near Vegas; but the weather was fair and +there was no wind blowing to topple over the poles. No one used the line +but him--it had been connected up by Blount when he had first taken over +the mine--and yet the wire had been cut. But by whom? As he sat there +pondering he raised his eyes to the hill-top, and Stiff Neck George was +gone! + +"The dastard!" cursed Wiley, leaping furiously to his feet and reaching +for his rifle, but though he scanned the line through his high-power +field-glasses there was not a man in sight. Wiley ran down to the shed +and got out his racer that had lain there idle for months, but as his +motor began to thunder, a head popped up and he saw Stiff Neck George on +the ridge. He too had a rifle and, as he saw Wiley watching him, he +dropped back and hid from sight. + +"Oho!" said Wiley, and, leaving his machine, he strode angrily back to +the mine. So that was their game, to get him to leave and then slip in +and jump his mine. Perhaps it was all arranged with the men he had +working for him and George would not even have a fight. Neither his +foremen nor the guards were men he would care to trust in a matter +involving millions--and yet something was wrong in Vegas. There was +treachery somewhere or they would not cut the line to keep him from +getting the news. He lingered irresolutely, his hands itching for the +steering wheel, his eyes searching for Stiff Neck George. + +There was a feud between them--he had braved George's killing gun and +rushed in and kicked him down the dump. Would George, then, withhold his +hand? But, down in Vegas, Blount was framing up some game to deprive him +of title to his mine. Wiley weighed them in the balance, the two forces +against him, and decided to stay with the mine. As long as he held it +there were lawyers a-plenty to prove that his title was good, but if +Stiff Neck George jumped it he would have to kill him to get back +possession of the property. Or rather, he would have to fight him, for +George was a gunman with notches on the butt of his six-shooter. No, he +would have to get killed, or give up the Paymaster, whether Blount was +right or wrong. + +He set his teeth and settled down to endure it--but he knew that +Virginia would not fail him. He had given her the money, she knew what +to do, and as sure as she hoped to save her father, he knew that she +would do it. His part was to hold down the mine. The men came and went, +the engine puffed and panted, and the long, dragging hours went by. As +the darkness came on Wiley stalked in the shadows, looking out into the +night for Stiff Neck George; but nothing stirred, the work went on as +usual, and at midnight he gave up the search. His option had expired and +either the mine was his or the title had reverted to the Company. There +was nothing to watch for and so he slept, but at dawn his telephone +jangled. + +Wiley rose up breathlessly and took down the receiver but no one +answered his call. The 'phone was dead and yet it had rung--or was it +only a dream? He hung up in disgust and went back to bed but something +drew him back to the 'phone. He held down the hook and, with the +receiver to his ear, let the lever rise slowly up. There was talking +going on and men laughing in hoarse voices and the tramp of feet to and +fro, but no one responded to his shouts. He hung up once more and then +suddenly it came over him, a foreboding of impending disaster. Something +was wrong, something big that must be stopped at once; and a voice +called insistently for action. He leapt into his clothes and started for +the door--then turned back and strapped on his pistol. As the sun rose +up he was a speck in the desert, rushing on through a blood-red sea. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE THUNDER CLAP + + +The broad streets of Vegas were swarming with traffic as Wiley glided +swiftly into town and he noticed that people looked at him curiously. +Perhaps it was all imagination but it seemed to him they eyed him +coldly. Yet what they thought or felt was nothing to him then--his +business was with Samuel J. Blount. The mine was unprotected--he had +not even told his foreman that he was leaving, or where he was +going--and there was no time for anything but business. If there was +any trouble for him, Samuel J. Blount was at the bottom of it, and he +drove straight up to the bank. It was a huge, granite structure with +massive onyx pillars and smiling young clerks at the grilles; but he +hurried past them all and turned down a hall to a room that was +marked: President--Private. This was no time for dallying or sending +in cards--he opened the door and stepped in. + +Samuel Blount was sitting at the head of a table with other men grouped +about him, but as Wiley Holman entered they were silent. He glanced at +Blount and then again at the men--they were the directors of the +Paymaster Mining and Milling Company! + +"Good morning, Mr. Holman," spoke up Blount with asperity. "Please wait +for me out in the hall." + +"Since when?" retorted Wiley and then, leaping to the point, "what about +that deed to the Paymaster?" + +"Why--you must be misinformed," replied Blount slowly, at the same time +pressing a button, "this is a meeting of the Board of Directors." + +"So I see," returned Wiley, "but I sent the money by Virginia to take up +the option on the mine. Did you receive it or did you not?" + +A broad-shouldered man, very narrow between the eyes, came in and stood +close to Wiley, and Blount smiled and cleared his throat. + +"No," he said, "we did not receive it?" + +"Oh, you didn't, eh?" said Wiley, glancing up at the janitor. "Perhaps +you will tell me if it was offered to you?" + +"No, it was not offered to us," replied Blount, smiling blandly, +"although Miss Huff did make a deposit." + +"Of fifty thousand dollars?" + +"No, it was more than that--fifty-two, I believe. It was deposited to +your account." + +"Oh," observed Wiley, and looked them over again as the directors turned +around to scowl. "Well, perhaps I can see Miss Huff?" + +"She is not here at present," replied Blount with finality, "and so I +must ask you to withdraw." + +"Just a moment," said Wiley, as the janitor moved expectantly. "I came +here on a matter of business with you and this Board of Directors and, +since the matter is urgent, I must request an immediate hearing. You +don't need to be alarmed--all I want is my answer and then I'll leave +you alone. In the first place, Mr. Blount, will you please tell me the +circumstances under which this deposit was made? I gave Miss Huff +instructions to offer the money to you in payment for the Paymaster +Mine." + +"Oh! Instructions, eh?" piped Blount with a satirical smile, and the +Board stirred and nodded significantly. "Well, since you've just come in +and are evidently unaware of the wide interest that has been taken in +this case, I'll tell you a few things, Mr. Holman. The people of this +town do not approve of the manner in which you have treated Mrs. Huff; +and as for your 'instructions' to Virginia, let me tell you right now +that we have saved her from becoming your victim." + +"My victim!" repeated Wiley, moving swiftly towards him, but the janitor +caught him by the arm. + +"Yes, your victim," answered Blount with a venomous sneer, "or, at +least, your intended victim. The people of Vegas had nothing to say when +you deprived Virginia and her mother of their livelihood--it was your +privilege as lessee of the mine to board your own men if you chose--but +when you had the effrontery to send Virginia to this Board with +'instructions' to jeopardize her own interests, we felt called on to +interfere." + +"Why, you're crazy!" burst out Wiley. "What interests did she jeopardize +by making that payment for me? As a matter of fact it was just the +contrary--I gave her the money to get back the stock that you had +practically stolen from her mother!" + +"Now! Now!" spoke up Blount, "we won't have any personalities, or I'll +ask Mr. Jepson to remove you. You must know if you know anything that +Virginia herself had over twelve thousand shares of stock; while her +mother left with me, as collateral on a note, more than two hundred +thousand shares more. Yet you asked this innocent girl, who trusted you +so fully, to wipe out her whole inheritance at one blow. You asked her +to come here and make a payment that would beat her out of half a +million dollars--_for fifty thousand dollars!_" + +He paused and the men about the table murmured threateningly among +themselves. + +"And now!" went on Blount with heavy irony, "you come here and ask for +your deed!" + +"Yes, you bet I do!" snapped back Wiley, "and I'm going to get it, too. +If Virginia came here and offered you that money, that's enough, in the +eyes of the law. It was a legal payment under a legal contract, entered +into by this Board of Directors; and I call you gentlemen to witness +that she came here and offered the money." + +"She came to _me_!" corrected Blount, "and in no wise as the +President of this Board!" + +"Well, you're the man that I told her to go to--and if she offered you +the money, that's enough!" + +"Oh, it's enough, is it? Well, it may be enough for you, but it is not +enough for the citizens of this town. We have organized a committee, of +which Mr. Jepson is a member, to escort you out of Vegas; and I would +say further that your bond and lease has lapsed and the Company will +take over the mine." + +"We'll discuss that later," returned Wiley grimly, "but I'll tell you +right now that there aren't men enough in Vegas to run me out of +town--not if you call in the whole town and the Janitors' Union--so +don't try to start anything rough. I'm a law-abiding citizen, and I +know my rights, and I'm going to see this through." He put his back to +the wall and the burly Jepson took the hint to move further away. +"Now," said Wiley, "if we understand each other let's get right down +to brass tacks. It's all very well to organize Vigilance Committees +for the protection of trusting young ladies, but you know and I know +that this is a matter of business, involving the title to a mine. And +I'd like to say further that, when a Board of Directors talks a +messenger out of her purpose and persuades her to disregard her +instructions----" + +"Instructions!" bellowed Blount. + +"Yes--instructions!" repeated Wiley, "--instructions as my agent. I sent +Miss Huff down here to make this payment and I gave her instructions +regarding it." + +"Do you realize," blustered Blount, "that if she had followed those +instructions she would have defrauded her own mother out of millions; +that she would have ruined her own life and conferred her father's +fortune upon the very man who was deceiving her?" + +"No, I do not," replied Wiley, "but even if I did, that has nothing to +do with the case. As to my relations with Miss Huff, I am fully +satisfied that she has nothing of which to complain; and since it was +you, and the rest of the gang, who stood to lose by the deal, your +indignation seems rather far-fetched. If you were sorry for Miss Huff +and wished to help her you have abundant private means for doing so; but +when you dissuade her from her purpose in order to save your own skin +you go up against the law. I'm going to take this to court and when the +evidence is heard I'm going to prove you a bunch of crooks. I don't +believe for a minute that Virginia turned against me. I know that she +offered you the money." + +"Oh, you know, do you?" sneered Blount as his Directors rallied about +him. "Well, how are you going to prove it?" + +"By her own word!" said Wiley. "I know her too well. You just talked her +out of it, afterward." + +"So you think," taunted Blount, "that she offered the money in payment, +and demanded the delivery of the deed? And will you stand or fall on her +testimony?" + +"Absolutely!" smiled Wiley, "and if she tells me she didn't do it I'll +never take the matter into court." + +"Very well," replied Blount and turned towards the door, but the +Directors rushed in and caught him. They thrust their heads together in +a whispered, angry conference, now differing among themselves and now +flying back to catch Blount, but in the end he shook them all off. "No, +gentlemen," he said, "I have absolute confidence in the justice of my +case. If you stand to lose a little I stand to lose a great deal--and I +know she never asked for that deed!" + +"Well, bring her in, then," they conceded reluctantly, and turned +venomous eyes upon Wiley. They knew him, and they feared him, and +especially with this girl; for he was smiling and waiting confidently. +But Blount was their czar, with his great block of stock pitted against +their tiny holdings, and they sat down to await the issue. + +She came at last, ushered in through the back door by Blount, who smiled +benevolently; and her eyes leapt on the instant to meet Wiley's. + +"Here is Miss Huff," announced Blount deliberately and the light died +in Wiley's shining eyes. He had waited for her confidently, but that +one defiant flash told him that Virginia had turned against him. She +had thrown in her lot with Blount, and against her lover, and by her +word he must stand or fall. She had been his agent, but if she had not +carried out her trust---- "Any questions you would like to ask," went +on Blount with ponderous calm, "I am sure Virginia will answer." + +He turned reassuringly and she nodded her head nervously, then stepped +out and stood facing Wiley. + +"It is a question," began Wiley, speaking like one in a dream, "of the +way you paid Mr. Blount that money. When you took it to him first, +before they had talked to you, did you tell him it was my payment on the +option?" + +Virginia glanced at Blount, then she took a deep breath and drew herself +up very straight. + +"No," she said, "I spoke to him first about buying back father's stock." + +"But after that," he said, "didn't you hand him over the money and say +it was sent by me?" + +"No, I didn't," she answered. "After the way you had treated me I didn't +think it was right." + +"Not right!" he repeated with a slow, dazed smile. "Why--why wasn't it +right, Virginia?" + +"Because," she went on, "you were trying to deceive me and beat me and +mother out of our rights. You knew all the time that father's stock was +still ours--and that Mr. Blount never even claimed it!" + +"Never claimed it!" cried Wiley, suddenly roused to resentment. "Well, +Virginia, he most certainly did! He offered to sell it to me for five +cents a share when I took out that option on the Paymaster!" + +"Now, now, Wiley!" began Blount, but Virginia cut him short with a +scornful wave of the hand. + +"Never mind," she said. "I'll attend to this myself. I just want to tell +him what I think!" + +"What you _think_!" raved Wiley, suddenly coming up fighting. +"You've been fooled by a bunch of crooks. Never mind what you think--did +you give him the money and tell him it came from me?" + +"I did not!" answered Virginia, her eyes flashing with hot anger, "and +while I may not be able to think, I certainly wasn't fooled by +_you_. No, I took your money and put it in the bank, and I let your +option expire!" + +"My--God!" moaned Wiley, and groped for the door, but in the hall he +stopped and turned back. There was some mistake--she had not understood. +He slipped back and looked in once more. She was shaking hands with +Blount--and smiling. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE WAY OUT + + +When a woman treads the ways of deceit she smiles--like Mona Lisa. But +was the great Leonardo deceived by the smile of his wife when she posed +for him so sweetly? No, he read her thoughts--how she was thinking of +another--and his master hand wove them in. There she smiles to-day, +smooth and pretty and cryptic; but Leonardo, the man, worked with heavy +heart as he laid bare the tragedy of his love. The message was for her, +if she cared to read it, or for him, that rival for her love; or, if +their hearts were pure and free from guilt, then there was no message at +all. She was just a pretty woman, soft and gentle and smiling--as +Virginia Huff had smiled. + +She had not smiled often, Wiley Holman remembered it now, as he went +flying across the desert, and always there was something behind; but +when she had looked up at Blount and taken his fat hand, then he had +read her heart at a glance. If he had taken his punishment and not +turned back he would have been spared this great ache in his breast; but +no, he was not satisfied, he could not believe it, and so he had +received a worse wound. She had been playing with him all the time and, +when the supreme moment arrived, she had landed him like a trout; and +then, when she had left him belly-up from his disaster, she had turned +to Blount and smiled. There was no restraint now; she smiled to the +teeth; and Blount and the Directors smiled. + +Wiley cursed to himself as he bored into the wind and burned up the road +to Keno. The mine was nothing; he could find him another one, but +Virginia had played him false. He did not mind losing her--he could find +a better woman--but how could he save his lost pride? He had played his +hand to win and, when it came to the showdown, she had slipped in the +joker and cleaned him. The Widow would laugh when she heard the news, +but she would not laugh at him. The road lay before him and his gas +tanks were full. He would gather up his belongings and drift. He stepped +on the throttle and went roaring through the town, but at the bottom of +the hill he stopped. The mine was shut down, not a soul was in sight, +and yet he had left but a few hours before. + +He toiled wearily up the trail, where he had caught Virginia running and +held her fighting in his arms, and the world turned black at the +thought. What madness had this been that had kept him from suspecting +her when she had opposed his every move from the start. Had she not +wrecked his engine and ruined his mill? Then why had he trusted her with +his money? And that last innocent visit, when she had asked for her +stock, and thanked him so demurely at the end! She would not be +dismissed, all his rough words were wasted, until in the end she had +leaned over and kissed him. A Judas-kiss? Yes, if ever there was one; or +the kiss of Judith of Bethulia. But Judith had sold her kisses to save +her people--Virginia had sold hers for gold. + +Yes, she had sold him out for money; after rebuking him from the +beginning she had stabbed him to the heart for a price. It was always +he, Wiley, who thought of nothing but money; who was the liar, the +miser, the thief. Everything that he did, no matter how unselfish, was +imputed to his love of money; and yet it had remained for Virginia, +the censorious and virtuous, to violate her trust for gain. It was not +for revenge that she had withheld the payment and snatched a million +dollars from his hand; she had told him herself that it was because +Blount had returned their stock and she would not throw it away. How +quick Blount had been to see that way out and to bribe her by +returning the stock--how damnably quick to read her envious heart and +know that she would fall for the offer. Well, now let them keep it and +smile their smug smiles and laugh at Honest Wiley; for if there ever +was a curse on stolen money then Virginia's would buy her no +happiness. + +He raised his bloodshot eyes to look for the last time at the Paymaster, +which he had fought for and lost. What had they done to save it, to +bring it to what it was, to merit it for their own? For years it had +lain idle, and when he had opened it up they had fought him at every +step. They had shot him down with buckshot, and beaten him down with +rocks and threatened his life with Stiff Neck George. His eyes cleared +suddenly and he looked about the dump--he had forgotten his feud with +George. Yet if his men were gone, who then had driven them out but that +crooked-necked, fighting fool? And if George had driven them out, then +where was he now with his ancient, filed-down six-shooter? Wiley drew +his gun forward and walked softly towards the house, but as he passed a +metal ore-car a pistol was thrust into his face. He started back, and +there was George. + +"Put 'em up!" he snarled, rising swiftly from behind the car, and the +hot fury left Wiley's brain. His anger turned cold and he looked down +the barrel at the grinning, spiteful eyes behind. + +"You go to hell!" he growled, and George jabbed the gun into his +stomach. + +"Put 'em up!" he ordered, but some devil of resistance seized Wiley as +his hands went up. It was close, too close, and George had the drop on +him, but one hand struck out and the other clutched the gun while he +twisted his lithe body aside. At the roar of the shot he went for his +own gun, leaping back and stooping low. Another bullet clipped his shirt +and then his own gun spat back, shooting blindly through the smoke. He +emptied it, dodging swiftly and crouching close to the ground, and then +he sprang behind the car. There was a silence, but as he listened he +heard a gurgling noise, like the water flowing out of a canteen, and a +sudden, sodden thump. He looked out, and George was down. His blood was +gushing fast but the narrow, snaky eyes sought him out before they were +filmed by death. It was over, like a rush of wind. + +Wiley flicked out his cylinder and filled it with fresh cartridges, then +looked around for the rest. He was calm now, and calculating and +infinitely brave; but no one stepped forth to face his gun. A boy, down +in town, started running towards the mine, only to turn back at some +imperative command. The whole valley was lifeless, yet the people were +there, and soon they would venture forth. And then they would come up, +and look at the body, and ask him to give up his gun; and if he did they +would take him to Vegas and shut him up in jail, where the populace +could come and stare at him. Blount and Jepson would come, and the Board +of Directors; and, in order to put him away, they would tell how he had +threatened George. They would make it appear that he had come to jump +the mine, and that George was defending the property; and then, with the +jury nicely packed, they would send him to the penitentiary, where he +wouldn't interfere with their plans. + +In a moment of clairvoyance he saw Virginia before him, looking in +through the prison bars and smiling, and suddenly he put up his gun. She +had started this job and made him a murderer but he would rob her of +that last chance to smile. There was a road that he knew that had been +traveled before by men who were hard-pressed and desperate. It turned +west across the desert and mounted by Daylight Springs to dip down the +long slope to the Sink; and across the Valley of Death, if he could once +pass over it, there was no one he need fear to meet. No one, that is, +except stray men like himself, who had fled from the officers of the +law. Great mountain ranges, so they said, stretched unpeopled and +silent, beneath the glare of the desert sun; and though Death might +linger near it was under the blue sky and away from the cold malice of +men. + +From his safe in the office Wiley took out a roll of bills, all that was +left of his vanished wealth; and he took down his rifle and belt; and +then, walking softly past the body of Stiff Neck George, he cranked up +his machine and started off. Every doorway in town was crowded with +heads, craning out to see him pass, and as he turned down the main +street he saw Death Valley Charley rushing out with a flask in his hand. + +"We seen ye!" he grinned as Wiley slowed down, and dropped the flask of +whiskey on the seat. + +"You killed him fair!" he shouted after him, but Wiley had opened up the +throttle and the answer to his praise was a roar. + +The sun was at high noon when Wiley topped the divide and glided down +the canyon towards Death Valley. He could sense it in the distance by +the veil of gray haze that hung like a pall across his way. Beyond it +were high mountains, a solid wall of blue that seemed to rise from the +depths and float, detached, against the sky; and up the winding wash +which led slowly down and down, there came pulsing waves of heat. The +canyon opened out into a broad, rocky sand-flat, shut in on both sides +by knife-edged ridges dotted evenly with brittle white bushes; and each +jagged rock and out-thrust point was burned black by the suns of +centuries. + +He passed an ancient tractor, abandoned by the wayside, and a deserted, +double-roofed house; and then, just below it where a ravine came down, +he saw a sign-board, pointing. Up the gulch was another sign, still +pointing on and up, and stamped through the metal of the disk was the +single word: Water. It was Hole-in-the-Rock Springs that old Charley had +spoken about and, somewhere up the canyon, there was a hole in the +limestone cap, and beneath it a tank of sweet water. On many a scorching +day some prospector, half dead from thirst, had toiled up that well-worn +trail; but now the way was empty, the freighter's house given over to +rats, and the road led on and on. + +A jagged, saw-tooth range rose up to block his way and the sand-flat +narrowed down to a deep wash; and, then, still thundering on, he +struggled out through its throat and the Valley seemed to rise up and +smite him. He stopped his throbbing motor and sat appalled at its +immensity. Funereal mountains, black and banded and water-channeled, +rose up in solid walls on both sides and, down through the middle as far +as the eye could see, there stretched a white ribbon, set in green. It +swung back and forth across a wide, level expanse, narrow and gleaming +with water at the north and blending in the south with gray sands. The +writhing white band was Death Valley Sink, where the waters from +countless desert ranges drained down and were sucked up by the sun. Far +from the north it came, when the season was right and the cloudbursts +swept the Grape-Vines and the White mountains; the Panamints to the west +gave down water from winter snows that gathered on Telescope Peak; and +every ravine of the somber Funeral Range was gutted by the rush of +forgotten waters. + +The Valley was dry, bone-dry and desiccated, and yet every hill, every +gulch and wash and canyon, showed the action of torrential waters. The +chocolate-brown flanks of the towering mountain walls were creased, and +ripped out and worn; and from the mouth of every canyon a great spit of +sand and boulders had been spewed out and washed down towards the Sink. +On the surface of this wash, rising up through thousands of feet, the +tips of buried mountains peeped out like tiny hill-tops, yet black, and +sharp and grim. The great ranges themselves, sweeping up from the +profundity till they seemed to cut off the world, looked like molded +cakes of chocolate which had been rained on and half melted down. They +were washed-down, melted, stripped of earth and vegetation; and down +from their flanks in a steep, even slope, lay the debris and scourings +of centuries. + +The westering sun caught the glint of water in the poisonous, +salt-marshes of the Sink; but, far to the south, the great ultimate +Sink of Sinks was a-gleam with borax and salt. It was there where the +white band widened out to a lake-bed, that men came in winter to do +their assessment work and scrape up the cotton-ball borax. But if any +were there now they would know him for a fugitive and he took the road +to the west. It ran over boulders, ground smooth by rolling floods and +burned deep brown by the sun, and as he twisted and turned, throwing +his weight against the wheels, Wiley felt the growing heat. His shirt +clung to his back, the sweat ran down his face and into his stinging +eyes and as he stopped for a drink he noticed that the water no longer +quenched his thirst. It was warm and flat and after each fresh drink +the perspiration burst from every pore, as if his very skin cried out +for moisture. Yet his canteen was getting light and, until he could +find water, he put it resolutely away. + +The road swung down at last into a broad, flat dry-wash, where the +gravel lay packed hard as iron, and as his racer took hold and began to +leap and frolic, he tore down the valley like the wind. The sun was +sinking low and the unknown lay before him, a land he had never seen; +yet before the night came on he must map out his course and stake his +life on the venture. Other automobiles might follow and snatch him back +if he delayed but an hour in his flight; but, once across Death Valley +and lost in those far mountains, he would leave the law behind. The men +he met would be fugitives like himself, or prospectors, or wandering +Shoshones; and, live or die, he would be away from it all--where he +would never see Virginia again. + +The deep wash pinched in, as the other had done, before it gave out into +the plain; and, then, as he whirled around a point, he glided out into +the open. The foothills lay behind him and, straight athwart his way, +stretched a sea of motionless sand-waves. As far north as he could see, +the ocean of sand tossed and tumbled, the crests of its rollers crowned +with brush and grotesque drift-wood, the gnarled trunks and roots of +mesquite trees. To the east and west the high mountains still rose up, +black and barren, shutting in the sea of sand; but across the valley a +pass led smoothly up to a gap through the wall of the Panamints. It was +Emigrant Wash, up which the hardy Mormons had toiled in their western +pilgrimage, leaving at Lost Wagons and Salt Creek the bones of whole +caravans as a tribute to the power of the desert. + +A smooth, steep slope led swiftly down to the edge of the Valley of +Death and as Wiley looked across he saw as in a vision a massive gateway +of stone. It was flung boldly out from the base of a blue mountain, +enclosing a dark valley behind; and from between its lofty walls a white +river of sand spread out like a flower down the slope. It was the +gateway to the Ube-Hebes, just as Charley had described it, and it was +only a few miles away. It lay just across the sand-flat, where the +great, even waves seemed marching in a phalanx towards the south; and +then up a little slope, all painted blue and purple, to the mysterious +valley beyond. The sun, swinging low, touched the summits of distant +sand-hills with a gleam of golden light and all the dark shadows moved +toward him. A breath of air fanned his cheek, and as he drank deep from +his canteen he nodded to the Gateway and smiled. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +ACROSS DEATH VALLEY + + +The way to the Ube-Hebes lay across a low flat, glistening white with +crystals of alkali; and as his car trundled on Wiley came to a strip of +sand, piled up in the lee of a prostrate salt bush. Other bushes +appeared, and more sand about them, and then a broad, smooth wave. It +mounted up from the north, gently scalloped by the wind, and on the +south side it broke off like a wall. He drove along below it, glancing +up as it grew higher, until at last it cut off his view. All the north +was gone, and the Gateway to his hiding-place; but the south and west +were there. To the south lay mud flats, powdery dry but packed hard; and +the west was a wilderness of sand. + +A giant mesquite tree, piled high with clinging drifts, rose up before +the crest of his wave, and as he plowed in between them the edge of the +crest poured down in a whispering cascade. Then more trees loomed up, +and hundreds of white bushes each mounted on its pedestal of sand; and +at the base of each salt-bush there were kangaroo-rat holes and the +tracery of their tails in the dust. Men called it Death Valley, but for +such as these it was a place of fullness and joy. They had capered +about, striking the ground with their tails at the end of each playful +jump, and the dry, brittle salt-bushes had been feast enough to them, +who never knew the taste of grass or water. + +The sand-wave rose higher, leaving a damp hollow behind it where +ice-plants grew green and rank; and as he crept along the thunder of +his exhaust started tons of sliding silt. His wheels raced and +burrowed as he struck a soft spot, and then abruptly they sank. He dug +them out carefully and backed away, but a mound of drifted sand barred +his way. Twist and turn as he would he could not get around it and at +last he climbed to its summit. The sun was setting in purple and fire +behind the black shoulder of the Panamints and like a path of gold it +marked out the way, the only way to cross the Valley. At the south was +the Sink with its treacherous bog-holes and further north the +sand-hills were limitless--the only way, where the wagon-wheels had +crossed, was buried deep in the sand. Three great mountains of sand, +like huge breakers of the sea, had swept in and covered the +wheel-tracks; and far to the west in the path of the sun their summits +loomed two hundred feet high. + +He went back to his car and drove it desperately at the slope, only to +bury the rear wheels to the axles; and as he dug them out the sand from +the wave crest began to whisper and slip and slide. He cleared a great +space and started his motor, but at the first shuddering tug the sand +began to tremble and in a rush the wave was upon him. It buried him deep +and as he leapt from his machine little rills of singing sand flowed +around it. So far it had carried him, this high-powered, steel-springed +racer; but now he must leave it for the sand to cover over and cross the +great Valley alone. On many a rocky slope and sliding sand-hill it had +clutched and plunged and fought its way, but now it was smothered in the +treacherous, silt-fine sand and he must leave it, like a partner, to +die. Yet if die it must, then in its desert burial the last trace of +Wiley Holman would be lost. The first wind that blew would wipe out his +footprints and the racer would sink beneath the waves. Wiley took his +canteen, and Charley's bottle of whiskey, his rifle and a small sack of +food and dared the great silence alone. + +While his motor had done the work he had not minded the heat and the +pressure of blood in his head, but as he toiled up the sandy slope, +sinking deeper at each stride, he felt the breath of the sand. All day +it had lain there drinking in the sun's rays and now in the evening, +when the upper air was cool, it radiated a sweltering heat. Wiley +mounted to the summit of wave after wave, fighting his way towards the +Gateway to the north; and then, beaten at last and choking with the +exertion, he turned and followed a crest. The sand piled up before him +in a vortex of sharp-edged ridges, reaching their apex in a huge pyramid +to the west, and as he toiled on past its flank he felt a gusty rush of +air, sucking down through Emigrant Wash. It was the wind, after all, +that was king of Death Valley; for whichever way it blew it swept the +sand before it, raising up pyramids and tearing them down. Along the +crest of the high wave a feather-edge of sand leapt out like a plume +into space and as he stopped to watch it Wiley could see that the +mountain was moving by so much across the plain. + +A luminous half-moon floated high in the heavens and the sky was +studded thick with pin-point stars. In that myriad of little stars, +filling in between the big ones, the milky way was lost and reduced to +obscurity--the whole sky was a milky way. Wiley sank down in the sand +and gazed up sombrely as he wetted his parching lips from his canteen, +and the evening star gleamed like a torch, looking down on the world +he had fled. Across the Funeral Range, not a day's journey to the +east, that same star lighted Virginia on her way while he, a fugitive, +was flung like an atom into the depths of this sea of sand. It was +deeper than the sea, scooped out far below the level of the cool +breakers that broke along the shore; deep and dead, except for the +wind that moved the drifting sand across the plains. And even as he +lay there, looking up at the stars and wondering at the riddle of the +universe, the busy wind was bringing grains of sand and burying him, +each minute by so much. + +He rose up in a panic and hurried along the slope, where the sand of the +wave was packed hardest, and he did not pause till he had passed the +last drift and set his foot on the hard, gravelly slope. The wind was +cooler now, for the night was well along and the bare ground had +radiated its heat; but it was dry, powder dry, and every pore of his +skin seemed to gasp and cry out for water. There was water, even yet, in +the bottom of his canteen; but he dared not drink it till the Gateway +was in sight, and the sand-wash that led to the valley beyond. + +An hour passed by as he toiled up the slope, now breaking into a run +from impatience, now settling down doggedly to walk; and at last, clear +and distinct, he saw the Gateway in the moonlight, and stopped to take +his drink. It was cool now, the water, and infinitely sweet; yet he knew +that the moment he drained the last drop he would feel the clutch of +fear. It is an unreasoning thing, that fear of the desert which comes +when the last drop is gone; and yet it is real and known to every +wanderer, and guarded against by the bravest. He screwed the cap on his +canteen and hurried up the slope, which grew steeper and rockier with +each mile, but the phantom gateway seemed to lead on before him and +recede into the black abyss of night. It was there, right before him, +but instead of getting nearer, the Gateway loomed higher and higher; and +daylight was near before he passed through its portals and entered the +dark valley beyond. + +A gaunt row of cottonwoods rose up suddenly before him, their leaves +whispering and clacking in the wind, and at this brave promise all fear +for water left him and he drained his canteen to the bottom. Then he +strode on up the canyon, that was deep and dark as a pocket, following +the trail that should lead him to the spring; but as one mile and two +dragged along with no water, he stopped and hid his rifle among the +rocks. A little later he hid his belt with its heavy row of cartridges, +and the sack of dry, useless food. What he needed was water and when he +had drunk his fill he could come back and collect all his possessions. +Two miles, five miles, he toiled up the creek bed with the cottonwoods +rustling overhead; but though their roots were in the water, the sand +was still dry and his tongue was swelling with thirst. + +He stumbled against a stone and fell weakly to the ground, only to leap +to his feet again, frightened. Already it was coming, the stupifying +lassitude, the reckless indifference to his fate, and yet he was hardly +tired. The Valley had not been hot, any more than usual, and he had +walked twice as far before; but now, with water just around the corner, +he was lying down in the sand. He was sleepy, that was it, but he must +get to water first or his pores would close up and he would die. He +stripped off his pistol and threw it in the sand, and his hat, and the +bottle of fiery whiskey; and then, head down, he plunged blindly +forward, rushing on up the trail to find water. + +The sun rose higher and poured down into the narrow valley with its +fringe of deceptive green; but though the trees became bigger and +bushier in their tops the water did not come to the surface. It was +underneath the sand, flowing along the bed-rock, and all that was needed +was a solid reef of country-rock to bring it up to the surface. It would +flow over the dyke in a beautiful water-fall, leaping and gurgling and +going to waste; and after he had drunk he would lie down and wallow and +give his whole body a drink. He would soak there for hours, sucking it +up with his parched lips that were cracked now and bleeding from the +drought; and then--he woke up suddenly, to find himself digging in the +sand. He was going mad then, so soon after he was lost, and with water +just up the stream. The creek was dry, where he had found himself +digging, but up above it would be full of water. He hurried on again +and, around the next turn, sure enough, he found a basin of water. + +It was hollowed from the rock, a round pool, undimpled, and upon its +surface a pair of wasps floated about with airy grace. Their legs were +outstretched and on the bottom of the hole he could see the round +shadows of their tracks. It was a new kind of water, with a skin that +would bend down and hold up the body of a wasp, and yet it seemed to +be wet. He thrust in a finger and the wasps flew away--and then he +dropped down and drank deep. When he woke from his madness the pool +was half empty and the water was running down his face. He was wet all +over and his lips were bleeding afresh, as if his very blood had been +dry; but his body was weak and sick, and as he rose to his feet he +tottered and fell down in the sand. When he roused up again the pool +was filled with water and the wasps were back, floating on its +surface. + +When he looked around he was in a little cove, shut in by towering +walls; and, close against the cliff where the rock had been hollowed +out, he saw an abandoned camp. There were ashes between the stones, and +tin cans set on boxes, and a walled-in storage place behind, and as he +looked again he saw a man's tracks, leading down a narrow path to the +water. They turned off up the creek--high-heeled boots soled with +rawhide and bound about with thongs--and Wiley rushed recklessly at the +camp. When he had eaten last he could hardly remember, (it was a day or +two back at the best), and as he peered into cans and found them empty +he gave vent to a savage curse. He was weak, he was starving, and he had +thrown away his food--and this man had hidden what he had. He kicked +over the boxes and plunged into the store-room, throwing beans and flour +sacks right and left, and then in the corner behind a huge pile of pinon +nuts he found a single can of tomatoes. + +Whoever had treasured it had kept it too long, for Wiley's knife was +already out and as he cut out the top he tipped it slowly up and drained +it to the bottom. + +"Hey, there!" hailed a voice and Wiley started and laid down the can. +Was it possible the officers had followed him? "Throw up your hands!" +yelled the voice in a fury. "Throw 'em up, or I'll kill you, you +scoundrel!" + +Wiley held up his hands, but he raised them reluctantly and the fighting +look crept back into his eyes. + +"Well!" he challenged, "they're up--what about it?" + +A tall man with a pistol stepped out from behind a tree and advanced +with his gun raised and cocked. His hair was hermit-long, his white +beard trembled, and his voice cracked and shrilled with helpless rage. + +"What about it!" he repeated. "Well, by Jupiter, if you sass me, I'll +shoot you for a camp-robbing hound!" + +"Well, go ahead then," burst out Wiley defiantly, "if that's the way you +feel--all I took was one can of tomatoes!" + +"Yes! One can! Wasn't that all I had? And you robbed me before, you +rascal!" + +"I did not!" retorted Wiley, and as the old man looked him over he +hesitated and lowered his gun. + +"Say, who are you, anyway?" he asked at last and glanced swiftly at +Wiley's tracks in the sand. "Well--that's all right," he ran on +hastily, "I see you aren't the man. There was a renegade came through +here on the twentieth of last July and stole everything I had. I +trailed him, dad-burn him, clear to the edge of Death Valley--he was +riding my favorite burro--and if it hadn't been for a sandstorm that +came up and stopped me, I'd have bored him through and through. He +stole my rifle and even my letters, and valuable papers besides; but +he went to his reward, or I miss my guess, so we'll leave him to the +mercy of hell. As for my tomatoes, you're welcome, my friend; it's +long since I've had a guest." + +He held out his hand and advanced, smiling kindly, but Wiley stepped +back--it was Colonel Huff. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +AN EVENING WITH SOCRATES + + +How the Colonel had come to be reported dead it was easy enough now to +surmise. Some desperate fugitive, or rambling hobo miner seeking a +crosscut to the Borax Mines below, had raided his camp in his absence; +and, riding off on his burro, had met his death in a sandstorm. His +were the tracks that the Indians had followed and somewhere in Death +Valley he lay beneath the sand dunes in place of a better man. But the +Colonel--did he know that his family had mourned him as dead, and +bandied his stock back and forth? Did he know that the Paymaster had +been bonded and opened up, and lost again to Blount? And what would be +his answer if he knew the man before him was the son of Honest John +Holman? Wiley closed down his lips, then he took the outstretched hand +and looked the Colonel straight in the eye. + +"I'm sorry, sir," he said, "that I can't give you my name or tell you +where I'm from; but I've got a bottle of whiskey that will more than +make up for the loss of that can of tomatoes!" + +"Whiskey!" shrilled the Colonel and then he smiled benignly and laid a +fatherly hand upon his shoulder. "Never mind, my young friend, what you +have done or not done; because I'm sure it was nothing dishonorable--and +now if you will produce your bottle we'll drink to our better +acquaintance." + +"I threw it away," answered Wiley apologetically, "but it can't be +very far down the trail. I was short of water and lost, you might say, +and--well, I guess I was a little wild." + +"And well you might be," replied the Colonel heartily, "if you crossed +Death Valley afoot; and worn out and hungry, to boot. I'll just take +the liberty of going after that bottle myself, before some skulking +Shoo-shonnie gets hold of it." + +"Do so," smiled Wiley, "and when you've had your drink, perhaps you'll +bring in my rifle and the rest." + +"Whatever you've dropped," returned the Colonel cordially, "if it's only +a cartridge from your belt! And while I am gone, just make yourself at +home. You seem to be in need of rest." + +"Yes, I am," agreed Wiley, and before the Colonel was out of sight he +was fast asleep on his bed. + +It was dark when he awoke and the light of a fire played and flickered +on the walls of his cave. The wind brought to his nostrils the odor of +cooking beans and as he rose and looked out he saw the Colonel pacing up +and down by the fire. His hat was off, his fine head thrown back and he +was humming to himself and smiling. + +"Come out, sir; come out!" he cried upon the moment. "I trust you have +enjoyed your day's rest. And now give me your hand, sir; I regret beyond +words my boorish conduct of this morning." + +He shook hands effusively, still continuing his apologies for having +taken Wiley for less than a gentleman; and while they ate together it +became apparent to Wiley that the Colonel had had his drink. If there +was anything left of the pint bottle of whiskey no mention was made of +the fact; but even at that the liquor was well spent, for it had gained +him a friend for life. + +"Young man," observed the Colonel, after looking at him closely, "I am a +fugitive in a way, myself, but I cannot believe, from the look on your +face, that your are anything else than honest. I shall respect your +silence, as you respect mine, for your past is nothing to me; but if at +any time I can assist you, just mention the fact and the deed is as good +as done. I am a man of my word and, since true friends are rare, I beg +of you not to forget me." + +"I'll remember that," said Wiley, and went on with his eating as the +Colonel paced up and down. He was a noble-looking man of the Southern +type, tall and slender, with flashing blue eyes; and the look that he +gave him reminded Wiley of Virginia, only infinitely more kind and +friendly. He had been, in his day, a prince of entertainers, of the rich +and poor alike; and the kick of the whiskey had roused up those genial +qualities which had made him the first citizen of Keno. He laughed and +told stories and cracked merry jests, yet never for a moment did he +forget his incognito nor attempt to violate Wiley's. They were gentlemen +there together in the heart of the desert, and as such each was safe +from intrusion. The rifle and cartridge belt, Wiley's pistol and the +sack of food, were fetched and placed in his hands; and then at the end +the Colonel produced the flask of whiskey which had been slightly +diluted with water. + +"Now," he said, "we will drink a toast, my far-faring-knight of the +desert. Shall it be that first toast: 'The Ladies--God bless them!' +or----" + +"No!" answered Wiley, and the Colonel silently laughed. + +"Well said, my young friend," he replied, nodding wisely. "Even at your +age you have learned something of life. No, let it be the toast that +Socrates drank, and that rare company who sat at the Banquet. To Love! +they drank; but not to love of woman. To love of mankind--of Man! To +Friendship! In short, here's to you, my friend, and may you never regret +this night!" + +They drank it in silence, and as Wiley sat thinking, the Colonel became +reminiscent. + +"Ah, there was a company," he said, smiling mellowly, "such as the world +will never see again. Agatho and Socrates, Aristophanes and Alcibiades, +the picked men of ancient Athens; lying comfortably on their couches +with the food before them and inviting their souls with wine. They began +in the evening and in the morning it was Socrates who had them all under +the table. And yet, of all men, he was the most abstemious--he could +drink or let it alone. Alcibiades, the drunkard, gave witness that night +to the courage and hardihood of Socrates--how he had carried him and his +armor from the battlefield of Potidaea, and outfaced the enemy at +Delium; how he marched barefoot through the ice while the others, well +shod, froze; and endured famine without complaining; yet again, in the +feasts at the military table, he was the only person that appeared to +enjoy them. There was a man, my friend, such as the world has never +seen, the greatest philosopher of all time; but do you know what +philosophy he taught?" + +"No, I don't," admitted Wiley, and the Colonel sighed as he poured out a +small libation. + +"And yet," he said, "you are a man of parts, with an education, very +likely, of the best. But our schools and Universities now teach a man +everything except the meaning and purpose of life. When I was in school +we read our Plato and Xenophon as you now read your German and French; +but what we learned, above the language itself, was the thought of that +ancient time. You learn to earn money and to fight your way through +life, but Socrates taught that friendship is above everything and that +Truth is the Ultimate Good. But, ah well; I weary you, for each age +lives unto itself, and who cares for the thoughts of an old man?" + +"No! Go on!" protested Wiley, but the Colonel sighed wearily and shook +his head gloomily in thought. + +"I had a friend once," he said at last, "who had the same rugged honesty +of Socrates. He was a man of few words but I truly believe that he never +told a lie. And yet," went on the Colonel with a rueful smile, "they +tell me that my friend recanted and deceived me at the last!" + +"_Who_ told you?" put in Wiley, suddenly rousing from his silence +and the Colonel glanced at him sharply. + +"Ah, yes; well said, my friend! Who told me? Why, all of them--except my +friend himself. I could not go to him with so much as a suggestion that +he had betrayed the friendship of a lifetime; and he, no doubt, felt +equally reluctant to explain what had never been charged. Yet I dared +not approach him, for it was better to endure doubt than to suffer the +certainty of his guilt. And so we drifted apart, and he moved away; and +I have never seen my good friend since." + +Wiley sat in stunned silence, but his heart leapt up at this word of +vindication for Honest John. To be sure his father had refused him help, +and rebuked him for heckling the Widow, but loyalty ran strong in the +Holman blood and he looked up at the Colonel and smiled. + +"Next time you go inside," he said at last, "take a chance and ask your +friend." + +"I'll do that," agreed the Colonel, "but it won't be for some time +because--well, I'm hiding out." + +"Here, too," returned Wiley, "and I'm _never_ going back. But say, +listen; I'll tell _you_ one now. You trusted your friend, and the +bunch told you that he'd betrayed you; I trusted my girl, and she told +me to my face that she'd sold me out for fifty thousand dollars. Fifty +thousand, at the most; and I lost about a million and killed a man over +it, to boot. You take a chance with your friends, but when you trust a +woman--you don't take any chance at all." + +"Ah, in self defense?" inquired the Colonel politely. "I thought I +noticed a hole in your shirt. Yes, pretty close work--between your arm +and your ribs. I've had a few close calls, myself." + +"Yes, but what do you think," demanded Wiley impatiently, "of a girl +that will throw you down like that? I gave her the stock and to make it +worth the money she turned around and ditched me. And then she looked me +in the face and laughed!" + +"If you had studied," observed the Colonel, "the Republic of Plato you +would have been saved your initial mistake; for it was an axiom among +the Greeks that in all things women are inferior, and never to be +trusted in large affairs. The great Plato pointed out, and it has never +been controverted, that women are given to concealment and spite; and +that in times of danger they are timid and cowardly, and should +therefore have no voice in council. In fact, in the ideal State which he +conceived, they were to be herded by themselves in a community dwelling +and held in common by the state. There were to be no wives and no +husbands, with their quarrels and petty bickerings, but the women were +to be parceled out by certain controllers of marriage and required to +breed men for the state. That is going rather far, and I hardly +subscribe to it, but I think they should be kept in their place." + +"Well, they are cowardly, all right," agreed Wiley bitterly, "but that's +better than when they fight. Because then, if you oppose them, everybody +turns against you; and if you don't, they've got you whipped!" + +"Put it there!" exclaimed the Colonel, striking hands with him +dramatically. "I swear, we shall get along famously. There is nothing I +admire more than a gentle, modest woman, an ornament to her husband and +her home; but when she puts on the trousers and presumes to question and +dictate, what is there left for a gentleman to do? He cannot strike her, +for she is his wife and he has sworn to cherish and protect her; and +yet, by the gods, she can make his life more miserable than a dozen +quarrelsome men. What is there to do but what I have done--to close up +my affairs and depart? If there is such a thing as love, long absence +may renew it, and the sorrow may chasten her heart; but I agree with +Solomon that it is better to dwell in a corner of the house-top than +with a scolding woman in a wide house." + +"You bet," nodded Wiley. "Gimme the desert solitude, every time. Is +there any more whiskey in that bottle?" + +"And yet--" mused the Colonel, "--well, here's to our mothers! And may +we ever be dutiful sons! After all, my friend, no man can escape his +duty; and if duty should call us to endure a certain martyrdom we have +the example of Socrates to sustain us. If report is true he had a +scolding wife--the name of Xanthippe has become a proverb--and yet what +more noble than Socrates' rebuke to his son when he behaved undutifully +towards his mother? Where else in all literature will you find a more +exalted statement of the duty we all owe our parents than in Socrates' +dialogue with Lamprocles, his son, as recorded in the Memorabilia of +Xenophon? And if, living with Xanthippe and listening to her railings, +he could yet attain to such heights of philosophy is it not possible +that men like you and me might come, through his philosophy, to endure +it? It is that which I am pondering while I am alone here in the desert; +but my spirit is weak and that accursed camp robber made off with my +volume of Plato." + +"Well, personally," stated Wiley, his mind on the Widow, "I think I +agree more with Plato. Let 'em keep in their place and not crush into +business with their talk and their double-barreled shotguns." + +"I beg your pardon, sir," said the Colonel, drawing himself up gravely, +"but did you happen to come through Keno?" + +"Never mind;" grumbled Wiley, "you might be the Sheriff. Tell me more +about this married man, Socrates." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +THE BROKEN TRUST + + +To seek always for Truth and Justice and the common good of mankind has +seldom had its earthly reward but, twenty-three hundred and fifteen +years after he drank the cup of hemlock, the soul of Socrates received +its oration. Not that the Colonel was hipped upon the subject of the +ancients, for he talked mining and showed some copper claims as well; +but a similar tragedy in his own domestic life had evoked a profound +admiration for Socrates. And if Wiley understood what lay behind his +words he gave no hint to the Colonel. Always, morning, noon and night, +he listened respectfully, his lips curling briefly at some thought; and +at the end of a week the Colonel was as devoted to him as he had been +formerly to his father. + +Yet when, as sometimes happened, the Colonel tried to draw him out, he +shook his head stubbornly and was dumb. The problem that he had could +not be solved by talk; it called for years to recover and forget; and if +the Colonel once knew that his own daughter was involved he might rise +up and demand a retraction. In his first rush of bitterness Wiley had +stated without reservation that Virginia had sold him out for money, and +the pride of the Huffs would scarcely allow this to pass unnoticed--and +yet he would not retract it if he died for it. He knew from her own lips +that Virginia had betrayed him, and it could never be explained away. + +If she argued that she was misled by Blount and his associates, he had +warned her before she left; and if she had thought that he was doing her +an injustice, that was not the way to correct it. She had accepted a +trust and she had broken that trust to gain a personal profit--and that +was the unpardonable sin. He could have excused her if she had weakened +or made some mistake, but she had betrayed him deliberately and +willfully; and as he sat off by himself, mulling it over in his mind, +his eyes became stern and hard. For the killing of Stiff Neck George he +had no regrets, and the treachery of Blount did not surprise him; but he +had given this woman his heart to keep and she had sold him for fifty +thousand dollars. All the rest became as nothing but this wound refused +to heal, for he had lost his faith in womankind. Had he loved her less, +or trusted her less, it would not have rankled so deep; but she had been +his one woman, whose goings and comings he watched for, and all the time +she was playing him false. + +He sat silent one morning in the cool shade of a wild grapevine, jerking +the meat of a mountain sheep that he had killed; and as he worked +mechanically, shredding the flesh into long strips, he watched the lower +trail. Ten days had gone by since he had fled across the Valley, but the +danger of pursuit had not passed and, as he saw a great owl that was +nesting down below rise up blindly and flop away he paused and reached +for his gun. + +"Never mind," said the Colonel who had noticed the movement. "I expect +an old Indian in with grub. But step into the cave and if it's who you +think it is you can count on me till the hair slips." + +Wiley stepped in quietly, strapping on his belt and pistol, and then the +Colonel burst into a roar. + +"It's Charley," he cried, leaping nimbly to his feet and putting up his +gun. "Come on, boy--here's where we get that drink!" + +Wiley looked out doubtfully as Heine rushed up and sniffed at the pans +of meat, and then he ducked back and hid. Around the shoulder of the +cliff came Death Valley Charley; but behind him, on a burro, was +Virginia. He looked out again as the Colonel swore an oath and then she +leapt off and ran towards them. + +"Oh--_Father_!" she cried and hung about his neck while the +astonished Colonel kissed her doubtfully. + +"Well, well!" he protested as she fell to weeping, "what's the cause of +all this distress? Is your mother not well, or----" + +"We--we thought you were _dead_!" she burst out indignantly, "and +Charley there knew--all the time!" + +She let go of her father and turned upon Death Valley Charley, who was +solicitously attending to Heine, and the Colonel spoke up peremptorily. + +"Here, Charley!" he commanded, "let that gluttonous cur wait. What's +this I hear from Virginia? Didn't you tell her I was perfectly well?" + +"Why--why yes, sir; I did, sir," replied Charley, apologetically, +"but--she only thought I was crazy. I told her, all the time----" + +"Oh, Charley!" reproached Virginia, "didn't you know better than that? +You only said it when you had those spells. Why didn't you tell me when +you were feeling all right--and you denied it, I know, repeatedly!" + +"The Colonel would kill me," mumbled Charley sullenly. "He told me not +to tell. But I brought you the whiskey, sir; a whole big----" + +"Never mind the whiskey," said the Colonel sharply. "Now, let's get to +the bottom of this matter. Why should you think I was dead when I had +merely absented myself----" + +"But the body!" clamored Virginia. "We got word you were lost when your +burro came in at the Borax works. And when we hired trackers, the +Indians said you were lost--and your body was out in the sand-hills!" + +"It was that cursed camp-robber!" declared the Colonel with conviction. +"Well, I'm glad he's gone to his reward. It was only some rascal that +came through here and stole my riding burro--did they care for old Jack +at the Works? Well, I shall thank them for it kindly; and anything I can +do--but what's the matter, Virginia?" + +She had drawn away from him and was gazing about anxiously and Charley +had slunk guiltily away. + +"Why--where's Wiley?" she cried, clutching her father by the arm. "Oh, +isn't he here, after all?" + +"Wiley?" repeated the Colonel. "Why, who are you talking about? I never +even heard of such a man." + +"Oh, he's dead then; he's lost!" she sobbed, sinking down on the ground +in despair. "Oh, I knew it, all the time! But that old Charley----" She +cast a hateful glance at him and the Colonel beckoned sternly. + +"What now?" he demanded as Charley sidled near. "Who is this Mr. Wiley?" + +"Why--er--Wiley; Wiley Holman, you know. I followed his tracks to the +Gateway. Ain't he around here somewhere? I found this bottle----" He +held up the flask that he had given to Wiley, and the Colonel started +back with a cry. + +"What, a tall young fellow with leather puttees?" + +"Oh, yes, yes!" answered Virginia, suddenly springing to her feet again. +"We followed him--isn't he here?" + +The Colonel turned slowly and glanced at the cave, where Wiley was still +hiding close, and then he cleared his throat. + +"Well, kindly explain first why you should be following this gentleman, +and----" + +"Oh, he's here, then!" sighed Virginia and fell into her father's arms, +at which Charley scuttled rapidly away. + +"Mr. Holman," spoke up the Colonel, as Wiley did not stir, "may I ask +you to come out here and explain?" + +There was a rustle inside the cave and at last Wiley came out, stuffing +a strip of dried meat into his hip pocket. + +"I'll come out, yes," he said, "but, as I'm about to go, I'll leave it +to your daughter to explain." + +He picked up his canteen and started down to the water-hole, but the +Colonel called him sternly back. + +"My friend," he said, "it is the custom among gentlemen to answer a +courteous question. I must ask you then what there is between you and my +daughter, and why she should follow you across Death Valley?" + +"There is nothing between us," answered Wiley categorically, "and I +don't know why she followed me--that is, if she really did." + +"Well, I did!" sobbed Virginia, burying her face on her father's breast, +"but I wish I hadn't now!" + +"Huh!" grunted Wiley and stumped off down the trail where he filled his +canteen at the pool. He was mad, mad all over, and yet he experienced a +strange thrill at the thought of Virginia following him. He had left her +smiling and shaking hands with Blount, but a curse had been on the +money, and her conscience had forced her to follow him. It had been +easy, for her, with a burro to ride on and Death Valley Charley to guide +her; but with him it had been different. He had fled from arrest and it +was only by accident that he had won to the water-hole in time. But yet, +she had followed him; and now she would apologize and explain, as she +had explained it all once before. Well, since she had come--and since +the Colonel was watching him--he shouldered his canteen and came back. + +"My daughter tells me," began the Colonel formally, "that you are the +son of my old friend, John Holman; and I trust that you will take my +hand." + +He held out his hand and Wiley blinked as he returned the warm clasp of +his friend. Ten days of companionship in the midst of that solitude had +knitted their souls together and he loved the old Colonel like a father. + +"That's all right," he muttered. "And--say, hunt up the Old Man! Because +he thinks the world of you, still." + +"I will do so," replied the Colonel, "but will you do me a favor? By +gad, sir; I can't let you go. No, you must stay with me, Wiley, if that +is your name; I want to talk with you later, about your father. But now, +as a favor, since Virginia has come so far, I will ask you to sit down +and listen to her. And--er--Wiley; just a moment!" He beckoned him to +one side and spoke low in his ear. "About that woman who betrayed your +trust--perhaps I'd better not mention her to Virginia?" + +Wiley's eyes grew big and then they narrowed. The Colonel thought there +was another woman. How could he, proud soul, even think for a moment +that Virginia herself had betrayed him? No, to his high mind it was +inconceivable that a daughter of his should violate a trust; and there +was Virginia, watching them. + +"Very well," replied Wiley, and smiled to himself as he laid down his +gun and canteen. He led the way up the creek to where a gnarled old +cottonwood cast its shadow against the cliff and smoothed out a seat +against the bank. "Now sit down," he said, "and let's have this over +with before the Colonel gets wise. He's a fine old gentleman and if his +daughter took after him I wouldn't be dodging the sheriff." + +"Well, I came to tell you," began Virginia bravely, "that I'm sorry for +what I've done. And to show you that I mean it I gave Blount back his +stock." + +Wiley gazed at her grimly for a moment and then he curled up his lip. +"Why not come through," he asked at last, "and acknowledge that he held +it out on you?" + +Virginia started and then she smiled wanly. + +"No," she said, "it wasn't quite that. And yet--well, he didn't really +give it to me." + +"I knew it!" exploded Wiley, "the doggoned piker! But of course you made +a clean-up on your other stock?" + +"No, I didn't! I gave that away, too! But Wiley, why won't you listen to +me? I didn't intend to do it, but he explained it all so nicely----" + +"Didn't I tell you he would?" he raged. + +"Yes, but listen; you don't understand. When I went to him first I asked +for Father's stock and--he must have known what was coming. I guess he +saw the bills. Anyway, he told me then that he had always loved my +father, and that he wanted to protect us from you; and so, he said, he +was just holding my Father's stock to keep you from getting it away from +us. And then he called in some friends of his; and oh, they all became +so indignant that I thought I couldn't be wrong! Why, they showed me +that you would make millions by the deal, and all at our expense; and +then--I don't know, something came over me. We'd been poor so long, and +it would make you so rich; and, like a fool, I went and did it." + +"Well, that's all right," said Wiley. "I forgive you, and all that; but +don't let your father know. He's got old-fashioned ideas about keeping a +trust and--say, do you know what he thinks? I happened to mention, the +first night I got in, that a woman had thrown me down; and he just now +took me aside and told me not to worry because he'd never mention the +lady to you. He thinks it was somebody else." + +"Oh," breathed Virginia, and then she sat silent while he kicked a hole +in the dirt and waited. He was willing to concede anything, agree to +anything, look pleasant at anything, until the ordeal was over; and then +he intended to depart. Where he would go was a detail to be considered +later when he felt the need of something to occupy his mind; right now +he was only thinking that she looked very pale--and there was a tired, +hunted look in her eyes. She had nerves, of course, the same as he had, +and the trip across Death Valley had been hard on her; but if she +suffered now, he had suffered also, and he failed to be as sorry as he +should. + +"You'll be all right now," he said at last, when it seemed she would +never speak up, "and I'm glad you found your father. He'll go back with +you now and take a fall out of Blount and--well, you won't feel so poor, +any more." + +"Yes, I will," returned Virginia, suddenly rousing up and looking at him +with haggard eyes. "I'll always feel poor, because if I gave you back +all I had it wouldn't be a tenth of what you lost." + +"Oh, that's all right," grumbled Wiley. "I don't care about the money. +Are they hunting me for murder, or what?" + +"Oh, no; not for anything!" she answered eagerly. "You'll come back, +won't you, Wiley? Mother was watching you through her glasses, and she +says George fired first. They aren't trying to arrest you; all they want +you to do is to give up and stand a brief trial. And I'll help you, +Wiley; oh, I've just got to do something or I'll be miserable all my +life!" + +"You're tired now," said Wiley. "It'll look different, pretty soon; +and--well, I don't think I'll go in, right now." + +"But where will you go?" she entreated piteously. "Oh, Wiley, can't you +see I'm sorry? Why can't you forgive me and let me try to make amends, +instead of making both our lives so miserable?" + +"I don't know," answered Wiley. "It's just the way I feel. I've got +nothing _against_ you; I just want to get away and forget a few +things that you've done." + +"And then?" she asked, and he smiled enigmatically. + +"Well, maybe you'll forget me, too." + +"But Father!" she objected as he rose up suddenly and started off down +the creek. "He thinks we're lovers, you know." Wiley stopped and the +cold anger in his eyes gave way to a look of doubt. "Why not pretend we +are?" she suggested wistfully. "Not really, but just before him. I told +him we'd quarreled--and he knows I followed after you. Just to-day, +Wiley; and then you can go. But if my father should think----" + +"Well, all right," he broke in, and as they stepped out into the open +she slipped her hand into his. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +A HUFF + + +The Colonel was sitting in the shade of a wild grapevine rapping out a +series of questions at Charley, but at sight of the young people coming +back hand in hand, he paused and smiled understandingly. + +"What now?" he said. "Is there a new earth and a new heaven? Ah, well; +then Virginia's trip was worth while. But Charley here is so full of +signs and wonders that my brain is fairly in a whirl. The Germans, it +seems, have made a forty-two centimeter gun that is blasting down cities +in France; and the Allies, to beat them, are constructing still larger +ones made out of tungsten that is mined from the Paymaster. Yes, yes, +Charley, that's all right, I don't doubt your word, but we'll call on +Wiley for the details." + +He laughed indulgently and poured Charley out a drink which made his +eyes blink and snap and then he waved him graciously away. + +"Take your burros up the canyon," he suggested briefly, and when Charley +was gone he smiled. "Now," he said, as Virginia sat down beside him, +"what's all this about the Paymaster and Keno?" + +"Well," began Virginia as Wiley sat silent, "there really was tungsten +in the mine. Wiley discovered it first--he was just going through the +town when he saw that specimen in my collection--and since then,--oh, +everything has happened!" + +"By the dog!" exclaimed the Colonel starting quickly to his feet. "Do +you mean that Crazy Charley spoke the truth? Is the mine really open and +the town full of people and----" + +"You wouldn't know it!" cried Virginia, triumphantly. "All that heavy, +white quartz was tungsten!" + +"What? That waste on the dump? But how much is it worth? Old Charley +says it's better than gold!" + +"It is!" she answered. "Why, some of that rock ran five thousand dollars +to the ton!" + +"Five--thousand!" repeated the Colonel, and then he whirled on Wiley. +"What's the reason, then," he demanded, "that you're hiding out here in +the hills? Didn't you get possession of the mine?" + +"Under a bond and lease," explained Wiley shortly. "I failed to meet the +final payment." + +"Why--how much was this payment?" inquired the Colonel cautiously, as he +sensed the sudden constraint. "It seems to me the mine should have paid +it at once." + +"Fifty thousand," answered Wiley, gazing glumly at the ground and the +Colonel opened his eyes! + +"Fifty thousand!" he exclaimed. "Only fifty thousand dollars? Well! What +were the circumstances, Wiley?" + +He stood expectant and as Wiley boggled and hesitated Virginia rose up +and stood beside him. + +"He got the bond and lease from Blount," she began, talking rapidly, +"and when Blount found that the white quartz was tungsten ore, he did +all he could to block Wiley. When Wiley first came through the town and +stopped at our house he knew that that white quartz was tungsten; but he +couldn't do anything, then. And then, by-and-by, when he tried to bond +the mine, Blount came up himself and tried to work it." + +"He did, eh?" cried the Colonel. "Well, by what right, I'd like to know, +did he dare to take possession of the Paymaster?" + +"Oh, he'd bought up all the stock; and Mother, she took yours and----" + +"What?" yelled the Colonel, and then he closed down his jaw and his +blue eyes sparkled ominously. "Proceed," he said. "The information, +first--but, by the gods, he shall answer for this!" + +"But all the time," went on Virginia hastily, "the mine belonged to +Wiley. It had been sold for taxes--and he bought it!" + +"Ah!" observed the Colonel, and glanced at him shrewdly for he saw now +where the tale was going. + +"Well," continued Virginia, "when Blount saw Wiley wanted it he came up +and took it himself. And he hired Stiff Neck George to herd the mine and +keep Wiley and everybody away. But when he was working it, why Wiley +came back and claimed it under the tax sale; and he went right up to the +mine and took away George's gun--and kicked him down the dump!" + +"He did!" exclaimed the Colonel, but Wiley did not look up, for his mind +was on the end of the tale. + +"And then--oh, it's all mixed up, but Blount couldn't find any gold and +so he leased the mine to Wiley. And the minute he found that the white +quartz was tungsten, and worth three dollars a pound, he was mad as +anything and did everything he could to keep him from meeting the +payment. But Wiley went ahead and shipped a lot of ore and made a lot of +money in spite of him. He cleaned out the mine and fixed up the mill and +oh, Father, you wouldn't know the place!" + +"Probably not!" returned the Colonel, "but proceed with your story. Who +holds the Paymaster, now?" + +"Why Blount, of course, and he's moved back to town and is simply +shoveling out the ore!" + +"The scoundrel!" burst out the Colonel. "Wiley, we will return to Keno +immediately and bring this blackguard to book! I have a stake in this +matter, myself!" + +"Nope, not for me!" answered Wiley wearily. "You haven't heard all the +story. I fell down on the final payment--it makes no difference how--and +when I came back Blount had jumped the mine and Stiff Neck George was in +charge. But instead of warning me off he hid behind a car and--well, I +don't care to go back there, now." + +"Why, certainly! You must!" declared the Colonel warmly. "You were +acting in self defense and I consider that your conduct was justified. +In fact, my boy, I wish to congratulate you--Charley tells me he had the +drop on you." + +"Yes, sure," grumbled Wiley, "but you aren't the judge--and there's a +whole lot more to the story. It happens that I took an option on +Blount's Paymaster stock, but when I offered the payment he protested +the contract and took the case to court. Now--he's got the town of Vegas +in his inside vest pocket, the lawyers and judges and all; and do you +think for a minute he's going to let me come back and take away those +four hundred thousand shares?" + +"Four hundred thousand?" repeated the Colonel incredulously, "do you +mean to tell me----" + +"Yes, you bet I do!" said Wiley, "and I'll tell you something else. +According to the dates on the back of those certificates it was Blount +that sold you out. He sold all his promotion stock before the panic; and +then, when the price was down to nothing, he turned around and bought it +back. I knew from the first that he'd lied about my father and I kept +after him till I got my hands on that stock--and then, when I'd proved +it, he tried to put the blame on you!" + +"The devil!" exclaimed the Colonel, and paced up and down, snapping his +fingers and muttering to himself. "The cowardly dastard!" he burst out +at last. "He has poisoned ten years of my life. I must hurry back at +once and go to John Holman and apologize to him publicly for this +affront. After all the years that we were pardners in everything, and +then to have me doubt his integrity! He was the soul of honor, one man +in ten thousand; and yet I took the word of this lying Blount against +the man I called My Friend! I remember, by gad, as if it were yesterday, +the first time I really knew your father; and Blount was squeezing me, +then. I owed him fifteen thousand dollars on a certain piece of property +that was worth fifty thousand at least; and at the very last moment, +when he was about to foreclose, John Holman loaned me the money. He +mortgaged his cattle at the other bank and put the money in my hand, and +Blount cursed him for an interfering fool! That was Blount, the Shylock, +and Honest John Holman; and I turned against my friend." + +"Yes, that's right," agreed Wiley, "but if you want to make up for it, +make 'em quit calling him 'Honest John'!" + +"No, indeed," cried the Colonel, his voice tremulous with emotion. "He +shall still be called Honest John; and if any man doubts it or speaks +the name fleeringly he shall answer personally to me. And now, about +this stock--what was that, Virginia, that you were saying about my +holdings?" + +"Why, Mother put them up as collateral on a loan, and Blount claimed +them at the end of the first month." + +"All my stock? Well, by the horn-spoon--how much did your mother borrow? +Eight--hundred? Eight hundred dollars? Well, that is enough, on the face +of it--but never mind, I will recover the stock. It is certainly a +revelation of human nature. The moment I am reported dead, these +vultures strip my family of their all." + +"Well, I was one of them," spoke up Wiley bluntly, "but you don't need +to blame my father. When I was having trouble with Mrs. Huff he wrote up +and practically disowned me." + +"So you were one of them," observed the Colonel mildly. "And you had +trouble with Mrs. Huff? But no matter?" he went on. "We can discuss all +that later--now to return to this lawsuit, with Blount. Do I understand +that you had an option on his entire four hundred thousand shares?" + +"For twenty thousand dollars," answered Wiley, "and he was glad to get +it--but, of course, when I opened up that big body of tungsten, the +stock was worth into millions. That is, if he could keep me from making +both payments. He fought me from the start, but I put up the twenty +thousand; and the clerk of the court is holding it yet, unless the case +is decided. But Blount knew he could beat it, if he could keep me from +buying the mine under the terms of my bond and lease; and now that he's +in possession, taking out thirty or forty thousand every day, I'm licked +before I begin. In fact, the case is called already and lost by default +if I know that blackleg lawyer of mine." + +"But hire a good lawyer!" protested the Colonel. "A man has a right to +his day in court and you have never appeared." + +"No, and I never will," spoke up Wiley despondently. "There's a whole +lot to this case that you don't know. And the minute I appear they'll +arrest me for murder and railroad me off to the Pen. No, I'm not going +back, that's all." + +"But Wiley," reasoned the Colonel, "you've got great interests at +stake--and your father will help you, I'm sure." + +"No, he won't," declared Wiley. "There isn't anybody that can help me, +because Blount is in control of the courts. And I might as well add that +I was run out of Vegas by a Committee appointed for the purpose." He +rose up abruptly, rolling his sullen eyes on Virginia and the Colonel +alike. "In fact," he burst out, "I haven't got a friend on the east side +of Death Valley Sink." + +"But on the west side," suggested the Colonel, drawing Virginia to his +side, "you have two good friends that I know----" + +"Wait till you hear it all," broke in Wiley, bitterly, "and you're +likely to change your mind. No, I'm busted, I tell you, and the best +thing I can do is drift and never come back." + +"And Virginia?" inquired the Colonel. "Am I right in supposing----" + +"No," he flared up. "Friend Virginia has quit me, along with----" + +"Why, Wiley!" cried Virginia, and he started and fell silent as he met +her reproachful gaze. For the sake of the Colonel they were supposed +to be lovers, whose quarrel had been happily made up, but this was +very unloverlike. + +"Well, I don't deserve it," he muttered at last, "but friend Virginia +has promised to stay with me." + +"Yes, I'm going to stay with him," spoke up Virginia quickly, "because +it was all my fault. I'm going to go with him, father, wherever he goes +and----" + +"God bless you, my daughter!" said the Colonel, smiling proudly, "and +never forget you're a Huff!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +THE FIERY FURNACE + + +To be a Huff, of course, was to be brave and true and never go back on a +friend; but as the Colonel that evening began to speak on the subject, +Virginia crept off to bed. She was tired from her night trip across the +Sink of Death Valley, with only Crazy Charley for a guide; but it was +Wiley, the inexorable, who drove her off weeping, for he would not take +her hand. His mind was still fixed on the Gethsemane of the soul that he +had gone through in Blount's bank at Vegas, and strive as she would she +could not bring him back to play his poor part as lover. Whether she +loved him or not was not the question--not even if she was willing to +throw away her life by following him in his wanderings. Three times he +had trusted her and three times she had played him false--and was that +the honor of the Huffs? + +She was penitent now and, in the presence of her father, more gentle and +womanly than seemed possible; but next week or next month or in the long +years to come, was she the woman he could trust? They passed before his +eyes in a swift series of images, the days when he had trusted her +before; and always, behind her smile, there was something else, +something cold and calculating and unkind. Her eyes were soft now, and +gentle and imploring, but they had looked at him before with scorn and +hateful laughter, when he had staked his soul on her word. He had +trusted her--too far--and before Blount and all his sycophants she had +made him a mock and a reviling. + +The Colonel was talking, for his mood was expansive, but at last he fell +silent and waited. + +"Wiley, my boy," he said when Wiley looked up, "you must not let the past +overmaster you. We all make mistakes, but if our hearts are right there +is nothing that should cause vain regrets. I judged from what you said +once that your present disaster is due to a misplaced trust--in fact, if +I remember, to a woman. But do not let this treachery, this betrayal of +a trust, turn your mind against all womankind. I have known many noble +and high-minded women whom I would trust with my very life; and since +Virginia, as I gather, has offered to bind up your wounds, I hope you +will not remain embittered. She is my daughter, of course, and my love +may have blinded me; but in all the long years she has been at my side, +I can think of no instance in which she has played me false. Her nature +is passionate, and she is sometimes quick to anger, but behind it all +she is devotion itself and you can trust her absolutely." + +He paused expectantly, but as Wiley made no response he rose up and +knocked out his pipe. + +"Well, good night," he said. "It is time we were retiring if we are to +cross the Valley to-morrow. Have a drink? Well, all right; it's just as +well. You're a good boy, Wiley; I'm proud of you." + +He clapped him on the shoulder as he went off to bed, but Wiley sat +brooding by the fire. Death Valley Charley took his blankets and rolled +up in the creek bed, so that his burros could not sneak by him in the +night, and Heine laid down beside him; but when all was quiet Wiley rose +up silently and tiptoed about the camp. He strapped on his pistol and +picked up his gun, but as he was groping in the darkness for his canteen +Heine trotted up and flapped his ears. It was his sign of friendship, +like wagging his tail, and Wiley patted him quietly; but when he was +gone, he lifted the canteen and slung it over his shoulder. In the land +where he was going there were more dangers than one, but lack of water +was the greatest. He stepped out into the moonlight and then, from the +cave, he heard a muffled sound. Virginia was there and he was running +away from her. He listened again--she was crying! Not weeping aloud or +in choking sobs but in stifled, heart-broken sighs. He lowered his gun +and stood scowling and irresolute, then he turned back and went to bed. + +In the morning they started late, resting in the shade of the Gateway +until the sun had swung to the west; and then, as the shadow of the +Panamints stretched out across the Valley, they repacked and started +down the slope. In the lead went old Jinny, the mother of the bunch, and +Jack and Johnny and Baby; and following behind his burros, paced Death +Valley Charley with a long, willow club in his hand. The Colonel strode +ahead, his mind on weighty matters; and behind him came Virginia on her +free-footed burro with Wiley plodding silently in the rear. At irregular +intervals Heine would drop back from the lead and sniff at them each in +turn, but nothing was said, for the air was furnace dry and they were +saving their strength for the sand. + +At sundown they reached the edge of the first yielding sand-dune that +presaged the long pull to come and Death Valley Charley stopped and +opened up a water-can while the burros gathered eagerly around. Then he +poured each of them a drink in his shapeless old hat and started them +across the Sink. + +"Now, you see?" he said, "you see where Jinny goes? She heads straight +for Stovepipe Hole. She knows she gits water there and that makes her +hurry--and the others they tag along behind." + +He took another drink from the Colonel's private stock and smiled as he +smacked his lips. "It's hot to-day," he observed, squinting down his +eyes and gazing ahead through the haze; "yes, it's hot for this time of +year. But Virginia, you ride; and when Tom won't go no further, git off +and he'll lead you to camp." + +He went on ahead, swinging his club and laughing, and Heine trotted +soberly at his side; and as he followed the trough of sand-wave after +sand-wave, the rest plodded along behind. A dry, baking heat seemed to +rise up from the ground and the air was heavy and still; the burros +began to groan as they toiled up the slope and their flanks turned wet +with sweat; and then, as they topped a wave, they felt the scorching +breath of the Sink. It came in puffs like the waves of some great sea +upon whose shores they had set their feet; a seething, heaving sea of +heat, breathing death along its lonely beach. It struck through their +clothes like a blast of wind or the shimmering glow of a furnace and at +each drink of water the sweat damped their brows and trickled in streams +down their faces. A wearied burro halted and, as Charley chased him with +his club, the rest rushed ahead to escape; and then, as they came to the +crest of the wave, Virginia's burro stopped dead. + +"I'll lead him," she said as Wiley came up, and started after the pack. +Wiley walked along beside her, for he saw that she was spent; and as her +slender feet sank deep in the yielding sand she lagged and slowed down, +and stopped. Then as she turned to take her canteen from the saddle, she +swayed and clutched at the horn. + +"You'd better ride," he said and, taking her in his arms, he lifted her +to the saddle like a child. Then he walked along behind, flogging the +burro into action, but still they lagged to the rear. The moon rose up +gleaming and cast black shadows along the sand-dunes, and in the lee of +the wind-wracked mesquite trees; and from the darkness ahead of them +they could hear crazy shoutings as Charley belabored his fleeing +animals. They showed dim and ghostly, as they topped a distant ridge; +and then Wiley and Virginia were alone. The pack-train, the Colonel and +Death Valley Charley had vanished behind the crest of a wave; and as +Wiley stopped to listen Virginia drooped in the saddle and fell, very +gently, into his arms. + +He held her a moment, overcome with sudden pity, and then in a rush of +unexpected emotion, he crushed her to his breast and kissed her. She was +his, after all, to cherish, and protect; a frail reed, broken by his +hand; and as he gave her water and bathed her face he remembered her +weeping in the night. Her tears had been for him, whom she had followed +so far only to find him harsh and unforgiving; and now, weak from grief, +she had fainted in his arms, which had never reached out to console her. +He gathered her to his breast in a belated atonement and as he kissed +her again she stirred. Then he put her down, but when she felt his hands +slacken she reached up and caught him by the neck. So she held him a +while, until something gave way within him and he pressed his lips to +hers. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +A CLEAN-UP + + +A cool breeze drew down through Emigrant Wash and soothed the fever heat +of Death Valley, and as the morning star rose up like a blazing beacon, +Wiley carried Virginia to Stovepipe. They had sat for hours on the +crest of a sand-hill, looking out over the sea of waves that seemed to +ride on and mingle in the moonlight, and with no one to listen they had +talked out their hearts and pledged the future in a kiss. Then they had +gazed long and rested, looking up at the countless stars that obscured +the Milky Way with their pin-points; and when the Colonel had found them +Wiley was carrying her in his arms as if her weight were nothing. + +They camped at Stovepipe that day while Virginia gained back her +strength, and at last they came in sight of Keno. She was riding now and +Wiley was walking, with his head bowed down in thought; but when he +looked up she reached out, smiling wistfully, and touched him with her +hand. But the Colonel strode ahead, his head held high, his eagle eyes +searching the distance; and when people ran out to greet him he thrust +them aside, for he had spied Samuel Blount in the crowd. + +Blount was standing just outside the Widow's gate and a voice, +unmistakable, was demanding in frantic haste the return of certain +shares of stock. It was hardly the time for a business transaction, for +her husband was returning as from the dead, but a sudden sense of her +misused stewardship had driven the Widow to distraction. + +"What now?" demanded the Colonel, as he appeared upon the scene and his +wife made a rush to embrace him. "Is this the time for scolding? Why, +certainly I was alive--why should anybody doubt it? You may await me in +the house, Aurelia!" + +"But Henry!" she wailed. "Oh, I thought you were dead--and this devil +has robbed me of everything!" + +She pointed a threatening finger at Blount, who stepped forward, his +lower lip trembling. + +"Why, how are you, Colonel!" he exclaimed with affected heartiness. +"Well, well; we thought you were dead." + +"So I hear!" observed the Colonel, and looked at him so coldly that +Blount blushed and withdrew his outstretched hand. "So I hear, sir!" he +repeated, "but you were misinformed--I have come back to protect my +rights." + +"He took all your stock," cried the Widow, vindictively, "on a loan of +eight hundred dollars. And now he won't give it back." + +"Never mind," returned the Colonel. "I will attend to all that if you +will go in and cook me some dinner. And next time I leave home I would +recommend, Madam, that you leave my business affairs alone." + +"But Henry," she began, but he gazed at her so sternly that she turned +and slipped away. + +"And you, sir," continued the Colonel, his words ringing out like pistol +shots as he unloosed his wrath upon Blount, "I would like to inquire +what excuse you have to offer for imposing on my wife and child? Is it +true, as I hear, that you have taken my stock on a loan of eight hundred +dollars?" + +"Why--why, no! That is, Colonel Huff----" + +"Have you the stock in your possession?" demanded the Colonel +peremptorily. "Yes or no, now; and no 'buts' about it!" + +"Why, yes; I have," admitted Blount in a scared voice, "but I came by it +according to law!" + +"You did not, sir!" retorted the Colonel, "because it was all in my name +and my wife had no authority to transfer it. Do you deny the fact? Well, +then give me back my stock or I shall hold you, sir, personally +responsible!" + +Blount started back, for he knew the import of those dread words, and +then he heaved a great sigh. + +"Very well," he said, "but I loaned her eight hundred dollars----" + +"Wiley!" called the Colonel, beckoning him quickly from the crowd. "Give +me the loan of eight hundred dollars." + +And at that Blount opened up his eyes. + +"Oho!" he said, "so Wiley is with you? Well, just a moment, Mr. Huff." +He turned to a man who stood beside him. "Arrest that man!" he said. "He +killed my watchman, George Norcross." + +"Not so fast!" rapped out the Colonel, fixing the officer with steely +eyes. "Mr. Holman is under my protection. Ah, thank you, Wiley--here is +your money, Mr. Blount, with fifty dollars more for interest. And now I +will thank you for that stock." + +"Do you set yourself up," demanded Blount with sudden bluster, "as being +above the law?" + +"No, sir, I do not," replied the Colonel tartly. "But before we go any +further I must ask you to restore my stock. Your order is sufficient, if +the certificates are elsewhere----" + +"Well--all right!" sighed Blount, and wrote out an order which Colonel +Huff gravely accepted. "And now," went on Blount, "I demand that you +step aside and allow Wiley Holman to be taken." + +The Colonel's eyes narrowed, and he motioned the officer aside as he +laid his own hand on Wiley's shoulder. + +"Every citizen of the state," he said with dignity, "has the authority +to arrest a fugitive--and Mr. Holman is my prisoner. Is that +satisfactory to you, Mr. Officer?" + +"Why--why, yes," stammered the Constable and as the Colonel smiled +Blount forgot his studied repose. He had been deprived in one minute of +a block of stock that was worth a round million dollars and the sting of +his great loss maddened him. + +"You may smile, sir," he burst out, "but as sure as there's a law I'll +put Wiley Holman in the Pen. And if you knew the truth, if you knew what +he has done; I wonder, now, if you would go to such lengths? You might +ask your wife how she has fared in your absence--or ask Virginia there! +Didn't he send her as his messenger, to make a fake payment that would +have deprived her and her mother of their rights? If it hadn't been for +me your two hundred thousand shares wouldn't be worth two hundred cents. +I ask Virginia now--didn't he send you to my bank----" + +"What?" demanded the Colonel, suddenly whirling upon his daughter, but +Virginia avoided his eyes. + +"Yes," she said, "he did send me down--and I betrayed my trust. But it's +just because of that that we'll stand by him now----" + +"Virginia!" said the Colonel, speaking with painful distinctness. "Do I +understand that you were--that woman? And did Mr. Blount here, by any +means whatever, persuade you to violate your trust?" + +"Yes, he did!" cried out Virginia, "but it was all my fault and I don't +want Mr. Blount blamed for it. I did it out of meanness, but I was sorry +for it afterwards and--oh, I wonder if I've got any mail." She broke +away and dashed into the house and the Colonel brushed back his hair. + +"A Huff!" he murmured. "My God, what a blow! And Wiley, how can we ever +repay you?" + +"Never mind," answered Wiley as he took the old man's hand. "I don't +care about the money." + +"No, but the wrong, the disgrace," protested the Colonel, brokenly, and +then he flared up at Blount. + +"You scoundrel, sir!" he cried. "How dared you induce my daughter to +violate her sacred trust? By the gods, Sam Blount, I am greatly +tempted----" + +"It's come!" called Virginia, running gayly down the steps, but at sight +of her father she stopped. "Well, there it is," she said, putting a +paper in his hand. "It shows that I was sorry, anyway." + +"What is this?" inquired the Colonel, fumbling feebly for his glasses, +and Virginia snatched the paper away. + +"It's a letter from my lawyers!" she said, smiling wickedly. "And we'll +show it to Mr. Blount." + +She took it over and put it in Blount's hands, and as he read the first +line he turned pale. + +"Why--Virginia!" he gasped and then he clutched at his heart and reached +out quickly for the fence. "Why--why, I thought that was all settled! I +certainly understood it was--and what authority had you to interfere?" + +"Wiley's power of attorney," she answered defiantly, "I fired that +crooked lawyer, after you'd got him all fixed, and hired a good one with +my stock." + +"My Lord!" moaned Blount, "and after all I'd done for you!" And then he +collapsed and was borne into the house. But Wiley, who had been so calm, +suddenly leapt for the letter and read it through to the end. + +"Holy--jumping--Judas!" he burst out, running over to the Colonel who +was standing with lack luster eyes. "Look here what Virginia has done! +She's bought all Blount's stock, under that option I had, and cleaned +him--down to a cent. She's won back the mine, and we can all go in +together----" + +"Virginia!" spoke up the Colonel, beckoning her sternly to him. "Come +down here, I wish to speak to you." + +She came down slowly and as her father began to talk the tears rose +quickly to her eyes, but when Wiley took her hand she smiled back +wistfully and crept within the circle of his arm. + +THE END + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Shadow Mountain, by Dane Coolidge + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOW MOUNTAIN *** + +***** This file should be named 30574.txt or 30574.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/5/7/30574/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |